For the Souls and Soils of India

A Chinese poet once said, To re-create something in words is like being alivetwice. In a very real sense I have found this to be true as I have been compilingthis record of my parents life. As missionaries in India from 1923-1960 theyhad written regularly to me and other family members in the United States. Inaddition, my father wrote many informative circular letters to his supportingchurches. Unfortunately, some letters were lost, but in the end there was asuitcase full of correspondence. I couldnt throw them away. They were mymeaningful link to my parents. So last summer, with the encouragement ofmy husband and children, I bought a laptop computer and started writingthis story as a tribute to the remarkable and dedicated life of my parents,concentrating particularly on their life together as missionaries, followed by17 years in Home Missions. In the process I have re-lived those early years andtrue to the Chinese poets words, I feel that I have been alive twice. The reader will notice capitalization of certain words in my fathers letters,where capitals are not customarily used. I believe it was his way of emphasizingwords which he considered important.