Recently, as we were preparing for our final week serving with MAF, we decided to calculate just how many flights we had been on in the past two years. “Maybe 70 or so?” I thought to myself. Mark added it up and it was 99! We were in Haiti at our final MAF program before coming home and we knew we had one flight to go before we left.

Our 100th flight with MAF was very unique… it was the first flight where we got to be real passengers for a change. We spent our last week in Haiti traveling around with some good friends, and needed to get from one city to another. The hardest part about traveling in Haiti is, well, traveling! The roads connecting the major cities are rough, and local buses are the most common way to get around.

It would take at least a day and a half of bumpy, sweaty bus travel from the city of Jacmel to Cap Haitien, but luckily for us, MAF was able to help cut our travel time down to about an hour. It was fun to finally experience MAF through the eyes of a passenger.

We asked David Carwell, the pilot that came to pick us up, how many flights he’s been on in the many years he’s served as an MAF pilot. He told us that he’s made nearly 10,000 landings! Sure puts our 100 flights into perspective.

Even though this wasn’t a life-saving flight, and it certainly wouldn’t make the cover of FlightWatch, it still meant a lot to us. Thank you MAF for 100 amazing flights!

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No, it wasn’t giving in and finally eating a plate full of caterpillars (though I did do that, and they weren’t bad). This was something that should have been easier to swallow. Getting a haircut by a local barber.

It’s a fairly universal idea in most of the countries we’ve visited. There’s a guy with a hole-in-the-wall shop, usually classy enough to have barber-style chairs and huge mirror, offering super-cheap haircuts.

I love a good deal. But I also love knowing that the person holding sharp objects near my face has adequate training and has sterilized those sharp objects sometime within the past month. Then there’s the language barrier. In more than one language, I’ve looked up how to say “Short on the sides, long on top” but then chickened out in the end.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t go two years without cutting my hair. Kelly has been faithfully borrowing clippers and trying her best to give me cool haircuts. “This is better!” I’d tell myself, sweating profusely with a trash bag wrapped around my shoulders out in the hot tropical sun.

But when we were visiting Nepal, there were no clippers to be borrowed. It had been a few months since my last trim and the situation was starting to get desperate. So I decided that it was time to get over my fear. And guess what? It was the best haircut of my life.

And not just a haircut – shaping with a straight razor, anointment with various oils, creams, and colognes, and even a head, neck, and shoulder massage. All for less than $3! How had I been missing out on this awesome experience for the last two years?

I don’t know how many times Kelly and I have looked at each other and said, “Can you believe we almost didn’t go there/see that/meet them because we were scared?!” Of course we have plenty of stories that end with us looking like total dummies, but even those experiences have taught us something.

I guess the moral of the story is: whatever you’re scared of, just go for it. Get out of your comfort zone a little. So what if you look like a dummy? You might just get the best haircut of your life.

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As anyone who has ever taken a photo would understand, our pictures don’t always turn out the way we expect. Sometimes we can blame it on other people or outside causes. I don’t know how many times I’ve thought “I’d have the perfect photo if that dude hadn’t just walked into my shot” or “This would look so much nicer if the sky wasn’t gray.” Most times though, it’s user error. Wrong settings, wrong angle, wrong moment.

But every now and then, something amazing happens. When I’m looking through my photos deleting the really bad ones, a mistake will actually jump out at me as beautiful. I never would have thought to take a photo like that on purpose, but the end result speaks to me more than if that photo had been perfectly shot.

It reminds me of blunders I make in my life and how sometimes they allow me to see things in a new way. When I say the wrong thing that ends up leading to a deep conversation, when I order incorrectly at a restaurant and end up with something delicious, when I take the “scenic route” on accident and manage to see something amazing along the way, God is showing me how to find the beauty in my mistakes.

It would have been tempting to delete these photos on first glance and erase the record of my errors, but then I would have missed out on their imperfect perspective. Instead of burying missteps in my life, I’m learning to take a second look.

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The first few days after arriving in a new place are always the most magical. In the far-flung places where MAF serves, surprising smells and exotic sights are around every corner. There are new fruits to try and interesting bugs to hold and new words to learn to say “hello.” We notice all the little things (the good and the bad) that have long become ordinary to families who have been on the field a while. We try to take as many pictures as possible in the first few days, because even in a short time, we stop seeing the new things and everything starts to become routine.

So often, we meet MAF missionaries who are changing lives every day but don’t always see the incredible things they do as exciting anymore. There are mechanics who work on engines day after day so that planes are always ready to fly, and IT staff who keep communities connected over long distances. We see MAF wives and moms keeping their households running on top of developing deep relationships with neighbors and helpers (all in a new language!). We watch pilots fly pastors to do outreach and medicine for hospitals and satellite dishes to connect villages.

Of course, can’t-wait-to-tell-everyone-back-home stories don’t happen all the time, but sometimes it’s easy to miss the incredible work happening right in front of us. I hope that I can continue to see things through fresh eyes wherever we go and recognize the amazing things that are happening every day through the ordinary.

~ Kelly

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As my husband and I have visited different MAF programs around the world the last year and a half, we have asked as well as been asked this simple question many times. Can you guess what the first thing we and most other missionaries say? “Nothing ever goes as planned,” of course!

It’s always something. People don’t show up on time (or at all!). Things seem to break easier or cost more than expected. Stores are unexpectedly closed. Sometimes it’s actually exciting to navigate all these obstacles and say “oh well” when things don’t work out. But now and then, something I really care about gets cancelled and it’s harder to swallow this easy-going culture I’m experiencing.

Last Saturday, we went with another MAF family to film them serving at a local ministry. There was a big graduation celebration going on in the area, and when we went to leave, traffic was backed up in every direction. Bad traffic is totally common here in the capital city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (population 10 million!), where we’re currently based, but this was the first time we’d been this stuck. Our van eventually came to a complete standstill, and I thought, “But it’s Saturday! We can’t be stuck in traffic on my day off. I’ve got stuff to do!”

But as one hour stretched to two, we had some good conversations with our new friends about missionary life and the struggles of living in a different culture. I began to enjoy our time watching life happen on the bustling street around us. People walked among the stopped cars selling bread and shoes and tissues, and I could see right into a little sewing shop where a woman was making a beautiful African print dress. A teenager used the reflective window of the van to admire his newly pierced ear. It was a funny way to slow down and experience a new place.

Nothing ever goes as planned, but I’m learning that sometimes good stuff happens when you go with the flow (or the non-flow in this case!).

~Kelly

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As I gripped the sides of the skinny dugout canoe and shut my eyes, I wondered if our jungle adventure was going to come to an end in the swirling brown river.

A lot of times when Kelly and I are explaining what MAF does, we’ll say something like, “In some of the most remote areas of the world, a short flight can save hours or days of walking over treacherous terrain.” It’s easy to say that, but we wanted to really experience it for ourselves.

The jungle of North Kalimantan seemed like the perfect place to do just that. We arranged a trip with a local guide to go between Long Bawan and Binuang, two villages that MAF regularly flies between. What would normally be only a twelve-minute flight would take us five days and three modes of transportation.

Our journey began with a white-knuckle motorbike ride on steep, muddy roads. Next, we embarked on a three-day trek through dense jungle, crossing rivers over shaky log bridges and winding our way through leech-infested trails. We slept in hammocks and our guide cooked meals over an open fire, including plants foraged along the trail and a tasty frog that ventured a little too close to our campsite.

Emerging from the jungle, we loaded up all of our gear and got into a tiny, motorized canoe for the final leg of our journey. It was the most terrifying 30 minutes of our lives. Sitting inches above the water, we were frozen in place, knowing the slightest movement could upset the balance and send us tumbling into the river.

Thankfully, the canoe didn’t tip, and we made it safely to Binuang. The MAF plane landed a few hours later and took us home. We had a really fun adventure, but it was eye-opening to see just how difficult the trip would be for someone who was sick or injured, or just needing to get somewhere quickly.

We made a video to chronicle our trek and help share the mission of MAF. It’s about 12 minutes long, the same amount of time it takes to fly between Long Bawan and Binuang. Check it out.

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When the plane rolled to a stop I immediately spotted the Cargo Ladies standing in groups waiting patiently to unload the plane. These women looked tough! They wore work pants, rubber jungle shoes, and colorful wide-brimmed hats to keep out of the sun. As they helped to unload large barrels of fuel, Steve had an idea. Why not treat these ladies to a short flight as a thank-you for their hard work? Many of them had never left Long Sule before and certainly had never flown on a plane!

The ladies excitedly climbed on board and soon the plane was barreling down the tiny grass airstrip and lifting gracefully up and over their village. Little screams of fear and joy escaped them at every little turn and bump. The ladies pointed in amazement as we flew by a large waterfall streaming down into a jungle canyon, a sight only three miles away from their village that many had never seen. Amid shrieks and laughter and lots of white knuckles, we soon touched back down at their jungle airstrip.

I realized after this fun little flight that I can’t begin to understand what it would be like to live my entire life in such a remote place. I am really glad that MAF is all about serving people in places like Long Sule by providing access to so many important things—and at the same time, giving these ladies the ride of their lives!

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Photos and video by Kelly Hewes.

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While gathering stories for MAF in Papua, my husband and I had the privilege of attending and documenting one of these feasts. Having observed the entire process, I can tell you that the finely tuned machine of people working together in harmony toward a common goal is a beautiful sight. The feast of sweet potatoes and greens and pork meat at the end is a great reward for all that hard work.

The many parts of MAF are much the same. Being on the field, it’s been great to see firsthand the people and jobs that have come together for the purpose of sharing the love of Christ with isolated people. The final outcome of lives saved and hearts turned toward Christ is a sweet reward for being a part of the MAF ministry.

We made this short video about the feast, and it’s also about how you make a difference when you support MAF. Hope you enjoy it!

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After eating dinner with an MAF family, they took us out to get some dessert. We stopped at their favorite little smoothie shack to order some cold mango drinks. While we waited for our smoothies, they chatted with the Indonesian woman making our drinks, the owner of the little business. After a while, she mentioned that her blender was starting to act up and soon a sour, burning-electronics smell filled the air. Then it went silent and she told us she was so sorry she couldn’t complete our order. Her blender was dead.

As we walked away, the MAF couple we were with turned to each other and started hatching a plan to buy her a new one. When we couldn’t find a store nearby that sold blenders, they approached the woman, and handed her money to buy a new machine. The woman shook her head at first but after some insisting, she took the money with her eyes glistening and a big smile on her face. It was easy to see how blessed she was by this gift.

Throughout our time traveling around Papua, we have seen so many people that are quick to jump in and give of themselves to others. Pilots that make an extra flight at the end of the day when an emergency comes up. Missionaries that stop what they are doing to care for a sick baby. Families inviting new people (us!) over to dinner.

These beautiful acts are such a testament to the sacrificial life that we’ve been called to as Christians. It’s my hope that someday this reflex of kindness will come as quickly to me as it does to others.

This proverb I saw hanging in the home of a missionary couple living in a remote village sums it up well:

I shall pass through this world but once.

Any good, therefore, that I can do
or any kindness that I can show
to any human being,
let me do it now.

Let me not defer or neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.

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Consider joining the kindness movement in 2015 — Learn how your support helped our missionary families pass through many lives in 2014 : www.maf.org/2014impact

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Of course, I should mention that I was flying a remote-controlled quadcopter, not an MAF plane. And “pilot” is really stretching it—I’m a videographer with a tiny camera attached to a plastic helicopter. I took it up for the first time in our backyard, and that first tip-over was probably the gentlest aircraft crash in the history of flight.

Still, after two months of otherwise accident-free flying, I get nervous before every takeoff. I have a recurring dream where I’m flying over a lake and the quadcopter descends on its own. I try and try, but I can’t get it to stay in the air. It dips below the surface of the water, and slowly sinks to the bottom.

If I feel like this, I can’t imagine what actual MAF pilots flying actual MAF planes must go through. And yet, on flight after flight—with rough airstrips, bad weather, even the occasional pig running out onto the runway—I see those pilots in complete control.

I feel so lucky to get to sit next to those pilots and see them in action. A lot of the airstrips we fly into are, frankly, terrifying. But I have total faith and trust in their training, experience, and safety record. I know that each and every one of those pilots also has faith and trust, beginning each flight with a prayer to the ultimate Pilot.

A lot of people have asked if I’m interested in getting my pilot’s license after serving with MAF. I can now answer that question with a resounding “no way.”

I’ll stick to making movies with my little quadcopter.

Mark Hewes is a Field Resource Coordinator for MAF. He and his wife Kelly are currently serving in Papua, Indonesia. You can see footage from the quadcopter in their latest video:

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