MISSIONARY IN SPACE

Last night at 11:59 p.m. (Friday, August, 28) the space shuttle Discovery was launched back into space. On-board is mission specialist Patrick Forrester. Forrester, who will be making his third shuttle flight, has logged more than 4,500 hours in more than 50 different aircraft and has been with NASA 16 years. In addition to his time at NASA, he spent over 26 years as an Army aviator.

Yet Forrester’s dream has been to assist with the high calling of missionary aviation. He got permission from NASA to carry on this shuttle flight a piece from the battery box of martyred missionary pilot Nate Saint's Piper PA-14.

Saint and four other missionaries were martyred on a sandbar in Ecuador on Jan. 8, 1956, by a tribe of Waodani Indians. Several of the tribesmen that killed Saint and the others were later converted to Christianity by relatives of the slain missionaries.

As a young boy I remember reading the story and seeing the pictures in LIFE magazine. Indelibly imprinted on my mind as a young boy was an appearance on the Ed Sullivan TV show by the widows of these martyrs, along with some of the men who killed their husbands.

"Bringing attention to and renewing interest in missions would be a great result of this experience," said Forrester, who was born in El Paso, Texas, the year after the martyrdoms. "My deepest intent is to honour Nate Saint, the Saint family and all missionaries around the world."

"I've always had a heart for missions," Forrester said. "When I visualize what I might do after I end my career at NASA, always in the back of my mind is going into the mission field in some way. If I could go tomorrow and be a pilot with an organisation like MAF, I think that's what I'd do."

Whether an astronaut, missionary or something else, Forrester has a simple approach to discovering what career journey people should take. "There are so many needs out there," Forrester said. "People need to figure out where their passion and their talents intersect with God's plan for the world."

When the mission is completed, Forrester will return the piece to Mission Aviation Fellowship, providing a certificate confirming its presence on the space flight. MAF plans to display the battery box part and certificate at its headquarters.

Forrester noted that Saint "could have never imagined that we would have the opportunity to take it to a space station".

As for himself, Forrester sees missions in his career flight plan. "We are all called to serve God in some manner," Forrester said. "I have had the opportunity to participate in several short-term mission trips to Uganda, Canada, Puerto Rico and South Africa. Each time I have developed a heart for the people we served. I believe my wife and I will continue to serve in the mission field for the rest of our lives - whether it is at home or overseas, short-term or full-time."

One of the five young men martyred with Nate Saint was Jim Elliot. His journal entry for October 28, 1949, when he was 22 years old, contains his most famous quotation. Expressing his belief that missions work was more important than his life, he wrote:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Those words have made a great impact on my life. Below is a clip from the movie, “End of the Spear,” which tells the story of events in the Equadoran jungle. This scene is the tragic death scene on the sandbar.

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