Love, Amy

Title: Love, Amy
Author: Amy Young
Major Themes: China, Missionaries, Newsletters
Synopsis: This compilation of newsletters from China over the course of 10 years make a wonderful story of God’s work in a life and school.

I really enjoyed Love, Amy! It is quite an unusual book, but a great one. Amy Young subtitled her book, An accidental memoir told in newsletters from China. She compiled ten years’ worth of the newsletters she wrote from China, with tips for people who write newsletters after each year. I found these tips very interesting, as well as the letters themselves.

Amy went to China in 1995 to teach teachers how to teach English. Her first newsletter talked about some of the challenges she would be facing as she anticipated her upcoming move. After that, most of her letters, except for a few in the summers, told about the events of her life. She has some very funny stories, such as the frequent battles with mice, as well as some very sober accounts. She was privileged to see a number of people come to faith in Jesus, and endured a serious health crisis.

You will learn a lot of very interesting trivia about China as you read these letters. For example, at least in the mid 90’s, buildings in Shanghai were unheated even though the weather was quite cold! Also at that time, if a person in charge of directing bicycle traffic found you guilty of some minor infraction, they could either fine you, or worse, make you wave the red flag for 30 minutes to stop traffic!

I appreciated some of the lessons Amy learned. One time a man grossly insulted her. She couldn’t sleep that night until she truly forgave him. She also had to learn to surrender to “the daily crosses in my life.” Her thoughts about that were quite challenging. I found her observations about Tibetan Lamaism quite interesting, as well. She said it is a very dark evil.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in missions, especially to China. Also, if you find yourself needing to write newsletters to financial or prayer supporters, Amy’s tips are invaluable. I don’t know if they’ll make any difference in the way I write ours, since I do it a different way, but she has some very good pointers.

I received a copy of this book as a gift from the author. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions given here are my own.

No warnings!