The Jesuits’ mission in Huron was more difficult than their previous missions in Latin America. In other missions, the Jesuits had had a relatively easy time converting local populations to Christianity. In Huron however, Jean de Brébeuf found that conversion would not be so easy. The native people in Huron had their own spiritual beliefs and did not want to be forced to switch to Christianity. They were also angry with European missionaries, because Europeans were to blame for the diseases that were killing their people. Brébeuf thus had to write to Jesuits who were coming to serve and advise that they should not expect the Huron people to eagerly listen and accept new religious views.

Brébeuf also had to advise missionaries to modify their expectations of others, because the social norms in Huron society were different than those in Western Europe. For example, many of the Huron women were openly resistant to the patriarchal structure and teachings of the Christian Church. Many Huron men also rejected the sedentary aspect of European lifestyles. The Jesuit missionaries thus had to understand that not all people thought like Europeans and that the different social ideologies they would encounter would make their work challenging.