A ROCKY FOUNDATION

    An actual photo taken by one of the five missionaries. In December 1957 a young marine climbed aboard a bus bound for south California. Chuck was depressed and felt that God had forgotten him, even though he had seldom included God in his life. He would soon leave Cynthia, his bride of two years and family and friends for service in Okinawa. His brother seeing his panic and need of help gave him a book and admonished him to read it. Chuck muttered, “Oh sure”. What kind of book does he want me to read now? Chuck wondered. However once on the bus he opened the book and began to read. The story of five men willing to give up their lives for God captured his interest, especially since they were not much older than he was. The bus arrived in the marine base long before he had finished the book, but he couldn’t put it down. He found the only light available –in the washroom – and there he stayed until he had finished the book. The book through the gates of splendor by ...

                              The initial mission to reach the Auca tribe with the gospel ended abruptly one Sunday afternoon as five young men lay dead on the Sandbar along the Curaray River in the jungle of Ecuador. The missionaries’ first contact with the tribe ended in death of them all by spearing. The Auca men involved in the killing along with others, who witnessed it, were deeply affected by two things that transcended their own experience. The first was the fact that the white men refrained from using their guns, thereby sparing the Indian’s lives. Had the missionary intentions been good after all? The second was even further beyond their comprehension. The killers heard singing, not from the beach where the bodies now lay, but from above the trees on the river bank. Looking up they saw an array of bright light. Frightened, they kept th...

    Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian and Ed McCully were college friends working as missionaries in Ecuador. Before deciding to serve God as missionaries they were doing well in different fields and had great potentials in life. Jim was both a wrestler and a writer. Ed, president of his college class, had played football and won his senior oratory contest. Everyone had expected him to go to law school. Pete was a missionary and Roger was a veteran of the World War II paratroopers. While working in a nearby tribe they heard about the Auca Indians and their need for Christ. For years they prayed for this primitive group. Then they decided to move into their region in an attempt to learn the Auca language, translate the Bible, and share the gospel. The four men teamed up with Nate Saint a missionary pilot for Missions Aviation Fellowship.  They began making regular over flights to drop gifts from the plane. The Aucas signaled their understanding and des...