After re-reading Through Gates of Splendour recently I wanted to dig deeper into the story and the
remarkable ways that God works. This book tells the story of five men who said yes, and said yes
knowing they were giving their lives entirely to God. They had a particular burden for the Auca
Indians of Ecuador, a tribe known for killing other Indians let alone the hated white man. Yet these
men, alongside their wives and families, obeyed God in pursuit of sharing the Gospel with this
tribe. The story went international in January 1956 after the five American missionaries were
found speared to death by a group of Auca warriors in the Ecuadorian jungle. The story is told in
this book by Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the young men who was killed.

I was vaguely aware that Elisabeth Elliot had remained in Ecuador as a missionary and also aware
that the deaths of the five men had somehow led to the Auca tribe being reached. It took me a
while to work out which book held the next part of the story, and then longer again to manage to
get hold of it. It was worth it though, and reading it was much quicker as it completely gripped me.

The Savage My Kinsman picks up with the death of the five missionaries and the group of
missionary volunteers, Quichua Indians, Ecuadorian soldiers, and American airmen returning to
confirm to the waiting wives the death of all five of the men. Elisabeth Elliot says that at this point
she was “forced back to the real reasons for missionary work – indeed, the real reasons for living
at all.” She remained in their home, with her young daughter, and continued the work with the
Quichua Indians all the while praying, as her husband Jim had, about reaching the Auca Indians.

God brings about events whereby Elisabeth Elliot, her then 3 year old daughter Valerie, and Rachel
Saint, sister of one of the men also killed, go to live amongst the Auca tribe. That is, amongst the
very people who had killed her husband (and Rachel’s brother). This book covers their first year of
living amongst the Auca. Through it we do learn more about what happened to the five men, but
we also learn more about the Auca tribe, which in turn Elisabeth finds also shows her own need
and weaknesses before God. As she leans in to God to understand what it means to be a
missionary and how she can share Christ with the Aucas, she reflects on the distractions we often
add to the Gospel message and that if He is The Life of All Ages, as John refers to Christ in his first
epistle, then surely, He is equally the Life of All Cultures. Her life among the Auca trying to learn
and study their language and trying to simply live alongside them is incredible. Her descriptions
are detailed and vivid and very much take you to the Ecuadorian jungle beside her. The book is
based around a series of photos which she took throughout that year which also add colour (even
though they are black and white photos) to the book.

This book is a powerful biography written openly and honestly by Elisabeth Elliot. It made me think
and challenged my own perceptions of loving others, sharing the Gospel, and living a life of
obedience to God. A passage towards the end of the book which really caught my attention reads:
“For everything that I would have called an inconvenience there was compensation if I took the
time to look for it and had the grace to be grateful.” Elisabeth lived a life among the Aucas so far
from our own daily experience and yet her words are still just as relevant to us. Less surprising
when you consider that wherever we find ourselves we are all still serving the same Christ! A book
I would highly recommend to all.

- Faith Spinks, Church Member