The woman who stained her skin

In devotions, the other day, we were supposed to say something about missionaries... I don't remember what... Anyway, I named "I don't remember her name, but the lady who stained her skin with coffee so she wouldn't look white". Someone said they thought it was Amy Carmichael. Someone else said they just read a book about her and it said nothing about her staining her skin. I distinctly remember reading, when I was a kid, about a missionary who was so dedicated she stained her skin so she would look less foreign. It might've also had something to do with her safety. I remember all the vital things, of course: no name, but random facts. Aherm. Anyway, so, I decided to quickly look it up. Since Google is the provider of all things accurate and factual (not), here's what came up:

This must be the account I read as a kid, because it sounds exactly familiar, almost word-for-word.
"As a young girl, who believed in the power of prayer, she asked God earnestly to have blue eyes like her mother --- a prayer that in God’s providence, He was never to answer. ... In her youth Amy had always prayed that she would have blue eyes, that God would literally change the color from brown to blue. Amy would later realize and submit to the providence of God in saying no to that prayer. There were times when Amy would sneak into a Hindu temple to rescue a young girl from the hands of the gods. On one account she was so thankful that God said 'no' to the prayer of her youth as she stained her skin with coffee and donned a Sari (Indian dress) to attempt to rescue a little pearl from a temple. A friend commented to her: 'Irish---but not blue eyes? Yes you look Indian all right. How fortunate you have brown eyes.'"

Take 2:


Take 3:
"After some struggle and confusion Amy accepted that she would be better off in India. Once there she learned about the temple girls. Even Christians were against Amy when she stepped into the struggle to end the wicked service required of the little girls. They thought she exaggerated the situation. Indeed, the truth of what went on behind the scenes was so hard to get at, that Amy found she must pretend to be an Indian and visit the temples herself. Dressed in a sari with her skin stained, she could pass as a Hindu. Now she understood why God had given her brown eyes. Blue eyes would have been a dead giveaway!"

All that to say, yes, it happened, and, yes, it was Amy Carmichael. At least, according to those 3 sources...

Now we know.