News for Prayer 27 June 2013
Issue 478
Dead or alive? ‘Pauli, an elderly man with a head injury, had been scheduled for a flight to a major hospital in Tanzania the following week,’ says pilot Kirstein Combrink, ‘but we received news that he had taken a turn for the worse and was unlikely to survive the weekend. ‘So off I went to collect Pauli and take him to Haydom Hospital, a facility supported by Norwegian missionaries where he could get a CT scan and possibly head surgery. He was in bad shape as I handed him to the hospital staff and prayed for his recovery. ‘The next morning, I heard the sad news that he passed away, and his family was requesting that I return the body to their village. However, as it sometimes is with telegraph communications from the remote bush regions, things got distorted and I later received a great update that Pauli was still alive!’ Kirstein has since visited Pauli and says his condition has stabilised and he has been moved to the larger Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi – news worth having your day turned upside-down for!
Showing God’s love We recently flew essential food supplies along with a group of church leaders and educational specialists who wanted to see the needs and opportunities in Mamit, Papua, where a Bible school and missionary couple are based. The visitors were joined by a dentist who extracted 80 teeth from villagers needing urgent dental treatment. Pray that these and other acts of practical Christian love and kindness are a positive witness.
Helping bodies and souls Give thanks for the NGO Nurses Heart to Heart which uses MAF to maximise the impact of their short-term teaching and outreach trips in Mongolia. Although travelling overland means a 12-hour journey along bumpy dirt roads, an MAF flight took just 2 hours, saving vital time in the group’s 10-day schedule, and enabling the team to arrive as fresh as possible.
The group taught CPR to 180 local medical staff in the town of Choibalsan, met church leaders, distributed Bibles and built relations with a nomadic community. Local doctors and nurses gained vital lifesaving training in CPR and, on completing the sessions, received a Mongolian language Bible. The return flight to Ulaanbaatar enabled us to transport a patient who’d had a heart attack and needed treatment that was unavailable in Choibalsan, and allowed the team to visit Anagraa, a two-year-old with a severe congenital defect they had helped in 2012. They were thrilled to see that he’d gained weight and, with the help of physicians, had learnt to walk. There was even time to train MAF staff in CPR, too!
Room for one more Pilot Brad Venter says he ‘was preparing the flight manifest for the planned passengers in Simbari, Papua New Guinea (PNG), when the agent came to me and said they really needed to get a lady into
town who was giving birth to a baby in the breach position. ‘Normally, a guardian comes along who can look after the patient during the flight, and also at the hospital afterwards. However, I only had room on board for the woman. Fortunately, her husband was waiting in Goroka, so he could meet her there. ‘With the other passengers willing to help in case anything happened mid-flight, I decided it would be fine to take her. We departed for Goroka – a 30-minute flight – and Base Manager John Yark drove the patient to hospital in the MAF bus. ‘A week later, I was scheduled to fly back to Simbari. I was quite surprised to see the mother, her husband and their new baby among the passengers! I hadn’t expected her to return so quickly, but the doctor had managed to turn the baby and she had given birth naturally. ‘At first, I hadn’t recognised the mother because she looked so different; no longer in pain and smiling. It’s great when you see a positive result from a flight you have done!’
Prayer points • ARNHEM LAND Many staff have been feeling sick or run down recently. Pray for strength, endurance and God’s healing. • EAST TIMOR We partner with the Ministry of Health to provide medical emergency airlifts from isolated areas to Dili Hospital. Give thanks we carried out 110 medevacs for 135 patients last year, and pray for the team as they continue their vital work (NfP 464). • HAITI Uphold our team who are particularly busy this month while some of our personnel are on home assignment. • MADAGASCAR Pray for lasting fruit from the recent mission safari to Sahakevo and Ampasinambo. • MEXICO A Cessna 182 aircraft has been donated for service. Pray the importation process goes smoothly so it can soon be put into service (NfP 465).
• PNG Give thanks for the appointment of Lessley Bent as Assistant Operations Manager. Pray for him and his family as they move from Port Moresby to Mount Hagen. • SOUTH SUDAN Give thanks for the recently completed new accommodation for MAF staff in Juba, built on the Episcopal Church of Sudan compound. • UGANDA Pray for partners such as Children of the Nations and Compassion as they work with orphans and children at risk. We flew staff of both groups to Lira recently. • UK Give thanks for the life of UK Procurement and Fulfilment Manager Mark Stanton, who died recently after a heroic battle with motor neurone disease. Mark served MAF for 11 years. Uphold his wife Fiona, children Cody and Lorelai, family and friends.
Cessna 182 tour 1 June – 20 July From 1 June to 20 July, you can see our new fuel-efficient Cessna 182 SMA aircraft as it visits various locations around the UK before starting its service in South Sudan. 29 June Cumbernauld, 6 July Leeds, 13 July Northamptonshire, 20 July Essex. It’s a fantastic opportunity for you to see our latest, most cost-effective aircraft. For more details, visit www.maf-uk org/182tour or phone 0845 850 9505. MAF UK Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone CT20 2TN T 0845 850 9505 E supporter.relations@maf-uk.org www.maf-uk.org/prayer
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