Story of a missionary team that lost their lives to save a people group.
Bringing Jesus to the most feared people group in the world, The Aucas's!
In January 1956, 5 men, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Peter Fleming and Nate
Saint set out to reach one of the most feared people groups of our time, The Auca's which
means "savages" live in the Amazon forest of Ecuador. These people lived in
fear, a paranoid people killing anyone and often their own people. It has been said that
nobody has lived over night in this village, afraid they where going to be killed by
intruders the Auca's would kill first, spearing anyone who attempted to make contact,
often spearing within there own group, a downward cycle thinking everyone was out to spear
them. In the first week of January 1956 5 missionaries sensing a call from God to reach
out to The Auca's landed on this island and made contact, they came as friends to bring
the love of Jesus.
The Auca's feared all outsiders and lured the men out of their camp and slaughtered
them, they speared all 5 men. After the death of her brother Rachael Saint and Elizabeth
after the death of her husband went to live and work among the Auca's who are now named
The Woadanni. The darkness and fear has been removed and replaced with love, the
unconditional love of God seen in Rachael and Elizabeth Elliot. Through the work of
Wycliffe Translators the Woadanni now read scripture in their own language. They have
built a small church and several bible verses hang on the wall, one of the people said
"they have never heard of someone willing to die for someone else, they always
killed" now John 3:16 hangs on the wall of the building. One of the five missionaries
journaled this thought before his death "He is know fool who gives up what he can not
keep to gain what he can not loose" All the participants to the spearing of the five
have accepted Christ and live in love not fear, one of their wives tells about how the men
will carve marks on the trees when they go on a hunt, she says it marks a reliable path to
follow and not get lost, they call the bible Gods carving a reliable path that they now
follow.
Kimo one of the participants, is now their pastor, he talks about his upbringing,
"my father was speared while he sat in his lap, his mother tried to run but they
speared her too, later they speared his brothers" Dyuwi another participant, says he
lived fleeing enemies, they would come to spear and we would have to flea and then spear
or be speared. The Woadanni know about Gods love, their village is transformed and they
want to reach out, one of them says "we must tell others, how will they know if we
don't tell them, we speared because we did not know" In November 1994 Steve Saint a
nephew of Rachael Saint came to visit her jungle home, two of the men that speared Steve's
father baptized him in the river, From the request of the Woadanni and the obedience to
God Steve his wife and children now call this jungle their home. The Woadanni want help to
better understand the outside world, to help them be self supportive in their church, to
teach them about medicine and protect them from companies and tourists from taking
advantage of them.
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