The pre-crusade was a success!  Not only was it an excellent test-run for the main crusade in April, but it was also an excellent beginning for intercession and for preparing the atmosphere for the revival we believe God has in store for Los Cabos! 

Elias Annacondia and Leo Castagnari, the event-coordination team, flew into Los Cabos on Wednesday, November 11. They were ready for the worker training event that night at 6:00 p.m. We were expecting possibly 25 pastors to be participating with their people and were amazed at what we encountered. When we arrived at Pastor Luis Lopez’s church, Centro de Fe, the atmosphere was charged. There were over 250 believers present, with the appropriate colored shirts, ready to be trained for the big event. As the night started with worship, the intensity of the presence of the Holy Spirit intensified, reminding us of the passion our Mexican brothers and sisters have for worship. Elias was amazed and thrilled! Our pastors worked overtime, with relatively short notice, and they and their people responded with enthusiasm!

The next day, the coordination team met with the steering committee to discuss last minute details. The Campaign Steering Committee is made up of ourselves and six of our seasoned pastors. They are veterans at running big, outdoor events. Since our largest church in town only holds around 400 people, most of the churches use area parks for outreaches of any size.

After the meeting, we were asked by Pastor Luis to pray for a lady in his church who had colon cancer in the advanced stages. This sister and her family run one of the popular restaurants in town and the family wanted to honor us with dinner before we prayed. We do not have an up-to-date report on Sister Maria, but we are praying for a good report. During the prayer, Elias took the time to call his father, Carlos Annacondia, and we could hear the familiar voice of his father, coming into the room from the telephone.

Then the big event arrived – on Friday the 13 (we especially liked the choice of date). Committees had been there setting up most of the day and there were others there the day before painting over the graffiti in the stage area. The praise teams start early the day of the event to saturate the area with praise for hours before the meeting. The committees, made up from different churches, looked like they had always worked together. The whole day, from setup to tear down at 10:30 p.m., looked like the army described in the book of Joel, who walk shoulder to shoulder and do not break rank. They and their pastors are amazing!

The event officially started at 6:00 p.m., but warmed up as the night cooled off, as is especially common in Mexico. If you take pictures at the beginning, you could miss half the crowd! The official count was 826 people present in the immediate park area and we’re not really sure if this counted the 250 workers that were spread between the two ministry tents and the boundaries of the main stage area.

Elias was thrilled that he could sense the spiritual hunger of the people and was able to send encouraging reports to headquarters in Argentina, reports that Los Cabos is ready for a Carlos Annacondia Crusade.

The altar was full for probably at least one hour, and that included pastors praying, as well as Elias and Leo. There were over ten testimonies of major healings given at the microphone, as well as many more reports that the Lord had touched them in many different ways. At our post-event meeting the following Wednesday, there was a huge pile of response forms that were quickly distributed to the pastors in the area where the people live, but we don’t have a total paper count yet.

The event teams cleaned that entire area of 1,000 chairs, power, lights, etc. in just a half hour! When I looked at the time when the event was over, I imagined when we would finally be cleaned up, but again, the troops amazed me.

I do have to share one last tradition that Richard and I have with Elias and Leo. It is always so late when the meetings of any kind are over that we are finally wandering to whatever taqueria is open (which many of them are open until 2:00 or 4:00 a.m.) to feed our guests. The Friday night of the pre-crusade was no different. At least I’m training my digestive system to accept food when it already thinks it is in bed sleeping. J

Finally, Elias and Leo invited us to a last minute breakfast on Saturday morning with some of the pastoral leaders from La Paz, in preparation for their pre-crusade, which is scheduled for January of 2016. We then whisked Elias and Leo off to the San Jose del Cabo Airport; finishing off crusade planning and preparation on trip three—until we meet again.

Blessings and thanks to all of you who are helping make this happen!

Just a week before the citywide Carlos Annacondia Ministries’ pre-crusade, Pastor Carlos held a powerful event at the new Tierra y Libertad Church site (sponsored by Aerovision of Norton Shores, MI). The timing was close, but Pastor Carlos had booked his close friend, Gamaliel, from his hometown an entire year before for Cristo es el Camino’s sixth anniversary. To celebrate the long-awaited church building at Tierra y Libertad, Pastor Carlos held the anniversary celebration at the site of the new church plant. Gama (as he is usually called) has a church of just over 1,000. He also travels as an evangelist with the gift of healing. We have been blessed to be ministered to by Gama before and the Spirit of the Lord is upon him.

There were approximately 300 people that attended the revival meeting. Tierra y Libertad is strategically located along the edge of one of the largest, and probably the poorest, squatter area in Los Cabos. There were praise dances by the women’s praise troupe, a praise dance by the large troupe of little girls (who have been watching the women since they were young, waiting for their chance), a powerful drama set to music, passionate praise, powerful preaching, and flooded altar call. I really am not trying to be flowery with my words. Pastor Carlos is blessed with serious, humble, passionate people.

As of this morning, Pastor Carlos was able to report that one person who was prayed for received healing and another with very weak eyes received excellent eyesight, along with several who accepted Christ for the first time and others who asked for the fullness of the Spirit and baptism with fire.  We also received a report of a drug and alcohol addict who has not used either since being prayed for, and, best of all, he reports no desire to do so!  Only God can deliver like that!

The presence of the Holy Spirit was thick and the night brought back memories to Richard and I of times past when we were blessed to be a part of such a presence of God. The most exciting thing, though, is the change in atmosphere we are beginning to feel in Los Cabos. It is just the beginning!

We are so grateful to all of you who keep us here and are allowing us to be a part of a significant move of God.

Tomorrow is the official kick-off for the 2016 crusade with Carlos Anacondia – Jesus Loves You, Los Cabos!  The area pastors and believers are not waiting for tomorrow, though.  They are already gearing up to take their city for Christ.

On Monday, a prayer drive was held.  The pastors’ acquired the needed permits and then gathered together, behind a police escort, to drive through the city.  For more than two hours, nearly 80 cars paraded through the city.  The participants prayed, sang, and proclaimed the truth of God’s love and transformation as they drove through the city.  The prayer drive ended in a park where we all got out and prayed, worshiped, and celebrated God some more.  This was not merely hype or advertising.  This was warfare!  The people came prepared to take the city.  They are ready to see what God is going to do.  They believe it is time and they are eager to see what He has in store!

That eagerness was evident yesterday, as well.  Richard and I picked up Elias and Leo from the airport in the early afternoon and then we all went to the first training session.  The training had been set up in order to train ushers, intercessors, alter workers, etc. for the pre-crusade and then the main crusade in April.  While we were expecting approximately 25 pastors to attend, we could not even begin to anticipate the crowd of volunteers they brought with them.  There were roughly 230 volunteers in attendance!  There were 50 intercessors!  The church was packed.  Worship was powerful!  These believers were not there to put in their service hours.  They were there in anticipation and with great expectation as to what God is about to do!

So, tomorrow is officially the kickoff, but let me tell you, transformation has already begun.  Please keep us in your prayers throughout the weekend.  We are praying for a great deliverance anointing and an outpouring of God’s presence as Los Cabos has never seen before.  In unity, there is power.  Please pray.