CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
"Yet Have We Not Forgotten Thee"
Two days later we widows-already we were adjusting ourselves to the use of the word-sat together at the kitchen table in Shell Mera. Dr. Art Johnston was describing the finding of the bodies. He had just returned with the weary, straggling ground party. When he hesitated, we urged him to give us all the facts.
It was evident that death had been caused by lance wounds. But how had ten Aucas managed to overwhelm five strong men who were armed with guns? Over and over we asked ourselves this question. The only possible answer was an ambush. Somehow, the Aucas must have succeeded in convincing the men of their peaceful intentions. Nate had assured Marj that they would never allow Aucas with spears in their hands to approach them. Perhaps the "commission of ten" that Nate mentioned on the radio had been a decoy party. Certainly if this party had carried spears, Nate would have reported this and the men would have not looked forward so eagerly to their arrival. This group may have walked peacefully onto the beach while a second party, carrying spears, moved up under cover of the jungle foliage to carry out a surprise attack. It seems likely that the missionaries and the unarmed Aucas had been mingling together, as they had on the previous Friday, with friendly words and gestures. And then, at a secret signal ...
There was evidence of a struggle on the beach-marks of Ed's leather heels in the sand; one bullet hole through the windshield of the plane. However, no blood was found. If any Aucas had suffered, it was not apparent. Had the men tried to avoid shooting by backing into the river? A lance was found thrust into the sand in the river bottom near the body of Jim Elliot. The fact that all of the bodies were in the water might indicate that they had tried desperately to show the Aucas that they would shoot only as a last resort.
The condition of the Piper showed real malice. Possibly some Auca had punctured the fabric of the plane with a spear, and, finding it vulnerable, had begun to peel it off. Others helped, and soon they had denuded it completely, tossing the strips into the water nearby. But someone intended to put this man-carrying bird out of commission once and for all. Some of the framework was bent, and a part of the landing gear, made of tubular steel, was battered in as if by a very heavy object. The propeller and instrument panel, however, were intact. Perhaps to touch the "soul" of the creature was taboo, but they had torn the stuffing from the seats, as if to disembowel the flying beast.
Why, after the overtures of friendship on Friday, had the Aucas turned with such sudden and destructive anger on their white visitors on Sunday? The answer can only be guessed. Among the most qualified to venture a guess is Frank Drown, whose work with the Jivaros had given him shrewd insight into Indian thinking. He says: "An Indian, when he first hears or sees something new, will accept it. Perhaps he accepts merely from normal curiosity, but he does accept. But after he has had time to think about the novelty he begins to feel threatened, and that is the time when he may attack. A group of Indians will sit back and discuss a new contrivance or a new way of doing things with some eagerness; but the witch doctors, who are the real conservatives, can be counted on for rejection. They have a lot of authority and, when they work on their fellow tribesmen to re ject an innovation, the people seldom go contrary to their advice. As in any culture, the younger men may be looking for a new way of life, but the older ones hang on to their traditions and maintain the status quo. Furthermore, most Indians are basically and understandably skeptical of anything the white man offers him. And don't forget that, after all, this was the first time within memory that the Aucas have had an encounter with the white man which was completely friendly. We can only hope they are pondering that fact right now."
In the kitchen we sat quietly as the reports were finished, fingering the watches and wedding rings that had been brought back, trying for the hundredth time to picture the scene. Which of the men watched the others fall? Which of them had time to think of his wife and children? Had one been covering the others in the tree house, and come down in an attempt to save them? Had they suffered long? The answers to these questions remained a mystery. This much we knew: "Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it." There was no question as to the present state of our loved ones. They were "with Christ."
And, once more, ancient words from the Book of Books came to mind: "All this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee.... Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way, though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death."
The quiet trust of the mothers helped the children to know that this was not a tragedy. This was what God had planned. "I know my daddy is with Jesus, but I miss him, and I wish he would just come down and play with me once in a while," said three-year-old Stevie McCully. Several weeks later, back in the States, Stevie's little brother, Matthew, was born. One day the baby was crying and Stevie was heard to say, "Never you mind; when we get to Heaven I'll show you which one is our daddy." Was the price too great?
To the world at large this was a sad waste of five young lives. But God had His plan and purpose in all things. There were those whose lives were changed by what happened on Palm Beach. In Brazil, a group of Indians at a mission station deep in the Mato Grosso, upon hearing the news, dropped to their knees and cried out to God for forgiveness for their own lack of concern for fellow Indians who did not know of Jesus Christ. From Rome, an American official wrote to one of the widows: "I knew your husband. He was to me the ideal of what a Christian should be." An Air Force Major stationed in England, with many hours of jet flying, immediately began making plans to join the Missionary Aviation Fellowship. A missionary in Africa wrote: "Our work will never be the same. We knew two of the men. Their lives have left their mark on ours."
Off the coast of Italy, an American naval officer was involved in an accident at sea. As he floated alone on a raft, he recalled Jim Elliot's words (which he had read in a news report): "When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die." He prayed that he might be saved, knowing that he had more to do than die. He was not ready. God answered his prayer, and he was rescued. In Des Moines, Iowa, an eighteen-year-old boy prayed for a week in his room, then announced to his parents: "I'm turning my life over completely to the Lord. I want to try to take the place of one of those five."
Letters poured in to the five widows-from a college in Japan, "We are praying for you"; from a group of Eskimo children in a Sunday School in Alaska; from a Chinese church in Houston; from a missionary on the Nile River who had picked up Time magazine and seen a photograph of her friend, Ed McCully.
Only eternity will measure the number of prayers which ascended for the widows, their children, and the work in which the five men had been engaged. The prayers of the widows themselves are for the Aucas. We look forward to the day when these savages will join us in Christian praise.
Plans were promptly formulated for continuing the work of the martyrs. The station of Arajuno was manned to be ready in case the Aucas should come out for friendly contact. Gift flights were re sumed by Johnny Keenan, so that the Aucas would know, beyond any doubt, that the white man had nothing but the friendliest of motives. Revenge? The thought never crossed the mind of one of the wives or other missionaries.
Barbara Youderian returned to her work among the Jivaros, with the two little children, and I went back to Shandia with tenmonth-old Valerie to carry on as much as I could of the work of the Quichua station. Another pilot, Hobey Lowrance, with his family and a new plane, were sent to the mission airbase in Shell Mera, while Marj Saint took up a new post in Quito. After the birth of her third son in the United States, a few weeks after the death of her husband, Marilou McCully returned to Ecuador with her boys to work in Quito with Marj. For Olive Fleming, who had spent only two months in the jungle when her husband died, the problem regarding the future has been more difficult. But for her, as for all, one thing is certain: her life belongs to God, as had her husband's, and He will show the way.
In the months since the killing of the five men, Nate Saint's sister Rachel has continued with the study of the Auca language, working with the Auca woman, Dayuma. Many flights have been made over the houses of the Aucas. The first group of houses was found to have been burned, a common Auca practice after a killing, but not far away new houses were discovered, and gifts were dropped to the waiting Indians. When Johnny Keenan swoops over, "George" appears, jumping and waving the little model plane given him by Nate Saint. "Delilah" also seems to be there with him. Patches of bright yellow fabric from Nate's plane adorn the roofs of some of the houses.
Thousands of people in all parts of the world pray every day that "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" may be carried to the Aucas, a people almost totally unheard of before. How can this be done? God, who led the five, will lead others, in His time and way.
From among the Quichuas with whom Jim, Ed, and Pete worked, several have surrendered their lives to God for His use, to preach to their own people-or even to the Aucas, if He chooses. They have carried on the work begun by the missionaries, speaking to their relatives of Christ, reading the Scriptures that have been translated for them, traveling sometimes in canoes and over muddy trails to teach the Bible to others who do not know its message. A converted Indian, formerly a notorious drinker, came to me one day and said, "Senora, I lie awake at night thinking of my people. `How will I reach them?' I say. 'How will they hear of Jesus?' I cannot get to them all. But they must know. I pray to God, asking Him to show me what to do." In the little prayer meetings the Indians never forget to ask God to bless their enemies: "0 God, You know how those Aucas killed our beloved Senor Eduardo, Senor Jaime, and Senor Pedro. 0 God, You know that it was only because they didn't know You. They didn't know what a great sin it was. They didn't understand why the white men had come. Send some more messengers, and give the Aucas, instead of fierce hearts, soft hearts. Stick their hearts, Lord, as with a lance. They stuck our friends, but You can stick them with Your Word, so that they will listen, and believe."
For the wives and relatives of the five men, the mute longing of their hearts was echoed by words found in Jim Elliot's diary: "I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting, delicious, to stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart, to gaze and glory and give oneself again to God-what more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, and smile into His eyes-ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself.
"0 Jesus, Master and Center and End of all, how long before that Glory is thine which has so long waited Thee? Now there is no thought of Thee among men; then there shall be thought for nothing else. Now other men are praised; then none shall care for any other's merits. Hasten, hasten, Glory of Heaven, take Thy crown, subdue Thy Kingdom, enthrall Thy creatures."