FlightWatch - 2021, Volume 1

WINTER 2021 MAF.ORG

SUPPORTING DISCIPLE-MAKING 1

1-800-FLYS-MAF

F L I G H T WAT C H

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

None of the stories you are about to read would be possible without the support of people like you. It is our pleasure to show how you are making it possible for the gospel to transform the lives of isolated people around the world.

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Your prayers, your gifts, your time, are key to MAF’s ministry. Thank you for sharing the love of Jesus at the ends of the earth!

Every gift you send, every prayer you offer for MAF, helps change lives through aviation. We enjoy hearing from you! Please send comments and questions to maf-us@maf.org.

Tracey Werre, Director of Marketing Chris Burgess, Managing Editor Micki Blair, Production Manager Justen Stryker, Designer Chris Burgess, Jeanelle Reider, and Jennifer Wolf, Writers/Resourcing

MAF maintains the highest standards of financial accountability and public disclosure to donors and the U.S. government. MAF is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) as well as other organizations. A list of all organizations can be found at maf.org/about/ accountability.

– Colossians 1:28-29 (ESV)

Making disciples is no easy task. I find it interesting that the apostle Paul uses words like “toil” and “struggle” when he writes about disciple-making. It appears to have been a challenging thing even for Paul!

This task is made even more difficult by the barriers isolation creates. But throughout our history, MAF has helped overcome these barriers so the gospel can be proclaimed, and followers of Christ might grow in wisdom and maturity.

In the early days, MAF supported the work of Western missionaries. Today we more often support local missionaries, pastors, and church leaders who are committed to reaching their own people with the gospel and helping them grow as disciples.

These local believers face the same barriers as missionaries in the past, but they often do so with more limited resources.

The stories on the following pages tell of believers in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo who go to incredible lengths to make the love of Jesus known to people around them. As I read these stories, I am reminded of how grateful I am for friends like you who make this work possible through your prayers and support.

Thank you for partnering with MAF in supporting disciplemaking efforts around the world!

Serving together,

Mission Aviation Fellowship PO Box 47, Nampa, ID 83653-0047 208-498-0800 1-800-FLYS-MAF (359-7623) Cover Photo: A grass airstrip in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Photo by Jarrett Leland.

David Holsten President and CEO

You gave.

You prayed.

You believed.

THANK YOU! Because of the generous and faithful support of people like you in 2020, MAF stands ready to serve isolated people as a new year begins.

Together, we can share Christ’s love with isolated people—no matter what lies ahead in 2021.

Because people will always need Jesus. And God will always be faithful.

Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes

LO O K TO T H E H E AV E N S ONE FLIGHT HAS UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES

BY NATHAN FAGERLIE, AN MAF PILOT SERVING IN PAPUA, INDONESIA

When I landed in the village of Mokndoma, I could tell something was wrong.

“Can you help us?” said Tim Ingles, a missionary serving there. “We have a situation.”

worthy of this man from their village. So being distraught, young, and in love, she found a poisonous root, ate it, and killed herself.

Mokndoma is high in the mountains of Papua, Indonesia. I had flown there with Kevin and Beth Lynne, another MAF missionary couple who wanted to spend a weekend with the Ingles.

The gospel came to the Wano in Mokndoma a little over a decade ago. As their church grew, so did their desire to reach out and share the gospel with their fellow Wano in the surrounding villages. Liku, a local Bible teacher and leader in the community, often leads teams on evangelistic and literacy trips.

The Wano were upset by the village’s rejection of this woman. She was a literacy teacher—smart and educated—how could she not have been good enough?

Anger rose between the two groups, which can historically lead to tribal war in Papua.

Tim and Liku finished their story and asked if I could fly Liku and two other Wano teachers into Dagai to help calm the situation.

As I spoke with Tim and Liku by the airplane, they told me what had happened.

My heart dropped. I had never flown to Dagai. I was not checked out to land on that airstrip. My heart sank lower when we pulled up the airstrip directory and saw that Dagai was “closed”— meaning no one from MAF had been there for several years.

A Wano evangelistic and literacy team was in a village called Dagai. One of the members of the team was a young, single woman who fell in love with a man there, and they wanted to get married. But the elders in the village said “no.”

They said she wasn’t good enough—she wasn’t MAF.ORG

4

The gospel came to the Wano and transformed the hearts of people like Liku. Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes.

to let me know he recognized them, and they left, disappearing into the jungle and leaving me alone with the airplane.

A PLAN IS FORMED

Tim directed me to a hill where I could find a cell phone signal. I spoke with our program manager and we came up with a plan.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” I thought.

We took off from Mokndoma for a 20-minute flight to Dagai, bypassing six or seven days of walking.

I texted Tim a few days later to see what had happened. He responded with, “They’re safe.”

I was glad to hear that, but it felt vague, and honestly a little disappointing. Even so I was thankful to have had a role in whatever happened there. Most of the time MAF pilots only see a small part of the work God is doing and don’t often get access to the whole story.

Dagai came into view and I began an airstrip evaluation process. I did a high pass at 1,000 feet, then 100 feet, then a final pass at 10 feet.

Everything looked good. The landing was uneventful. As I pulled to the top of the airstrip, and shut down the plane, I noticed no one was there. Normally when I land on an airstrip, I am the center of attention; it’s always a big event.

This made me a little uneasy.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case this time.

THE REST OF THE STORY

As I got out of the plane and helped Liku and the other guys step out, I saw two men come out of the jungle. I looked at Liku, who nodded

A few months later, my family and I went back to Mokndoma and spent the night. I listened

El Nido, Palawan Island, Philippines. Photo by Eibner Saliba.

5

1-800-FLYS-MAF

at one of the Wano meetings where they talked through their evangelistic plans. When that meeting was over, Liku said, “I want to tell you what happened when you flew us into Dagai.”

“When we got the news that the lady had killed herself, we were distraught, because we knew what was going to happen in that village,” Liku continued. “But God provided a flight for us that day—you were coming in.

Literacy and education are key focuses of the Wano’s outreach efforts.

Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes.

“When we got on that airplane, we were praising the Lord. When you circled overhead before landing, I want you to know God was using that.

“The people [in Dagai] were ready to fight, but when they saw the plane, they knew it was MAF and they got scared. It was kind of like when Adam and Eve heard God in the garden. The people knew they were doing something wrong, and they didn’t know why MAF was coming, but it took their eyes off each other and focused them somewhere else.

“We got off the airplane and went into the jungle. When we met with the people, the Spirit of the Lord came on us and we began to weep.

We just started crying. And the people started crying. They went from being ready to fight to being sorry. We shared the gospel with the people there.

The author sits with the Wano and missionary Mike Wild.

Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes.

“I want you to know that your flying is not in vain. You are part of the team.”

Liku’s words serve as a powerful reminder to the way God works through us each of us—often in ways we cannot see or understand at the time.

MAF pilots strive to serve the needs of isolated people while maintaining a high level of safety. Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes MAF.ORG

6

PEACE GROWS IN THE CONGO YOU ARE MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR GOD’S LOVE TO BE SHARED IN THE DRC

BY CHRIS BURGESS

Photo by Mark and Kelly Hewes.

7

1-800-FLYS-MAF

T

he Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the largest countries in Africa by both land area and population. This vast country, which is almost as large as the eastern half of the United States, is home to an estimated 242 language groups.

With mountains topping 16,000 feet, vast rainforests, and gigantic rivers, this country is beautifully complex.

It has also seen its share of tragedy. COVID-19 is just one of the latest hardships afflicting this nation.

Recent years have seen tribal warfare, recurring Ebola outbreaks, and a staggering number of internally displaced people.

Yet hope stubbornly persists amid hardship as the gospel continues to spread.

For decades, MAF has worked with Western missionaries in the DRC, yet in recent years MAF pilots increasingly find their cabins filled with Congolese pastors and missionaries who are taking the message, hope, and love of Jesus to people in remote parts of this huge nation.

War and instability in the northern parts of the country make passage on the few roads crisscrossing the Ituri rainforest dangerous, but MAF flights can help local pastors bypass these challenges.

Recently a Congolese pastor moved from Bunia to Banda. MAF staff managed to fit all the pastor’s belongings into a Cessna Caravan—huge bags of clothing, cooking equipment, mattresses, jugs of oil, a bike—all items that may not have been able to make the difficult trip by land.

“One day I found myself taking a team of pastoral leaders to a small riverside village called Dingila, which is about 320 miles away and over 90% of the flight is spent over the jungle. I’d estimate at least a week of travel time was saved. Their mission is to strengthen the local church leaders through extensive Bible training as well as evangelism and strategic church planning seminars,” said Chad Dimon, an MAF pilot in the DRC.

Photo by Annaleis Woodsum MAF.ORG

8

“When I step into the airplane and get to take pastors to interior villages so they can strengthen the church and bring others into the kingdom, I cannot describe the sense of fulfillment and impact it brings me.”

-CHAD DIMON

MAF staff finish loading a Cessna Caravan for a pastor’s move to a remote region of northern DRC. Photo by Chad Dimon.

Cory and Annaleis Woodsum serve with MAF at the Nyankunde base in the eastern DRC. Their local church in Nyankunde hosted a youth retreat this summer. During the retreat, a young man asked if it was possible to follow Christ if he had already made a contract with dark forces for a talisman to protect him.

“He soon found that yes, Jesus breaks every chain, as he decided to follow Christ,” wrote Annaleis in a prayer letter.

Later that summer, Cory flew a few chiefs and delegates to a round table peace conference, attended by nearly 30 representatives of the chiefdoms within the Irumu territory. At the summit, they identified many practical solutions to foster peace among the different tribes in this area. They focused on intercommunity conflict resolution, the disarmament of several militias, illegal mining solutions, aiding displaced peoples and helping to return them home.

MAF pilot Cory Woodsum transports village chiefs from Burasi to Komanda, EDRC, for peace talks. Photo by Kazi.

“God has been at work in our province in bringing about unity,” Annaleis wrote.

MAF is able to serve Congolese pastors and the needs of isolated people in this vast country because of the support of people like you. You make it possible for Christ’s love to be shared in places like this around the world.

9

1-800-FLYS-MAF

NEWS

THE AUYE PEOPLE RECEIVE THE NEW TESTAMENT

In 1985, an MAF helicopter landed in the village of Siriwo in Papua, Indonesia, carrying a local evangelist and a missionary. Three years later, MAF brought a couple, Mike and Gay Moxness, into that same village.

They were there to do a language survey and God placed it on their hearts to translate God’s Word for the Auye people—a tribe of 500 at the time. The people built an airstrip and MAF served the Moxnesses in the early years as they built relationships, learned the culture, and acquired the Auye language. They taught literacy classes and other practical skills. And with the help of another mission, a village clinic was started. Finally, thirty-five years later, on September 30, 2020, the Auye people of Siriwo sang praises as they received the New Testament in their own language.

Mike and Gay Moxness. Photo by Brian Marx

CESSNA CARAVAN PASSES THE BATON

Mike Shutts holds a cake made by Jasmine Montgomery for 9S-EAU’s farewell. Photo by Dave Waterman.

MAF pilot Dave Jacobsson, who flew 9S-EAU for many years, speaks at the dedication ceremony for the new EDRC Cessna Caravan. Photo by Lem Malabuyo.

Mike Shutts and Nathan Montgomery, East DRC maintenance staff working at the MAFI base in Uganda, threw a farewell\retirement party for 9S-EAU, a Cessna 208. It is serial number 10 and is the first Caravan purchased by MAF-US in 1985. The entire hangar crew joined the celebration.

MAF plans to keep 9S-EAU as a training aircraft, which means it will be based at US headquarters in Nampa, ID. In the meantime, its replacement arrived in Nyankunde, DRC, in November—and the baton was passed. The new Caravan will continue right where EAU left off—bringing critical help and the hope of the gospel to the people of the DRC. MAF.ORG

10

PRAYER REQUESTS - Lift up the many Bible translation projects - Pray for God’s favor over MAF as staff work that MAF flights are supporting around the to get a new program off the ground in a world. restricted access country.

- Pray for encouragement of new believers - Praise God for a new airstrip that MAF in the mountains of Lesotho, a result of will be serving in another restricted access MAF sending the Lesotho Flying Pastors to country. It will allow a humanitarian group visit every month. The new believers face working there to bypass a dangerous road a difficult time when they reject ancestor and reach this isolated community quickly worship and witchcraft. Family members and safely. believe the person following Christ will bring misfortune on the family.

MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT DARRYL AND DEBBIE CEDERGREN Darryl and Debbie began their journey with MAF 28 years ago as a pilot/mechanic family in Venezuela, where they served for eight years. Now, Darryl handles MAF’s payroll, insurance programs, and cash management from MAF’s headquarters— working behind the scenes so MAF can continue to reach isolated people around the world with critical help and the hope of the gospel.

“I want to serve our staff so they don’t have to think about the issues of money,” said Darryl Cedergren. “There are so many other pressures they have to deal with. It’s one less thing they have to worry about.”

Darryl and Debbie need people like you to support their work as prayer and financial partners! To learn more about the Cedergrens or to join their team, visit maf.org/cedergren.

11

1-800-FLYS-MAF

You’ve got the skills.

You’ve got the heart.

We’ve got the opportunity.

MAF’s greatest needs are aircraft mechanics and IT field support staff. There are also many opportunities for pilot/mechanics and teachers around the world.

Join us and help connect the remotest parts of the earth to Jesus Christ!

Find out about these and more opportunities at maf.org/serve

MAF.ORG