A Letter to Parents

Adoniram Judson was the first missionary sent from America. He and his wife Ann served faithfully among the peoples of Burma in the early 1800's.

As young Adoniram was preparing for the mission field the then Ann Hasseltine caught his eye and he immediately fell deeply in love with her. Ann's father served as part of the newly formed mission board that was planning to send Adoniram to Burma.

As Adoniram prepared to ask for Ann's hand in marriage he sent the following letter to her parents. As you read this letter try to put yourself in the shoes of Ann's parents. Parents with hopes and dreams and aspirations for your young daughter and her future. Adoniram wrote:

"I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of Burma; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God?"

Her father's reply was that it was up to Ann to make this decision. Later, Ann replied with a resounding, "Yes."

As I read this letter I thought, I want to raise up daughters like Ann that are willing to say, "Yes" not just to the proposal of a future husband, but are willing to say "Yes" to whatever sacrifice is set before them for the sake of the Gospel and the unreached people of the world.

And I also thought that I want to be a parent that, when the time came, would hold my children loosely and fully entrust them into the hands and the care of God. A parent that, through tear filled eyes, could read a letter like this and rejoice at the heart of God.

In many ways Adoniram's letter to Ann's parents was prophetic. Ann did indeed die on the mission field in Burma in 1826 of smallpox. Her life was filled with adversities and hardships that she likely would not have experienced had she remained in America. But it is equally likely that she would not have been used of God in the way that she was had she stayed home. Not only did she faithfully serve alongside her husband, but Ann also wrote a catechism in Burmese and translated the books of Daniel and Jonah into Burmese. She was also the first to translate any Scripture into Thai when in 1819 she translated the Gospel of Matthew.  

May God be pleased to raise up more Adoniram and Ann Judsons. And may He also be pleased to raise up parents who rejoice in their children and release them to the care and service of a faithful God "for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God."