Elisabeth Elliot was a writer, speaker, and missionary to Ecuador. After her husband was killed by a fierce tribe known as the Aucas (also called the Waorani), Elliot made the remarkable decision to live among the same people with her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Through her ministry, many from the tribe eventually came to faith in Christ, including some of the very men who had taken her husband’s life. Her story of forgiveness and grace has inspired generations of missionaries to follow Christ, no matter the cost.
Early Years
Elisabeth Howard was born in Brussels, Belgium, on December 21, 1926. Her family was faith-filled and loving, though strict. She was raised with morning devotions around the kitchen table, and with missionaries frequently joining them for dinner. One of these guests was named Betty Stan, a missionary to China who was later martyred with her husband. From a young age, Elisabeth understood the cost of missionary life—that the call to missions was a call to come and die.
In 1926, Elisabeth’s family moved back to Philadelphia after her father got a job with The Sunday School Times. As a child, Elisabeth had a gift for languages and desired to become a missionary. She was sent to a boarding school in Orlando in 1941 and later attended Wheaton College, where she studied Greek. It was there that she met her future husband, Jim Elliot.
Although Jim and Elisabeth were interested in one another, Jim believed he was called to become a single missionary. As a result, they parted ways and pursued missions individually. Elisabeth chose to spend a year at the Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada. When she heard about the need for gospel work in Ecuador, she committed to serve there in 1952.
Early Missionary Life
Elisabeth’s first missionary assignment was among the Colorado Indians, where she worked to translate the Bible into their native language. She prayed earnestly for a local believer who could speak both Spanish and the Colorado language, and God provided through a man named Don Macario. But although their work began well, Elisabeth was devastated when Macario was killed after refusing to give up his land to intruding men. She grieved not only the loss of her friend but also the disruption to the gospel work she had just begun.
During this time, Elisabeth and Jim continued to write letters to one another. Eventually, she received a note asking her to meet Jim in Quito. To her surprise, Jim proposed on her birthday, and they were married ten months later.
After their engagement, Elisabeth returned to Colorado to wrap up her translation work. She prepared notes for the next missionaries and packed her suitcase with all her translation papers, eager to join Jim. To her great dismay, however, Elisabeth’s suitcase was stolen in transit. All of her translation work was lost.
Ministry to Ecuador
Jim and Elisabeth got married on October 8, 1953, five and a half years after they first expressed interest in one another. They moved to a mission station deep in the jungle and began ministering to the Quichua people. Elisabeth provided medical care and taught children, and in 1955, their daughter Valerie was born.
Even as they ministered to the Quichuas, Jim felt a growing burden for the Aucas Indians, a hostile and unreached people group with no gospel witness. Over several months, Jim and four other missionaries made contact with the tribe through friendly supply drops from an airplane. Their initial encounters seemed promising. But when the men finally landed to meet the Aucas face-to-face, they were speared to death by the very people they had hoped to serve.
Elisabeth was now a young widow, mourning the loss of her husband. The martyrdom of the missionaries captured international attention and sympathy, and Elisabeth was asked to write a book called Through Gates of Splendor, chronicling their story.
Despite her grief, Elisabeth longed for the Aucas to know Christ and prayed for an opportunity to reach them. This opportunity came almost two years later, when two Auca women emerged from the jungle. Elisabeth began learning their language and was invited to live among them. In 1959, Elisabeth and Valerie went to live among the tribe, alongside Rachel Saint, the sister of Nate Saint, who had also been killed. Elisabeth and Rachel worked together on Bible translation and evangelism, until Elisabeth eventually decided to return to the United States.
Life in America
For many years, Elisabeth wrote books and spoke at events around the world. In 1967, she met a man named Addison Leitch, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. They married in 1969, but sadly, Leitch was diagnosed with terminal cancer and passed away after four years of marriage. In 1977, she married Lars Gren, and they were together almost forty years.
In her later years, Elisabeth continued to write prolifically, publishing more than forty books over the course of her life. For thirteen years, she hosted a radio station called Gateway to Joy, encouraging women to know and love God more deeply.
Elisabeth was diagnosed with dementia in 2000, and she died in 2015, at the age of 88.
Legacy
In 1956, the story of five young martyrs captivated the hearts and minds of millions. But even more surprising was the story of a young widow who intentionally chose to live among her husband’s murderers. Elisabeth’s life, marked by deep sorrow and suffering, became a powerful testimony of forgiveness and hope around the world. Through ministry disappointments, seasons of loneliness, and profound grief, Elisabeth remained steadfast in her reliance on Christ.
In her later years, Elisabeth used her influence to challenge the prevailing winds of feminism and called women to a deeper trust in God’s Word. Her writings have stirred countless believers toward greater obedience, surrender, and intimacy with Christ. Her life remains a compelling encouragement for believers to follow Christ through all the twists and turns of life, no matter the cost.
Despite her grief, Elisabeth longed for the Aucas to know Christ and prayed for an opportunity to reach them.