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  A letter from Rebecca Montgomery in China  
             
 

April 11, 2004

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
Thomas Merton

Dear Friends,

In June of 2002 I began a two-year term of service as a mission co-worker with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) assigned to work with the Amity Foundation as an English teacher in China. As my term draws to a close, I have spent many an hour pondering and praying about my future. The grandiose life plan I laid out for myself when I was 18 no longer seems applicable, but no new one has yet been dreamt up to take its place. Yet here I am, living half way around the world, doing God’s work. This was no plan of mine, but it seems to be a place God is happy with me being.

  
             
  Rebecca Montgomery with friends from church.
Rebecca Montgomery with friends from church.		   As an English teacher, I have educated my students in the intricacies of our language, but also in those of our culture and worldview. As a Christian, I have worshiped weekly with our Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ, proving that we are united by something higher than any of us, something more than the language we speak, or the color of our skin. I am a physical reminder that there is a world outside of China and that this world does care about the Chinese. The two years I have been in China have been a successful mission.  
             
  It is with this in mind that I have applied and been accepted to extend my term of service for another year. Life is a process and with it we grow. During my first year in China, I crawled through everything I did: from lesson plans to market transactions. This year I have stood tall, learned from my mistakes and made fewer new ones. My Chinese is progressing, as are my relationships with the people I have been sent to serve.  
             
  It is only natural that the third time around I can build upon this foundation. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know why God has called me to China or why God is keeping me here. Life here is so different from home, and I’m not always sure I’m good at it. But I do know that the attempt itself means something. The widow’s mite goes further than the rich man’s gold if given with conviction.   Rebecca in a classroom teaching English.
Rebecca teaching English.		  
             
 

Christ’s gift of himself on the cross was not a waste of a life, but rather the beginning of a whole new world. It is this world that we strive for and rejoice in on Easter Sunday, and it is for this world that I shall stay in China. Please continue to pray for me and with me: that with each day more people will hear the gospel of the risen Christ and have faith; that God’s love will be visible in all we do; and that the Lord will continue to reveal himself and his plan to us all day by day.

Christ is Risen! Amen!

Rebecca Montgomery

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 86

  
             
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