Lua's Mission to the King
Louise Aurora Getsinger (1 November 1871, Hume, New York – 2 May 1916, Cairo, Egypt), known as Lua, was one of the first Western members of the Baháʼí Faith, recognized as joining the religion on May 21, 1897, just two years after Thornton Chase.Born into the rural countryside of western New York state and initially with a heterodox understanding of the teachings of the religion, by her fervor she corrected many understandings and grew to become a prominent disciple of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá with an international reputation, being named “Herald of the Covenant” and "Mother of the believers" by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá,head of the religion 1892-1921, and “mother teacher of the American Bahá‘í Community, herald of the dawn of the Day of the Covenant" by Shoghi Effendi in 1942, head of the religion 1921–1957. Nevertheless, she faced trials of reputation among the Bahá'ís in America during a period of time when rumors were spread if a woman traveled with a man other than her husband which she did as she took part in promotional tours across multiple regions of America, into Canada and Mexico, and it became such that her husband grew doubtful, their relationship changed, and he sought a divorce. She was defended by the leadership of the religion and her reputation expanded after her sudden death in Egypt. A number of later leaders of the religion were directly affected by her, including members of the high office of the religion, the Hands of the Cause, Louis George Gregory, and John Henry Hyde Dunn, as well as May Maxwell, another prominent woman of the religion and mother of another Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih Khánum, who had her own direct effect on Agnes Alexander, William Sutherland Maxwell, and Mason Remey and thus had an effect on the promulgation of the religion in America, (including across the color line,) England, France, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina, in addition to her own direct contact with many thousands of people all before the completion of the first World War.
