Walking in William Carey’s footsteps
William Carey
Traveling Man Continued from page 40 Wheeler said he has an e-mail list he sends out to his regulars, letting them know about upcoming trips. "Usually, in three nights, we have 45 people sign up," he said. "I had a student just this morning ask, 'Do you still have a seat on the Turkey tour?'" The smallest "group" he has ever taken was one traveler, Wheeler said, noting, "I had to use up some frequent flyer miles." During the trips, Wheeler said he always counts the members of his group to make sure nobody is left behind. On that particular trip, "I'd look at him and say, 'One.' It caused the bellhops to double up with laughter." The largest group he has taken overseas numbered 47, Wheeler said. Saying that he guarantees "the
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best tours for the best price," Wheeler said that an essential item on all of his tours is "good walking shoes." Wheeler said he has a regular cycle of destinations for his trips, including such countries as England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. "Scandinavia is on tap again," he said. "We go to Australia and New Zealand every four years." The trips usually take 11 days, although that varies depending on the time available and the remoteness of the location. "Some can be 14 or 23." Out of all of the places he has visited, does Wheeler have a favorite? "That's like asking someone with 12 children which is his favorite," he said. "I like them all." Anyone who is interested in taking one of Wheeler's tours can contact him at 601-268-3126.
For Dr. Milton Wheeler, who is just finishing up his 47th year on the faculty at William Carey University, visiting some of the sites frequented by the university's namesake is quite a treat. That is especially true this year, the 250th anniversary of Carey's birth in 1761. Wheeler was scheduled to be in England from March 12-20 for a tour of some of the sites that were pivotal in Carey's life. Known as the father of modern missions, Carey was one of the founders
of the Baptist Missionary Society. Wheeler said a number of stops were planned for the tour, which was to begin in Carey's home town of Paulerspury and the church he attended there. "We are hosted by the warden," who has the key to the church, Wheeler said. "We call her Miss Mollie. The key is more than a foot long. We see the pew where he sat as a boy. There's a grassy area where he picked flowers. He was a botanist, and this is the first evidence of his interest." From there, the group was scheduled to travel to Moulton, where Carey served as pastor of the Moulton Baptist Church, now sometimes called the Carey Baptist Church, Wheeler said. During the last trip Wheeler led there, which was year before last, "The students gave the church more than $2,000 for restoration projects. The worms had taken a toll on the frame of the building." The third stop is the nearby village of Hackleton, where Carey also preached. "The church has a pulpit designed by William Carey," Wheeler said, noting, "It squeaks." The fourth stop is the Widow Wallace's kitchen, he said, which is where Carey helped start the Baptist Missionary Society. Carey eventually left England for India, Wheeler said, where he introduced the printing press and translated the scriptures into more than 30 languages and dialects. "He compiled the first English-Bengali dictionary," Wheeler said. In 1993, on the bicentennial of Carey's arrival in India in 1793, the country issued a postage stamp in his honor. Wheeler said that, as an example of Carey's patience and determination, he went seven years before seeing his first convert. In 1986, Wheeler traveled to India to see Carey's house and grave.
The house where Carey was born was torn down in the 1960s, but there is a plaque in front of the two houses that marks his birthplace. The stones surrounding the plaque are made from the house where he was born.