The Smythes @ MAF

Watch and listen to MAF Pilot Ryan Cuthel as he talks of the famine situation in Dadaab.

MAF has been involved in supplying some relief to those suffering from the famine in northern Kenya, here is a short video from one of our staff.  Listen as those involved share what it’s like and imagine your family in that situation – it’s hard to do.

For 7 year old Anna, it was very special when a medical mission team arrived at her home town of

Lusinga on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya.

MAF flew the team of 11 people from two American churches for a mission to Christ’s Gift Academy (CGA).

Team leader Dr Jeff Folk wrote, ‘We treated close to 1,000 patients in our 4 full-day clinics and 2 half-day clinics. Local Kenyan pastors preached the good news as the patients waited and there was also time for prayer after they went through the clinic.

‘It is a blessing for CGA to host a team that can reach out to the surrounding community and provide quality services that are much needed, while also reaching their hearts spiritually. We hope and pray that the patients that did not know God before coming, would commit their lives to Him and join one of the local churches to be nurtured.’

Overwhelmed with joy

Young Anna had not been able to hear out of her right ear since she was 2.

She was almost the last patient on the first day and physician assistant Dave Brost could tell that something was wrong and sent her away to have drops in the ear for 2 days.

When she returned he removed 2 black seeds but it was still not right. So more days of drops until the last day of the mission, when after several attempts at flushing the ear Dave was advising her to go to an ENT specialist.

Dave writes, ‘Just prior to leaving we decided to flush the ear one last time. To my utter amazement and only by the grace of God; this time it worked! A small piece of brown material began to exit the ear canal. I scooped it out and recognized it as a half of a bean. Amazing!

‘Anna and her mother confirmed that she could hear and were overwhelmed with joy.’

Appreciation

Team leader Dr Jeff Folk continues, “I first want to thank you and all of the MAF staff who assisted in that flight. The pilots were awesome! This was actually my fourth trip to Mbita and each trip provides incredible stories of how God uses us to reveal his love for everyone.

via maf-uk.org

A woman who was shot while travelling by road in Sudan was flown by Mission Aviation Fellowship to hospital in Kenya.

Beatrice was shot during an attack while travelling between Juba and Torit.

Africa Inland Mission asked MAF to fly her from Torit to receive medical treatment at Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi.

Pilot Adrian Rose was able to accommodate the patient on an existing shuttle flight from Sudan to Nairobi. The patient was placed on a foam mattress and was accompanied by two people. A Medair doctor already on board looked after her.

Upon landing at Nairobi, the ambulance rushed her to hospital.

An Africa Inland Mission (AIM) team accused of ‘stealing the rain’ was rapidly evacuated by MAF from Napep, Sudan, following threat of death.

The Training In Ministry Outreach team (TIMO) returned from holiday to learn that it had not rained in the area near MurKuzhen, ‘Tall Mountain’, since they had left – a total of 19 days. The community east of the mountain decided that the white people had put the rain on a plane and flown it back to America.

The TIMO team were first alerted to the judgement at the end of one of their clinics. Singing and horns resounded in the air as fifty to a hundred people entered the compound singing and waving leaves. David, the team leader, was called out to talk to them.   The rest of the team prayed for grace and wisdom while David and two team members were forced to go to the elders for a trial.

At the trial, the elders of the villages accused:

“You took the rain on a plane . This is your fault. We will decide what to do with you.”

David received the verdict: bring two bulls the next day for sacrifice. If not he would die. The elder’s decision was final, despite David advising he did not own one bull, let alone two.

The team had no choice. In the middle of the night, leaving most of their possessions behind, they began a 6.5 hour trek to the airstrip (a walk that usually takes about 3.5 hours). They didn’t dare to use torches in case it alerted people to their sudden exit. MAF rearranged the flight schedule in order to collect the team and fly them to safety.

We don’t know what the spiritual battle will bring next, although we know that the community has threatened to curse us, amongst other things. We also know that it will take a miracle for us to be able to return, but we know that God is bigger than all of it.Deborah, one of the TIMO team

Late June, Phil Byler, AIM country director, flew back to Napep to speak to the elders about the incident. Ironically, it rained very heavily- so heavily it took three attempts for the pilot to land the plane. The meeting went fairly well, though its anticipated that more meetings will be required before the team returns.

Africa Inland Mission seek to spread the word of God in unreached areas. Their work includes: youth ministry, medical care, community development, community health, leadership development, aviation and support services.

AIM founded the two year TIMO programme in the mid 1980s. Its purpose is to train future missionaries in areas of cross cultural ministry. Their ultimate goal is to develop a working and ministering church. Twenty two-year teams have been trained so far. They operate in over thirteen areas in six African countries.