"FLYING IN THE SAME FAITH SPACE" - BOB GRIFFIN

Our Saviour Lutheran is happy to introduce you to Bob Griffin, a very special "jungle pilot" who served for nearly 50 years with JAARS (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service), the logistical arm of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Billy Graham, speaking of the JAARS team, once said, "Those intrepid servants are quietly and carefully reaching the unreachable with the precious Word of God in some of the most remote areas of the globe."

About himself Bob says, "My wife Louise and I have rejoiced to be counted, for nearly 50 years, as two of those 'intrepid servants' of whom Billy spoke. However, we certainly didn't go out as missionaries to be 'intrepid' but simply wanted to do God's will and help - no matter what the cost - to reach those who'd had no access to the Gospel. It seemed good sense to be part of a team involved in one of the most glorious, satisfying tasks imaginable - that of giving people God's precious Word in their own heart language. We'd cheerfully go back and do it again if we could.

"I was a farm kid," says Bob, "and I learned to fly while still in high school. We parked the yellow Cub behind our barn in Eastern Washington and flew off the hill behind the house. Turns out it was great training for a jungle pilot. For as long as I can remember, airplanes have enraptured me. I'll never forget the moment at a college Bible study when I learned you could be a missionary and fly airplanes too. My ears pricked up and went "twang!" God willing, my course was set. I had felt called to be a missionary since age twelve or fourteen. I still cannot explain that deep down feeling but I've never regretted acting on it - simply said, "I guess that's called doing God's will!"

The Griffins have four daughters, two of whom were born in the States before Bob and Louise went out and two born overseas, the last in the HCJB Clinic in Shell Mera, Ecuador. They spent the first half of their 20 years abroad in Latin America and the second half in the Philippines. They started in Guatemala (1951-1954), where Bob first met Nate and Marj Saint as they passed through on their way back to Ecuador from furlo in the States.

Then in 1955, the Griffins' assignment was changed to Ecuador, pioneering the JAARS aviation program there. Bob took delivery of JAARS' first Helio Courier which he ferried to Ecuador. However, delayed flight permissions prevented Bob's eagerly anticipated reunion with Nate.

Two weeks before Bob's arrival in Ecuador, Nate had suddenly been sent "through gates of splendour" by Gikita's nine-foot chonta wood spear, into the Father's presence.

In 1961, JAARS asked the Griffins to pioneer again, in the Philippines. Then ten years later, they received their third assignment, still pioneering but this time in the USA - a public relations program. "Perhaps this was the toughest of the lot," says Bob. They didn't want to leave the work abroad but vital Stateside tasks awaited them: challenging more young people to join the Bible Translation team and recruiting more prayer and financial supporters. [A missionary on the field without prayer support is like a deep sea diver without oxygen. Assistant editor's note.]

Bob's new duties included writing and editing a new publication, 'BEYOND'. Bob says he suddenly became the epitome of the classic joke; "I couldn't spell it, now I are one!" Currently Bob directs JAARS' International Relations Department.

BOB: "Home? When? That's my usual response when asked that question because I've lived many places. My early years were on a 900 acre wheat ranch near Pullman in Eastern Washington where we farmed almost up to the city limits of that small college town. We used lots of heavy equipment on the farm and by the time I was in high school, I had more hours than I care to remember as a "cat skinner", along with helping overhaul those diesel cats and other farm equipment.

"My twin brother and I were the only children in a half Christian home. My dad didn't come to Christ until I was twelve and I remember many childhood bedtime prayers for his salvation. I can't date my salvation ... grew up always believing, thanks to a mother who cared and loved her little boys into the kingdom.

"Incidentally, I believe my decision to be a missionary was also a direct result of her influence and prayers. My brother went into education - a high school teacher on his own mission field where he was very effective.

"My brother Richard and I were identical twins which resulted in some fun times. No one could tell us apart - parents included. I'm still not sure if I'm not Richard. How will I know? No one else ever did! We'd trade seats in school, much to the consternation of the teacher and the delight of the class. If it hadn't been for our classmates' titters, the poor flummoxed teacher would never have known.

"Our major coup was the winner: a couple days after he came home on a short leave from the Navy, we went to an Intervarsity Christian Fellowship meeting on the nearby campus of Washington State College. I had been assigned by the draft board - over my objections - to run the farm (my father's health was very poor) and continued to find my Christian fellowship at the IVCF meetings, even though I'd had to drop out of school.

"In brief, I put on his uniform and he my civvies, we traded girl friends and no one knew it all evening. That was a blast and it wasn't all that bad making it up to the girl friends later.

Our Saviour Lutheran: "WHICH CAME FIRST FOR YOU, FLYING OR THE FAITH?"

BOB: "Easy to answer: the faith. I had given my heart to the Lord really before I knew anything else and, from age twelve or fourteen, had felt that I should be a Christian worker. I can't define that and certainly had no idea what type. I didn't even know what a missionary was or did but one thing was firm in my mind, I didn't want to be a preacher.

"Mom, patient soul that she was, endured many a Sunday afternoon sitting in the car at the local airport while Dad, my brother and I hung on the fence and watched the airplanes. Many times, I heard my father say how much he wished he could have learned to fly but his health had been destroyed in World War I. For him, learning to fly was out of the question but we had many happy hours ogling and wishing.

"I still had no idea how he did it but I'll never forget the time my father scratched up 15 depression day dollars to pay for a ride for the three of us. Mom, with questionable logic insisted that Dad go along with his 12-year-old twins. 'Safer!' she said.

"We were hardly high school graduates when Dad said he would finance us to each solo. After that, we were on our own. In those days, you could buy a package guaranteeing solo for $65. My dogeared flight log shows an entry by instructor D.E. Wolf on February 5, 1944, for 20 minutes dual and 15 minutes solo. I was a pilot!

"Money was hard to come by, so furthering my ambition was slow going. Not until 1947 was I able to complete the requirement for my commercial license and flight instructor rating. Now I was really a pilot and could earn money, not just spend it.

"That summer of '47, my gorgeous Irish sweetheart Louise and I were married and we went off to Bible School together. She had been saved through the ministry of IVCF on campus where she was a Physical Education major. We had met at IVCF and I thought she was about the cutest little Irish lass I'd ever seen, with her near black curly bobbed hair and freckles on her nose. Her grandfather had migrated from the Old Sod with his Roman Catholic heritage but the family faith had degenerated to nil by the time she was a child.

"When I proposed, I asked if she was willing to be the wife of a missionary. With furrowed brow and a moment to think about it, Louise said she didn't understand what was involved since she was such a new Christian but the answer was...yes.

"Louise was God's special gift to me, a wonderful mother, loving helpmeet, critic, partner and supporter - my copilot now for 50 years."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED IN MISSIONS?"

BOB: "In 1946, I'd never heard of Wycliffe Bible Translators (of which JAARS is the logistical arm) until one Friday evening at our IVCF Bible study. Neal and Jane Nellis, Bible translators to the Zapotecs, an indigenous people group of Southern Mexico, came to tell us how a trained linguist could reduce to writing a language he'd never heard before. First he listens to native speakers, then writes what he hears phonetically.

"After much patient research and comparison of data, he designs an appropriate alphabet for that unique language. Only then can translation of the New Testament begin. Alongside years of translation work he (or a literacy specialist) needs to teach the people to read in their own mother tongue.

"Amazing! I shall never forget the goosebumps that crawled up my arms that evening. I felt awestruck, first that there were people groups like that in the world whose languages had never been written, then that it could be done. It grabbed me and I've never been the same since. The next day, in a two-hour interview, they learned I was a pilot."

"No!" Neal said, "incredible that we should meet you. Do you know Wycliffe is looking for pilots? We have just started JAARS in Peru because we simply cannot get the missionaries out into the jungle without airplanes and radios. The JUNGLE AVIATION AND RADIO SERVICE is just being formed. We need you."

"My ears pricked up, went 'twang' and the rest is history."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "YOU SERVED IN MANY PLACES. HOW DID THE CALL TO ECUADOR COME?"

BOB: "It was an administrative/managerial decision. I believe very firmly that the Lord uses those decisions to 'call' us. In JAARS we have always tried to match people to needs (and desires) as much as possible. I was told that those who made the request (and it is always a request,never an order or a demand) had looked over the personnel records for someone with pilot and mechanic skills, administrative and managerial ability, good interpersonal skills and fluency in Spanish. They picked me as most nearly filling the bill. It's a good thing I didn't learn all this until years later or that could have done horrible things to my ego.

"It's interesting to note that we were assigned to Peru. When I went to pick up the new Helio Courier, my instructions were to spend a couple weeks at the factory learning as much as possible about flying the airplane, its maintenance etc., then deliver it to Ecuador and check out another pilot who had been assigned to start that program. The Helio was a new concept aircraft, a STOL machine (Short Take Off and Landing) that could fly at the incredibly slow speed of 30 mph. Dr Otto Koppen of MIT had truly designed God's airplane and JAARS has been blessed in its service for the Lord because of Koppen's genius.

"Only when I had arrived in Ecuador and jumped into helping pick up the pieces of lives smashed by the death of five husbands and fathers, was the decision finalized for us to stay in that country and the other chap go to Peru. My ability in Spanish and his skills in electronics tipped the balance. I've found that's how the Lord leads. We have to be open and ready,

BOB: "Orville and Mary Johnson were assigned to reach the Secoya- Sionas, a people group who lived hard up against the Colombian border in Eastern Ecuador. To reach the Secoyas cost Orv and Mary three weeks of dangerous dugout canoe travel: first a week floating down the Napo, next another week fighting the current upstream on the Aguarico, followed by a draining week poling up the Cuyabeno. When an airstip had been slashed from the jungle, the Helio turned those three weeks into an hour and a half.

"An airplane didn't just ease travel but made it possible for the Secoyas to read God's Word in their own heart language. The Holy Spirit speaking through it changed many lives. Today there are Secoya pastors and several groups of Secoya believers meeting in palm-thatched churches on stilts, scattered throughout the northeast jungle of Ecuador. It is very satisfying to look back and know I had played a part in that action through my pilot skills.

"What aviation did for the Secoyas, it also achieved for the Cofans, the Jungle Quichuas, the Waorani and the Jivaros, now called Shuar. The Gospel cause was advanced countless years among these indigenous people groups."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "HOW DID YOU FEEL, BREAKING NEW TRAILS AMONG PREVIOUSLY UNCONTACTED PEOPLE GROUPS: A SENSE OF DISCOVERY, EXPLORATION OR EXCITEMENT?"

BOB: "In one sense it was exciting but we really didn't have much time to think about it. I do remember sensing we were standing on the edge of something magnificent God was doing but had no way of even guessing what the end results might be - for example that the fierce people known by the Quichua word "Aucas" meaning 'savages' might one day start to live in accordance with their own name for themselves - " Waorani" 'The People'.

"However, I do remember being thrilled God was permitting me to have a part in it. On the other hand, we were so involved in the minutiae of getting our job done that we didn't often think a lot about the the total sweep of God's purpose. In truth, it seems that successes and failures come in such tiny increments that there is no way to grasp the total picture until much later.

"Maintaining an air service to the Waorani project proved only a small part of the task confronting me as I established a service to our Bible translators scattered across the 'Oriente' - 30,000 square miles of Eastern Ecuador's trackless jungle.

"Little has been said about the burden Rachel Saint, Nate's sister had carried to reach the Waorani people whom we then knew as "Aucas" with the Gospel - a desire born in her before she even left the States. When Rachel first went out as a Bible translator, Wycliffe had not yet established a program in Ecuador so, in the interim, she went to Peru to work with the Shapra people and wait.

"In 1953, when Wycliffe started the translation ministry in Ecuador, Rachel was first in line to go and when I arrived was already working with Dayuma. This young Wao woman had fled from her people years earlier, in fear for her life at the hands of her father's killer, Moipa. That dramatic story is documented by Ethel Wallis in her book 'The Dayuma Story'.

"Rachel, accompanied by Catherine Peeke and later by Mary Sargent, had been led by God's grace to find Dayuma who was living on a jungle hacienda on the edge of Wao [formerly "Auca"] territory, virtually a slave. Dayuma had been away from her people so long that much of her heart language lay buried under a layer of Quichua, the predominant language of that area. Also, it was painful for Dayuma to speak her mother tongue, so often used to describe revenge killings.

"Dayuma had married a young Quichua but lost him and one of their two sons to an epidemic. Griefstruck, Dayuma wanted to die but as Rachel and Catherine questioned her, words of her own language started coming back. The linguists began to devise an alphabet and prepare for translation. Dayuma had a hard time understanding the concept of a God who loved her so much that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for her. She knew so much of hatred and killing but love...? That was something too hard to grasp all at once. It took the prayers of many of us for months before she was ready to say "Yes," to Jesus ["Itota" in Wao, which has no 's' in its alphabet].

"I shall never forget the day when Rachel reported on the radio, 'Praise God with me, Dayuma gave her heart to Christ last night!"

"After all these years, I still carry in my smelly jungleized Bible a little handmade Christmas card on which a Wao girl, who hardly knew how to hold a pencil, had laboriously printed a simple message:

"Sweet words those!

"In the early days at Hacienda Ila, Rachel needed a light bulb. Dayuma could only give language help at night after working in the fields all day and good light was imperative. We had carried a little light plant out to her by dugout canoe to supply current for the radio. Now she had exhausted all her light bulbs and there was no airstrip yet. Tell me! How do you deliver a simple 60 watt light bulb? Easy. Just free drop it.

"I put the bulb in a small box with lots of padding, then in a second box with more padding and yet a third padded box. It weighed next to nothing and with lots of air resistance almost floated down. That evening, Rachel and Dayuma were hard at work again.

"In those BA days (before airstrip), I delivered all Rachel's, Catherine's and Mary's needs by airdrop. Later, when Rachel and Betty (Elisabeth Elliot) went in to live with the Waorani, I borrowed 150 pound cargo chutes from the Ecuadorian Airforce but in those early days, I had no recourse but to free drop. Louise and I loaded veggies, mail, fresh rolls, TP, matches and/or whatever else they had ordered into a gunny sack, tied it tight, then put that in a second gunny sack to contain the carnage in case the first should burst. That evening on the radio sched, I'd ask if the stew was good.

"The hacienda's main house was situated about 50 yards from the edge of the River Ila. The open spot in front of the house made an inviting target for those veggie drops until one day I miscalculated and came within a hair of putting the cargo into the front room. In my defense, I have to say I was a busy pilot, flying the airplane, getting the cargo in position to push out my door and then applying power for the climb out.

"We've since modified our policy to include a 'cargo pusher-outer'. That makes it much easier and safer. Unloading my cargo in the front room would have made me and my airplane highly unpopular and could have jeopardized Rachel's further stay.

"I picked another small clearing 300 yards or so from the house. The plus - now Rachel got some exercise going to fetch the stuff! I enjoyed teasing her. She was the big sister I never had."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "HOW WERE YOU INVOLVED WITH THE OUTREACH TO THE WAORANI?"

BOB: "Dayuma was all torn up when she learned her people had killed the five missionaries. She longed to share with the Waorani how God could teach them to live well, that God could erase their hearts and forgive them the awful sin of killing. But she feared they wouldkill her and fought God's tugs at her heart to go.

"All we could do was pray. Many times Rachel would come with the news that Dayuma had disappeared again. Often, she would disappear for a week, two weeks, sometimes three, into the jungle to wrestle with God. We also agonized in prayer, constantly committing her to the Lord's keeping. Finally, Dayuma returned to say, 'I'm ready to go!'

"I prepared the Helio and before taking off with Rachel and Dayuma, the three of us stood under the Helio's wing holding hands while we prayed for God's special servant who might be walking straight into the jaws of death.

"Then we flew to Arajuno, former Shell Oil strip, as close to Wao territory as we could land. At Arajuno, Dayuma met her aunt Mintaka [the older lady who had visited the five on Palm Beach] and Gikita's wife, Maengamo. The two Waorani women had left their people at the end of 1957 and come to Oglan in Quichua territory. There they had been helping Elisabeth Elliot and Dr Tidmarsh learn their language.

"As Rachel and I stood watching Dayuma begin the two-day hike back home with Mintaka and Maengamo, tears streamed down our cheeks. Dayuma had been absent from her people and living with outsiders for twelve years. What awaited this brave Wao girl? Would we ever see her again? Only God knew.

"The next two weeks brimmed with prayers, doubts, hopes and tasks to keep our minds off the question, 'What awful things could be happening in Wao territory?' I overflew that area several times to see if Dayuma might emerge on a beach where I could see her - but nothing.

"Then, on 25th September 1958, when Betty Elliot and Rachel Saint were in Arajuno with Marj Saint visiting, they heard a nasal voice singing, 'Jesus loves me.' From the jungle emerged Dayuma. But she wasn't alone. A whole passel of naked Waorani came too! Mintaka and Maengamo came back along with one of Naenkiwi's wives with her baby, another Wao woman and three boys. The ten Waorani brought a breathtaking invitation from their people. 'We did wrong,' they said, 'to kill those five "cuwoody" ['outsiders']. We want to learn to live well. We want to learn to know God. Tell the two "cuwoody" women we'll build a house for them. Tell them to come!"

"Hallelujah! The breakthrough had come. The rest is history.

"I must add that much has been made in our evangelical culture of the two white girls going in to evangelize those who had killed husband and brother but less has been said about the real missionary to the Waorani, Dayuma. It was her willingness to lay her life on the line that paved the way for the Gospel to reach her people.

"Three years ago, Louise and I were privileged to visit Rachel and Dayuma with her family in Tonyampare where they lived. On Sunday morning, I preached in God's talking house, as the Waorani call their church, interpreted by Rachel. As I concluded, I told Rachel to lead in prayer rather than interpret a prayer from me. Better than that, she said, 'Let's ask Minkayi to come and pray.'

"Now a pastor, Minkayi was one of the killers of the five. He came to the pulpit, put his arm around me, hugged me tight, and prayed . . . while I wept."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE GIFT DROP IDEA AS BOTH A FLYING GADGET TECHNIQUE AND A TRUST BUILDER?"

BOB: "It was a clever idea and it worked. Only a fellow as gifted as Nate would have thought of it. We used it to lower a telephone to one of our translators when we had no other link. We learned there was a serious smallpox epidemic in the village and we were able to drop vaccines in time to save many lives.

"However, it made a lot of work! Reeling several hundred yards of line out was easy but cranking it all back into the airplane with a canvas bucket on the end was another thing! We had hoped to use the technique to retrieve a stranded person from the jungle but try as we might, we couldn't make a light cable and harness vortex as we could the bucket on a light nylon line. Maybe it had to do with the aerodynamics of the aircraft cable. We don't know but there were so many pressing duties that we had no time for experimenting and dropped the idea. By that time, we had started flying the Helio Courier which could land in all sorts of 'impossible' places so it wasn't as necessary."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "WHERE WERE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU RECALL OF THE MOMENT WHEN YOU HEARD THE MEN HAD BEEN KILLED ON PALM BEACH?"

BOB: "I was in California, preparing our first Helio Courier for the ferry flight to Ecuador. It was a warm day at the Glendale airport. Suddenly, the Christian station into which we tuned while we worked interrupted their program with a bulletin from HCJB announcing the deaths of five missionaries in Ecuador. When they read the list of names I was stunned. I had been looking forward to seeing Nate and Marj in a week or so when I arrived in Ecuador and now he was gone.

"The emotion of that moment has dimmed with time but I remember thinking that Nate's death left us (the missionary pilot community) a wonderful legacy. Nate was a role model one could only hope by God's grace to emulate.

"My most poignant memories come from helping the widows pick up the pieces and fly their household goods from the various mission stations. I took Olive Fleming to Puyupungu where she and Pete had just begun to establish a home. We had to pack up her memories and load them in the Helio. There were times we couldn't work for the tears filling our eyes. It just took a look from Olive, those sad brown eyes brimming with tears, to set me off. Those were some of the most emotionally wrenching days I ever put in as a missionary.

"I'll never forget the day when Marj Saint had asked me to fly her and her little brood to Quito. When the time to load up finally came, we stood under the wing of the Helio hugging one another, her three kids clinging to Uncle Bob's legs, while we all shook with sobs. In some ways, it seemed so final but praise God, we learned it was only another beginning and His mercies were still new every morning.

"Soon, the Waorani experienced new beginnings. They made good on their invitation to build a house for Rachel and Betty in Tewaeno, Dayuma's 'hometown' and the day came when we stood under the wing of the Helio in prayer again. This time there were four of us holding hands, asking God's special grace on this little missionary party as they struck out to open a new day for Waorani hearts. Dayuma led the way.

"Bit by bit, I came to know the Waorani face to face. I saw them a lot from the air, a sea of brown faces when I passed over dropping supplies but I didn't begin to know them until Rachel began bringing them out by ones and twos to our Jungle Center, Limoncocha ['lemonlake' in Quichua] for quiet concentrated language work free of the village distractions. I taught Kimo to play volleyball and began a friendship that still endures. Kimo, one of the Palm Beach killers, became the first male believer among the Waorani. His wife Dawa, one of the sweetest women I've ever known, followed Dayuma as the second woman and first of those in the jungle to believe.

"I'll never forget Gikita - 'Uncle Gikita' we called him in deference to his age. He was tall for a Wao, his deeply-seamed face showing both his age and the rigors of harsh jungle life. Rachel told me Gikita had led the Palm Beach spearing raid and it was he who had plunged a wickedly-barbed wooden spear into her brother's back . . . so viciously that the point protruded more than a foot from Nate's chest.

"At Limoncocha, when he wasn't helping Rachel with language learning, Gikita would sit for hours hunkered up against one of the corner poles of our makeshift hangar. He felt safe there with us. There weren't many places where Gikita felt safe. He had lived in fear all his life: fear of a revenging ambush by his own people. Fear of outsiders who would kill on the slightest provocation, as they searched Wao territory for oil, orchids, monkeys or other treasures. However, Gikita's greatest fear was of the evil spirits he could never seem to placate.

"Gikita trusted us. He was content to sit watching as we worked on the planes but he couldn't understand why we didn't follow his peoples' custom and try to avenge the spearing of our five friends. For Gikita, fear had slowly given way to trust when Rachel Saint and Betty Elliot went to live in his village. However, change didn't come easily. He still had vivid memories of that black day when he had killed Rachel's brother and my friend, the MAF pilot Nate Saint, then helped to kill Betty's husband Jim.

"Gradually, that group of Waorani started to live in peace with each other and now Gikita had accepted Rachel's invitation to spend several weeks at Limoncocha. During those weeks, the love and acceptance he found among us began its work in his life but it wasn't until after he had returned to the village that he confessed the change in his heart to Rachel.

"'I used to hate and kill but now the Lord has healed my heart,' he told her. Gikita the killer, who didn't have enough fingers on which to count the people he had murdered, had learned he could start with a clean slate as far as God was concerned. 'My heart was black with sin,' he said, 'but Jesus' blood having dripped and dripped, God has erased my heart. Now I want to live loving Him.'

"At last Gikita understood why we didn't seek revenge. He had become a true "Wao" - a 'person' in his language a 'person' - not an "Auca" meaning 'savage' in the tongue of the neighbouring Quichuas who so feared his warlike kinsfolk. Gikita had become a new man from the inside out!"

Our Saviour Lutheran: "AFTER 41 YEARS IS THERE AN EXPLANATION WHY THE MEN WERE KILLED, WHEN THEY THOUGHT THEY HAD BUILT RAPPORT AND TRUST WITH THE WAORANI?"

BOB: "Yes, we think we know now why Gikita, Kimo, Dyuwi, Minkayi, Nimonga and Naenkiwi killed Nate, Jim, Ed, Roger and Pete. Ethel Wallis documented it in "The Dayuma Story" [Harper & Row. New York, 1960, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1961]. However, we didn't put two and two together back then.

"It wasn't until Steve Saint, Nate and Marj's son, went back to live with the Waorani last year that we finally understood what happened. His full account appears as a chapter in 'Martyrs: Contemporary Writers on Modern Lives of Faith," a collection of essays edited by Susan Bergman [Harper, San Francisco]. That chapter was excerpted and appeared in the September 16, 1996 issue of 'Christianity Today'.

"For another account, I'd refer you to Olive Fleming Liefeld's book 'Unfolding Destinies' [Zondervan 1990], especially chapter 21 titled 'Palm Beach'. I'll touch on Olive's astouding revelations in a moment but will first recap briefly what my 'nephew' Steve recounts. (He still calls me 'Uncle Bob'. Neat!)

"From Steve's account: During the days Nate and his buddies were planning and finally executed 'Operation Palm Beach', Naenkiwi [the man whom the five missionaries called 'George'] wanted to take another wife [Gimari, Dayuma's sister]. For several reasons, Gimari's mother, Acawo and her brother [Nampa] objected. This made Naenkiwi furious and he threatened to kill Nampa. Even as a young man, Naenkiwi had already gained a reputation as a vicious killer with a terrible temper. The family's disapproval also frustrated the young girl and in typical Wao fashion, Gimari dramatised her thwarted plans threatening, 'If you won't let me marry, then why should I go on living? I'll just go to the foreigners and let them kill me.'

"Certainly, it was no coincidence that of all the small groups of Waorani scattered throughout their large territory, this group was the one from which Dayuma had fled and that Gimari [nicknamed 'Delilah' by the five on Palm Beach] was her own sister.

"Gimari set off for the sandbar on the River Curaray code-named 'Palm Beach' by the five, who had set up camp there with the Waorani's knowledge. Naenkiwi apparently saw this as an opportunity to be alone with Gimari and went in hot pursuit. Gimari's Aunt Mintaka, aware of their plan and realizing that discovery of the tryst could spark spearings within the group, decided to go along as chaperone.

"Nate took Naenkiwi for a ride in the yellow Piper and the rest of his villagers saw him in the plane. They decided to go visit the foreigners too, so next morning, they took the trail for Palm Beach but before arriving at the beach, they ran into Naenkiwi and Gimari - unchaperoned!

"Gimari's brother, Nampa flew into a rage and was about to kill Naenkiwi. Apparently to divert attention from his own indiscretion, Naenkiwi lied to the group that the foreigners had attacked them and they were fleeing. Scoffing even as they told Steve this, the Waorani implied that most of them found this hard to believe, since Naenkiwi had a reputation as a troublemaker. Someone asked about Mintaka. "She had to flee another way," Naenkiwi lied.

"As tempers flared, the oldest man, Gikita, took over. He had lived longer than any of the rest [he was about thirty-five] and knew best of all how savage and deceptive were the cuwoody. While the group made their way back to the village, Gikita began to recount all the killings committed by outsiders.

"While they were sharpening spears and working up their fury, Mintaka returned from the beach. Seeing the men making spears and preparing for an attack, Mintaka knew Naenkiwi had lied to them and tried to convince them that no one had been attacked. She told them the foreigners were completely friendly and meant no harm. Listening to her description of events on the beach, Gikita did not understand all that was happening but he knew enough about outsiders to realize they had never been friendly before and was determined that they should be killed.

"'What I find hard to explain,' says Steve, 'is that killing the outsiders only made sense if they had indeed attacked the three Waorani on Palm Beach. Left alive, they would remain a wonderful resource for the greatly-prized and much-needed knives, machetes, axes and cooking pots. Yet, if they had attacked, according to Gikita's logic, they would certainly attack again and they obviously had the superior force. Six Waorani men with spears were hardly a match for five armed opponents. If the Waorani killed the outsiders they knew they would have to burn their houses, leave their gardens and flee as they always did after attacks, because they knew that other outsiders would come and find them. Add to this the fact that five of the six attackers were just teenagers, not seasoned killers, and that one witness to the Friday contact [Mintaka] insisted the foreigners were friendly.

"'Under these circumstances, it seems hard,' says Steve, 'to believe there ever could have been an attack, yet there was . . . and five men died.'

"Olive Fleming Liefeld tells in the last chapter of her book how she visited Palm Beach thirty-three years after her husband Pete had died there. What she learned astounded us all.

"With Olive, her husband Walter and their daughter Holly as passengers, Kimo and his wife Dawa poled the dugout canoe the quarter mile downstream from Tonyampare to the beach, with Rachel Saint along as interpreter. Previously unknown to Rachel, Dawa told them how she and a few others had surreptitiously followed the killers and hidden at the jungle's edge during the spearing raid. What followed proved the most astounding.

"When all five men were dead, the spy party went down to the beach to help throw their bodies into the river. Suddenly, they heard singing and turned to look back - up in the darkened sky over the treetops. There they saw a host of people, dressed in white, all singing. 'It looked,' said Dawa, as if there were a hundred flashlights.'"

"'Flashlights?' That's the only word they know for a bright light,' explained Rachel.

"What did it mean? Could it have been angels escorting the five martyrs 'Through Gates of Splendour?' Perhaps, but we'll not know for sure until we arrive in Glory and ask the Lord. One thing we do know, the Lord used it to convince Dawa that there was a God. Later, when Dayuma told Dawa how she too could know God's Son Itota [Jesus] and learn to live well, she was ready to open her heart to the Lord - the first of many Waorani hearts whom God would prepare to enter heaven through 'Gates of Splendour'."

Our Saviour Lutheran: "HOW DID THE EARTHLY LOSS OF THOSE FIVE MEN SHAPE YOUR CHARACTER AND COMMITMENT TO MISSIONS?"

BOB: "It solidified a commitment I had already made years before and furthered my resolve to persevere. I guess it's a little like being at war. We expect casualties but we can't stop the war because we lose some friends. That's not being callous, just realistic. Our hearts ached for those who were left behind and we cried buckets of tears with them but there was a job to do and we had to get on with it. None of this 'Stop the world, I want off.' We can't get off until the Lord says to us, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

"I'd like to believe my character was already shaped by a mother and father who loved and cared and wanted God's best for me. If it meant matyrdom, OK. Not pleasant but to be expected when you are out in the thick of the battle.

"I know Louise had many anxious thoughts when I was out flying over that sea of broccoli with no landing strips for miles and miles but she was willing to trust me to the Lord just as the Palm Beach widows had trusted. their men. Louise has never talked about it, nor have I. Bless her for her confidence in God!

"Once I made a fingernail-biting, deep dusk emergency landing at a remote airstrip where I had to spend the night. Our radio operator had shut down early so Louise had no knowledge of where I was or if I were alive or dead. It had to be tough for her but it was just part of our calling. We were certain that God was in control and we believed it when we read, 'Faithful is he who calleth you, who will also do it.' [1 Thessalonians 5:24]

"He did, He has and He will! Fifty years of history attest to His faithfulness to us. The magnificent blessing is that He will be just as faithful to you. Be available! Let Him call you and be blessed beyond all measure."

Bob Griffin