Yet there are a few people in Ixtlán who don't take part in these activities. While the community is caught up in the flurry of the fiesta, these continue their work and lives as if it were any other day of the year. They are questioned with surprise why they don't join in the festivities. Sometimes they are ostracized because they refuse to pay the mandatory fee to fund the events.
 As Christians, we are to be strangers and pilgrims who abstain from fleshly lusts, and have sanctified Christ Jesus in our hearts. We are to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks. We no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God (From 1 Peter chapters 2,3 and 4).
Believers are to put behind their former lives, saying, enough! For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries (1 Pet 4:3).
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 Why has God chosen to place a little Christian church in Ixtlan? While the church may foster social improvement in the community through activities like health education, quality schooling, and employment opportunities, the main purpose is to be a spiritual haven for sin-sick seekers, to reach those who are being convicted by God's gracious Spirit to change their lives.
A series of Bible studies on the topics of repentance, conversion, and salvation is typically done with individuals or families who express a desire to follow the Lord. At the end of a session with one particular family, the father shared his struggle about what is happening with their daughter.
Against her parents' wishes, she left home to live with a young man. Soon he started to become physically abusive, yet his parents supported him and told him "that's the way things are." The young lady's father asked for prayer to help him overcome his negative emotions toward this young man. The Mexican brothers conducting the study assured him of their prayers, and warned him against letting his anger lead to sin.
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The church exists to display Christ by gospel preaching and through the converted (changed) lives of its members. Recently a young man who is seeking commented: "Most people go to church on Sunday but then the rest of the week they do bad things. But I look at all of you and I see people who are really committed to God. I want that." It is encouraging to see increased participation by the local brothers. There has also been a renewed effort to support the small groups in Barra Vieja, Querétaro and Morelia, and to engage in evangelistic outreach here and in surrounding towns.
 Another function of the church is to equip God's people to be instruments in His hands to rescue and heal broken souls. A short time back, a sister from church was called out of her house by frantic neighbors.They rushed with her to an intense scene: a young father in the act of hanging himself, while his own father held his legs to keep him from falling and his wife and small children cried hysterically. "Let me die!" he yelled.
But the Holy Spirit gave wisdom to this sister and she was able to talk him down. He was desperate because he was without work and money and was afraid he wasn't going to be able to provide for his family. Afterward he thanked her for saving his life. As a result of this experience, she wants to learn to be better prepared to use the Bible to help people find hope in their problems.
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