He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose!

Jim Elliot (1927-1956) always wanted to be a missionary. He went to college with his focus on those activities which would help him to be a missionary. After he graduated, Elliot had the opportunity to go to Equador and he went there in 1952 with Peter Fleming. For more than three years they worked amongst the people establishing a missionary post and an airstrip. Jim Elliot married Elisabeth Howard in 1953. In 1955 they began their attempts to get to know the mysterious Auca tribe. These Auca or Waodani people were very violent and isolated.  Their culture threatened those around them, as well as their own existence. They decided to drop gifts to the Auca tribe from Nate Saint’s airplane. Eventually they agreed that the time was right for them to go into Auca territory. They flew in and established a base. They made initial contact with some members of the tribe and contacted the missionary post by radio to tell them that things were going well. This was the last time contact was made because he and the four others where speared to death by the Auca while trying to reach them with the gospel.  Not only did these men lay down their lives for the gospel, but the facts surrounding their death show their virtue and true value of eternity. When their bodies were discovered the gun that they had with them was still fully loaded. They were unwilling to pull the trigger on the unreached Auca, because they knew the eternal consequences of such a decision. Instead, they decided to be ushered into heaven by the hands of those they came to introduce heaven to. Later, Jim Elliot’s wife, and Nate Saint’s son would return to the Waodani, share the gospel with them, and see their entire culture be transformed through the power of Christ. This is what Missions is all about – reaching the lost at any cost!