FlightWatch - 2018, Volume 1

WINTER 2018

from the a publication of Mission Aviation Fellowship

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story of a man who is about to set off on a journey. To each of his three servants, he gives talents (one talent is about twenty years of wages).

You know the rest of the story.

Two of the servants are wise with their talents and yield a reward for their master. The other servant does not fare as well. His sin is not recklessness—rather timidity. He is not bold for his master.

As I think about the work that MAF is doing around the world— work that you are part of making possible—I am proud of what we have accomplished for the Kingdom of God. But as we begin 2018, I want to ask, “What else can we do for His glory?”

People like you have entrusted your talents with MAF. We use them in the form of our staff, aircraft, and technology to share the love of Christ with people who might not otherwise experience it. Thank you for helping us invest these “talents” in ways that are yielding bountiful returns in the lives of isolated people.

Without your partnership, MAF could not dare greatly with the gifts God has given to us.

Thank you for boldly serving our Lord alongside MAF. For His glory,

The stories within FlightWatch are highlights of MAF’s ministry. Some days our missionaries get to see and experience the amazing things our Lord is doing. Other days are spent quietly and diligently serving the Lord through routine flights, maintenance work, and simply living among others in foreign countries. We believe that God works through all areas of service and at times blesses us with extraordinary glimpses of His work.

Director of Marketing: Managing Editor: Production Manager: Graphic Designer: Writers/Resourcing:

Tracey Werre Chris Burgess Micki Blair Clayton Borah Jennifer Wolf Chris Burgess

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) 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.

John C. Boyd President and CEO

On the Cover: A woman pumps water in Khulna, Bangladesh.

Photo by LuAnne Cadd.

Get Connected:

BRAD AND KRISTIAN WESTOM Twenty years on the field. Three countries. Seven evacuations.

Political unrest. Ailing parents back home. Brad and Kristian Westom encountered different struggles while serving as an MAF pilot/mechanic family. When these struggles arose, they sought out wise people who had experienced similar things.

“There were a few times along the way that we were looking for those kinds of people, and we were glad when we found them,” said Kristian.

Brad and Kristian recalled their first evacuation out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and how helpful it was when another mission organization with a counseling ministry in the DRC debriefed them after the incident— helping them process what they had been through.

During their last field assignment in Lesotho, they began to sense the Lord was pointing them in a different direction than aviation.

“We felt like God was leading us into something more ‘people

oriented’—more discipleship and mentoring,” said Brad.

After the couple organized a worship conference for the local Lesotho churches, some of the young adults approached Brad and asked if he could teach them about the Bible.

So Brad started meeting with them weekly.

Soon he realized that the excitement, or blessing, he normally felt when flying was the same way he felt when talking with these young men.

“The Lord was really doing something in my heart,” said Brad, “and Kristian was having similar experiences.”

“The Simply the Story team came out, and I did the training with them,” explained Kristian. “That was a neat tool that I started using—telling Bible stories, having people ask questions, and discipling through that.”

When MAF leadership asked the Westoms to join the newly formed member care department at headquarters, there was only one other

couple on the team.

The Westoms understood the value of caring for staff, and with the Lord’s prompting, and much prayer, they came onboard in 2013.

Brad is a member care specialist, and Kristian connects with new and visiting MAF families by hosting dinners at the Westom home.

They work on building relationships with the new MAF missionaries right from the start, before they ever leave for the field.

“We’re trying to plant some seeds,” said Brad, “so they’re more prepared when they get overseas and have struggles.

“Because they’re going to have struggles,” says Brad. “And when those struggles come, they’re already going to know somebody they can talk to.”

The Westoms are looking for others to join their team. If you’d like to help encourage MAF staff around the world through the Westom’s ministry, visit maf.org/Westom.

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esus has striking words for guests at a party thrown by an important Pharisee.

“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.

Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” – Luke 14:13-14.

Inviting guests to the table There seems to be a renewed focus on the issues facing poor and marginalized people around the world—poverty, lack of healthcare and education, clean water, and more.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), governments, churches, and individuals are striving to find ways to bring an end to poverty.

Can poverty be ended? Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:11 seem to suggest that might not be a reality in the present age; however, His call for his followers to care for the poor is unmistakable.

“If MAF’s partner organizations can’t get to isolated people groups, then the [goals of alleviating poverty]

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will never be attained,” says Alan Robinson, MAF International development advisor based in the United Kingdom.

“The areas with the highest rates of disability, malaria, and maternal mortality—and those most lacking in healthcare, education, and equality— are frequently the most remote areas.

“A major barrier for many NGOs and missions is the lack of safe, reliable travel to provide an effective field presence. MAF’s flight service to hard-to-reach areas is the perfect solution.

“Of course, MAF [addresses] physical and spiritual poverty, enabling the work of mission organizations, Bible translators and distributors, and local churches across the world.

“The [goals of secular organizations] tend to have a focus on physical poverty and so—however successful they are—the successes will be temporal. The eternal element of holistic mission is so important.”

Around the world, because of your support, MAF is sharing Christ’s love with the poor—particularly those who

live beyond where others can reach.

Because of you, MAF is ensuring that even the most isolated are “invited to the banquet.”

Here are a few examples of what you have made possible: Bangladesh – Clean Water In Khulna, the third-largest city in Bangladesh, sanitation in many areas consists of latrines and septic tanks.

Untreated human waste from these is dumped in waterways, destroying the health of the poorest people.

Not only is sustainable development intrinsic to MAF’s own vision of reaching isolated people, our aircraft also multiply the success of 600 partner organizations—2,000 worldwide, if you account for all of MAF’s international programs.

In March, MAF flew staff from SNV Netherlands Development Organization to the southwestern city to establish a project that will revolutionize waste management services and vastly reduce contamination of public water resources.

The fastest way SNV staff can reach

the region is by MAF’s floatplane.

Without us, overland travel from Dhaka to Khulna takes at least eight hours—costing a day’s work.

Democratic Republic of the Congo – Good Health Throughout its 50-plus years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), MAF has had its share of vaccine flights. In this vast country, it would be impossible to transport delicate vials great distances, over dirt roads or trails, and have them arrive intact and still be viable. MAF delivers vaccines and medicines in hours rather than days, and provides the “cold chain”—constant refrigeration—that ensures they remain effective.

On a quarterly basis, in partnership with the Swedish Baptist Mission, MAF airplanes carry thousands of vaccines into remote villages throughout western DRC. Earlier this year MAF spent three days transporting 5.5 tons of polio, yellow fever, pneumococcus, and other vaccines.

“We know that there are fewer

outbreaks of disease in the areas that we serve because of these vaccine flights,” said MAF pilot Garth Pederson, who has been serving in western DRC since 2000.

Enabling vaccinations and other medicines to reach remote and isolated villages in the African bush has, no doubt, played a part in extending life in the DRC. In 1969, for instance, the under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) was 252. In 2016 that number had dropped to 94 (source: UN Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation).

Papua – Quality Education MAF is a key partner in bringing K-12 education to the highlands of Papua, Indonesia, where some 1.5 million children live in the mountainous region, cut off from any formal education.

Since 2008 MAF has been instrumental in the opening of seven

Papua Hope schools, where 737 students are currently enrolled.

Six of the schools are in remote villages, and the plan is to open two more in mountainous areas each year.

Papua Hope schools use a holistic approach to educate the whole person, equipping Papuan children to be future leaders with godly character, strong academic skills, and productive lifelong habits.

Without MAF flights bringing in administrators and teachers, carrying materials to build the schools and accompanying health clinics, and delivering solar panels, desks, and books, the village schools would not be possible. By collaborating with Papua Hope schools and local missionaries in each remote location, MAF is pursuing its vision of seeing physical and spiritual transformation among isolated people.

MAF does all of these things, because of people like you who believe Jesus has commanded His followers to ensure that all people—regardless of where they live—have a chance to come to His banquet table.

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WHAT IS IT WORTH TO SEE UNREACHED PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE LOVE OF JESUS?

by Chris Burgess

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” William Carey, the father of modern missions, closed his first sermon at a missionary society in London with this quote­­­—and with it set the tone for the new wave of Protestant missions that would change the world in the generations that followed.

MAF’s legacy is born out of this bold mindset. MAF missionary

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pilot Nate Saint gave his life alongside his fellow missionaries so that the Waorani tribe of Ecuador could hear the Gospel proclaimed. Generations of MAF missionaries and others from our partner organizations have done great things ever since.

I will never forget the first time I had to buy groceries while living overseas. I had prepared to do great things for God as a missionary, and here I was doing something that felt so mundane—so ordinary. “This can’t be right.”

PREPARED FOR GREATNESS — AMBUSHED BY THE MUNDANE This idea has seeped into the fabric of our being. We want to be great. We want to make a big difference. We want our lives to matter for God.

Many MAF missionaries feel this pressure as well. They arrive on the field, faithfully serve for years, and can’t help but feel like something is missing.

But what about when it doesn’t turn out the way we thought it would? What about when “greatness” seems very far off?

Where are the people coming in droves to accept Christ? Where are the amazing stories of lifesaving flights?

Where are the massive struggles to heroically overcome?

Instead the struggles they often face are more frustrating than the heroic: mosquitos, corrupt traffic cops, power outages, and balancing work, family, and “ministry” amid cultural frustrations.

Most days are spent quietly serving those around them through flights that might not seem to make that big of a difference.

All the while, the spectres of Nate Saint, William Carey, and other missionary heroes hang above them— setting a seemingly impossible bar for missionary work. And anything short of that is perceived as failure.

become great must first make himself a servant; whoever wants to be first must bind himself as a slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as the ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26a-28, The Voice) Maybe in the mundane we are following Jesus’ example of servanthood—as we humbly serve in His name. Maybe in the humdrum routines of missionary service, we are doing something great.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GREAT? What is our definition of great?

In an era of “bigger is better,” we often think that if we are not the biggest or best then we must be missing the mark that God has for us. Maybe we have it wrong.

I recently had the chance to visit MAF’s program in Mozambique. There is a people in the remote, northern part of that vast African country who have never heard the Gospel. MAF has been in the country for decades and soon will be able to open doors to begin a flying doctor ministry there, with the hope of bringing medical care to these people so they can experience Christ’s love.

Jesus flips greatness on its head. “Whoever wants to

This opportunity has not been easy—it has cost MAF staff

years of quietly living in one of the poorest countries on earth and faithfully serving.

Yet, what is it worth to see this unreached people group, and others like it around the world, hear the name of Jesus? Are they worth years of flights that are less than glorious? Are they worth wading through foreign bureaucracies and tedious regulations? Are they worth living in a country far from home? Are they worth never having books written about our courageous adventures?

Are they worth your time, resources, prayers, and financial support of MAF to give them the chance to someday respond to the Gospel?

Are they worth all of us humbly following where God leads—even if it means doing the mundane?

I believe the answer is a resounding

“YES.”

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Photo by Paul O’Brien

ANNOUNCING MAF’S INCOMING PRESIDENT

In September the MAF Board of Directors unanimously voted to appoint David Holsten as the incoming president and CEO of MAF-US. David has been serving as the regional director for Indonesia since 2014. He and his family have been with MAF since 2000, as David served in a number of roles including pilot/mechanic, chief pilot, and program manager. David will assume the role of president and CEO at the time of John Boyd’s transition out of that role by the fall of 2018. Thank you for praying over this vital process.

grueling 12 to 14 hours of travel over treacherous roads. The family already had traveled 250 kilometers by motorbike to get to the mission hospital. The doctor at Vanga said, “We sincerely thank the MAF team and their donors for their willingness to assist in transporting these wonderful kids.”

The family returned to the Vanga hospital via another MAF flight, and the girls were monitored there for several weeks. By now they are back home in their remote village. Please continue to lift them up in prayer—for their health, and to one day know the Savior.

For a group of people living deep in the forests of Papua who have not heard of Jesus, and for Lukas (who discovered them), his wife, and another friend, who have moved there so they can share the Gospel.

That Agape, the MAF affiliate program in Guatemala, would remain safe as they work in a region where drug trafficking is rampant.

For David Holsten and his family as they transition into his new role as president and CEO of MAFUS and make the move to the U.S. sometime this summer.

Photo by Brendan Blowers

TECHNOLOGY FOR MISSIONS

Photo by Jaclyn Reierson

LIFE-SAVING FLIGHT FOR CONJOINED TWINS

In our last FlightWatch issue we asked you to pray for conjoined twins born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Thank you for praying!

The twin girls, Anick and Destin, were successfully separated by a team of volunteer surgeons in Kinshasa who operate free of charge on children born with malformations.

MAF subsidized the flight for the parents and twins from Vanga to Kinshasa, saving them from a

MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, was the site for the second annual Indigitous #Hack, a hack-a-thon with a purpose. In October, 20 local software developers and programmers gathered at MAF for the weekend event, to use their technical skills to advance God’s Kingdom. Globally, over 1,400 people collaborated efforts across 56 cities. The local “hackers” came up with a visibility tool that tells MAF pilots if there’s fog at an airstrip. They also created an interactive map of all the airstrips where MAF pilots land.

For continued wisdom for MAFUS leadership during the process of appointing a new vice president of operations.

“Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters.

Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.”

— Ephesians 6:18 (The Message)