 Missionaries Karl Wilhelm Posselt and Wilhelm Güldenpfennig founded the first BMS station in Natal which they named Emmaus, with further stations being established in the years that followed, including the Christianenberg and Hermannsburg Missions.Missionaries Alexander Merensky and Heinrich Grützner started work in the north eastern part of the South African Republic in 1860, their first station being at Gerlachshoop.There were unsuccessful early attempts to evangelise the Swazi and in Sekhukhuneland.