David Durance of TeachBeyond says the fear surrounding this issue is palpable: “You can taste it almost in the conversations that I’ve had over this. I think there’s been this sudden realization: this is a really significant thing, and we’re catching it later, and it’s more pervasive than we think.”

This fear has been extremely disruptive for missions planned to the region.

“The fear of what could be—I think in some ways a very legitimate fear—is entirely disruptive. Even if there’s little or no risk, in places like the capital city or even down in Kinshasa, it actually doesn’t really matter.”

In the regions of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, the CDC is recommending travelers reconsider all nonessential travel. However, in the rest of Uganda and the DRC, it is only recommended that travelers practice enhanced precautions.

Durance prays God will continue to open doors to make missions work in the region possible.

“These children still need education. We work with 5000 students in Uganda, for example, many of which are far, far outside of the capital. There are decisions that people need to make in terms of safety, and there’s decisions that we need to make in terms of being courageous and saying, ‘Hey, we still can offer this, because there actually is a very low risk or no risk,’ and that just requires an incredible level of discernment—and it’s not discernment that comes from my desk. It actually comes from our local leaders.”

Pray that TeachBeyond’s local project leaders would have wisdom and discernment as they make hard decisions around missions work and safety. Pray also for unity amongst ministries offering varying services—such as education, health ministry, and church planting—to bring the region the support it needs.

“In any point where there’s fear, where we hear the cries of anguish, the possibility of disaster, we know that the Gospel can be really well heard in those moments,” says Durance. “We just are asking God to help us be faithful in the moment to be that voice.”

Header photo courtesy of TeachBeyond.

MAF recently transported the family of Dr. Peter Stafford, an American doctor who tested positive for Ebola from the DRC to Uganda. Dr. Stafford had been working at Nyankunde Hospital and was evacuated separately to Germany for specialized treatment. While still symptomatic, his condition seems to be improving.

Nyankunda Hospital walkway to patient wings. (Photo courtesy of MAF)

Passengers on the MAF flight included Dr. Stafford’s wife—also a physician—their children, and another doctor who had been exposed to the virus. Prior to this mission, MAF had conducted an earlier evacuation flight for another mission family. All evacuation operations are conducted in close coordination with public health officials and government authorities.

MAF is a Christian mission organization that uses aviation to support missionary and humanitarian relief efforts for remote communities around the world. MAF has served in the DRC since 1961. This is the 17^th recorded Ebola outbreak in the country since 1976.

MAF has an established Ebola Management Plan (EMP), which has been successfully implemented during previous outbreaks. The EMP includes strict measures such as passenger temperature checks, mandatory use of personal protective equipment, comprehensive aircraft sanitization procedures, and other safety protocols. MAF flight operations will continue under these procedures to ensure the safety of both passengers and crew.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The outbreak is centered in the Ituri Province, where Bunia—the provincial capital—also serves as the base for MAF’s operations in eastern DRC.

Nyankunde airstrip (Photo courtesy of MAF)

All MAF staff remain in good health and are taking appropriate precautions in their daily activities. A dedicated Crisis Management Team has been established and is working closely with the East DRC team to monitor developments, provide support, and guide operational decisions.

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids. While it is not transmitted through the air, the virus can remain viable on hard surfaces for several days, making strict hygiene and sanitation practices essential.

This outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. Unlike the more common Zaire strain, there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment available for this variant. Exposure risk is considered low while protocols are being followed.

MAF asks you to pray for impacted individuals and their families, and for the swift containment, effective response efforts, and continued safety and health of our staff. Please pray specifically for Dr. Stafford’s healing.

Header photo: The mission hospital in Nyankunde. (Photo courtesy of MAF)

This is the first outbreak of the Sudan strain of ebolavirus in a decade. The more common Zaire strain has vaccines, but they will not work against the Sudan strain. Health officials scramble to contain the outbreak and test vaccines.

Global Disciples

Sherry Lee with Global Disciples says, “With our staff, it always amazes me how resilient they are and how these things don’t seem to faze them, even though they’re big issues. So, according to him, things are going as normal. Travel is normal. There was one hiccup with the Rwandan border a few days ago. That was closed temporarily. But the government resolved that and got the border reopened. That’s the only traveled restrictions that they’re having.”

Global Disciples operates 116 active programs in Uganda, especially focusing on rural and hard-to-reach areas. Lee says, “We have about 55 global disciples training programs. Twenty-one are small business development. That is to help people sustain themselves so that at year four, they can be self-sustaining. And about 40 of those are leadership equipping and developing programs.”

“We train leaders to make disciples and do their own trainings.”

This approach, leaders training up more leaders, leads to a church that may not have a building or dedicated staff. It looks more like the early church as described in the New Testament.

Pray for effective treatments against the Sudan ebolavirus. And pray the work of Global Disciples will show Jesus’ love.

The header photo shows an Ebola outbreak in Uganda in 2000. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Bausch, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) 

Ebola presents a massive public health threat for neighboring Uganda. AMG International has yet to encounter any Ebola cases at its medical clinic and nursing school in Bugongi, Uganda.

However, the outbreak does “highlight the need for medical care in the area, and specifically for nurses,” says AMG’s Bill Passons. There’s a severe shortage of nurses and medical clinics in remote communities.

“Nurses are the first line of defense whenever we see one of these crisis come up because most people don’t have access to doctors.”

Witch doctors or which doctor?

A Zambian witch doctor.
(Photo cred: Guy William Volk)

Tribal tradition is another major threat to public health, especially in remote communities like Bugongi. Parents trust witch doctors more than a real doctor. Additionally, if the family lacks access to a medical facility, witch doctors become their only option.

“There is a grip, this spiritual warfare… they use their influence and intimidation to control people,” Passons says, referring to the witch doctors. “It’s something we interact with on a regular basis.”

AMG began partnering with local believers in Bugongi several years ago. They operate a child and youth development center that serves 300 children in need, along with a small medical clinic and dispensary. This rural community of 12,000 people lives in a 14 square mile area.

Parents’ mistrust of “outsiders” and witch doctors’ widespread control result in deadly consequences. In the past, AMG staff noticed children requiring immediate medical attention. “We’re begging the parents to allow us to take them to medical facilities, and [the parents say], ‘No, we’re going to trust the witch doctor,” Passons recalls.

“At least a couple of those kids have passed away while being treated by the witch doctor.”

From the darkness presented by this problem emerged one of AMG’s most influential programs – the Bugongi College of Nursing and Midwifery.

Nursing school provides new options

The nursing school operates in conjunction with AMG’s Hope Medical Center.
(Photo courtesy AMG International)

AMG’s Bugongi College of Nursing and Midwifery began in late 2017 with 14 students. Enrollment grew to 57 students last year, and 60 new nursing students joined the program earlier this month. “One huge praise – all of our first-year students passed their (national) exams at the end of the first year,” Passons shares. All of the second-year students passed as well.

AMG wants to expand this program to include a new building in the coming months, and mobile clinics in the next few years. A matching grant will help them gain significant ground by doubling every gift made between now and the end of September.

“We feel like God has called us to start the next phase of this expansion in November so we’re praying that God would be able to raise [the needed] funds with this matching grant in the next in the next month or so,” Passons says.

The nursing college needs a new building to accommodate the additional students, providing space for classrooms, skill labs, library expansion, and a computer room. The total cost of this project is $150,000.

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Most importantly, surround this project in prayer. “We’re meeting tangible needs with healthcare, but we’re also sharing the Gospel,” Passons states.

“A nurse that knows Christ as [their] personal Savior has a compassion and care for people that can’t be duplicated.”

Header image courtesy of AMG International.

(Map courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Few other words strike fear as quickly as that one. A couple of weeks ago, government figures revealed the number of cases of Ebola in eastern Congo exceeded 2,000, with new cases leaking into bordering countries.

This has been tagged as one of the most complex public health emergency in history. News of hundreds of new cases in the last few weeks means a stumble in the forward progress of the containment campaign due to instability in the remote region.

Owning The Crisis

Containment is an ‘all hands on deck’ kind of mission and draws everyone into a common purpose. For five years, TeachBeyond’s presence in the DRC served as a beacon of hope. However, the ministry’s newly-installed President David Durance says it hasn’t been easy.

“Between health and war, getting into Kinshasa has been impossible for maybe two-thirds of the five years. One of the things that we’re really cognizant of is how we are participating as global citizens in this.”

A big step forward was realizing that the ministry wasn’t shouldering this crisis from its headquarters. Instead, the response would, appropriately, come within the DRC itself.

“There are people right in Kinshasa who are wanting to participate in transformational education and being the arm of TeachBeyond in Kinshasa. TeachBeyond has been working in and through our local members there and their TeachBeyond members as well and starting a school that has now become the model school for the country. ”

(Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond)

Utilizing the model of holistic education, which includes community health education, TeachBeyond and Bangui Evangelical School of Theology opened Fateb Kinshasa Academy in 2015 in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The model worked.

“A couple of weeks ago, we just finished our first model school training where we had a local community of 50 schools come to our TeachBeyond school there and be able to participate in this training, for the first time.”

Ebola’s Impact On Ministry

When asked how training occurs in a time when the government heavily restricts border travel, Durance responded, “As we’ve battled this difficulty of trying to get in and train and deal with this, we’ve had to be really creative. We’ve had to use things like the internet, which isn’t always reliable in Kinshasa. we’ve had to have members not go (on) trips because they weren’t able to make it because of the health risk.”

Despite the unique challenges of insurgency and a deadly virus, avoiding training altogether was never an option. “The goal is always that our local nationals are able to pick up this mantle and run with it as a movement that is born out of the local, national Christian Church, saying this is a DRC movement, and we want to be owning this responsibility for caring and loving others in our community.”

Though the Ebola outbreak is the second largest in history, not all major city centers report new cases. The World Health Organization plan focuses on three areas in North Kivu – Beni, Mangina, and Butembo.

For TeachBeyond, almost a thousand miles away, it’s a reprieve. “Up to this point, because the major (city) centers have not been impacted, we’ve still been able to develop the small school training and bring schools there, and that hasn’t been restricted by the government. It’s encouraging that we haven’t seen a reduction of that yet.”

Pray, Then Pray Some More

(Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond)

Durance goes on to note that there are always safety challenges in extremely volatile countries. “Our brothers and sisters there that are standing for Christ are always at risk; at risk from the government, but also from just movements within the country that are fighting against the growing Christian movement, especially in education. So I think that is one thing:  prayer for our Christian brothers and sisters there, for their safety.”

One final thought: “Pray that God would do something amazing in these thousand plus Christian schools that are already in the university. A lot of these Christian Schools are Christian by name only are not practicing, so in a real way,  our prayer is that through this model school movement, that God would give us those thousand schools so that they can be participating in  transformational education in their country.”

Headline photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Dr. Yona Kapere with Compassion International says no Ugandan children sponsored by the ministry have contracted Ebola. However, at least one child sponsored in the country has had a relative die from the disease.

In Uganda, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified at least 112 people who possibly came into contact with Ebola. By quarantining and immunizing these individuals, Uganda is trying to prevent its own outbreak. The country has also set up crossing points at the DR Congo border. Here people coming into Uganda are screened for the disease.

“The Ministry of Health, together with our church partners, they have prepared to respond to Ebola cases in our nation. So far, health education is going on, the victim cases isolated, the contacts are isolated and being followed, the medical team [is] vaccinated and equipped to respond,” Dr. Kapere explains.

Kapere says prevention efforts mean the risk of an Ebola outbreak in Uganda is minimal. People in the country are learning how to prevent the spread of Ebola, recognize the signs of Ebola, and protect themselves from contracting the disease.

Church Responds to Ebola

Compassion is supporting church partners who are also responding to the threat. Some churches are airing information on Ebola to raise awareness through the radio. Others are limiting the number of staff or sponsors moving into areas where they could come into contact with Ebola.

Ebola response team in Uganda. (Photo courtesy of CDC Global via Flicker)

“The Gospel continues to be preached, however, even [at] the church services…the church partners use those opportunities to share and raise awareness about Ebola…One of the things that we are doing in Uganda is pray[ing] that this epidemic will come to an end,” Kapere says.

Pray for Uganda to avoid an Ebola outbreak. Pray for the protection of the children and families registered with Compassion. Ask God to bring the Ebola epidemic in DR Congo to an end. Pray for those who have lost family members and loved ones to this disease. And please, pray for the healing of those who have come into contact with Ebola.

Want to sponsor a child with Compassion? Learn more here.

Header image courtesy of NIAID via Flickr.

The outbreak originally began in August 2018 in North Kivu. There have been at least 680 cases and over 400 deaths since then. Ebola cases continue to increase. There is a concern the disease could reach the city of Goma.

“It’s been going pretty quick and pretty fast, and it’s now the second biggest outbreak…that we know of in history at this point,” Mission Aviation Fellowship’s pilot David Petersen says.

Other factors have contributed to the challenges of diminishing this outbreak. This includes the fact there is a lot of movement in this area of DR Congo. Plus, some areas are rebel-controlled, creating challenges for health workers trying to travel to specific areas within a timely manner.

Misunderstanding Ebola

A general lack of knowledge has also been problematic. Petersen says a lot of people in DR Congo don’t understand Ebola or how it is transmitted. This lack of understanding can cause fear. Then there is also the mistrust of non-government organizations, like the health workers who are trying to contain and stop the disease.

“One time, there [were] rumors going around that the NGOs, the health workers were actually essentially massacring bodies or removing parts from bodies before burial and so then the population would go and dig up the infected corpse, which then can infect a lot more people, so there’s a lot of things that can cause problems there,” Petersen says.

“And then one of the last issues is the isolation of the different areas, the bad roads, which causes difficulties for transporting health workers and all the other supplies that they need to isolate and treat, which is more where MAF has been partnering.”

MAF in DR Congo

MAF has been in DR Congo since the early 1960s, except for a handful of evacuations. One of the challenges of eastern DR Congo is it is mountainous in many areas and the world’s second largest rainforest spans across the region.

“It’s quite difficult to get around, and so then you have the issues with the cargo that needs to be brought in for the health workers. Things like sanitation supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), the personnel themselves, and then, of course, the Ebola vaccines, which you may have seen in other news, there [is] a shortage of Ebola vaccines…We started partnering recently to be the carrier of vaccines into the different areas,” Petersen says.

MAF delivers a load of medical supplies to help combat an Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo by Dave Petersen. (Photo and caption courtesy of MAF)

MAF has been partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO) to aid in delivering vital equipment. Cargo can include tents, oxygen bottles, sanitation supplies, compressors, portable latrines, motorcycle parts for health workers, and occasionally health workers themselves.

Because MAF is mainly delivering cargo, there is little risk of spreading the virus through MAF flights.

“Since [Ebola is] transferred directly by bodily fluids and contact with an infected person, and they have to be presenting symptoms to infect you, the risk is not as high as some people think. But, we still have stringent regulations that we follow. We have an Ebola pathogen manual that we use, and we classify the different airports that we go to,” Petersen explains.

MAF pilots follow different procedures for different classifications to ensure safety and prevent infection or damage. As of January 18, MAF pilots in DR Congo have conducted 19 flights to deliver 21,026 pounds of cargo, 3,692 pounds of Ebola vaccines, transported 82 health workers in efforts to end the growing Ebola outbreak.

Get Involved

Will you help MAF respond to the growing Ebola outbreak in DR Congo?

To tangibly support MAF’s work in DR Congo and around the world, click here.

Another way to help is through prayer. Pray for peace in the region, for quick response to the growing outbreak, and for this outbreak to slow down and be diminished.

To support pilot David Petersen, click here.

Header image courtesy of NIAID via Flickr.

First, the world’s worst Ebola outbreak struck the coastal West African nation in 2014 and killed over 11,000 people. Then, last year, Sierra Leone suffered catastrophic floods and landslides that left 3,000 homeless and killed another 1,141 people.

These devastations have compounded instability in the already struggling nation. According to the CIA World Factbook, high unemployment and low pay mean Sierra Leone’s mostly young population is restless. And now, people are on edge once again as a new Ebola strain was recently identified in the country.

Members of the Mission Cry team with a shipment of used Christian books and Bibles headed to Sierra Leone. (Image screenshot courtesy of Mission Cry)

In this context, Mission Cry is sharing hope and truth with Sierra Leoneans. Just a few weeks ago, Mission Cry sent a shipment of used Bibles and Christian books to Sierra Leone!

Jason Woolford with Mission Cry says they are confident that God’s Word will not return void. “When we’re sending the Word of God and Christian books, we’re changing cultures. We’re changing the way that people look at money, we’re changing the way that a father treats a son, a mother treats a daughter, [and] how a husband and wife change. I mean, you talk about culture change; there is nothing that does it better than the Word of God.”

Sierra Leone is overwhelmingly Muslim — 78.6 percent. Christians in the country only account for 20.8 percent of the population.

Although Sierra Leonean believers are vastly outnumbered, Mission Cry aims to equip local Christians with free biblical literature. These used Christian books and Bibles serve to encourage the Church and enable outreach efforts.

“We’re doing that in these areas where there [are] Hindus and Muslims and Buddhists and we’re giving…the people that are trying to minister to them the opportunity to understand who God is in and through His Word.”

Mission Cry team members pray over a shipment of used Christian books and Bibles headed to Sierra Leone. (Image screenshot courtesy of Mission Cry)

Mission Cry has been in ministry for more than 60 years. During that time, they have sent at least $330 million-worth of Christian books and Bibles to over 171 countries. Each shipment is carefully organized from generous donations and prayed over before being sent out.

Woolford urges, “I want those that are listening to understand that our time is short here on this earth. Whether Jesus is coming tomorrow or should He tarry, He has given us a charge to be missions-minded…. You and I have the opportunity to send the Word — Jesus — in the form of the Bible, the Living Word of God, to people.”

If you have any used Bibles or Christian books to donate to Mission Cry, click here to find out next steps!

Meanwhile, please lift up Sierra Leone in prayer — both for this latest Ebola strain to be quelled and for the shipment of biblical literature to change the lives of those it reaches.

Children in Sierra Leone (Photo courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash)

“Whenever you look at any sort of outbreak or anything, I understand that we live in a fallen world…but I also understand that there is a very real Devil who really hates God and hates God’s people. So we definitely need to lift them up in prayer.”

Woolford also asks, “Pray for our ministry. The Devil hates what we’re doing. We’re giving the Word that doesn’t return void.”

Learn more about Mission Cry and ways you can get involved!

(Header photo courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash)

DRC’s health ministry has identified 102 probable or confirmed Ebola cases since the start of August. 59 of those people have died.

John Woodberry, manager of disaster response with Mission Aviation Fellowship, says, “The Ebola outbreak became news kind of at the beginning of the month but [it] started before that. Ebola is a word that brings a lot of fear with it — both the unknown and just the challenging way people suffer from that disease.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“The reality is it is a very scary disease but it only transmits by someone who has very specific symptoms, so it only transmits through blood or bodily secretion contact. Typical mitigation is basically isolating infected people, practicing very tight medical protocols, and not shaking hands, and practicing good hygiene. But if someone does not have the symptoms, they are not contagious.”

MAF uses flight services to assist communities in East DRC’s remote and isolated areas. An Ebola outbreak was recently identified south of where the ministry is based — just a 30-minute flight away.

“MAF has been more involved in flying [specimens for] testing to see if people have Ebola, and also flying a medical team to an area to try to prevent its expansion further,” Woodberry explains.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“When we fly into areas that are near an Ebola outbreak for a medical team or to do some sample testing to verify or be a part of helping the situation, we have very tight protocols that we do follow in the handling of passengers and… a biomedical hazard type of flight.”

There was also a temporary Ebola scare in the local community where MAF is based. “A little boy who died and had some blood coming out of his mouth in that death had to be checked because he had the symptoms, but it could be malaria or something else. But you don’t know, so you test and check. If there was Ebola here, it would affect very much so how we live.” Fortunately, in this case, the Ebola test was negative.

While the last local case was just a scare, MAF’s Jon Cadd says they are trying to get ahead of any Ebola developments by providing a space for containment.

“We’ve dedicated one of our houses that’s in an isolated area. It was destroyed during the war…but we are getting it prepared and ready for the possibility of people that could have the disease. They want to isolate them from other people. So we’re fixing the place up, painting it, [and] putting in a water supply.”

Woodberry adds, “All the costs associated for this come out of MAF’s disaster response surge fund, which supporters have given to over the years and enable us to do this work and respond when there is a crisis globally.”

Health officials in DRC have approved four Ebola treatments at Ebola treatment centers. There are also vaccines available.

(Photo courtesy of Global Panorama via Flickr under Creative Commons: https://goo.gl/v7u9m8)

However, Woodberry points out, “There’s not a lot of [vaccines]…. They use them for health workers or to mitigate family members or people who have had close contact. So that’s a promising development but it’s still a very scary death…. We’re paying attention if this starts expanding or if it’s showing signs of containment.”

As a Christian ministry, MAF pilots and staff serve in the name of Jesus. When an Ebola outbreak poses a great risk to communities and responders, MAF is there with aviation service and hope.

“When you’re responding to Ebola, it’s all about saving lives. God has given us the skills and abilities to meet the immediate needs of people. So I guess being people that they can see Christ in and serving those who are suffering is what we do during this time, and we’re an active part of the Church reaching out and the mission medical community here. It’s a time to serve and love people in a very difficult time.”

Cadd shares how even an Ebola education session presented an opportunity to represent the Gospel.

“Yesterday, John [Woodberry] and I went down to a chiefs and leaders meeting…and I had gone to the chief and showed him a little PowerPoint presentation on Ebola and he asked me to come back to the council and show the people. So we did that and we were able to answer a lot of questions and educate them on how Ebola starts and what they can do to prevent it and it was just a really great time. And being able to end in prayer for those leaders and just remind them of what Jesus has done for us and His amazing grace to us was really a wonderful time for us.”

There are a few ways you can get involved. First, consider supporting MAF’s Disaster Response Fund so they are continually prepared to help when crises like this arise.

Click here to give to MAF’s Disaster Response Fund!

Also, please commit to praying for this Ebola outbreak in the DRC. Woodberry says, “You can pray…for those with Ebola. You can pray for their healing. You can pray for the containment of the disease.”

Pray also that those infected with Ebola, the first responders, and communities in East DRC would experience spiritual revival and come to know Christ as their Savior.

(Header photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

It’s estimated there could be an additional 21 unconfirmed Ebola cases. Last Monday, an Ebola vaccine was tested in the DRC — the first testing in a real-world outbreak. The WHO shipped thousands of vaccine doses and aid groups are building treatment facilities.

The Ebola virus originates in animals and is passed on to humans through bodily fluids, but the transmission is still a bit of a mystery. Those infected suffer from a high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, internal and external bleeding, and eventually organ failure. This is the ninth Ebola outbreak in the last 42 years.

(Photo courtesy Mission Aviation Fellowship)

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in Western DRC is responding to the Ebola outbreak in partnership with medical organizations.

Garth Pederson with MAF says, “We are flying medical personnel and supplies into the affected area. When there was first some rumors about this, we actually flew a team up to the Mbandaka area to do some more testing and then we flew some of the samples back to the capital city, to Kinshasa to be verified. So then that’s when the confirmation was obtained that it was Ebola.”

For medical personnel, it can be unnerving going into a quarantined area with a confirmed Ebola outbreak.

“You know, it’s kind of a scary disease. When they get off the plane then, often times they will hug each other and shake hands knowing that will be the last time they’ll be able to do that — show that physical affection — until they leave the affected area because it’s so virulent.”

Garth says, for the MAF pilots, “It is an opportunity for us especially to minister to some of the medical personnel that are going up there. We pray before each flight and so we pray for the people that we are flying and we just pray God’s blessing on them and protection.

“I think in the way that we show our care and compassion for the people who are going in there, that is one way that we can really express our love for them and the love of Christ as well.”

(Photo courtesy of Julien Harris on Flickr)

As the government, organizations, and ministries work to stop the spread of Ebola in the DRC, they could really use the prayers of believers.

“You can pray for us, pray for our pilots and mechanics, pray for our families that are there. We are a bit short staffed now, so there is kind of an extra load that is placed on our expat and national staff. So if they could pray for us, that we would just be healthy and we would be able to meet the need that we have there.”

Pederson also adds, “People can be praying for the experimental vaccine that is being used now, that it would be effective, and that the virus would not spread through some of the more populated areas.”

If you’re interested in learning more about joining MAF as a pilot, mechanic, or other roles, you can visit MAF’s website here!

“MAF’s ministry is really focused on isolated people, bringing the Gospel as well as physical blessings to people that are isolated, and Congo is really a good example of where there [are] a lot of isolated people. There [are] very few roads…but the airplane is really an effective tool in reaching out to these very isolated people.”

Click here if you would like to support MAF’s ministry.