View of Nabire, Papua Indonesia.
(Photo courtesy of MAF via Facebook)
Indonesia (MNN) — All-star games are exciting because fans get to watch the “best of the best” athletes compete on teams they don’t usually play with. The athletes have to adjust to a new team in order to do their best.
Sometimes, this happens on the mission field, too. Mission organizations realize that, many times, the best way to answer a great need or step in during an emergency is to do it together.
Brian Marx is a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship serving in Indonesia. Recently they partnered with a missionary working with a different group.
Marx says “There is a Christian Missionary Alliance missionary…who has been working in Papua for a very long time. In December, he began hearing reports of an unusual increase in the amount of sickness.”
At first, there were scares of an epidemic. The affected people would get sick with either one serious case of sickness, or a couple. Within two days to two weeks, they would die.
The missionary, named John, and respected on a large scale, sent out a call for help.
“He arranged for a team of doctors to come out–a medical missions team,” Marx says.
MAF flew the doctors from village to village, reaching seven or eight villages altogether.
Medical aid is a regular part of MAF’s aviation ministry around the world along with economic connections, Bible distribution, and the like. (Photo courtesy of MAF via Facebook)
With relief, the doctors found no epidemic, but rather an increase in cases of the common illnesses of the area.
Once again, John called for assistance. His contacts in government positions were able to supply the medicine, and MAF was able to fly the medicine and doctors around to restock the under-staffed and under-supplied clinics in the villages.
During this time, there was a serious case of measles that John came upon in one of the villages. He again asked MAF for assistance. He requested 50 doses of malaria medicine.
Almost at a loss, Marx asked his office manager if he knew any way he could get such a large supply of medicine.
God provided. His office manager called a man from his church who worked for the health department. Within 20 minutes, there was a delivery of 61 doses which MAF took to the airplane headed to the village.
“Within half an hour, John had the medicine in hand,” Marx says.
(Photo courtesy of MAF via Facebook)
God made all of the connections that allowed MAF to work together with John to save lives.
“That was actually kind of an interesting way that MAF did something that didn’t involve our airplane but sure involved a whole bunch of our people, and I was just proud to be a part of that team,” Marx says.
It is through the selfless work these missionaries do that provides opportunities to talk about their faith to the people they are serving. Their actions back up what they say about Jesus’ love.
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