Through Gates of Splendor

Elisabeth Elliot, the author of Through Gates of Splendor, was one of the members of the mission team involved in the events of the book, along with her husband, Jim. Elisabeth was the daughter of American missionaries and went to Wheaton College to prepare for a career in missions. Elisabeth and Jim married in 1953, shortly after each had undertaken a move to Ecuador. They had one child together, Valerie, who was born in 1955. After Jim’s death in Huaorani territory in January of 1956, Elisabeth continued the mission work they had begun with the Quichua people. She also began compiling the sources that would fill out the material that was published in 1957 in Through Gates of Splendor, a book shaped by a balance of Elliot’s narration and quotations from the five missionaries’ letters and journals. When an opportunity developed for her to pursue an entrance into Huaorani territory in 1957, she went there with Rachel Saint (the sister of Nate Saint). She spent several years with the Huaorani, learning their language and transmitting the Christian gospel message to them. Along the way, she became friends with several of the men who had been involved with her husband’s killing, many of whom came to faith in Christ.