Her first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca people (now known as Huaorani; also rendered as Waorani or Waodani) of eastern Ecuador.
After living in South America for many years, she returned to the United States, wrote over twenty books, and became widely known as an author and a speaker.
She studied Classical Greek at Wheaton College, believing that it was the best tool to help her with the calling of ultimately translating the New Testament of the Bible into an unknown language.
Before their marriage, Elisabeth completed a year of specialized post-graduate studies at the Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada, where a campus prayer chapel was later named in her honor.
In January 1956, her husband Jim was speared to death along with four of his missionary friends while they were attempting to contact the Huaorani tribe.
[citation needed] Two Huaorani women living among the Quichua, including one named Dayuma, taught the Huao language to Elisabeth and fellow missionary Rachel Saint.
[citation needed] From 1988 to 2001, Elisabeth could be heard on a daily radio program, Gateway to Joy,[9] produced by the Good News Broadcasting Association of Lincoln, Nebraska.