In 1891 the first Sisters came to Sabah to help the priests, especially in the task of evangelising the women, and helping them through education and doing medical work among them.

In the course of the years, more and more priests and sisters came, and more and more mission stations were opened. In the 1930s, Mill Hill Brothers arrived to assist the priests in the building of churches, schools and dwelling houses and to train carpenters for the kampungs. In 1956 a group of Brothers started a development project in Bundu Tuhan. With infinite patience and great dedication, they have been instrumental in bringing prosperity to a once very poor district.

But even more important than all these types of missionary work was preparing the minds of the people and make them aware of their own capabilities, and of their responsibilities towards their own brothers and sisters, their own people. A seminary was started and a congregation for local Sisters was formed. A Carmel was built and Catechists were trained. The first Sisters were professed in 1941; the first local priests were ordained in 1946; the Sisters in the Carmel are all local Sisters.