The Lord is still at work in Ecuador!

Waodani Baptized Where Missionaries Were Slain 50 Years Ago

by Ralph Kurtenbach, missionary, HCJB World Radio.

Christian believers of the once-feared Waodani Indians were baptized in Ecuador’s Curaray River exactly 50 years after their forebears speared to death five missionaries attempting to reach the tribe with the gospel.
Ten young people were immersed by Waodani church leaders on Sunday, Jan. 8. The baptisms were accompanied by choruses of “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” sung by 200 onlookers. Alternating between Spanish and Waodani, the crowd earlier sang in English and languages indigenous to Ecuador—Quichua, Shuar and Cofán.
A Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane circled overhead briefly during the two-hour service at Toñampari in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. The baptisms took place on the opposite shore near the beach where Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint and Roger Youderian were killed on Jan. 8, 1956, by the Waodani (then known by the Quichua term “Auca,” meaning “savage”). The Indians later recounted that they believed the outsiders to be cannibals.
One baptismal candidate had received Christ through Tementa whose father, Nenquiwui “George,” had misinformed the tribe about the missionaries’ intentions, leading to their martyrdom. Tementa was later instrumental in helping translators produce the Waodani New Testament.
Two aging Waodani from the raiding party in 1956, Dyuwi and Kimo, attended the baptisms, as did family members of the missionary martyrs. Christian communion followed the baptisms with morsels of ripe plantain and fruit drink used as the elements.

Fleming, 79, traveled from Iowa for the Sunday service and the 2½-day Waodani conference earlier. Upon meeting Kimo, the two embraced and got acquainted through a translator. In 1956 Fleming was teaching the Zulus of South Africa when he learned of his brother’s death. Amid the loss, his missionary work continued.
“Kimo, we now know, is the man who definitely speared my brother,” Fleming said later. “It’s just been an absolute delight for me to see the glow of Christ in his face. He and his wife, Dawa, are leaders in the church and have gone on well for the Lord.”
Summarizing Waodani culture before the introduction of the gospel, Kimo said, “We had killings day after day, week after week, and year after year. Now things are different.” His comments were translated to Spanish, then to English.
Warmth and friendship also characterized conversations between the Waodani and missionary Bert Elliot, 81, whose brother was killed. He traveled from Trujillo, Peru, with his wife, Colleen, 77, a foster son and another missionary. “I think that forgiveness for others comes with the knowledge of our own forgiveness before God,” Elliot said. Since 1949 the Elliots have served with a mission agency called Christian Missions in Many Lands (CMML).
Of the transformation that began in the Waodani with the five missionaries’ deaths, former Wycliffe anthropologist Jim Yost used a metaphor. “Satan takes a big rock and slams it into a pool of quiet water, hoping for destruction,” said Yost, known as Wadika among the Waodani. Having lived with them on and off since 1973, he said he’s enjoyed the privilege of experiencing firsthand the resulting ripples that reflect God’s light, joy, beauty and love.
“These are some of the most beautiful people on earth,” Yost told his audience. “I love them.”
Other martyrs’ family members were also there, including a couple from Montana with ties to both Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, and the grandson of Nate Saint.

Nate Saint's sister, Rachel Saint, worked among the Waodani until her death of cancer in 1994. She is buried in Toñampari—home to the elderly Dayuma who as a teenager fled the violence. Dayuma later translated Waodani phrases that the five missionaries used in the attempted friendly contact, and afterwards served as a valuable liaison for the peaceful entry of Rachel and Elisabeth into the Waodani area.
Retired Wycliffe missionaries Bub Borman and Don Johnson recalled their part in a hasty burial of their friends days after the killings. They were thrilled to see what God has done among the Waodani. An Argentine Bible institute director traveled from Ukraine for the event, called “Conference of Thanksgiving,” which culminated with the baptisms. CMML missionary Lloyd Rogers said the Waodani initiated the event, and his staff helped implement the plans.
A church leader, Kawi, reminded the crowd at the riverside of a sixth martyr killed by the Waodani. Accounts during the conference told how Toña (the village later was later named for him) intended to reach out in Christian love to rival Waodani living downriver in the mid-1960s. He too was killed, but the descendants of that downriver group were among the crowd. “We’ll continue to see results of that fruit of what Toña did and what the five [missionary martyrs] did,” Kawi said.
Waodani came by canoe and on foot from half a dozen villages, some walking for three days. Conference speakers spoke pointedly to the third generation since Christianity entered the tribe, challenging teens about their lukewarm response to Jesus Christ.
Preaching from the Gospel of Matthew, Dyuwi’s son, Pegonka, said that "possessing a Bible or being baptized alone” does not constitute salvation. At the baptisms days later, Rogers echoed this, calling baptism an “important step" following one's decision to receive Christ as Savior.
Another conference speaker said youth must learn to read the Scriptures in Waodani, not just in Spanish. The first New Testament in Waodani, translated by Rosie Jung and Catherine Peeke of Wycliffe, was dedicated in 1992. Some Old Testament stories also have been translated.
Concerns also surfaced for the salvation of the Taromenane and the Tagaeri—small hostile groups of Waodani who still have not heard the gospel.