Angelica Valencia was in the service, and she had an idea to pose in uniform for a magazine for men. She thanks Saint Jude Thaddeus for she was only discharged and not thrown in jail.

Holy Child of Atocha, I thank you for all your favors. It happened so I went to gather some food for a sick cow a day before I had to give birth. I gathered a very heavy basket, that’s why my contractions began while I was doing my laundry. Thanks goodness, my friend Ramona was near and she helped me. I was very sick, but the worst part was that a baby died. I thank the Holy Child for consoling me.

Elena Montes
Puente de Ixtla, Morelos, 1937

I married a widower and on our wedding night I found out that every time I looked in a mirror I reflected in it as a skeleton. That was because my husband’s first wife had bewitched the house. I was scared and prayed to the Holy Child with the Ball. Afterwards I ordered three requiem masses. She has rested in peace, and I thank the Holy Child.

Carlos Rodriguez thanks Saint Patrick with this retablo because he entrusted himself to him and successfully finished the helicopter pilot courses.

When my husband went to work at the north, I felt very lonely and started to play guitar outside at night. Little by little my music attracted all the cats from our neighborhood. They came to listen me, and they were captivated by my music. My music affected not only the cats. Out of nowhere every time came the little boy and started to play his flute. And when he finished he went away without saying anything. I thank the Virgin of Zapopan for this big company I have now.

I thank Saint Anthony because my mother finally approved my fiancé Dagoberto Martinez and now we can get married on May 18, 1950.

Maria Lucia Rios

Gilberto Carrasco thanks Saint James with this retablo because he managed to buy rare albums of the Beatles at an auction. So he enriched his collection of his favorite band.

I thank Saint Paschal with this humble retablo because I won the town chiles en nogada contest. Many people ask me about my secret of its delicious taste, and I always say that it is the love that I put in it. My eternal devotion to Saint Paschal.

Petra Tlachi
Tlatlauquitepec, Puebla

The representative Luis del Valle received some uncomfortable questions about his homosexual past from a journalist. Luis honestly confessed and now he is much happier, although his political career has ended. He thanks Father Jesus for giving him the courage to live without lies.

Six years after I became a widow, I married a prosperous watchmaker. But then I, being very nervous and accustomed to the silence, went crazy because of constant ticking and beating of dozens of clocks. I couldn’t sleep and I was always stressed. I even had a nervous breakdown. I thank the Virgin of Zapopan because my husband, who loves me very much, noticed my anxiety and took all those damned clocks from the house to his workshop.

I thank the Virgin of Guadalupe for the opportunity to arrange a beautiful altar for my late grandparents, uncles and aunts for the Day of the Dead. In this way I can tell them that there is a lot of their essence is still around and they aren’t completely dead because we remember them and we offer to them flowers, food and candles to tell how we love them.

I thank Saint Jude because I was able to save some money to enlarge my boobs.

Elsi Camara

I was a very calm and quiet person but sometimes my wife drove me mad. February 25, 1956, I went so furious I even began strangling her. But then I suddenly heard a noise that distracted me. So I stopped strangling her and saw a strange light in which the image of the Virgin of Zapopan appeared. The Virgin stopped me from killing my wife whom I—when I come to think of it—love very much.