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T n i A s E m JaI
Nate Saint, an MAF pilot in the 1950s, was martyred along with four other missionaries as they attempted to reach out to one of the world’s deadliest tribes in Ecuador – the Waodani. Two years after the killings, the tribe invited one of the missionary wives to live among them. They later accepted Nate’s children as part of their family. As a result, an incredible story of forgiveness unfolded. We got to catch up with Jaime Saint, Nate’s grandson, in a recent interview!
What do you find most inspiring about your grandfather’s story? The thing that inspires me is simply his obedience to what God wanted him to do. It wasn’t a complicated thing. It was simply a matter of obedience and saying ‘yes’ to God.
What would you say to a young person interested in overseas mission? One of the things that young people think today is that they can only serve God if they go overseas. There’s a place for that, but God doesn’t care about location, He cares about vocation. You can have just as much of an impact at home, working in a business and supporting missions, as going overseas. The biggest encouragement that I could give to a young person is to simply tell them to let God write their story.
What advice would you give to someone doing mission locally? Be intentional with the relationships that you form. That relationship can be something as simple as going to a
grocery store, speaking to the person who’s helping you check out and asking how their day is without settling for ‘Oh, it’s just fine’. We also need to keep our focus on eternity, realising that everyone we come into contact with will spend eternity in one of two places, and if we can plant a seed that will move them from one to the other, then that’s us living out mission right now.
How do you live out your faith in your daily life? It’s something that’s a challenge every day. It would be very easy to get up, go to work and just go about one’s daily routine – working for God but not necessarily bringing God into that. So I start every day by reading His Word. My personal relationship with the Lord is key to me living out mission.
What do you love about MAF? It’s their willingness to transport missionaries and church workers to remote locations safely. When I need to go to a remote location, there’s two ways to get there. It either takes six or seven days by car or three hours by plane. Three hours is certainly better than six or seven days! If you know that a pilot is with MAF, you know that they’re flying a plane that is safe and that will get you to your location as safely as possible.
Any closing thoughts? For the young people out there thinking, ‘Yeah, I want God to write my story’, just ask Him. God doesn’t show us everything at one time, but if we ask Him to write our story, if we ask him to be the Lord of our lives every moment of every day, He will show us enough so we can be obedient to the calling He has for us.
Top right // Nate, Majorie, Steve and Cathy Saint Right // Nate Saint on Palm Beach, Equador
' O n ce w e come to t ru s t C h r i s t , we become mi s s i onar i e s '
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‘When I saw his feet when he was born, I got scared,’ Christine said as she thought about the birth of her youngest child, Samuel.
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Meet Samuel Samuel is a smiley seven-year-old boy who lives with his mum in the remote village of Korr in Kenya. You might be wondering why his mum was so concerned when Samuel was born. Samuel was born with a condition called clubfoot – a fairly common birth defect that causes the foot to grow inwards, making people walk on their ankles. ‘I thought he would never walk,’ said Christine.
380 miles to reach hospital Northern Kenya, especially at the moment, is a tough place to live as crops cannot grow easily and drought also makes the keeping of livestock especially hard. Christine has four other children, so you can imagine how Samuel’s condition overwhelmed her – particularly when her husband hasn’t got a job. On top of that, the only way for Samuel to get the help he needed would mean taking many trips to and from Korr to the hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, some 380 miles away.
' I t h oug h t h e w ou l d n e ve r wal k '
‘Welcome aboard, Samuel’ Although the situation seemed bleak, Christine – a Christian – trusted that God would help her and Samuel with their problems. So Christine turned to her local church for help and, thanks to its connection with MAF, she was able to get Samuel to fly with us! Since 2011, when Samuel was two, we’ve taken him on regular flights to Kijabe for numerous operations on his feet to ensure that he has a fighting chance of eventually walking properly!
An ongoing success story Christine can no longer remember quite how many flights she and Samuel have been on, but she looks back at how it all began, reflects on how God has answered her prayers, and can now smile. Samuel, now seven, has a straightened left foot – with the other being well on the way to also being straight! Although still only young, Samuel has already earned the title of one of ‘MAF Kenya’s most frequent flyers’, and we look forward to the day when he no longer needs to fly before he can walk. Main // Christine and Samuel
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Left // 7-year-old Samuel returns from a hospital trip
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t u O S T H g i L Papua New Guinea is a super diverse place. You can have two villages within a few miles of each other that speak entirely different languages! The Bikaru tribe live deep in the jungle in huts built on stilts. The people believe that, by hanging lanterns under their houses at night, they can keep evil spirits at bay. However, if you found yourself in the Bikaru community tonight, you might find that some of those lights are no longer burning.
‘They can tell you how many they’ve killed’ Finding the Bikaru is difficult – as an old David Attenborough documentary proved when his expedition failed to find them! But German missionary veterans Gerhard and Brigitte Stamm had seen and interacted with the tribe several times on their travels. The Bikaru used to be a strong warrior tribe. ‘The warriors are still there,’ says Gerhard, ’they can tell you how many they’ve killed.’ With each encounter, Gerhard and Brigitte noticed the guilt these tribesmen and women felt over the things they’d done. Amazingly, the couple were able to share Jesus with many of them – resulting in Bikaru men and women becoming Christians!
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Sad at what they saw It had been two years since the Stamms last visited the community. On their last visit, Gerhard had been saddened by what he saw. Although many of the elderly folk had remained strong in their faith, the younger people had fallen prey to outside influences. Pornography, alcohol and drug abuse had become the norm. Despite their sadness, Gerhard and Brigitte were still excited at the thought of visiting the community again.
Free of the darkness After boarding an MAF flight, canoeing down a river and taking a long walk, the Stamms – along with their team – found themselves back with the Bikaru. But this time it was different! With it being December, the team brought Christmas to the Bikaru community for the first time. They taught about how, because of Jesus, people no longer need to fear dark and evil spirits. According to Gerhard and Brigitte, ‘The people came, young and old, to attend the many gatherings, and all were very attentive.’ Being scared of the dark no longer means the same thing to the Bikaru, who now realise there’s no need to be afraid. Thanks to Jesus, they are learning to rest in Him without the need for keeping the lights on.
Top right // Brigitte Stamm wading through a river Right // Gerhard Stamm at a Bikaru house
' Th e war r io r s ... are s t il l t h e re u they can tell y o ve how many they' killed'
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