Huichol Team Camp

As most of you know, UIM Aviation serves by providing safe and fast transportation for missionaries, short-term ministries, medical evacuations, and more. These are our everyday operations, but once a year, the team based in Tepic has the privilege of participating in an extra-special ministry event. For the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, the church Iglesia Bautista Biblica de Misericordia in Tepic hosts a church camp for the Wixarika (Huichol in Spanish) youth. The camp is planned and staffed primarily by the youth group of the church in Tepic. It includes many familiar youth group activities such as games, worship, preaching, and personal devotion time, as well as activities not so common to church youth camps like breakout sessions to learn basic electrician skills, how to inject scorpion anti-venom (and they actually practice on each other), hair cutting/styling lessons and music lessons. Many of the attendees arrive from the Sierras via walking, mules, boats, and buses. Those who live in regions where traveling is more challenging (especially adults who come to preach, counsel, cook, and their younger children) arrive in style courtesy of a UIM airplane.

Most of the flights this year were to and from two of the most rugged airstrips in the Tepic area. One of these airstrips, in particular, has several complicating factors. It is positioned relatively high on a mountainside and is exposed to wind on three sides. The wind usually begins picking up around 9 AM, making landing after that time dangerous. It is also short, dips, and takes a slight turn in the middle. Due to its length and the fact that it starts an uphill climb in the middle, we usually limit the number of passengers to three adults per takeoff. Usually, these are workable limitations, but they become very complicated when twelve people want to leave on the same day to arrive at camp. To accomplish this, we shuttle the passengers three at a time to a nearby airstrip that allows us to land and take off carrying more passengers and weight later in the day, though it becomes too windy at this airstrip as well, around 2 PM most days. The day before camp, the flights included a half-hour flight to the first airstrip, two shuttle flights of five minutes each to the second airstrip, a return flight from the first airstrip to Tepic followed by round trip flights to and from the second airstrip to move all the people and cargo needing flights to Tepic for the youth camp. All before it became too hot and windy to continue flying for the day.

This year marked the 12th consecutive camp, which had a total of 190 attendees. Out of these, 134 were youth, while the remainder consisted of cooks and leaders. The camp is a massive undertaking by the Church. Everything from blankets and hygiene kits to the enormous tent for the Tabernacle is provided by the Church and must be gathered and inventoried. The Church prepares behind the scenes for months before the camp starts. Then, the week before camp begins, preparations begin in earnest as all the necessary supplies, tools, sound equipment, food, and other essentials are transported and set up at the rented location. The week of camp is packed with activities: worship services, games, cooking, cleaning, breakout sessions, teaching, and learning. The pilots and their families stop by to visit and help when and how they are able throughout the camp. Afterward, the entire camp must be torn down, transported back to the Church, and stored until next year.

Then, the return flights begin, transporting the passengers who arrived by airplane (as well as a few extras who decide that flying sounds better than returning the way they came) back to their homes in the Sierras.

This year, twelve youths gave their lives to Christ during the week. It is not an easy decision for many of them. Becoming a Christian requires breaking away from deeply ingrained traditions and cultural identity. In many cases, Native believers endure intense persecution and/or expulsion from their villages. Despite these obstacles, God continues to draw the Huichol people to Himself, raising a generation of young people who are set free from the bondage of animism and fear of evil spirits.

After camp, a baptismal service was held on Easter Sunday, and these twelve young people publicly professed their commitment to Jesus, marking the beautiful beginning of their new life in Christ. On Resurrection Sunday, the Church and heaven rejoiced over these twelve new brothers and sisters.

"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10

We thank God for the opportunity to be a part of His work in this way, and we thank God for each one of you who prays and sacrifices in support of our ministry.
 

Written by Nathan White, UIM Aviation field pilot