Operation Auca
On January 8, 1956, five young American missionaries were speared to death on a remote beach in Ecuador by the Auca (Huaorani) tribe they had come to reach with the Gospel.
Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian had spent months preparing for this first contact. They had flown over the Auca village, dropping gifts and learning phrases in their language. Finally, they landed on a sandbar they called "Palm Beach" and waited.
The Attack
For three days, they had friendly contact with three Aucas. Then, without warning, a larger group attacked. The missionaries had guns but refused to use them against the very people they had come to save. All five were killed.
Jim Elliot had written in his journal years earlier: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
The Killers Find Christ
But the story didn't end there. Jim's wife Elisabeth, along with Nate Saint's sister Rachel, eventually went to live among the Aucas. Many of the tribe, including some of the men who had killed the missionaries, came to faith in Christ. The tribe was transformed from one of the most violent in the Amazon to a peaceful Christian community.
Mincaye, one of the killers, later said: "We acted badly, badly until they brought us God's carvings [the Bible]. Now we walk God's trail."
