28. RETURN TO THE AUCUS - Part 1
Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint, the Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot who was murdered, along with four other missionaries, by the Aucia Indians – now known as the Huaorani – nearly 40 years ago, is returning to that tribe in Ecuador, at their request, to help them deal with life in the Twentieth Century..............
Saint, 44, plans to leave in June with his wife Ginny, 43, and their four children, Shaun, 20, Jamie Nate, 17, Jesse, 16 and 14-year old Stephanie Rachael, for their new life in the South American Jungle home of the Huaorani. .......
For many years his Aunt Rachel Saint, whom he helped to bury close to her home in a Huaorani village, next door to her friend Dayuma, had worked as a missionary to the 1,500 – strong tribe.
“I am very close to the tribe members and our family considers itself to be honorary Huaoris.” Saint revealed in an exclusive interview from his home in Florida. “Ginny and I are going to take the kids there initially for a year, to help start the tribal centre.”
Saint told me that when tribe members realised that Rachel Saint was dying, they started asking him, on his frequent visits to them, if he was now going to live with them and help them.
“I had no plans to do this, but the Lord just started closing every door here and this got me thinking about whether we should go or not “he continued, “At first the plan didn’t seem practical, but still Ginny and I started to ask the Lord what we should do.
Hoping they would not continue to insist, Steve told them he would be available to help them with any problems they encountered.
TEACH US GOD’S WAY
“Then one of the men, and old friend of mine, Komi, said they needed someone to teach them God’s way.” He continued. “Komi said they needed someone to help get them medicines. I realised that they also required someone to help them interact with this whole new life they have entered into.”
Steve knew that he was taking on a huge task. The tribe members, “he stated, “are totally egalitarian, meaning they are independent of everyone else and this was the reason for the killing of five missionaries including my father. This served them well in their former lifestyle, but is a hindrance in the more complete life of which they now want to be part of.”
“The young people don’t want to live in the old days, but they have no marketable skills in the Twentieth Century. They don’t want to put plugs in their ears, but I have recently noticed they have tattoos, a custom they have picked up from the Westerners, and some of the boys, are wearing modern earrings.”.............to be continued.