Mark 15:16 English Standard Version: And he (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Those words were spoken by Jesus after His resurrection and are part of the Great Commission, directing all followers to share the Gospel. Some Christians use their talents and gifts without leaving the comforts of home.

Others, such as Dr. Elizabeth Reifsnyder of Perry County, a pioneer medical missionary to China, dedicate their lives to sharing the Love of Christ in other countries.

A December 1940 newspaper article in the Selinsgrove Times Tribune outlines the remarkable story of Dr. Reifsnyder.

“Elizabeth, daughter of John and Nancy Musselman Reifsnyder, was born in Liverpool, Perry County, Pennsylvania, on January 17, 1858. Her father, at one time justice of the peace in Liverpool and later an associate judge of Perry County, owned and operated a tannery. When Elizabeth was a child, the stagecoaches of Caldern, Kapp and Company dashed gayly through the town. Just beyond the highway flowed the Pennsylvania canal, its burdens pulled slowly along by mules on the towpath.

“Not far from the Reifsnyder home were two of the great locks of the canal, beside one of which was located the famous Ferry Tavern. John Huggins was the original owner of the old ferry that operated for more than a century between Liverpool and the east shore of the Susquehanna.

“Market Square in Liverpool, like the squares in Northumberland and Sunbury and other towns in central Pennsylvania, copied after the English, had in its center a public park. There picnics were held, and the village band gave concerts on the stand. There, the Reifsnyder children played with others of their generation, and there they attended the Methodist Episcopal church.

“One by one, the seven boys and girls of the jolly, well-to-do Pennsylvania Dutch family graduated from the local public school. Cordelia and Margaret went off in turn to the old Moravian school at Lititz in Lancaster County, but Elizabeth chose the Millersville State Normal School, where she eventually decided to become a medical missionary.

“For a woman to study medicine in those days was unusual, but for one to study the profession with the idea of practicing the healing art in an un-Christian land was without precedent. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Reifsnyder, after completing her work in the normal school, entered the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia, from which she graduated in 1881. After a year of service as an intern, Dr. Reifsnyder, then a tall, brown-eyed, brown-haired young woman of twenty-three, sailed for Shanghai, China, where she opened one of the first hospitals in the country. The institution was housed in a low, one-story building, dimly lit and inadequately ventilated.

“ Operated under the auspices of the Women's Union Mission of America, it was interdenominational and was known as the Margaret Williamson Hospital, in honor of a generous donor to the cause. At first, the people were suspicious, and few came for aid. Then one day, a shapeless woman suffering from a huge ovarian cyst was carried on a litter to the hospital door. Dr. Reifsnyder, in a difficult and hazardous operation, removed the cyst. The story of the marvelous cure soon spread, and the hospital became so crowded that new buildings were necessary.

“Under the personal direction of Dr. Reifsnyder, the institution eventually grew into one of the greatest hospital units of the Far East. Rich and poor alike asked for medical help. Among the more affluent patients was Madame Wu Tin Fang, wife of the famous Chinese ambassador to the United States. At the time of the hospital's twenty-fifth anniversary, more than eight hundred thousand patients had received treatment therein. Often, as many as two hundred and fifty people a day were cared for.

During the Chinese Rebellion, the hospital was in the thick of a battle, being located between the two attacking armies. Dr. Reifsnyder and her staff stuck to their posts of duty. One day, as Dr. Reifsnyder sat at her desk, a bullet penetrated the wall and lodged in a motto hung directly over her head, which read, "Trust Ye in the Lord Forever."

“Shortly after that harrowing experience of Dr. Reifsnyder, her sister, "Dillie" (Mrs. E. C.Dunkerly), was widowed and joined her sister in China, where she taught English in the mission school. This was indeed a happy reunion, but was shortly severed by the illness of Mrs. Dunkerly, who then returned to the United States.

“In 1914, overtaxed by long years of service, she returned to Liverpool for a brief rest. The return trip, which she had planned many times, was never made. She died at her old home on February 3, 1922, and was buried in the cemetery on the hill overlooking the Susquehanna. The Perry County Historical Society erected a bronze tablet sharing the important facts of the life of Perry County's most distinguished daughter.

“In Shanghai, the Chinese government erected a monument in her memory, which stands outside the maternity hospital bearing her name. This unit in the Margaret Williamson Hospital group was built by the Chinese people, using as a nucleus money which Dr. Reifsnyder had left in China and which, before her death, she had willed to the institution where she had worked so many years.”