Miss. Mavis Freeman

文/1胡军飞 

我出生成长在中国，2003 年我孤身一人到英国利兹大学求学。2004 年初我看到校园里的广告，有国际学生俱乐部，就试着参加了。

在俱乐部里我遇到了Mavis，她是俱乐部的创始人之一，也是卫理教的传教士。俱乐部固定是每周三傍晚活动，每周的活动都不一样，每学年重复一次。

记得春季的学期有一个活动是参观利兹市政厅，由利兹市长亲自接待，每年的活动都雷打不动，她很自豪的告诉我是她一手促成这项活动。

自从我认识 Mavis 以后，每年圣诞，她都邀请我去她家过圣诞，一起到教堂礼拜。2007年夏，我因病住院，她亲自到医院看望我，陪我在医院花园散步，此情此景，历历在目。

2010 年 5 月我提交论文以后就准备去伯明翰大学工作，她把家里很多家居用品都给我，叫我带到伯明翰以备需求。9 月份我回利兹大学答辩通过后，10 月份我决定回中国，临行前我在家里住了一夜，她给了我英文名字 Matthew JUN FEI Freeman。

回国后我到江西的一所高校任教授，这一年的圣诞，她依旧记得给我寄来圣诞卡片和她的一张相片。

2011 年我回利兹参加毕业典礼，她和 Philip 和 Janet 一起参加了。在典礼现场，她很高兴的给我拍了一张又一张照片。毕业典礼快结束的时候还有个小插曲，在利兹，博士和学士的礼服不同，博士有帽子，学士没有。一个学士生向我借了帽子，上演抛冒戏法，她大怒，向那个学士生吼道：“你可知道这顶帽子的价值吗？”

2012 年我辗转到苏格兰莫里郡工作和生活。每次回到利兹看望她，她都唠叨某某某结婚了，有孩子了。后来她给我的信越来越少了。到 2018 年，我和前任女朋友去看望她，她已经非常虚弱，但依然坚持独自生活。

2020 年封城后我空闲了一些，联系到教堂的牧师，才了解到她已经入住护理院了，最近常住医院。

我不是基督徒，但我想祷告，愿她延年益寿。

In memory of Miss Mavis Freeman

By Matthew JUNFEI HU Freeman 

24th November 2021

I was born and raised in China. In 2003 I went to the University of Leeds to study alone.

At the beginning of 2004, I saw an advertisement on campus that there was an international student club, so I tried to participate. In the club I met Mavis, one of the club’s founders and a Methodist missionary. The club was active every Wednesday evening, and the weekly activities were varied. I remember that there was a visit to Leeds City Hall in the spring semester, which was personally hosted by the Mayor of Leeds. Mavis was very proud to tell me that she had organized this activity.

Ever since I met Mavis, she would invite me to her house for Christmas. We’d worship together in church. In the summer of 2007, I was hospitalized due to illness. She personally visited me in the hospital and walked with me in the hospital garden. After I submitted my thesis in May 2010, I went to work at the University of Birmingham. She gave me many household items at home and asked me to take it to Birmingham for my needs. After I returned to Leeds University in September and passed my VIVA, I decided to return to China in October. I stayed at home for one night before leaving. Mavis gave me the English name Matthew JUN FEI Freeman. After returning to China, I went to a university in Jiangxi as a professor. That Christmas, she still remembered to send me a Christmas card and her photo.

In 2011, when I returned to Leeds to attend the graduation ceremony, Mavis attended with Philip and Janet. At the ceremony, she happily took pictures of me one after another. At the end of the graduation ceremony, there was an episode. In Leeds, the dresses for doctors and bachelors are different. Doctors have hats, but bachelors don't. A bachelor borrowed a hat from me and performed a trick. She was furious and shouted at the bachelor: "Do you know the value of this hat?"

In 2012, I moved to work and live in Morayshire, Scotland. Every time I went to Leeds to visit her, she nagged that XX was married and had children. Later she wrote me less and less letters. By 2018, my ex girlfriend and I went to see her. She was very weak, but she still insisted on living alone. After the lockdown in 2020, I had some free time, and I contacted the Minister of the church and learned that she has been admitted to a nursing home, and that recently she has been in a hospital.

I am not a Christian, but I wanted to pray that she may live longer.