By Jeanelle Reider

______

COMMISSIONED

On July 15, 2022, something happened to transcend tragedy.

More than two years earlier, an MAF Kodiak aircraft, along with its pilot, Joyce Lin, had crashed into Lake Sentani in Papua, Indonesia. No one can know why God, in His loving and perfect plan, allowed such a catastrophe. For MAF and all who knew Joyce, the fatal accident remains a heartbreak and a mystery.

On July 15, PK-MJL—the Kodiak replacement aircraft affectionately nicknamed “Miss Joyce Lin”—was commissioned for service in Sentani. As MAF staff formed a prayerful circle around the Kodiak, they knew the event’s significance extended far beyond the airplane itself. It extended to them.

Joyce was clear-eyed in her purpose with MAF. She said, “While I will always be excited to fly planes and work on computers, I am most excited to share the love of Jesus Christ by helping to transform other people’s discouragement and mourning into dancing and joy.”

Through PK-MJL, her legacy of love will continue.

READY FOR SERVICE!

PK-MJL’s journey to Papua began with generous funding from MAF partners who shared Joyce’s vision and wanted to carry it further. Once purchased, the Kodiak spent two years at MAF’s headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, getting retrofitted for the field and waiting for import permissions. It was then ferried to Sentani where it cleared customs in record time! The airplane was then prepped with its new PK-MJL registration and some small modifications and stood ready to join the MAF Papua fleet.

FIRST FLIGHTS

PK-MJL’s first passenger flights, conducted on July 18 by MAF pilots Dave Ringenberg and Tom Bolser, carried MAF missionary kids (MKs). Linda Ringenberg, Dave’s wife, said, “We hope that being the first passengers in this plane will inspire them to live a life that’s sold out for God like Joyce did.”

The next day, PK-MJL flew its first mission flight. This flight, and the ones in the weeks that followed, represented a beautiful cross section of the many ways this tool will be used to carry on Joyce’s legacy.

PK-MJL brought a photographer and others to the village of Nalca for the purpose of chronicling the work of Dr. Atik and the Siloam Clinic.

MORE TO COME!

We’re excited to see how God will keep using PK-MJL to speak His love to the people of Papua. You’ll be hearing more as the story unfolds!

And each time you hear of new ways Joyce’s legacy lives on, we hope you know how grateful we are for compassionate partners like you whose prayers and generosity help make it all possible.

The post A Kodiak Named PK-MJL 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.

By Natalie Holsten

As the tropical sun beat down on the village of Long Pujungan, young children filed into the church building by ones and twos, freshly bathed and ready to learn.

They gathered at the front of the church, sitting on the floor in a semicircle, little folding desks before them. Their eyes were fixed on Refi, a young man tasked with teaching them the basics of reading and writing.

Refi is one of several young people helping with Hati MAF, or the Heart of MAF ministry, a discipleship initiative started several years ago by MAF and local church leaders in North Kalimantan, Indonesia, to reach remote communities.

Since the early 1970s, MAF has operated in Kalimantan, flying in places that previously took days or weeks to reach by river or overland routes through the mountain rainforest. Through the years, MAF has provided air support for the national church, as well as helping with medevac flights and community development.

Though much has changed in the decades since MAF first began flight service here, one thing remains the same: isolated communities need Jesus.

The need for discipleship

Starting in 2019, several MAF staff began discussing how they could be more strategic in helping the churches interior to be more effective in discipleship.

“The pastors in many of these communities were a bit overwhelmed, not even knowing where to start because of the issues their communities are facing,” said MAF pilot Jeremy Toews. “They specifically requested help from MAF to help bring in teachers, people who can bring in godly Christian teaching and disciple the people.”

Jeremy didn’t know exactly who their partners in a discipleship ministry might be, but as they were praying and discussing how MAF could be involved, one name in particular came up: Esther Adam.

Esther is a longtime friend of MAF, a “frequent flier” who often travels interior in her dual roles as an instructor at a Bible school, and as the head of children and youth for the Indonesian branch of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) in North Kalimantan.

When MAF staff met with Esther about how MAF might be able to better assist the church’s efforts, she had recently returned from a trip to Long Pujungan, where she met with Pastor Musa, head pastor for the CMA churches in that area.

She knew exactly where MAF could help.

A pastor’s plea

Pastor Musa shared with Esther how burdened he was for his people. Families were hurting, marriages were suffering, children were growing up in church but without discipleship in the home. The family problems he saw were compounded by the presence of drugs in the area, as well as the influence of the internet via smart phones.

In tears, he pleaded with Esther—was there anything she could do to help the people in Pujungan?

Esther was able to bring Pastor Musa’s request to the meeting with MAF, which also included Bob Lopulalang and his wife, Sery, a couple active in children and youth ministry. Bob had recently been part of a team that developed a curriculum specifically for the discipleship of children.

“We decided to focus on three areas: Bob focuses on Sunday school kids and the training for Sunday school teachers, I do the class for parents, and Sery does the class for teens,” Esther said.

With their ministry plan formed, it was decided that the first location would be Long Pujungan, an hour’s flight from the MAF base of Tarakan. MAF’s ability to provide safe and efficient transportation was a key component of the ministry, said Esther, who had experienced the harrowing, days-long river route from Long Pujungan to Tarakan in a long boat. “Without MAF, we for sure couldn’t be here.”

Caring for kids

In the fall of 2019, the new discipleship effort began, with MAF providing flights for six weekend trips into Long Pujungan.

“We asked that Pastor Musa, and the head pastor of the church, and the important people of the village attend the first parenting class we did,” Bob said of the ministry’s early days. “We knew that would have an impact on the others, to have the leaders attend. And they did, they came.”

Bob’s curriculum included not just how to teach children but also focused on how the Bible shows we are to value, nurture, and teach children about Jesus. “We found the parents needed discipleship and encouragement to help their children,” Bob said.

After the first few classes, Bob began to hear stories about how families were impacted, including one family known to be abusive that became more loving to their kids.

“We have heard testimonies from a few families that they shared with others in the village, saying this program really pushed them to care for their kids,” said Bob. “That really encouraged us, we saw the fruit, we saw this program is being used by the Lord.”

Esther was also hearing testimonies from families who were becoming more loving to their kids and less harsh. “Their difficult homes had transformed,” she said. “It’s amazing!”

Unexpected interruptions, new opportunities

The ministry was moving along, until a government runway renovation project shut down the Long Pujungan airstrip for months. Then COVID-19 pandemic restrictions severely limited where MAF could fly.

When restrictions finally lifted and the Long Pujungan airstrip reopened earlier this year, MAF began flying in the ministry teams  again.

As the ministry resumed, it expanded to include early childhood literacy. This was a need the leaders identified early on as they saw that children weren’t reading well, which provided a challenge to Sunday school teachers.

Rindu Siahaan, the office manager for MAF Tarakan, with a background in early childhood literacy, stepped forward and offered his services. He met with leaders in Long Pujungan to make sure they agreed with this new facet of the ministry focused on the children of the village.

“I thought if they don’t have a culture of reading and they don’t know how to read, then how will they know how to read their Bibles well?” Rindu said. “That’s what motivated me to pursue this.”

Rindu provides training to young adults, fresh out of college, like Refi, who volunteer for the program. They are usually sent in pairs for two weeks of intensive teaching with a group of four- to six-year-olds, with the goal of preparing the children for entering elementary school. And they’re seeing results, not just in literacy, but also in the students’ interest in school.

“The second time we met, I asked the teacher, are you seeing a difference in your students? And she said, ‘yes, they have more enthusiasm for learning,’” Rindu shared.

The literacy program has provided a way for other church denominations to be involved in Hati MAF, which has been a desire of the Hati MAF team.

“Rindu’s been very actively recruiting young people from a variety of churches here in Tarakan…that are also very missions-minded,” Jeremy said.

According to Jeremy, having people from different church backgrounds come together united under the banner of discipleship broadens the potential and reach of the ministry. And MAF, with its long history in Kalimantan, is well known and respected in interior communities. Using “MAF” in the Hati MAF name provides a neutral umbrella so that communities know the ministry is something MAF supports and can be trusted.

The word spreads

Word about Hati MAF’s work interior has spread to other villages, and people are asking for the team to bring the ministry to their communities. One such place is Long Belaka, a village two hours upriver from Long Pujungan.

One of the local church leaders, Pastor Sadung, is burdened for the villagers there, and invited members of the Hati MAF team to visit and assess the needs.

“The people there are still tied to their old beliefs,” Pastor Sadung shared. “On one side, they go to church services, on another side, if they have somebody who’s sick, or a child is born, they revert to their ancestral ways to protect themselves from evil spirits.”

On a recent visit to Long Belaka, members of the Hati MAF team saw a deep need for the gospel to impact the village, along with educational and other needs, and will prayerfully consider next steps.

“We have to pray and ask the Lord to lead us in what He wants us to do for this village,” said Esther. “We will wait for what He asks us to do, after that we will move according to what the Lord wants.”

A partnership with donors

Hati MAF is funded through the National Church Subsidy, a funding initiative donors give to that also covers the cost of flights for Bible schools, translation projects, and church conferences.

“For all the people that donate, that support us in prayer as well as financial means, thank you,” said Kalimantan Program Director Tyler Schmidt. “We can’t do this alone. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

Watch the video of the MAF Hati team’s visit to Long Balaka:

Story ran in the Vol. 3 2022 edition of FlightWatch. Read the entire issue here:

The post The Heart of MAF appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

“Airplanes are unique machines. And they’re not just unique because they can fly, but have you ever noticed how there’s always a story that surrounds airplanes?”

David Holsten, MAF’s president and CEO, spoke these words during a commencement speech he gave at the School of Missionary Aviation Technology (SMAT) graduation this summer. He was addressing an auditorium full of maintenance and flight students, and their families and friends, as well as several MAF staff who were there to show support. The event was held at Restore Church in Ionia, Michigan, on Monday, August 22, 2022.

“One day we’re all going to look back on our lives and there will be a story that will be told about our lives,” David continued. “What is the story that you want your life to tell?”

Three of the graduates that night were MAF’s own staff, representing three different countries—Haiti, Mexico, and Lesotho. God is writing each of their stories, and it’s evident by their faith and how they strive to use the skills and talents He’s given them.

There’s Zacharie François, who graduated from SMAT in 2019 with his Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certificate and served as an MAF maintenance specialist in Haiti before returning to SMAT for his flight training. He’s the first international student to attend SMAT’s flight training program and has earned his Commercial Instrument Pilot’s License with a High-Performance, Complex and Tail-Wheel endorsement.

On graduation night, Zacharie had this experience: “You look to your left and to your right on stage, and all your classmates have captain bars on, and your friends and family are either in the room or live-cheering you on. You tear up how faithful our great Heavenly Father is.”

“It’s so rare that somebody from these countries would have acquired these sorts of skills,” David said, “but the fact they’ve acquired it within the context of ministry, to be utilized for the kingdom, is even more unique.”

Two other staff members, Mantlibi Mafa from MAF Lesotho, and Juan Antonio Rivera from the MAF affiliate Alas de Socorro in Mexico, graduated with their A&P certificates. Mantlibi had done an internship with MAF as part of her auto mechanic’s schooling, and later she was hired as a maintenance assistant. She’ll be the first female maintenance specialist at the Lesotho program.

Of her experience at SMAT, Mantlibi said, “Graduating from SMAT has been such a huge blessing. I am thankful to have had the opportunity for that training and so thankful that I performed well in such a short period of time, and passed. Glory be to God.”

Juan Antonio and his wife, Amy, have a heart to serve in a restricted-access country, and MAF is more than glad to send them to one in the near future. “We are grateful beyond expression for the opportunity He is giving us to serve Him overseas in a closed country where His light has not yet reached,” Juan said. “For now, we are in the process of completing a few more requirements and preparing for this next step as soon as the doors open.”

“It has been a pretty special year for them and for me,” said MAF’s Dave McCleery, former Latin America regional director, based in Michigan. “I felt a bit like their dad at times … ‘Careful driving in the snow. Do you have enough cold-weather clothes? Is your housing working out okay?’”

Several of the SMAT staff had mentioned to Dave that our trainees had a positive impact on this year’s class. “They had a quiet influence in a good direction,” Dave added.

Each of them did well in what is known to be a challenging program. There’s a lot of training compressed into 12 months.

“You could tell they were respected by their peers and faculty. Everybody was speaking very positively about their character, how they handled going through the program. I felt very proud of that,” David Holsten said after the event.

MAF desires to have close relationships with mission-focused schools like SMAT. David says it’s because “we’re not just interested in technical things. There’s an ethos that surrounds the training that helps prepare men and women for the mission side of things. It’s technical training done with a Christian worldview.”

The resources these young adults need are not typically available within their own countries. But MAF’s commitment to strengthen the capacity of our staff in the places we serve, and God’s provision through generous donors, made this training a reality.

“I’m excited because this will increasingly be the picture of what we do around the world, working with brothers and sisters of the countries we serve in. It’s a partnership. In the U.S. we have access to resources that can come alongside of them, both financially and with training,” David said. “It reflects the body of Christ that way.”

The post Faith and Provision appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

By Natalie Holsten

“My mission field is the students and their parents,” said teacher Katherine Mosher. Katherine has taught missionary kids for seven years with MAF, serving at Hillcrest International School (HIS) in Sentani, Indonesia, and its satellite school in Wamena.

Raised by Christian parents in Snoqualmie, Washington, Katherine had an early interest in missions after her small church sent out a couple for overseas ministry. “I remember them coming back and telling us about it. I remember thinking, wow, that’s amazing they could go out from this small church and do something important.”

Katherine didn’t set out to become a teacher, but after getting her undergraduate degree in English and history, she accepted a one-year assignment to Korea to serve as an ESL teacher. The year in Korea helped her realize that teaching was a natural fit.

After obtaining a master’s degree in teaching, Katherine taught in Washington state public schools for six years before heading back overseas, first in Papua, Indonesia, with MAF, then to Brazil, then back to Papua in 2017. During her teaching career, she’s taught math, history, language arts, and served as a librarian.

While Katherine loves the “lightbulb moments” when her students grasp a new concept or master a new skill, she also finds great fulfillment in serving as a mentor for her students.

“While I’m teaching, I’m also mentoring,” she shared. “Kids need people who are there for them.” When parents know their kids are being taught and mentored, Katherine explained, it helps them have longevity on the mission field.

Katherine has found those mentoring opportunities through activities like Outdoor Education (OE), when the entire high school at HIS heads to a remote village for two weeks of work projects, Bible study, and anthropology studies.

“It’s a watershed moment for kids,” Katherine said. “Kids can be like, ‘This is why my parents are here.’ You know this world exists, but not until you really get into it. Going to the villages, it’s eye opening both on a sociological level and spiritual level.”

Katherine said OE gets kids out of their comfort zone. “You’re sleeping on the floor, going on long hikes. I tell them, if I can make it, you can make it!”

Now as she is raising support to return to Papua, Katherine says she is “giving people the opportunity to contribute to the work of Christ.” If you are interested in joining Katherine’s support team, you can learn more at maf.org/mosher.

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Story appeared in FlightWatch Vol. 1, 2022. Read the full issue here:

The post Ministry Spotlight: Katherine Mosher appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Dan and his wife, Jodi, began their ministry with MAF 27 years ago as a maintenance specialist family in Kalimantan, Indonesia. They served for eight years on the small island of Tarakan, where Dan helped maintain MAF’s fleet of Cessna 206 and 185 aircraft. As a family, they served in a variety of ways through hospitality and ministry in their community.

Knowing their three children would need better education options, Dan and Jodi prayed about where their next assignment might be. An opportunity arose from a familiar place, Dan’s alma mater, Moody Aviation, based in Elizabethton, Tennessee, at the time.

In 2003 MAF “loaned” the Applebys to the school, which teaches the technical and theological disciplines needed by MAF staff. They served there for two years, then made the move to Spokane, Washington, when the school shifted their operations there.

As an advanced maintenance instructor, Dan is responsible for the implementation of maintenance instruction for the advanced pilot/mechanic students. In her role as administrative assistant, Jodi assists staff and students in a variety of ways, including maintaining FAA records, conducting weekly student record audits, serving as Internship Coordinator, and assisting the Ministry Partnership Development Program.

Dan and Jodi are also involved with students in a non-technical capacity, connecting through Bible studies, having students over for meals and games, and challenging them to daily walk with the Lord. Through this informal interaction, they have the opportunity to share about MAF.

“We get to be champions for MAF’s ministry in a lot of ways,” Jodi shared. “Meeting with the students and sharing why we chose MAF, why we’re excited about it, what kind of ministry opportunities are out there.”

The Applebys are grateful for their support team, including some who have supported them since they were students at Moody. “Everybody plays a part, and we really feel like it’s a team effort to be able to do this,” Jodi said. “We could not be here doing this without them.”

Dan and Jodi are seeking additional prayer and financial partners to support their ministry in shaping the next generation of mission aviators. Will you join their team? Learn more at www.maf.org/appleby.

The post Ministry Spotlight: Dan and Jodi Appleby appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Story by Gene Arnold, MAF staff on-loan to Moody Aviation Institute’s missionary aviation training program in Spokane, WA.

This season I am teaching instrument flight to our senior class. Instrument flying allows a pilot to navigate through the clouds and other weather without seeing the ground, except for the moments of takeoff and landing. As amazing as blind navigation is, the moment-by-moment control of the airplane is even more critical. The reason for this is that once humans are in flight, our bodies are completely incapable of telling the difference between gravity and the other forces associated with motion. In short, without seeing the ground, we can’t tell which way is up! Students learn to read and trust the instruments even when everything inside them is screaming that some other direction is up.

Recently, my students proved this to themselves as we flew from Spokane, WA, to Lewiston, ID, to Moses Lake, WA, and back to Spokane on instruments. Throughout each flight, the student piloting the plane wore a hood on his or her head, allowing a view of the instrument panel only. There was a lot of joy in the airplane when I let the student look outside a few seconds before landing and there was the runway right in front of us! I think you can see there’s a spiritual lesson here, too. Just like with instrument flying, when we set aside our natural inclinations and trust the truth set before us, we can arrive at the right destination.

After a long trip

When the trip is long, it makes that final approach to land even more joyful. In a way, this happened recently in Papua, Indonesia. Let me set the stage with a little background.

In 1956 missionaries Gordon Larson and Don Gibbons hiked into the Ilaga Valley in what was then Netherlands New Guinea. The valley was shared by two tribes, the Dani and Damal. Gordon Larson turned his focus to the Dani, and Don Gibbons to the Damal. They had worked toward this event for three years, but God had been at work even longer.

Although Don didn’t speak any Damal, God prepared a translator in the form of the Damal chief’s son, Sam, who had studied in the Indonesian language at the government school. But even more significant, years before, God had placed the thought in the heart of Sam’s father, Chief Den, that someday someone would come to give the Damal people the key to heaven. Over the months, Don Gibbons learned enough of the Damal language to present Bible stories and the gospel. Finally, Chief Den became convinced that this gospel was the key to heaven he had been looking for. He and his people were animists, believing that spirits lived in everything around them and influenced all aspects of life. For this reason, all the people kept fetishes designed to appease these spirits, but in a great act of faith, Chief Den led his people in burning all their fetishes.

Don and his wife, Alice, built their home in a place called Beoga, deep in Damal territory. There, supported by MAF, they lived for the next decades and continued to teach the Damal. They also started to translate the Bible into the Damal language. The Damal received these early portions of God’s Word gladly.

In turn, they preached it through their villages and then to the neighboring Dani and beyond. Eventually, the Gibbons retired and have now passed away, but others continued translating the Bible into Damal. At last, a few months ago, the translation of the entire Bible into Damal was completed! This has been a long approach and was celebrated with great joy!

The post On Approach appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

By Natalie Holsten

In the early months of this year, while the world was consumed with the chaos of global events, something amazing was happening in Bina, a small hamlet in the mountains of Papua, Indonesia.

A church was born.

The Dem people, one of many isolated tribes in the range of mountains that traverses the island of New Guinea, were living in spiritual darkness. They did not have the Bible in their own language. They lived in bondage to beliefs about spirits, fearing them and attempting to appease them.

“We have seen the Holy Spirit change the entire demeanor of some of our friends who have lived in fear their whole lives and now have put their faith in Christ and have hope,” shared Jeremiah, one of the expatriate Christian workers serving in Bina.

He, along with his family and three other families, moved as a team into Bina in 2013 to reach the people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Because of the ruggedness of the terrain, the only way in or out of the area is by foot or airplane.

MAF has assisted these families and the Dem people from the beginning of their ministry there, bringing in building supplies, food, and the families themselves.

“It’s been a privilege to be working alongside of the team there in Bina,” MAF Papua program director Mike Brown said. “It has been over eight years getting to this point, and MAF has been part of supporting them all along.”

My husband David made dozens of flights into Bina, and I was always anxious to hear how the families, who had become our friends, were doing as they progressed in learning the language and culture of the Dem.

“I would often fly into Bina following a flight into another village where there was already a gospel understanding. And the contrast was stark,” David said. “There was this pervasive sense of brokenness that was palatable. All of us were united by a sense of faith that in the future God, in his timing, would bring light to that area.”

Our family visited Bina several years ago, after diverting there when our original destination was covered by clouds. I was glad for the chance to visit and see the place I had heard so much about. As I stood with my friends on the grass airstrip, we looked across the valley to where a completely different people group lived. My friend explained how even though geographically it’s not that far, the languages are vastly different.

For the families who moved in to work with the Dem, the process of church planting is a long haul, a “marathon, not a sprint,” one of them related. Step one was to master the language, while also absorbing the culture. As the team learned enough language, they translated portions of scripture, checking them with Dem language helpers for clarity and accuracy. They also held literacy classes to teach the Dem to read and write in their heart language.

This whole process took eight years, until the day arrived when they could begin a chronological teaching of 70 lessons that cover “creation to Christ.” The teaching would take three and a half months, starting in Genesis and concluding with the ascension of Christ and the early church.

In anticipation of the teaching, last December two MAF families, the Hamstras and the Browns, flew to Bina to assist in building a “meeting place” or teaching facility that would become the hub of activity for the team as they shared the story of God’s love and plan for this fallen world.

“It was amazing to see the Dem people so curious about what was going on,” shared Angie Hamstra. “The families had been telling them that this new gathering place was for them. They would be teaching ‘God’s talk’ and that these words are for everyone. These words are for every person, whether they have more than one wife, those who don’t have ‘church clothes,’ those who smoke, those who are poor and those who are rich. The Dem people have had a skewed vision on Christianity and church in the past, so they are not calling this a church. It is a gathering place. It is free and it will tell them about true freedom in Christ.”

The teaching launched mid-January with an estimated 500 in attendance. Many of the Dem tribe live in outlying villages and hiked miles over muddy mountain trails to hear the teaching. Special MP3 recorders were used to record the teachings and were distributed among the people to enable those who couldn’t attend to hear the lessons, and for others to listen again to “God’s talk” in their huts or as they take a break in their gardens.

Several of the lessons brought immediate responses from the Dem, evidence of the light beginning to break through the darkness. The teachings started with the creation of the world, and after the lesson about how God created man and woman, the men responded. The idea of woman being lovingly created by God as a companion for man is totally counter to what Dem culture believes.

The team members report that the men say women are like animals or don’t have brains so it’s ok to beat them if they don’t have food ready for their husbands. “In the past we were lied to,” the Dem men said. But now they were hearing the “true talk.”

Jeremiah shared how the Dem think a certain frog is a “spirit” and they fear it and won’t touch it. “After the teaching…one of these frogs jumped out next to me and they started calling it a spirit again until one tribal guy came up and said, ‘No, It’s not a spirit. Remember what we have been learning? All these things were created by the Creator, and when he created them, He did not create them with a soul or spirit. They are just animals. We do not need to be afraid of them.’ Of course, I was thrilled to hear this, and the man was still afraid to touch it, but baby steps here are very encouraging. Little nuggets of truth planted in their minds, causing them to question what they’ve believed their whole lives is all we are doing, and letting the Holy Spirit do what He does.”

After the lesson on John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, a Dem man came up and said to team member Dylan, “I don’t speak for the other people here, but I am a bad person. I just do bad things all the time.” He started to cry and then said, “I want Jesus’ blood to wash away my sins!” Dylan was in tears as he put his arm around him and told him to just wait and he’ll see what happened.

Dylan’s wife Angie shared about another Dem, an elderly man named Kayus who has been a ‘pastor’ in the Dem region for decades. “He had attended a school in a different tribe as a young man and learned some things about the Bible, but it was all in a completely different language than his and he has some very skewed ideas about the Bible now,” she said. “We were really praying that he would respond well to the teaching and not be offended by the things he was hearing as they were quite opposite to what he’s been teaching for years. This week he said, ‘A long time ago I went to school and I heard, but I didn’t really understand. Now I am hearing, and I understand!’”

One Dem man, Mese, testified to how the teaching was affecting his everyday life. He told Dylan, “I remember you told us to talk about God wherever we are, not just in the teaching time. The other day I was fixing my fence and it stopped raining and I saw a rainbow and I remembered God’s promise to Noah. And last week I was walking to Sinak with my friends and for the first hour we just talked about random things, but then I said, ‘Let’s talk about God.’ So we spoke about God’s talk for the next four hours.”

Then Mese said, “We Dem people are like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, but God sent you four (families) to us to tell us about Him so we can be saved. You told us that God told you to come to Papua and then you said, ‘Where should we go?’ and God showed you the Dem people so that you could tell us about Him. If you hadn’t told us, we would die like the people back then, but if we believe God’s talk, He saves us.”

After the teaching on Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, Angie said her friend Joragal left after the lesson but showed up at their house several hours later, “just beaming and telling us how she believed Jesus suffered and died for her to save her. She would go from tears over remembering what Jesus suffered to big smiles saying, ‘He led me here to hear this talk and He saved me! I’m just so happy!’”

It’s the prayer of many that the Dem church will continue to grow, and believers will be added and discipled into maturity. MAF will continue to be there for them, providing the necessary flights to continue the work.

“MAF has been an incredible blessing to us families living interior,” Dem team member Melanie said. “From regular flights of supplies, flights in and out of the tribe, to medevacs. We are so very thankful to have a mission organization that backs us up and that we trust for safety for our families’ and tribal friends’ flights.”

The post The Light Begins to Break Through appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

By Nathan Fagerlie, an MAF pilot serving in Papua, Indonesia

When I landed in the village of Mokndoma, I could tell something was wrong.

“Can you help us?” said Tim Ingles, a missionary serving there. “We have a situation.”

Mokndoma is high in the mountains of Papua, Indonesia. I had flown there with Kevin and Beth Lynne, another MAF missionary couple who wanted to spend a weekend with the Ingles.

The gospel came to the Wano in Mokndoma a little over a decade ago. As their church grew, so did their desire to reach out and share the gospel with their fellow Wano in the surrounding villages. Liku, a local Bible teacher and leader in the community, often leads teams on evangelistic and literacy trips.

As I spoke with Tim and Liku by the airplane, they told me what happened.

A Wano evangelistic and literacy team was in a village called Dagai. One of the members of the team was a young, single woman who fell in love with a man there, and they wanted to get married. But the elders in the village said “no.”

They said she wasn’t good enough—she wasn’t worthy of this man from their village. So being distraught, young, and in love, she found a poisonous root, ate it, and killed herself.

The Wano were upset by the village’s rejection of this woman. She was a literacy teacher—smart and educated—how could she not have been good enough?

Anger rose between the two groups, which can historically lead to tribal war in Papua.

Tim and Liku finished their story and asked if I could fly Liku and two other Wano teachers into Dagai to help calm the situation.

My heart dropped. I had never flown to Dagai. I was not checked out to land on that airstrip. My heart sank lower when we pulled up the airstrip directory and saw that Dagai was “closed”—meaning no one from MAF had been there for several years.

A Plan is Formed

Tim directed me to a hill where I could find a cell phone signal. I spoke with our program manager and we came up with a plan.

We took off from Mokndoma for a 20-minute flight to Dagai—bypassing six or seven days of walking.

Dagai came into view and I began an airstrip evaluation process. I did a high pass at 1,000 feet, then 100 feet, then a final pass at 10 feet. Everything looked good. The landing was uneventful. As I pulled to the top of the airstrip, and shut down the plane, I noticed no one was there. Normally when I land on an airstrip, I am the center of attention; it’s always a big event. This made me a little uneasy.

As I got out of the plane and helped Liku and the other guys step out, I saw two men come out of the jungle. I looked at Liku, who nodded to let me know he recognized them, and they left, disappearing into the jungle and leaving me alone with the airplane.

“Well … that was anticlimactic,” I thought.

I texted Tim a few days later to see what had happened. He responded with “They’re safe.”

I was glad to hear that, but it felt vague, and honestly a little disappointing. Even so I was thankful to have had a role in whatever happened there. Most of the time MAF pilots only see a small part of the work God is doing and don’t often get access to the whole story.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case this time.

The Rest of the Story

A few months later, my family and I went back to Mokndoma and spent the night. I listened to one of the Wano meetings where they talked through their evangelistic plans. When that meeting was over, Liku said “I want to tell you what happened when you flew us into Dagai.”

“When we got the news that the lady had killed herself, we were distraught, because we knew what was going to happen in that village,” Liku continued. “But God provided a flight for us that day—you were coming in.

“When we got on that airplane, we were praising the Lord. When you circled overhead before landing, I want you to know God was using that.

“The people [in Dagai] were ready to fight, but when they saw the plane, they knew it was MAF and they got scared. It was kind of like when Adam and Eve heard God in the garden. The people knew they were doing something wrong, and they didn’t know why MAF was coming, but it took their eyes off each other and focused them somewhere else.

“We got off the airplane and went into the jungle. When we met with the people, the Spirit of the Lord came on us and we began to weep. We just started crying. And the people started crying. They went from being ready to fight to being sorry. We shared the gospel with the people there.

“I want you to know that your flying is not in vain. You are part of the team.”

Liku’s words serve as a powerful reminder to the way God works through each of us—often in ways we cannot see or understand at the time.

Story appeared in the Winter 2021 edition of FlightWatch. Read the full issue here:

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Eight anxious young passengers gave one last hug to their hopeful parents, took a deep breath as the MAF pilot buckled their seatbelts, and watched their village disappear from view. As the airplane rose higher above the mountains, tears trickled down their cheeks. Each child silently wondered: what will happen to me now?

An hour and a half later, the airplane landed in the coastal city of Sentani and the children stepped into a world they could not have imagined.

What if …

Over a decade earlier, Wally Wiley—then MAF program manager for Papua, Indonesia—had a growing desire to see Papuan children become future MAF pilots/mechanics and leaders in their society. But he faced a major obstacle: these kids, so full of potential, belonged to a marginalized culture with little opportunity for formal education.

Wally’s idea was to form a school where village kids could receive a quality education and be discipled in Christ-like leadership qualities, while retaining their cultural identity and family connections.

Papua Hope School (Sekolah Papua Harapan—SPH) was born a few years later. And eight wide-eyed children from the Moni tribe stepped off an airplane to become the school’s first kindergarten class.

Hearts awakening

Imagine never having seen a car or TV or lived in a home with electricity. When the youngsters first ate ice cream, they were shocked—how could something be cold and seem to have smoke rising from it at the same time?

MAF staff helped the students acclimate to their new surroundings by welcoming the students into their homes, flying them back and forth to their villages, giving them opportunities to learn aviation skills, teaching English, and mentoring them.

Because of the commitment of devoted families in the village, passionate teachers, and faithful missionaries, the students grew in their relationships with Christ.

When they reached ninth grade, the students took an important national exam with a roomful of other students. After the test, the proctor offered everyone a chance to cheat. Tegi, one of the SPH students, refused to change his answers, and the other SPH students followed suit. They all passed the test with their integrity intact.

As the students grew, so did their understanding of God’s plan for them.

Ester discovered the career she was meant to pursue after Willem Jonkers—an MAF pilot and host family dad —took her to visit an air traffic control tower. “Willem is the one who told me to have a plan B and C for my future.”

Erik remembers the moment he knew God was calling him to be an MAF pilot. It was when pilot Alex Ludvicek let him take the controls during a flight as part of an MAF internship. “I felt like, ‘This pilot role fits!’ Praise the Lord—I’m so thankful for MAF’s ongoing support!”

The stage is set

On May 9, 2020, seven beaming young adults in blue caps and gowns stepped onto a stage (the eighth will follow next year). An aspiring doctor, government leader, community developer, health care worker, air traffic controller, MAF pilot, and MAF mechanic.

Erik rose to speak. “When I was a little kid in the village, I had no idea that we would be chosen to be a part of SPH. And now look at us standing here! When we’ve succeeded in our educational journey, let’s invest to make Papua an even better place!”

These graduates are grateful for these life-changing opportunities. They stand on the shoulders of people like you whose prayers and financial gifts helped open their future. Today, they are joined by 1,000 other children who attend seven sister schools in the mountains of Papua. Schools that depend on MAF flights.

This story ran in the Fall 2020 edition of FlightWatch. Read the entire issue here:

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