MAF - An Interview

Recently we got the privledge of a brief interview with Lisa Lind, who is living in Congo with her family as missionaries with Mission Aviation Fellowship. We invite you to visit their site and blog to learn more about what they do to help the people of DRC and how you can help contribute. In the meantime, here is a fun conversation with Lisa to learn more about their heart for the mission and their every day lives. Enjoy! 

1. Please tell us about your family.
We are Matthew and Lisa Lind. We both grew up in Christian families south of Seattle, WA. After getting married in 2006, we moved to begin our adventure in Fairbanks, Alaska to help a friend plant a church. After five years and some shifts in our friend's focus, we felt the Lord calling us out of Alaska. Matthew had worked a large variety of jobs, and as we began to seek God’s next call, we found a job description on Mission Aviation Fellowship’s website matching each and very one of his previous jobs/skills. We applied and were accepted for a short term position in January of 2011.

We were assigned to Kinshasa, DRC and felt like if the Lord wanted us there, then we would happily go, not knowing anything about Congo more than the news reports. We sold our home and belongings in Alaska, raised support and arrived in Kinshasa in April 2012. After our year there, we decided God was calling us long term both in missions and in Congo. Matthew’s degree in leadership management matched perfectly with the need for management in DRC. We came back to the states to transition to full time career missionaries, raise long term support, and left for France to learn the national language of Congo in August 2014. We have now been living back in Kinshasa since August 2015, settling well into life here.We have three kids, Levi (born in Alaska in 2009), Amelia (born in Washington in 2011), and Axel (born in Idaho in 2013) and are expecting our fourth, with plans to stay in Congo for the birth. 

2. You are missionaries with Mission Aviation Fellowship. Can you tell me about MAF?

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) began in 1945 when post-war pilots wanted to continue to use their flight skills to serve isolated people. MAF has since grown to over 60 airplanes in 14 countries. MAF serves isolated people with aviation and technology to reach them with the love of Christ. MAF entered DRC in 1961, just after independence, to serve people all over Congo. We presently have MAF staff in four locations, with nine airplanes, and we also offer satellite internet services for villages to serve hospitals, universities, Bible schools, and missionaries.

3. What led your family to join MAF, and specifically in Congo? 

We specifically looked at MAF because of their hands-on approach to missions - giving people services that are desperately needed, and providing technical resources that might be impossible from within their own country. Besides the perfect match of a job description, we were blown away by the ministry and professionalism displayed by MAF from the moment we contacted them.


4.What is your family’s role with MAF in Congo?

Matthew is presently assisting with the management of west DRC’s programs (one in Kinshasa and one in Lubumbashi). This includes managing human resources (9 families and over 20 national staff), finances, and ministry planning. As the wife, my official duties are just to keep the home running and the household happy - but it is a different world doing it in Congo!

5. How long has your family lived in Congo?

We have lived in Kinshasa for one year, from April 2012 to April 2013, then returned in August 2015.


6. What has the adjustment been like for your family?

Initially, it was a huge learning curve, between the language barrier, cultural differences, timing, and the little differences like food availability and limited resources (like power and water not always being on and available). But, with help from more experienced missionaries and the helpers we have working in our home, those little things are now just a natural part of daily life and we take them in stride. Coming back in August was a simple reminder of why we love it here so much.


7. Can you tell me what your daily life is like in Congo?

Matthew heads into work very early to avoid traffic, at 6:15am. If he were to wait until 6:30, it would take twice as long. The kids and I homeschool and take care of our growing animal farm in the mornings, then focus on the house and anything ministry related in the afternoons. We currently have a growing flock of chickens, a goat, a bunny, a pair of guinea fowl, and a kitten. We are getting a small garden going and still working on projects at the house to make it more of our home. As we settle more and find our rhythm, we hope to become more focused on available ministry options outside of the home, though with so many small children, it will probably be limited for a few years.

8. What are some things you love about Congo?

We love the culture and the people who work so hard as a group. We love that while the systems are incredibly different than what we’re used to, they work in their own way most of the time.

9. What is your favorite place to visit in Congo?

We haven’t had the chance to get around much, but we love the tiny village of Kikongo - it is a wonderful respite from the big city of Kinshasa. It is just around 1000 people. We know the missionary couple living there, helping to run a pastoral training school. 

10. What is your interaction like with American adoptive parents traveling to Congo to visit their children?

During our first year here, adoptions were going well, but few families had traveled yet and it was still unfamiliar territory. Each week I took several adopting families out to the local fabric market, souvenir shopping, and sometimes out to eat - just for the chance to get out of the hotels and see a bit of the city.
Obviously, things are quite different now. We do see families coming to visit, though transportation throughout the city is difficult (we do not presently have a personal vehicle). We’ve been able to help with a few families who stay near our house, but mostly we can offer advice or recommendations. And of course we always appreciate when a traveling family has a few spare pounds to bring some supplies or treats that we are unable to get here.

Thank you Lisa!  Please consider supporting the Linds' ministry through prayer and/or financial support.

Less Orphans - Part 3

Helping through Adoption without Adopting


In our two previous posts here and here, we have discussed international orphan prevention and US orphan prevention. There is a final way you can support vulnerable children, and that is to support adoption. You can do so by adopting a child, but you can also do so by supporting an adoptive family. 

“Support” does not always have to be financial. Support could mean that you volunteer to babysit kids who are already home while adoptive parents fill out adoption paperwork, have a stress-free, paperwork-free date night, run errands, or meet with home study agencies. When children come home to their forever families, support could also mean that you take their grocery list to a store to shop for them or you go to their house to do laundry or clean. Support could mean you bring them a precooked or frozen meal. There will be so many things going on when their child(ren) come home that a meal will be greeted with a warm welcome.


Financial support is also extremely helpful, particularly in both international and private domestic adoption, where costs often exceed $30,000. (I doubt that anyone would turn you down if you offered financial support, particularly those of us who have endured an extra-long adoption process.) Adoption is almost never a cut-and-dry process, as the parents who are adopting from DRC are learning. Usually, that means extra expenses will pop up. We HATE asking for money, but if you have some extra and feel inclined to bless others with it, adoptive parents would almost always appreciate a nice financial surprise. Many families often have accounts set up with non-profit organizations so they can even accept tax-deductible donations.


Lastly, advocate. Many people do not even know about orphan problems, systematic problems that create debilitating situations for families, or the hundreds of thousands of children waiting for families. Most adoptive families began their process as a result of learning about a problem that we didn’t even know existed in years prior. Once we learned about it, however, we felt compelled to act. That means the more we advocate for at-risk children and families, the more people we will have to help solve the problems that make them at-risk. Advocacy is a huge player in the fight against the orphan crisis.


Do you have experience, talents, knowledge, skills, extra time or extra money you can use to help in one of the ways listed above? You’ve been given those things for a reason, and you’re reading this post for a reason. You definitely don’t have to adopt to make a difference. Say yes to serving and giving to orphan care wherever you’ve been called.


-JL

Less Orphans - Part 2

One of the best ways we can help orphans—now and in the future—is to do all we can to prevent their existence. In our last post we discussed ways we can work toward preventing children from becoming orphans in developing countries. Today we will discuss efforts that can be made right here in the US.


The first step in preventing the existence of orphans is to support women facing unplanned pregnancies. There are hundreds of pregnancy care centers around the nation that exist to provide financial, emotional, and educational assistance to women and couples who are facing unplanned pregnancies. These organizations can always use financial assistance, but they are also always seeking volunteers to help mentor young women, check in clients, help with medical evaluations, and support them in annual fundraising events. Consider contacting your local pregnancy care center to donate time or money.


You may also want to consider a domestic private adoption. This is an adoption within the United States apart from the foster care system.  Often times, an open adoption occurs, where a birth mother and/or father chooses a family to adopt their child, and they maintain some kind of relationship.  This can be a way to support a birth parent and build a relationship while adopting. Open adoptions often create lifelong bonds between birth parents, adoptive parents, and the children they all love. (On a personal note, my husband and I have a great relationship with our son’s birth mom, and we are excited to see how our son’s relationship with her develops over the years. We didn’t even think we wanted an open adoption, but it has blessed us in innumerable ways.)


The US also has an extensive network of foster care systems in place to help children and families who are at risk. The intent of foster care is to keep first families together, although that doesn’t always happen. You can help in this quest by getting certified as a foster care provider. We are facing a serious shortage of foster parents at the moment, which leads to an increased number of children in group homes, outside the grasp of a loving family. This tragic situation is cyclical, as the children raised without the care of a loving family are more likely to have children who then enter foster care as well. You can help these children by becoming a foster parent. You must take some training classes and complete a home study, but you can change the life of a child or children in monumental ways. (An added bonus to you: Training, home studies, supplies and medical care is free for those taking in foster children and adopting children from the State.) It’s hard work, but well worth it, particularly to the children you will grow to love. Some foster children go back to their birth families, which is the goal of foster care. Other precious kiddos, however, will become available for adoption and may just join foster families permanently, giving them a family to love them forever.


If foster care isn’t an option, but you feel called to help the foster system in a different way, you can train to provide respite care for foster families. This means you will attend educational seminars and get a home study to provide short-term care for children in foster care while foster families go out of town or when foster parents need a date night. It is an easy way to serve those who are serving vulnerable children.


Right here, in our own backyards, there are so many ways to prevent children from becoming orphans or to intervene in the lives of children who are already orphaned.  If this post tugs at your heart in any way, please don't hesitate to start pursuing one of the options mentioned above.

-JL