MEXICO'S "CITY OF DEATH" BECOMES "CITY OF LIFE" DURING UNIQUE CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL OF LIFE
Family fair held March 15-17, 2002 at the fairgrounds behind the Plaza de Toros was enjoyed by thousands

By Aric Everson
Special to ASSIST News Service

AQUASCALIENTES, MEXICO  (ANS) -- In the heart of Mexico, there is a city with pleasant weather, picturesque landscapes, exotic flowers and bountiful orchards. Despite the beauty, Aquascalientes is known as the "City of Death". There is a famous artist known throughout Mexico who paints caricatures of skeletons. As you come into the city, a large billboard displays his artwork. To have this as your city's mascot can have an affect.

Aquascalientes has the highest suicide rate and divorce rate in the country. Answering the call of God, San Diego, California pastor and evangelist, Mike MacIntosh, led a team into that city in a unique Festival of Life (Festival de Vida). This team was a mix of Christian clowns, medics, musicians, and street evangelists, sharing the gospel with children's Bible crafts, sports clinics, a writer's conference and much more. Saturday included 2 women's breakfast's that were sold out (6,000). The evening Crusade and celebration brought thousands to the Plaza de Toro bullring. (Pictured: Pastor Mike MacIntosh was filled with the joy of Lord seeing thousands give their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ).

The family fair held at the fairgrounds behind the Plaza de Toros was enjoyed by thousands of families enjoying the free rides, inflatables, clowns, mimes, dramas, puppets and more! Thousands of children made Bible crafts and heard the gospel message with over 1,500 accepting Christ. The extreme game area was blasted with a main stage with plenty of Christian music from rap to rock to rancherita! The famous, now Christian, Mexican rapper, Fermin IV shared the gospel with the hundreds of youth.

One of the highlights focused on promoting family values in the schools with the Educational Olympics. In 23 different regions of the state, 800 schools participated with 45,000 students attending.

At one of the prisons, Mike first spoke to 15 psychiatric inmate. He captured their attention with part of his testimony. He shared with them how his past and his life apart from God were like their lives. He imparted to the m God's love and how He wants to give us a new life and mind and heart. Many responded to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ.

The inmates also asked for personal prayer to be healed. The message was also shared with over 350 of the general prison population. More than 75 inmates gathered for prayer and encouragement. Each received a copy of "For the Love of Mike" in Spanish.

At a maximum-security prison, an elderly man came to the outreach. His crime was for selling his own prescription drugs, which he did to be able to eat, and simply live. The police would have let him off, but he couldn't pay them. The judge sentenced him to ten years and he has completed seven. He is a believer. This man has gone through the questioning - "Why, God, am I here?" But he never stopped believing in God. He expressed how the visit encouraged him and helped him by letting him know God remembered him.

In the three days of medical clinics, approximately 2,200 people received free medical or dental care. Over $25,000 in medical supplies and medicines was used. The dozen or so doctors of Aquascalientes and the dozen or so from the U.S. were phenomenal!

Dr. Sonya reports:

As we were sitting in our portion of the make shift medical clinic, the first patient of the day walked in with his wife. Both of them gave us nervous nods as they sat down. We introduced ourselves and asked, "What are your problems, Senor?" the wife jumped in before the husband could speak, stating that he was having difficulty urinating and was seeing occasional blood in his urine (adding in for good measure that he smoked and drank a lot!) The husband gave his wife a hard glare and defensively stated that he had cut down from 25 cigarettes per day to only 5. And he really didn't drink that much. We started to warn him about the dangers and consequences of smoking. The husband said he won't and can't change his ways.  (Pictured: The medical clinics treated more than 1700 medical needs and over 500 dental patients).

We asked if he thought he was going to heaven. He said he was a bad person and it was up to God where to send him. We shared the gospel, as he grew more restless. We glanced over at the wife who tearfully confessed that she wanted to receive Jesus as ! he Lord and Savior. The wife grabbed her husband's arm and urged him to receive his free gift. He finally broke into a half smile and consented and we led them both to the Lord. Later in the day, another man had the same exact problems. We shared the gospel with him and he excitedly told us that he wanted to receive Christ! As we were taking his name and address, we realized that this was the son of the two we had seen earlier! The son did not know his parents had been there nor did the parents know the son was going to be at the medical clinic! Now they were all new citizens of the heavenly kingdom!

A lady was seen in the medical clinic because she needed advice regarding her child. She was very concerned about her child even though the child was playing and seemed healthy. The lady admitted that her daughter was not really very ill, but her anxiety was playing a part in evaluating her child. The lady lost her first husband to kidney disease and her second husband left her. Also, the lady was a Jehovah Witness.

The lady said when she died she would just basically go to sleep. After discussing many verses the lady realized there was a heaven and she needed to accept Christ. The problem was she didn't think she was worthy and she began to cry. The lady finally realized that even though she was not worthy, Christ still died for her and she prayed to accept the Lord into her life.

A woman came to the clinic that had typhus 15 years ago. As a result she had allergies, hearing loss, and ringing in the ears. I shared with her the story from the Bible of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. This woman had exhausted all her resources just as this woman had been to lots of specialists without success. She decided she wanted to be healed just as the woman in the Bible had. We shared the gospel and she got saved. Her daughter had been previously saved. It was amazing to see the story touch her heart and see the tears as she heard the story of healing and then we prayed for her.

Here are reports from various team members.

As the children's ministry helped the children make Bible crafts and "wordless bracelets", a nine year old local girl named Brenda used the bracelets and crafts and brought groups of her friends and led them to Christ. She then prayed for the team members.

As a group of women were walking the streets, passing out invitations to the Festival, they came upon a man battered by the world - his face had scratch marks all over it. He told the group that he didn't want to be in the world anymore. What a divine appointment. They prayed for him and he invited Jesus into his heart. A great sense of peace came over him. A victory for Jesus! (Pictured: The mini festivals held throughout the city reached over 6000 people with bibles, crafts and the good news).

Ronnie: On Wednesday night, Ronnie's first in Aguas, she was at a restaurant snacking on chips when a little boy approached her selling flowers. Her heart went out to him. When her dinner arrived, God asked her to give it to the little boy. She obeyed. She then asked the little boy if he knew who Jesus was. He said he did, that they attended a Mormon church. Ronnie turned to Gwen and asked her to get some of the others to start praying for her - she was going to share the gospel with this little boy in Spanish. He accepted the Lord. Ronnie realized that the Lord also gave her this opportunity to give her confidence in speaking Spanish, which she only did occasionally in California. Because of the confidence He gave her through this, she was able to lead five people to the Lord on Thursday.

Holly: For most of the week I had been handing out fliers on the streets. But since I don't speak Spanish very well all I could really say was "Hola" and smile. If anyone seemed interested I passed them to a translator. I was able to witness so many people get saved on the streets, but I didn't feel I really had any part in it. I was feeling pretty useless and I shared that with my small group in devotions this morning. One of the women encouraged me that no job is too small for God's Kingdom and that a similar thing had happened to her at the last festival. All of these people were rejoicing over the 100's of people they had led to the Lord and she hadn't prayed with anyone. But then on the last day she was able to lead someone to the Lord and she knew she had been sent for just that one. She encouraged me that I may be her for just one. Later that day I was going to go to one of the medical clinics but felt le! d to go to the children's ministry. Shortly after arriving a saw a little 7-year-old girl sitting and reading a tract. I sat next to her and asked if she understood.

She smiled and said, "yes". I told her about Jesus and asked her if she wanted to accept Jesus and she said yes. So I whipped out my Spanish handbook and read the prayer with her. Then I saw the girl sitting next to her who was her sister. She accepted the Lord too! I will probably never be an evangelist who leads thousands to the Lord, but what a gift from the Lord that He brought me all the way to Aquascalientes no just for one, but for two. I am so amazed that God was able to use me even with my limited Spanish and even though evangelism is not my strength. Thank you, Lord!

Becky: I was working with the children's ministry sharing the wordless bracelet with the children when I noticed a young man about 20 years old walking very slowly in front of the tables. He looked at me with a look of desperation in his eyes. I said hello and he asked if I could please tell him where he could find a bible teaching church. Then he shared with me that earlier that morning as he was walking through the Plaza in front of the bullring someone handed him an invitation and a tract. He sat down by himself, read the tract and prayed the sinner's prayer. He immediately felt led to go find out where he could begin to study the word and to be in fellowship with other Christians. As it so happened, the tent next to us was Calvary Chapel Aquascalientes!  I gladly introduced him to the brothers and sisters there. This experience really showed my how significant "just" handing out tracts can be. Praise the Lord!

Another lady with her child prayed to receive Jesus - then went to get her friend, brought her back and said, "Tell my friend what you told me. Then she left again and brought another friend. 1 hour old in Jesus, already an evangelist!

The air was filled with excitement and great anticipation as thousands of people filled the Plaza Del Torres. The night began with the diverse music of Limit X and Maria Del Sol. Together they inspired the crowd bringing them to their feet. Mike shared a message focused on God's love, a love that will transform their lives and their city forever. Many people, who came down to the bullring floor and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, accepted this message. Each night was a night that God's love conquered the heart of Aquascalientes.  (Pictured:  The festival was held in the Plaza Del Toros for three nights
filling with over 38,000 people. Over 4,300 new believers also made
decisions to accept Jesus Christ as Savior).

The churches have done a great job working together to pull off so many events each day that are blessing and impacting thousands of non-Christians in Aquascalientes The word's of a local pastor, Luis, will ring true in their hearts forever: "After Festival de Vida, Aquascalientes will never be the same". Pastor Luis also commented that the Festival would be a parting of the waters and a marker in time for our state saying that we will now divide the history of Christianity in Aquascalientes by the time line, "Before Festival de Vida," and "After Festival de Vida" Pastor Pedro Pitts comments, "By God's grace and God's goodness, the Festival de Vida came to our state and made a spiritual impact that we will be measuring for all eternity".