Faith and Forgiveness

(Compass) – Gladys Staines, wife of the Australian Baptist missionary Graham Staines who was murdered by extremists in 1999, left India in July for a time of rest and reflection, accompanied by her 13-year-old daughter Esther. Gladys and Graham moved to India in 1981 to work with a leprosy mission. However, Graham and their two sons Philip and Timothy died in January 1999 when Hindu extremists set fire to a car in which they were sleeping. Since the tragedy, Gladys has maintained and extended the work of the leprosy mission. She now feels the need to rest and take time out, but denies reports that she has left India permanently. “I want to carry on what Graham was doing,” says Gladys, “and I will soon return to India .”