to search out the trail of
Adoniram and Ann Judson.

That journey lasted one
month but bridged two
centuries. simple but beautiful memorial erected by faithful
Burmese believers over the grave of Ann Judson.

I marveled at being here. This sacred spot spoke
to me. Ann Judson had given her life away for
love of a people.

his odyssey started on
the road to Mandalay
where Adoniram was
incarcerated in two death
prisons and where Ann
somehow managed to
keep him alive. From May
1824 until February of
1826, Judson was in three
sets of iron fetters. The
first was in the dreaded
The palace watchtower visible
Let Ma Yoon death prison,
from Judson's cell window
which was literally in the
very shadow of the king’s
glittering palace. The second prison was eight miles
away in Aung-bin-le. Judson was one of nine foreign
prisoners among nearly one hundred Burmese felons
and murderers. These prisoners had no way of knowing
when each morning dawned if it would be their last.

We want our grandchildren to know the Judsons’
story and to understand this priceless legacy.

T The sheer intrepidity, fortitude, and skills of the
unrelenting Ann literally kept Adoniram alive. In
addition to this horrible burden, Ann had struggles of
her own including smallpox, Dengue fever, cerebral
spinal meningitis, and giving birth to a baby girl—all
alone. Through absolute determination and constant
efforts to try anything necessary to preserve his life,
she literally saved him from execution three times.

Only a few months after Adoniram’s release, she
herself died from the effects of two years of disease and
malnutrition. Judson lived on to give Burma its first and
best translation of the Bible, which is still in use some
two centuries later.

T he trail then led to the bustling capital of Rangoon,
where a number of large spires reach heavenward—
not just the spires of Buddhist pagodas now, but also
the steeples of Christian churches crowded with
worshippers! The invisible trail next went on to the
far South, over hazardous roads and the danger of
flooding to areas seldom seen now by foreigners. This
was Moulmein, where the venerable old Judson Baptist
Church stands tall, founded by Adoniram himself in
1827. This is the oldest church in Burma. The footprints
led even farther south to Amherst. There I stood at the
12 T
hey need to know how God used the lives
of two intrepid young Americans who
accepted the challenge of the Great Commission.

We want them to know, as we have learned, that
this same Commission is ours. So, as we followed
those footprints deep into Burma, we rejoiced at
the living legacy of Ann and Adoniram Judson.

Somehow . . . they still seemed to LIVE!
Notable scholar and
researcher on America’s
first foreign missionaries,
Rosalie Hunt, graciously
shares her experiences
retracing the very steps of
the Judsons in Burma.

Publisher: The Judson
Press, Valley Forge, PA
(Not sold by BIMI, but
information\copies may
be obtained from the
author, Rosalie Hunt, 5009 Doris
Lane, Guntersville, AL) www.rosaliehallhunt.com