Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot was a renowned Christian speaker and author, born in Brussels, Belgium on December 21, 1926. Her parents were missionaries and she spent her early years in Belgium before moving to America when she was a few months old. She grew up in Germantown, which is near Philadelphia, where her father worked as an editor for the Sunday School Times.

Elliot's studies in classical Greek at Wheaton College enabled her to contribute to the field of unwritten languages and develop writing systems. She later moved to Ecuador, where she met and married Jim Elliot, a fellow missionary. Together, they worked with the Quichua Indians. In 1953, Jim entered the territory of the Aucas, a fierce tribe that no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. He was tragically killed, along with four other missionaries, when they were speared to death by the Aucas. Elisabeth continued working with the Quichua Indians and, through a remarkable providence, met two Auca women who lived with her for a year. This encounter paved the way for her to live with the tribe that had killed the five missionaries, where she remained for two years.

After her time with the Aucas, Elisabeth returned to the Quichua work and continued her missionary work until 1963. She then returned to the U.S. and became a prolific writer and speaker, sharing her deep Christian teachings and influencing both believers and seekers of the Christian faith. She wrote over twenty books, including "Passion and Purity," "Let Me Be a Woman," "Shadow of the Almighty," "Through Gates of Splendor," and "The Savage My Kinsman," which chronicle her missionary work and the life and martyrdom of her husband Jim Elliot. She is survived by her husband Lars Gren, her daughter Valerie Elliot Shepard, and eight grandchildren. Today, her legacy lives on through the work of the Elisabeth Elliot Foundation.