has been leading me. I did not think of doing
these things in my lifetime, but God has led me on. First Itu, and then the
Creek, then back from Aro, where I had set my heart, to a lonely, spooky,
wilderness. There no one ever went, but now miles of roads are being
built.

The Board says I am to go back to Akpap in April. I love no other place on
earth so well. But I dare not think of leaving the crowds of untamed,
unwashed, unlovely savages, and take away the little sunlight that has
begun to flicker out over its darkness.

I know that I am pretty old for this kind of work. But God will help.
Whether the church permits or not, I feel that I must stay here. I must
even go farther as the roads are made. I cannot walk now and I must be
careful of my health. But I can get four wheels made and set a box on them
and the children can pull me. I dare not go back. If the Board insists, I
will risk finding some other way to support myself and my family.

As April drew closer day by day, Mary anxiously waited for the Mission
Board's answer. The Mission Board wrote to Mary:

We are sending John Rankin to look over the field where you have been
working. After he has made his report we will decide what you should do.

Mr. Rankin visited the different places in cannibal land where Mary had
started congregations. He talked with the chiefs and the people. One chief
talking about Mary and the other women missionaries said, "Them women be
the best men for the mission." He wrote to the Board:

Close to Arochuku, within a circle of less than three miles in diameter,
there are nineteen large towns. I visited sixteen of these. Each of them is
larger than Creek Town. Most of the people are anxious to help. Already
many of them have begun to live in God's way. Even the head chief of all
the Aros wants us to do mission work in his country. He told the other
chiefs he is going to rule according to God's way. He wants missionaries to
be sent to his people. He offers to build a house at Arochuku for any
missionary who will come.

The Mission Board was thrilled when they read this report. They agreed to
give the money for the work which Mary had planned. They appointed Rankin
to take charge of the stations at Itu and Arochuku. They agreed to let Mary
go into the new territory. She did not have to go back to Akpap.

This made Mary very happy. Now she could work full time among the
Ibibios. She offered to pay for the building of a missio