Through Gates of Splendor

As 1955 neared its end, the process dubbed “Operation Auca” continued. The men rigged a loudspeaker to the plane so that they could amplify the Huaorani greetings they were shouting to the villages below. They continued dropping gifts and were encouraged by what appeared to be enthusiastic responses from the villagers, including Huaorani attempts to clear land so that the airplane would have more room for its drops. The team of five men were not in complete agreement over the pace of the endeavor, however—some were ready to initiate a more direct contact, but others were not, noting the long history of Huaorani hostility to outsiders and the paucity of the missionaries’ linguistic ability to communicate. Using extracts from Nate Saint’s and Ed McCully’s diaries, the chapter narrates a succession of continued gift drops. Among the highlights of those weeks were when they reeled the line back in after a drop to find that the Huaorani below had attached a gift in return: a headband woven with feathers. Ed McCully’s diary conveys the excitement of that moment: “A real answer to prayer; another sign to proceed, an encouragement that friendly relations are possible and that they will hear the Gospel” (148).

Three of the missionaries were fully committed to the enterprise at this point: Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, and Nate Saint. Pete Fleming was also considering it, but had not yet been convinced that the time was right nor that God was specifically calling him to join. The future fifth member of the team, Roger Youderian, was engaged in his work with the Atshuara people, but had been struggling with a sense of failure and uncertainty over whether he ought to continue as a missionary. When Nate Saint contacted him to consider the Huaorani mission, Roger devoted himself to prayer and seeking the will of God, eventually coming under the conviction that God was calling him to join the effort to reach the Huaorani: “I will die to self,” Youderian wrote, adding, “I will begin to ask God to put me in a service of constant circumstances where to live Christ I must die to self” (155).

One of the necessary requirements for making a direct and personal contact with the Huaorani would be a site on which Nate Saint’s plane could land, so the team began searching for a strip of land that could serve that purpose, most likely a beach along the riverside. They had noted the apparently encouraging responses of the Huaorani to their flyovers, including noticing that one Huaorani settlement had apparently made a model airplane in imitation of Nate’s craft. Ed McCully’s journal notes this enthusiasm and relates a sense of the need to press forward: “It is time we were getting closer to them on the ground” (159). After their many flyovers of Huaorani territory, they were able to note a likely site for their “Palm Beach”—the landing-strip they would establish—a run of sand along the Curaray River. Once the site was picked out, they made plans for how the operation would commence: several drops of men and materials on the beach, the construction of a treehouse, and preparations made to receive any Huaorani greeting-party that might come out (with protocols in place for defense if necessary, and with guns to be used as a last resort). In the meantime, they continued their drops of gifts to the Huaorani—clothes, tools, cooking utensils, and other useful items—and even received a few more gifts tied onto the line in return.

Though most of the team’s attempts to contact the Huaorani were by plane, it was never forgotten that the McCullys’ position in Arajuno was close to their territory, and the possibility remained for a ground contact there. It was even presumed that at least a few Huaorani individuals had been observing the site from the edges of the property, and welcoming signs had been displayed at the house just in case it was being watched. Because of the Huaorani’s reputation of hostility toward outsiders, however, every precaution for security had been taken at that location. One day in December, an Indigenous worker at Arajuno reported seeing a human footprint along a jungle track, likely left by a Huaorani. Marilou McCully attempted to go out and leave a gift along the trail for whoever had been there, but the gift went uncollected. The Indigenous workers were terrified at the thought of a Huaorani party watching them, but the missionaries remained calm. Not long after, a flyover of the nearest Huaorani settlement showed less activity than usual, leading to the inference that at least some of the Huaorani men had indeed gone away, possibly on a trek down the trails to Arajuno.