Medevac to Yawor

 Hi All,

The other day I got a call for a guy that got cut by a boat propeller.  Dyro and I flew down to the lowlands to get him and brought him to the hospital in Dekai.  Click here or watch below.    Hope you enjoy!

Meeuwse Update

Hi All,

Flying over Wamena

A lot has changed here in Wamena in the last few months.  Our base manager and his family have had to leave Helimission due to his wife's health and they are now back in Switzerland.  Our replacement base manager is still in the UK trying to get a visa to come back to Wamena.  He left for a 4 month furlough and has been gone over 1 year because Indonesia isn't granting visas at this point due to Covid.  Our other teammate, a pilot and mechanic, has taken a furlough and won't return until mid-July.  That leaves Amanda and I as the only Helimission expat on base.  This has increased Matt's workload a lot as he is not only the only pilot/mechanic, but is now overseeing the whole base and it's operation.  Please pray for him during this time as he manages his time between so many positions.

 

Dr Mia checking a patient

Since January, Matt has flown over 70 hours and has landed in different locations over 200 times.  Most of our flights these days are for medical evacuations.  The most common calls are for women having complications during child birth.  Matt has connected with a local doctor, Dr. Mia, who is now on call for him.  When there is a medical call about a lady in labor, Dr Mia will accompany Matt and try to help deliver in the village instead of transporting them all the way to Wamena.  However, many times the condition is very serious and so they take the patient to Wamena where they can get the help they need.

 

Buzz praying for the local people

Matt was also able to do a flight to bring God's Word printed into local language to a handful of villages.  He brought in boxes of Bibles early in the week and by the end of the week they were begging for more Bibles as not everyone had gotten one.  Matt was able to bring another round of Bibles to these people so hungry for God's Word.  This type of flight is so encouraging and it's such a blessing to be able to bring God's Word translated into tribal language to these people.  It takes up to 10 years to learn the tribal language and translate the Bible into their language.  Also, you need to teach the people how to read as their language has never been written before.  Bringing these Bibles is the fruit of many years of work! 

Their Curch

Most of the missionaries we that we support by helicopter interior have been gone from their villages either due to Covid or to Visa issues, so we haven't done to many flights for missionaries this quarter.  But, we did just bring a missionary into the coastal area as he was in Papua extending his Visa.  He spent two weeks interior and then Matt flew him out again.  He and his family hope to return mid-August to continue serving in the coastal region.  Another family that serves in the highlands behind our house have just returned to Papua.  They are currently sorting out some visa problems and soon will move up to Wamena.  We will see flights for them also as they continue to translate God's word and to train up leaders.

 

Creator's Talk in Bina

Many times, Helimission will support missionaries in a village until they are able to build an airstrip.  Usually, an airstrip is built before the Bible is translated or before the gospel presentation happens.  One such village is Bina.  We supported them for many years, but once the airstrip was opened we only got hear what was happening in the village instead of seeing it first hand.  We have heard they presented the gospel to the Dem people and many gave their lives to following Jesus.  This is why we are here, and why we work hard to support missionaries interior!  The light of our savior is breaking through the darkness in Papua and people living without hope are, for the first time, hearing the hope that you and I have in a Savior that died for our sins!  How amazing to be a part of bringing such good news to the ends of the earth!

 

Amanda learning the trade

Amanda has been investing a lot of time into the people of Poga.  When she first moved to Papua she was fascinated by the hand-made baskets that some friends had but were so hard to find.  Through a friend she found out there were two guys left in Poga that still new how to make baskets.  After connecting with them, Amanda encouraged them to teach the younger generation how to make baskets.  If they would make them then Amanda would help them sell their baskets for a fair price.  This has turned into a very big thing and we get basket deliveries to our house almost every week.  We took a drive to Poga, about 2 hrs away, and got to see the basket making process first hand.  There are men, women and children making baskets.  One kiddo says he is making baskets so he can go to school!  It's amazing to see this, almost lost, craftsmanship being passed down to a new generation and our hope is that through this ministry God's love is shown but most of all that His kingdom advances.

 

Gracie jumping high

Grace has just finished 2nd grade and is on summer vacation.  It's
amazing to watch her grow and learn.  When she gets to accompany us into a village, she comes alive.  She loves playing with Papuan kids and she has learned the language so well!  We are very proud of Grace and love to see how she loves people here.  Grace is a very active kiddo and we can't believe how fast she is.  This girl loves animals and we are currently raising a massive grub that should turn into a rhinoceros beetle in a few months.  She also has a few cats and they keep having kittens, so that brings her a lot of joy.  Wamena has been short on expat kids lately, but now other families are arriving so there are more kids to play with. 

 

Audrey picked flowers

Audrey is growing up and talking a lot more.  She has such a sweet personality and makes us laugh often.  She has a big heart in a little body and compassion really shines through her.  She is not yet as comfortable with Papuans that she doesn't know as it takes Audrey some time to warm up to new people.  But, once you have broken through the ice, she will be a good friend.  She is our big helper and anytime someone is in the kitchen, Audrey is not far behind wanting to help.  She loves to do merry-mints (experiments) that involve mixing all kinds of things together in a bowl.  She too is an animal lover and her favorite thing right now is to come feed our eagle.  Sometimes she even finds and eagle leaf (eagle feather) on the ground and that makes her very happy.

We want to send you all our appreciation for supporting us both financially and with your prayers.  We really love being able to serve the people of Papua, and it's such an honor to be able to be a part of reaching people with the gospel who have lived generations in fear and without hope.  Thank you for being a part of advancing God's kingdom here in Papua by sending us.  If you want to join our financial support team just click the "support" tab above and see how you can support us.

Family Photo in the Famous May Grass of Papua

Meeuwse Year End News 2020

Happy Belated New Year from Matt, Amanda, Grace and Audrey!  

I had started this update before Christmas but life got very busy quickly and I didn't have the time to finish.  So, now I am sitting in Jakarta doing a 5 day quarantine, waiting to be reunited with my family.  This last year was unusual to say the least.  There were many stressors added on top of normal stressors and as we start 2021, we are tired, as I imagine many of you are too.  Trying to adapt to all these new situations and ever-changing regulations is exhausting.  But, the good news is we are not defeated!  I love this passage in 2 Corinthians 4 - 

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you.......knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.  For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.  So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

 What an encouragement to keep running the race.  We do this for "you" so that lives are saved and thanksgiving will increase.  It's easy to think a new year will fix everything, but looking in to 2021 we are looking at many giants to conquer.  And we could sit here and talk about how big these giants are and why it looks so grim, but that isn't what David did.  He saw the giant and only talked about how big God is and Goliath doesn't seem so big after that!  Another thing that helps keep our perspective is looking back and seeing the power of God at work in history and specifically in our lives.  God does not change and he still does miracles today.  He still takes down our Giants today! Here is a recap of our year 2020, I hope as you read this you see God working and that you get to receive the blessing of being a part of what God is doing through us here in Papua!

Removing the blades for inspection

We had a 6 month furlough and arrived back on base in November of 2019.  It was a stressful beginning as almost every helicopter was coming down for big inspections, but our maintenance team and I were able to complete the inspections in time without any delay in our flight service.  After that, Covid-19 hit around the world which changed everyone's way of living.  Travel got much more difficult, if not impossible.  Our flight schedule got drastically reduced and team mates and people we served left their posts in mass numbers.  Many locals went back to their home towns or villages and our town became quiet.  Our family remained in Wamena from March until December 2020 without ever leaving Wamena except for flights that Matt performed and once for our visa application.  This year has been quite a challenge in many ways, but also very exciting.

Before we left the US after furlough our pastor prayed that this term would be a term of seeing fruit from our labors.  We had to laugh a bit as upon arrival to Wamena, we had so many local friend come literally bearing fruit for us to eat.  We had so much, we couldn't eat it all.  We chuckled and said to each other that the prayer was answered so quickly.  But, God really did answer that prayer already.  

Abed's first time flying solo

When we first arrived in Wamena back in 2015, Matt connected with Abed, a local worker that had a dream to become a pilot.  Matt spent every Wednesday with Abed doing pilot ground training, not knowing if there would ever be a way to actually fly.  God opened a way and Abed was sent to Jakarta for official flight training this year and he just obtained his pilot's license.  It was so exciting to see Abed fly all by himself, and he has such a testimony of how God provides at the right time.  He has a heart to serve his own people here in Wamena, and for us, this is a huge gift from God to see the fruit of our labor.  Abed still has a long road to go ahead of him as he learns how to fly in one of the most dangerous places in the world, but this a huge step for him and a huge step for Papuans in general!

This is Oten!

Another way God has encouraged us is through one of our house guards.  We moved to Wamena and Oten was working at the house we were to live in.  As we got to know him, his faithfulness really shown.  It is impossible to have a conversation with Oten without it ending up in scripture somehow.  Well, about a year into our first term, he asked if he could go to school to become a pastor, but needed to continue working for us or he wouldn't be able to pay for school.  We talked about it and decided we would let him continue on with us and go to pastoral school.  We told him that so many people had invested into us in order to get us to where we are and we want to do the same for him.  Now almost 4 years later, Oten has passed all his schooling and just started a 6 month apprenticeship here in town.  We are so excited that Oten passed and will be able to preach God's word to his own people in their own language.  It is so much more powerful when locals reach locals and to be a part of this process is so humbling.  We feel so encouraged to know that the people we are investing in are going to invest into other people and that God's kingdom will continue to advance!

Amanda doing some science!

 On the home front, Amanda had to step into a role (as many have had to do this year) that was not expected.  She, with another  mom, took on the role of 2nd grade teacher.  This really increased Amanda's workload and at first seemed very scary to have to teach.  She set up the school room so nicely and has learned to love teaching and feels very blessed for the opportunity to teach Gracie this year.  We are still praying for teachers and God has provided a teacher for us here in Wamena which is a huge blessing.  She arrived a few days before Christmas and spent Christmas with us!  This teacher was actually a friend of ours when we lived in the states.  Matt led a small group for our church and she was a young lady that attended.  We watched her learn how to drive and got to invest into her too during the years we lived near each other.  Now, she is out here on the mission field investing in our kiddos.  It's pretty amazing.

 

Grace with Fina

Gracie has learned so much this year.  It's amazing to watch her grow!  We love how much she connects with the local Papuans wherever we go.  She has really increased in her reading, writing and arithmetic abilities and many times I'm surprised at what she knows.  She is full of imagination and can have fun wherever she is.  We built her a place to do trapeze and we get a bit nervous seeing all the tricks she does on it.  We are a bit more cautious now as there is no expat doctor out here anymore.  

Audrey and Grace

Audrey is now 3 years old and in a very funny age.  Her vocabulary is finally increasing and the things she says makes us laugh every day.  She is so sweet and wants to help us whatever we are doing.  Every Sunday we wake up and make pancakes together and it has become a very fun tradition.  We have to make the batter from scratch and it's always a fun process.  She is picking up a few Indonesian words and it's really cute to see her interact with the Papuans she knows.  She warms up to new people very slowly, but when she knows you its a lot of fun.  

 

This year has been a year of so many challenges, but through all these challenges God continues to prove that He is in control.  He continues to bless his work and it's so fun to be a part of.  We write this letter a bit tired from the challenges of this year, but we also are filled with joy at what God is doing.  We are looking forward to this next year even though our team again will become smaller as our base manager has decided it's time to head back to their home country to focus on his wife's health.  We will be down to only 3 expat families which means our workload will increase a bit next year.  We have a few people in the pipeline to show up, but the earliest they could be on base would be 2022.  So, please pray for us to continue serving with joy and stamina during this next year.  We are so thankful for all the flights we were able to do without any incident or accident.  Please pray for Oten and for Abed as they get to begin living out their dreams and that we can continue to invest into the people God places in our lives!

We love you all and really appreciate all your prayers and support that keep us out here.  If you want to join our financial support team, click the tab for support to learn how you can become a donor.  For all of you that give faithfully, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  Because of your faithful giving you get to be a part of what God is doing here in Papua.  So thanks for blessing us, thanks for blessing Abed, and thanks for blessing Oten.  There are so many more stories of lives being touched through what we are doing here that I wish I could share with you.  Thanks for being a part of this story,

 God bless you all,

The Meeuwse Family

"I have made you a light for the Gentiles, 

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."

Acts 13:47

Lost, Sick, Found...And a Little Bit of Dust.

It's been a while friend.  Let me blow the dust off this blog....(Whiffff...cough. cough.)  Okay.  Let's get started!

It has been a busy (what's new?) last year.

Newest news?......We are on home assignment, furlough....whatever you call it....it means we are back in America right now! And we will be until the beginning of October!  This is a normally scheduled event.  The schedule goes....3 years overseas, 6 months home assignment.   So, here we are! 

We come to America at the end of a rather eventful and hard year.  We had a year full of sickness.  Lots and lots of sickness, and several other hard events.  Some of those events you are well aware of (ie. Matt's helicopter losing signal and everyone thinking he was a goner)  and dengue fever for Matt, Audrey and myself.  Besides these things we had quite a few traumatic run-ins with drunk men, a pet eaten, several pets die, many stomach bugs, and flu, hand foot and mouth, and many colds. 

We came to furlough time feeling a little bit tired, a little beat up.  We are thankful for this time in America.  But let me assure you.  Papua is home, and we love it there (and already miss it)



Dengue:  We were not in Papua when we contracted Dengue fever (mosquito borne)  we were in Palu, on the island of Sulawesi (another island of indonesia) which had been rocked by a 7.5 earthquake 4 months prior to us being there.  We have a base on that island, and Matt was going to help out for one month.  The whole family got to go along.  We were there 2.5 weeks when Matt, Audrey and myself came down with a 104.5 fever.  Bloodwork confirmed.  Dengue.  That was HARD.  In lots of ways.But there were miracles too.  I should write a blog on that alone.  But this is an overview.  We flew to Jakara (capital of indonesia) for good care.  Audrey was admitted to the hospital 4 nights to get fluids.   We are all healed up.  The only lingering side effects are painful joint pain in Amanda's hands (this can last up to one year after dengue) and hairloss for Amanda.  This is also common.  We are thankful Audrey made a complete recovery.  (Important to note to anyone considering visiting, we do NOT have dengue or malaria in Wamena where we live, so you can still come visit ;)

Praying all night with friends for Matt

Matt missing:  He's done a lot of explaining to everyone he sees since being here.....and it has made us realize how loved he is, how much we all are.  You all really cared.  Churches, groups of people we have never met or heard of were praying for us during that time.  We will probably never know how many people God mobilized to pray for us! We are overwhelmed and feel loved by this. 

My dear friend came over immediately and spent the night

That was the worst night of my life.  I truly thought he was gone, I tried to remain positive, but I faced one of my worst fears.  Thank you Jesus the outcome was not what so many of us were thinking.  SO many people were on the brink of buying plane tickets to come support me.  <3 for="" in="" nbsp="" p="" part="" thank="" that.="" you="" your="">

AMERICA!  We are here!!  We will be in Washington June-Mid July  Montana Mid July-August
We will set up open house days in each of those places that you can come to, watch a video of what we do, see pictures, hug us, laugh together, talk together.
We want to see you. We can't drive everywhere to see everyone (unfortunately) So if you want to see us, and are able to come to us....please just ask us!  We would love it!

During Furlough:
This time is used to see our friends and family, (You!)  rest, and build support.  Some financial support has dropped off (which is normal) We have Grace starting school as soon as we get back, and we've yet to reach 100% support.    You can help us with this in several ways.  If your church or mission board is looking for or might be interested in partnering with us, please let us know and we can reach out and contact them, or you are welcome to give them our information.  We are available and willing to speak in churches.  If you personally are able to partner with us with a reoccurring monthly gift, or one time gift, we are thankful.  And pray for us.  For the mission, and us personally too. We really need this kind of support.

If you have any questions for us about ANYTHING, please don't even hesitate to ask us.  It is so nice to hear from you. You can reach us at (425) 588-5200  or helibladesoflove@gmail.com

We love you.  Thank you for reading all the way through this.  You make us happy.

Love, Amanda. Matt. Grace. Audrey


oh. and in there....Matt went to the Madagascar base for 2 weeks!  because..well..of course! ;)

Loving your enemies is so easy to do.....until you actually have to DO it.

Hello Friend. 

Well. To put it bluntly, our family has had a hard couple weeks.  It has been downright painful.  

It started on a high note, a reason to celebrate, and quickly turned into a sad story….bear with me.  It has taken me a while to write about it, as I needed to get my feelings more sorted out before I could share it with you.  

It started with Matt’s birthday last week.  We decided we would take a family camping trip to the entrance of a beautiful cave.  We packed up everything, birthday cards and all, and headed out.  Once we arrived at the cave and began setting up camp, I quickly realized my camera bag with my nice camera and lenses was missing….my heart sank more and more as I looked through camp, through the truck…..nowhere to be found.  I began dissecting out drive out….when could it have gotten stolen?...when did I see it last?...  We figured it must have been snatched out of the truck at some point.  Matt went back, and retraced all of our steps, and spoke to people at each stop we made, seeing if anyone knew anything.  At one point on the way to the cave, we reorganized all of our gear for weather….it was at this stop Matt spoke to a little mama who said she saw a bag on the roof of our truck as we drove away…… ugh… I was so disappointed!  Taking nice photos for people here has brought me so much joy….I was hopeful someone would turn it in…as it had lots of photos of our family, and the last photos I took were a whole photoshoot of Helicopters at the office…..it would not be hard to find us at all….but no luck….on the way home from camping we checked the large local market outside of town….often times stolen phones/cameras/laptops are sold there…..hopeful…..still no luck.  It is gone.   The whole camping trip I felt kinda bummed about this…but tried to remain upbeat….it was a birthday camping trip after all!....We headed home….and that is when we found out the next blow that was worse than the camera! 

On the way home we got back into signal for our phones….we stopped to grab some food…while we were waiting Matt got a text on his phone from our trusted friend and guard named Oten.  It said “I am so sorry, but last night a thief entered your yard and stole Albert, I looked and looked, but I could not find him”  

Let me tell you for a second about Albert.  He was our pet cockatoo…I was not so sure about him at first with that big beak.…but that sweet bird wiggled his way into my heart and melted it!  He was a total teddy bear.  So gentle and loving.  He was more like a dog, he got so excited when Matt got home, and he would follow me around the yard…waddling after me….I would turn around, and he would be right there….just to be near me… he would come from wherever he was when we called.  He would laugh at us, and his laugh mimicked Matt’s.  He would come over and lay his head on us, and lift up his wing so we could give him a snuggle….he danced…he barked like our dog, baulked like our chicken, he was so personable and loving….he was truly a joy and our little friend…

So as soon as I heard that text my heart started pounding!....”What?! NO!! We have to get home NOW and go find him!! We have to do DO SOMETHING….!”   We raced home…hoping there was something we could do…..I was in go mode, I was mad!…….I was thinking “Someone has him!....I am sure there is a trail of information we can follow if we get people to talk to us and tell us what they know, then we can get him back from the people that stole him!  My heart was pounding fast, and my head was spinning….someone came in our yard?!  Someone stole my friend?!  How dare they?!  How COULD THEY?! I was getting more mad….thinking of who I could talk to…. In my head I wanted to go talk to every single one of our neighbors….tell them “I KNOW YOU KNOW SOMETHING….TELL ME NOW!” I  felt trapped within the confines of a culture I don’t completely understand. Would people help us? Would they tell us if they knew something?!...  I just wanted Albert back….but how? I blew past our local friends without the normal polite greetings…  By this point I was crying red hot tears…. I was in a rush, it was a blur, but somewhere in the craziness while crying and still hoping, and trying to come up with a plan, I heard someone saying there was blood in our yard… Another wave of anger and losing more hope….I went outside. I saw the blood…as a bunch of people tried to give possible explanations for the blood….I think they tried to make me feel better saying it probably wasn’t Albert’s blood….but I had a sinking feeling…. During the middle of all of this….a group of about 10 local kids had climbed the tree right on the other side of our fence and were looking in and asking if they could come play….I stormed past the kids crying, but Matt stayed outside to see if they knew anything….one boy said he knew where our bird was…. The sound of hope!! We rushed outside to talk to them…. Once we were outside all information from the kids dried up….the boy who said he knew suddenly had nothing to say….and other kids said they knew nothing…..AHHHH!!!  I was so irritated with cultural differences…..JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW KID!!!  But I didn’t say anything….I marched back to my house….because I was about to start sobbing again….

Angry, Gut punched, Crying, every moment realizing we probably won’t see Albert again… but still wanting to go yell at everyone to tell me what they know and who has my little buddy….apparently the kids had decided to help us find Albert, they started investigating, and then started yelling wildly……..         “THEY ATE HIM! THEY ATE HIM! THEY ATE ALBERT!!” 

Matt delivered the news...the kids looked in the honai (grass hut) right on the other side of our fence, and they found small albert feathers half charred, and next to the remnants of a fire….. and I came completely unglued.  I screamed… I sobbed….I knew…I knew who did it….the drunk men who hang out in that little honai everyday…The drunk men who can see in our yard, and see me when I come outside… The men who intimidate me, but I have always been polite to…… I can’t remember what I sobbed about them…or maybe I can, but I shouldn’t repeat it…  I was FURIOUS….more angry than I have been in years.  It felt as though every ugly situation I have faced here, every hard thing I have been through here.....the pain of all of it came out…I felt like the wind was knocked out of me…I felt completely violated,  I felt completely betrayed, I felt sick to my stomach…..I wanted to see for myself.  The kids showed me what they had found…the evidence was pretty conclusive….the kids were very sober…I wanted to just scream…but instead I told the kids “these men ate my friend, and they probably sold his feathers for money,…but good character is worth much more than the money they got….I hope none of you grow up to steal.”  They all had wide eyes and shook their heads in unison saying “yes mama Grace, yes mama Grace”  I’m sure I was a sight to behold for them, this crazed westerner. 

I returned to my house feeling flattened, shocked, deflated, and still angry… I wanted to go punch them all, to SCREAM at them…Have the police round them all up and throw them in prison…I wanted them to KNOW how much they hurt me…..It is a good thing the men were not around right then…….but they returned a few hours later…..the rest of the evening we could hear them from every corner of our house…singing and laughing drunkenly…. I sat in my house and cried.  Insult to injury……be still my heart… 

Over the next few days I felt sick to my stomach…I felt like I had no wind in my sails, and someone punched me in my gut.  I felt so sad over Albert… I knew I needed to change my heart about these men who ate him…. These men have always hung out in the field next to our house…they are there everyday…walking around from morning to night sometimes, and always completely drunk.. A few months ago, a small honai (grass hut) was made in the field, right on the other side of our fence…the men now had shelter, and a place to hang out at night…the honai quickly became a hotspot, and the number of men coming was multiplying….many of my friends (local and expat) who had tried to go down the road were bothered by these men being aggressive.

I was struggling in my heart....It was difficult to comfort Gracie's sad heart, when mine was so upset too.  It's hard to explain to her why these men ate our friend...….I texted this to my family:

The honai where they found Albert's remains...picture taken from my deck.

 “… I want JUSTICE….but it probably wont happen.   So I pray.  And I secretly hope that the blood in our yard is from Albert biting them HARD…but at the same time I pray. Pray Jesus will get ahold of them…pray for my heart toward them, and I cry when I pray for them…because in my flesh I want to see them get justice served,….but all I can do is pray about my heart, and for their soul.”

Meanwhile our neighbors and friends were growing tired of the problems this group of men was making as well.  The kids that live around us couldn’t come out and play when the men were in the honai, people could not pass by without being hackled.  They occasionally threw rocks at my house which made me want Grace to stay inside… it was getting worse.  A group of local men who were tired of this problem took matters into their own hands, they went out in the night, took their machetes for protection, and they flattened the honai.  They told us they were going to try to destroy it, and in the morning we walked on our deck to see it flattened….I wondered what would happen when the men came back….but it was anticlimactic…later that day the group of men were sitting under a tree, drinking, and carrying on.  

One morning reading my Bible, God made a verse pop out to me….He gave me this verse to encourage my heart, and to challenge me…..how was I going to respond?.... my insides kinda squirmed.  My desire for justice was clashing with what I knew I needed to do...forgive them, love them.  I AM THEM....I have never stolen someones pet and eaten it....but I've rebelled against God, I've hurt people, I have sinned over and over, I've known right from wrong, and chosen wrong....and still, despite the MOUNTAIN of things I have done wrong, God has forgiven me for ALL OF IT....He loves me fiercely.  What a gift this has been in my life... I need to love these men who have wronged me....

The Bible and Coffee Gift

And all of the sudden I had an idea.  I knew what I was going to do.  I needed to give these men a gift. Even after the horrible thing they did to us..  A Bible, and coffee, and I would put it under the tree where they sit everyday......The thought of this excited me.  I wrapped up a Bible, coffee and candy in a Ziploc bag, I wrote in the cover of the Bible that Jesus loves them, and He is stronger than ANY sin, and I pray for them, that they give their heart to Jesus.  Grace and I had a long talk about why we were going to give the men a gift even when they were so mean.  We talked about how we need to love them, love our enemies. 

I shared my plan with our friend Otinus…I was thinking he would think my plan was very strange…..but he was excited, and he wanted to help! He instantly had ideas of his own…he wanted to make sure that nobody else would take the Bible….so he made this sign…..

It says "greetings to the people who are always drunk here.  You can read the Bible, it is a gift for you, and you can read Efesis 5:18."

Otinus and Yali marched out to the tree as soon as the spot was vacant, and nailed the sign to a tree, and hung the Bible under it....

It touched my heart, it put wind back in my sails….it put some joy in my soul.  These men of God cared too, and they thanked me for coming up with the plan…that meant so much to me…because I saw that they were excited to see these men be reached as well, they didn’t think my plan was terrible….they did say it was weird, but still good.  =) haha

The Bible was out there for a whole week, and guess what…..PEOPLE READ IT!  About 9 people (that we know of and saw) took it out of the bag, read some, and then returned it to the bag…..a couple of days ago a group of about 5 big burly men with big machetes came to the tree, they read the Bible for about 30 min, put it back in the bag and all saluted the Bible…hahaha!  A couple of days ago the Bible disappeared, that’s okay! I just bought another one….and will be putting it out there tomorrow!... 

My heart isn’t mad at those men anymore….my heart is calm about them.  I want to see their lives changed, I want to see them know Jesus, to know how much He loves them, I want to see them not be slaves to alcohol. 

I see God’s hand in this….as painful as it has been.  A few weeks ago, when Albert was still safe and happy, I stood looking out my window watching the men stumble around the field…, and I prayed for them.  I prayed that God would get ahold of them, I prayed for their wives and children, I specifically prayed that God would give Matt and I wisdom on what we could do to reach out to them and show them Jesus’ love.

God makes beauty from ashes,  He makes beautiful things come from terrible things…I love that about Him.  And He is using this terrible thing to answer my prayer for the men. 

So, even though I loved Albert, and even though what they did to him and to our family was absolutely awful…..it has launched a series of chain reactions to show Jesus love to these men….and if it ends with them knowing Jesus….it’s worth it.   I forgive them.  

Pray for them with me.  They think they just killed a bird…….but little do they know, they triggered an army of people from all over the world praying for them!   

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WhatsApp-Meeuwse's Happenings in Papua

Hi All,

I hope you are all doing well.  Life here has been very busy lately as we have a team member on furlough, and another team mate moving to a different base.  I have been busy flying as the guys here are trying to get me checked out with the local area as soon as possible.  We are currently in the process of selling a helicopter and I should be flying that to Australia in the coming weeks.  There is a lot of exciting things happening these days and we have been looking for the best way to communicate with all of you.  This blog is nice, but it can be time consuming and it takes a lot of our internet data (of which we only get 2 GB a month).  I have recently found an App that any smartphone can download calld WhatsApp.  With this app Amanda and I can send photos, videos, texts and even voice messages to you all and you will have real time updates of what we are doing in Papua!  I think this is a great opportunity for those of you interested in what we do, to be informed and really see what happens day to day.  We have a lot of friend and family that are already on the app.  With this you all will only be able to recieve information from us, which is a good thing considering all the time zones we all live in.  This way it isn't a million texts in the middle of the night for everyone, but rather just a much for frequent update of what is going on in Papua.  

If you want to be informed in this way just go to the App store and download WhatsApp.  You can send me (Matt Meeuwse) a text from the app at this number +628124025703 (you will need to include the +).  Please tell me your name (first and last) and that you would like to be added to the group Meeuwse happening in Papua!  We look forward to having better communication with you soon!

Love,

the Meeuwse's

Audrey Goes on a Medivac

Raisin' them right!  Audrey had a fun 6 month birthday present!  Her first flight in a helicopter!

She went with me (mom) on a couple of medical evacuations that we got to follow along on.

The first village we tried to get in was completely closed in by weather.  It was to help a pregnant momma....unfortunatly we couldn't get in that day, but they tried to get her out as soon as weather got better.

The second village had two patients who needed help.  The first was an elderly lady who was very thin, and could not walk without help.  The second was a man who was brought in on a homemade stretcher, and was completely unconscious the entire loading process and flight.

It is so incredibly humbling to be a part of this.

Cutest passenger

We landed in the village, and everyone comes to check out the help while we wait for the patient

Here comes the first patient being helped to the heli

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Took some pictures as we waited for the patients to arrive

Waiving goodbye to their friends and family in their remote village

Loading up their very sick friend 

This picture is emotional.  The look on his face, as he looks at his friend, never knowing if he will see him again. 

The two patients 

Unloading at the hospital

Unloading at the hospital