There’s little about Martha Becker’s outward appearance that causes her to stand out in a crowd. Among the amazing things distinguishing her from her peers are her advanced age of 101 and her deeply moving devotion to the Christian ministry call she began sensing more than 95 years ago.

“I was five,” Martha remembers. “I sat on the lap of a missionary invited by my parents to stay at our home. He talked to me about little boys and girls in China who didn’t know Jesus.

At that age, that was stunning news to me. He could have said the children were in Freeman.

It would have had the same impact on me. I knew all about Jesus and thought someone should tell those children about him, too.”

Martha’s parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Becker, made a decision to pattern their life after the teachings of the Bible shortly after they were married. Their commitment often led them to invite missionaries visiting their church to stay at their home near Silver Lake, outside Marion, SD. Martha remembers well that her parents were actively involved in activities at Evangelical Mennonite Brotherhood (EMB), the family’s home church. It’s likely that Jacob and Elizabeth had little idea just what path their sixth daughter, one of their 12 children, would take along her own faith journey.

As Martha notes, she had to make her own personal commitment to follow the example Jesus provided for God’s people before she could make plans to be in God’s service. By the age of 10 she was well aware of the need to understand what it meant to be saved.

“When I was a child we had big tent revivals each year,” she explains. “Inside the tent it was completely filled and two or three tiers of people stood around the tent, too. The year I turned 10, I waited for those revivals because I had determined to make my decision to follow Christ during the revival.”

Martha remembers well the moment she was drawn to the front of the tent by the evangelist’s invitation to surrender her life to God’s will. Quietly going forward, she knelt beside others who sensed the same call.

“There might have been 20, maybe 30 of us kneeling at the front of the tent. I don’t remember for sure,” Martha says. “I do recall my aunt coming up behind me, saying, ‘Pray, Martha! Pray!’ I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t think of anything to say, so after a few minutes on my knees I went back to my family and we went home.”

For two or three evenings Martha and her family returned to the tent revival meetings. In spite of the fact that she felt ready to experience the salvation she had heard so much about, she found no change in her heart or her life.

“I had some girl friends who were chattering all about how they gave their life to Jesus and were saved,” she tells. “I went forward each night, but just really didn’t sense any change.”

To Martha’s surprise, her moment of salvation didn’t take place in the revival tent. Instead, on a quiet evening at home, she found herself meditating on all she had seen and heard during the revival.

“My sister Alvina and I were washing dishes,” Martha recalls.

”We weren’t talking. I was just thinking over all the things the preacher had said and thinking about the scripture verses he had used. Romans 10:9 and 13 had really caused me to stop and think.

Those verses say that whosoever confesses with their mouth and believes in Jesus will be saved. In my 10-year-old heart I realized that whosoever was me. If I would ask the Lord to forgive my sins, he would do it. It became clear to me that the Lord could save me. I don’t think I said anything to Alvina, but a little while later she turned to me and asked if something had happened.”

Martha explained to her sister that she had asked the Lord to forgive her sins.

“Alvina was so happy to hear those words,” Martha says.

“That’s when I knew something important had happened in my life.”

Martha shared her experience with her parents and began living out the day-to-day routine that would eventually lead her to another decision: how to respond to the call she felt to become a missionary.

“As I neared 8th grade graduation, I thought about what I would do now,” Martha says. “At first I had no thought of going on to high school because there were no finances for that. I stayed at home several years, but the thought of getting more training wouldn’t leave me.”

When Martha approached her mother about the possibility of attending nearby Freeman Academy to attend high school, her mother responded with words of caution.

“She said, ‘Martha, if you want to go on to be in the service of the Lord, we’ll support you in that and find a way to pay for high school. But if you just want to be a farmer’s wife, we can’t send you for more training.’ I knew then I had to make up my mind to be in God’s service or stop pursuing more education.”

Martha’s heart wouldn’t allow her to give up her dream. She went on to high school at Freeman Academy, finding yet another hurdle as she claimed her high school diploma.

“By then it was the 1930s,” Martha says. “Dad had lost the farm. While college seemed impossible, my family knew it wasn’t logical for me to just stay at home. We all decided I would go to college for one year, long enough to obtain a teaching certificate.

Then I could work and bring money into the family.”

After completing her teaching certificate, Martha took on her first teaching job. The first two years seemed good, she remembers.

By year three she knew she had not yet found her life’s work.

“I knew I would have to find my own way to go to Bible school,” she says. “I had to work while I was in school. I lost my job once and it took time to find another one. But I finished my training at Moody Bible Institute. That was a precious time in my life.”

Martha’s journey in service to God took her to Minnesota for several years and eventually to Ecuador. There she learned Spanish and assisted in translating Christian literature into Spanish to give missionary teachers a wider range of teaching resources.

“I was there 28 years and enjoyed every bit of it,” Martha says.

“When I retired and returned to the States, I came to Freeman and lived with my sister. I actually worked here in the kitchen at Salem Mennonite Home part time. My sister eventually came here and now I live here.”

Among the blessings Martha enjoys now are a sharp, clear mind and ongoing strong sense of compassion for those around her.

“One of the ladies who lives here was ready to give up on our weekly Bible study,” Martha says. “She just didn’t understand it. I know how important it is to understand God’s word, so I asked if she would like to have Bible study with just the two of us. She agreed.”

For the past 18 months or more, Martha has mentored her friend, who recently accepted the gift of salvation.

“Over the years I have always come back to those first scriptures I heard at our tent revivals,” Martha says. “I have never forgotten that for all those who receive him, God promises to make us his children. That means we’re not born of human descent, but born of God. I have relied on that truth throughout my life. I know that I am born again, born of God’s Spirit.”