Christmas Picnic

For those in the northern hemisphere the words "Christmas" and "picnic" don't normally go together. However, at the other end of the world this is quite normal.  On Saturday we had our MAF Christmas picnic and one of the MAF families brought their boat.  As you will see from the photos the kids and the "big" kids had a blast whizzing through the water.  It took everything in me to stay on the "couch" but didn't have much luck on the other one as I was catapulted off on one of the rides.  A fun time was had by all.

Oh boy was it difficult to stay on....doesn't do much for the hairdo :)

Who said this was fun!!

Hold on.......

Zara and Bethany were champions and took every opportunity to ride the waves

Photos courtesy of Glenn Cousley

New Challenge

As many of you know for the last two and half years I have been working in the MAF Cairns Support office in the HR department.  In August of this year our valued HR Manager left to move onto another ministry.  Since then I have been helping to cover some of this role.  We ran a recruitment campaign to find another suitable candidate but to cut a long story short we came up short.  After much consideration and chats with God and my family I applied for the role.  As of 2 December 2019 I will be the new HR Manager for the Asia Pacific Region.  This is a God sized job and am thankful it is a team effort.  I look forward to what God has in store for our department in the weeks and months ahead and what we can achieve together.  I would value your prayers as I embark on this challenge and that God would give me the wisdom and discernment I need.  Thanks to all of you who keep us in your prayers.

As I write this update Simon is in Switzerland for a flying visit.  His Dad turns 80 next week so Simon flew home to surprise him and be part of the celebrations.  The extended family were able to keep it a secret so it was definitely a surprise.  There were multiple family events to celebrate Fritz and his milestone birthday.

"Surprise"

Happy Birthday Cheers

What's a celebration without a glass of wine :)

Triple trouble - Therese, Simon and Monika :)

MAF's disaster response to Hurricane Dorian

An update from MAF's communication department on MAF’s involvement in responding to the devastation of hurricane Dorian.

MAF has deployed staff to support Samaritan’s Purse (SP) and Missionary Flight International (MFI) in their response to Hurricane Dorian that hit the Bahamas on September 1.

Reports say there are 70,000 people homeless in Abaco (part of the Bahamas) and the surrounding islands. There are many stateless Haitian refugees who won't evacuate and many Bahamans are staying on the impacted islands as it is all they know and are trying to survive. These areas will need significant resources. SP started tarp deliveries on 9^th Sept and will sling load them by helicopter from their Abaco base to other devastated islands.

Search and rescue in Abaco and Grand Bahama islands continues, with search dogs being used for body recovery. The death toll will continue to climb. There have been many people evacuated by the government and some by SP to islands that were not destroyed by the storm. There are numerous medical needs among the hurricane survivors.

 

• In Freeport, the Emergency Field Hospital is set up and accepting patients. The 40-bed facility will have an outpatient department and emergency room, equipped to serve up to 100 patients a day. There will be an operating room—with capacity for 10 surgeries per day—and an obstetrics ward with delivery room.
• MAF’s John Woodberry (flight ops support), Brent Palmer (Caravan pilot) have been supporting medical teams and shipping equipment to set up the hospital and assisting teams doing emergency relief projects on Abaco and surrounding islands.
• On Abaco Island distribution of tarps occurred yesterday at Elbow Cay and organized distribution of tarps in Marsh Harbour will happen today. The estimated number of people needing shelter is 4,000.
• God has blessed our response and put many things in place and provided key contacts. We found out the other day that all our aviation fuel is being provided for free. God is good.

• MAF’s John Gorenflo and Vaughan Woodward worked with the Bahama CAA to secure flight permission and operating approvals for the MFI and partner aircraft to conduct relief flights into the Bahamas. They also worked to identify on-ground partners to receive the aid goods to be delivered and completed the paperwork for import duty exemptions.
• On Saturday there was a delivery 8,000 lbs. of relief supplies to isolated communities to West End, Grand Bahamas
• A further three flights were conducted, one to West End and two into Freeport, Grand Bahamas, with 24,000 lbs. of aid and relief supplies delivered (water, food and personal hygiene supplies) for the Salvation Army.
• Monday flights included three DC3 flights to Freeport delivering goods to the Salvation Army for distribution, one C208 flight to Freeport and one to Scotland Cay off the island of Abaco. It is hoped that the C208 will fly directly to the Abaco Island Cays in the coming days with necessary aid and relief goods.

Missionary Flight International staging area for receiving and packaging relief goods
(Photo by Vaughan Woodward)

a Samaritans Purse field hospital is unloaded from a DC8 in Nassau.

Please pray for our MAF team and other relief workers. Also pray for good health among the workers and impacted people in the Bahamas. There are fears that diarrhoea and waterborne diseases due to unsafe drinking water could appear, but so far no cases of cholera have been reported.

Thank you for praying

If you check on the Prayer/Praises section of our blog you will see a big answer to prayer.  Joshua has been applying for part time jobs for a long time now and finally got one two weeks ago.  Pray for him as he now juggles work, school and a social life :) 

Training in PNG Part 2

Simon headed back to do some training for two students in PNG.  Here are some photos of his time there.

Dropping a MAF pilot in Bak to pick up his plane that had to be left their overnight due some maintenance issues.

Last GA8 leaving PNG. Lazarus a MAF engineer helping Simon get the plane ready early morning.  Love the smiles :)

The beauty of the PNG Highlands from 6-7,000 feet in the air

 



The mighty Fly River

Dropping of a team of doctors for the first time in a village in nearly 30 years.  Time to celebrate.



Joseph Tua, Simon's student (and friend)  in the air

Public holiday so all petrol stations were closed.  However, there is always another way.

Back in a developing country where weevils are thrown in for free...

Training in PNG

Simon left for PNG last Sunday to do some Caravan (Cessna 2018) training with two pilots.  One is from Switzerland and one is a PNG national.  Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been good up till now which adds to the challenge of flying in PNG.  Pray for blue skies and for the sun to come out.

He will be gone for three weeks so pray for him and the students that all will go well and they will achieve what they need to in this timeframe.  Also they will get the rest they need too!

 

Simon said " Day break and we're off. Fogged in at Rungenae but hopefully the weather is better at Kiunga where we parked the plane"

 

Simon said "Looked promising at 6.30 am but after loading 800 kgs of mosquito nets we're now fogged in. Aviation's moto: hurry up and wait! Holds true once again"

Family update

It has been all go in the Wunderli household the last few months so here is a snapshot of family life.

Simon is currently training two pilots from our Arnhem Land programme.  They are being trained to fly the Caravan (Cessna 208) which will provide the programme with more pilots being able to fly multiple aircraft.

At the end of July he will be flying again to PNG for three weeks to do some training with two new pilots.  This training will be focused in the western province.  One of these pilots is from PNG and one from Switzerland.  Simon and other colleagues will be helping out in PNG with training until the end of the year.

Aside from flying he has just completed another wood project.  We had some desks which he made in Uganda but they won't fit in this house so he was able to re-purpose them into a picnic table.  Looking forward to having some great meals at this new table.

Joshua has been busy with school but his hobby of photography also keeps him engaged.  He will be submitting a piece of his work in the upcoming Cairns show which is a great opportunity.Here are a few photos of some of his work.

Waterfall on the tablelands

Cairns esplanade water reflection

Hong Kong by night

A unique view of the city

Zara has also had a busy term at school and is ready for the holidays.  One of Zara's hobby's is horse riding.  She loves animals as many of you know but her focus since coming to Australia has been horses.  One of her friends has two horses and she has been able to, on occasion, ride her horses.  Below are some photographs of her enjoying every moment she can get.

Zara in her happy place

Cantoring with Sunny



Sunny

Horse photos courtesy of Christine Waters

 

 

I have been continuing my work in MAF with HR.  The work has been varied and has involved a remit in helping out the Arnhem Land programme and the support base in Mareeba.  Next month I will be involved in a job evaluation project for both the Cairns support office and the Mareeba support base.  There is never a dull moment.

 

In Uganda we did quite a bit of hospitality and this has grown a bit in the last weeks here in Australia.  We have enjoyed different folks around our meal table and developing new friendships.  Next week we have a friend from our Arnhem Land programme staying with us whilst attending a course in Cairns.

 

I have just finished a course in Mental Health First Aid.  We covered some challenging topics but good to gain some extra tools to enable to help those who suffer in this area.

 

Zara and I attended a funeral on Tuesday as her best friend lost her Mum two weeks ago due to pancreatic cancer.  This family would appreciate your prayers as they go through this time of grief and loss.



Another trip to PNG



Simon and the new Caravan being welcomed  into PNG by the Fire Brigade's water canons

Some of the PNG team praying over the new caravan

Joseph Tua, a MAF pilot working in his own homeland serving his people

Education materials being delivered to a community

 

Beautiful PNG



The important things in life - the shower and how to use the toilet!





What a beautiful view to wake up to

Spot the house on the hill!
 

A MAF plane arriving is exciting and worth a closer look

Spot the airstrip

 

Heading to Church....hope he knows where he is going

Love the flowers marking out the aisle of the church

 

Training in Western Province, PNG

Simon, two other MAF pilots headed to PNG last Friday for some training.  One of the other MAF pilots, Andy Little, took his family along in order to take the opportunity to catch up with people who they knew from their time of living in PNG.

The aim of this training was to give Simon an opportunity to gain some experience and knowledge of the airstrips in the western province of PNG.  MAF are looking at some options for low hour pilots and so part of this training was to train the flight instructors.

Due to the remoteness of this area he doesn't have regular access to internet but he did manage to call me whilst the generator was on at the MAF office.  He had gone to church in the morning by boat.  It took 40 minutes to get there but the journey was amazing.  The church service went from about 9am - 2pm and they sat on the floor for that time.  I wonder how his back coped with that!!!  I am sure there will be some photos and stories to share once he returns.

He would value your prayers for safety and good weather this week as they go out to a number of airstrips.  On Saturday they were able to go in an out of 25.  That made for a busy day!  Looks like the rest of the week will be full too.



This is the caravan that they are using for the training.  Here it is waiting at Mt Hagen, PNG to go through customs before they fly onto
Kawito in Western Province



Photos courtesty of MAF