Spiritual Warfare!

A while back we put on a post about the medivac of another MAF wife to Cairns. I flew as co-pilot on the King Air. Well, the story didn’t end there. In fact, it has been quite a journey for all of us at MAF Goroka and especially for the family concerned.

It started when the wife of one of our MAF Goroka pilots started experiencing extremely bad headaches and having seizures. They rushed her to the New Tribes Mission clinic and after examining her the doctor there decided that she needed to get to Cairns. So, without going through the whole medivac story again, she ended up in Cairns with her husband where they started doing a series of tests. All the tests showed nothing, and these included CT scans and many others. None of the doctors could pinpoint anything, and a week later the couple flew back to PNG with no answers to what the problem was. The wife had improved slightly, but was still having headaches and was very weak and could hardly walk. For another 2 weeks her condition remained about the same and although she had not had more seizures she would have spells where her headaches would return and she would feel weak.

At one point the couple decided to try to come to church, but halfway through they had to leave because she started feeling really bad. The following Monday we had our MAF families bible study, and once again, half way through she had to leave due to her headache returning quite badly.

In the bible study, we began talking about it and a number of us had been feeling that there was possibly more than just a physical aspect to this, especially as the doctors had not found anything. We decided that we would suggest to her that we lay hands on her and pray for her. We chatted to her husband who was still with us and he went to go and talk to her. They returned shortly afterward and as a group we anointed her with oil and laid hands on her and prayed for healing and also if there was a demonic influence that God would remove it from her. (James 5:13-16)  It is hard in these kind of situations because you start questioning. In the back of your mind, you doubt that God can even do anything. Also, you dont really expect to see an instant change. So, it was with some surprise (sorry for my lack of faith!) that she reported that her headache had gone. In fact she mentioned that her headache just prior to all this had been the worst she had had since the original incident. In our usual skeptical way we all were waiting to see if this was fluke, or did God really do something. Well, the next day she was up and about like her old self, she went for a drive (the first time since the incident) and since then she has been fine. It is now over 3 weeks later!

We all feel that this was all due to a spiritual attack on her, and it is possibly due to an incident where a teenager had cursed her a few days before her original seizures and illness.

So, we are far more aware now of the spiritual forces at play in this country and how powerful they are . We need to be sure of the power we have in Christ and rely on Him to protect us.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and bloood,

but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil

in the heavenly realms… With this in mind,

be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints”  Ephesians 6:12 and 18

Another flying story

An incident today again brought back to my mind the reality that many people in PNG (and in fact around the world) live with every day. For many of these people in PNG, getting quick medical care is not an option and they rely totally on the aircraft that can get them to a hospital.

During the day today I was asked to pick up a pregnant lady from a bush location. I was unsure whether she was actually in labour, or about to go into labour. She wanted to get to Goroka to the hospital. The weather in the morning had been quite bad, so I had planned to try and go there at around lunch before the weather could potentially get worse again in the afternoon and prevent me getting there. Due to a number of circumstances, I ended up only getting to the airfield about an hour later than originally planned. When I landed there, all the people were very apologetic because the lady had already given birth. So, they were sorry that I had to fly there for nothing! What really struck me was the reality of the situation: The lady had actually started to give birth but the baby was breach. The arm of the baby was out, and due to all this they needed to get her to hospital. She was waiting at the airfield (which has zero facilities!) and ended up giving birth to her baby on the side of the airfield. She had a lady from the local bush clinic to help her, but that was all! In the end I was grateful that it all worked out, and this conclusion to the event ended up being far more convenient and cheaper for the family involved (as weird as that sounds).

These situations don’t always work out however as I discovered about 3 weeks ago. A lady died in childbirth because they were unable to call the aircraft. Yet, I had been flying in and out of that field fairly often. It just happened that I never came in at the necessary time and they could not get a communication out to call us in time.

So, we try our best to help as many people as we can, and we appreciate all your prayers for our safety, for our aircraft and for us.

One thought that crossed my mind later as I thought about what happened today… Imagine if I had arrived there on time, the lady may have given birth in my aircraft!!!

The “bump” is growing …

We are now 27 weeks pregnant (out of 40!).  Nath and Hails are still quite fascinated by the “new baby” and will often talk to it and touch on it.  We went for our second last doctors appointment in PNG on Friday and got to see our new baby  on a scan again – it was so sweet to see it opening and closing its little mouth and even its little tongue was coming in and out!   Hailey’s name choice is “Annie Apple” … We do give all the praise to our Lord for such a healthy pregnancy so far!

Michelle trying to look pregnant

We are really getting close to our trip back home now and all quite excited …

Medevac…

There have been a number of things happening at MAF recently that have us wondering what it is that God is going to do that is making Satan want to attack us like this. There have been a number of incidents that have result in damaged aircraft, and this weekend we had to medevac one of the MAF wives to Cairns. She started having seizures and slipping in and out of consciousness on friday night. After taking her to the New Tribes Mission clinic the doctor there felt that she needed to be sent to Cairns. That night we all got very little sleep as arrangements were made. It was a great example of all the mission organisations working together. Due to the bad weather that night with pouring rain and low clouds, the departure was arranged for first thing on Saturday morning. New Tribes Mission has a King Air C90 that can make the leg from Goroka to Cairns in one go. Their pilot has been away, so an SIL pilot has been flying for them in the meantime. New Tribes policy is that on medevacs they need two crew (or at least a safety pilot). I was asked to go as the safety pilot as I have King Air experience. So, early on Saturday morning we left for Cairns with a nurse and a doctor, Carmella (the patient) and her husband. The flight went well and we were met in Cairns by an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital.

It was good to be able to serve in this way and to be available to do this. It was also good for me to learn some of the procedures when doing a flight of this nature.

At this stage, tests have been done on Carmella that have eliminated the conditions that are life threatening. She will remain in Cairns with her husband until they have determined what the problem is and that she is safe to return to PNG. We returned to Goroka the next day (Easter Sunday).

Please pray that the doctors would identify the problem and that she would be completely healed. Also, please pray for MAF at this time as we are now short of a pilot during this time. Pray too for the MAF leadership as they have had to deal with so many crisis lately.

All the missions working together... A SIL captain, a MAF first officer and a New Tribes Mission aircraft!

Our medevac team, the nurse, the doctor and two pilots.

 

An update at last!

It has been some time since our last update, and I suppose we need to be more diligent. It is frustrating though, when the internet is not working properly and so it connects at a snail pace. When you have to wait 5 minutes for one page to open, it really discourages you from wanting to put something on the blog!

Well, I am pushing through and have finally made it to the “Add new post” page!

We are in the throes of planning all our presentations for our trip back to South Africa. It is a bit challenging as each place you speak at can give you a different amount of time, and the congregations are different, and the ages are different, and so we are finding that we need to prepare a variety of different presentations. It has been quite a bit of work.

On the pregnancy side, Michelle is doing well, and she will be going for a check up on Thursday. She is 22 weeks now! (and only looks about 6 weeks pregnant!). At least she is over the morning sickness and is feeling normal.

We had an earthquake quite close to us the other day. It was 6.7 on the Richter Scale, and the epicentre was about 65 km away and 105 km underground. So, we didn’t have any major effects except for a nice tremor that lasted about a minute or two. It did cause some photos to fall down. When we ran outside, Nathan was more concerned about his Lego that might be damaged if the house fell down!

It is only about 2 months now until we depart here. We kind of have mixed feelings as we get ready. We are excited about seeing friends and family, stressed about our presentations and deputation work, excited about the new baby (and also a little stressed about that!). Brad is stressed about his licence renewal that he has to do when he gets back. We are also sad to be leaving our friends that we have made here, and also leaving the flying and the other things we have got involved with while we have been here. When we leave South Africa again we will be sad to leave our friends there, but then also glad to be seeing our PNG friends again! What an emotional roller coaster!

Please pray that our preparations go well for our presentations and that God would enable us to speak His heart. Also, please pray for Michelle and the pregnancy. We also ask that you pray for us emotionally during this time that we can deal with the changes and associated stress. That as a family we hold together and keep God in the centre.

Update on the flying…

The C206 flying has been great so far. It is pretty hard work, but very rewarding. People are often grateful that you have managed to come and do their flight, and also often thank you for a safe flight. There is so much work here, and we cannot do it all. We do try and prioritise the work and medevacs take the highest priority. I have done a few medevacs recently, and one repatriation flight for a dying man to take him back to his home in the bush, which was quite sad.

One other aspect of ministry that I have been able to get involved with is selling bibles to people in the bush. They have no access to getting the Word of God in many cases (depending where they are). Unless someone goes to a town, and they can arrange it, often bibles dont get out to the people in remote areas, particularly in those areas where the missionaries have completed their work, and are no longer there to arrange this type of thing. The other problem is that the supply of bibles is erratic, and sometimes they are not available even in the towns. So, with all of this, I have been dealing with CRMF (Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship) which is under the banner of MAF and who install and maintain the HF radio network that we rely on heavily to communicate with people in the bush. They have sourced Tok Pisin bibles, and they try and distribute them to the bush places, and they sell them at cost price. With the flying that I do, I get out to the bush places on a daily basis and so it is easy to let the people know that I have bibles that I can sell. I usually have at least 2 in my flight bag at all times. I also have the authority to reduce the price if necessary so that people who cant afford the full cost price can still get access to a bible. It is a ministry that CRMF is happy to make a loss on!

Some of the people I have sold bibles to

The kids love being in photos

Nathan’s at school…

Nath was so excited to be starting school again this year. The system here is a little different and so he has gone into the “Kindy” class! This means that he gets a file to put his daily reading books in and his “homework” sheet as well! This was such a highlight for him and he carried this file around for days! He also prayed that night and thanked the Lord for his file!

Last Friday I went to the school to watch the assembly … much to my surprise, Nath stood up in front of the whole school and said: “Hello Moms and Dads, welcome to our assembly!” – he said it loud and clear and I was ever so proud of him! He is becoming such a big boy now!

blogging? What’s that?…!

Well, my blogging has really gone pear-shaped over the past 10 weeks or so! My morning sickness and constant tiredness has really taken it out of me …. but the good news is that as of last Monday, I have been feeling a whole lot better! I am now 15 weeks pregnant and my energy and the “old” Michelle seems to finally be back! So now I am playing catch-up with all that has happened in the last 2 months or so!

The big event of last year was my folks arriving in PNG for Christmas! We had a lovely time with them, showing them our lives here in Goroka. We really just stayed in and around Goroka as Brad was in the beginning of starting his flying on the C206 – a rather critical time. So we took my folks to the market, shopping, second handying, my dad went flying with Brad and also built a chicken hutch! Mom entertained the kids with many hours of puzzle building and game playing! I think that the kids really enjoyed getting to know their grandparents again and we had a great family time!

The chicken hutch

We are Pregnant!

We always wanted to have more than 2 children, so we praise the Lord that he has decided to bless us with another baby.

In April we had discovered that Michelle was pregnant, and after a suspected ectopic pregnancy, she was sent on a medivac to Cairns where after examination it turned out to be just a miscarriage. So, with this pregnancy, we have been a little nervous. It has now been 12 weeks, and the scan showed a normal healthy baby for which we give thanks to God.

Our plan is to return to South Africa to have the baby as MAF PNG policy is that no babies are to be born here. They all need to be born in Australia or your home country.  South Africa will be a cheaper option for us as well as an opportunity to combine it with our short furlough.

So, please pray for a healthy pregnancy for Michelle and that our plans for returning to South Africa will go smoothly.

Our new baby!

Big creatures…

Here in PNG, you get big insects like spiders and butterflies and moths etc. Here is a pic of one type of moth we get here in Goroka. I have been told that in the lowlands they get twice as size! Imagine the size of the spiders down there!