Detour Through Danger: The 1949 Journal of R. LaVerne Morse

Adventure harnessed with enthusiasm . . . hardship met with grit . . . escaping the Communists . . . through unknown lands and the Tibetan plateau . . .  After World War II ended, the Communist Revolution led by Mao Zedong began a scourge that slaughtered tens of millions of Chinese people and expelled and imprisoned thousands of foreigners, including many Americans and missionaries. In 1949, Russell LaVerne Morse, the son of missionaries in China, was a 20-year old college student. When he received a letter from his father in China urging him to come quickly to rejoin the family and assist with evacuations, he made a decision that would alter the course of his life. This is LaVerne's journal of escaping from the impending overthrow of China, facing hardship and adventure with an unshakable faith that God would provide a way. Russell LaVerne Morse was born in 1929 to missionaries and grew up in China. He served in Burma for 10 years along with his wife Lois and later became a missions professor. LaVerne spiritually mentored Christian leaders around the world; he was greatly loved and was known in Asia as M. Pha Joseph, or "Teacher Joseph."