Elliot & the Auca Indians
Missionary Stories with the Millers, Chapter 11
By Mildred A. Martin
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he
cannot lose." Jim Elliot
Jim Elliot was a boy who loved Jesus. One
day a friend of his parents asked him if he was
going to be a preacher when he grew up. “I don’t know,” Jim
replied. “But I would like to tell someone about Jesus, that never heard of Him before!”
And that is just what happened.
When Jim grew up, he and his wife Betty
were missionaries to the Indians in South
America. They met a missionary from Ecuador,
who told them about the needs of the Indians in
that country. There were several different tribes
of Indians living in the jungle. Some of them were being taught
by missionaries already. Others had
never heard of Jesus. One of these tribes was a
wild and savage people called Aucas!
The Aucas were great hunters in the jungle.
They hunted wild pigs, monkeys, and jaguars with
their spears and bows and arrows. Auca Indians
always went barefoot, and they could recognize
another person’s footprint like we recognize the
faces of our friends!
But the Aucas didn’t know
about Jesus. Their lives were dark and sad and
full of fear. They had many cruel customs. If they
saw anyone in the jungle who was not of their tribe,
they would sneak up and kill them with their
spears. They also speared each other, killing their
own friends and relatives during the slightest
When a man killed another man, the family of the dead man would hunt for the killer and
spear him too. Often parents killed their own children, just because they were tired of taking care
of them. Everyone was always afraid of being suddenly killed! That is how people live, when they
don’t know anything about Jesus or God’s laws or
how to be kind.
Jim and Betty Elliot and their friends felt
sorry for the Auca Indians. They wanted to help
them learn about Jesus, so they could be free from
their darkness and fear. But how could they get
into the Auca’s village without being killed?
Several missionary families built themselves
houses in the jungle. They lived with the friendly
tribe of Quichua Indians, across the river from the
Aucas. They learned the Indian language, and
preached to them about Jesus. Many of the
Quichua Indians became Christians.
could not forget about the poor sad Auca Indians.
He wanted to tell them about Jesus, too!
There was one Auca girl who lived with the
friendly Quichua Indians. Her name was Dayuma,
and she had run away from the Aucas several
years before when someone was trying to kill her.
Now the missionaries talked with her, to learn the
The missionaries decided to try flying their
little plane over the Auca village, and dropping
gifts to the Indians. They hoped that this would
be a way to make friends with the Aucas! They
would put the presents in a bucket at the end of a
strong fishing line, and lower it down from the
open door of the plane. Nate Saint, the pilot, experimented until he found a way to release the
bucket from the line and set it on the ground.
The first gift was a shiny aluminum kettle
with a lid. Inside they put twenty brightly colored
buttons, not for the Indian’s clothes, because the
Auca Indians didn’t wear any clothes! But Jim thought the
Indians might like to string the buttons and use them for decorations.
The first time Nate and Jim flew over the
Auca village, the people were all frightened and
hid inside their houses. A brisk wind buffeted the
small plane as Nate tried to hold it steady over
the group of thatched houses. Cautiously Jim
reeled out the line. The kettle almost got caught
in the trees, and he pulled it back a little. . . then
set it down gently right in front of the biggest
The next time Jim and his
friends brought the gifts to another house, so the
Aucas would not get jealous of each other. And this time when
the Indians heard the plane coming over, they ran out of their houses! They
watched excitedly as the gift was lowered from the
plane. A gust of wind blew the gift-bucket toward
the river, and splash! It dropped in. Then, quick
as a wink, there was another splash! as an Indian
dived in for the treasure. They soon found it, and
stood around talking happily. Jim saw a sight that
thrilled him: an old man waving with his arms as
if to say, “Come down!” As the plane turned and
flew away, Jim prayed: Lord, send me to the Aucas!
Every week after that, the missionaries made
another flight to drop gifts to the Auca Indians.
They gave them shirts, knives, and plastic cups,
candy and a flashlight. They began to fly lower
and lower above the Auca village, and would lean
out the door of the plane to shout at the Indians:
“We are your friends! We would like to visit you!”
On the sixth
flight, after the Aucas had taken
the gift bucket, they held onto the line for a few
minutes. When they let it go, it came up with a
present for the missionaries: a headband woven
of feathers! The next time they sent a basket back
up on the line. In the basket was a beautiful tame
parrot, with a banana for the parrot to eat! Jim
and his friends praised the Lord. It seemed like
the Aucas were becoming friendly.
Other people said, “You fellows are crazy to
waste all that good stuff on the Aucas. They will
be just as mean as before.” But the missionaries
kept praying that God would make the Auca Indians friendly, so that they could tell them about
After about two months of flying over the
Auca village with gifts, the missionaries decided
it was time to land on a little beach beside the
river, close to where the Aucas lived. They would
build themselves a tree house to live in, and try to
talk to the Aucas.
There were five men altogether: Jim, Nate,
and three others named Pete, Roger, and Ed. They
prayed and talked with their wives for a long time
before they made the decision to move into the
Auca’s country. All of them knew very well that it
was dangerous. But they loved God and knew that
they belonged to Him. They were not afraid to die
and go to heaven.
So they landed their plane beside the river
and built a house in a tall tree. Some of the men
flew over the Auca village again, calling: “Come
down to the river! We want to visit you there!”
Then they camped and waited.
On the third day, the men were sitting in their
camp, when suddenly they heard a shout from
across the river! Their hearts jumped as they
turned to look. Three Aucas were stepping out of
the woods: a man and two women. Calling out,
“Welcome! Welcome!” in the Auca language, Jim
waded across to meet them. He took their hands
and helped them back across to the missionaries’
camp. The five missionaries tried hard to show
the Aucas that they wanted to be friends. They
gave them food and gifts, and smiled and talked.
They soon nicknamed the Auca man “George”, and
when “George” asked for a ride in the plane, they
were happy to give him one! They flew the plane
low over the Auca village once more, and George
laughed with delight as he recognized his home.
He leaned out to wave and yell at the other Aucas.
When the plane landed back at camp, the five
missionaries gave thanks to God out loud, looking
up toward the sky so that the three Aucas could
see what they were doing.
That night the three Aucas returned to their
village. They did not invite the missionaries to
come with them, so Jim and his friends stayed at
their camp. That was on Friday. On Sunday, Nate
called his wife on the radio to say that a big group
of Auca men were coming. “Just in time for a
church service!” he told her excitedly. “This is the
big day! I’ll call you back this afternoon and let
you know what happens!”
So the missionaries’ wives waited eagerly
that afternoon. They were hoping to find out if
the men had been able to visit the Auca’s village.
But the afternoon passed, and the men did not
call as they had promised. Night came on and the women began to
worry. What could have happened? Were the missionaries safe?
The next day
more men took another plane and flew over the
camp. They brought back sad news: Jim and Nate
and their friends were all dead. The Auca Indians had killed them with their spears!
The five missionaries had guns with them in
their camp, but they did not use them to fight the
Indians. When the Auca men came toward them
with their spears, they did not shoot back with
their guns. They knew that if they would shoot
the Indians, they could probably save their own
lives. But then they would never be able to teach
the Aucas about Jesus! So they chose to let themselves be killed, and let the Aucas have another
chance to become Christians.
The Aucas always remembered those five
strange white men who had been so kind to them
and had not tried to kill them. And so a year later
when more missionaries tried again to speak to
the Aucas about Jesus, they were ready to listen.
Several of the men who had helped to kill Jim and
his friends with their spears now became Christians. One of them
gave his testimony at a meeting. He counted on his fingers and said, “I have
killed twelve people with my spear! But I did that
when my heart was black. Now Jesus’ blood has
washed my heart clean, so I don’t live like that
anymore.” God’s love had changed his life!
The death of these five brave missionaries happened on
January 8, 1956 Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed
McCully, and Pete Fleming did much for the Kingdom of God.
Not only did the Aucas learn about Jesus’ forgiveness and
love, but many other people all over the world decided to
serve the Lord too after they heard the story.
To order this
Missionary Stories with the Millers,
Don L. Martin at Green Pastures Press.
Copyright 1993. All Rights Reserved. Published on this website by permission
of Green Pastures Press. No part of this chapter may reproduced in any
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