Two missionary aviation agencies are headquartered In southern Arizona, but not many local Christians know that. UIM Aviation (the aviation arm of United Indian Missions, Inc.) and NTM Aviation (part of New Tribes Mission) along with Wycliffe Bible Translators (also based in the region) began in 1996 hosting an event at the general aviation airport in Tucson for the express purpose of informing local Christians of the work that God is doing using missionary aviation.

The event, which took place this year on Saturday, March 19, has morphed into a big and anticipated family event every two years. Each visitor has a chance to chat with representatives from about twenty different missionary groups. As a highlight they are given rides in mission aircraft. Throughout the day, 10 airplanes made 95 flights carrying 403 visitors. This year Flying Under the Son brought their new Kodiak from California for a static display. At 10:00 and 3:00 they gave flights in it, the seats awarded by drawings to visitors and volunteers. Five hangars were opened onto the roped-off tarmac, each housing a distinct activity such as children’s crafts, special speaker, music for teens, mission displays and concessions stands run by church youth groups as fund-raisers. It was a beautiful day, fun for everyone, and a day of many significant conversations. That’s what it’s all about.

Plans for the next Mission Aviation Day and Ministry Fair are already underway. MAD 2013 will probably be geared more around teens and their enthusiasm for missions as a career choice.

The Quest Kodiak was the most popular display of the day. Here Bill Burr of Flying Under the Son tells visitors about its capabilities and flights.

John Weber, representing LeTourneau University, chats with visitors about missionary aviation training.

Ponche

1 cup dried jamaica flowers (flor de jamaica)

5 tamarind “beans” whole in pods (remove as much of the pod as possible and rinse under running water)

1-2 cinnamon sticks

2 piloncillo cones (This is a solid cone of sugar with a lot of the molasses left  in it.  A light molasses can be substituted to give the ponche the right flavor)

2 whole 6″-1′ length of sugar cane (if available)

sugar to taste

10 guava fruits, sliced (don’t remove seeds or skin just the ends)

10 whole Tejocotes

2 oranges, sliced in rounds

3 apples, cored, peeled and chopped in chunks

raisins and chopped pecans

Bring about three gallons of water to a boil.  Add the jamaica flower, husked tamarind beans, cinnamon sticks, sugar cane, orange rounds, tejocotes and piloncillo/molasses.  Simmer on low for a half hour to an hour.  Add sugar to taste and extra water if it is too strong.  When it is closer to serving time add the guava and apples.  Simmer until the fruit is soft.  Serve in mugs with a heaping tablespoon each of raisins and chopped pecans and serve with a spoon, of course, to eat all of the yummy stuff! (The “un-edibles” have settled to the bottom by this time and the fruit will be floating.  Some people make the first part, strain everything, then reheat the ponche and add the fruit.)

Dulce De Manzana

4 # apples, cored, peeled and sliced

1 can pineapple chunks or tidbits (here in Chihuahua they only sell chunks, not tidbits, and only in syrup not in the natural juice)

raisins

chopped pecans

ground cinnamon

maraschino cherries, drained  (optional)

1  can of sweetened, condensed milk

1 cup + sour cream

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.  As with almost all mexican recipes this is entirely to taste!  There should be a good deal of creamy dressing coating the apples.

I hope you all have a very wonderful Christmas with family and good friends!

Gracia Burnham

On November 6, 2010, UIM Aviation held its fourth annual fundraising banquet at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson, Arizona. We have these events for several reasons. First is our obvious need for operational funds to maintain our aircraft and keep the lights on at the hangar. Secondly, we seek to continue building prayer support as we inform people about our ministry. Thirdly is discipleship. A fundraising banquet is a tool to help disciple donors and encourage people to not only participate with us in ministry but to also have a sense of ownership in it. Finally, the bottom line of everything we do is to glorify Christ. As people invest in our ministry, it enables us to reach into remote areas of Mexico where we can impact people for Christ. Our airplanes and pilots can take a 20-hour trip and reduce it to a 30-minute flight. This translates into more people being reached for Christ in a shorter amount of time and with a lot less effort. Keep in mind that each day missionaries cannot visit these remote areas, due to poor roads or even no roads at all, people slip into a Christless eternity. God uses people and a tool like the airplane to accomplish His purposes. Fundraising banquets like the one we held in Tucson help make it possible for missionaries to go to where the people are. This year we hosted 260 people. Gracia Burnham was our guest speaker for the event. She did a wonderful job of communicating not only stories from her year-long captivity but also the reasons why her and her husband Martin went to the Philippines as missionaries with New Tribes Mission Aviation. For the second year in a row, Michael and Kimberly Chaffin provided special music for the evening and did a fabulous job. Our chief pilot Dave Wolf provided an update of our ministry, sharing how God is using UIM Aviation to accomplish His purposes. We praise the Lord that through the event we were able to raise $25,000 for the ministry of UIM Aviation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

By the fourth month, I was keenly aware of the isolation and the depleted pantry.  We had counted up our remaining canned meat and, even though we had been careful, we had only enough left for one meat-meal a week.  I only had two teaspoons left of my lactose-free powdered milk.  It had been five months since we had received mail from home.  We had exhausted the magazines and reading materials that we had brought with us.  And, twice, the rain had thwarted plans for friends to visit and bring us fresh supplies and mail.  We all needed a little lift for our spirits.

Our minds wandered as we talked and we wondered if the UIM plane was coming past our village any time soon.  We got a little list together just in case and called our coworkers in the city.  To our surprise they told us that the UIM plane was planning to come through on Sunday and that they had been planning to surprise us with an airdrop.  They cautioned us not to get our hopes up too much because it would depend on the weather. However, there was no room for cautious optimism because already I was EXCITED!

Saturday dawned beautifully with no clouds in the sky.  We wished the flight was coming that day and prayed, “Lord, please let tomorrow be like today.”  On Sunday, we woke up to drizzle.  It was later than I usually wake up because of the dark, overcast day.  I prayed, “Lord, please clear up this rain and clouds.”  We had church together and afterwards I went outside.  The rain had stopped and the clouds were beginning to clear up. Above, the sun was shining in clear blue skies.  We got a call from the city, “The plane is ready to take off and your packages are inside!”

We began the hike to the nearest legal airstrip. Although we have a beautiful airstrip next to our village, we are not able to use it as its registration had previously been revoked by the government. Please pray with us that new registration would be granted!  Once we came to the airstrip, we waited less than 5 minutes before we heard the drone of the airplane.  A few minutes later we saw it!  What a glorious sight.  Friends were inside that plane!  As soon as it was close enough, I began to wave.  Pilot David Wolf and his wife Olivia flew over the village and then lined up to drop our packages.  They made five passes in order to drop four boxes and some candy with a parachute.  I took a few pictures then put my camera down and watched the plane and my friends.  Tears came to my eyes as I waved.  My friends and fellow missionaries were so close that we could look each other in the eyes for a few seconds and wave, but yet so far away that we couldn’t chat or hug.  After the last package, Dave dipped the wings in a sort-of good-bye and they headed south to another town.

We gathered up our boxes and made our way back home.  We saw clouds developing into afternoon thunderstorms and in a few hours it was raining again.  God pushed away the rain and let the sun shine through at the perfect time!  One by one we opened the boxes.  It was like Christmas!  Magazines!  Mail from family and other missionaries!  Milk!  Candy bars!  And canned chicken!  We skipped lunch to read mail, opened a few Cokes to help celebrate, and ate chicken sandwiches for supper.  Thank you Lord and UIM- this was a good day.

For red, mexican rice or pasta:

Fry rice or noodles over medium-low heat, in oil, stirring continually making sure that the noodles are completely browned.  Add water and tomato-chicken bullion cube (1 large cube is good for 2 cups of water) and stir until cube dissolves, or add the above-mentioned, blended ingredients.  Cook over low heat until rice or pasta is soft.  Fluff rice with fork.  (Since I have not given exact amounts, you will have to estimate, adding more water as needed.)  For the pasta, there should be extra water to create a small amount of broth.  The pasta should be served with a dollop of sour cream, or lime juice, or both.

For white, mexican rice:

Fry rice over medium heat, in oil, stirring continually.  Add water and salt/chicken bullion and frozen or canned yellow sweet corn.  (The corn shouldn’t be more than 1/4 of the whole amount of cooked rice)

6-8 chilaca chili peppers or 4-6 poblano peppers, washed

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup canned/frozen yellow sweet corn

chicken bullion (for a more authentic mexican flavor buy this loose in a bag)

1 onion, sliced

salt and pepper, al gusto (to taste)

This recipe is much more simple if one has a gas stove or gas grill or camp stove.  But the chilis can also be grilled on a dry/slightly oiled griddle or skillet over medium heat until as many sides as possible are blackened.

Grill the whole peppers over medium flame until most sides are blackened.  Place hot peppers in a bag, or closed container, in the freezer for ten minutes (or in the fridge for 15-20).  (This allows the peppers to steam and the skin to loosen)  Hold pepper under running water while removing the blackened skin with fingers.  (This is much easier than the paper-bag method!)  Once skin is removed, slit open pepper with thumb and remove seeds and some veins under the running water.  (The more veins the more spice, though every pepper is different and cooking makes it more difficult to remove veins.)  Remove pepper stems and slice lengthwise into quarter-inch strips.  Meanwhile, in medium size skillet, saute´onion in small amount of oil until it turns clear and begins to soften.  Add chili slices and corn.  Flavor with 1/2-1 tsp of chicken bullion.  Stir in sour cream and salt and pepper to taste.

2 lbs pork chops, cubed in 1/2 inch squares

one recipe of salsa verde for carnitas (recipe already posted under Salsa Verde)

homemade gorditas (recipe already posted under Gorditas/Flour Tortillas)

brown cubed pork chops in a large frying pan in a small amount of oil until the pan becomes darkened.  Add the salsa verde to the browned pork directly from the blender, taking care as it will splatter.  Cook over low heat until the pork is thoroughly cooked.  (For those lucky people who have eaten gorditas here in Chihuahua, this recipe for carnitas is practically identical to the gorditas that one buys at Soriana or in the restaurants.)  Stuff your gorditas with as much of the carnitas as you can.  Serve and enjoy.

1 C all-purpose flour

1 heaping tablespoon of shortening (oil may be substituted)

1/2 tsp salt (this may be too much or too little for your taste – I don’t measure I just throw in what looks right)

a pinch-1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 C water – heated as hot as you can stand (you won’t use all of the water)

Cut the shortening into the flour, salt and baking powder.  Add some of the water and stir quickly with a fork.  Keep adding water until the mixture can be formed into a ball and kneaded.  Knead a little while.  You don’t add so much that you need a lot of flour later to roll it out.  You don’t add so little that the dough is stiff.  You’re looking for soft and pliable. Divide the dough into five balls by squeezing the dough through the hole made by your thumb and index finger and pinching it off by closing the hole.  (You can divide how you like, but this method forms beautiful balls which will make prettier tortillas or gorditas.)  For best results cover and let the balls set for a few minutes, especially when making tortillas.

For gorditas: Roll the balls to form SMALL, CHUBBY tortillas, using a bit of flour when necessary.  You are looking for a pita-type bread NOT a tortilla.  Only roll them out to about two and a half inches in diameter.  Heat a dry griddle or frying pan.  Cook on the griddle until the bottom side starts to brown.  Flip.  As the gordita cooks on the second side press down on it with the bottom of a stiff spatula.  Press hard.  Ivonne (see “Introductions”) uses an old-fashioned iron that looks like an antique clothes iron.  This helps the insides of the gordita to cook and encourages it to balloon with air.  When the second side is golden, remove from heat and immediately make a slit around 1/3-1/2 of the gordita with a serrated knife.  These directions seem lengthy since gorditas are very easy to make!

For flour tortillas form 3-4 balls out of the dough.  Roll into large, thin tortillas.  Cook on the griddle pressing as you press gorditas (This is not as important with tortillas).

salsa verde – one of the cooked varieties (recipe already posted)

fresh corn tortillas

chicken, cooked and shredded

sour cream

shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or some mexican cheese from a mexican food store such as “Manchego” or “Laurel”)

vegetable oil

For a more health-conscience variety: spread or spray a griddle or large frying pan with a bit of oil and grill the tortillas until the are a tiny bit golden, but are still pliable.  For a more authentic variety, fry the tortillas in a 1/4 inch of oil until a bit golden and still pliable.  Drain these by standing them up in a colander that is sitting on paper towels on a plate.  Spread the shredded chicken down the center of each tortilla, sprinkle with a bit of salt and roll them up.  Place 2-4 on a plate.  Spread liberally with hot, salsa verde, sprinkle with shredded cheese and dot with sour cream.  !Listo para comer! Ready to eat!

Cultural Tidbit: Did you know fresh, corn tortillas have an inside and an outside?  A “right” side and a “wrong” side?  The inside, the “right” side to fill with food, is looser and tends to bubble and pull away when the tortillas have been fried or heated on a griddle.  The outside remains smooth and holds together better.