Less flying means more time with People.

Not only do missionaries have to be flexible, they have to be multi-faceted. There are still some mission flight programs where it is all the pilot can do to keep up with the flight schedule. He gets home from a full day of flying to try and get some rest for another full day that will begin in the morning, and this goes on 6 days a week. Well, our  flight program here in Mexico isn’t one of these. Sure, we have our times when it feels like the flights are back to back, even stacking up, but some months I can count on one hand the number of program flights I make. This makes our ministry look considerably different than the ministry of the daily flyer. It gives us more time to tinker on the airplane, pull weeds off the airstrip and do other flight program related chores. It also means that our flights can look different. Rather than dropping the missionary off in the mountains and running back to town to cover the next flight, we can afford to stay out in the mountains with him for a few days. This can save the missionary considerable money as we don’t have to make two round trips to get him out and back again.

It also gives us a chance to help missionaries in ways other than flying them out and back. One time, Michael and I flew a truck differential out to a missionary whose truck was broken down in the tribe. We stayed and helped him get it put in the truck. When we were done, Michael flew the airplane back to town while I drove out with the missionary in his newly repaired truck, just in case.

Often times, when we fly dentists out for dental brigades, the pilot gets to stay and help hold the suction tube. On the last two dental brigades I flew for, I realized that this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. So instead I installed a new stove pipe in the missionary’s house and worked on the church-building remodel project.

On another occasion I flew a translation consultant out to the missionary station for a translation check. Also on this trip’s agenda was to get the missionaries’ kids given their annual school achievement tests. Unfortunately, there were too many children at this station for the one test administrator in our plane to finish during our short stay. And so after a little training, I was deputized and spent the next few days administering achievement tests.

When there are no flights, we can help in many non-aviation related ministries here in town. I know of one New Tribes pilot who was the field committee chairman. Here in Mexico our “secondary ministries” are quite varied. Dave and Michael serve on New Tribes Mexico’s contingency committee. Last year I taught a class at the missions MK school. After having to give several of my flights to Dave or Michael or find a substitute to teach my class for me because of flight/class schedule conflicts, I decided that a less rigidly scheduled “second ministry”  is preferable. One of my new ministries this year is administrating this website. This, I can easily do between flights.

Outside of the mission organizations, we get involved in our local churches and their outreaches as well as simply reach out to our neighbors. In fact, discipleship seems to be one of our stronger suits when it comes to non-technical ministries. Perhaps it is because we are members of church-planting missions and that is a focal point for such missions. Perhaps it’s just part of our individual gifting, I don’t now. I have noticed though that all of us here, if not discipling a recently converted neighbor or friend, are intimately involved in bettering somebody else’s life.Whether it is one of the missionaries’ kids, someone at church or even another missionary, I see that this group of technicians has not forgotten that missions is first and foremost about people.

Rubber Missionaries

Flexibility is a word that every missionary comes to know well. Plans are made, flights are scheduled, tickets are even paid for, and at the last moment everything changes. In fact, most plans go through dozens of significant changes from day to day, sometimes coming full circle. There are only a couple of for-sures when it comes to missionaries and our plans: 1) plans are never for sure, 2) God decides their outcomes.

We were planning on going to Venezuela to be part of New Tribes Mission’s flight program there. We came to Mexico to study Spanish while waiting for our Venezuelan visas. They never came. The flight program in Venezuela was shut down and we were left without a field to go to. While NTM’s Mexican field is quite large, it does not have an aviation program in Mexico because UIM Aviation has faithfully filled this need for many years. UIM Aviation had a need for another pilot/mechanic in Mexico and so I started flying for UIM Aviation while maintaining our status as members of NTM Mexico. I thought it was a privilege to be a part of one mission organization, now I get to be a part of two.

“A person plans his course but the LORD directs his steps.” Prov. 16:9

And we’re so glad he does.