Why do we do this?

Look again at the faces in the picture above. These people, living in the mountains, separated from modern civilization, are lost and dying without a relationship with Christ… THIS is why God called us to work with UIM Aviation. While our main job is working “behind the scenes” on things like keeping the planes flying safely, sharing the ministry and organizing events to increase awareness, we keep our focus on the end result of flying to these remote villages to reach these people.

We never expected God would keep us in the USA as missionaries. We WANTED to go to any other country… but God knew that Paul and I fit here with our gifts and talents. Paul with his mechanical skills and me with my bossy organizational skills, fill a need here. (ok, fine, maybe not the bossy part.)

Carbon Cub landing at one of the dirt airstrips

Let me tell you about this little plane that seats a max of 3 and is mainly used for medical flights to a mission hospital that we work with. The Carbon Cub has carried many hurting people to get necessary medical care and more importantly, hear about Jesus who died for them! It also transports missionaries and local pastors to remote villages where it lands on short, rocky airstrips. Can you imagine the wear and tear these landings take on airplanes?! Aircraft maintenance/safety is a necessary part of this ministry that we take very seriously. We appreciate your prayers as our pilots are flying daily into these types of areas.

This past month Paul and our co-workers Dave & Olivia Wolf were able to be part of the Global Focus Week at Liberty University. They shared the ministry of UIM Aviation with 4 different classes and had a table set up to visit one-on-one with students. This is one way to impact lives and possibly see some young people led to serve with us. We are always praying for more workers to join us in this ministry.

Dave and Paul on Liberty campus.
(Bonus: Paul was able to sneak in time with Gabriel and Bethany/Filipe…. AND of course those grand babies! YES, that is now plural…. keep reading.

BLAKE PAUL ROCHA arrived on August 13th. We are so thankful that Paul, Jesse, Gabriel and I were all here in Virginia to welcome him. I stayed with Bethany through the birth and the rest stayed with Jade. It worked out well and Bethany had an amazing birth and recovery! What an answer to prayer!

Miriam’s new assignment: https://missions.wol.org/


Miriam completed her year at Word of Life Bible Institute with High Honors! She has now moved to Pyeongtech, South Korea where she is serving with Word of Life, reaching young Korean’s with the gospel. Please check out her link above. She is a little low on support for this upcoming year, and that info is in the link as well, in case you feel led to partner with her.

Matthew & Karizma continue in San Diego where they are co-leading the youth group for their church.

Gabriel and girlfriend, Ruth, continue as students at Liberty.

Jesse is now in 10th grade. She recently had an opportunity to go up flying with Paul on one of his flights to keep current.


I, Laurel, am still working with Faith Christian Academy. What an amazing opportunity it is to have 46 students (6-12th grade) that we can pour into from 8am to 3pm every day! Sharing from God’s Word, showing them the love of Jesus, caring for and teaching them. Satan is out to get our kids, and I am honored to be part of this ministry where we have the opportunity to fight back! We battle against Satan daily and covet your prayers for FCA and the students we have. The pics above are from Hawaii Day at school, and an evening at the Timblin home with food, Ping Pong, and fun table games. It gets crazy loud at these game nights, where we have tons of fun connecting with the students in another way.

Christmas is almost here! Yep, crazy right? Living Nativity will be going on again this year, so I’m already in full-swing prep for that. (Dec 8, 9, & 10). THEN… drumroll…. the plan is to have ALL MY KIDS home for Christmas this year! We are so excited. God has blessed us abundantly in our children and we are especially thankful to many of you who impacted our kids in becoming their extended family and in praying for them. Thank you so much.

This is long enough, so I am gonna quit. I’d love to hear from you if you have a moment to catch me up on what’s going on with you. Sometimes these letters go out and it’s… crickets! So, let me know you are out there!

With love,

Paul & Laurel