Story by Jennifer Wolf
Unless otherwise noted: Photos by Lemuel Malabuyo

Sixto Quiñonez called out in his jovial, megaphone voice within the Amazon jungle, inviting the people of Panintza village in Ecuador to come to the evening service. Entire families started making their way to the small church.

In no time they had filed in and were seated on wooden planks with tree stumps for legs. Then they began shouting out the numbers of favorite worship songs, starting with a Spanish songbook and then transitioning to Shiwiar, their native language.

Their voices rose in praise to their Savior Jesus, accompanied by an acoustic guitar and a choir of jungle birds, cicadas, and other buzzing insects.

A call for help

Samuel Mayancha was born in Panintza and attended elementary school there. As an adult, he went away to the city to be trained as a teacher and gain experience. During that time he also gave his life to Christ.

When he returned to the village to teach the children, Samuel found the community divided over religious ideas. There was no spiritual work happening, and there was no one to teach them God’s Word. He desired to start a congregation but wasn’t sure how to do that.

Then he heard that the MAF team in Shell had a jungle ministry. MAF would adopt a village in which to plant a church and disciple the people. Samuel and the leaders in Panintza desperately wanted this for their community.

Samuel made a video stating their need for missionaries to come and teach them about God.

Sixto, the MAF chaplain, says they had just finished three years of ministry in a small jungle community and it was time to choose the next location. They had already received many requests.

Then Samuel’s video arrived, imploring MAF to come to Panintza.

“And I remembered in Acts, when the Macedonian cried out to Paul to come over to them and help them,” says Sixto.

MAF doesn’t force its ministry on villages. They wait until they’re asked to come. It was obvious that Panintza was desperate for God’s Word.

MAF accepted Samuel’s request and, two years ago, Sixto and Wilson Cuvi, the MAF base maintenance manager, started making monthly visits to Panintza. Other teammates joined them as schedules permitted. MAF staff also donated their own money toward the trips and provided gifts of food, medicine, and school supplies.

Doors opening

MAF first started doing these jungle outreaches back in 2010, when an expatriate water engineer—a believer—was working in the Quichua/Sapara area of the jungle. At that time, many communities rejected the gospel and were opposed to having missionaries come. But in this area, the people began to ask the engineer about Jesus. He tried to answer their questions, but eventually suggested they talk to MAF, which they did. They invited MAF to come to their community one weekend each month to help them study the Bible.

Wilson was the main teacher then, and the fact that he is Quichua and spoke the language opened doors to preach the gospel there. Trust was built between MAF and the neighboring communities, who later asked them to come and work with them as well.

To date MAF has done this type of discipleship ministry in 15 communities. People have chosen to follow Christ in each place, but in one village in particular—Suraka—the teaching had a profound impact. Out of 30 families, ten couples made the decision to unite in marriage before God, committing their partnerships to Christ. MAF never told them they needed to do this. They just felt convicted to do it. Along with this special celebration, many were baptized that day.

“It was a joyful and connected experience,” said one of the MAF pilots who attended. Three MAF airplanes flew in with civil authorities, and MAF staff raised money to buy rings for the couples.

Wilson stresses the importance of working in these smaller villages, which tend to be neglected. He says there are more than 400 small communities within the Amazon jungle of Ecuador that need someone to disciple them.

Challenges and rewards

When Sixto and Wilson began ministering in Panintza, people’s lives were a mess, home situations were not good, and there were complex sins.

“But the moment they knew and accepted Christ as their only personal Savior, it was different for them,” says Wilson. “Although there are struggles and there are still problems, they are feeling the love of God.”

At first Panintza’s new believers were meeting in the community gathering place, where there were all kinds of activities and parties. But Sixto challenged them to build a church because it would make a statement that they are Christians now. It would be their “light on the hill.”

Now, here they sat during the evening service, in the church they had built with their own hands. Bibles were open on their laps, as they followed along and took turns reading verses out loud for the group.

The post Faith Grows in the Jungle appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

I’m happy to say that Timmy the tarantula, my roommate in the Amazon jungle, did not disturb me one bit. Honestly, I don’t think he even moved from his spot by the door while I was in Panintza, Ecuador.

Now that we have the issue of the spider out of the way, I want to give you a glimpse of what it looks like when Lem Malabuyo (MAF’s video producer) and I do interviews in a foreign context. On day two of our stay, we interviewed MAF teammates Sixto and Wilson in between their teaching sessions. A translator conveyed my questions for them in Spanish and then paraphrased the answers back to me in English.

We also interviewed a few other people, including the schoolteacher, a former president of the village, and a young couple who walked for three hours through the jungle to be present for Sixto and Wilson’s teaching of God’s Word.

Some of the families lived on the other side of the river so, later in the afternoon, we crossed over in dugout canoes (another first for me). Then, it was a steep hike up the side of a hill on a makeshift staircase made of halved logs.

We were warmly greeted by one of the husbands, who treated us to some delicious fruit, which he knocked down from a tree with a stick. It looked sort of like a tangelo but, inside, the flesh was white and not pulpy (yay), just juicy. I had two and they were so refreshing, especially since it was quite warm and humid by then.

Next, we walked over to one of the homes and interviewed Olmedo and his wife, Nelly. We sat on the floor of a big front room. The entire home was covered by a beautiful and intricate thatched roof. Most of the houses were set up like this, with one closed-off room at the back, where I’m guessing they slept.

Olmeda said that before MAF came to teach them God’s Word, “they were dancing, drinking, and doing everything in the world. That’s the way we were.”  

“Now we have changed. We have left the things we were doing and now we want to continue in the new life,” Olmeda added.

I thought you might enjoy this short clip from the end of the interview, where Olmedo recited one of his favorite verses.

Last-minute visits

On Wednesday, we expected the MAF plane to arrive late morning, so we hurried off to visit another family. They had invited us to their home for breakfast. So around 8:00 we walked to the other end of the airstrip and then stepped carefully through a wet, muddy, and slippery forest.

Once we reached the home, we ventured to their kitchen and watched them prepare boiled bananas. When everything was ready, we ate together in their front room.

After breakfast, we interviewed the husband (the wife didn’t want to be in the video). Then, we thanked the couple, said our goodbyes, and started our hike back to the center of the village.

Walking through the rainforest here is like a symphony for the senses. First, you take in the beauty; it is something else. Then there are the sounds, from the sloshing of our shoes as we walked to the chorus of bugs and the accompanying bird calls. (Click on the photo below for audio.)

Lem, and brothers Levi and Daniel (translators), happened upon a fallen log in the path and noticed leafcutter ants streaming over it. Of course, Lem had to capture that on film before continuing down the path. As we were exiting the forest, I heard a commotion behind me and turned around to see Lem crouched down. An ant was tugging on his shoelace so he was using a leaf to remove it before it could bite him through his sock. But as he did so, the ant bit his finger through the leaf and drew blood!  

That is one bug bite he will probably never forget.

Rain delays and goodbyes

Back in the village, Lem and I and the translators started packing up our stuff. Then, the rain really started coming down. We moved from shelter to shelter as we waited for it to let up, and realized our flight was going to be delayed.

Morning turned into afternoon and things began to dry up. We had no idea if MAF was coming, because the village radio was broken. Since all our things were ready to go, we joined one last worship time at the church. The people knew we were leaving, so they asked the four of us to lead a few songs in English. They wanted to hear what it would sound like.

So we sang these two songs from their songbook.

Top: “I have decided to follow Jesus”

Bottom: “I have the joy, joy” (joy, joy down in my heart)

After the short service, we had some free time. Lem took off to get overhead shots with the drone, and I kicked the soccer ball around with some of the young women.

Finally, around 3:30 we heard a man shouting, “the plane is coming.” I couldn’t hear a thing, but somehow his ears picked it up from far away. We started grabbing our backpacks and the camera gear and headed down to the airstrip. Sixto and Wilson would have to wait until the next day to return, since only one airplane could make it in. We arrived back in Shell by 5:00.

Thursday and Friday we did interviews in the hangar, then Saturday was a sightseeing day. On Sunday, we made it to the Waorani church in the morning and then it was time to start our drive to the Quito airport. Sadly, our time in Ecuador was coming to an end.  

The post Saying goodbye to the Amazon appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

This is the third in a series of stories about my visit to MAF Ecuador’s program in early December. If you missed the earlier ones, start with the first story here, and then read the second one here.

“Where will we sleep in the jungle? I asked Cristina, MAF Ecuador’s administrative assistant and our main contact for the week.

It was Monday morning in Shell, Ecuador, and our group was at the MAF hangar. We would soon be boarding a Cessna 206 for our flight into the Amazon jungle to visit the small community of Panintza. 

“You’ll be tent camping,” Cristina answered.

I immediately wondered how our tents would hold up under the torrential downpours, and then a more pressing question came to mind. “Would we have to dig a hole for a toilet?”

She looked at me quizzically, as if it were a strange thing to ask. I can’t imagine why. I believe her answer was, “There’s a structure.”

Okay, good. I was sure whatever form of “toilet” was in said structure I had experienced by now in my travels with MAF, including the following: bucket-flush toilets; a long-drop toilet; squatty potties; and a thorn bush.

By mid-morning, it was time to board the airplane along with MAF chaplain Sixto and two local missionary teen brothers who would serve as our translators and help us conduct interviews in Spanish. Soon we were airborne with pilot Danny and flying over the Amazon jungle, which looked like a forest of broccoli from the air.

Forty-five minutes later we landed on the short grass airstrip at Panintza. As we taxied to the end of the strip, people were already coming out from the center of the village to help us carry our cargo, and the food gifts the MAF team had sent.

As we followed Sixto with our gear, two things became clear to me: 1) We were sleeping in tents but we’d be in a simple, raised wooden home, with two rooms and a large covered front porch. Four of the guys would be on the porch, Sixto had a room with all the food and supplies, and I had my own room. So we would not need to worry about the rain getting to our stuff, and the tents would keep the bugs out.

And (perhaps more importantly) 2) There was an outhouse nearby with a squatty potty.

Hospitality in the jungle

We dropped off our stuff and headed over to the large covered area where the community usually gathered—an open-sided structure with a tin roof. We sat on wooden benches at the front and Sixto introduced us and explained that we were there to gather stories for MAF’s supporters. Then some of the leaders came forward and made short speeches to welcome us.

There were maybe 30 or 40 people—adults and children—gathered under the shelter. One of the men shared how they live off the land. Everything they eat comes from the jungle, through hunting, fishing, or whatever is growing there.

Another man shared, “It was not Sixto’s will that we become Christians. It was God’s will.”

It was amazing to me that they were so new in their faith. MAF was in its second year of serving here. A team visits for three days each month to disciple the believers and train church leaders.

The women made lunch for the entire village and set up tables for us in another sheltered spot. There were bowls of hot broth with some sort of meat, small fish, and boiled plantains. When we asked what the meat was, someone told us it was a small horse. Come to find out, it was tapir.

After lunch, the guys started playing volleyball in the hot sun … with a soccer ball! Developed in Ecuador, “ecuavóley” is the national sport. It seemed to require even more energy than a regular volleyball game because of the heavier ball, and the rules were different.

I sat with the women in the shade of the main shelter. They were shy and sweet, and laughed a lot. They spoke Spanish, so I was able to communicate a tiny bit. I knew how to ask how many children and/or grandchildren they had, and to say how many I had. After those questions, all I could think to do was to show them pictures of my grandsons (almost 2 and almost 4 years old) on my phone. Some things are universal it seems, even in the jungle. 

Nighttime approaches, and so do the bugs

Just before 5:00, Sixto’s booming, jovial voice called the people to come to the church for the evening service. Soon, entire families arrived and began to find a seat.

They sang several worship songs in Spanish and Shiwiar (pronounced Shiviar), their native language. Then Sixto preached from Romans 6:1-8 and shared a list of “7 Reasons Why Not to Sin.”

It felt very much like Christianity 101—rich, basic truths that every believer should know but with culturally relevant examples for people who live in a jungle setting.

As it was getting dark, someone set up a projector and they began to play a short film about Jesus. Sixto and Wilson (the other MAF teammate who arrived on a later flight) left the church when the movie started. Lem and I and the translators went to find them and discovered they were heating water for hot chocolate or milk and had rolls with tuna for our MAF team.

We enjoyed our evening snack by candlelight, where the bugs came out in full force. Then it was time to get ready for bed, so I went to my room to grab my toothbrush and toothpaste by flashlight. As I was doing this, Lem says, “Hey Jenn, did you know you have a roommate?”

I turned around to see him by the door, his headlamp illuminating a spot next to the door frame.

There, hiding within its web, was a good-sized TARANTULA!

While I was mortified, the guys thought it was hilarious and promptly nicknamed it “Timmy.”

Of course I would get the room with the large spider! They assured me it would only come out at night to eat the bugs. It was a good thing, they said.

##

Would I be able to sleep knowing that Timmy was nearby? What would the next two days hold for me in Panintza? You’ll have to wait for my next installment to find out.

The post <strong>In the Amazon jungle</strong> appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

But God already had something in mind for my last visit to a remote village in the western part of the country.

Normally, I work at MAF headquarters as a writer. But I was here visiting our programs in the DRC for the first time, along with MAF’s video producer, Lem Malabuyo, to do interviews with our partners and staff. We had previously developed a list of subjects to interview. Since schedules and flights could easily change, we went with open hands, willing to accept whatever the Lord made available to us.

Our initial plan to interview a medical missionary couple at the Vanga Evangelical Hospital didn’t work out, as they were out of the country. Still, we were happy to tag along on this training flight for one of the pilots who needed to be checked-out at Vanga.

Once we landed, Lem went off to set up on the side of the airstrip to film the training flights (aka takeoffs and landings). As I started walking away from the airplane, a woman approached. One of the pilots introduced me to Marta Klein, an expat medical missionary.

She told me a bit of her history and how she serves in the northwest part of the country with the Congo Covenant Church, as well as at the hospital in Vanga. She’s trained as a physician’s assistant and focuses on nutrition and continuing education for local doctors and nurses.

MAF had flown her and two nurses from Kinshasa to Vanga the previous week so they could teach nurses at the Vanga hospital the “Helping Babies Breathe” class for resuscitating newborns.

The name of the course was familiar to me from past stories I’d worked on.

“Are the nurses here now?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she said, pointing toward the hangar building.

She mentioned they were waiting for their MAF flight. Turns out they would be on the return flight to Kinshasa with us! I told her I’d like to talk with them, so we headed in their direction.

Marta introduced me and explained what I was doing in the DRC, and that I had some questions for them.

One of the men agreed to speak and Marta served as translator, since he spoke Lingala.

I asked how many people they had trained over the past week.

“We came to do the training with six people beforehand,” answered Alphonse NDOMBE, an obstetrical nurse, sonogram technician, and a teacher at a nursing school. “We have a method called Train the Trainers, where we trained six people and then those six people will train six more people. So we have trained a total of 12 this last week.

“We do the training in groups of two, so they will be able to go out and train the rest of the doctors and nurses that are in the Vanga Health Zone.”

“Has he flown with MAF other times for this work?” I asked.

“We were able to use MAF to work with the Paul Carlson partnership,” he said. “We got on the plane in Gemena and we flew to Wasolo, and we did another training there.”

I recognized the organization he mentioned, and when he said Wasolo, something clicked in my mind. I had written a story about that a few years back …

“Was this when they had run out of a special gel for the umbilical cord?” I asked.

“It was,” Marta said. “We were having difficulty obtaining that medication. And then we were able to get it right at the end of the trip.”

Suddenly, I realized I was with the people who had a part in that earlier story. I was so excited that I may have hopped up and down a few times (well, truthfully, I did).

Marta explained to them why I was jumping. They seemed to understand and shared in my joy with a chuckle or two.

But really, it was just one of many times on this visit to the DRC where God surprised me with an unexpected gift like this one.

When I asked what they had accomplished on the Wasolo trip, Alphonse replied:

“Since we did the training, and they [the doctors and nurses] were using the chlorhexidine gel and following the protocol we taught, they were able to reduce the neonatal mortality rate in that region.”

After the chat with the nurses, Marta shared with me how MAF helps them reach Vanga, which otherwise could take up to 15 hours or more by road.

“We’re very grateful for MAF offering their services to fly from Kinshasa to Vanga, because it only takes one hour and 15 minutes,” Marta said. “It’s much more convenient, and I feel it is much safer because there are so many accidents that happen on the road. And not just accidents, but also there’s a risk of getting robbed or worse.”

When asked if she had a message for MAF’s supporters, Marta said, “I really want to thank people who donate to this ministry … It’s life-changing, it’s lifesaving, and it’s time-saving as well for missionaries and local people.”

The post A Last-Minute Gift appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

This is the second in a series of personal reflections from a field resourcing trip to Ecuador. If you missed my “Eyes on the Sparrow” story, read that one first, here.

Sunday morning at the Nate Saint house. We still didn’t have a plan in place for the day, and our connection to the local Waorani church we hoped to visit that morning fell through. I decided to enjoy an extended quiet time with the Lord, and continued to ponder what God had been teaching me the night before about how His eye is on the sparrow, and on me. I listened to the different versions of the hymn again and reflected on the verse (Matt. 10:29-31). Eventually, I made my way to the balcony that was just off my room and sat on the patio chair there.

I remembered that before the trip I had discovered an Elisabeth Elliot podcast. I opened up my phone and went to find it again. When I did, I scrolled through the episode titles, and guess what I found? An episode called “His Eye is on the Sparrow!”

So of course, I had to listen to it. I sensed that Jesus had something else to teach me. And as often happens when He is trying to make a point, it’s repeated two or three times in different ways—sometimes through a conversation with a friend, sometimes through a sermon. This felt incredibly personal, just me and His Word on a tiny balcony, and now an audio file.

If you’re not familiar with Elisabeth, she was one of the five wives I mentioned in Part 1 who were in the kitchen at the Nate Saint house when they received the news that their husbands had been martyred by a group of Waorani men. Elisabeth continued the ministry she had started with her husband and eventually was invited to live and work with the Waorani people in their village. She had the privilege of sharing the gospel with them, along with Rachel Saint, Nate’s older sister.

In this podcast episode, Elisabeth was talking about how to get rid of complaining. She shared about living in the jungle and how the Waorani never complained. She said they wouldn’t make a fuss about stepping on a thorn, a caterpillar, hot coals, etc. They would never think to grumble about the weather, for instance, including the torrential downpours that happened frequently. She said they didn’t even have a vocabulary for it. As if on cue, as I was listening, the rain started pouring down, making a glorious noise on the tin roof.

Elisabeth talked about how complaining is a learned behavior. I knew I had a tendency to be negative at times and grumble out loud or in my heart. Elisabeth herself said she was a born complainer. Well, I was in good company it seemed.

“Endurance is a learned behavior,” she continued, giving me hope.

She went on to say that the Waorani men viewed the women as physically stronger when it came to bearing burdens. Turns out when a man killed a large animal in the jungle, he would run and tell his wife where the animal was. Then she would go and find it somehow and carry it home on her back. Elisabeth says the women did so without a word of complaint and describes them as having “sheer dogged endurance.”

Throughout the episode, Elisabeth mentioned several verses or entire passages. So when it ended, I went and looked them up and camped out on one in particular that resonated with me.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them
like the stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the Word of life. —Philippians 2:14-16a (NIV)

Around noon, Lem, my co-worker (MAF video producer) texted me. He said his missionary friend was inviting us out to lunch. Turns out the Waorani church had been right down the street the whole time! We had no idea it was close by. We could easily have walked there.

We got ready to go and walked over to the couple’s complex. Then they drove us to a nearby restaurant. After a lovely lunch, we called Christina, our main MAF contact, and arranged to go grocery shopping that afternoon. Then she asked if we wanted to go out for dinner with the MAF singles that evening.

Why, yes. Yes, we would! This would give us a chance to meet quite a few of the staff before we walked into the hangar the next morning.

I treasured the lessons I had already learned in my short time in Shell, Ecuador, and tucked them in my heart—God has His eye on me, and I could learn how not to complain. I was about to put these lessons to the test as I could be spending the next three days/two nights in the Amazon jungle.

The post <strong>No Grumbling Here</strong> appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

By Jennifer Wolf

At the Nate Saint House in Shell, Ecuador, I was trying not to panic as I texted my co-worker, Lem: “I can’t find that cloth purse that has my wallet and passport in it!”

I knew I had it with me when we stopped for lunch on the drive from Quito. Did I leave it in the restroom at the restaurant? Maybe I had hung it on the door.

“What if I left it at the restaurant?” I texted again. The restaurant was two hours away.

“That could be a problem,” he messaged back from the other guest house—the original MAF hangar that had been converted into a family home.

We would only be in Ecuador for a week, to do interviews with key partners and staff so we could share about the impact the MAF team is having here. Would it even be possible to replace a passport in that amount of time?

It was stressful enough traveling internationally, not being able to communicate in the local language, relying on others for help, and now, losing my passport!

I looked everywhere in my apartment. Where could it be? I sent a message to the gal whose father had driven us to Shell, thinking maybe I left it in his car.

But I must have had it when we arrived at the MAF property around 5 p.m., because I had my phone with me now, and I had been keeping that in the purse too.

What am I doing, thinking I can travel across the world like this? I’m not cut out for this, my panicked thoughts swirled.

The enemy was wielding an ugly sword trying to cut me down.

I was already feeling muddleheaded after a full day of travel the day before, arriving in Quito just past midnight. Then, a four-plus hour car ride to Shell, starting at 10 that morning. I was running on five hours of sleep.

Even my excitement over discovering that I would be staying at the Nate Saint house had started to wane just a bit. The constant traffic on the main two-lane road through town droned on just outside my windows. I realized my idea of a small, quaint base with a quiet street running through it was a bit outdated—like 75 years outdated! The MAF team had recently celebrated that milestone anniversary.

I blame all the vintage MAF photos I’ve seen, and the current snapshots that can’t show the whole picture.

But I was here and excited, for the most part. Surely, I would feel better after a good night’s rest. But what about this passport issue? It was 9 o’clock in the evening at this point. I felt the panic rising, so I did the most logical thing …

“Father God, this is really bad. I cannot find my passport! I’ve looked everywhere and I just don’t know where it is. Please help me! In Jesus’ name.”

Nothing fancy, just desperate.

A split second later, He put this thought in my head—front porch.

I raced down the stairs with the old, frayed carpet, past the radio room and the original kitchen—where five wives had received the worst news—unlocked and threw open the front door.

There, resting on an emerald-green bench on the front porch, was my colorful purse with my wallet and passport inside.

It made sense now. Lem and I had sat there while he connected my phone to the MAF internet before we had each gone to our lodgings. I had pulled my phone out of the purse and set it next to me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus! You’re so good to me, my quieted heart sang.

Bugs danced around the streetlights and cars and trucks buzzed by the chain-link fence out front as I turned and ran back inside, bolting the front door behind me.

Lighter now, I jogged back up the steps to the apartment.

An old window with stick-on words and an image of a bird hung on the wall across from the kitchen. It held new meaning to me now in this place that holds so much history. It read:

His eye is on the sparrow
and I know He loves me.

I knew there was a Bible verse related to this but couldn’t remember where it was. So I Googled and found it:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 
And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29-31, ESV).

At the same time, some videos popped up, and I learned there was a hymn. I played different versions until I found one or two favorites, and then I listened to them over and over again.

God has His eye on me. He had His eye on my passport. He cares about the minute details that matter to me—and you.

He’s always with me, always sees me, always loves me … even when I’m far from home.

The post <strong>Of Sparrows and Lost Things</strong> appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

By Jennifer Wolf

In the Kango region, in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Dingila airstrip had been in disrepair and unusable for several years.

The local church had done some work on it, and the CECA 20 denomination saw the value in reopening it. This would allow Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to serve Dingila and would shorten the travel time of missionaries working with the Kango people.

MAF needed to assess the airstrip to determine if it was ready for use. MAF pilot Dominic Villeneuve was invited to travel with CECA 20 missionaries to the Kango area.

“I jumped at the opportunity to see the kingdom work they were doing and to evaluate the runway,” Dominic said. 

Collaboration is key

Pastor Lule Djamba Charles, director of missions and evangelism for the CECA 20 church, realized it would be difficult for a few evangelists to work with all the churches in northeastern Congo. It would be more fruitful to train local believers who could return and make disciples in their own communities and beyond. This is his vision for the school he leads.

His team is identifying and recruiting missionary candidates to attend the Christian Training Center for Evangelism and Holistic Missions (CCFEMI), operated by CECA 20 in Bunia.

“When we train them, it’s with the aim of helping the Church,” Lule said. “How can the Church itself evangelize? From the ground up. This is our mission.”

After completing two months of classes, students do a month-long mission internship in an unreached or poorly reached place. As a result of these trips, many people have chosen to follow Christ, and churches have been planted among the Mundu, Mamvu, Kango, and Barambo people. 

To accomplish this takes a strong partnership with MAF, who transports candidates from all over northeastern DRC to Bunia for the training, out to remote areas for the internship, and then back home again.

“This is really the work of MAF, too. It’s a collaborative effort,” Lule said.

MAF flights bring the mission teams closer to the target areas. Then the teams travel onto their final destinations by motorcycle, foot, and canoe.

“MAF’s material support has provided us with four motorcycles,” Lule added. “It’s a testament to their involvement.

“So MAF is helping us in the sense of transport and financial support … MAF is also physically committed,” he says, referring to Dominic’s willingness to spend two weeks with his team and some of the CCFEMI graduates.

One pilot’s adventure

Dominic was ready. MAF flew the CECA 20 team and Dominic to Dakwa, where they spent several days working with established churches along the main road through the jungle. They did evangelism workshops, women’s ministry training, and led Bible studies. Then, it was time to head deep into the forest to the Kango people—a fishing community who live along the Uélé River. 

Dominic and the missionaries departed on motorcycles and spent an entire day bouncing through deep mud and ruts, breaking down twice along the way. The next day they hiked nearly seven miles in thick forest, finally reaching the Kango village of Ezabisi. CECA 20 graduates had shared the gospel in Ezabisi and planted a church back in 2021.

The Kango people are extremely isolated. They lack schools and medical care. But their biggest problem is spiritual. Ancestor worship, animism, and syncretism are the norm.

In Ezabisi, that is changing. People are hungry for the light of Christ. On Sunday, the whole village showed up for the church service with the CECA 20 team.

“Everyone was worshipping and just really invested,” Dominic said. “At least half a dozen people responded to the altar call, which was really encouraging.”

Coming closer

During the trip, Dominic evaluated the nearby Dingila airstrip, and he saw a few things that needed to be addressed. While it would take some intense work, the airstrip could be ready in time for their return trip!

“About a dozen people worked tirelessly for two days, clearing hundreds of termite mounds, filling holes, and cutting down about 15 trees, many large bushes, and two bamboo groves,” Dominic said.

The workers’ faces beamed with pride when the MAF airplane landed there. The pilot disembarked and said, “Man, this is a nice strip!”

He had first landed at Dakwa to drop off supplies before flying on to Dingila. The trip had taken him just 10 minutes! It took the CECA 20 team two days to cover that same distance on the ground.

“It was a huge reminder of the importance of this air travel,” Dominic said. “And now the community has a connection to the outside world.”

A big vision

Pastor Lule wants to send more CCFEMI-trained missionaries to under-reached areas and hopes they will return home to mobilize their home churches. Graduates have even led a condensed version of the training program at a local church near the Kango. Twenty students were trained, including a young Kango man.

Lule plans to recruit more candidates and, with the help of MAF, bring them to the center for training. His vision is a big one: to see people working for Christ throughout the DRC and beyond.

“Little by little, the bird makes its nest. So little by little, it’s going to get bigger,” Lule said. “We begin something very small and with the Lord’s help, we know it’s always going to go on.”

This story ran in the November 2023 (Vol. 4) issue of FlightWatch. Read the entire issue here:

The post Reaching Their Neighbors appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

“Going to a village where I didn’t know anyone or the language and being left there sounded like a terrible plan to me,” said Rachel Amend, an aircraft mechanic, recalling a mountain excursion with her fellow Moody Aviation students.

They were on a one-month internship at the MAF Lesotho program back in January of this year.

The travel arrangements added to Rachel’s anxiety. She would have to control a horse, without someone leading it, for the first time in her life—descending 2,000 feet down a mountainside, crossing a river, and then riding back up 2,000 feet on the other side.

A New Model

This intern experience is a new initiative coming from the MAF Waypoints department. Waypoints staff partner with technical schools like Moody Aviation, LeTourneau University, and Liberty University to provide a discipleship/mentoring process for young people who are preparing for missionary aviation careers. The Waypoints team holds workshops at the schools, and, starting with this Lesotho group, has revamped the MAF internship model to provide a more intentional experience that gives students a real taste of what it’s like to serve in missions.

“It [The Lesotho trip] was an opportunity to take the long-term transition to missions and shrink that down into a four-week experience,” said Aaron Kramer, MAF Waypoints department manager. Aaron, his wife, Sarah, and their two girls are based in Spokane, Washington, where they mentor Moody students. They went to Lesotho with the group to shepherd, care for them, and handle logistics.

A few months before the trip, ten Moody students started meeting together with Aaron and Sarah once a week for pre-trip training. They worked through a book that covered things like delighting in differences, why missions exist, and staying spiritually fresh on the field, to name a few topics. They also took the StrengthsFinders assessment (now CliftonStrengths).

“It was really helpful to get to know Aaron and Sarah and build that trust with them, and get to know the rest of our team and how people think and operate,” said Andrew*, a pilot/mechanic who is finishing his training at Moody this year. He and his wife, Maggie, both went on the trip.

“When we got there, we were able to care for each other a lot better. That helped a lot because during the first week, over half of the team was sick,” Andrew said.

The group of 10 interns, plus Aaron’s family, stayed at a children’s center for the first two weeks while they studied the Sesotho language and learned about the culture of the Basotho people. After that, eight members of the team (those who weren’t sick), accompanied by a few of the Lesotho Flying Pastors (LFP), journeyed by land to Kuebunyane, in the mountains. They spent two nights there before returning to the capital city of Maseru. The final part of the internship was spent interacting with the MAF families and national staff and helping with projects at the hangar or at the missionaries’ homes.

Letting God Lead

All during the trip preparation period, Rachel worried about the arduous travel the mountain excursion would require. Yet when the time came, she made the decision to go.

Rachel and the seven other young adults from Moody departed from Maseru at dawn and spent seven hours traveling in a van, on a dirt road. Next they spent over an hour getting the horses ready, and then three and half hours traveling by horseback. They finally reached Kuebunyane as the sun was setting. The group would spend the following day and a half experiencing life in an isolated village.

The next morning, the interns led a devotional at the clinic and then hiked to two nearby villages with the LFP and the full-time pastoral couple in Kuebunyane, going door-to-door and visiting with the people while the pastors translated for them.

At one house, a woman shared how she would ask God for one thing or another, and if that didn’t work, she’d try something else.

Rachel, along with Alex, a pilot/mechanic intern who was in her group that day, were able to share their experiences with the woman.

“We both shared times where our prayers weren’t answered in the way we wanted them to be and acknowledged that there was pain there, but also how it turned out to be good and showed us God’s character in ways that we hadn’t understood before,” Rachel explained. “It seemed to make an impact.”

Surprising Outcomes

On their last morning in Kuebunyane, the interns packed their things and were ready to go when three MAF Cessna 206s landed at the airstrip to take them back to the capital city. As they made the trip to Maseru in a mere 35 minutes—versus the 13 hours it took to reach the village—the group clearly saw the value of using airplanes to minister in isolated areas.

Though she had feared going to Kuebunyane, it turned out to be the best part of the whole internship experience for Rachel. “What started as the most dreaded part of the trip had become the highlight for me,” she said.

Overall, the internship exceeded everyone’s expectations, even as it pushed some out of their comfort zones. While the interns got the chance to see what a life in missions could look like for them, they also learned a lot about themselves and about God.

“I think this is a new way that we as MAF can engage with young people,” said Matthew Monson, country director, MAF Lesotho. “And if it means that they’re inspired and they get a better, clearer picture of what it’s like to live and work overseas, then we’ve all just won together.”

*Last names withheld for security reasons.

The post A Real Taste of Missions appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Your support is enabling the light of Christ to reach a dark place on the south coast of Papua

“Can you please come to the south coast?”

This was the request of Pastor Simson, who had gone to great lengths to seek out missionaries interested in serving the swampy south coast of Papua, Indonesia.   

Through a series of providential connections, God led him to Sam and Kari*, a missionary couple living in Sentani at the time.

“He just showed up on our doorstep one day and said, ‘Every single Sunday I preach the gospel from the pulpit and the people go home and worship demons. I want to help my people know who Jesus is. I want to help my people be free from fear of spirits. But I’m failing to do that because we don’t have a Bible that makes sense in the Asmat language,’” said Sam.

God had already placed it in Sam and Kari’s hearts to minister on the south coast. Now they had an official invitation from Simson.

Knowing that MAF flights would support living in such a remote place, Sam and Kari began serving the Asmat area seven years ago. The community warmly welcomed them and helped them build a house, by hand. Sam and Kare are raising their three children here—now twelve, ten, and four years old.

Two Boats

“The only airplane on the island that can bring us in and out to our location is the MAF floatplane. The ground here is so swampy and muddy that essentially an airstrip is not possible,” said Sam.

Sam described the spiritual needs here as “enormous.”

“Church for them is like a shirt. It’s something you put on,” he added. “It’s not a heart change. It’s not a deep understanding of who God is.”

Since the Asmat travel by boat, Sam uses boat illustration to explain God’s redemption versus those who are separated from God and under wrath.

Unfortunately, Sam says the majority of Asmat people are in “Adam’s boat.”

There is a young group of believers who are in “God’s boat,” which is how Sam describes those who’ve been redeemed and hidden with Christ Jesus (Col. 3:3). But it’s hard for them to grow spiritually since they don’t have God’s Word in their southern Asmat dialect. 

Sam and Kari desire to see a mature Asmat church that’s alive and growing, that has the Word of God, that’s discipling its own people for the next generation.

Today, Simson and other church leaders are working alongside Sam and Kari to translate portions of Genesis and Exodus. Then they’ll tackle Mark and Luke. They’re also leading literacy classes, which have just started.

One Airplane

The MAF floatplane is the only one in all of Papua, and it’s critical to Sam and Kari’s mission.

“The fact that the floatplane can land right on the river, pick us up in the case of emergency, and take us directly to a hospital … That is a really key thing,” said Sam.

The other option is a four-hour boat ride on the ocean to the nearest airstrip. And that’s not even possible in certain seasons. When the wind kicks up, massive waves cause boats to capsize.

“When you think about a snakebite or a compound fracture … four hours is a lifetime. We couldn’t be here without the organization flying us in,” added Sam. “It’s almost impossible for us to function and be here.”

MAF medical evacuations have saved Asmat lives. The medevacs are vital, but they’re a last-ditch effort.

A new Siloam Clinic opened here last summer, which will help with day-to-day health and treat minor illnesses and injuries before they become a problem.

“The clinic here is going to allow the entire village to be healthy, to move towards wholeness, to move towards health,” said Sam. Malaria and parasite prevention, vaccination—these are the things that keep people alive and functioning well.”

“The fact that the floatplane can land right on the river, pick us up in case of emergency, and take us directly to a hospital … That is a really key thing,” said Sam.

MAF brought in a generator, a chainsaw, nails, tools, medicines, and other supplies so the new clinic and school could be built and open in time for the school year. Finally, MAF brought in the team of teachers, nurses, and a doctor.

God’s Blessings

When he reflects on the new school and clinic, Jack Gandy, the MAF floatplane pilot who did all of those flights said, “No one in the U.S. knows that the Asmat people even exist. But the Lord knows about them and He cares for them.”

Now, the Asmat children are receiving an education. The people will lead healthier lives. And, most importantly, hearts will change when they come aboard “God’s boat.”

As more missionaries—including families with children—are called to take the light of Christ to the swampy areas of Papua, they too will depend on MAF.

“Without the MAF floatplane, it would just be so impractical that it wouldn’t work,” said Jack. “The floatplane opens up so many more doors that would be closed otherwise. It opens up the whole south coast of Papua to the gospel.”

##

*Some of our partners request that identifying information be withheld for security reasons.

Story appeared in FlightWatch Vol. 2 2023. Read the entire issue here:

The post God’s Boat appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Story by Jennifer Wolf
Photos by Hungry for Life International unless otherwise noted

The prophet Elisha’s servant woke early, went outside, and saw an army of horses and chariots surrounding the city. He cried out to Elisha, “This is hopeless, my master!”

Over two millennia later and more than 6,000 miles away, the people of Haiti feel the same despair.

Gasoline $50 a gallon. A hamburger for $20. An economy paralyzed. Gangs blocking the seaports and the main fuel terminal—no more fuel shipments or food coming in. Hospitals, banks, and stores closing or rationing power. Violent protests. Reports of cholera.

The situation in Haiti is dire.

But, just as God opened the servant’s eyes to see the horses and chariots of fire He had sent to protect them, so God has given MAF and its partners incredible glimpses of the work He has been doing in Haiti.

Zoom out with me, and let’s take a look.

Jehovah-Jireh*

In April 2022, an MAF Caravan carried a group to Anse Rouge, Haiti, a dry, drought-stricken valley sometimes referred to as Platon Gran Dyab (the Devil’s Plateau). On board was a former MAF Haiti pilot, Jason Krul, who now serves with Hungry for Life International (HFLI). He was traveling with a group of donors on a vision trip of sorts to check in on compassion development projects they’d been supporting. It had been two years since they’d been able to visit Haiti, due to COVID and increasing instability within the country.

“I booked these flights quite a long ways in advance because the whole trip hinged on whether I could get an airplane or not,” Jason said. “Being able to rely on a ministry like MAF … that reliability, dependability, but also knowing and trusting the pilots are trained, the airplanes are maintained to a standard … We wouldn’t have done the trip if we didn’t have MAF flights.”

The group was visiting Lemuel Ministries, whose focus is on combatting poverty through holistic development—land and water reclamation, micro business, Christian education, and discipleship training. HFL supports a good portion of Lemuel’s kindergarten and elementary school, and a key donor was among the HFL visitors. 

It was Easter weekend. Every week the church in Anse Rouge prays for rain. It had been six months since they’d had any, and their watering holes were completely empty. Crops were dying, wells were going dry. During the community’s Easter service, the people prayed fervently.

“They prayed like I’ve never seen them pray before for rain,” Jason said.

After lunch, Jason and the HFL team went to tour the micro development project they support. There was a dark, ominous cloud over the mountains, which is common—it rains there but not in the valley. Suddenly the group heard people yelling from the top of the mountain. It had rained so much up there that water was gushing down through natural ravines, following its natural course to the ocean.

Lemuel and community members had built canals to divert water from the ravines to several collection ponds.

“We jumped and ran because we were across where the water would come,” Jason said. “We were able to stand up on a hill and watch water rushing through these canals and filling up massive watering pools. That will provide water for six to eight months again.”

A few minutes later, Jason and his team were talking to Manis and Judy Dilus, the couple behind Lemuel Ministries. Judy commented that the only thing that could possibly be better would be for it to actually rain there, in the valley.

The words were barely out of her mouth when the skies opened up and it started pouring; it rained all night.

These remarkable gifts of water amazed the visitors. “We were genuinely impacted by God’s provision and just the timing of us being there to be able to experience that,” Jason said.

Jehovah-Nissi**

After the HFL team had spent a few days with Lemuel Ministries, MAF picked up the group and flew them from the driest part of the country to the lushest.

To go from Anse Rouge to Jeremie is almost the longest distance you can go across Haiti. But with MAF, it’s just a short flight between the two.

“And when you take the plane, you see it immediately: The ministries that are working there are all different, but they all have the same goal,” Jason added. “It’s an awesome part about partnering with different ministries, like MAF does as well, being able to see the variety of ministry happening.”

Jason had done that flight to Jeremie many times in his former MAF pilot role to serve another long-time MAF partner, and friend, Mark Stockeland, founder of Haiti Bible Mission (HBM).

While in Jeremie, the HFL team saw vivid examples of how God was transforming lives. The group was in a meeting with Mark and some of HBM’s pastors and leaders, when a “prodigal son” returned.

The young man had been part of HBM’s leadership program for 10 years; they’d helped him start a business. Then he began hanging out with the wrong people, squandered everything, and abandoned HBM for a year.

During the meeting, he came knocking on the gate, tearfully begging Mark and his team to take him back and asking for forgiveness. Mark then read the story of the prodigal, and—as he later described it—“we cried and loved on him! Welcomed him back to our family.”

The HFL group also met another young man who’d been helped by Mark’s mission. Houston had been demon possessed and so violent that his family had to chain him to the ground. Mark and his team had prayed over him, and the next day he’d begun to improve. Several days later, Houston had asked for Mark’s team to come and pray for him again so he could ask Jesus into his heart.

“He’s been helping lead a discipleship group and getting involved in the church we helped build,” Mark said.

Jason and the HFL donors had been supporting the new church plant in Houston’s area, and they were excited to meet Houston.

“The guy is 100% normal—complete transformation!” Jason said. “To see a guy that’s gone from complete demon possessed to being on fire for this new church … You just go, wow, God is still working and moving in these communities.”

Arms Lifted

It’s not often that donors get to visit the projects they’ve funded and see the impact of their giving and how lives are being changed. These trips allow them to come alongside the ministries they support, learn what their needs are, and be an encouraging presence.  

Mark Stockeland said, “It’s always a blessing to have teams come and help serve. But it’s even better when it’s a close friend like Jason, who comes and encourages us and helps lift our arms. He knows what it’s like on the mission field, so he gets what we deal with on a daily basis.”

Jason and his team had the unique opportunity to see firsthand how Lemuel Ministries and HBM are striving to meet the needs of the Haitian people while sharing the life-changing love of Christ. Your support for MAF carried them safely to the right place at the right time, so God could show them the wondrous works He was doing.

May you be encouraged by these reports and have eyes to see the “chariots of fire”—God’s provision and protection—in your own life.

*The Lord who provides
**The Lord is my banner 

See page 12 of the “Prayer at Work” section in the full FlightWatch issue below to learn how the Haiti team was affected at the time of this writing.

The post Eyes to See appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.