The adventures of Mathias and Mandy Glass

The Glass' are an extraordinary couple! Although they are part of MAF Germany, we were able to have them over at our UK office where Mandy was receiving communications training. 

Mathias is one of MAF’s incredible pilots in Papua New Guinea and Mandy’s taken a role in communications sharing and is doing a fantastic job of that too! They tie together first-hand experience with great story writing.

Whilst in the office, they shared what they’ve been up to in PNG. The stories they told were absolutely staggering, so we thought we’d share a couple with you too!

Kaiam airstrip

The airstrip in Kaiam has been in the making for 15 years by the community and the Lutz’s, a Lutheran Church family. In February this year, having finally been completed, Mathias and Sebastian Kurz performed the first ever landing.

Kaiam is so small and isolated; not even Google maps could find it but more importantly there’s no way of getting access to healthcare or education for the estimated 100 local folk living there. This is why an airstrip had to be built!    

MAF’s contribution was merely the tip of the ice-burg but the reaction of the locals, when the plane first landed, must have made Mathias and Sebastian feel like what they’d done had made all the difference in the world!

The people were jumping around as the plane came to a halt. Mathias and Sebastian could barely get out of the plane before being hugged and covered in mud (a customary greeting in this community). They got the plane pretty good too!

This airstrip, although a long time coming, has meant that a better quality of life is just around the corner for the folk in Kaiam and it must have been incredible to have experienced their initial excitement!

Yembiyembi Bible translation

Another incredible moment that the Glass’ are sure not to forget was when the Yembiyembi tribe received bibles in their language for the first time!

Unto the Nations is an organisation who have been serving this community for many years now and when a translation into the Bises language became available, MAF were invited not only to transport the bibles, but to join in the festivities that surrounded the day!

There was much singing and dancing as the local people gathered to celebrate the word of God finally coming to their village. Many speeches were made by Brooks Buser (Unto the Nations worker), the church leaders and key disciplers in the community.

The atmosphere must have been electric that day and the Glass’ certainly conveyed that same electricity when sharing the story with us. It must have been amazing to have been there!

We’re so grateful for the Glass’! Their service with MAF goes such a long, long way and it’s always super encouraging to hear of their adventures in PNG. We’ll be sure to keep our ears open for more brilliant stories to come from Mandy!