It wasn’t long after losing a job selling mattresses when not-yet Pastor José Ruiz Ovalle found himself at San Pablo Lutheran Church after hearing they gave out food to people in need.  “I believe it was for the Hot Meal Program,” Rev. Dr. Karl Heimer, Senior Pastor of San Pablo Lutheran Church and CEO at Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) shared one sunny afternoon, “We did devotions in the morning and we had music.  He heard the music and came in.  We welcomed him and I asked if he ever thought of being a pastor.”

He began working as general help within the church, later on becoming a deacon.  It was God’s guidance and influence that had Pastor Ruiz obtaining his GED and continuing his education at Concordia University in Ministry Studies, becoming an ordained pastor at 60.  Eleven years of serving in the pastoral ministry displayed God’s amazing grace by bringing purpose into the lives of His children.  Pastor Ruiz served Zion and San Pablo Lutheran in El Paso, helped establish Santisima Trinidad in Juarez, and in Anapra, he helped San Lucas flourish.  “It’s not too late to serve the Lord,” Rev. Stephen Heimer, pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, shared, “Working alongside him, I was witness of how God uses His people no matter who they are, where they have been, or even how old they are.”

“His musical abilities were inspiring to see,” Pastor Stephen recalled how Pastor Ruiz “could pick up just about any instrument and play it.  His artistic abilities impressed me –not only could he come up with music on the fly, but he also applied his creativity to making worship services, like Good Friday and Christmas Eve, extra special.”

Pastor Stephen, who along with Pastor Jose Ruiz founded Mariachi San Pablo in 2001, shared how the older man opened his eyes to another world of music he’d not seen before.  “Pastor Ruiz used music to share the Gospel with others, and his specialty was mariachi music, which I wasn’t familiar with.  I saw how much people connected with it, so I began to learn from him, and soon, we began to teach others, then we began to share the Gospel mariachi style throughout the United States.”

“We went through the seminary together,” Pastor Jose Hernandez, shepherd of Santisima Trinidad, one of the mission-churches established with the help of Pastor Ruiz, shared after a staff meeting, “He was a humble man, always willing to give to others, always eager to teach God’s Word to others.”

“He would drive the van around the neighborhood,” Mrs. Jeanette Heimer, organist for San Pablo, shared of him, “And pick up kids for Sunday school and for Vacation Bible School.  The kids really enjoyed him, especially his music, and he was always willing to make them laugh.”

Maritza Hernandez-Muñoz, long-time member of San Pablo Lutheran Church, was one of those kids.  Pastor Ruiz would come to their house on Saturday mornings for a small Bible study, eventually confirming Maritza and her sister Rosie.

As a teenager, she and Rosie took violin lessons with Pastor Ruiz.  While her sister didn’t stick it out, Maritza was inspired and encouraged by Pastor Ruiz to continue practicing and to be part of the Mariachi San Pablo.  “At sixteen, I didn’t know anything about music.  I would watch him, how he positioned his fingers, how he held the violin, and he would teach me by showing me how to move my fingers.  He didn’t know how to read music at the time, and I didn’t either, but he would have us watch his fingers to teach us the song we were learning.”

Maritza has been a violinist with Mariachi San Pablo since it first began, along with her now-husband, Miguel Muñoz, who is now the Director for Adelante Ministries and Co-Director of Mariachi San Pablo.

“It was because of Pastor Ruiz I got serious about mariachi music,” Miguel shared one afternoon, recalling how as a junior in high school back in 2001, he only did what was required of him for the school’s mariachi group, “He encouraged me to keep playing, to learn more, to get better.  I remember him always telling me to push forward, never back.”

For Miguel, Mariachi San Pablo was the way in which he got to know more and more of Christ.  “I was not a believer at the time, but Pastor Ruiz invited me to play with him at church, here in San Pablo and across the border, and he would share with me about God and Jesus and the Bible.”

Pastor Karl Heimer made the trip to California at the request of Pastor Ruiz’s children to oversee the memorial service held on September 28, 2020.  It was a beautiful service honoring a man who spent the last half of his life humbly and beautifully serving others without seeking glory for himself.