I’s like to add
Adoniram Judson to the list.
He was a missionary to Burma (now known as Myanmar) which was Buddhist. Even though he was told that Burma was impermeable to Christian evangelism he learned the Burmese language, started a church there and preached the Gospel. When he started out the preaching of the Gospel was met with almost total indifference, but he never gave up. It took 6 years until the first convert came to know Christ.
When war between England and Burma broke out he was taken captive for a total of 21 months.
The sufferings and brutalities of those twenty long months and days in prison, half-starved, iron-fettered, and sometimes trussed and suspended by his mangle feet with only head and shoulders touching the ground, is described in unexaggerated detail by his wife, Ann, shortly after his release. After the war Judson went into unexplored areas of Burma and in the subsequent years the number of church members doubled on an average of every eight years for the thirty-two years between 1834 and 1866.
He did the first translation of the Bible into the Burmese language and there is a church in Mandalay to commemorate him. It is placed on the second prison site he was held at.
Judson also compiled the first ever Burmese-English dictionary. The English-Burmese half was interrupted by his death and completed by missionary E. A. Steven.
His written works are
- Burmese Bible (still in print, see below), as well as portions published before the entire text was translated,
- A Burmese-English dictionary (English-Burmese portion completed posthumously),
- A Burmese Grammar,
- Two hymns: Our Father, God, Who art in Heaven and Come Holy Spirit, Dove Divine.
In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Adoniram Judson was named in his honor.
