Fallbrook Presbyterian Church

Steffan flies helicopters for New Tribes Missions throughout Indonesia. His wife Julie helps to maintain radio equipment to allow Steffan to travel deep into remote villages to support locals with supplies and transportation.Greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ!

 Here is a letter from them!!

I love this season of the year when we celebrate our Lord.  We celebrated
Thanksgiving last week, and had a great time with our friends as we ate a
turkey imported from the States.  The day after Thanksgiving, our family put
up all the Christmas decorations and the music is already playing to the
tune of Christmas.

However, the moment I step out of my home, I am reminded that the world has
yet to know the true message of Christmas.  Instead of a cross, I see a
mosque.  Instead of a Bible, there is the Koran.  Instead of Christ, it is
Mohammad.   We feel the tensions between Christianity and Islam.  But by
God¹s grace, we are still here and able to serve our Lord.

The last few months have been intense, to say the least.  We finished
installing the new engine on August 11th, and I have flown about 140 hours
since then.  I have also transported 732 passengers, and made 413 takeoff
and landings.  In October there was some major flooding just over the
mountains from where we live.  The government called for help, and we were
able to respond.  I flew one medical evac, and then flew food and clothing
to a village that was cut off from the outside world due to extreme
flooding. There have also been flights for new outreaches to villages that
are so far interior that there is no access other than by foot or
helicopter.  It is exciting to be a tool to reach people with the gospel of
Jesus Christ.  Thank you for supporting us as we reach out to the far
corners of the world with the love of Jesus Christ, both physically and
spiritually.

The kids have been busy, too.  Abby played in a badminton tournament and did
exceptionally well.   Even though she didn¹t win, she did take the first set
(which is awesome considering that she is playing against an Indonesian:).
Ethan would have played too, but sprained his toe and so couldn¹t
participate. He watched from the bleachers this time. Ethan has also taken a
keen interest in reading.  Of all things, he loves to read the Encyclopedia,
and has been studying all the wars of our history (Revolutionary, Civil, WWI
& II, the Korean War and finally the Vietnam War).  Isaac is my little
³engineer².  He is always designing something to build or fix.  Almost every
day he has some new project going on.  All three kids enjoy playing soccer
once a week with our Palu team.  It is a lot of fun for all families to play
together and set our work aside for a while.

There is much to thank the Lord for!  We praise the Lord for you!  You have
been such a support to us as we have served here in Indonesia.  Thank you!!

God bless you,
Steffan for the family

PS Just as we are getting ready to send out this email, we got word that our
neighbor's daughter just lost her husband in a bus accident.  They were
married just a year ago.  Please pray for them as they  go through this hard
time, and for us as we try to be culturally sensitive and encouraging to
them!