Gladys was not accepted by missionary societies due to her lack of education. She saved money for the train fare. She went to China on her own to work with an older woman. After that woman, Jeannie Lawson, died, Gladys took over her work. Much of her life was spent caring for orphans. During the Second World War, she rescued many orphans who had been abandoned or whose parents had been killed. This involved dangerous journeys with the children to get away from places where the war was raging. She finally settled in Taiwan in 1958. There, she founded the Gladys Aylward Orphanage, where she worked until her death in 1970.