Ecuador (MNN) — This month marked 70 years since the martyrdom of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian. It’s an anniversary that continues to shape the heart of missions — and the lives of those who came after them.
Saint was a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). On January 8, 1956, he and four fellow missionaries were killed on a jungle beach in Ecuador by the very tribe they were attempting to reach with the Gospel.
Gene with Nate, Shandia, 1955. (Photo, caption courtesy of Gene Jordan/MAF)
For Gene Jordan, a former MAF pilot who spent 22 years serving in Ecuador, the story is personal. Jordan’s parents were missionaries in Ecuador starting in 1951 with a different mission organization.
“My parents knew all the missionaries in those early days,” he says. “I have a picture of myself sitting on Nate’s knee in the little jungle station of Shandia where the Elliots worked. I don’t remember it; I was too young. But what I do remember is always knowing of Nate with an airplane serving other people in the jungle.”
As a teenager, Jordan spent his time at the MAF base in Shell, Ecuador, helping however he could — fueling and washing planes, loading cargo, and buckling in passengers.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Gene Jordan/MAF)
“I saw the difference the airplane made in the jungle communities. But more than that, I saw the impact and the effect that the pilots had in living out their faith and caring for people,” says Jordan.
“I decided this might be something that I could do, and I go back to the influence when I was young — of always knowing about MAF, knowing MAF pilots, seeing what they did, and the main one being Nate Saint because he was in Ecuador. I grew up with his kids and his widow, Aunt Marge. So it was always an influence in my life.”
Seven decades after the killings, it still echoes today – the faith legacy of these men, their widows, and a surrender to God’s will.
Jordan says, “When the five guys were killed on that day, the widows’ worlds fell apart. But…I never heard any of them say or write that they doubted that God was not in control.
“I have a letter that Elizabeth Elliot wrote my mom just a couple weeks after Jim was killed. In it, she says, ‘My house feels empty, but Jim died doing exactly what he felt God would have him do in the fullness of his manhood, and I cannot fault God for anything.’
Elisabeth Elliot with spears retrieved from the bodies. (Photo, caption courtesy of Gene Jordan/MAF)
“Today, we have 70 years of being able to look back and see what God has done.”
As believers remember the sacrifice of these five men and the steadfast faith of their families, the question remains deeply personal.
What mission field is God calling you to?
Learn more about MAF’s ministry here.
Header photo: Five widows in Shell, following the return of the search party. (Photo, caption courtesy of Gene Jordan/MAF)
