The Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) family is deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague and friend, Joyce Lin. She departed the Sentani, Papua, Indonesia airport early in the morning of May 12, piloting an MAF Kodiak aircraft. Joyce was responding to the needs of the village of Mamit in the Papua highlands and cargo on the plane included COVID-19 rapid test kits for the local clinic. Within minutes of takeoff, she reported an emergency and the aircraft descended into Lake Sentani. Joyce was the only person on the airplane.
Indonesian Search and Rescue divers later confirmed that Joyce did not survive the accident. The MAF staff in Papua and Jakarta are working with authorities on the investigation of the accident.
Joyce is survived by her parents and two sisters. Prayers for her family in this time of sudden loss are appreciated, as well as prayers for the MAF Papua team that worked by her side.
Joyce loved working for MAF in Indonesia, where she served as a pilot and field IT support specialist. Though she was there just two years—one in Central Java for language school and another in Sentani—her impact was significant. Joyce repeatedly shared how joy-filled she was in the weeks before she went to join the Lord.
The final sentence of Joyce’s MAF biography reads, “While Joyce will always be excited to fly planes and work on computers, she is most excited to share the love of Jesus Christ by helping to transform other people’s deep discouragement and mourning into dancing and joy.”
Joyce was a light reflecting Jesus, and she will be deeply missed.
Information about Joyce and her journey to MAF can be found here: https://www.maf.org/lin
A tribute to Joyce and her ministry and life is being developed and will be online in the very near future. Information on her memorial services will be forthcoming.