Jim Elliot (1927-1956) was driven by a single, overwhelming passion to share the gospel with the Auca tribe (now the Waorani people) living deep in the Ecuador jungle. The tribe was considered dangerous and violent. Some thought Jim was foolish to even attempt a mission to reach them. Yet Jim lived by the motto, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim was accompanied into the jungle by a pilot, Nate Saint, along with three other missionaries. Initial friendly overtures were well-received. Yet the threat of outsiders created panic in the tribe and the five were speared to death.
Jim left behind his wife Elizabeth and their infant daughter Valerie. This is not where the story ends. Nate’s sister Rachel, Elizabeth and ten-month-old Valerie took up residence among the Auca tribe and fulfilled the dream to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ. Rachel and Elizabeth slept in hammocks, cooked over open fires and bathed in the Curaray River. Elizabeth stayed two years and later became adjunct professor at Gordon Conwell Seminary during the time I studied there. Rachel spent her life among the Waorani people, translating the Bible into their dialect. The message of Christ’s forgiveness was played out in real time. Warriors who had killed Rachel’s brother and Elizabeth’s husband became Christians. Two of them, Mincayo and Kimo, became pastors and baptized two of Nate’s children. You can’t make this up!
The following prayer entered in Jim Elliot’s journal epitomized the way he lived: