Fall 2019
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK I wanted to be a pilot from an early age. I remember pretending the tractor on my family’s farm was an airplane. The eastern Colorado field I was plowing would transform into blue skies and clouds. As I got older, my desire to pursue aviation only grew. But by the end of high school I realized I had been glorifying the lifestyle of a pilot and started to really wrestle with my motives.
I can’t think of a better thing to do with an airplane than use it to share the gospel and Christ’s love with isolated people around the world.
Thankfully, by God’s grace, I did not have to abandon my passion for aviation. Instead, I discovered I could use it to serve Him.
Thank you for the part you play in sharing Christ’s love with people in the most remote places on earth—places that can only be reached by a tool like a small airplane.
For MAF, the airplane—while amazing—is just a tool. We do not worship the airplane; we worship our Savior. We view the airplane as a gift He has given us, equipped us to use, and prepared in advance for us to do good works. So, we celebrate this unique calling God has placed on our lives.
MAF Sentani staff working on an amphibious Caravan in Papua, Indonesia. Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes.
But it’s only because of the support of people like you that MAF pilots can follow their passions in a way that glorifies God. More than that, because of you, our aircraft become useful tools in the hands of our pilots to change the ending for isolated people. You make stories like the ones you are about to read in this edition of FlightWatch possible.
David Holsten President and CEO
Unwavering Commitment to Serve a Changing World Story by Chris Burgess
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he world has radically changed since Betty Greene made MAF’s first flight in 1946.
While the world may have changed, MAF’s mission has not. MAF’s Articles of Incorporation list purposes such as:
In fact, by the end of the 20th century, for the first time in 1,000 years there were more Christians in the Global South (Africa, parts of Asia, and Latin America) than in the West (United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand). Today, Nigeria has twice as many Protestant Christians as Germany, the birthplace of the Reformation. Only two of the 10 countries with the largest Protestant population are in Europe. China is estimated to have more Christians than any European nation except Russia. (Pew Research, Global Christianity.) The four largest churches in London are African led. And demographers believe that on any given Sunday there are more Christians worshiping in China than in the United States.
• “To study, plan, and develop the use of aircraft in the mission fields in order that time, money, and effort may be saved, cutting days into hours, and soaring easily over the natural barriers of jungle, mountain, desert, and water, so that the thousands of missionaries now ready, or in training, with their equipment can be rushed to these needy fields, the transforming and saving grace of God made known to souls in spiritual night, and the material necessities of food, clothing, and medical treatment likewise more quickly transported to these destinations.” • “To gather such co-workers as shall subscribe to and preach or teach the Word of God in accordance with the fundamentals of the Christian faith.”
When MAF first started flying, the most common passenger was a Western missionary. Now MAF often flies local pastors and evangelists so these Global South brothers and sisters can take the gospel to their people.
• “To bind together in fellowship men and women of all denominations and ministries directly and indirectly interested in using air power in the advance of the gospel.”
These goals have not wavered since MAF’s founding— neither have the needs of isolated people. The task of the Great Commission continues, and MAF is honored to partner with our brothers and sisters from the Global South, as well as from the West, as we take the gospel to isolated people who may have never heard the name of Jesus. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:19
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Getting to t he Hear t HOW ONE MAF TEAM IS DRAWING OTHERS CLOSER TO JESUS
Story by Jennifer Wolf A group of young women gathered outside on a porch in Tarakan, Kalimantan, Indonesia. They were meeting with Kayla Harder, an American, and Henny Firman, an Indonesian, two MAF staff members who were visiting local Bible school students that day.
“We cried together, prayed together, and talked about how the devil could use this situation to keep them from enjoying the love of God that comes through forgiveness,” said Henny. “It was one of those moments where you could see the Holy Spirit pouring through someone,” said Kayla. “It was beautiful to just sit there and pray for Henny, that He would give her wisdom and the words to say.”
The plan was to discuss what they’d been learning in the Book of John. Instead, two of the young women started to open up about struggles they were having with each other, and a lack of forgiveness between them. They’d lived in the same dorm for two years, and the problems between them had grown.
OUT OF THE CLASSROOM
Like other MAF flight programs around the world, MAF Tarakan supports local pastors and the growth of the local church, as well as isolated communities, through medical evacuations and delivering basic necessities. MAF staff often find ways to be involved in relational ministry, and the Tarakan team has set aside
Kayla wasn’t fluent in Indonesian yet, so she could only listen and pray as the scene unfolded before her. Henny’s eyes lit up as she realized God had just prepared her through a conversation she’d had with Kayla over lunch. 1-800-FLYS-MAF
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time to help those around them grow deeper in their relationships with Jesus. Spending time with the Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Willfinger (STTW) students during the last school year was an opportunity to do just that. A core group consisting of MAF pilot John Boogaard, and two Indonesian staff—office manager Tom Chrislay, and parts room inventory assistant Henny— planned and led several visits over two semesters. Other staff joined as they were able.
and teachers to minister to their own people. To get them out of the classroom mode, John Boogaard moved the students to the front porch of a house, where they sat together in a circle. He instructed them to open God’s Word and just let it speak to them. He wanted them to know they could meet with the Lord anywhere and it wasn’t dependent on a pastor or any one person’s long prep work. In the process, John says, “The students would find out where they were with God. It was more like discipling—helping others follow Jesus. And that’s what we were after.”
“This was such a new thing for them, they weren’t sure,” said John. “Then she read from her journal… It was beautiful. She got it!” HOLY MOMENTS
The time spent at STTW has been a growing experience for the MAF team. They’ve learned a lot about helping others grow deeper in their faith. “Working with the Bible school had an impact on me. It filled me as I spent time in God’s Word preparing,” said John. “And it bonded us with our Indonesian coworkers a bit more. It was fun to see their insights from God’s Word, because different cultures have different struggles and see things differently.”
The students were already receiving plenty of Bible teaching. But growing up in what is very much a rote learning culture, head knowledge didn’t necessarily equate to “IT WAS ONE OF THOSE heart knowledge. That When conversations with was an area on which the MOMENTS YOU COULD SEE the students got too deep MAF team focused. They beyond the language THE HOLY SPIRIT POURING and encouraged spending time ability of the expat staff, alone with God, Henny and Tom took over. THROUGH SOMEONE.” meditating on His Word, praying, and journaling— - KAYLA HARDER “Suddenly they were in things this culture their element. It was doesn’t do. As a group they’d read a passage awesome,” said John. “That’s what in the Book of John, then go off Tom and Henny can do. They can “There are many Christians who on their own to journal a heartfelt speak to the heart. They were able to still do not understand how they response. reach these students at a deeper level are saved,” explained Tom. “In fact, than we could.” they think their salvation depends When they came back together, on themselves. Some of them go to John asked if anyone wanted to Whether it’s flying an airplane, STTW in the hope that they can share from his or her journal. One visiting the sick, chatting with a change their character so they are young man piped up with a threeneighbor, or joining a new ministry eligible for heaven.” point pastoral outline. John stopped to reach the youth in another remote him. village, John’s prayer is this: It’s important for every one of us to understand we are loved by God, “That’s good but I’m not seeing your “It seems like we just get moments unconditionally, and saved by grace heart. Did somebody respond with with people. In those brief times through faith, not by our own their heart to what God said?” he that they interact with MAF, I hope efforts. It’s especially important for asked the group. they see that Jesus is beautiful.” the STTW students to grasp this because they will one day be “Maybe I did?” a young lady spoke going out as pastors, evangelists, up, sheepishly. 5
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MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT
Patrick & Sonya Just Patrick Just spotted his then-future wife, Sonya, on his college roommate’s Facebook page. It was a picture of her in Nepal, during a mission trip. Now, 12 years later, Patrick and Sonya are married and combining their shared passion for missions by serving with MAF.
and always thought it an interesting calling—one the couple discussed from the beginning. But after they were married in 2009, life kept moving forward. Patrick finished a degree in economics and was working as a flight instructor, a charter pilot, and a crop duster.
Sonya has always had an interest in living overseas, even before she was a believer.
Finally, as they sought the Lord for what He had planned for them, the couple began to prepare for MAF. Patrick went back to school for mechanic’s training. In the process, the Lord was finetuning their hearts and motivations.
“When I became a Christian, it was a natural fit for me to want to serve in missions overseas.” Patrick learned to fly when he was in high school. He was inspired by the stories he had read about missionary pilots
that my desire is to see gone through MAF Him glorified and His love training together. poured out on others.” “It’s been good for us As MAF pre-fielders to feel things laid on getting ready to serve in our hearts, experiencing Papua, Indonesia, the Lord the same burdens for has been teaching them a people,” said Patrick. lot. They’ve been building their ministry partnership The couple plans to team and applying their arrive on the field next family verse, Psalm 3:5-6. spring. In the meantime, they’re enjoying the “If we start to feel relationships that are discouraged,” says Patrick, developing with their “that’s when we realize new ministry partners, we’re trusting in our own and they look forward strength!” to being settled in Indonesia and building “It’s great that we’re deep relationships with learning that about teammates, neighbors, ourselves, before we get and the people they’ll to the field,” said Sonya. serve through MAF.
“God has really worked on my heart over the last few There have been many years,” said Patrick. “It’s benefits during this definitely a work of God, season, and as they’ve
Left to right: (back) Patrick and Sonya Just; (front) Clara, Elijah, and Nathaniel.
Partner With Us Would you like to partner with the Just family to share Christ’s love in Papua through MAF? To find out more or to join their team, go to maf.org/just.
Story by Chris Burgess
Photos by Mark & Kelly Hewes
No Longer Slaves
You are helping the gospel reach the ends of the earth
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heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
hen the missionaries arrived they were astonished by what they found. The local people believed in impulsive spirits who ruled over every aspect of their daily lives. They lived in fear. Any omen could be disastrous.
This account is from Acts 14 when Paul and Barnabas entered the city of Lystra in ancient Galatia. The people of Lystra were living in fear under the goddess Agdistis and thought Paul and Barnabas were Zeus and Hermes sent to rescue them.
The locals initially thought the missionaries were gods and prepared animal sacrifices. “Friends, why are you doing this?” the missionaries declared. “We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from
FROM ANCIENT GALATIA TO MODERN PAPUA
While this situation seems strange to modern readers, accounts like these are not unheard of in the places MAF serves—places where the message of the gospel is just breaking through. 7
“This describes many people living in Papua, Indonesia,” said David Holsten, MAF’s president and CEO, who spent 17 years in Indonesia. “The people are living in bondage to fear, war, anxiety, and superstition. They have no hope.”
OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Places like Papua—while undoubtedly not known by the early church—are what Jesus was talking about when he commanded his followers to go to the ends of the earth. But many of those places are hard to reach.
The bondage they are living under is not simply metaphorical. The real-life implications of such spiritual oppression are often brutal.
The island of New Guinea (where Papua is located) boasts a mountain range of over 16,000 feet— higher by far than any mountain in the lower 48 states. In contrast, the lowlands are covered by thick jungles and swamps teeming with malaria and dengue fever. Little to no infrastructure exists, making travel extremely difficult.
“We would starve with our fields full of crops,” recounted one Indonesian pastor. “If we walked to a field and a bird flew across our path in a certain direction, we wouldn’t go because we believed it was a sign that something bad was going to happen. We would starve to death with food in sight.”
MAF airplanes are often the only bridge between communities in the vast interior of the island and the outside world. Medical care, educational opportunities, food, and supplies for community development arrive to these remote villages on MAF airplanes.
In some tribes, the accounts are even more disturbing. Missionaries in Papua tell of mothers giving birth to twins—a very bad omen in many parts of the world. After birth, the mothers would literally stomp one of the children to death to avoid a curse.
And these small airplanes are the means by which missionaries and local evangelists can reach these isolated people with the message of the gospel. “The gospel that Jesus brings is a message of freedom,” said David.
Such superstitions, tribal warfare, and revenge killings are still a way of life in places the gospel has not been introduced. 1-800-FLYS-MAF
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A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES
MAF has partnered with missionaries in Mokndoma and, in recent years, helped the community open an airstrip. The people of this village have heartily accepted the freedom Jesus brings and it shows in tangible ways. It shows in the way husbands respect and honor their wives. It shows in the carefree play of the children. It shows when an injured villager uses a Band-Aid rather than cutting herself to rid the “bad blood.” If you were to climb up on a ridge near the village of Mokndoma, you would find yourself looking across a steep valley to see another village on the opposite side. The people of this village—only a three-minute flight away—have not yet accepted the message of hope. Life there is very different than life in Mokndoma. It is a situation not unfamiliar to the early apostles in Galatia, Judea, and Samaria, and it is not unfamiliar to missionaries serving in isolated places around the world today. Your support of MAF makes it possible for that to change. Paul’s message to the Galatians—the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ—stills rings out: “So you are no longer a slave, but a child of God … It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
Images of the Wano people in Mokndoma. Title photo: A little boy in the village of Mokndoma Left: A soon-to-be mother in Mokndoma. Right: (top to bottom) Wano kids with the airstrip in the background; A missionary and a Wano mother tending to an injured child; Missionaries serving in Mokndoma, surrounded by Wano children.
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TECH CORNER
Better Vision For decades, airplanes have used mechanical gyro instruments to give pilots information on—among other things—airspeed, altitude, and the orientation of the airplane to the horizon. But there is a new instrument in town—solid-state flat-panel displays. However, upgrading something that has been an aviation staple for decades is no easy task! It took over 25 people—including two avionics technicians from MAF headquarters—nearly seven weeks to retrofit just one Cessna Caravan with the new panel screens. “I knew before departing Nampa that the project would be the biggest that I’d been a part of since making overseas trips from MAF headquarters. The preparations alone had been going on for nearly a year,” said Bruce Harcey, an avionics technician at HQ. Why all the effort? “Being mechanical, these gages in MAF aircraft are taking a beating due to the rough airstrip conditions encountered when flying in the bush,” said Matt Harris, manager of MAF Papua’s maintenance training.
situational awareness—like the ability to track other aircraft in the area,” said Matt. “Along with giving the pilot better information, we are hoping these digital panels will be more reliable and easier to maintain than the old individual gages.” “The new screen will show you the terrain in front of you,” said Tom Bolser, an MAF pilot in Papua. “We do quite a bit of flying through the clouds, where you totally rely on the instruments. Now you can ‘see’ it. As I started flying with it … well, it’s like cheating when you’re flying through the clouds—it’s not even fair.” Tom has been training MAF pilots in Papua how to adjust to flying with the new screens. After removing all the old equipment and completing the upgrade on the first Caravan, there was an additional benefit—the airplane was 107 pounds lighter. “That’s 107 additional pounds of food, medical equipment, or Bibles we can transport for those we serve,” said Matt.
The older gages were designed over 30 years ago. At the time, they were state of the art, but they cannot compete with the digital display instruments currently available. Maintaining these old mechanical instruments is difficult and costly—and the repairs take time! This means the airplanes often get pulled from the flight line and are unavailable for the important flying MAF does. MAF updated two Cessna Caravans in Papua with the new glass cockpits in 2019, thanks in large part to the generous support of people like you! “The newer solid-state flat-panel screens give the pilot tons of information to help with increased 1-800-FLYS-MAF
Above: Arleon Eko, an MAF avionics technician from Papua, Indonesia, tests the instruments on a Cessna Caravan. Photo by Lem Malabuyo
NEWS & PRAYER Future Generations Campaign Wraps Up
Prayer Requests
For the past few years, MAF has been raising funds for its Future Generations Campaign. We praise God for generous partners who helped us reach our campaign goals and allowed us to accomplish so much! By the time of this printing, we should have broken ground on the MAF Family Center at our Nampa, Idaho, campus. And two more apartment buildings should be in progress next year. These will house MAF staff in training or those coming through our headquarters.
Pray for the 12 MAF pre-field families who are raising support prior to heading overseas.
Your generosity also allowed MAF to add five aircraft to its fleet: two Grand Caravans (for Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo programs), two Kodiaks (Nampa headquarters and Central Asia program), and one amphibious Caravan (Papua, Indonesia). Our thanks to those who supported this campaign through their prayers and gifts.
Pray for peace along with a stop to the spread of Ebola, which still threatens the eastern DRC.
MAF Has a New Chief Information Officer
Because of the support of people like you who gave to MAF, we were able to...
Lift up the Van Zwol family as they transition into a new role and a new home. Please pray for the displaced people in eastern DRC who have fled a new round of violence and taken up residence in the refugee camp in Bunia.
Pray for MAF Lesotho’s new patient house, that it would be a place of peace and healing for those who stay there.
Ted Van Zwol has joined MAF’s executive leadership team, filling the new position of chief information officer (CIO). Ted, his wife, Nan, and their three sons officially joined the MAF family in mid-July. The Van Zwols are no strangers to MAF, as they served with us in Papua, Indonesia, as a pilot/IT family from 2003 – 2008. Most recently, Ted comes to MAF from Microsoft, where he was a principal software engineering manager.
• Put $101,788 worth of fuel in MAF tanks. • Put $461,468 torward maintaining MAF’s 46 airplanes. Each dollar given represents Christ’s love being shared with isolated people. Thank you!
Pilots and Aircraft Mechanics Needed! The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. In remote parts of Africa and Asia, MAF receives many more flight requests than we can fill. Lack of pilots and mechanics is a big reason for that. If you are a pilot or aircraft mechanic (or both!) please pray about the possibility of joining our team. For more information, visit maf.org/serve/serve-overseas.
*At the time of this writing.
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Your year-end gift is more than a tax deduction!
When you give to MAF, you are helping change the ending for isolated people by opening the doors for the message of the gospel, medical care, clean water, community development, educational opportunities, disaster relief, and more.
It’s more than a way to feel good about yourself around Christmas.
Please give a year-end gift today at MAF.org.
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. Cover Photo by LuAnne Cadd.
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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. MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP PO BOX 47 NAMPA, ID 83653-0047 208-498-0800 1-800-FLYS-MAF (359-7623)
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Chris Burgess Jennifer Wolf GET CONNECTED
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