One Team’s Story! One Team’s Story! Greetings! From its beginning 75 years ago, MAF flights have allowed thousands of church and medical teams, doctors, pastors and many others to get to the isolated places where God has called them. This is just one such story. Not long ago, Micha, an enthusiastic young German with a passion for Jesus, attended a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Training School in Queenstown, New Zealand. He then felt challenged to teach the Discipleship Bible School himself—to young Papua New Guineans enrolled at Camp Kalina, situated on the outskirts of Mt Hagen. Shortly after this, Micha joined a team of six planning a two-week outreach with the purpose of sharing the gospel with the people in the remote Highlands of PNG. After a time of prayer, the team felt that God was putting the area of Kopiago on their hearts. MAF told them that the airstrip in Kopiago was not operational—but they could fly the team to a place called Agali, about 40 km away.
Micha picks up the story: MAF was able to give us a huge discount on the tickets, which made it financially possible for us to go. Thanks MAF! Otherwise we wouldn’t have any stories to tell about the great work that God did through us in Agali! For the first few days after landing, we focused on getting to know the people. Our group taught the adults about God’s love, based on Biblical truth. The goal was to plant a seed of love and hunger for God in the people’s hearts. The other half did the same teaching, in a very simple way, for the children. They began with Creation and went over important events of the Old Testament. At the end, we had a big Jesus party, with balloons and music! We saw much change in the people’s hearts and lives in just this short amount of time, and I truly believe that the seeds we were able to plant will continue to grow in fertile soil (Matthew 13).
The team of six flying to Agali. Micha is on the left. Happy smiles as the adventure begins!
Landed at Agali, all luggage unloaded and the aircraft about to take off and leave the team behind.
MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP
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One Team’s Story! Yet the story continues: While walking around the village to meet and greet people, to hear their stories and pray with them, we came across a woman crawling in her vegetable patch. Due to severe wounds to her feet she was not able to walk. Kathy* (not her real name) was a mother of four young children who had been abandoned by her husband. We wondered how she was able to make a living and look after her children. She did not even have the 20 Kina fee for the local nurse to treat her feet. What a tough life! Kathy’s love for her children was her daily motivation to keep going. We tried our best to love and care for Kathy, cleaning her wounds and leaving her some bandages and antiseptic to encourage healing. But we knew that this wasn’t enough. She desperately needed proper medical attention. As we started to make plans for her emergency treatment, we found that the communications and logistics needed were challenging. We got in touch with Dr. Mills from Kompiam Hospital. Thankfully, despite the fact that his hospital was in a different district, he and his team were happy to have Kathy come for a proper diagnosis and treatment. We then made contact with the MAF PNG flight booking department to plan the flight for Kathy to the hospital at Kompiam. Eventually, everything came together: a wasmeri (guardian) was found for Kathy and a flight scheduled. She was brought to the local clinic the night before to be ready to board the aircraft quickly. Despite a number of setbacks and complications along the way, Kathy was soon in good care at the Kompiam hospital! Care packages, sent ahead by MAF wives in Mt. Hagan, were given to Kathy and her guardian when they arrived. Thanks again, MAF! Dr Mills wrote: “The blood test confirmed that she has severe gout with a lot of bone destruction. She’ll need life-long medication, but I am hopeful we can get her walking again!” You can see what a difference the YWAM team made to Kathy! But can you imagine what would have happened if MAF had not been there, first to fly the team in to Agali and then to fly Kathy to Kompiam hospital for treatment? Stories like this happen everyday in 30 countries around the world...but only because people like you sponsor our work.
Young students proudly hold up their work. A big “Jesus party” followed! (Micha top right).
Tending to the wounds in Kathy’s feet
MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP
maf.org.nz
One Team’s Story! “I’m impressed by MAF!” Micha said, “When I asked the local people about MAF they would say: “MAF is always there if we need them,” or, “If we have an emergency MAF comes in a few hours or the very next day to fly the people out to a proper hospital; they truly save lives.” I am very impressed by the work MAF does for the people in PNG. I can truly see God moving through the work of MAF! Without MAF it would have been impossible for us to go to this remote area to teach about God’s love.
Will you be a part of creating more stories like this? We can’t do it without you...but together we can keep the MAF planes flying! Be a part of MAF’s vital work! Your gift of $60, $88 or even $115 will help bring lasting, positive change to places like PNG!
Mark Fox, MAF NZ CEO
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