Ecuador: Understanding the History

There is a history behind Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) - the organization we spent time working with. MAF is the ministry that the "End of the Spear" story came from. For those not familiar with that story, here are some pictures to help explain the history I was able to be part of during my time in Ecuador. It involves five men in the 1950's willing to risk it all for the furthering of the message of Christ.

This is the Nate Saint House. He was one of the five men, and this building is located within MAF, across the street from their hanger and airstrip. It was recently renovated, and includes the End of the Spear history, a large meeting room, and housing for missionaries and guests upstairs.

These were stamps of the 5 missionaries - Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Flemming, and Roger Youderian. They brought their wives and children to Ecuador to reach the Waodani people - an untouched, savage group of indians known for spearing other white men and indian tribes.

These men used small airplanes to go deep into the jungle. The wives were back at the base, communicating with the men with radio and headsets like these. This basket and/or ones similar were used to send items down out of the plane to the Waodani - they would send gifts like pants and machetes. They also included pictures of the men so the indians would become familiar with who they were before attempting contact. Sometimes the indians sent items back up to the men in the basket - most famous was the macaw bird.

This is the kitchen in the Nate Saint house. There is a famous picture of the missionary wives sitting around a table hearing the news of their husbands' deaths - this is where that picture was taken.

This is Palm Beach, where the 5 men had set up camp, had initial peaceful contact with the Waodani, then were speared. We were able to fly over it on our way back from visiting a village of Waodani - the group we visited were believers, and one was a pastor that visited other villages, spreading the Gospel. It was _______ (neat? amazing? unbelievable? a blessing? Hard to think of a word to describe the experience...) to be able to be a part of that story and see how the work started back in the 50's has continued.

I have always apprecaited and have been interested in this story and being able to see and gain a better understanding of it made the whole trip very memorable.