He learned three aboriginal languages: Dieri, Aranda and Loritja. Contrary to much in print he did not go out proselytizing, believing that interest had to come from the people themselves: he did not want large numbers of ‘converts’ paying only lip-service to Christianity. Those who converted were expected to reside permanently at the Mission, going away ‘for a spell’ only after arranging it with him; their children had to come regularly to school where they learned to read and write in their own language, and the men had to be gainfully employed. At Bethesda this meant working as shepherds, shearers, trackers and builders, and at Hermannsburg working as stockmen, branding, mustering, digging out the waterholes during the droughts, droving stock south to Oodnadatta, tracking, and also helping to construct Hermannsburg's stone buildings, unlike Bethesda where mud bricks were used. Since the Mission always supplied those working with food and clothes and likewise their families, relatives not working were not allowed to share the food with them. Meals were served three times a day in the ‘Esshaus’, supervised mostly by Strehlow himself to prevent arguments. The government gave the Mission an annual grant of £300 to support the aged and infirm; all school children were fed and clothed. Frieda too became a fluent speaker of Aranda and exercised great influence on the young women and girls, opposing the widespread practice of infanticide (especially the killing of twins), teaching them basic skills like sewing and mending, emphasizing the need for hygiene – daily washing, clean clothes, and so on – as well has how to raise their children using nappies. In this way she overcame the high infant mortality which had led anthropologists and others refer to aborigines as a ‘doomed race’. Religious instruction took place in the native languages and was a lengthy process of years, with people baptized only after they had proved that they were serious and not just trying to get food. Increasingly, senior members of the Christian community like Moses Tjalkabota and Nathanael Rauwiraka played a part in instructing new converts, and worked with Strehlow on his translations of religious texts.