This disruption of their old lifestyle had a negative effect on the Mayangnas’ attachment to many aspects of their traditional culture, while the proximity of the new settlements to Miskitu communities, and the missionaries’ policy of preaching the Gospel and teaching literacy only in the Miskitu language brought the Mayangna into increased contact with both the Miskitu themselves and with Miskitu culture in general. This increased the tendency of Mayangna individuals to try to shed their original identity either by marrying out of the group or by abandoning their original language in order to move higher within the Coastal ethnic hierarchy, in which the Miskito had a higher position, and by the mid-twentieth century many of the new communities founded by Mayangna converts, such as Quamwatla, Prinzubila and Bikbila, regarded themselves as wholly Miskitu. Meanwhile, for those who still regarded themselves as Mayangna, the new religion became a key part of their identity, and the Moravian Church replaced the old hold of the chieftains and sukias (traditional healers) on Mayangna life.