Eventually, she shed the doubts, obtained the consent of her parents, resigned her position as teacher, and offered herself to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.

Their condition of arrested growth, deprived of athletic development, awakened a responsive interest in the mind of Reed, as she taught boys and girls in the public schools in Ohio.

At the Society's North India Conference in January, 1885, Reed was allocated to Cawnpore, Uttar Pradesh on the Ganges,[7][4] for work in the zenanas of the city.

In addition to study of the language, and observation of missionary work being carried on in the neighbourhood,[2] she had an opportunity of seeing the spot in which was to be erected an asylum for lepers, and she learned of their sufferings.

Amongst the symptoms, which for some time completely baffled her physicians, were a constant tingling pain in the fore-finger of the right hand, and later, a strange spot on one cheek, near the ear.

Her fears that it was leprosy were confirmed by her doctor, but as his knowledge of the disease was purely theoretical, he transferred his patient to New York City as soon as Reed was fit for the journey.

[6][4][7] On her return trip, Reed left New York, crossing the Atlantic in the same steamer which carried the Epworth League pilgrims to England in 1891.

[2] In London, Reed met a young woman school-teacher from New England, whose companionship she greatly enjoyed, and with whom she traveled in Europe, though Paris, as far as Lake Lucerne.

In September 1891, a Scottish organization, the Mission to Lepers in India and the East, was approached on behalf of Reed, with a view to finding her a sphere of service among her fellow patients.

[6] A letter from Bishop James Mills Thoburn, the Superintendent in India of the Methodist Episcopal Church, first informed the committee of this new worker, but whose name was, for the time being, withheld.

In writing to propose that Reed be appointed Superintendent of the Asylum at Pithoragarh, Bishop Thoburn said: "It is a hard thing to say, and yet it does look as if Providence was sending her to a very needy people who otherwise could receive no help.

[2] In the meantime, while waiting the decision of the committee, Reed found a welcome resting place at Pithora with Miss A. M. Budden, who, together with her sister and preceded by their devoted father, had done faithful service among the women, the children, and the lepers of that district.

[2] The committee decision came: they were glad to be able to act on the recommendations of Thoburn and Budden, and to appoint Reed to the superintendence of their Asylum for Lepers at Chandag.

[6][4][7] Reed climbed 6,400 feet (2,000 m) above sea level, up to Chandag Heights in the Himalayas, where her bungalow was being built, to meet, for the first time, the men, women, and children who were to be her future charge.

[7] Reed purchased additional land, and in the course of time, built two good sized structures, accommodating 60 men and boys, three smaller ones for women and children, an isolation hospital for extreme cases with a dispensary attached.

With several native assistants, she looked after the diet and simple medical treatment of her patients, taught them to read and held religious services, prayer groups and Bible classes among them.