Indian Reflections

From my 2019 trip to Vellore

I really enjoyed reading Betty Robinson's Thursday's Child Had Far To Go, sub-titled 'From Scotland to India'. Betty, now, like me, a member of Rutherglen United Reformed Church, served as a missionary (mission partner) in India from 1966 to 1999 through what was originally the London Missionary Society, later the Council for World Mission.

The book tells her story by re-producing the circular letters that she, and after her marriage together with her husband Leslie, sent to friends and supporters.

I enjoyed the book for two main reasons. The first is my own, seriously briefer (1991-1994), period of overseas church service in Panama which has made me more interested in the experiences of others who have had such experiences in various parts of the world.  The second is my two visits to India, in 2015 and 2019, leading groups on behalf of Cambridgeshire churches and as part of a partnership with the Diocese of Vellore, and so to a part of India that overlapped where Betty and Leslie served. Betty's writing certainly evoked some good memories for me - but for anyone offers a fascinating picture of a little bit of the world church.

Reflecting on her title, are we each ready to go where God wants to take us?