Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim, collated their journals and filled in the gaps with first-hand knowledge. Their bodies were found a few days later on a beach. This is probably one of the most famous missionary stories in the world.įive men, sold out for God, entered the dangerous territory of the Auca tribe in Ecuador in the 1950's to try and reach them with the Gospel. One of them married my daughter, the other one, Lars Gren, married me.

After his death I had two lodgers in my home. It also included, in 1969, a marriage to Addison Leitch, professor of theology at Gordon Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts. Since then, my life has been one of writing and speaking. I remained there for two years.Īfter having worked for two years with the Aucas, I returned to the Quichua work and remained there until 1963 when Valerie and I returned to the U.S.

They were the key to my going in to live with the tribe that had killed the five missionaries. I continued working with the Quichua Indians when, through a remarkable providence, I met two Auca women who lived with me for one year. Our daughter Valerie was 10 months old when Jim was killed. After a friendly contact with three of the tribe, they were speared to death. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. The Aucas were in that category - a fierce group whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. In nineteen fifty three we were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. My studies in classical Greek would one day enable me to work in the area of unwritten languages to develop a form of writing.Ī year after I went to Ecuador, Jim Elliot, whom I had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. By that time, the family had increased to four brothers and one sister. Our family continued to live in Philadelphia and then in New Jersey until I left home to attend Wheaton College. Some of my contemporaries may remember the publication which was used by hundreds of churches for their weekly unified Sunday School teaching materials. and lived in Germantown, not far from Philadelphia, where my father became an editor of the Sunday School Times. When I was a few months old, we came to the U.S. From the Author's Web Site: My parents were missionaries in Belgium where I was born.

Through gates of splendor book