Recently, one of the MAF programs located in Chad requested a Kubota to help tow their planes. Raising the money to purchase one is the easy part. Getting it prepped to ship? That’s why MAF needs people like Paul Pfluger.

Pfluger, who also serves as an MAF Advocate, took on this project that may seem simple yet is anything but that.

After the Kubota dealer generously donated the specialized pallet required to ship the small tractor, it was up to Pfluger to ensure the vehicle’s safety on the long boat ride to Africa.

“You don’t want a 1,400-pound machine knocking around in a box at a shipyard,” Pfluger said. “If you’ve ever been around one of those places, they don’t exactly handle the cargo like it’s delicate. So, it has to be tight and secure so it can withstand anything.”

Pfluger’s project included creating customized tie-down slots and blocks to hold the wheels in place. Then there’s also the fitted crate he built to make sure there’s no room for it to even roll within the box itself should it hit a large bump or the ship go over a sizable swell at sea.

Last but not least, Pfluger needed to make sure the crate was airtight to prevent any unwanted hitchhikers, like wharf rats, gnawing their way through the wood and making the Kubota their new home.

“I love making things like this,” Pfluger said. “And thinking about how this tractor is going to help MAF continue its mission around the world is even more exciting.”

The post How To Make A Kubota (Ready To) Sail appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

They began their yearly trek because they were curious about the jungle they had only seen from above. Since then, it has grown into a more challenging venture––and one that has helped them truly understand the need for MAF.

“Nothing proves the validity of our ministry like one or two hours of hiking through virgin Bornean jungle––let alone two weeks,” Forney said. “Almost every day that we fly, we’re overwhelmed with far more flight requests than we can possibly meet. And for those people, there are only two choices––wait for another plane or do it the old fashioned way.”

Last year, Forney and College flew into the village of Data Dian in the Apo Kayan region before traveling by motorized canoes into the headwaters of the Iwan River. This was their starting point, the beginning of their adventure.

“Any signs of a trail or human contact had long since vanished,” Forney said. “One of our three guides thought he remembered the ‘trail’ from his early childhood. He was 60 and strong as an ox, but hadn’t been there since he was six. It was obvious after a few days that this trip was going to be unlike any other we’d taken.”

“We were trying to replicate the initial Borneo exploration trial––doing what the missionaries had to do back in the day,” College added. “We kept going up and around, and we missed parts of it.”

In the end, the eight-day journey turned into 14 days.

Even for fit pilots, such a trek is challenging. Aside from the rigors of traversing a jungle with thick vegetation and few trails, there are also other obstacles to manage.

“This year we came across three sun bears (or honey bears) during our trek,” Forney said. “Last year a pack of monkeys went screeching over our heads like they were being chased by something, which we later learned was a spotted leopard. We also saw a 10-foot python once, which isn’t that large by python standards.”

Managing those dangers along with the physical challenge of navigating the jungle and the emotional struggle of being away from family for a week or more isn’t easy. But these two have seen the fruit of these excursions pay big dividends in unsuspecting ways.

“A side benefit of all this has been how the people all over this part of Kalimantan have heard about the two crazy MAF pilots who hike all over the jungle,” Forney said. “They’ve grown to respect and appreciate the fact that we understand their life and challenges on a deeper level.”

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After landing deep in an isolated area of the Bas-Congo region in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Salazaku Milukiele exits an MAF airplane and transitions to another mode of transportation: a motorcycle. The vehicle is only temporary though, as it will eventually give way to a canoe, a much more navigable way to travel in the heart of the jungle.

While Milukiel – or “Pastor Sala” as he is more affectionately known – may not be blazing new trails into the DRC’s dense jungle, he represents a marked shift in the way MAF is helping reach the DRC with the Gospel. Instead of flying mostly western missionaries, MAF is now flying more national church leaders into the interior, helping the new generation of Congolese Christian leaders reach their own.

While national church leaders often express frustration with the number of seminary students who study abroad yet never return home, Pastor Sala is among the growing contingent of Congolese who feel called to serve in DRC.

Pastor Sala began working with MAF in 1985 in Kinshasa, when the MAF base was open between intermittent evacuations due to civil and political unrest. In 1997, Pastor Sala began earning his undergraduate and then master’s degrees in theology and Christian leadership in Kenya. Then, he and his wife Suzanne (who earned a degree in biblical counseling) returned to DRC in 2004 to work with their people. “I kept my word that after my training, I would return to my home country to serve the Lord, despite the pressure from friends to stay in Kenya or go to other western countries because of how I would suffer in DRC,” said Pastor Sala. “Serving the Lord is not always easy—I know.”

Pastor Sala’s pain is real.When he was 11, his pregnant mother died while being transported to a large hospital. His parents were serving deep in the interior of the country as missionaries, and adequate medical care was not available.

However, Pastor Sala remains steadfast in his calling, as he continues his own mission work with the help of MAF by traveling deep into DRC’s remote regions to share the Gospel.

“We were about to teach and preach … and people came from surrounding villages,” Pastor Sala reported back about his venture. “As a result, we baptized new converts. We also did counseling and prayed for the sick and those who had problems.”

There is little doubt that the church leaders in the DRC are committed to reaching their own people for Christ. It is a blessing for MAF to partner with pastors to help them turn that vision into reality.

The post Reaching Their Own appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

When Bill McLagan started working in avionics with MAF in 1978, he put his mix of technological knowledge and pilot know-how to good use, creating a number of inventions that helped make aviation easier.

However, before the world knew what a GPS was, there was a great need for a similar device – and McLagan created one to help find airstrips in remote areas of the world.

In the early 1980s, the MAF programs in Africa struggled to find flat airstrips in desert areas without a GPS. Pilots would fly in search of a remote airstrip, but if they didn’t find it, they would go into a search pattern. Then if they still couldn’t locate the airstrip, they would return back to the base and take off again another day.

McLagan changed all that with his direction finder that would go into airplanes. He created a corresponding quarter-watt transmitter that could be turned on at the airstrips, making it easier for pilots to locate.

While those devices became obsolete with the invention of the GPS, they are still put to good use as a training device, teaching pilots how to find hidden transmitters.

“It’s certainly gratifying to know that after 25 years, MAF is still getting good use out of them,” said McLagan, who is retired from MAF.

Recently, MAF refurbished eight of those transmitters and uses them at remote airstrips that it trains on in the wilderness areas of Idaho.

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Yet as someone whose attention is fully arrested when I see a tool for the Gospel, my perspective on a certain object changes. I’ll never forget the first time I realized I could go into a chat room online and talk about the Gospel with people who were searching for answers. That same “ah-ha” moment for me happened when I first experienced how effective airplanes are at taking the Good News of Jesus into isolated and remote areas.

On Saturday, April 28, at our headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, MAF will dedicate a Cessna Caravan for the program in Haiti in a special ceremony. And after my recent visit to the program, I realize just what an impact that plane is going to make in Haiti.

With a litany of projects that could never be finished by missionaries alone in a lifetime, work teams coming from all over the United States and other countries around the world routinely descend on Haiti to lend a helping hand. Once these teams arrive in Port-au-Prince, there’s not a minute to waste in getting to a remote location. Missionaries only host these teams for a short period of time, so they want to ensure they maximize their time in Haiti.

Without MAF, that time would be diminished greatly, perhaps by as much as two days. Bouncing along the rough dirt roads that splinter throughout Haiti consumes hours of time, perhaps even a full day going and a full day coming. But not if mission teams fly—and the Caravan enables MAF to transport entire teams in an efficient and cost effective manner that saves hours of time.

I know this Caravan is going to get a full workout on the field—and the people it will be carrying are going to present the Gospel in a powerful way. It will be an effective tool and just might be the catalyst that results in a greater impact for the Kingdom.

Watch a video and read the MAF Haiti Outlook Report to learn more about Mission Aviation Fellowship being the catalyst for change in Haiti.

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On my latest trip to the cavern of creativity, John Miller showed me the propeller feathering spring compressor – a necessary tool for removing the propeller on a Caravan.

So, how did they do it?

“We used reverse engineering with one that we had purchased and were able to draw up the schematics and specifications to make them ourselves,” John said. “We’ve already made quite a few and the mechanics on the field seem to like them.”

MAF volunteers Steve Broughan and Jeff Morgan are responsible for the production of the tool, with Steve serving as the machinist and Jeff taking care of the welding.

Without this tool, mechanics and maintenance specialists in the past would have to borrow them from other programs, putting the plane out of commission while waiting for the part to be shipped. But that is no longer the case.

“This isn’t a tool you use everyday,” John said. “It just sits up on the shelf most of the time. But when you need it, it sure is good to have it handy.”

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On our final day in the interior of Haiti, we experienced remote in every essence of the word. We landed on an airstrip near Ans Rouge in a place called Gran Diab (also known as the “Great Devil Plateau”).

As our pilot and MAF Haiti program director David Carwell made our final approach to land, I scanned the ground for signs of civilization. And I found them. Donkeys, horses, thatched roofs, tin shacks, small burning fires. But no power lines. No paved roads. Nothing close to what we had seen in other rural areas around Haiti. This was remote. Haiti’s national Highway 1 runs right through this region, and the dirt road “highway” is used more by domesticated livestock than automobiles.

While there we visited with Judy Dilus, who, along with her husband Manis, runs Lemuel Ministries, a holistic ministry focused on exemplifying the love of Christ in the community in which they live. It was so remote that Manis, who is from the area, never wanted to return. But he did—and the ministry is thriving.

A burgeoning school that goes through fifth grade, a tree-planting project, and new wells are helping ease the burden of surviving for the people of Gran Diab. There’s even a new church there as well that is discipling people and mitigating the influence of voodoo.

So determined were the people in the community to give MAF access that they cleared the airstrip, which was previously an area covered with dense thorn bushes as high as 3-4 feet. With that access, the development became greater and faster.

It once again gave me a great perspective on just how necessary MAF’s services are in places like these—and how it can transform a community in ways previous unimaginable.

The post From Remote to Reached appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

One of my favorite stories was that of Tommy Schwindling, the unassuming man from Alabama who runs Children’s Hope orphanage there.

When Schwindling greeted our team, he made no attempts to hide his thick Southern drawl that was as smooth as molasses. He meandered up to our truck and began answering any and all questions we peppered him with to get started. Then he told us the story of Samuel and the beginnings of Children’s Hope, which regularly uses MAF to transport in work teams from Port-au-Prince.

After the earthquake, Samuel’s aunt had 14 children in her orphanage – and she had nowhere to put them. She gave them to her 21-year-old nephew and told him that she would be back. In the meantime, she was going to the U.S. and would raise funds to ship back to him so Samuel could sustain the children.

But that never happened.

Instead, what happened was Samuel was left to fend for himself and feed 14 mouths – all while they lived in a tent.

After two months of this, Alabama Baptist Missions Board got a hold of the information and through a series of connections, eventually opened an orphanage. But they still needed someone to run it full time.

This is where Tommy saunters onto the pages of this story.

“I had told God I would go anywhere he led me to go – and even though Haiti wasn’t high on my list of places to serve, I went,” said Tommy, who was bit by the missions bug when he went to Niger several years ago and thought he might serve in Africa.

What transpired in the months following the earthquake was an incredible story of God’s hand on Tommy’s life, which led him and his wife to Jacmel to run the orphanage. He and his wife sold or gave away everything they had and moved to Haiti.

Now they care for all 14 of Samuel’s kids along with five others. Their facility is quickly growing with hopes of expanding to a capacity of 60-80 children in the next year.

“I’m just a plain guy,” said Tommy, who worked for a car salesman in Alabama. “It’s amazing who God will use if you’re willing to obey Him. I never would’ve thought I would be here, but now I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.”

The post Willing and Able appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Roge Michel is one such example of a Haitian empowered. For the past 13 years, Roge has worked with mission organizations, including the last 11 for Haiti Outreach, an organization that relies on MAF for transportation needs in the interior. His most recent assignment as the community director of Haiti Outreach’s clean water program was to help figure out a way to make wells truly sustainable and maintained by the people.

What brought this about was the startling discovery that around half of the wells being built were no longer operational. There was no ownership by the Haitian people. They were wells dug by short-term American missionaries, wells they used until they broke.

But Roge and the Haiti Outreach team put together a way to empower the people to maintain the wells – their wells. They created a system where each family contributes to the upkeep of the well, as well as its protection. Wells are now locked and only opened during designated times by the well’s president. Each community also establishes their own rules about how they will maintain the wells, such as requiring the removal of your shoes before pumping your water.

“Haitian people are taking responsibility for their wells, and it is giving the wells more value,” Roge said. “We’re also educating them about the difference between well water and river water.”

Making such a change in a country accustomed to government handouts hasn’t been easy—but it is rewarding.

“Establishing the wells this way, it has definitely brought a change about in the culture and in the mentality of the people,” Roge said.

We stopped at a well on the outskirts of Pignon and met Rony, the well president. Rony was a young man in his late 20s or early 30s and beamed with pride as he unlocked the well to show us how it is operated.

Roge posed next to Rony for a picture. It was obvious that both men had pride in what they were doing. Roge also seemed eager to share just how effective this new program is in Haiti: over the last two years, of the approximately 100 wells under Haiti Outreach’s direction, there have been only eight total days of downtime on the wells.

It’s that kind of progress and shift in culture that will turn small change into sweeping transformation soon. Hopefully, very soon.

The post Change Wells Up in Haiti appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.

The evening before our trip to Haiti began, I went out to dinner with my long-time friend, John. Through the years, John has worked in missions–both short-term and longer-term. And he’s been coming to Haiti off and on for nearly 20 years.

“You’ve never seen anything like it,” he told me.

Now less than 24 hours later, I can affirm he was right.

I caught very few smiles amidst the hum drum routine of Haitian life that is anything but normal by western standards. I couldn’t help but wonder how a nation could reach this point.

A poor person’s farm may produce much food, but injustice sweeps it all away. – Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)

The sentiments of that verse captures the feel and mood of Haiti–and it’s also the very reason MAF is serving here, to help bring justice for the broken and hurting. It’s easy to get jaded while attempting to help some people lost in a sea of injustice. One government aid worker I spoke with on the plane was passionate about her work yet expressed no confidence that things would ever change in Haiti. It was a douse of cold water to what I wanted to find during my time here.

However, she’s right. Things won’t change … if we’re simply counting on people — in their own strength — to overcome a dark spiritual oppression and a culture of corruption.

But that’s why true hope is grounded in something so much more. It’s grounded in Jesus. As dark and desolate of a place as Haiti may seem to the casual observer, you can’t ignore the stories of God’s grace, shattering the cycle of hopelessness.

This week, I want to tell you those stories. The stories where hope prevails in the midst of desperation and loss, the stories of God at work where we simply following His lead. I hope you’ll be inspired by those people who are diligently serving God and shining brightly in a dark place.

The post The Injustice of Haiti appeared first on Mission Aviation Fellowship.