They met in Portland, where Clara was studying to be a chiropractor and Fred, having devoted himself to Christian ministry, was working as a traveling preacher with the Plymouth Brethren movement.

[3] Elliot's parents had firm Christian beliefs, and they raised their children accordingly, taking them to church and reading the Bible regularly.

A classmate recounts how Elliot quoted the Bible to the president of the student body as an explanation for his refusal to attend a school party.

A pacifist, he rejected the idea of using force to eliminate slavery in Africa, and he was prepared to stand as a conscientious objector had he been drafted to serve in World War II.

The missionary told him of the Huaorani – also called the "Auca", the Quichua word for "savage" – a group of Ecuadorian indigenous people considered violent and dangerous to outsiders.

His parents and friends wondered if he might instead be more effective in youth ministry in the United States, but considering the home church "well-fed", he felt that international missions should take precedence.

[7] After the completion of his linguistic studies, Elliot applied for a passport and began to make plans with his friend Bill Cathers to leave for Ecuador.

[8] Instead, Elliot spent the winter and spring of 1951 working with his friend Ed McCully in Chester, Illinois, running a radio program, preaching in prisons, holding evangelistic rallies, and teaching Sunday school.

[citation needed] Elliot and his group (Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint) made contact from their Piper PA-14 airplane with the Huaorani using a loudspeaker and a basket to pass down gifts.

After several months, the men decided to build a base a short distance from the Amerindian village, along the Curaray River.

In 2003, a musical based on the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, entitled Love Above All, was staged at the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore by Mount Carmel Bible-Presbyterian Church.