News for Prayer 24 July 2014
Issue 505
Pray for harvest On 9 July, South Sudan ‘celebrated’ its third anniversary of independence. However, since December, the fragile future of Africa’s newest nation has been shaken by inter-ethnic fighting, leaving thousands dead, and over a million displaced. The unrest, together with a poor harvest and huge numbers of returnees from Sudan, has led to severe food shortages. If the South Sudanese cannot salvage what they can from the planting season before the rain comes, the UN has warned that over four million people will face severe food shortages. The UN has deployed 35 large aircraft to airdrop emergency food supplies. Although MAF hasn’t been directly involved with the UN’s response, our planes have been flying partners such as Tearfund and Christian Mission Aid to much smaller, more remote locations. A Tearfund worker who recently met MAF reporter LuAnne Cadd in Uror Country commented, ‘What struck me most were the thin legs and arms of the children. When I was here last November, a worrying 17% of the population suffered malnutrition. Since then, people are sharing all their resources, and food is depleting fast. Now over one-third of children are malnourished.’ Please pray for this desperate situation, for peace, and that starvation will be averted.
Severe malnutrition in South Sudan
Open to all Many years ago, MAF Communications Officer Angela Harding lived in Brazil on a Rotary Youth Exchange. This organisation had enabled young people to experience different countries and cultures for over 60 years, and Angela recently returned to reconnect with a Brazilian family she stayed with. While she was there, Angela was eager to see what MAF affiliate Asas de Socorro was doing. She joined the team in Santarem, travelling by boat along the Amazon River to spend four days making friends, visiting houses and telling the remote Inanu community about Jesus. ‘As we shared the Gospel message,’ Angela explains, ‘people responded, many receiving Jesus on the spot! It was tiring work, and I was completely exhausted when I got back to the boat each day. I happened to sit down next to Jancis, a North American member of Amizade, a non-profit organisation that provides cross-cultural medical experience for students. ‘Before I knew it, I was sharing the Gospel, just as I had earlier that day among the Inanu. When I got to the end, I asked if Jancis wanted to accept Jesus as her Saviour, and she said yes!’ Give thanks for Jancis, one of 28 people who
accepted Jesus that week. Praise God that whether people come from a remote Brazilian fishing village or a North American university, Jesus’ love is available to all. Pray that the new believers grow in their faith, share it with others, and that Asas de Socorro will continue to know God’s blessing on their ministry.
Spreading the light Uphold MAF’s Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship (CRMF) personnel in Goroka, Papua New Guinea, as many have fallen ill recently. Life can be challenging as infrastructure is poor, the roads dangerous, and power and water are not always easily obtainable. Pray that our staff recover soon, remain safe, and that the authorities will repair essential services to improve health and hygiene for people living in the more populated areas. The CRMF team, led by Michael Wakefield, is made up of 2 missionary families and 14 national workers who provide an HF radio communications network and technical and IT support for churches, missions, and remote communities. CRMF recently ordered a large number of solar kits to help bring light to isolated villages, so please pray for creativity as they seek to promote and sell these innovative pieces of equipment.
Pray too for Learning Technologies, the ministry arm of CRMF, which is currently providing pastors with basic computer training and helping them share the Gospel in places so remote that local people are unable to read or write.
Mozambique milestone Give thanks for our work in Mozambique – one of the poorest countries in the world – and pray that the process of our becoming a licensed business will be completed by 2015. Our programme, based in Nampula, has two aircraft, three local staff, and six international families. Pray too that as we provide vital aviation services to mission agencies, national churches and NGOs such as New Tribes Mission and MozMed, believers among the Makua, Makonde, Lomwe, Chuabo and Yao and other people groups in the north will grow in their faith and not allow their former way of life to hinder them. As we mark our 15th year of flying in Mozambique, praise God for the 882 flights, 5,746 kilos of cargo and 1,509 passengers carried over the past 12 months, and pray for those serving Christ in a country where most of the population lives in poverty, and 1 out of every 6 children dies before the age of 5.
Prayer points • BANGLADESH Lorna, the seven-year-old daughter of Aircraft Mechanic Raju Mondal, is sick with typhoid. Pray that she will recover quickly. • DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) Pray that work on the four staff houses, offices, hangars and school buildings at our Nyankunde base in eastern DRC will progress well. • INDONESIA Give thanks for our new weekly service to villages along the southern area of the Katingan River in Kalimantan and for our first landing at Dirouw airstrip, in Papua. Pray we will be a blessing to people in both areas. • LIBERIA Continue to pray that we get permission to fly soon; remembering Chief Pilot and Programme Manager Emil Kündig and his wife Margrit, our Finance Manager, as they prepare to move to Monrovia in August. • MONGOLIA Uphold Interim Programme Manager Alan Sully and his wife Davina who are in Mongolia until October. Davina is teaching English to national staff. Pray for their ministry, and give thanks for their willingness to fill in short-term assignments when needed.
• PAPUA Praise God for the new translation of The Life of Christ and the book of Ruth in the Melayu Papua language. Pray this will encourage Christians and help those who are not yet believers. • PAPUA NEW GUINEA (PNG) Pray for wisdom for our pilots and flight programmers as fog, cloud, rain and poor airstrip conditions disrupt flights and affect MAF partners. • Pray that PNG Programme Manager Godfrey Sim and his wife Glen, our Communications Officer, return from home assignment renewed, rested, refreshed and ready to lead our team of 26 international and 93 national staff. • SOUTH SUDAN Give thanks for encouraging progress made in licensing and training pilots Andrew Parker and Chris Ball, who recently moved to Juba. • WORLDWIDE Pray for all our staff who are on home assignment – praying for good meetings in churches to attract new interest and a chance to connect with existing MAF supporters.
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