2013 winter flightwatch

M i s s i o n

A v i a t i o n

F e l l o w s h i p

FlightWatch Winter 2013

Not Finished ...

There for Every Generation

A publication of

FlightWatch Not Yet Finished

a publication of

Mission Aviation Fellowship Our Mission Sharing the love of Jesus Christ through aviation and technology so that isolated people may be physically and spiritually transformed.

Managing Editor: Tracey Werre

Production Manager: Kelly Hewes

Art Director: Colby Dees

Writers/Resourcing: Chris Burgess Dianna Gibney Jennifer Wolf

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

––Psalm 33:11 Dear Friend in Christ, Lives destroyed by the horror that is leprosy …

Tribes of people enslaved by fear of spirits …

Communities torn apart by violence and revenge …

People in isolated corners of the world live with sad realities that most of us only read about in books. Despite many decades (or longer!) of work by committed Christian missionaries, millions of people still live, suffer, and perish without the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His salvation.

It is not enough to say a place has been “reached.” Sometimes, once-reached communities turn back to their old ways.

That’s why Mission Aviation Fellowship is so critical to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

MAF’s long-term presence in Africa, Indonesia, and Latin America supports missionaries, doctors, and other Kingdom workers, allowing them to stay on the mission field and minister to multiple generations.

The work is not yet finished. As the plans of the Lord stand firm, so MAF stands firm. We will continue on, so long as the Lord wills, overcoming barriers to the Gospel so that lives may be transformed and God glorified.

Thank you for joining us on this mission.

EVERY GIFT YOU SEND, every prayer you offer for MAF, helps change lives through aviation and technology.

We enjoy hearing from you!

Please send comments and questions to MAF-US@maf.org.

MAF PO Box 47 Nampa, ID 83653-0047 208-498-0800 1-800-FLYS-MAF (359-7623) www.maf.org

MAF maintains the highest standards of financial accountability and public disclosure to donors, the government, and the world at large. MAF is a member of ... Accord™ (formerly AERDO) • CSC Christian Service Charities • ECFA Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability • IAMA International Association of Missionary Aviation • Missio Nexus.

All Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

On the Cover: An MAF pilot is greeted by people in a Papuan village.

In His grace,

Get Connected John C. Boyd President and CEO

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ENDING LEPROSY IN THE CONGO

MAF’s partnership with American Leprosy Missions

“They just throw them [the people with leprosy] out into the jungle. They banish them,” said Francis. “Part of Dr. Kongawi’s engagement philosophy is that once people see they are not that abnormal, that they have a normal looking house and goods to buy, the people accept them [back into society].”

Kembwa met Dr. Kongawi after she had been abandoned by her family. He arranged for American Leprosy Missions to build a new house for her and helped her start a business selling soap, coffee, and other goods.

Dr. Kongawi provides treatment for Kembwa.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Jacques Kongawi.

K

embwa first noticed the patches on her skin a few years ago—small pink rashes—nothing more.

But the patches spread …

The nurse at the hospital in Gemena gave Kembwa the news—news that would change her life forever. There in that Congolese hospital, Kembwa heard a word that would come to define her—leprosy.

Kembwa’s husband divorced her. She was chased away from her house. Her relatives disowned her. She became homeless. In her despondency, Kembwa abandoned the church and the God she felt had abandoned her.

American Leprosy Missions estimates nearly 4 million people around the world suffer from this dreaded disease. Leprosy still bears the stigma that burdened the people affected by leprosy in Jesus’ day. It not only numbs and mars its victims; it often leads to expulsion from their community and family.

“Leprosy is still a problem in the Congo,” said Bill Simmons, president and CEO of

American Leprosy Missions. “The lack of access to healthcare is the reason the disease has perpetuated.”

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) works alongside American Leprosy Missions to bring leprosy’s cure to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). MAF provides vital support and flies American Leprosy Missions’ staff and a local doctor, Jacques Kongawi, to the remote regions of the DRC where the disease is most prevalent.

“Access is a big problem in the DRC. We fly with MAF because there are no roads,” said Jim Oehrig, Chief Programme Officer of American Leprosy Missions. “We have to find the people who have leprosy and diagnose them to be able to work with them.”

Dr. Kongawi works with these people in the northern parts of the country, where access is most limited. In addition to medical care, he helps provide housing, the means to make a living, and, ultimately, community.

MAF pilot David Francis flies Dr. Kongawi regularly as he works to treat the Congolese affected by leprosy.

“Kembwa’s life has really changed,” said Kongawi. “In spite of her disability, she is living a good life.”

As the partnership between MAF and American Leprosy Missions continues, Kongawi is hopeful the end is in sight for leprosy in the DRC. A cure for leprosy exists, it just depends on being able to find and diagnose patients.

“In 2005, the number of newly detected leprosy cases [in Gemena] was 704. Last year we detected only 140 new cases,” said Kongawi. “I am sure that leprosy will disappear in our country, especially with the research into a vaccine that American Leprosy Missions is funding.”

“We are excited to work with MAF to fight leprosy,” said Simmons.

After 12 months of treatment, Kembwa was finally cured of leprosy. She was baptized and is now active in a local church. American Leprosy Missions and Kongawi look forward to working with MAF to finally bring an end to this terrible disease, so others like Kembwa will no longer live in fear of hearing the word leprosy.

end Winter 2013 | www.maf.org

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The Right Word for Every Generation Ending the cycle of fear and violence in Indonesia

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t was 1978 when a handful of pastors in the village of Kiwi in Papua, Indonesia, decided something needed to be done. The Gospel message had come to the Ngalum people more than 15 years earlier, yet the Ngalum still lived in fear. They clung to the old ways: initiation rites, fetishes, and secret words to engage the spirit world—words that could not be shared between clans, or among women or children. These words held them captive and prevented them from embracing the Gospel.

A few years earlier, Jack and Corky Hook with Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM, now CrossWorld) had arrived to carry on the work begun by earlier western missionaries. They soon found themselves to be the sole “parents” left to nurture the young Ngalum church—a church that had reached an impasse.

Jack was teaching in the local Bible school when the Ngalum pastors decided to do something drastic. In the middle of a church service, with hundreds of women and children and dozens of clans present, they revealed all of the secret initiation words. The tribe

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lived in fear for about a month, believing their gardens would fail or an epidemic would kill them. They thought the spirits would retaliate.

“But when nothing happened,” said Jack, “transformation swept through the whole tribe. The fear they lived under was lifted.”

Today, some 16,000 of the 25,000 Ngalum people are believers.

There are 36 churches, a self-supporting Bible institute, and the Ngalum are finishing a translation of the Old Testament into their native language. They are also reaching out to six other tribes and sharing the Gospel with them.

Like faithful parents, Jack and Corky remained in Kiwi to disciple and support the growth that was occurring.

“For the first 25 years of our ministry, we wouldn’t have survived without MAF,” said Jack. “There were no roads or anything. We were totally cut off. Everything … all of our building supplies, medical supplies, food, outreach ministries … was probably 95 percent dependent upon MAF.”

Jack has fond memories of MAF pilots and memorable flights through the years. One in particular stands out to him. A young man he worked with was mistaken for a rebel and shot in the upper arm. Scared and in shock, he ran off into the mountains. Medical workers tracked his trail of blood and found him the next day. He had lost a great deal of blood, and his arm was barely attached.

MAF was called in to evacuate him.

of Christians. Some churches have lacked strong and consistent leadership through the years; others have lost their way and let worldly habits and old beliefs creep in.

The remote village of Mamit is an example of a “midlife” community. Though the grandparents and parents accepted the Gospel with great joy, many of the next generation have not taken hold of that faith as their own. In fact, as recently as

last year there was fighting between tribes, even amongst those who call themselves Christians. Arrows flew again, as the tribes descended into a cycle of revenge killings and hatred.

After a recent landing there, MAF pilot David Holsten visited with longtime missionary Wes Dale of World Team. As they walked the airstrip, they discussed some of the challenges affecting a church

MAF pilot David Holsten with Jack and Corky Hook after a recent flight to bring their family members into Kiwi for a 50th anniversary of the Gospel arriving in that village. Photo courtesy of David Holsten.

“Today, his arm is very weak, but he still has the use of it,” said Jack. “So that was a dramatic rescue by MAF that saved this fellow’s life. He’s alive today and has a beautiful family.”

The Hooks retired in August of this year, satisfied they had accomplished what they set out to do.

“We felt it was time for the parent birds to get out of the nest and let the little birds fly off on their own,” said Jack.

The church in Kiwi could be described as being in its “golden years” in terms of maturity, yet churches in other Papuan communities are still in the “baby stages,” having only recently received the Gospel.

Still others are going through a “midlife crisis” of sorts. The Gospel is having less impact on the second and third generations

For the first 25 years of our ministry, we wouldn’t have survived without MAF

multiple generations removed from when the Gospel first came in.

“David, every generation has to be impacted by the Gospel,” Wes said to him.

This is exactly why there is always going to be work for MAF. It is not enough to say a place has been “reached.” MAF needs to be there for the churches, to ensure they are moving forward and growing—helping each new generation have a deep understanding of the Word and a commitment to Christ.

Scan this QR code to find out more information, or visit maf.org/kiwi end Winter 2013 | www.maf.org

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Missionary Spotlight: The Fuller Family

Keeping the Congo Connected A s a young married couple, Owen and Stephanie Fuller had a date at the zoo and ended up discussing their future. Perhaps the animals and their habitats inspired their conversation that day about different parts of the world and the possibility of doing mission work.

Four hours later, they came to the realization they didn’t have any Bible training, they weren’t teachers, and they didn’t think they were anything like what they imagined missionaries to be. Up until then, Owen had been resistant to the idea of serving as a missionary. He wanted to start his own IT business or have a rock climbing gym. Stephanie was pregnant with their second child and preparing for her husband to be deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army National Guard.

“We both thought that if we could find something involving IT, we would look at this … as long as we didn’t have to go to Africa,” said Owen.

A Google search of “IT and missionaries” led them to discover MAF and a job posting for an IT Specialist.

“I had a well-rounded, knee-deep-in-a-poola-mile-wide kind of IT experience, which is what they were looking for. A lot of people get very specialized. I happened to have a broad range of skills.”

After Owen finished his deployment, they made a visit to MAF headquarters and inquired of where MAF needed IT help.

The answer was Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo … Africa and Africa.

They settled on Lesotho, however, several months later, MAF stressed that eastern DRC needed help. So they continued to pray about it. Before long, they realized they really wanted to go to East DRC. “You don’t go from resisting missions, to not wanting to go to Africa, to maybe I’ll go to Lesotho, to I really want to go to eastern Congo,” said Owen.

“It was totally a God thing,” added Stephanie.

A full-time IT person is greatly needed in a place like the DRC. “Stuff breaks,” explains Owen. “It’s the lightning capital of the world. Antennas get wiped out. You have terrible electrical issues where stuff isn’t wired properly …”

When things go offline, it has an impact on the work that’s going on in that country.

Missionaries, pastors, Bible translators, churches, schools, and medical offices … all depend on that connection. MAF can meet this critical need through its IT staff, ensuring help arrives to a place it’s needed desperately … Africa.

The Fullers are looking for ministry partners to join their team.

To support their ministry with MAF in East DRC, visit www.maf.org/fuller.

Photo courtesy of the Fuller family.

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The Glass Cockpit

Photo by Jonathan Smith.

What the new flight deck technology means for MAF

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screen on MAF pilot Jon Cadd’s new Garmin Electronic Flight Display not only gives him a current GPS reading of his plane’s location with the locations of towns, other planes, rivers, and mountains, it also gives him “synthetic vision.” Synthetic vision is a digital display of what is in front of him—which means he can see cliffs, mountains, and other obstacles regardless of clouds or other visual impairments. Pilots have procedures to stay away from mountains and obstacles, but having the extra information provided by synthetic vision suddenly makes the challenging places where MAF pilots find themselves much less intimidating.

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plans to integrate this new technology across its fleet by either retrofitting these digital panels into existing planes or by acquiring planes, such as the KODIAK, that come pre-equipped with them. This new technology improves safety by giving pilots, like Cadd, more information, and it increases efficiency by removing the need to rely on the older flight panels, whose mechanical gyro gauges are costly to maintain.

“Safety is the primary reason we are adding the electronic flight displays,” said Tim Dyk, supervisor of MAF Avionics. “The other reason is that in an average year, MAF spends about $10,000 maintaining gyros for each Caravan. It can take up to three or four weeks (due to customs and shipping) for the gyros to be replaced, which means that Caravan is out of commission, and Caravans are the mainstay for many of our programs.”

The glass cockpit has two or more screens available to the pilot. The multifunction display (MFD) gives the pilot a constantly updated map view, with his aircraft position clearly shown, while the primary flight display (PFD) shows airspeed, altitude, rate of climb, true airspeed, and the plane’s relation to the horizon.

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Safety is the primary reason we are adding the electronic flight displays

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“I can’t help but feel like we are experiencing the same kind of jump in technology as the big sailing ships had going to big steam engines,” said Cadd.

This “jump” in technology means not only is flying safer—it also becomes more efficient and less costly. The digital panels ultimately allow MAF to better serve more people who are in desperate need—whether they are in the jungles of the Congo or on Indonesian islands in the Pacific.

Winter 2013 | www.maf.org

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NEWS Briefs Aviation art—a gift to MAF Well-known aviation artist Bryan David Snuffer (www.bryansnuffer.com) revealed his MAF-inspired painting at the AirVenture Oshkosh event in July. The Path of Saints depicts a KODIAK airplane flying over the Curaray River in Ecuador where five missionaries were martyred in 1956, including MAF pilot Nate Saint. A splash of yellow appears in the water below, representing the aircraft flown by Saint. The original painting is acrylic on masonite and measures 24” x 36”. It will be on display at MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho. Prints are now available for purchase at the MAF online store, www.mafgiftshop.org.

Getting ready to pour the slab for the new Haiti hangar location.

Making the move After being asked to relocate so a new terminal building could be constructed at the Portau-Prince airport, the MAF Haiti program moved to its new home just 200 yards away from the previous facility. A slab was poured for the hangar, and on August 3, the five shipping containers that house MAF’s shop, parts inventory, and office space were moved from one side of the ramp to the other. The structure of the hangar was torn down and reconstructed on the east side of the ramp—right next to the hangar belonging to the president of Haiti!

The latest on the KODIAKs Thank you to everyone who has given so generously to MAF’s KODIAK campaign. To date, enough funds have been raised to purchase a KODIAK airplane for service in Papua, Indonesia! MAF is now asking the Lord to raise up supporters to help send a KODIAK floatplane to Kalimantan. This will be MAF’s 10th KODIAK. To see the amount of gifts received or to contribute to the Kalimantan airplane, please visit www.maf.org/kodiak.

The 2013-14 Giving Catalog is now available!

Share Christ’s love with unique gifts that will transform the lives of isolated people. www.maf.org/gc

Bryan Snuffer poses next to his painting, The Path of Saints, at AirVenture. Photo by Don Walker.

Download this!

On August 26, MAF-Learning Technologies released Estante—a free digital library app.

Created for isolated Christian pastors, Estante makes it easy to gain access to digital Christian training resources, without the need for Internet connectivity.

This Android™ app works offline and allows isolated pastors and church leaders to easily store, view, and share digital Christian resources face-to-face, anywhere in the world. For more information or to download the free mobile app, go to www. maf.org/estante. For questions, please contact ltproducts@maf.org.

Please join MAF and pray ... »

For MAF’s instructor pilots whose responsibility is to teach and share the latest and best practices. The bottom line is safety for everyone we serve.

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That the LORD would bless the efforts of MAF Advocates—80 men and women who volunteer their time to tell people about this ministry.

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For the MAF staff serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who work under exhausting conditions, and for constantly changing regulations.

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For the MAF wives who invest in friendships within their communities, that these would lead to open doors for Christ.