Ruby Kendrick was born into a devout Christian family in Texas and, even as a young girl, was filled with a burning desire to see unbelievers saved. She resolved to become a foreign missionary and entered the Texas Woman’s Training School. After graduating in June 1905, she discovered that she was still below the official age for missionary appointment. Undeterred, she spent a year teaching and another year in undergraduate study, preparing diligently for overseas mission work. During this time, she also became a representative of the Texas Epworth League. In September 1907 she was finally commissioned by the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Southern Methodist Church and set out for Korea.
While an Epworth League conference was being held in Texas, a letter arrived from Ruby, brimming with her extraordinary love for Korea. In it she wrote words that deeply moved the hearts of those gathered: “If I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for Korea.” Her letter left a profound impression on many who read it.
The very next day, however, sorrowful news arrived from Korea: Ruby Kendrick had died. She had developed appendicitis, undergone surgery, but ten days later she passed away. At just twenty-five years of age, she was called to be with the Lord before she could see her dream of serving in Korea fully realised.
Yet her death was not in vain. Shortly before she died, she said to those around her:
“If I die, please go to the young people in Texas and tell ten, twenty, fifty of them to come to Korea.”
This final message was carried to the Epworth League conference and kindled a renewed passion for mission in the hearts of many young people. In response, around twenty of them went out to what was then the “hidden” land of Korea, and the Texas Epworth League began gathering offerings every year to help support the living expenses of missionaries serving there.
The following is an excerpt from Ruby’s letter to her parents:
“Father, Mother… Persecution is growing worse. A few believers – who had known the Lord for less than a week – were taken away and martyred two days ago. Missionaries Thomas and James have also been martyred. Although the mission board has ordered us to withdraw, most of the missionaries are still meeting in secret with the Korean Christians they have led to Christ. It seems they are all prepared to die with them.
Tonight, more than ever, I long for home. I cannot stop seeing Mother’s face the day you tried to hold me back at the port because of the rumours that foreigners were being killed and Christianity hated here. Father, Mother, this may be my last letter to you.
Do you remember the single seed I planted in the back garden before I left? By next year it will fill the neighbourhood with flowers, and it will in turn produce many more seeds. I have decided to become such a small seed in this land. When I am buried here as a seed, then, in God’s time, many flowers will bloom across Korea, and they too will become seeds to be sown in many nations.
I will leave my heart in this land. I have come to realise that this is not my own passion for Korea, but God’s passion for Korea.”
