Skip to main content

The event that shocked the world, changed a people and inspired a nation

It was 4:30pm on Sunday, January 8, 1956. The radio at Shell Mera on the edge of the Amazon Jungle in Ecuador stood quiet. Marj, Betty, Barb, Olive and Marilou stood waiting in Shell Mera, Arajuno and Shandia. Waiting for the crackling sound of the radio. But it remained quiet. The next morning missionary pilot Johnny Keenan spotted Nate's yellow piper cruiser torn to pieces on a sandbar in the Curaray River, but he found no sign of the men. Immediately the news spread across the world, a rescue team was organized and prayers were sent heavenward in hopes that maybe they were in the jungle making their way slowly back to Arajuno.

The story above is true. It's the true story of 5 missionary wives who found themselves widowed after their husbands attempted to make friendly contact for the GOSPEL with a stone-age tribe of known killers. It's the true story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and the Waodani people. It's the true story of 5 missionary families so devoted to seeing the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST given to every nation, tribe and language that they were willing to die and to sacrifice in the biggest way imaginable.

I was first introduced to the story of the Ecuador 5 and the Waodani when my mama took me to a church service in a town about an hour from where we lived at the time. I was in 8th grade. My mama, grandma and older sister went. And we heard Steve Saint, the son of missionary pilot Nate Saint, share the story of his father's death, his growing up a missionary kid and then his ministry as an adult to the same people who killed his father. Then the really amazing thing happened. We got to hear Mincaye, one of the Waodani men who attacked the 5 missionary men, share the story of his people and how they were a changed people because of the 5 men, their wives and the saving grace of Waengongi (GOD in the Wao language). It was an incredible few hours listening to those two men and being transported to the Curaray River in the 1950s. And was topped off by my Grandma buying me a few books and getting to meet Steve and Mincaye in order to have them sign the books.

I was hooked.

Over the years, I have collected more books about the missionaries and the Waodani people. I traveled to Ecuador for my first mission trip because of my desire to see the country that changed my life in 8th grade. I have written papers and blogposts about the events of 1955-1960 that changed the lives of the Waodani people. I have followed Steve Saint and his ministry ITEC - Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center - over the years. And I have dreamed about going on a Wao Vision trip into the Amazon Jungle to meet and experience the life and culture of the Waodani people.

For the last few months I have been longing to re-read my stack of books on these families and people. So I decided February would be the perfect time to do that. And so far since the 1st, I have read 3 of the 9 that I have.

The Fate of the Yellow Woodbee by Dave & Neta Jackson (a great book for young readers)
Dayuma: Life Under Waorani Spears by Ethel Emily Wallis (a book from the perspective of Dayuma... a Waodani woman who escaped to a hacienda after an attack on her people)
Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot (a book written by one of the widows about 
Operation Auca... the actual planning and actions that lead to contact with the 
Waodani and the deaths of the 5 men)

All of them have made me cry (like always). All of them have made me shiver and shake because of the power the story holds. All of them have transported me back to the days when I was in 8th grade and first learning about this story and dreaming of the Curaray River. And all of them have had me dreaming of the day when JESUS returns and I find myself worshipping before the throne with the 5 men, their families and the Waodani people. United as one family, one people through the saving grace of Waengongi. 

"Following God's carving, we live well."
Mincaye and Kimo - 2 Waodani elders

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Classics Spin #2 is here!!!

So since the first Classic Spin was such a hit, the moderators over at the Classics Club decided to do another one. This Monday they will announce the number that is randomly picked between 1 and 20 and then whatever the title is that corresponds with the number is the Classic I need to try and read before July 1. I can pick any 20 titles from the my Classics Club list. For the last one I read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and loved it. Maybe I will have the same luck this time around. And so without further ado... Here is my Classic Spin List 2.0!! Already On My Shelf:  1. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer  2. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky  3. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte 5. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf 6. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell  Dreading:  7. Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine 8. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe 9. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson  10.

"Mansfield Park" Thoughts

I finished Jane Austen's Mansfield Park on Sunday and have just now sat down with the intention of writing about my final thoughts of it. I took a day of not starting any new books or do anything book related so that I could just sit, soak in the memories of Mansfield Park and form my thoughts about it for my wrap-up post. In my last post about Mansfield Park I wrote that I was falling in love with the book despite it having so many reviews against it. And I have to say that I finished the book absolutely loving it. While there were moments and characters in particular that drove me crazy and made me want to spit, I loved the story as a whole and Jane Austen's expert way of weaving a story that touches the heart.  It was my second book of Austen's that I have read in its entirety and was definitely worth every minute and even staying up way past my usual bedtime on Sunday to finish. I wrote in my first post about things I loved. The slowness of the story and the cha

A Classics Spin

The wonderful moderators over at the Classics Club decided to give us a little mini-challenge. A little spin on the Classics Club challenge to read at least 50 classics in 5 years. This mini-challenge is to make a list of 20 Classics from our lists that we haven't read yet...  they are calling it our Spin List . We can pick some that we are excited for, some we are dreading, some from our favorite authors or any number of combinations. We have to number the books 1 to 20 and then next week the moderators are going to pick and post a random number. Whatever that number is we have to read the corresponding book on our list by April 1st... even if it is one that we are dreading and just can't get into. I love this idea and am looking forward to it. I have been enjoying all of my reading so far this year, especially since I have been alternating between fiction and non-fiction. So, I think this is going to be a great way of picking what I read next. Without further ado... Here is m