Hello!
Thanks for visiting our website, what would you like to know about us?
We met in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in February 2016 and got married in the UK in July 2017. Since then, we’ve served together as Missionaries, working for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in PNG. We live in Telefomin, a remote community in the mountains, near the PNG border with Indonesia. Our life here is not “normal” by western standards, but we love it.
Telefomin is our home, MAF is our life.
Pictured with us is, right, is our dog, Koda, a PNG-mixed breed dog. He joined our family in December 2022 as a 7-week old puppy who came from a SIL (Wycliffe) family in Eastern Highlands Province, PNG. He loves going for walks around the airstrip, barking at people who walk past our garden fence, and doing ‘zoomies’ under the house! He is a ray of sunshine to us and we absolutely love him. In the middle of 2024, we took him to Port Moresby, the nearest Vet to where we live. It took 2 flights to get there, the first with MAF, second on a commercial carrier. He needed a cryptorchid castration, which then had complications. Due to the help and support of wonderful MAF friends, Koda thankfully made a full recovery and is back to his full bounce!
If you’d like to know more about us or our ministry, read on down or click on the button below to go to our Contact Us page…
“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
- Psalm 139 v 9-10 (The Bible)
Ryan
I’m a pilot, currently flying the Cessna 208 Caravan.
I grew up in Alberta in a strong Christian family. I attended Prairie Bible College where I earned my pilot’s license. In 2008, following God’s leading, I joined MAF and served with Flying Mission Services in Botswana, flying medical evacuation flights (medevacs), until 2011. After returning to Canada, I spent 2 years flying in northern Alberta.
In 2013, God reaffirmed my calling to serve with MAF and in 2016 I transitioned to Papua New Guinea. As an MAF pilot, I serve isolated communities in PNG by providing access to essential services that greatly impact the physical and spiritual well being of the people living in these areas.
In my spare time I can often be found fixing things around the house or at the MAF base. I also enjoy gardening, reading, playing computer games and leather work.
Siobhain (Shiv)
My job title is Operations Support which includes a lot of things, like training our local staff in upgrades to MAF’s flight booking computer software, pilot rostering, dealing with complex booking requests involving multiple aircraft and, in 2024, writing a manual for our Ground Operations Department. As a member of the wider MAF team, I look after MAF’s transit houses in Telefomin and provide hospitality to visiting MAF staff. I enjoy being an active part of the Ladies’ Fellowship group at our church in Telefomin which meets on Saturday mornings. I also distribute Reusable Sanitary Kits with Menstrual Health training to young women in our part of PNG, thanks to the generosity of friends overseas who make the kits. I don’t really have a “typical” day or week, but I spend a lot of time in front of my computer or in the kitchen.
I grew up in military communities in England and Germany. After university, I followed in the footsteps of my parents and grandfather by joining the Royal Air Force (RAF). I worked in logistics and airport management in London, Scotland, and the Falkland Islands.
After leaving the RAF in 2013, God led me to MAF. I have been in PNG since 2014, using my skills and experience in various strategic roles within the Operations Department.
Spare time, what’s that? We don’t have a grocery store in Telefomin, so every 2-3 months I fly with Ryan to Mt Hagen, MAF’s HQ, and buy all of our store-goods for the next 3 months. This means I spend a lot of time baking fresh bread and cooking from scratch. But I also enjoy blogging, arts & crafts, board games and listening to audio books.
Enjoying the daffodils in London
At the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK
Our presentation table at a church in York, UK
Isolation Snowman building in Canada!
Walking the road to Eliptamin, PNG with Ray
Our wedding day
Pandemic - the board game!
Canoeing off the coast of Madang, PNG