News for Prayer 2 May 2013
Issue 474
Fractured dreams It’s every boy’s dream to fly in an aircraft. Although our pilots can’t grant the wishes of every young person they come across, an obvious exception is made for those requiring emergency medical treatment! Jimi from Kalimantan, Indonesia, recently needed an airlift after a cycling accident resulted in a compound fracture to his ankle that could only be treated with an operation. Residents in his remote village travelled 30 minutes by boat to bring Jimi to the airstrip where an MAF plane made the rest of the journey possible. Such medevacs are an almost daily occurrence for pilots in Kalimantan, but our help doesn’t end when the patient arrives at a medical facility. The local MAF team is renting a house near the hospital where families can stay while their loved ones receive treatment. Pilot Dave Forney flew Jimi home a week later. Although Jimi may never be able to walk completely normally, Dave says, ‘At least he’ll have the hope of being able to walk again. Without MAF, he wouldn’t have had any chance.’ Pray for Jimi’s complete healing.
Proclaiming the Gospel Remember our team of 27 international staff and 6 national staff in Arnhem Land. Pray especially that their children will feel settled and happy wherever their family is based. Pray they will follow Christ, make good friends, do well at school, and have positive experiences in Australia’s remote outback. Pray too for energy and enthusiasm as our team continues to find opportunities to proclaim the Gospel, organise Bible studies, run Kid’s Club, and support, mentor and disciple new believers. As our team continues to develop relationships with local people, pray believers in the community will be increasingly committed to prayer, Scripture and sharing the Good News. Finally, uphold outreach events like those at Garthalala homeland, which run every second week. Pray for MAF personnel organising the outreach and for suitable Yolŋu people to accompany them.
Making it possible Bringing the Gospel to the Moi people of Papua is as much a physical challenge as a spiritual one. Although transporting people and supplies overland in the lush and mountainous region of Daboto is a logistical nightmare, MAF flights to Daboto airstrip enable missionaries with New Tribes Mission (NTM) to continue living out their faith among the population there. Pilot Tim Smith says, ‘I flew an NTM family to Daboto one week and then another the week
after. A few days later, I connected with another MAF pilot to move a family from Daboto back to Sentani. Every day I flew, I was moving different experienced western missionaries, while simultaneously giving some new pilots the opportunity to get more experience.’ Many of the NTM staff are involved in Bible translation, and Tim is excited that the days when ministry to the Moi was run exclusively by foreigners are now over. ‘Flying that many westerners was a bit unusual,’ he explains, ‘since we often bring in national church leaders and evangelists as the number of western missionaries drops.’ Flights to Daboto also make ministry possible to the even more remote location of Dao.
Keeping it current MAF’s Technology Services, facilitated by Peter Higham, helps reach local Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land through the Internet, mobile phone apps and social media. Our staff help load Bible apps on to phones, fix church computers, set up projectors for outreach, and answer the many calls for technology support. Elcho Island Translation Centre, which translates Scripture into local languages and creates Gospel materials, frequently turns to us for assistance. Wäŋgarr, who has been developing a series of biblical PowerPoint presentations, called to see if there was a reliable lightweight projector Peter could find for her to use in outreach. Peter says he was ‘more than happy to do the researching and testing as this helps get the
Word of God to the local people.’ Pray our resource shop, which sells CDs, DVDs, SD cards and Bibles, will continue to be a blessing. Uphold plans for Micro SD cards with biblical resources, discipleship videos, phone apps and Wi-Fi distribution of Gospel media. Pray too for our recent SMS service, which enables people to receive Scripture passages twice a week in English and Yolŋu Matha, and for the Christian material produced for the local radio station. The station is run by Aboriginal Resource and Development Services, and currently reaches 19 communities throughout Arnhem Land.
Pointing people to Jesus Our pilots carry a selection of print and audio Bibles in Tok Pisin and English to sell at affordable prices to remote communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG). They are encouraged that villagers can’t get enough. Please pray for sufficient quantities to meet their requests, and that the Scriptures point people to Jesus and enable them to grow. Pray too for the safety of our pilots, staff and their families. There have been violent incidents against expatriates recently, so pray for God’s peace and protection, and for ways to enhance security. Finally, uphold our Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship team who are involved in prison ministry. Pray many will become Christians through Christie Wahani’s ministry of leading weekly Bible studies with female inmates.
Prayer points • ARNHEM LAND Pray that vacancies for pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers and administrative staff will soon be filled. • Many churches suffer from a lack of discipleship, teaching and unity. Pray for strong, godly, mature leaders. • AUSTRALIA Praise God for Tony Lohmeyer, Michael Penn and Daniel Roth, who join our Mareeba team as aircraft maintenance engineers. Give thanks as they and their wives Jill, Karen and Silke settle in well and adjust to their new work, colleagues and communities. • BANGLADESH There is continuing need for our flights throughout the country. Pray for an aircraft maintenance engineer to assist our operation. • Pray for Country Director Chad Tilley, pilot Emil Kündig and their families in Dhaka. The political strikes (NfP 473), dense population, heat, humidity and power rationing can make life stressful. • KENYA Praise God that Hannah-Emuriakin Primary School has now
opened in Lokichoggio. MAF Base Manager KeA Arnlund and his wife Birgitta, a music and English teacher, have been closely involved in the project. • PNG Give thanks for government support of the Rural Airstrips Agency, a new NGO established by MAF. Pray it will quickly begin operations to restore airstrips upon which isolated communities in PNG are entirely dependent. • Give thanks that the Department of Labour has recently granted a number of work permit renewals. Pray the other permits are processed quickly. • TANZANIA Give thanks for God’s faithfulness as we celebrate 50 years of service in Tanzania this year. Pray for our flights, many of which transport medical and evangelistic staff to remote villages. • WORLDWIDE Pray MAF staff and their families throughout the world will be effective in their Christian witness.
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