Green Light

After a quiet Christmas and New Years I have now officially joined Mission Aviation Fellowship. This past week I was in Guelph, Ontario at the MAF Canada office. The week included orientation, cultural training, fundraising seminars, and learning about logistical support. Although it was a little stressful at times, it was a good week. Most of the information was just a review for me, as I had learned most of it when I went to Botswana through MAF in 2008. But this time around I did learn a few new things. Plus it was good to meet all the new MAFC office staff and get to know those I would be working with during my term with MAF.

Now that I have completed orientation I have been given the green light for the next phase. Needless to say this will be the most intense chapter of my time with MAF before I actually get to an overseas base. Because now I have been given the go ahead to start fundraising. However I will be needing to raise a significant amount of support. Once all the funds are raised I will be going overseas for at least 4 years. Over the coming weeks and months I will be meeting with individuals, speaking at churches, and speaking at various events in order to build a support team of people who will be willing to partner with me during my time with MAF. One event that I will be attending is Missions Fest in Edmonton from February 20-22 at the Shaw Conference Center. MAF will have an information booth there along with a few MAF staff and I will be available to talk with people and answer questions, so feel free to stop by and chat.

Once 100% of the funds have been raised I will be headed overseas. At this point my destination is Papua New Guinea in southeast Asia. The MAF program there is a combination of missionary support, medevacs, and community development. Community development is broad term, but it includes a number of different services. Sometimes it means flying building materials into the isolated villages so that houses or a school can be built. Other times it means flying boxes of honey bees into the villages so that the villagers can use the honey production as a means to support themselves. Flying out of the villages, MAF aircraft are mainly

Bags of coffee waiting to be loaded onto the MAF Twin Otter

carrying bags of coffee beans bound for the markets which enables the villagers to have another means with which to support themselves. Of course, MAF aircraft also transport people in addition to everything else. And when a natural disaster strikes, MAF kicks into high gear to make sure that the people get what they need. Unfortunately, the people in the isolated villages in PNG struggle because MAF is unable to provide complete service because of reduced pilot numbers. Which is why I'm working to get over there. However, when the MAF plane comes people are excited. As one MAF pilot wrote recently, "After landing in Kabwum we were greeted by a shower of flower petals and given gifts of string bags made in a traditional way, these were filled with fruit as a sign of their appreciation."

As for fundraising, I will be needing monthly support. Whether it's $25, $50, $100, or $500, any amount of monthly support that you can give is greatly needed. Not just for me, but for the people of PNG and so I can serve them. Please give to this work. But keep in mind, I don't just need monthly support while I am in PNG. It is needed now. Because I can't get over there until 100% of the support is donated. But I also need one-time support for things like training and plane tickets to get over there. And I also need prayer support, because that is a huge part of this as well. If you are able to commit to keeping me in your prayers for the 4 years that I am in PNG that would be awesome. If you would like to help with financial support and/or prayer support that would be great.You can donate to this ministry online, by phone, or by mail. Please designate your donation to go towards Ryan Cole. If donating by phone, call toll free 1-877-351-9344. If donating by mail, please make your cheque payable to Mission Aviation Fellowship of Canada. If donating online you can follow this link: https://mafc.org/missionarypages/cole/index.html#donate

If you are unable to give financially but still want to be a part of this, then please feel free to sign up for my MAF newsletters by sending me a message at ryancole277@yahoo.ca

If you know of other people who would be interested in hearing about this work with MAF, then please spread the word. Because the more people that know about this, the better. Check back to find out about events where I'll be speaking about MAF.

To get to know me better, check out the video below.

Thanks for reading this and thank you so much for your support,

-Ryan

An Impromptu Interview with Me

To donate by mail, send your cheques to:

MAF Canada

264 Woodlawn Road W.

Guelph, Ontario

N1H 1B6

For USA donors online:

https://maf.org/donate?fid=NxJL1Lk3Lhk%3D&fdesc=xFqs0FDMQGRCrYqqrUs7fg%3D%3D#.VL8qZdLF-Sr

More Info:
www.mafc.org
http://maf-papuanewguinea.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/281213732064928/