Jim Elliot (1927-1956) knew that God was calling him as a missionary. God had prepared his heart. And now, in anticipation, Jim was preparing in every way he could to reach the Auca of Ecuador. In the local language, ‘Auca’ meant ‘savage’, such was this tribe of indigenous people, considered violent and dangerous to outsiders.
Working with four other young men, things went well at
first. Contact had been made and the few that they had reached appeared to be
friendly. All that changed on 8 January 1956. The five young men were able to
land their light aircraft on a sandbar, on the side of a river, in the Auca’s
territory. Within minutes of arriving, the Auca warriors had thrown their
spears, killing all five missionaries.
Remarkably, Jim’s wife Elisabeth (1926-2015) went to
live with the Auca, from October 1958, with her three-year-old daughter Valerie,
along with Rachel Saint (1914-1994), sister of Nate Saint
(1923-1956), one of the other martyrs. Elisabeth worked with them until 1963.
Jim Elliot recorded a note in his diary in 1949, later
discovered by Elisabeth. It reads:
