COVID-19 update

Saving the world... one game at a time

Here's the text of an email I sent to my support network this morning, giving an update on my current situation.


Just a quick note to let you know what is happening regarding my role at MAF in Mareeba, in the midst of the current COVID-19 situation.

While there have been a number of cases reported in Queensland, the vast majority of these have been in the south-east (Brisbane, Sunshine Coast etc.). The nearest confirmed case to Mareeba has been reported in Townsville, nearly 400 km away. Even so, we are following the government's guidelines at work and church as a precaution.

The MAF flight training centre continues to operate as normal with briefings and flight lessons, so for the time being I will be remaining in Mareeba and continuing to work here. Life has not changed much apart from the supermarkets running out of pasta, rice, flour and toilet paper...

Our next assessment centre which was scheduled for early April has been postponed. There is a high likelihood that travel to Arnhem Land will be restricted, to protect the people living in remote communities there who do not have access to the required level of healthcare if they were to contract the virus. So I am still waiting to hear whether the ferry flight I was scheduled to do next month will be going ahead or not.

Please pray for our PNG students who are separated from their families at this time, in what is for them quite a foreign culture. Some of them were planning to go back home during the term break, but they are no longer able to due to the government's travel restrictions around self-isolation on their return to Australia.

Please also pray for the MAF staff working around the world who need to make difficult decisions about their own situations: whether to stay in country or to leave, how far to scale back their programmes in order to protect the people whom they are serving.

Finally, please pray for missionaries from other organisations who are encountering difficulties. I have personally received updates from missionaries currently in Sicily (in lockdown), Nepal, and a family in the USA who are now unable to reach their mission country.

I rejoice that God is ultimately in control of the situation, even when people around us are panicking and in despair.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." (Ps. 91:1-2)