Just about any little boy growing up finds his grandfather’s shoes are an awfully big pair to fill.
But imagine if your grandfather was Nate Saint.
Birmingham surgeon Shaun Saint doesn’t have to imagine it — he grew up with that legacy years before the legendary story hit the big screen Jan. 20. Saint, 31, is the grandson of the missionary whose sacrifice to reach the Waodani people of Ecuador is captured in the movie “End of the Spear.”
Fifty years prior to the film’s release, Nate Saint was speared to death along with four other missionaries while trying to take the gospel to the violent tribe.
After their plane touched down in a remote part of the jungle, the five were attacked by tribesmen who first killed them and then destroyed the plane.
“Seeing [my grandfather’s] dedication has influenced me the same way it has so many people — it inspires me to have that willingness to do what God wants me to do,” Saint said. “And no matter where you go, people know the story.”
After the killings, the Saint family changed forever — and so did the Waodani people. Because of Nate Saint’s sacrifice and the perseverence of his family — who didn’t stop trying to reach the Waodani — the tribe’s homicide rate dropped by 90 percent.
Twenty percent of the people became Christians.
The Waodani tribesmen — some of whom had taken part in the killings — ended up helping raise Saint’s father, Steve, who went to live among them during the summers with Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel. Nate Saint’s killers ended up baptizing Steve Saint as well as his sister, Kathy, just a decade after the spearings.
And years later, they also baptized Shaun Saint, his two brothers Jaime and Jesse and sister Stephenie.
“I went down there and stayed two summers during college after my parents went to live with the Waodani. I was saved when I was young; I thought it would be meaningful to be baptized by the Waodani men,” Saint said.
It was meaningful simply to live among them, too, he said.
And it was fun, he said, jokingly adding that he and his brothers spent those summers providing “running” water for their mother — running buckets back and forth from the river.
“It was a summer adventure for us, and as we’ve gone back, we’ve gotten more and more pieces to the puzzle of the story,” he said.
Even just getting to the Waodani village held meaning — to get there, Saint flew in the same type of plane his grandfather took the day he met the Waodani.
It’s also the same type of plane his father flew in Ecuador before he and his wife, Ginny, moved back to live in Florida in recent years. Steve Saint, as a tribute to Nate’s legacy, even did the stunt flying in the film.
Does Shaun Saint fly? “No, I never learned how, though I enjoy being up,” he said.
Instead Saint helped out with the family ministry the best way a surgeon could. He cut — trees, that is.
Saint spent weeks in the depths of the jungle clearing trees for a runway that planes now use to bring in supplies and more missionaries. It allowed for easier access to the newest Waodani village — a central hub built between the already existing ones.
Nate Saint’s legacy continues to be visible in Ecuador — as well as Birmingham.
His soft-spoken grandson is saving lives, too — on the operating table.
“Part of it is just realizing that we never know what we are called to do. These men were all working with different tribes, and God called them to go in and make contact with the Waodani and look what happened,” Saint said. “But here I am in general surgery. I am listening to where God is calling me and trying to be willing to go wherever it is.”
Co-workers say he’s humble about his famous family. When the movie came out a year and a half into his general surgery residency at Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, fellow doctors made the connection about the legacy Saint carries.
“We are very pleased to have a resident like Dr. Saint in our program,” said Dr. William J. Tapscott, director of Baptist Health System’s Surgical Residency Program. “He not only has the technical abilities that a good surgeon needs, he also has true compassion for his patients.
“I believe his grandfather, Nate, would be very proud of him and the good he will do for others in his life.”
Saint said he’s just trying his best to follow God’s lead. “We all have something we’re supposed to be doing. Just do your best at it.”
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