In a small town in western Punjab, now in northern Pakistan, there lived a Hindu from a caste of farmers. His name was Nattu Lal. He heard the gospel, put his faith in Christ and was baptised in November 1872.
Nattu was the son of the head man in his village. His family was wealthy, but Nattu wasted his money and proved himself to be a poor Christian witness. But he did one thing that was of immense importance. He brought a poor man called Ditt to faith in Jesus.
Ditt was an outcaste, a collector of animal skins and despised in the Hindu caste system. He was described as ‘a dark little man, lame in one leg, quiet and modest, with sincerity in his face, at that time about 30 years of age’. Nattu took Ditt to meet a missionary called Samuel Martin in Sialkot. Ditt immediately asked to be baptised. The missionary wanted him to stay and receive teaching about his new faith, but Ditt wanted to leave. Martin baptised him and he immediately returned to his village 30 miles away.
