Mission Correspondence

I have much of my father's official correspondence from the mission -- he was Chief Missionary in the Gilbert Islands. The London Missionary Society caused him endless grief -- and looking at the correspondence, it seems clear why. The Missionary Society had little idea what he was doing, or what the conditions were: travelling week by week from village to village to strengthen the Church, in primitive conditions. He, on the other hand, wrote to them about the business of the Society: say, ageing water tanks or students' bunks. What he was really doing was documented in other, often local or personal papers. He did an impressive work, and his name is still revered among the people. OBSERVATION: He told me that, when he met with the Society afterwards for a debriefing session, the General Secretary introduced him to the Board as their Chief Missionary from the Gilbert Islands. A Board member asked, "Where's that?"