into my Bible': Missionary's journal reveals tribe also tried to shoot him the day before they killed him and he wrote 'Father, forgive them if they succeed'
- John Allen Chau, 26, was shot dead with an arrow when he went to North Sentinel Island last week
- One of most isolated regions in India's Andaman islands is off-limits to visitors
- Chau had paid local fishermen to help him get to the island last Thursday
- He offered gifts such as a football and fish but they got angry and shot at him
- The arrow hit a book he was carrying and he was safely able to return to the boat
- He penned a letter to his parents and journal entries about his initial encounter
- After he returned to the island the following day, fishermen said they saw the tribesmen dragging Chau's body away
- Scroll down to read Chau's full journal entries and letters
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John Allen Chau, 26, was shot dead with an arrow when he went to North Sentinel Island
An American Christian missionary wrote in his journal about the tribesmen that shot him with arrows - with 'a little kid' hitting the Bible he held at his chest - when he tried to give them gifts the day before they killed him.
John Allen Chau, 26, wrote in his journal that he reached North Sentinel Island - one of the world's most isolated regions in India's Andaman islands that is off-limits to visitors - in his kayak on November 15.
Chau said at one point he was 'just inches' away from the tribesmen - who he described as about 5 feet 5 inches tall and with yellow paste on their faces - and offered them gifts of a football and fish.
But when he reacted with hostility, he threw the gifts in their direction and fled.
'My name is John. I love you and Jesus loves you... Here is some fish!' he said he hollered at them before fleeing.
He narrowly avoided death that day when some of the tribe shot at him with their arrows - and one 'little kid', almost unbelievably, hit the Bible he was holding at his chest.
'Well, I've been shot by the Sentinelese… By a kid probably about 10 or so years old, maybe a teenager, short compared to those who looked like adults,' he wrote.
'The little kid shot me with an arrow - directly into my Bible which I was holding at my chest,' he added.
Recalling his near-death experience in his journal that evening, he wrote: 'Father, forgive him and any of the people on this island who try to kill me... and especially forgive me if they succeed.'
John Chayu wrote in his journal about the tribesmen that shot him with arrows - with a little kid hitting his Bible - when he tried to give them gifts the day before they killed him
Police learned he had a strong desire to meet the Sentinelese and preach on the island
Chau, who had lived in southwestern Washington state before attending Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, also wrote about his escape from the island in great detail.
'I grabbed the arrow shaft as it broke in my Bible... and felt the arrow head. It was metal, thin and very sharp.'
He later recalls giving the arrow head back to the tribe.
'Now that I remember it, after I got shot by that arrow and it was in my Bible, I gave it BACK! Man, I should have snapped it,' he wrote.
He also wrote about shouting at the kid who shot him and his desperate journey back to the boat.
'I stumbled back and I recall yelling at the kid for shooting me - now as I look back at it, my Bible cover looks like bark - like tree bark, so maybe he was just curious but yikes, it sure gave me a fright,' he wrote.
He added: 'They chased me. I had to swim almost a mile back to the boat.'
Later, he revealed his fear that another group of tribesmen may have damaged his boat while he was ashore.
'If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though, but to you, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens.'
'Father, forgive him and any of the people on this island who try to kill me... and especially forgive me if they succeed,' Chau wrote in his final journal entry
As he spent the night writing about his experiences on pages that he then gave the fishermen, it appears Chau's near-death experience made him reluctant to return to the island.
But it seems it was his faith in God that led him to change his mind.
'I DON'T WANT TO DIE! Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue? No. I don't think so,' he penned.
''m stuck here anyway without a passport and mainly been off the grid.
'I still could make it back to the US somehow as it almost seems like certain death to stay here.'
But it appears he remains determined to continue, adding: 'Will try again tomorrow.'
He later adds: 'Watching the sunset and it's beautiful – crying a bit… wondering if it'll be the last sunset I see before being in the place where the sun never sets. Tearing up a little.'
Chau speaks more about his fear of dying as well as expressing how much he misses his family and friends in his journal entry the night before his death.
'God, I don't want to die. WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO? OH GOD I miss my parents, my mom and dad and Brian and Mary and Norah and Jeremy and Jill and Jennifer and Seth and Bobby... and Christian and someone I can talk to and be understood.
'None of the guys on the boat know much English and I don't know much Hindi or how to ask their opinions and to tell stuff like this to.
'I've never felt this much grief or sorrow before. WHY! Why did a little kid have to shoot me today? His high-pitched voice still lingers in my head.
'Father, forgive him and any of the people on this island who try to kill me... and especially forgive me if they succeed.
'What makes them so defensive and hostile? Legends passed down through millenia of their escape from a slave ship? Why does this beautiful place have to have so much death here?
'Last night, I had what I'd call a vision as I've never had one before - my eyes were shut but I wasn't asleep and I saw a purple hue over an island-like city as a meteorite or star fell to it and it was a frightening city with jagged spires and I felt distressed.
'Then a different light, a whiteish light filled it and all the frightening bits melted away.
'Lord, this island, Satan's last stronghold where none have heard or even had a chance to hear your name?'
'Lord, strengthen me as I need your strength and protection and guidance and all that you give and are. Whoever comes after me to take my place, whether it's after tomorrow or another time, please give them a double anointing and bless them mightily.'
Speaking about his plan for his return to the island, he wrote: 'The plan for [tomorrow] is to drop me at the cache and then the boat will leave for the day, returning at night.'
He wrote that he was 'at peace with that plan' because 'if it goes badly on foot, the fishermen won't have to bear witness to my death.'
He adds: 'Alternative is to either wait... and go back to Port Blair without any documents and stay in the safe house again and put all at risk (why are we so afraid of death?) or get deported.
'If I leave, I believe I will have failed the mission.'
He ends the entry with the words: 'Perfect LOVE casts out fear. Lord Jesus, fill me with your perfect love for these people!'
In his final journal entry before his death, penned in the early hours of November 16, Chau writes that he had 'a fairly restful sleep.'
'Woke up after a fairly restful sleep, heading to island now. I hope this isn't my last notes but if it is, to God be the glory.
'One thought occurred to me last night: only young adults were seen and kids, but no elderly - are they separated and must stay on the shore? Are the elderly in the jungle?
'I'm heading back to the hut I've been to. Praying it goes well.'
DailyMail.com has since obtained a letter Chau wrote to his parents he penned prior to his death that detailed how he was committed to teaching the tribe about Jesus
Chau's last entries - dated between November 14 to 16 - also shed some light on what occurred when he first arrived at the island, including what happened after he initially panicked when he saw the tribe's bows.
'Two armed Sentinelese came rushing out yelling. They had two arrows each, unstrung, until they got closer,' he wrote.
'I regret I began to panic slightly as I saw them string arrows in their bows. I picked up the fish and threw it toward them. They kept coming,' he wrote.
After his kayak was damaged, Chau swam back to the fishermen's boat, which was waiting at a prearranged location.
Two armed Sentinelese came rushing out yelling. They had two arrows each, unstrung, until they got closer. I hollered 'My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you'.
John Chau's journal entry after making contact with the tribe
'I paddled like I never have in my life back to the boat. I felt some fear but mainly was disappointed. They didn't accept me right away,' he continued.
Chau seemed to know they were on a mission to kill him but tried to make progress anyhow.
The missionary explained that the group may have felt threatened because many of the adult male protectors were not present.
He appeared to detail the moment after he was initially shot at, saying: 'I heard the whoops and shouts from the hunt. I made sure to stay out of arrow range, but unfortunately that meant I was also out of good hearing range.
'So I got a little closer as they (about 6 from what I could see) yelled at me, I tried to parrot their words back to them. They burst out laughing most of the time, so they probably were saying bad words or insulting me.
'They were also yelling into the forest behind the hut which they made in drumming sound, if I can recall. Perhaps their men were away which would explain why the only ones yelling at me looked fairly juvenile.'
Chau explained how he may have seen the leader of the tribe that day and noted how he shouted at him.
He wrote: 'I spotted one man wearing a white crown or something (flowers maybe?) on his head and he also took a seemingly leadership stance... yelled at me.
'Leadership stance meaning he climbed atop the tallest coral rock to yell.'
When he set out again to meet the tribes people on November 16 he never returned.
Dependera Pathak, director-general of police on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said Chau organized his visit to the island through a friend who hired seven fishermen for $325 to take him there on a boat, which also towed his kayak there.
Pathak said the following day the fishermen watched from a distance as the tribesmen dragged Chau's body away.
Pathak said officials are consulting anthropologists, tribal experts and scholars to figure out a way to recover the body.
Chau also wrote a letter to his parents asking them not to be 'mad at them or at God' if he was killed. DailyMail.com has since obtained the letter as well as several of his journal entries.
Chau's journal entries - dated between November 14 to 16 - have shed some light on what occurred when he first arrived at the island, including how he initially panicked
Chau explained how he may have seen the leader of the tribe that day and noted how he shouted at him
Chau took a boat ride with the fishermen before venturing alone to North Sentinel Island (pictured, a file photo shows tribesmen on the island)
The Sentinelese attracted international attention in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, when a member of the tribe was photographed on a beach, firing arrows at a helicopter (pictured)
'You guys might think I'm crazy in all this but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people,' he wrote in the letter to his parents.
'Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed.
'Rather please live your lives in obedience to whatever he has called you to and I'll see you again when you pass through the veil. This is not a pointless thing - the eternal lives of this tribe is at hand and I can't wait to see them around the throne of God worshiping in their own language as Revelations 7:9-10 states.
'I love you all and I pray none of you love anything in this world more than Jesus Christ.'
Chau signed off the letter with his name and 'Soli Deo gloria', which is Latin for Glory to God alone. The letter is dated November 16, which is one day after the fishermen said they first took him to the island.
Chau's family paid tribute to him in a post on his Instagram page on Wednesday.
'He was a beloved son, brother, uncle, and best friend to us,' his family wrote.
'To others he was a Christian missionary, a wilderness EMT, an international soccer coach, and a mountaineer. He loved God, life, helping those in need, and he had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people.'
They added: 'We forgive those reportedly responsible for his death.'
Fishermen saw the tribe burying Chau's body on the beach, a fellow missionary wrote in an email to his mother Lynda Adams-Chau, the Washington Post reports.
But in an email to the Post, Adams-Chau said she believes her son is alive. When asked why, she said: 'My prayers.'
Indian police said a murder case had been registered against 'unknown' tribespeople and that the fishermen who allegedly helped Chau get to the island were arrested.
But Chau's family called for them to be released, saying that he had 'ventured out on his own free will.'
In their statement, they said: 'We also ask for the release of those friends he had in the Andaman Islands. He ventured out on his own free will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions.'
The Sentinelese who killed Chau can't be prosecuted as contact with them and several tribes on the islands is illegal in a bid to protect their indigenous way of life and shield them from diseases.
The Chau family posted this statement regarding his death on his Instagram account on Wednesday
Chau was a preacher who had visited the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the past, a police source said
Chau hired a fishing dinghy and, aided by the fishermen, reached the vicinity of the island on November 16, before transferring to a canoe (pictured, a canoe he used in October)
Chau's last Instagram post featured a picture of a waterfall (above) thought to be in the Andaman islands
'Adventure awaits. So do leeches,' Chau wrote in the caption for his final Instagram album on November 2
Meanwhile, one of Chau's friends revealed to DailyMail.com that he was 'committed' to travelling to the remote island, deep in the Indian Ocean, to preach Christianity to the tribesmen and had been planning the trip for at least three years.
Neil MacLeod, of Stornaway, Scotland, said he met Chau on a flight from London to Phoenix, Arizona, in October 2015.
'I saw him reading some Christian literature and I'm a Christian and we started talking,' he said.
MacLeod, 47, said Chau told him he had recently returned from India and was trying to figure out how to travel to the remote North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal.
'He mentioned that he wanted to go to these islands, the islands where he has now died,' MacLeod said. 'I had heard of these islands and I know how dangerous they are, so I was surprised by that.
If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though…
John Chau in his journal entry
'He recognized the dangers of travelling there, but I think he had a sense of call. This was something he was working on for three years. He was committed to going there. In his view, he was trying to help these people.
'There are islands that are nearby and he was making relationships and connections to help him get to the islands.'
Since the flight, MacLeod said he had emailed back and forth with Chau, who he described as 'magnetic' and 'charming.'
'He was a lovely character and wanted to help people. The thing that came across was what a delight it was to be in his company.
'He was such a warm and engaging and friendly kind of fellow. You might have an idea of what a missionary might be like, he was a million miles from that. I think he's a real loss. I'm just very sorry about what has happened.'
MacLeod said Chau was based in Portland, Washington, and working as an EMT at the time. He said he had helped during major incidents, including in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
'He was a free wheel so he would go to incidents, like major incidents around the world and look to help,' he said. He had worked with FEMA when he went down to Katrina. He was working there. He's worked in some pretty rough places.'
The North Sentinel island is out of bounds even to the Indian navy in a bid to protect its reclusive inhabitants who number only about 150
The Sentinelese tribe are an indigenous tribe who live on North Sentinal Island, lies around 450 miles from the coast of Thailand and more than 745 miles from mainland India
He also paid tribute to Chau on Twitter, writing: 'He readily spoke of his calling to serve the Sentinelese. His calling came from a higher authority. He died a servant of the Lord. Saddened by his loss. He was a lovely guy.'
Others flocked to Chau's Instagram to pay tribute, with one friend writing: 'You were a real explorer out to understand the boundaries of terrestrial human travels.
'Those boundaries are seemingly electric at first touch... and you were the first to touch.'
Another added: 'So proud of you John. You are a true hero and it was such an honor to know you. Thank you for your obedience and passion, it's inspiring.'
A police source told Reuters that Chau was a preacher who had visited the nearby Andaman and Nicobar islands in the past. Police have learned he had a strong desire to meet the Sentinelese and preach on the island
Chau was a Christian missionary who wanted to interact with members of the Sentinelese tribe, according to International Christian Concern.
William Stark, ICC's regional manager, paid tribute to Chau and condemned his killing.
'We here at International Christian Concern are extremely concerned by the reports of an American missionary being murdered in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
'Our thoughts and prayers go out to both John's family and friends. A full investigation must be launched in this this murder and those responsible must be brought to justice. India must take steps to counter the growing wave of intolerance and violence.'
Chau tried to reach the island on November 14 but couldn't make it, police sources said
He returned two days later better prepared. He left a dinghy midway and took a canoe to the island alone
Police launched an investigation after they were contacted by the US consulate in the southern city of Chennai, which had been in touch with Chau's mother.
A spokeswoman for the US consulate in Chennai said: 'We are aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
'When a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts,' she added, but declined to provide further details over privacy concerns.
Chau's Instagram shows he spent much of his time travelling and he documented his exploits on a blog called The Rugged Trail.
His last post on Instagram was shared on November 2. Alongside a series of pictures taken in the jungle, he wrote: 'Adventure awaits. So do leeches.'
Chau also spoke about his passion for travel in an interview with The Outbound Collective in 2014.
When asked where was on his 'must-do adventure list,' he said: 'Going back to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India is on the top - there's so much to see and do there!'
He also revealed his personal motto was: 'Make the most of every good opportunity today because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow!'
Speaking about his inspirations, he said: 'Adventurers like John Muir, Bruce Olson, and David Livingston inspire me to go travel and explore, and I definitely get my inspiration for life from Jesus.'
Meanwhile, Survival International, a London-based organization that has been campaigning to protect the indigenous tribes living in the Andamans, called Chau's death a 'tragedy' that should 'never have been allowed to happen.'
The group's international director, Stephen Corry, said: 'This tragedy should never have been allowed to happen. The Indian authorities should have been enforcing the protection of the Sentinelese and their island for the safety of both the tribe, and outsiders.
'Instead, a few months ago the authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribe's island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event.'
He added: 'It's not impossible that the Sentinelese have just been infected by deadly pathogens to which they have no immunity, with the potential to wipe out the entire tribe.
'The Sentinelese have shown again and again that they want to be left alone, and their wishes should be respected.'
John Chau's final letter and journal notes before he was killed
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