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 6. U n i t e d S t a t e s:UPDATED "AUCA" CLASSIC CHALLENGES NEW GENERATIONTHE BEST-SELLING story of one of the greatest missionary dramas of the century has been updated to mark the 40th anniversary of the events that made headlines around the world and inspired thousands of Christians in their faith.
An epilogue in the new edition of Dayuma tells of what happened in the years following the 1956 martyrdom of five American missionaries in the Ecuadorian jungle - and how the son of one of those killed was baptized by one of his father's killers, in the very spot where the murders took place.
A new subtitle to the story - Life Under Waorani Spears - underlines another development over the years. It highlights the real name of the tribe - then known to the outside world as Aucas, meaning "savages who speared" - whose young warriors killed the visiting missionaries after they landed their light aircraft by a jungle river.
Relatives of the murdered men returned to area to work on translating the Bible into the tribe's language with the help of Dayuma, the first convert. Publication of the New Testament in Waorani four years ago marked "a watershed moment", with its message "rendering obsolete the name Auca", says the new book.
Author Ethel Emily Wallis, who traveled to Ecuador in 1959 to document Dayuma's story, contacted families of the martyrs to bring the story up to the present. In the new edition she tells how Steve Saint was baptized as a teenager at the site of his father's murder, and now lives among the Waorani with his own family, running a clinic.
Dayuma: Life Under Waorani Spears has been produced as part of Youth With A Mission Publishing's new International Adventures series, true-life missionary dramas intended to "challenge and inspire a whole new generation of Christians" according to spokesman Jim Drake.
"The story of the Ecuador martyrs is one of probably the five most significant missionary events of the century. It became a watershed event that impacted and influenced tens of thousands of Christians," he said. "We believe it can do the same thing again ."
Founded to produce and distribute books to motivate and equip Christians in fulfilling the Great Commission, YWAM Publishing - based in Seattle, WA - has around 60 titles in print, and annually sells some 250,000 copies.
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