Beyond the Gates of Splendor

Well, forget our attempt at watching Crash, we instead, move onto Beyond the Gates of Splendor. (Read pluggedinonline.com's review here.) We are excited to watch this one!

Despite my questioning of Away Team Missions, there is a place for those courageous enough to move out of their comfort zone and share Christ with people who speak a different language, and live by a different code of survival.

Synopsis from Plugged in Online:

"When Christian missionaries were killed in 1956 in the Amazon jungles of Ecuador by the tribe they were trying to befriend, the incident caught the eye of the world. Newspapers, magazines and radio broadcasts turned their attention to the apparent tragedy that left behind five fatherless families. Among Christians, the story went on to impact entire generations, inspiring countless potential missionaries to place their lives at risk for the sake of the gospel.

Less publicized was the rest of the story, as it were, which 50 years later still embodies redemption, forgiveness and sacrificial love. Narrated by one of the missionary's sons, Steve Saint, Beyond the Gates of Splendor not only documents the harrowing events of that fateful January day, but also reveals the dramatic changes in the Waodani culture that came as a result of the missionaries' deaths."

** UPDATE **

I enjoyed the story of these missionaries, and learning about how an entire culture of an Amazon tribe was forever changed by 5 young men and their families in generations that followed.

The following quote is one that captures the motivation of the missionaries that died. It comes from one of the friend's of the missionaries brutally speared to death by the Aucas in the jungles of the Amazon in 1956:

They had guns, they carried guns with them, but they said 'we will never kill an Auca even if they attack us, because, we are ready for heaven, they aren't'"