Group rehearsals happen every week, with Miguel helping improve vocals and timing

For the last twenty years, Mariachi San Pablo has traveled to share the Gospel mariachi style to twenty states and 109 cities, performing at conferences, conventions, and assisting churches in their worship and outreach ministries, as well as carrying the mission of Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) to help bring the love of God to the people of the Border, both in El Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico.

“Our very first out of state performance as on August 2001 in Iowa City,” Rev. Stephen Heimer, co-founder of Mariachi San Pablo, shared at the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) at the Rocky Mountain District (RMD) Convention held in Albuquerque, New Mexico the first weekend of June, “The other members of the group were unable to go, so it ended up being myself and Pastor Jose Ruiz.”

Participants of the convention gather at Christ Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM as Mariachi San Pablo does some final tuning of their instruments

LWML members have been big supporters of Mariachi San Pablo since it first began in 2001. Through grants given through LWML, the first set of mariachi trajes (suits) were purchased for all the members and just two years ago, a generous grant made it possible for the renovation of the Music Building, which includes the recording studio where Mariachi San Pablo is currently working on their fourth CD.

Miguel and Famuel work together to raise up a speaker higher before the performance on Saturday night

Since that first performance, and with the help of many, God has opened opportunities for Mariachi San Pablo, blessing the work and effort put in by those involved, from musicians to family members who come along to help make their witness of God’s love possible. What many people may not know is the hard work and hours of preparation that go into each performance brought by Mariachi San Pablo.

By invitation, the group of eight musicians, plus family members, arrived at the Marriot Albuquerque on June 3 after stopping at Christ Lutheran Church to set up their sound equipment then work on ensuring everything sounded right. Before the start of the Friday night worship service at Christ Lutheran, musicians took their place, tuning instruments and, once again, checking sound. As the participants of the LWML RMD Convention gathered together, violins were quietly being tuned while Pastor Stephen’s oldest son checked sound levels.

The energy and happiness as Mariachi San Pablo performed after dinner was easily felt throughout the ballroom

“It’s a lot of hard work put into these performances,” Miguel Muñoz, director of Mariachi San Pablo, explained, “We practice every week, for a couple of hours, individually and together. Most of the time, we carry our own sound system and set up all the microphones, speakers, and ensure everything will sound right, without any feedback or echo that will take away from the music. We practice several hours before we perform, catching little mistakes and working together to correct them.”

For both the worship service on Friday night and the banquet entertainment on Saturday, Mariachi San Pablo was greatly appreciated by all who were present. Many of the ladies who stopped by the YLM booth shared having heard them at other conventions, and a few of them who were hearing them for the first time bought CDs after the banquet.

After all the hard work put in by every member of Mariachi San Pablo, it was a joyful reward to see the many smiling faces as they clapped along with the uplifting songs. From dancing along with the mariachi to forming conga lines, the experience of a Mariachi San Pablo performance is one not easily forgotten.