By GINGER LITTRELL

I was 6 years old in 1956 when I heard my parents talking about five missionaries being murdered in the Amazon jungle. The story was big news, especially in evangelical Christian circles, and was followed by a 10-page spread in the Jan. 20 issue of LIFE magazine.

It’s been 50 years, but I still remember seeing pictures of the bodies floating in the river and asking Daddy how something so terrible could happen to people who only wanted to teach people about God. Why didn’t He protect them and what would happen to the mean people who did it?

I learned the meaning of the word “martyr” that day.

Missionaries were held in high esteem in our family — it was a holy calling that required guts and personal sacrifice. My parents supported missions financially through our church, hosted them in our home and we prayed for them daily.

Elisabeth Elliot chronicled the events that led to the deaths of her husband Jim and his four friends in her (1957) bestselling book, “Through Gates of Splendor.” My parents read it eagerly, which led to some deep conversations at the dinner table. I was too engrossed in Nancy Drew mysteries at that time to choose Elliot’s book from the family library.

Now “the rest of the story” is unfolding before our eyes on television and in the movie theater and I have a renewed interest.

A month or so ago, I was channel surfing and caught a documentary called, “Beyond The Gates of Splendor,” based on Elliot’s book. Recognizing that title and the last name of the narrator, Steve Saint, I learned he was the son of Nate Saint, one of the missionaries who was killed.

Soon after the documentary ran, I began seeing television commercials advertising the Jan. 20 release of “End of the Spear,” based on Saint’s book of the same name.

My husband and I caught the early show last month. Attendance was sparse for opening day, but I was glad. It was one of those times I sat through all the credits to dry my tears and regain my composure.

Reviews of the film have been mixed but that’s par for the course when the subject is remotely connected to anything faith-based. See the movie and decide for yourself.

Without ruining the movie for you — the story is based on a group of five Wheaton College pals whose lives were committed to spreading the Gospel. Along with their wives and families, they established an air base at an abandoned oil exploration camp in the jungles of Ecuador where they supplied local missionaries with medicines, mail and other necessities. In September, 1955, Nate Saint spotted a Waodani (known as the Aucas, a derogatory name meaning “naked savage”) settlement from his airplane. Earning the reputation of being the most homicidal tribe in the country, they raised their children with the mindset to“kill or be killed.”

Saint and his team members, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming and Roger Youderian, began lowering gifts to the tribe in a basket tied to the plane and soon were receiving gifts when they pulled the bucket back to the plane. After three months of air contact, they decided to try making contact from the ground. On Jan. 3, 1956, they set up a camp, using a narrow portion of the beach as a landing strip. Although their personal contact with the Waodani was encouraging at first, the meetings ended five days later when some disgruntled Waodani speared them to death.

The men became instant heroes worldwide and were credited with sparking an interest in Christian missions among the young people of that time.

But the story didn’t end there.

Out of the worst imaginable evil, God was still working. He used the event as a springboard to change lives, including the killers themselves. Several members of the slain men’s families went to live among the people who had murdered their loved ones. Like their husbands, they weren’t afraid for their lives. They were willing to give their lives to bring the message of peace to the Waodani, whose tribe was near extinction from generations of warring with their enemies.

Here’s another twist. Steve Saint, who was 5 years old when his father was murdered, left a successful business career in the United States and took his wife and teenage children back to Ecuador in the 1990s to live among the Waodani, where he met the man who speared his father. Even more amazing is that Saint was baptized in the same river where his father died — by his father’s killer. His book and movie, “End of the Spear,” tells the story of his return to the jungle and the valuable lessons he learned there.

The man who killed his father became “grandfather” to Saint’s children and is considered part of the family. People scratch their heads on that one and if the story wasn’t true, many would say it wasn’t possible to forgive such a horrible act.

Here’s where the story gets personal for me and why I think Saint’s movie will have eternal significance.

As I sat in the theater drying my tears, my mind went back to the night in 1996 when I heard the news that my son and his friend had been killed by a drunk driver. In my shocked state of mind, the plea, “Tell me what to do, tell me what to do…” was all I could whisper as I rocked back and forth on the top step of our entry way.

God was listening.

Everything I had been taught about Him through the years came full circle that night.

My husband and I have said many times that, had we not had Christian parents who lived their faith and taught us that only God could get us through a crisis, we wouldn’t have made it — personally or in our marriage.

The first step toward our healing, though, was what I call the “miracle of forgiveness.” The miracle was that we had no hate for our perpetrator and forgiveness came as natural as breathing. That’s not humanly possible — it’s God.

I think that’s the message of “End of the Spear.”

The Missionary Alliance Church (corner of Madison and Wyche streets) will show the documentary, “Beyond The Gates of Splendor,” Sunday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m.(see announcement, pg. 5-C.) “End of the Spear” is rated PG-13 and is showing in Wilmington at Carmike and Mayfaire Cinemas. You can view trailers and get more information about the film at: www.endofthespear.com.