My phone buzzes at 5:27 a.m. on a Saturday morning. As the on-call pilot, I knew this could happen, but sometimes we go all weekend without a Code 1 medical emergency call.

The flight follower, Pokello, tells me of a 16-year-old expectant mother whose labor is stalled, and the baby is in distress. The flight will be from Manamaneng to the district hospital in Thaba Tseka.

I inhale some coffee and my wife’s delicious cinnamon twists, and head to the airport to preflight the plane. I take off and touch down in Manamaneng just before 8 a.m. The young mother in labor and nurse Puseletso walk toward the plane. One look at the fear and pain on the girl’s face shows the seriousness of the situation.

I strap them into their seats, run through my checklists, and quickly say a prayer before we take off.

The flight to Thaba Tseka usually takes 15 minutes, but considering the girl’s suffering and the possibility of a birth enroute, I choose to fly the aircraft at maximum continuous power. Ten minutes later, we land and taxi to the waiting ambulance. The ambulance will take the girl directly to the OR for a C-Section. Mission accomplished!

After dropping nurse Puseletso off at Manamaneng, I make the 40-minute return flight to our base at Maseru. The aircraft is refueled and put back in the hangar.

As we depart, Pokello makes a joke about how we might meet again. I am home 20 minutes when the phone rings. It’s Pokello again! A critical patient needs a flight from the district hospital in Qachas Nek to Maseru for more advanced treatment.

Our friend, Tebello, who lives at our home and is also a private pilot, jumps at the chance to come along on the flight. I am glad to bring along someone who is familiar with aircraft and  a native Sesotho speaker.

Just before noon, we lift off from Maseru enroute to Qachas Nek. The joy on Tebello’s face as she serves as autopilot is unmistakable! I retake the controls for the landing.

My phone is ringing as I shut down the plane. Who could it be? You guessed it…Pokello! He has another Code 1 for me. A newborn baby in distress needs to get to the district hospital at Qachas Nek. The mother and baby are at Lebakeng, a 10-minute flight (but 5-hour drive) away.

Change of plans! We put the original patient at Qachas Nek on hold, fly to Lebakeng and collect the mother and baby, and bring them to Qachas Nek.

Despite a strong crosswind at Lebakeng, by God’s grace we have a stable approach and a smooth landing. It’s only 1 p.m. but already this is feeling like a full day.  

The baby needs oxygen, and fortunately our portable oxygen bottle is on board. After securing the bottle to the floor of the aircraft and loading the mother and baby, we are off again, back to the district hospital at Qachas Nek. Though we do not have a nurse onboard, the attentive mother constantly adjusts the oxygen canula to make sure it is flowing to her tiny newborn. Sometimes Code 1 flights bring great joy, and this is one, as I see the love in the eyes of this mother for her child.

Arriving overhead Qacha, the windsocks tell me to set up for a “downhill” landing. On final approach, I realize the wind has shifted and my groundspeed is over my briefed limit. Time for a go around! I power up, climb out, and land from the other direction. Everything is within limits, and we touch down smoothly. The “ambulance”—a truck with a canopy—is waiting to pick up baby and mom and give us the original Code 1 for evacuation to Maseru.

The patient from Qacha has ingested a poison and is semi-conscious, requiring a stretcher and oxygen. To load the patient, I reconfigure the aircraft by removing two seats and installing the stretcher.

Tebello, speaking Sesotho, helps coordinate the loading of the patient along with the attending nurse and a porter, while I secure seats, stow bags, hang an IV drip, route oxygen lines, secure tie downs for the stretcher, calculate weight, estimate takeoff distance, and complete checklists.

Just before I start the engine, Tebello prays in Sesotho for the patient and for our flight. After the pressure of all the preparation, I feel a wave of peace and gratefulness as we level off at cruise altitude with the beautiful green mountains sliding by underneath. I look back to see the patient sleeping peacefully. After a few minutes of mental rest, it’s time to regain my focus and prepare for my eighth landing of the day. It’s just under a one-hour flight by the time my plane comes to a stop at Maseru, and then the patient is loaded onto the ambulance.

As the siren of the ambulance fades into afternoon traffic, we get to work; the day is not yet done! Pokello, Tebello, and I prepare the aircraft again for another possible Code 1 by fueling and cleaning it. As we depart the hangar for our homes, I joke with Pokello that he is not allowed to predict another Code 1! And he doesn’t. About 3:30 that afternoon I arrive home with Tebello to a late lunch.

It was a full day of bringing help, hope, and healing through aviation to isolated people. I am tired, but joyful to be part of an organization that allows me to use my gifts and talents in a tangible way to share the love of Jesus Christ with the people of Lesotho.

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“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.

Limpho (pronounced Dim po) is a baby girl who was born with a severe cleft lip. It was so extreme that it reached vertically up her right cheek, up to her eye. Her operation would not be a simple one—neither was getting the South African doctors to agree on where to start—Limpho’s lip or eye. Their indecision delayed the process and caused Hlalefang, the mother, to worry about her child even more. She wanted what was best for her daughter, so she could have a chance at a normal life.

The little Cessna 206 was glad she was able to help with some of those doctor visits, by taking Hlalefang and Limpho from their isolated mountain village of Bobete in the Thaba Tseka district of Lesotho to the capital of Maseru. And from there, the pair traveled the rest of the way by ambulance.

Finally, on April 8, 7P-CMH rejoiced to see mother and daughter approaching on the tarmac at Maseru. Ten months old now, Limpho’s face was bandaged and swollen, so CMH knew she had received the long-awaited life-changing surgery. The little airplane rejoiced that she was able to return mother and daughter home, where Limpho could continue to heal.

Every week, 7P-CMH travels into Lesotho’s mountains to retrieve patients and bring them to the capital city for further treatment, oftentimes saving a life—or in Limpho’s case, changing a life.

You can adopt this airplane through a one-time or monthly recurring gift. By partnering with MAF and 7P-CMH you will help change lives, like Limpho’s, and bring hope to Lesotho’s mountain communities.

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MAF pilot Danny Hulls answered the emergency call from the remote village of Bobete, Lesotho, to transport a gunshot victim to the big hospital in Maseru. The flight manifest listed the man’s name as Tlohelang. But in fact, he gave one of five names depending on who was asking: one for his family, one for the hospital, one for the police, and so on. This man was no stranger to trouble.

His enemies had wanted revenge and fired at him as he tried to flee one of his many crimes, hitting him in the stomach and leaving him for dead … or so they thought. The man and his family, and many others in the mountains of Lesotho, appear to take this Old Testament law to heart:

…an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whatever anyone does to injure another person must be paid back in kind (Leviticus 24:20b, NLT).

While Tlohelang was being treated at the hospital, Sefiri, the MAF chaplain in Lesotho, visited him. A Basotho man himself who also grew up in the mountains, Sefiri understands the cycle of revenge that exists there.

Sefiri shared with the man about salvation and forgiveness and the idea of reconciliation. The man could not fathom forgiving those who had wronged him. It was a completely foreign concept to him, and many other Basotho people. He still wanted revenge. But Sefiri kept visiting and told him his own story of finding Christ and returning to his own mountain village to ask for forgiveness from his family.

Finally, a glimmer of light started to pierce the man’s heart.

“I want to build peace with everybody,” he told Sefiri, “but I don’t know how to start. I’m too far from that, and everybody is my enemy.”

“He thought he was too sinful, that nothing good could come of him,” explained Sefiri. “I told him, ‘As long as you’re still alive, it’s not too late!’ ”

Messengers of Peace

Tlohelang desires a different kind of life, one governed by peace. So he asked if Sefiri would come with him to his village to help him reconcile with the people he has wronged—as well as convince his family, who all want revenge, too!

Sefiri has a burden, an urgency even, to see this man’s life transformed by the power of Christ and to change the deadly pattern of revenge among the Basotho people. His heart aligns with the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians:

And God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him (2 Cor. 5:18b, (TLB)

“People reject you, not knowing they need Christ. It’s something that we as Christians need to think about,” said Sefiri. “This man is willing to forgive. He’s willing to reconcile. He’s willing to take a step to make peace.”

At the time of this writing, it was still unknown whether this man was able to reconcile with his enemies. Because of you, MAF staff like Sefiri are able to introduce the radical concepts of Christ’s grace and forgiveness to the people of Lesotho.

Join us in praying for hearts mired in revenge to break free from the chains of darkness and find the light that leads to life (John 8:12, NLT).

The post Words of Life appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

“All of my favorite instructors were from MAF,” said Luke Nelson, describing his flight training at Moody Aviation in Spokane, WA, and one of the reasons he chose to serve with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Luke and his wife, Amy, had both wanted to be missionaries when they were kids, even though neither was sure what that would look like. But today they know. They’re preparing to serve as a pilot/mechanic family with MAF Lesotho.

Growing up, Luke’s idea of a missionary was someone who lived in a grass hut and ate bugs, or who stood on a street corner, shaking his Bible at people. He saw himself as more of a behind-the-scenes guy and was uncertain which path to take. Then one day, God pointed the way.

“Imagine my excitement when I was reminded that Nate Saint, the MAF pilot who flew Jim Elliot and was with him on that beach, was a missionary, too, and there was a school where you could learn to fly planes just like him,” Luke said.

As a shy, tender-hearted girl, Amy went from telling her friends about Jesus to teaching in her AWANA club as a teen and serving with AWANA Korea for two months after high school. God used these experiences to transform her into “a bold, outgoing kid” who could talk to large crowds about Jesus.

When she returned from Korea, she moved to Spokane, WA, to pursue a degree in Intercultural Studies at Moody Bible Institute.

This is where Luke and Amy’s lives intersected. After they were married and both had graduated, they continued taking steps toward MAF.

Currently they’re visiting with individuals and churches, searching for the people whom God has selected to join their team of financial and prayer supporters.

“It’s not a transactional thing,” Amy explains. “We want to be partners and share our lives with these folks.”

Luke and Amy are looking forward to getting established in Lesotho and “life finally starting” for which they’ve been preparing for years.

“We’re just excited about the ministry of the Lesotho team and how the church of God is being built,” said Luke, referring to the Lesotho Flying Pastors, whom MAF equips and sends to evangelize in the mountain villages.

With their move overseas delayed by six months, they say it’s forced them to live what they believe.

“We’re putting in effort, of course, but it’s not up to us how the provision will come in,” said Luke. “It’s a constant reminder that He is our provider.”

The Nelsons want to invite you to share in the work God is doing in Lesotho. To learn more and join their team, visit maf.org/lnelson.

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

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Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has a history of vaccine delivery beginning in the 1950s in Central Africa. Recent vaccine flights include transporting Ebola vaccines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (January 2021), and measles vaccines in South Sudan (November 2020)—which included super-freezing systems maintained with dry ice.

New mRNA treatments require super-chilling (-94֯F), which MAF can maintain across long distances with the use of dry ice and super-chilling freezers installed inside the aircraft. In countries which lack dry ice production or super-chilling facilities, MAF assists in critical last-mile delivery by air to avoid dangerous and lengthy overland travel, and ensure vaccines safely arrive in rural locations.

On March 23, 2021, MAF pilot Grant Strugnell delivered the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to a mountainside clinic near Kuebunyane—a journey too difficult for the vaccines to achieve without spoiling.

“Kuebunyane is one of the locations we fly to most because reaching this location by road is just too difficult,” said Strugnell. “The clinic is located on a steep mountain ridge, four hour’s trek from the nearest road. On average MAF lands there twice a week, offering the only air service to connect this remote region to vital medical supplies and personnel.

“MAF is really grateful to be partnering with the government and Lesotho Flying Doctors Service to deliver vaccines to the harder-to-reach clinics across Lesotho. I’m pleased that MAF aircraft are so well suited to this critical last mile of vaccine transport. By offering a journey of half an hour rather than eight, these vaccines can arrive at the required temperature.”

With a history of rural vaccine delivery spanning more than six decades, MAF flights will make it possible for some of the poorest and most remote communities to receive COVID-19 vaccines maintained at the correct temperature from the beginning to the end of their journey.

This story ran in the summer 2021 edition of FlightWatch. Read the full issue here:

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Just before 7 a.m. at his home in Maseru, Lesotho, Matthew Monson pops the hood on his car and sprays the engine with Quick Start so it will turn over. His wife and three young children are barely stirring as he backs out into the street and waits for the iron  gate topped with barbed wire to close behind him. Matthew, an MAF pilot and country director, drives to the MAF hangar to start what will likely be a busy day serving the isolated people and communities of this tiny African kingdom.

Later that morning, MAF chaplain Sefiri Seepheephe walks into the hangar. Skylights in the tin roof illuminate the area as local Basotho teammates maintain four Cessna 206s. Sefiri is hugging a manila envelope. It contains something that he, Matthew, and the rest of the team have been waiting on for a very long time.

Reaching Kuebunyane

Several years ago, Matthew and Sefiri visited Kuebunyane, one of the places MAF serves in the mountains. There, they shared a message from God’s Word with the community, and the village chief liked what he heard. He pointed to a spot next to the airstrip and told them that’s where he wanted them to build a church.

“Our people need this message that you’re bringing,” said the chief. “We have so many issues. We have so much fighting. This Word that you’re bringing is a word of peace and of God, and that’s what we want.”

A melting pot of Christianity, ancestral worship, witchcraft, and cultural traditions resides in the hearts of the people living in these remote mountains. Because MAF is here, the people have an opportunity to hear the gospel

Kuebunyane is one of the most difficult places to reach in Lesotho.

“It’s the isolated of the isolated,” said Matthew. “A full day of driving from Maseru would position you on the opposite side of a river valley. It would require a two-thousand-foot descent on foot, passage across a river, and the grueling ascent to arrive there.”

In contrast, the MAF airplane reaches Kuebunyane in 27 minutes.

Matthew and Sefiri and some local pastors returned several times in 2015. Plans were made for one of those pastors to lead the church once it was built, but that pastor passed away unexpectedly from health complications.

And, come to find out, the chief with whom Matthew and Sefiri had a relationship was not the actual chief—he was a stand-in for another who was not yet old enough.

Things appeared to be falling apart, and Matthew thought the opportunity was gone.

A Long Commitment

While the progress on the church seemed to be at a standstill, MAF kept flying Sefiri to Kuebunyane so he could continue to minister to the new believers there. He also spent time getting to know the up-and-coming chief.

Sefiri grew up in these mountains and he knew this young man’s life was in danger from a possible assassination attempt until he officially became the chief. Sefiri urged him to leave the village.

In the meantime, Matthew received a call from one of his supporters in America who wanted to fundraise for the church building project.

There was still the issue of the paperwork and the final lease, but God was keeping the dream alive.

A couple years went by and the young man returned to Kuebunyane to take his rightful place as chief. He phoned Sefiri and thanked him for saving his life.

A Dream Realized

Sefiri walks over to Matthew in the hangar and hands him the manilla envelope. It’s been three years since the paperwork was submitted for the land in Kuebunyane—six years since Matthew’s first visit there. And now he holds the official lease in his hands.

“From the moment I arrived in Lesotho, this has been a story that God has opened my eyes to—Kuebunyane. That’s where God has drawn my heart,” said Matthew. “And if you would ever ask me, ‘Where do you want to see the gospel go?’ Kuebunyane, that was number one.”

Construction started right away this past December, and Matthew and Sefiri have been interviewing and training two potential pastoral couples to lead the church. It’s been a slow process due to the surge of COVID-19 throughout the country. Yet they press on because supporting this church plant in Kuebunyane aligns perfectly with the entire team’s goal of making disciples and supporting existing believers.

“I’ve seen God endure at this location, said Matthew. “It’s been a battle. But at this point, we’re just about to open the door and let God’s light shine into this valley.

“God’s going to do a big thing.”

##

Update: The church building was completed and an LFP pastoral couple started serving there full-time in 2021. Masheane and his wife, Mats’epang, teach God’s word, disciple new believers, help strengthen marriages and families, and engage in sports ministry. God continues to do a “big thing” there.

This story appeared in the May 2021 issue of FlightWatch. Read the entire issue here:

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On March 22 and March 23, MAF pilot Grant Strugnell flew a Cessna 206 with LFDS nurses and vaccines to Labekeng and Kuebunyane clinics to vaccinate clinic and community health care workers. Approximately 140 workers were vaccinated in Labekeng and 60 in Kuebunyane with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been used exclusively in Lesotho.

Due to limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Lesotho government has prioritized vaccinations for frontline health care workers and clinic staff as they work to acquire additional vaccines for the entire population.

MAF pilot Grant Strugnell said they are very pleased to be participating in the vaccination effort.

“MAF is very grateful for the initiative shown by the government, and our close partner, the Lesotho Flying Doctors Service. They have done a great job in working out the logistics, and MAF has been very pleased to be able to assist with the transport to a few of the harder to reach clinics,” said Strugnell.

With decades of experience safely transporting vaccines, medical supplies, and medical personnel in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, MAF is ideally positioned to assist in “last-mile delivery” of COVID-19 vaccines. During disease outbreaks, including the most recent Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, MAF uses cold-chain protocols to assure that vaccines are kept at proper temperatures.

In February, MAF delivered vaccines to remote areas of Kalimantan, Indonesia. The organization expects to be involved in additional COVID-19 vaccine flights as vaccination programs roll out in the remote areas where MAF works.

MAF has been serving in Lesotho since 1978 and is supported by five missionary staff families and 13 local staff. MAF uses four Cessna TU206G airplanes that are based in Maseru.

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Story by Matthew and Carolyn Monson

The aircraft 7P-CMC has had a persistent fuel leak since we arrived in Lesotho seven years ago. Despite multiple attempts to fix the issue, the leak remained hidden. We knew that removing the wing was necessary to get to the root of the problem, but we never found the opportunity due to our heavy workload—until now.

As the government continues to struggle with finances in this COVID-19 environment, our flight hours are lower than normal. This season of lockdown has times of frustration and discouragement, as we long for what was and what is missing. Yet, in that struggle, God is near, and He is strengthening and growing us as we walk in faith. Without this slower season, we may have gone another seven years with this fuel problem in the wing. Instead, our maintenance team asked, “What new opportunities has God given us?” In this case it was the gift of time. We were able to address the deeper issues that take time to uncover—in the planes and in our own hearts.

In Isaiah 41 we see God renewing the strength of those who are walking and not fainting. As life has slowed down and we’ve reconnected as a family unit through these 12 months of lockdown, we’ve addressed hidden fears and anxieties and learned to navigate the many challenges of 2020 (and into 2021). Like a tiny rivet, “small” unaddressed issues in our hearts will fester until we deal with them. It has been a season of not fainting, as the Lord speaks truth into the broken places within. It’s fall now (in Lesotho) and we feel a new hope as we walk in our Lord’s strength alone.

At the time of this posting, the Monsons are making their way to the U.S. to begin their long-overdue furlough. Prayers for this are appreciated. 

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