Diary Adelaide
May 1839 - August 1839
great pleasure of seeing two of them succeed in the hitherto always uncertain attempt to inform them about the main features of the Christian religion so that they understood me. I said that Munaintyerlo, whom strangers call Jehovah, made the sun, moon and stars, the earth and two people, Adam and Eve, that the latter gave birth to children and their daughters again gave birth to children, and so on, until at last they were so many people. But Eve ate the forbidden food, which is why Munaintyerlo became very angry and condemned her and all her descendants to death. But he had great compassion, so he let his child become a human being in a virgin. Jesus was circumcised like the black men, thought, spoke and acted well; however was hanged by his compatriots and then went up to heaven on the third day. Fortunately, I was able to apply the biblical expression to this inadequate communication that Jesus had no father on earth and no mother in heaven.

When asked whether I had seen all of this above or in heaven, I replied that Jesus took 12 young men with him ( 080 ) who told strangers far and wide and then wrote it down on the paper, which the people with long clothes like me, Teichelmann, Howard(89) and Kavel are now telling the listeners. I only said the latter in response to their question as to whether Preacher Howard had seen all of this above, which, by the way, proves how easily one can be misunderstood dependingon a poor knowledge of the language and a mind that is strange to Christian truth.

They expressed their joy at this communication, which showed that they had understood me, both through words and expressions, even through indomitable loud laughter. The [Ng]unyewainte that was heard afterwards called her home, where I accompanied them; and although one of the two later sang along, they must have first told my message to someone else, what happened in my presence, and where I again witnessed, both in telling and listening, the unbridled joy of these discoveries.

My proposal to soon build a Munaintyerlo house, where we would sing like the white people on Sundays and where me and Teichelmann would talk, met with the most enthusiastic approval. May the Lord, whose experience of these two evenings has made me greatly ashamed of my displeasure with our prospects for the future, grant that, just as teaching one evening was followed by teaching the next, so may the first year of research be followed by the second of teaching.

June 7th, 1839.

24 years ago today, the goodness of God drew me from the womb into the light. May You, my faithful Lord and God, be praised for all the good things You have done to me during my life so far ( 081 ), and forgive me for being so indifferent that I only remembered at the end of that day that I was born on the same day. Grace and mercy have accompanied me up to this point; let them continue to accompany me until my blessed exit from time into eternity.

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