FlightWatch - 2019, Volume 3

SUMMER 2019

from the

PRESIDENT’S DESK

Dear friend, I hope your heart will be encouraged, as mine has been, by this edition of FlightWatch. I never tire of hearing how God is using MAF to bring about lasting change in the lives of those we serve around the world.

Christ made it clear we are to love God with all our being, and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:3739). That commandment was followed by His commission to go into the world to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). While disciple-making and loving others may be simply expressed, acting on these commands requires a lifetime of faithfulness.

MAF’s work provides numerous opportunities for us to faithfully live out the great commandment and the great commission as we seek to serve those who live in great isolation. Our love for others can be clearly shown through a life-saving flight, or through a deepening relationship with those who live among us. Disciples are made as our staff invest in the lives of others in intentional ways, as well as through the many different ministries served by MAF. Love—whether it is shown in a poignant moment or displayed through decades of steadfast obedience—can be used by God to deeply change the lives of those around us. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Thank you for showing the love of Christ to others through your support of MAF. May we be faithful until the end, and may the harvest be bountiful!

a publication of Mission Aviation Fellowship 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: Tracey Werre Managing Editor: Chris Burgess Production Manager: Micki Blair Graphic Designer: Clayton Borah Writers/Resourcing: Jennifer Wolf Chris Burgess Jeanelle Reider 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 • 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, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

On the cover: Aerial photo from one of our restricted access countries. Photo by LuAnne

David Holsten President and CEO

Cadd.

Get Connected

$1 . 575 million .

That is how much a couple recently left to MAF as a planned gift—just a percentage of the total amount they bequeathed to several different charities.

They were teachers, but planned well.

Anyone can make a difference.

Find out how you can leave a lasting legacy at mafplannedgiving.org.

m a f pl a n ne dg iv i ng.org

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A SWEET FR AGR ANCE of INVESTMENT R ICH DIV IDENDS

By Jeanelle Reider

Tšepo’s pace slowed as he made his way down the street toward the tworoom house where he lived with his mom and younger siblings. To his right, a tiny bar teemed with men who had been drinking all day. A few of his peers loitered outside the bar, their stances listless, their eyes dull.

He didn’t blame them. Like so many young men in Lesotho, their dads were either inside the bar or off working at the mines, while their moms pieced together menial jobs or labored in factories in South Africa. The teenage boys had been left to fend for 4

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themselves, but they weren’t doing a very good job of it.

Tšepo had challenges of his own. His older brother had died under tragic circumstances, and Tšepo had become the oldest male in the household while barely yet a teenager. He and his family were just scraping by on the meager wages his mom brought home and the support of friends and family.

But he felt lucky. More than lucky. He could have been sliding down the same slippery slope as his peers outside the bar if God hadn’t intervened in his life.

A few years earlier, some local missionaries had started a soccer ministry in his village, and through soccer Tšepo had met the Monsons, a pilot family with MAF. Matthew and Carolyn Monson had been drawn to Tšepo, and when they had heard that he was going to drop out of school because he could not afford the tuition, they had begun paying his school fees. To them, it had seemed a very small investment in the life of this promising young man.

The Monsons had taken Tšepo under their wing, and soon he was attending church with them and their children. It wasn’t long before he had committed his life to Christ.

As Tšepo walked past the bar, he thought to himself, “My friends need a Bible study. I’m going to ask Matthew and Carolyn what they can do about it.” When he approached Matthew and Carolyn a few weeks later, the earnestness in his voice moved them to give some serious thought and prayer to his request.

Matthew remembers, “It’s not like we were looking for this kind of a ministry. We didn’t say, ‘We gotta go find a village, find these boys, do a Bible study.’” Carolyn adds, “We could think of many reasons why not to begin such a ministry, and why it wouldn’t work.”

Yet, as they prayed, they realized it would not be a matter of if, but when. So, with a measure of trepidation, they told Tšepo, “Okay, you bring the boys and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

The Monsons began a Saturday morning Bible study, using a few of the foundational study books they had purchased before coming to Lesotho.

Soon, 10 to 20 boys began making the 90-minute trek to their home each week. Sunny skies or torrential downpours, it didn’t matter—the boys showed up.

For the next four years, many boys from the village came to the Monsons’ home for Bible studies, attended church with them, participated in Bible camps in their yard, and just hung out with their family. Through the Monsons’ investment of time and intentionality, a significant number of these boys have given their lives to Jesus.

However, the most striking transformation during these four years took place in the life of Tšepo. Initially he simply brought the boys to the

Matt Monson (left) leads a Bible study with local Basotho boys.

Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes.

Saturday morning Bible studies, and Matthew did the teaching. But before long, Tšepo began to help with the teaching, and then he assumed more and more of the leadership while Matthew cheered him on. Tšepo brought the Bible study back to his own village, where he now not only teaches groups of up to 70 kids, but he coaches and mentors the village youth as well.

Tšepo’s passion for evangelism and discipleship has not been limited to young people. Today, on a typical weekend, he visits villagers of all ages in their homes, talking with them about the good news of Jesus. He doesn’t do it out of obligation— he does it for the sheer joy of helping others believe in Christ and grow in their faith.

Carolyn describes Tšepo as a shining light. “We invested in him, but now he’s investing in others.

Disciples making disciples.”

The little bar on Tšepo’s street still attracts the men and youth of his village. But not all of them. Some of them have embraced the good news of the gospel and are now investing in their community by sharing it with everyone who will listen.

Because a passionate young man cared enough to invest in them.

Because a faithful missionary couple cared enough to invest in him.

This story is one of several in a new MAF women’s prayer journal, Sweet Fragrances: Bringing The Essence of Christ Into Our World. A limited quantity are available for purchase at the MAF gift shop, www.store.maf.org.

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Because of people like you, MAF can change the ending for isolated people by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

v2track trackers were purchased for all three aircraft at MAF’s Nyankunde base in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This simplifies flight-following procedures and increases safety and ability to find a lost or downed aircraft over the vast Ituri rainforest.

A generator was purchased for the Palangkaraya floatplane base in Kalimantan, Indonesia. This will provide reliable power as the team there reaches remote villages in that region.

A much-needed security fence was installed around the MAF “ranch” in Mozambique, which holds three staff homes. This helps thwart crime and provides additional protection to MAF families.

Thank you for your gifts and prayers.

You are making a difference in the lives of isolated people!

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A strong calling and a fulfilling ministry, plus the support of the MAF family, helped this single missionary stick it out for the long haul.

By Jennifer Wolf

A small MAF Cessna airplane touched down in a remote village in the highlands of Papua, Indonesia (then Irian Jaya). Lois Belsey, a 26-yearold Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) missionary from Canada, was about to enter a very different world— that of the Moni people.

It was 1976, and she had left her first mission assignment in Vietnam because of the war.

Her next, and final, mission post

was Hitadipa, Papua, where she came to serve alongside another C&MA couple.

Lois knew from a very young age God was calling her to the mission field. It was all she ever wanted to do.

This summer she’ll retire after 43 years in Papua.

“I won’t miss the ruggedness of the living,” said Lois, “but the beauty of the place …”

She’ll miss the poinsettia trees, the bougainvillea,

amaryllis, and roses; being able to pick raspberries, or pluck an avocado from her tree every day. She’ll miss the only place she’s called “home” for the past 43 years—and something else.

“It will be the life with the people ...

Yeah, I’ll miss it. There’s no question about that.”

But it wasn’t always that way.

SEASONS OF CHANGE When Lois arrived in the remote village of Hitadipa, C&MA missionaries Bill and Grace Cutts had already brought the gospel to the Moni, though they had been slow to embrace it. But the love of Jesus began to take hold when a number of Moni leaders turned to Christ in the early 60s. MAF has been serving missionaries in Hitadipa since 1962, after Betty Greene, MAF’s first pilot, hiked in to open the airstrip.

After years of being the only missionaries serving there, their son, John, recalls, “It was a boost to suddenly have Lois and Lorrie [a friend of Lois’ who served with her in the beginning] on the station and working as a team to reach the Moni.”

The Cutts worked on translating the New Testament and part of the Old Testament and founded a Bible school.

As a nurse-midwife, Lois complemented their efforts with village healthcare, Sunday School, youth work, and Bible teaching.

But while Lois adjusted to living among the Moni, she struggled with health issues—migraines and severe allergies that turned into asthma. It was a long and difficult first term, she recalls. “The people were very primitive. Everything was so different,” explained Lois. “It wasn’t easy.”

She found herself questioning whether she could stay, whether God really wanted her to stay. But on her first furlough, as she was speaking to a home church about her work with the Moni,

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she had a revelation.

“God just downloaded a love into my heart for the people that hadn’t been there before,” said Lois. “And then I didn’t care if I ever went on furlough to Canada again.”

Over time, Lois trained 50 Moni women in basic healthcare and taught them how to deliver babies. Now it’s rare for a woman to die in childbirth. The infant death rate is much lower. Children and adults live longer.

“Almost all of the Moni women and children read now. That’s related to their desire after God,” explained Lois.

The Moni women used to spend all their time working in the gardens or in their homes (little round huts). “They were just chattel under feet. That’s how they were treated,” said Lois. “Now they have a voice and a ministry, and they do it with all their heart.”

Lois’ work didn’t affect just the Moni.

Her ministry grew to include supporting evangelists working among four different lowlands tribes.

FRUITS OF STAYING In late March, MAF helped Lois complete

Lois (right) has been blessed to have the help of fellow C&MA missionary Mary McElhone (left) for the past 10 years.

Heather and Brian Marx (in background), a pilot-family in Nabire, spend time with the Moni tribe in Hitadipa. Photo by Pieter van Dijk.

the last of her lowlands river trips, something she’s been doing twice a year since the late 80s.

These lowlands trips required three MAF flights, plus a motorized dugout canoe and someone to “pilot” it down two river systems. Her goal has been to encourage, equip and empower the local evangelists— many of whom were trained at the Hitadipa Bible school, so that they can reach lost people for Jesus.

She developed a four-year Sunday school curriculum and taught them how to diagnose and treat illnesses, while supplying them with medicine each time she came. They also learned the basics of helping pregnant women, including what to do if there was a birthing problem.

“Physically, a lot of lives have been saved. And the evangelists have been able to stay,” said Lois.

As her canoe glided over the waters

on the last leg of her final river trip, Lois marveled at her surroundings—the bright red flowers, the birds singing, the cicadas screeching—and something else. A battle that had been won in the life of a young boy, someone she had fought for through much prayer.

She saw the difference in him that morning as he walked along the path in the village. His countenance had changed, from darkness to light and smiles.

DEPARTING HITADIPA An MAF Kodiak touches down in the remote highlands village of Hitadipa. Lois Belsey boards the airplane and leaves behind a very different world—one transformed by the love of Christ, one that’s transformed her.

The pilot offers a final prayer before takeoff. It’s one of many prayers backed by many supporters who made it possible for Lois to stay for over four decades. To MAF’s donors, Lois says, “I could not have been in Hitadipa at all if MAF wasn’t here.

They prayed for us. Some have come in to visit us; some have gone on trips with me. We’re a family and we work together.

If they weren’t here people wouldn’t have medicine, people wouldn’t have Bibles, people wouldn’t know the Lord. “Thank you.”

Currently, MAF serves Hitadipa twice a month and another nearby Moni airstrip, Bilorai, twice a week. Photo by Heather Marx.

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MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT

BRENT HALVORSEN

by Jennifer Wolf

Brent Halvorsen may have tuned out when an MAF recruiter spoke to his class at Liberty University in Virginia seven years ago, but God made sure Brent heard at least one word: Idaho.

After majoring in aviation maintenance and biblical studies, Brent moved across the country to Boise, Idaho, to help plant a church.

Brent started looking for work and remembered MAF was in Idaho—just 15 minutes away! He volunteered at MAF headquarters for a few months before landing a maintenance job at the Boise Airport.

He gained valuable experience while God moved him towards a new plan. In the fall of 2017, Brent envisioned a crazy “dream job” and proposed it to one of the MAF mobilizers: “Could you use someone stationed out of Boise who spends time internationally doing maintenance projects several months out of the year?”

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The job didn’t exist, but it turns out the candidate committee had been praying for somebody to do exactly that!

“We’ve been praying for you for years to come do this,” Brent describes their response. “We just didn’t know it was you. And you didn’t know it was you … until we all got together.”

Brent is now an MAF pre-fielder, which means he is focused on building his ministry partnership team. As he speaks at churches or meets with individuals, Brent testifies to God’s good plan—a tenyear journey that he only became privy to just over a year ago.

“God’s been working this whole time and I just found out!” laughs Brent.

There are still a lot of unknowns.

Some of the questions he gets are hard to answer: How long will you be gone? How often will you travel?

To which Brent replies, “I don’t know yet.”

MAF has not had a position quite like this before, so Brent will be blazing a new path. And his help is greatly needed right now as MAF tries to fill maintenance positions at its field programs.

Brent asks people to pray about joining his team. He knows it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do the convincing. And after all, God’s the one who’s brought him this far.

Brent’s doing his part and trusting God to make it happen.

Would you like to touch multiple MAF programs through Brent’s ministry, and help bring the love of Christ to isolated people? To join Brent’s team, visit maf.org/Halvorsen.

Making Disciples

TECH CORNER

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “MAKE DISCIPLES”?

By Chris Burgess The first time disciples of Jesus were called “Christians” was in the city of Antioch. Antioch was a cosmopolitan city with many different ethnicities living within its walls. Amid this diversity, a group of people stood out—those who followed an obscure, recently crucified Jewish rabbi from Nazareth. It would have been understandable if the people of Antioch had mistaken these people as just another Jewish sect. Yet there was something different about them. Something so different they were given a name intended to poke fun: “little Christs” or “Christians.”

The term “Christian” is only used a handful of times throughout the New Testament, often by outsiders. Members of the early church were known to call themselves “disciples.”

In John 13:35, Jesus gives the identifying mark that His disciples should bear: love.

Jesus’ last earthly words were for his disciples to go out into the world and make more disciples. (Matthew 28:19-20) But what is a disciple?

A disciple is someone who understands and follows a teacher.

But a disciple is more than just a student; a disciple has a deep relationship with his or her teacher.

What does it look like for an MAF pilot or tech specialist to make disciples? What does it look like for a person with a nineto-five job, or a stay-at-home parent, or a retiree in America to make disciples?

Jesus’ model of discipleship in the Gospels consisted of sharing His life with a select group of followers—pouring into them through teaching, showing what it looked like to live in the Kingdom of God, and being in relationship with them.

Making disciples looks like a missionary family in Lesotho investing in the life of a local teenager. It looks like a woman moving across the world to live in a village for decades so the people there can know Jesus. It looks like faithful people such as you supporting the work of MAF as we take the hope and love of Jesus to the most remote places on earth.

Being and making disciples means sharing the love of Jesus and the hope of the gospel with others and helping them mature in their faith.

The people of Antioch and others outside the church in the New Testament saw this love displayed and accused disciples of being “little Christs.” Oh, that the same accusation could always be thrown at the followers of Jesus!

MAF’s fleet of aircraft must be kept in excellent working condition if they are to reach isolated people with Christ’s love. An added element that can throw a wrench into airplane maintenance is how the location of the aircraft can add to its wear and tear. This makes it even more crucial for MAF maintenance specialists to be vigilant in maintaining airplanes.

Mike Shutts, an MAF maintenance specialist on the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo team (serving in Uganda) recently shared in his newsletter one such instance: “We work in an environment that is very hot and humid, so we keep a constant watch out for corrosion. A while back we discovered corrosion growing in an unusual area. We knew that we would have to remove the wing to get to the corrosion and that it would take several weeks to get the job done.

“When the wing was removed, we discovered that the corrosion was much more severe than expected. A large area of skin and a bulkhead would need to be removed. We also found some corrosion in the wing that required replacing a few of the front ribs.”

While Mike worked on the wing, Nathan Montgomery (another MAF maintenance engineer serving in Uganda) worked on the bulkhead. The fuel tank also needed to be resealed as it had old fuel cell sealer in it that was starting to leak. Mike and Nathan put the airplane back together and took the time to replace a few items like rubber pedals and steering bungees.

Keeping airplanes maintained is hard work, but the fruit of that labor is that these tools can continue to be used to reach isolated people with the love of Jesus.

JOIN US IN PRAYER Lift up the people of Mozambique as they continue to recover and rebuild after massive flooding brought on

by Cyclone Idai back in March and Cyclone Kenneth in April.

Remember Papuans in Sentani who lost homes and loved ones due to the flooding and landslides.

Ask the Lord to draw more pilots and mechanics to serve on the mission field with MAF.

Please continue to pray about the Ebola outbreak in EDRC.

NEWS BRIEFS UPDATE ON IDPS IN EDRC The MAF eastern DRC team is still buying food weekly for one of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps in Bunia. Program manager Jon Cadd says the number of IDPs in the camp is shrinking, as some are returning home. The MAF team continues to show the “JESUS” film and there are many new members in God’s family as a result.

Ustick Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, has a long-time connection to the EDRC program. When they learned that MAF had started a sewing ministry for the IDP women trying to recover from traumatic events—some recently widowed— they started raising funds to purchase 60 Singer hand-wind sewing machines. The goal is to provide a machine for each of the women who’ve learned to sew so they’ll have a way to support their families when they return to their villages.

MOVING TRANSLATION FORWARD MAF pilots in Papua, Indonesia, had the privilege of flying 37 translation facilitators and trainers into the village of Kamur. This is the heart of the Sawi people group, where Don Richardson landed in an MAF floatplane over 50 years ago, and where the story Peace Child originates. “These facilitators were joined by 200-plus pastors, teachers, and church members of the local Sawi church group,” said Mike Brown, MAF program manager in Papua. “It was so neat to walk around the church building, which had been turned into a workshop for Bible translation, and see these Sawi people excited about working together to help finish the Old Testament in their heart language.

Mike Brown with the translators.

PRESENT AND HELPING

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”

1 Chronicles 16:11

IDP camp sewing class.

MAF recently ran a reconciliation/ re-entry seminar (or “How to live with people who tried to kill you”).

One hundred IDP camp leaders participated and then went back to their respective groups to share what they’d learned. It was well received.

In March, when heavy rains caused mudslides and floods in the city of Sentani, in Papua, Indonesia, MAF families joined with other mission groups and local churches to help care for those who’d lost homes and loved ones. MAF staff and their children helped where they could.

“A lot of people in the community received shelter and food in their time of need,” said Mike Brown. In the days following, MAF staff helped dig out homes and distributed clean water from its well to our national employees and the community, as they were able.