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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In March MAF’s Cessna Caravan 9Q-CMP had the wonderful privilege of flying for two New Testament dedications in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

9Q-CMP spent several days transporting church leaders and other guests to and from the villages of Todro and Isiro for the dedication ceremonies of the Bible being translated into the Logo and Mayogo languages.

The MAF East DRC program has supported the work of the Bible translators for many years—taking them into and out of these very remote places. Some of the MAF staff were able to attend the Logo celebration and said it was a true highlight, “for MAF… for God’s glory and Name!”

Now the Logo and Mayogo people will have God’s Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their heart language. Think of the transformation that will happen in their lives because of this!

Did you know you can adopt 9Q-CMP through a one-time or monthly recurring gift? Your support of this airplane will help make flights like these possible and enable work that is making an eternal impact.

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“We are trying to reach the Koti people, and it is in their own language that they respond to the Gospel,” said the local translator working in Angoche, Mozambique.

Recently John Iseminger, of The Seed Company, was on MAF’s C9-AAL, a Cessna 206. The Seed Company is funding and managing the Bible translation program and John was traveling to Angoche to encourage the team, check on their progress, and make plans for the year ahead.

John has been working in Mozambique, overseeing the Koti translation work, for the last 20 years. While he doesn’t always get to fly with MAF, he appreciates it when he does. “It’s the best way to get around,” he explained. “It’s time efficient. It’s cost efficient.”

There was an unexpected benefit of MAF starting-up in the country shortly after John arrived there. He says trying to do a language survey and mapping out the area was difficult. “One of the questions that the mappers would ask us was, ‘Where’s the border? Where does this language group end and where does the other one start?’

“Well, all we had to do was get up in the air!” said John. “Flying has really helped to get perspective and see what people are living with and dealing with. You can’t see that stuff on the ground.”

John went on to say that the group should be done with the Koti-language New Testament in about two years.

While Bible translation is a long process, C9-AAL is happy to speed things along whenever she has the opportunity. By adopting this airplane you, too, can play a supporting role in flights like this and many others that bring hope to the people of Mozambique. All it takes is a one-time or monthly recurring gift to make C9-AAL part of your family.

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Lately, the MAF Cessna Caravan 9Q-CMO has sensed that her flights encompass the full cycle of life—from beginning to end. Two recent flights serve as examples of this.

MAF pilot Kevin Spann recently received his “checkout” in the Caravan, which means he can now fly the airplane solo and land at any number of airstrips throughout the vast country of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He says his checkout couldn’t have come at a better time.

Usually, flights are so long that a pilot will do one leg out and then one leg back per day. But on this particular day, Kevin fit in two complete flights—two polar opposites, as far as the reason for each flight.

The first one was to take the body of a recently deceased man, and his family, back to his home village. Several thousand people waited for the arrival of the airplane, ready to mourn for this man.

On the second flight, Kevin brought an MAF family out to the mission hospital in Vanga to get ready for the birth of their fourth child—the first MAF expat baby to be born in-country in 18 years. (It’s a girl, by the way!)

“It was an honor to pray with my passengers before takeoff on each trip, as they were going through a significant life event,” said Kevin.

Life is precious, and God has called MAF families and 9Q-CMO to serve people during many of life’s significant events—good or bad, happy or sad.

Would you like to help 9Q-CMO be there for Congolese people in their time of need? You can adopt this airplane with a one-time or monthly recurring gift and play a role in life events happening throughout the DRC.

The post 9C-CMO appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

MAF KODIAK PK-MEA is very busy serving the people of Papua, Indonesia. Looking back at one of the MAF pilots’ flight logs shows a variety of ways she has served.

One day she was called for a medevac flight, to pick up a child in Nipsan village who had a piece of wood stuck in his eye. She flew to the village and whisked him away to get medical care. He has healed well after receiving medical treatment in Wamena.

In December she brought a Pioneers missionary couple back to the Nalca area where they had served for so many years before. They spent Christmas with the local churches there and encouraged the people in their Kingdom work.

PK-MEA also helped train one of the new MAF pilots so he could get “checked out” at the remote villages of Sumtamon, Paro, and Kenyam, which means the pilot can now fly by himself and safely land or takeoff at these three villages. The new pilot flew PK-MEA along with the chief pilot and together they tackled each day’s schedule, handling medical evacuations, church flights, or general community flights.

On another day the KODIAK took a load of building materials and food supplies to Soba. From there, she traveled to Obukain where she picked up a missionary family. Then there was a stop to pick up six adults and two babies at Welarek before the airplane continued on to Sentani.

Whew! As you can see, PK-MEA gets a lot done on any given day. From training pilots to helping people stay healthy to transporting missionaries, villagers, and basic necessities.

Did you know you can adopt this KODIAK with a one-time or monthly recurring gift? By doing so you’ll play an important role in sharing Christ’s love with the Papuan people through this airplane.

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Your adopted airplane, the Cessna 185 floatplane, PK-MCB or “Charlie Brown,” has not been doing anything particularly glamorous lately, but what he has been doing is necessary in order to be an effective and safe ministry tool. And while he may not have enjoyed it too much, a major inspection was in order.

Charlie Brown’s wings were opened up and ailerons were removed (the flaps on the rear of the wings). Special attention was paid to the cabin area, the fuselage. Even his tail area with its pulleys and cables got a checkup.

The control cables were replaced. These connect the pilot’s steering yoke to the actual control surfaces on the airplane. And a patch of corrosion was fixed. This involved cutting out a section of the “skin” of the airplane and patching it up with a brand new skin. The team changed out the engine starter and even gave Charlie Brown a brand new pilot’s seat!

While time consuming and detailed work, it’s crucial to keeping him in the best shape possible. So when the emergency call comes or a pastor wants to reach a village that needs to hear about Jesus, Charlie Brown will be ready to go.

Along with the all of this maintenance work, the floating hangar had to get ready for a major government inspection. The Palangkaraya hangar is in the process of being registered as a private MAF water base, or airport, for float planes. This will enable MAF to meet government regulations and allow flights from this base well into the future.

So whether it’s maintaining the airplanes, or ensuring that the hangar meets all the necessary requirements, your support is a huge help.Thank you for adopting and caring for Charlie Brown, so he can carry hope to the people of Central Kalimantan.

The post PK-MCB appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

MAF KODIAK PK-MEA is very busy serving the people of Papua, Indonesia. Looking back at one of the MAF pilots’ flight logs shows a variety of ways she has served.

One day she was called for a medevac flight, to pick up a child in Nipsan village who had a piece of wood stuck in his eye. She flew to the village and whisked him away to get medical care. He has healed well after receiving medical treatment in Wamena.

In December she brought a Pioneers missionary couple back to the Nalca area where they had served for so many years before. They spent Christmas with the local churches there and encouraged the people in their Kingdom work.

PK-MEA also helped train one of the new MAF pilots so he could get “checked out” at the remote villages of Sumtamon, Paro, and Kenyam, which means the pilot can now fly by himself and safely land or takeoff at these three villages. The new pilot flew PK-MEA along with the chief pilot and together they tackled each day’s schedule, handling medical evacuations, church flights, or general community flights.

On another day the KODIAK took a load of building materials and food supplies to Soba. From there, she traveled to Obukain where she picked up a missionary family. Then there was a stop to pick up six adults and two babies at Welarek before the airplane continued on to Sentani.

Whew! As you can see, PK-MEA gets a lot done on any given day. From training pilots to helping people stay healthy to transporting missionaries, villagers, and basic necessities.

Did you know you can adopt this KODIAK with a one-time or monthly recurring gift? By doing so you’ll play an important role in sharing Christ’s love with the Papuan people through this airplane.

The post Getting Things Done appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Eight Indonesian pastors arrived in Kalimantan, Indonesia, from Java recently on their way to encourage two German nurses who have been serving in the remote village of Marikoi for over 30 years.

MAF floatplane PK-MCB, “Charlie Brown,” has been serving on Borneo island as long as these nurses have! The Cessna 185 floatplane helped take the group of pastors to the closest village along the Kahayan River. The Dayak people whom the nurses serve are renowned for being socially reserved. So a visit from these warm and friendly pastors, who are of the same church denomination, must have been a breath of fresh air.

Charlie Brown has also been busy flying patients to the hospital, evangelists to remote villages to do outreach, elderly people, school kids, and a few very pregnant ladies.

Whatever the reason for flying, the floatplane is happy to have a role in bringing hope and encouragement along Central Kalimantan’s rivers—and leaving the love of Christ in his wake.

Did you know you can adopt Charlie Brown through a one-time or monthly recurring gift? By adding this airplane to your family you’ll be supporting flights like these and many others.

The post A Welcome Visit appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Brad Hopkins, base manager at MAF’s Palangkaraya floatplane base in Kalimantan, is really excited about the new addition to their fleet:

“I think the biggest reason I’m looking forward to the arrival of PK-MEE, the amphib KODIAK, is because of its usefulness. When we integrated the Caravan into the East Kalimantan program in 2008, it was able to go to about 30% of our airstrips—and that only with very experienced pilots. When we integrated the KODIAK into the East Kalimantan program, it was able to go to about 85% of our airstrips.

“In Central Kalimantan, we estimate that the amphib KODIAK will be able to go to all of our current waterstrips, and then expand our reach to new areas as well. So you might say we are estimating that this new airplane can go to 130% of our waterstrips/airstrips.”

PK-MEE is going to make a difference for people like Pastor Welson, who, for the last five years, has recruited kids from a very spiritually dark area (Jujang Parit) to go to Bible school up in North Kalimantan at a village called Long Bawan. Getting to Long Bawan is complicated.

The village doesn’t have a river, so in order to get to the school, Pastor Welson and his students had to go by boat from Jujang Parit to another village down river, then by road to Balikpapan on the coast, then by commercial plane to Tarakan, and finally by MAF airplane to Long Bawan.

It’s a long and expensive circular route to get to the school, but with your adopted KODIAK, MAF will be able to take Pastor Welson and his students directly from his home village on the river directly to Long Bawan and land at the airstrip there.

“Instead of a several day trip to get the kids to and from the Bible school, we can do it in a two-hour flight. There are many exciting possibilities like this one!” said Brad.

PK-MEE is just as excited to meet her future pilots as they are her, and to be able to expand the range of service at the floatplane base. In the meantime, she is still awaiting permissions from Indonesia and has a minor installation project coming up, which we’ll tell you about next time.

If you’d like to support this airplane that will one day carry the love of Jesus throughout Central Kalimantan, please consider adopting it through a one-time or recurring monthly gift. And please pray for any roadblocks to be removed so she can begin serving the Lord there.

The post Future Possibilities appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

The MAF adopt-a-plane HH-LLS in Haiti feels like a responsible parent sometimes—and lately, a distraught parent. Her heart is breaking due to some recent flights.

It’s not uncommon to receive a medical evacuation request to bring a little one to a hospital in Port-au-Prince for emergency treatment. But more often than not, when MAF gets the call, the child is in pretty dire straits, like tiny Ketia.

A wisp of a baby, Ketia was born with a congenital heart defect. After a prolonged illness, she became severely malnourished and anemic. When missionaries in Jeremie learned about her condition, they immediately began making plans to get her to the most advanced hospital in the area.

That’s when MAF was called, and HH-LLS went into action. The little Cessna 207 carefully transported frail little Ketia to Port-au-Prince where she was admitted to the hospital. Prayer warriors and supporters rallied and raised funds for her care. She began to stabilize and there was a glimmer of hope.

Sadly, a few days later, Ketia passed from this world into God’s loving arms, where she is free from pain. The MAF Haiti team is heartbroken, along with the others who loved this sweet baby during her short time on earth.

Flights like this one can be hard on the pilots. They do their job and hope and pray. As the pilot who conducted Ketia’s flight explains, “While I love being able to bring a lifeline to people, my purpose for being here is to share the light and love of Christ—even when my heart is broken.”

As hard as she might try, not all of HH-LLS’s flights are going to have a happy ending. But at least she can makes it possible for young and old alike to have a chance at life, and to experience the love of Christ in action.

Consider making HH-LLS part of your family today. You can adopt this airplane through a one-time or monthly recurring gift and play a vital part in ministering to the people of Haiti.

The post Breaking Hearts in Haiti appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.