PARTNERSHIP

For I want not only to share my faith with you but to be encouraged by yours: Each of us will be a blessing to the other — Romans 1:12 (TLB)

SUNDAY 30 Praise God for strengthening our relationships with other flight ministries in Guatemala, which helps us serve more effectively together. Our programme consists of nine families operating two Cessna 206 aircraft. Pray that we will accomplish much, despite limited resources.

MONDAY 31 ‘I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now’ (Philippians 1: 4-5). Pray for God’s blessing on our faithful supporters — members of the MAF family and partners in our humanitarian Gospel ministry. We are so grateful for your prayers and provision!

TUESDAY 1 Uphold regular MAF flights like those that enabled eye doctors to visit Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Pray too for Concern Worldwide — another MAF partner — which tackles the causes of extreme poverty in countries such as Chad, Kenya, Liberia and South Sudan.

WEDNESDAY 2 In order to deliver help, hope and healing across the globe, we work in partnership with various officials. Please pray for favour and wisdom as we approach the relevant authorities for permits to be granted and for the approval of visas and vital documents — whether for MAF personnel, runways, hangars, staff buildings or our ability to fly.

THURSDAY 3 Give thanks for MAF Madagascar’s partner Good News Hospital. The Christian hospital enables people in Mandritsara to receive the treatment they need but cannot afford. It recently ran a clinic in Mananara that treated 200 patients. May God bless all the work of their hands (Deuteronomy 28:12).

FRIDAY 4 When MAF flew a team from UNICEF, health workers were able to inoculate children against polio in Lesirwai, Tanzania. The short flights saved health workers hours of arduous overland travel and helped the Ministry of Health to provide more than 12 million under-fives with a life-saving oral vaccine. Pray that word will continue to spread about MAF’s regular medical safaris, enabling more people to receive medical help.

SATURDAY 5 MAF has been enabling the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia to run health, education and social initiatives in remote areas of Liberia for the past seven years. Uphold this partnership and give thanks that a short MAF flight from Monrovia to Harper saves more than a week of overland travel.

TOP Good News Hospital, Mandritsara, Madagascar

MIDDLE Father Dennis Nimene from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia

BOTTOM Flying over a small settlement outside N’Djamena

Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me — John 15:4 (GNT)

SUNDAY 6 Praise God for our Timor-Leste programme! The past 15 years have seen our aircraft become an invaluable asset to a nation that is building slowly on the independence it gained at the beginning of the millennium.

MONDAY 7 In spite of valuable natural resources such as gas and marble, Timor-Leste remains an economically poor country. Please uphold its people as they strive to work their way out of daily hardship.

TUESDAY 8 Please pray for God’s continued blessings on the country’s health and education services. During the past two decades, child mortality has fallen steadily and a sustained building programme has seen a significant increase in secondary school enrolment.

WEDNESDAY 9 Most people in Timor-Leste are employed in agriculture. Reflect upon the many men, women and children who depend upon their own growing skills to produce enough to eat. Pray too that God will make the land fertile.

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THURSDAY 10 ‘MAF’s regular flight operation is very helpful in generating economic income through local and international visitors to the island,’ says Egidio da Purificação Soares, who works for the Tourism for All project. Please pray for our flights to nearby Atauro Island which are helping to boost this new wave of tourism and feed the local economy.

FRIDAY 11 MAF is well-known in Timor-Leste for performing hundreds of medevacs every year. Please pray for the pilots whose skill and dedication come to the fore whenever they receive an emergency medical call, and lives hang in the balance.

SATURDAY 12 Pray for Ruth Hitchins, who co-ordinates Closing the Loop — MAF’s holistic care programme — and Rebecca Klassen, our Care Pack Programme Co-ordinator. Thanks to these initiatives, medevac patients and their families who arrive at hospital with no belongings now receive MAF care packs containing clothing and essentials.

SUNDAY 13 Praise God for MAF’s part in sharing the Gospel with the unreached and strengthening our brothers and sisters in this predominantly Christian land. May our planes speed God’s Word to those who might not otherwise hear it

MONDAY 14 ‘We come to expand the Kingdom of God through our mission,’ says Sister Norah Wanza of the Company of Mary Our Lady. Pray for their deepening relationships with the people of Atauro Island, which are supported through MAF flights.

TUESDAY 15 Please pray for prayer and financial support for MAF Timor-Leste, which plays a crucial role in providing access to emergency healthcare. Our aircraft save lives by saving time transporting isolated patients from villages with limited health provision to better-equipped hospitals in the country's more populated areas

WEDNESDAY 16 A one-year-old boy on Atauro Island suffering from pulmonary disease was separated from the mainland by about 20 miles of water. Give thanks that we were able to fly him to Guido Valadares National Hospital (HNGV) in the capital Dili in less than an hour

THURSDAY 17 ‘The airline is responding to the necessities of Timorese people,’ says Nurse Amelia of HNGV. ‘It helps us a lot in providing an excellent flight service that is comfortable and trusted by its passengers.’ Pray that MAF will always retain our passengers’ trust, rooted as the organisation is in God’s love.

FRIDAY 18 ‘It’s a privilege to see that every flight really makes a difference and impacts those who are in need of help,’ says MAF Pilot Jan Klassen. Please pray that Jan’s words will reach the hearts of potential MAF pilots and inspire them to join our missionary team.

SATURDAY 19 Please keep the fledgling nation of Timor-Leste in your prayers. Its people face a long, uphill struggle to leave the burden of conflict and colonialism behind as they seek to determine a better future for themselves and their children.

MAIN Atauro Island airstrip

TOP LEFT Pilot Jan Klassen conducting a medevac flight

CENTRE A patient receives a care package on the way to hospital

ABOVE Rebecca Klassen prepares the care packs that are given to medevac passengers