a trip into the amazon rainforest: Part I

A year and a half ago or so, we were in Ecuador serving as missionaries in the small town of Shell. Shell is probably most known for being the home of Nate Saint, a missionary to the area in the late 1940s/early 50s. Nate Saint is probably most known for being a martyr - killed by the very indigenous people he was trying to spread the Word of the Gospel to. Maybe you've seen the movie End of the Spear? That's the story I'm talking about.

Let me summarize for you:

Nate Saint and a few of his closest friends were trying to reach a remote people group in the amazon rainforest, just outside of Shell. They first spotted the group from their plane, flying overhead, and over time began a bit of a friendship through the exchange of gifts (lowered down in a basket from their airplane). Then, eventually, Nate and his friends landed their plane on the riverbank to meet the indigenous people person-to-person. Unfortunately, the indigenous men were not okay with this, and speared Nate and his friends to death right there on the beach. Although that part of the story is terribly tragic, especially considering the men that were killed had young families, the wives picked-up where they left off and continued to evangelize to this group resulting in Christianity being spread through the indigenous tribe in the area. Three of the original killers are still alive today. All three are Christians.

The time Tom and I were in Shell spanned over Tom's birthday, so as a surprise to him I arranged with Mission Aviation (another missionary group working in the area) for us to accompany one of their pilots on a flight over the amazon rainforest. We were sure to watch End of the Spear the night before our big flight to get acquainted with the arial views and have details of the history fresh in our minds.

We met the pilot early in the morning at the tiny Shell airport. We were surprised to see the pilot push out a 6 passenger plane from the hanger, not the 3 passenger I had originally booked. The pilot informed us that we were in for a treat, he received two pick-up requests from two separate indigenous communities. So, not only were we going to get an arial view of the rainforest, but we were scheduled to land in two indigenous communities. We were stoked.

Once the pre-flight checks were done, Tom climbed into the co-pilot seat and I into the back of the little single prop plane that was going to take us out into history.

Care to join us?


Here's footage of one of our landings: