Beyond the Gates of Splendor

—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

Beyond the Gates of Splendor is more than a story of reconciliation between a violent tribe and a handful of missionary families. It is a direct parallel, or rather an incredible real-life example, of God’s forgiveness of our sins. Although the documentary “feels� more educational and PBS-like, the story itself forces you to consider what must have been going on between the Waodani and the missionary families.

Having heard this story for years through Elisabeth Elliot’s radio programs and books, I already knew the ending and was not surprised by the basic premise of the film. However, my interviews with Steve Saint and Mart Green shed some light on how this film is impacting other people’s lives. Many who see the film are shocked that this event actually happened and that it is not a fabricated storyline. Admittedly, I have an advantage over many viewers: I’ve already experienced first-hand the power of forgiveness. And like many other Christians, I have also experienced the incredible power of God to help me overcome anger, bitterness, and mistrust in order to forgive others. Although most of us have not experienced an offense as great as murder, each has experienced some level of loss at another person’s hand. The thing that surprised me about the film was just how fresh and alive the Gospel of Christ (literally translated “the Good News�) is even today.

In his interview, Steve Saint said the question he gets most is, “How did you forgive these people?� Although his response was somewhat unusual, the question itself is one of the most powerful questions of our day. How DO you forgive someone for such an atrocity? Another interviewer said, “When I tell them [prospective viewers] about the film, the first thing they say is, ‘Are you sure they weren’t mad at them? They didn’t have any resentment?’ The storyline they accept, and then that’s the first trip up.� Indeed, in a society like ours where holding grudges and justifying revenge are the standard responses to injustice, forgiveness is a curious alternative. More than curious, however, it is effective - it certainly was for the Waodani. The forgiveness and love received by the Waodani encouraged them to make peace with the other tribesmen who had slaughtered their family members using machetes and spears. Christ’s parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:21-35) suggests that those who have been forgiven much should forgive others. Even the Lord’s Prayer states, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.� The power of this film, however, comes from the level of forgiveness that the Waodani experienced – a level that more closely approximates God’s depth of forgiveness for us than any token of forgiveness that we have given others.

Mart Green (CEO and founder of Every Tribe Entertainment) said something that impacted me right away. He said, “This is not some, ‘I’ll forgive you, but I hope I never see you again’ kind of story. It’s, ‘I’ll forgive you and I’m gonna move my family, four kids, with no electricity and running water to Ecuador and live in a hut with you.’� It gave me chills as he spoke it. That depth of forgiveness is confounding. The idea that God forgave us on a level far deeper is even more confounding! After all, we are not perfectly changed into upright, model citizens overnight. We continue to sin and to offend God as we work through our faith. Acceptance of God’s forgiveness, however, is the first step in learning to make peace with others. Most who hear Christ’s message respond to the idea much like those prospective viewers. We ask, “Are you sure God isn’t still mad at us? He doesn’t have any resentment? The storyline of Christ’s death is fine, but that part about forgiveness trips me up!� It seems too good to be true. When we finally accept and experience that forgiveness first-hand, we can be freed from grudges, vendettas, and the bondage of hatred.

Really, the story of the Waodani is an almost exact model of how Christ and His Church operate. Through Christ’s death, God sees fit to forgive humanity much like the missionaries forgave the Waodani. And as Mart pointed out, this commitment to forgiveness is total: He comes to live in the jungles of our hearts. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to obey God, live peaceably and treat others lovingly - to become “civilized� in a sense – just like the missionaries taught the Waodani. Although we still fight the battles of forgiveness within our own tribes, the power of the Spirit and the strength of others’ examples triumph over even the deepest hatred. They help us complete the cycle of forgiveness.

I believe this is the heart of the message that the Waodani wanted us to receive. It is why they agreed to do the film. THEY wanted to make an impact on US. It was their desire that we see the death and loss that comes from hatred, the long-term damage of unforgiveness, and the beauty that God’s love and God’s laws can create in our lives.

Overall, I loved this film -not so much because it was a new idea to me, but because it was a vivid reminder. Sometimes I take this message for granted and try to be “politically correct� instead of sharing the good news that people want to hear. At a funeral last week, I was reminded of how valuable the good news of Christ is to those whose hearts this world has left broken. It is, in fact, the greatest news we could possibly encounter. It is life and peace. At least, it has been to the Waodani.

—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
—www.everytribe.com

Beyond the Gates of Splendor Interviews with Steve Saint and Mart Green

—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

The following text includes comments from two separate interviews.

Steve Saint is the son of Nate Saint, a missionary who was killed by the Waodani. He has been working extensively with the Waodani throughout his life to help them develop and modernize their culture.

Mart Green is the CEO, Founder, and Executive Producer for Every Tribe Entertainment, a full feature film production company which produced Beyond the Gates of Splendor.

I wish to extend my sincere thanks to these men for their time and stories!

Interviewer: I’ve got to tell you, everybody I talk to, when I tell them about the film, the first thing they say is, “Are you sure? They weren’t mad at them? They didn’t have any resentment? The storyline they accept, and then that’s the first trip up. I’m sure that’s the reaction you get, though�

Steve Saint: The question people usually ask me is “How did you forgive these people? And really, the honest truth is I didn’t. I mean, it never occurred to me, really, that there was anything to forgive. Now, that wasn’t because of some great altruism. It was just that before my dad was killed, I remembered how excited Dad was, hoping to be able to contact these people so that they wouldn’t be killed by the oil companies or the government. And then after my dad was killed, you know, kids follow their parent’s clues. I mean, you sit around and your dad’s cheering because some guy just knocked the stuffings out of someone else trying to catch a football in the air, and what do you say? …I mean, that’s brutal, but you grow up thinking, “That’s great, man, what a great hit!� …My aunt loved these people. She was willing to risk her life to go and live with them. My mom was praying for them, my dad…I just couldn’t wait to meet them. I think it’s just a heritage that people don’t understand… So, um, I can tell you this, I watched very carefully, I watched my mom and these other four women and I never, ever, ever noticed or sensed any resentment. Now sad, oh, yeah, I mean their lives, can you imagine how devastated? I was devastated. My hero, I watched him fly off into the jungles one morning and he never came back… I never saw any resentment or anger towards the Waodani and I never saw any resentment or anger towards God, which is even maybe the bigger deal.

Interviewer: How many years did you live with the Waodani when you were young?

Steve Saint: You know we like to make stories grander than they are. I first went in to live with my aunt with the Waodani when I was nine and it would have been in the summer. And then I went to school up in Quito in the capital city. So, I only got to go out there summers, Christmas vacation and sometimes in between. But, I never spent years and years with the Waodani…The man who had started that airlines was a friend of my dad’s. He had helped him keep his planes running. So, I could just go out, jump on the plane, didn’t have to have a ticket or anything, and just fly down to the jungles and visit my Aunt Rachel. And I loved doing it. I mean, hunting and fishing every day. No rules. Nobody except Aunt Rachel to tell me what to do, and she couldn’t walk that well, so…(laughter). She spent her life with the Waodani…

Interviewer: Talk a little bit about the fact that now it’s your son that gets to go back….now there’s a third generation that’s had contact.

Steve Saint: Fourth! My parents, mine, and my sisters and brothers, and some of the other kids. Although I have had much, much more contact than any of the others…I was in the second generation. Then, Jenny’s and my children loved the Waodani, and the Waodani just absolutely loved them. Especially, well, they all have been given tribal names. Then, our grandchildren…in fact, I’m going down Thursday because we have a new grandchild. Actually, we have two new grandchildren, and the Waodani DEMAND to see them. (laughter)

Interviewer: How many of the Waodani have come to the U.S. now?

Steve Saint: …Oh actually about 10…my aunt came up with Kimo and Dawa and Dayuma. And then Gikita has been here, and I’ve come with Tementa and Mincaye. There’s been three or four more that have come with environmental people. And there may be some others that I don’t know about. But, you know, just a few. Mincaye has been the only one who’s come up here and really traveled. He’s been up here with me six times, been in Canada four times and been in Europe once. Which, if you want to know what our country’s really like, then you need to travel with Mincaye. (laughter) He’d be afraid to get on the elevator. Escalators are terrifying…Those stories go on and on. I was telling Randy about going to a football game. I’d better not start that! (laughter)

Interviewer: What would you say inspired this film? Did you want to do a film on it? How did the film actually start taking shape?

Steve Saint: When my son Jessie was graduating from high school, he and Stephanie wanted me to bring grandfather Mincaye up for the graduation…which is totally impossible. He had no passport and no visa, and those people, I mean, I’m an Ecuadorian citizen...and I have been trying to renew my Ecuadorian passport. I’ve had an attorney working on it for a year and a half. And so, to get that passport, you have to have served in the Ecuadorian military…you have to go through a lot of rigamarole and red tape to do it…and so, it was impossible and we had one day to do it [get Mincaye’s passport]. I was just gonna make a token effort and get turned down.

And when we went down to the U.S. Embassy and I was filling out the form, they wanted to know your full name. And Mincaye’s full name is Mincaye…they want to know where your bank account is. The only bank Mincaye knows is where he pulls his canoe up…they want to know what your profession is, and there was nothing, address, telephone number. The only thing I could find to fill out on the whole thing was occupation, so I put “hunter/ gatherer.� And we were number ga-zillion. The consulate was just packed with people… I heard somebody [worker behind the bulletproof glass] say, “Hey, get a load of this. Occupation hunter/gatherer.� …So we went up and said, “Did you call for the hunter gatherers?� He said, “What’s your number? Oh, no, you won’t even get an interview today.�…but the Consulate was walking by…and he said, “I’ll take this interview.� So the Consulate himself sat down and started asking me questions. He said, “You know, I was in the Peace Corps here years ago. I read about some people who killed some missionaries…Everybody is always worried about what happened to the people on this side, but I always wondered what happened to those people that killed the missionaries.� And I said, “Well, one of them is looking at you through the bullet proof glass.�…He asked, “Why do you want to take the man who killed your father to the states?� You know, looking for some exploitation or something…And he said, “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to have to stick my neck out a long way to do this…but if you’ll come back this afternoon when the consulate closes, I’ll give you a one-time visa on the condition that you travel with him.� …That was ten o’clock in the morning and we had until three o’clock in the afternoon when the consulate closed. And [we] got all those papers, really, years worth of paperwork in five hours and got back there and got a visa and came to the states.

After the graduation, I had a speaking engagement up in Pennsylvania. I was going to speak about this story. I thought, boy, I’m going to go up there and speak about this. Mincaye is right here! So, I said, “Hey, let’s make a road trip.�…That first time that we spoke together, a businessman in the auditorium heard us speak. He started thinking about Columbine and some of the things, I mean… read the newspaper! He said, “People here are living just like Mincaye…� Mart [Green] thought, “Our culture needs to hear this too.�

Mart Green: The first time that I met Steve and Mincaye would have been June 14, 1997. It was at a Wycliffe associates meeting….I was there in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and heard them speak, and just was amazed. I had heard the Through Gates of Splendor. I knew the story pretty much from the N. American point of view, and knew about Jim Elliot and loved the story, but never really thought about what happened to the six guys that killed the five. Where are they at? Kinda what I’d call… the other side of the story. And so I hear Steve speak and all of a sudden he brings up on stage one of the six guys who killed the five, one of the men who killed his dad…I knew that the oldest person in 1956 was 33 in the tribe. So, this was, you know, almost forty something years later. You have to assume they were all dead, because they didn’t live to be 33 years old. And then he brings up Tementa, which he was also in the story at the end there… So it was quite impacting to see the man standing on stage with the man who was responsible for his dad’s death [Mincaye], and the other one who was the son of the man who lied who caused his death [Tementa]. And he’s got his arms around him, and generally seemed to really love these guys. And when you hear his story of how he moved his family to go live with them, I mean, this is not some, “I’ll forgive you, but I hope I never see you again� kind of story. It’s, “I’ll forgive you and I’m gonna move my family, four kids, with no electricity and running water to Ecuador and live in a hut with you.� So I guess the word “reconciliation,� down to one word, it was the most amazing reconciliation story I’d probably heard.

My passion is four words: I’m on planet earth for four words: This Book is Alive -- meaning God’s Word. I believe this Book is alive. I believe the best way to portray that is through the life you live, and Mincaye was one of the greatest examples I’d ever heard of going from the most violent societies to living in peace. It was God’s Word that transformed his life.

So, little did I know that I’d get involved in the project. At that point, I assumed the guy in Tulsa would just get the tape, listen to it, and God would move on his heart to make the movie. But that’s not the way it went.

Interviewer: So, how did you end up with the project on your hands?

Mart Green: It was October of the next year, of 1998, when a guy [in Tulsa, OK] told me he really hoped to make a movie of that story someday, talking about what I’d call the North American story…So I sent him that tape to listen to of that event [Steve and Mincaye’s speech at Wycliffe]. I thought, well, I’d better listen to that tape again, so I was re-listening to that tape, and was driving down the road and Mincaye said, “We acted badly, badly.� - which they did. They were the most violent society ever recorded. There’s nobody more violent than the Waodani – 60% homicide rate for five generations…So, “We acted badly, badly until they brought us God’s carvings…� which is what Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint represented when they went back in. “…and now we walk his trail.� So, I literally just wept in the parking lot and called my friend. I said, “This is going to be a movie someday, but it’s not going to be a movie about what I call the ten American heroes, that being the five men and the five women. It won’t be about the ten American heroes’ story. It’ll be- what happened to the six guys that killed the five.�

…[Six months later in 1999] I was actually working on a commercial campaign. I call it a “Milk Campaign on God’s Word.� That’s the best way I can explain it… All I knew was, wow, would this movie about God’s Word transforming the most violent society help our cause! I’m not gonna do it, but if this guy will do it, he’ll help my cause...Well, on May 9, 1999, the guy I called from the Wal-mart parking lot, the president of the four Bible Agencies, had asked for a copy of the tape too…He listens to the tape and he says, “Man, I’ve been listening to the tape and I’ve been weeping. You gotta do the movie.�…I said, “Yeah, yeah, I remember that. I told you the guy in Tulsa - that was his dream…call him, don’t call me.� So, he challenged me to get Steve Saint’s address….

I said, “I’m not gonna call Steve Saint out of the blue. I mean, this is the most well-known missionary over the last hundred years. I just saw him from the audience. I don’t know Steve. I think he lives in Ecuador, and besides that, I was raised not to go to movies. I’ve never been in a movie theater. So, I’m not calling him.� So, I no more hung up and the next phone call is my guy from Wycliffe. If I’m going to call and get Steve Saint’s address, the guy that I would call is on the phone right now. And I knew my conscience - I can’t go to sleep tonight if I don’t at least ask this guy for Steve Saint’s address…of course, I’m hoping he can’t get it... And of course, three hours later, I’ve got Steve Saint’s address…So, ironically, two years to the night, to June 14, 1997, on June 14, 1999, two years, to the day, to the night, I’m in Steve Saint’s home asking for the right to do the film.

On the Waodani’s unwillingness to do the film…

Steve Saint: [Talking to Mart Green that night in 1999] I said, “Everybody starts here. Nobody thinks about asking the Waodani their part of the story. I’ll tell you what, if you want to ask them, I’ll take you down there, introduce you and I’ll translate.�…They all came with me and we asked the Waodani and the Waodani said, “No.�

They said, “The foreigners always, always come. They want to take pictures of us, they want to take video…but they don’t talk to us. Then, they go and tell what they want to say about us. So, we say no.�…I said, “Let me tell you why they want to do this.� And I told them what had happened in Columbine that these two boys had gone in “ononke�, for no reason, and just started killing other people. And Mincaye said, “That’s JUST how we used to live. For no reason, we just speared and speared, hating and afraid. We were killing everybody. I say, are the foreigners living like that?� Of course, he had been up here already…he just kept asking to see documentaries of the foreigners killing each other. And he’d watch and he’d just shake his head. He said, “We would kill people that we hated, but we would never kill people that we never knew. Why would you kill somebody that you didn’t hate?� And yet, he’d see bombers flying over and he’d say, “How can you see those people that you’re killing?� And then he saw the concentration camps and he was so repulsed by that, that he couldn’t even deal with it. That someone would keep somebody alive and not feed them, that was beyond his comprehension…so he said, “If the foreigners are living that way, then you tell them, you show them how we used to live. And then you show them that now, look, we live happily and at peace.�

…I thought, “I need to warn them. If you say yes, they’re going to show you like you used to live, naked with just a string with your earplugs in.�- which was embarrassing to them. Because they knew, they weren’t embarrassed of being naked, but they were embarrassed of what people thought of them. The people called them Auca’s which means “naked savages.� The connotation is almost animal-like. I said, “They will show you like you were.�…Mincaye’s wife, Ompodae, has been listening to this. She whips off her blouse, pulls off her skirt, she’s sitting there in her little panties and all the film crew’s kinda looking around. She said, “If they have to show us like we were, I say do it. But look at us now. You tell them to tell them how we live in peace.�

Mincaye killed Ompodae’s family and took her forcibly to be his wife. Kimo had led the spearing party to kill Dawa’s family, Dabo had killed...Everybody sitting there, they all had reasons to hate each other. So, it really was an incredible transformation. They should have killed me when I was a kid. They knew that I would grow up to want to avenge my father’s death, so they should have killed me too.

About the story’s perspective…

Mart Green: I said, there’s one thing I will not compromise on, and that’s the way the story’s told. I’m gonna tell them, “We acted badly, badly until they brought us God’s carvings. And now we walk his trail.� And if you think back to documentary, that’s what act one was, “We acted badly, badly…� We told you how they lived. And then act two is when Rachel and them come in and bring God’s Word. “And now we walk His trail,�- you saw them actually flying the plane and trying to create their own culture. That became act one, act two, act three and the flagpole that I said “I will not let go of.� And I don’t want to tell your dad’s story, I don’t want to tell Wycliffe’s story…

The first three movie scripts, I rejected all three of them because they became the North American story. I kept saying, “Now, look, I know it’s impossible to tell the South American point of view, but I can’t do it any other way. I have no choice. We’re going to have to figure out a way to do it.�

The nature and origin of the documentary…

Mart Green: Now, the documentary obviously is very broad. It’s a lot of people’s point of view. When you get down to the movie [End of the Spear, the feature film on which the documentary is based], it gets down to Mincaye and Steve. And that’s really my passion – the movie. Now, along the way, Bill Ewing challenged me to do a documentary. I thought, “We’ve busted on three scripts. I’m tired of not succeeding, so let’s DO something. Let’s do a documentary.� Then Jim Hanon shot an hour and a half piece that wound up turning out a whole lot better than I could have ever imagined.

Interviewer: Why did you release the documentary before the feature? Or has the feature been released, just not here?

Mart Green: The movie’s going to be released next January. Now, the fiftieth anniversary of this event is January 2006. It happened in 1956. So, we’re going to leverage that to a broad audience.

Interviewer: You were obviously in retail before, so have you redirected into film or are you doing both?

Mart Green: I started Mardel Christian Bookstores when I was 19 yeas old. I quit college and started, so I did that for 23 years and this past June, I named a new president and took the title of CEO…I am taking a much more active role in Every Tribe because it’s brand new. So, more of my time is spent there.

Interviewer: Are you looking to do documentaries or feature films in the future?

Mart Green: Feature films, but documentaries become part of the marketing strategy. Just like you make a trailer or you make a commercial…The next film, we want to do on the persecuted church in China, but we’ll do a video on the persecuted church of the world. See what I’m saying? What is happening in our world today while we’re sitting here in North America and people are being persecuted for their faith. It’s happening all over the world….and then we’d have a feature film. But again, that would be very focused. We would tell a story of a little boy in China. We would take one of many, many stories and make a film out of that. African AIDS is what we hope to be our next one...we want to make feature films, and if the documentary serves that purpose, so be it.

We’re making it [End of the Spear] into the Chariot’s of Fire model, that’s what I say. It’s a great story. Yeah, it’s faith-based, but it’s a great story FIRST. Then it’s faith-based second. So, that’s our passion in film.

Interviewer: The feature film End of the Spear will use actors for the main roles, right?

Mart Green: Yeah, we shot it in Panama, but we did use an indigenous tribe so most of the Waodani, who were Ecuadorian of course, were played by people that were in huts that we canoed down. Now, the lead guy that played Mincaye is a North American actor. Three of the major parts that are playing the Waodani are by North American professional actors. All the rest of them were non-actors that did an incredible job. It was so fun because we used an indigenous tribe to play an indigenous tribe…The documentary, now, those will be the real stories. Here are the real people telling the real story, and here’s what they told us and here’s exactly what it is. It will be a great follow-up piece when people say, “I don’t even believe that.� You know, parts of the story are even better than what we could even tell in a film…At the end of the feature film, when the credits are rolling, you’ll see parts of the documentary…at the end you get to see the real Steve, the real Mincaye, and it just brings it home once again.�

What other projects do you have on your plate?

Mart Green: We feel like we’ve got the first five. One, you’ve already seen the documentary. The second one is the persecuted church in China. The third is Africa AIDS, which will be based on an orphan city we’re going to visit through the year this year. Basically, I can get them down to one word. The first story is on Reconciliation. The second story will be based on Freedom. In other words, the guys in prison have more freedom than the guys that are holding them captive. That doesn’t sound right, that doesn’t make sense, but in their spirit, there’s more freedom being behind bars than not behind bars. We use birds and cages as another symbol of being caged, but being free…Africa AIDS, the word for that will be Truth. The Africans have been lied to through slavery, through all these different years, they’ve been lied to. And right now, there are a lot of lies happening with the AIDS issues. So, the Truth will set you free. And then we want to tell a story about Islam and then we want to tell a story about post-modern…Those are the five that the Lord’s laid on our hearts and our challenge is to go find them.

Did you see any other miracles associated with this film, other than Mincaye getting his passport, which Steve told us about?

Mart Green: Well, a couple of things happened and I’ll send you the stories.

—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

For More Information on the upcoming films, go to www.everytribe.com.

I Wondered if I Would Ever See That Plane Again.

Beyond the Gates links
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

by Steve Saint

In the making of “Beyond the Gates,� an incredible docudrama about the death of five missionaries at the hands of ‘savage’ Amazon jungle people, a little airplane plays a major role. The wife of the pilot calls it “the modern missionary mule� as she describes how that little airplane revolutionized the effort of taking physical and spiritual comfort to people deep in the jungle. That sweet ‘wife’ is my mother and the pilot, Nate Saint, who was killed when I was just a boy was my hero and my Dad.

The docudrama, however, is just a companion piece to a full-fledged feature film intended for release in theaters. As detailed plans were being made for the feature film, it became clear that a replica plane would need to be re-created to play the role of N5156H or ‘56 Henry’. That is how my Dad’s plane was affectionately known by the people who flew in it to their homes in the jungle, or to the hospital for lifesaving attention that was unavailable within the jungle. To those people and thousands of Indians living in what was often referred to as “the Green Hell�, that little Piper Family Cruiser was much more than a machine. It was a friend. 56 Henry and it’s sandy haired pilot in his grease stained khakis were a popular duo in the Ecuadorian jungles beyond the reach of roads, medicine, and news from the outside world.

When Dad and his friends, Roger Youderian, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully were speared to death on the little beach where they had just made the first friendly contact with the dreaded people known as ‘Aucas’, 56 Henry was killed too. His wings and fabric were hacked with the very same machetes that the five young missionaries had dropped to the people as tokens of friendship.

Finding an exact replica was a tough but exciting order to fill. And I was asked to fill it.

The Piper aircraft company only built 237 of their model PA-14, known as the Family Cruiser. Proud PA-14 owners extolled the virtues of the Family Cruiser, and they would not sell. Finally, through a Northwest Airlines mechanic, who knew a small town pastor who knew an old friend of a proud owner who had died and left his PA-14 orphaned, I found one for sale in Northern Minnesota.

I met N4225H in a little hanger on the edge of the Great North Woods, which shares only the size of its trees with the Amazon rain forest. The air temperature was just above zero and both of our blood was thick and sluggish. All I knew for sure on our first date, that cold night at the end of 2002, was that 25H had no operable radios and we were a long adventure from her new home at the Indigenous Peoples’ Technology and Education Center in central Florida. A borrowed road atlas would serve to tell us where we were, an inexpensive fishing GPS would tell us where to go, and our eyes would provide our only weather forecast.

I made a list of what it would take to transform 4225H into 56 Henry. It would need major renovation, a new engine, instruments, modern radios, navigation equipment, and clothes. It was painted in its original white with red trim. But 56 Henry had been painted a bright ‘Cub’ yellow to make it show up better in case of a forced landing in the endless green of the Amazon jungle. We had our work cut out for us.

Then it dawned on me. “What good would it do to spend months of time and tens of thousands of dollars to convert 25H into 56 Henry with the wrong registration number emblazoned on both of its wings and its tail?� Registration numbers on airplanes are not like license numbers on a car. On the contrary, they are very personal and unique. In an airplane, the pilot identifies himself by his plane’s registration number in every radio transmission. “Chicago Center, 5156Hotel, request�. “56Hotel, Chicago Center, say request.�

I called the FAA to learn what had become of 56 Henry’s ‘N number’. A nice lady explained what I already knew, “The original plane that carried that ‘N number’ was destroyed in South America in 1956.� … “Now N5156H belongs to a flying club owner in Salem, Oregon.�

There was no way that a stranger in Salem, Oregon, much less an entire flying club, was going to give me back my Dad’s registration number 46 years after the fact. And besides, the FAA would have to approve it.

I lay awake at night imagining what opening line I would use. But I simply could not think of a good way to ask Joan for her personal ‘N number’. Finally, I just called. After a couple days of phone tag, in which I was the only one calling, a receptionist put me through. “Hi, Joan?� “This is Steve Saint calling from Florida. … You don’t know me....�

That is as far as I got. The voice on the other end cut in, “Are you Nate Saint’s son?� (No way! Out of 300 million people in the country, I call a total stranger on the opposite end of the country and she knows who I am.)

When I acknowledged that I was Nate Saint’s son, Joan took over the conversation. “When my sister and I were little girls our parents wanted to be missionaries. It never worked out, but every year it seemed, almost like a family tradition, they would read us a book titled Through Gates of Splendor.�

“Well, I got interested in missionary aviation and learned to fly. I joined a flying club and now I’m the president and my husband and I own it. About ten days ago, a new member joined and I asked him if he would like to read the book. He started to look at the pictures and blurted out, ‘Hey, the airplane in this book has our ‘N number’!’�

“Can you believe it?� Joan queried. “I have read that book since I was a little girl and never realized that we had your Dad’s ‘N number’!� (YES!!! YES, YES, oh YEEEESSSS!!!) The conversation was definitely moving in the right direction. Now I had my opening, but Joan was not finished with her story.

“I called my sister.� “Guess what?� I asked her, “Remember that missionary story Mom and Dad used to read us? Well, you won’t believe this but I just found out that one of our club planes has Nate Saint’s registration number on it.�

Her sister responded, “You think that is a coincidence, wait ‘til I tell you what just happened to me! Last night I went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and met Nate’s son Steve and Mincaye, one of the men that killed Nate.� Joan explained to me that she thought her sister was mistaken. How could she have met me? And surely she couldn’t have met a member of the tribe. Why would an Amazon warrior be here in the U.S. and why would he and I have been at a concert in Washington State?

Joan and her sister were stunned. (Talk about stunned, I was speechless and amazed.) “Then it occurred to me that maybe you were a pilot, so I asked my sister. ‘Do you have any idea if Nate’s son is a pilot too?’�

“Oh sure, in the middle of the concert, they played a video as Steven Curtis sang about this story. It showed Steve Saint flying and living with the same people that killed his dad.�

“That is when it occurred to me,� Joan told me, “that you probably want your Dad’s ‘N number’. So, my sister and I have been trying to figure out how to get your address and now you’ve called. I imagine that is why you’ve called too, isn’t it?� …. Joan told me that she would give me the ‘N number’, and I sent her some video footage of 56 Henry in an old film titled “Through Gates of Splendor.�

After a great deal of building at I-TEC, I took 4225H to Ohio to be painted by Missionary Maintenance Service (MMS). Several weeks later, my wife, Ginny, and I flew to Ohio to pick it up. At the hangar, they opened the doors and, ‘TADAA!’ there in front of me was not the PA-14 that I had left with them, but ’56 Henry’ itself. I had not seen that old friend since the dramatic day in January of 1956, when I watched my hero fly away for the last time.

On our way back to Florida, Ginny and I decided to stop at the little airport near where my Mom lives. I called her on my cell phone. Ginny reminded me, “Remember what Mom said in the ‘Documentary’, ‘One thought entered my mind as I watched him (Nate) leaving, I wonder if I’ll ever see that little airplane ...again – and I never did.’�

As Ginny and I taxied up to the fence where Mom was standing, I watched her face. She was concentrating all of her attention, trying to see Ginny and me. But, suddenly I saw her expression change. Her focus changed from Ginny and me to the little yellow airplane that we were in – and she did see 56 Henry again.

God really does write great stories, doesn’t He?

Beyond the Gates links
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

Angels, Yes, I think it was Angels

by Stephen Saint

Beyond the Gates links:
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

A number of years ago Olive Fleming Liefeld and her second husband Walt visited the site in the Ecuadorian jungle where Olive’s first husband Pete had been speared to death, along with Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Jim Elliot and my father Nate Saint.

Flying into a remote jungle airstrip they were met by my father’s sister Rachel. Aunt Rachel and several members of the Waodani tribe led Olive and her husband down to the sandbar my dad named Palm Beach.

Seeing for the first time the place where her husband had been killed, brought questions back to Olive’s mind – questions that had gone unanswered for over thirty years. Answering her questions, with Aunt Rachel translating, was Dawa, wife of one of the attackers who was present during the attack. Dawa, still a teenager at the time, hid in the dense cane bordering the far side of the river, opposite Palm Beach, afraid to actually watch or take a more aggressive role.

As Dawa recognized Olive’s interest in what had happened that memorable day – a day that shocked and transfixed much of the world, both Christian and non – she began to volunteer information that she thought might be of interest.

In the middle of her commentary she pointed to a place above the jungle canopy bordering the ridge just south of Palm Beach. “That is where we heard the Cowodi (foreigners) singing,� she stated matter-of-factly. As Aunt Rachel translated, Olive stopped her, “What does she mean she heard foreigners singing above the trees?�

Dawa said they were dressed in cloth like she saw a group of Cowodi do who sang in a church she visited with Rachel in the U. S.

Olive, Walt and Aunt Rachel wondered if it could possibly have been a choir of angels. What a wonderful and humbling tribute that would have been from a gracious God who had just had five sons killed, their spear riddled bodies dumped unceremoniously in the river by the beach where they had just two days before had an exciting and completely friendly first contact with two women and one man from the same village where their killers lived.

Olive wanted to include this account of angel visitation in her book, Unfolding Destinies, so she asked me to ask the three surviving Waodani warriors who had been part of that fateful killing party for verification. The opportunity came when I flew to Ecuador to help members of the tribe bury Aunt Rachel after she died of cancer.

One by one, each of the three men told me that they saw what appeared to be lights in the same place where Dawa had said she saw the heavenly choir. They were further away, which might explain that what they saw was different. But all of them said they heard singing. Nevertheless, they were somewhat tentative in their description.

Very recently when a project was initiated to make a feature film and a docudrama about the “Auca Story�, the script writers wanted to include the “angels singing over the Palm Beach martyrs.� As I reviewed the script I felt uncomfortable including any detailed reenactment of something that I was sure had taken place but which had only been vaguely described.

In January, 2002, I was asked to take the documentary film team to Ecuador to interview the Waodani who are the other half of the story. In the interviews with four of the five remaining Waodani survivors who took part in the Palm Beach attack in which my dad and his four friends were killed, I tried to elicit more definition to what I had been told previously, but without success.

The day after wrapping up the filmed interviews with the Waodani, the film group and I were joined by two friends of ours – Kevin McAfee and Steven Curtis Chapman. They had flown out to join us to do filming for Steven’s upcoming tour which will feature the “Auca Story,� as well as to film some footage for the documentary. Steven and I were sitting in the cooking house talking while Kimo, one of the warriors I had just interviewed, was trying to communicate with a member of the film team.

I was startled to hear music coming from the thatched long-house immediately behind us. Then I realized that Kevin was just checking out the sound equipment he had brought.

Suddenly Kimo turned towards the music and listened intently. After a minute he commented, “Manami ihindabopa,� (“Just like I heard it�).

I didn’t understand what he was referring to until I put together the obvious fact he was referring to the music and remembered that I had recently asked him about what he had heard at Palm Beach.

Kimo resumed his sign language conversation. Suddenly he turned towards the music once again and very specifically affirmed, “I have heard that before, long ago. That is what I heard, just like that, when your father died.�

I explained to Steven Curtis Chapman what Kimo was saying, then called to Kevin to hold the music at that spot. It was clear that Kimo was referring especially to one motif in the music as being what he remembered.

I invited Kimo to enter the long-house with us. Unfortunately, Kevin could not tell us specifically where on the CD the music Kimo was referring to was located. Kevin started playing various pieces on the soundtrack. I couldn’t remember enough of what it sounded like to identify it. As the fifth or sixth piece started to play, Steven Curtis Chapman commented, “I think this might be it.� Almost simultaneously Kimo declared, “I saw lights like stars and that is what I heard.� Then he added, “When I heard that long ago, I didn’t know what it was. I was afraid. Hearing it I knew we had done a bad thing there. Now, no longer living angry and hating, I see it well that you have returning brought this back to us.� (They don’t have a word for instrumental music that I know of). Then he got up and left the long-house.

Kevin pulled out the CD to find the title of the piece Kimo had identified. “You won’t believe this!� Kevin exclaimed. “Look,� and he pointed at the CD; “It is cut #8.�

Jesus told us, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.� My father and his four friends joined the ranks of thousands of “God followers� who have given their lives to fulfill that commission.

The title of the soundtrack Kimo recognized as being what he heard after killing my dad and Jim, Pete, Roger and Ed – a piece written by Ron Owen especially for the documentary film (being made to tell the story of God’s plan to reach a tribe of people off in the Amazon jungle who were insignificant in almost every way except that God loved them and wanted them to know they could become His children throughout the sacrifice of Iota “God’s only child, a son.�) – is “Every Tribe, Every Nation.�

God has entrusted “His very good carvings� to us! But only the uninitiated or extremely unobservant are wont to believe that He doesn’t still have His hand in seeing that His message reaches every tribe, every nation, every tongue and every people.

I have never questioned God’s right to use my father’s life. Dad turned his life over to God as a young boy. I have never asked for an apology from the men who killed him, and I have never received one. I never hated them or held anger against them so there was no forgiveness needed. I just accepted my dad was gone and with Jesus. It never occurred to me that I should forgive them for something which, though they meant for evil, God very clearly intended for good.

But as a father, I have agonized over what I have thought must have been going through Dad’s mind as he lay dying out in the middle of nowhere, betrayed by the very people he and his friends had so carefully and methodically befriended. His failure would leave Marjorie (my sweet mom) a widow. He would never teach his two little boys to fly. His little girl would never sit on Daddy’s lap to hear another original bedtime story. He would never again fly sick Indians to the new hospital he and Roger had been working so hard to complete. His passion for sharing the message that had set him free with people who had never heard was suddenly ended.

I have imagined all these years that this must have been the pain of Dad’s last conscious minutes of life. But now I believe that I was wrong. If Dawa, Kimo, Yowe, and Mincaye heard an angelic choir from the world beyond, I have no doubt that Jim, Ed, Pete, Roger and Dad were made even more aware of their presence. They didn’t die alone. Now I do believe that God sent a reception committee to sing for them and to escort them into His presence.

As I listened to music, just written, which Kimo clearly asserted he had heard at Palm Beach, my heart swelled with a sense of well-being. God took what five men could not keep and exchanged it for something they cannot lose. It’s our turn now to make the same deal and give our lives away!

Beyond the Gates links
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections