_ 189 _ on the road, asking me to baptize them. They are now catechumens in this college. They provide me with a great deal of information about what is going on there. They are waiting for me to go there, and I regret not being able to respond to such a devout request, because of the fact that Master Francisco ordered me not to leave this city of Ormuz, for a period of three years, in obedience to him. Consequently, I cannot make a move until I see his authorization, if it should ever come to me. I must now go to Oman but should the permission not arrive, I shall send some of my Brothers there, whom I have gathered here. They are full of enthusiasm for these trials and they take no account of the hardships they will have to endure there, because the land is extremely hot and the food consists solely of dates and fish without bread. I am not waiting longer, as time does not allow me, for Our Lord ordained that this place should be afflicted by many and great illnesses this year. These resemble sleeping sickness, because of the great heat of the land. All the clergy of this church are ill. One of them died and others are dying together with their vicar. As a result, all the confessions and the burial of the dead fall to me. Since
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