How did Okonkwo's community deal with the missionaries?

When the missionaries first arrived in Mbanta, all of the villagers came to see them. Their leader was a white man who spoke through interpreters. He informed the people that their gods were false and only the Christian god was real. The missionaries asked the village leaders to give them a space for them to build a church. The village leaders decided to give them a plot in the town's Evil Forest. Every Igbo village has an evil forest, where the undesirable dead and the powerful fetishes of medicine men are buried. The Evil Forest is believed to be full of malevolent and unpredictable magical energies. Everyone expects the Christians to die in a matter of days. When they remain alive, the people of Mbanto have to concede that the white priests command powerful magic. The Church begins to win a tiny number of converts.