Leitch in 1969, a professor of philosophy and religion at Tarkio College, Missouri. When she returned, she spent her time writing and speaking all around the country. She returned to the Quechua mission in 1961 to continue translation work, and moved back to the US in 1963. She wrote The savage my kinsman (1961), No graven image (1966), and These strange ashes (1975) about her missionary experience among that people. When asked later why she returned to minister to those who killed her husband, Elisabeth wrote: ‘The fact that Jesus Christ died for all makes me interested in the salvation of all, but the fact that Jim loved and died for the Aucas intensifies my love for them’. Many of the tribe, including those who killed Jim Elliot and the other men, were converted during those years. Just one year after Through the gates of splendor was published, Elisabeth and Valerie Elliot, Rachel Saint, and Dayuma (a refugee Auca) arrived once more among the Auca Indians and lived among them, teaching the gospel and translating the Scriptures into their language. She also wrote Shadow of the Almighty, a biography of her husband. In 1957 she wrote Through the gates of splendor, which told the story of Operation Auca and the reason why her husband and the other men risked their lives for the advance of the gospel. Heartbroken but continuing to trust God’s will, Elisabeth continued to work with the Quechuas in Ecuador. Along with Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian and Pete Fleming, Jim began to make contact with the Aucas in 1955-6 through a loudspeaker and gifts handed down with a basket from an aeroplane.Įncouraged by their first contact with the tribe, the men made their last trip to ‘Palm beach’ on the Curaray River on 8 January 1956, when they were martyred by ten Auca warriors.
While they were working with the Quechuas, Jim felt a call to share the gospel with the hostile Waorani or Auca Indians. Shortly after, their daughter Valerie was born in 1955. They were married on 8 October 1953 and it was the happiest time of their lives. Then, by God’s providence, Elisabeth joined Jim on the mission field in Ecuador.
They waited five long years, during which they wrote and met up occasionally. This was hard for both of them and, after graduating, they parted ways Jim to his home in Oregon, while Elisabeth attended a Bible college in Alberta, Canada. Jim liked her as well, but thought that the Lord was calling him to a single life, perhaps for a short time, on the mission field. Jim Elliot was also interested in missions, and after some months of getting to know him, Elisabeth really liked him. Not one for social life, Elisabeth studied hard but had no aspiration for dating - until her brother became best friends and roommate with one of her classmates, Jim Elliot. She was heavily involved on campus as an editorial writer for the school paper, a member of the debating team, a member of the debate fraternity Phi Kappa Delta, and a student of classical Greek. Her goal was to become a Bible translator. After attending a Christian boarding school, she entered university at Wheaton College in Illinois in 1944. They were part of the Belgian Gospel Mission, but moved back to the US when she was just a few months old.Īs she grew up in her godly home, she knew she wanted to be a missionary and set goals to work on the mission field after college.
Early yearsĮlisabeth was born to missionary parents, Phillip and Katherine Howard, in Brussels, Belgium, on 21 December 1926. Inspired by her faith and obedience in the face of suffering, many have obeyed the Great Commission and sought to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. Her books, speaking tours and godly example have encouraged and taught hundreds of thousands all over the globe. If one thinks of Christian women of influence, Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of missionary martyr Jim Elliot, certainly comes to mind.
Yet her story of mission and perseverance will live on. The widow of missionary Jim Elliot, who was killed by Auca Indians in 1956, has died at 88 after a battle with dementia.
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