Penetration of Gospel among the Nyishi people:
In the last part of nineteenth century and early part or twenty century, the Sibsagar Mission based missionary Rev. C.E. Patric visited North Lakhimpur via NimatiGhat in 1891. Seeing the need of missionaries in the North Lakhimpur region, he wrote a letter to Home Mission Board in America for extending a permanent Mission work at North Lakhimpur, Assam. The Home Mission Board appointed and sent late Rev. John Firth and his wife Eva Webster for North Lakhimpur Field who arrived in 1893. They initially boarded at the Government Guest House at Saboti, Assam. In order to spread the Gospel, Rev. John and his wife learnt Hindi and Assamese languages respectively. They lived in a bamboo thatched house in a plot of land in the midst of Jungle at North Lakhimpur where they established a Lower Primary School (LPS) which became a John Firth Christian English High School later.
In 1899, Miss. Firth came to North Lakhimpur, with a view to going up into the hills to work among the Nyishis. But the way was not opened for her, because of colonialism; she worked at the station, especially among the Nyishis. She was reported to be working in the translation of Christian literature into Nyishi language in Assamese script. The conversion of the young man Nara Sensu is credited to her. In Captain Sr. John F. Michell’s report says that in 1903-1904, it was reported that good work was being done amongst the plains Dafla by Miss. Firth a missionary lady, who was frequently visiting all the Dafla settlements, and has succeeded in converting some of them, and getting them to send some of their boys to school. It is praiseworthy of her that she carried out the missionary work with great act yet avoiding misunderstanding or complications. “Nara Sensu probably was the first Nyishi to have embraced Christianity” “The conversion took place only in the beginning of the twentieth century "According to a missionary report of 1900, a Nyishi young man probably Nara Sensu was baptized which infers that Mr.Tosin continued to work among them It may be concluded that the American Baptist Missionaries especially John Firth (retired & returned to USA in 1928 and died in 1955) and his team had constant touch with the Nyishis of plain areas in view of evangelizing them despite the Nyishis having no dedicated missionary. The mission work among the Nyishi of plains began in the last part of the nineteen-century. The conversion took place only in the beginning of the twentieth century. From 1900 to 1946, the missionaries had access to the Nyishis of plain areas only. Consequently, few conversions such as Mr. Nara Sensu, Tabia Begi, YowaTado and others were made.
Most of the first generation Nyishi Christians assumes that Nara Sensu probably was the first Nyishi to have embraced Christianity who migrated from Pochu Pei village of Ziro-II to plain areas somewhere present day Kakoi area and was baptized later. The pioneer elders say that most of the Nyishi converts in the beginning were from Ranganadi (Panior) Saha of North Lakhimpur, a part of Daflas hills then. All their names could not be traced due to lack of written documents. Ekhin Chimir, a Miri from the Durga village, were appointed as the first Convention workers in the Nyishi Miri Mission Field. They were not only the first Convention workers but also the first local evangelists who preached the Gospel to their own people. Lack of education could not hinder them in spreading the Gospel to their own people in significant ways. Because of their vigorous work, the Gospel spread in a greater scale among the two tribes namely Nyishi and Miri.
