A mural on a busy street in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, points to Jesus’ second coming thanks to donated space and Adventist art graduates, who took six days to complete the job.

The mural, located on Diamante Street in Ensenada, the country’s second-largest port city, depicts Jesus coming in a cloud of angels, crying out through a cemetery surrounded by barren mountains. It is the work of two art graduates from Montemorelos University run by the Adventist Church in Montemorelos, Mexico.

“The main goal [of the work] is to reach others with the gospel,” said Edgardo Beltrán, district pastor of nearby Ensenada 14 Adventist Church. “Our church members are very enthusiastic about the project.” This is the first time the church district has participated in such a project, and they hosted the performers and helped with logistics.

Priscila Rivera and Pablo Sánchez, two alumni of the Visual Arts program at Montemorelos University, traveled with their professor, Luis Medina, who coordinates the visual arts department on campus, to work on the project from 21 to June 28, 2022.

“I was struck by the acceptance and curiosity of people walking by,” Rivera said. “Sometimes I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but a car would pass by with a whole family stopping just to cheer us on, or people shouting from afar, telling us it looked good. ” It’s encouraging when people trust your work, she added.

Sánchez is a former classmate of Rivera and they have collaborated on other murals. One is located at the entrance to the University of Montemorelos Church and another on the walls of the gymnasium. Sánchez said this particular paint flowed well. “It was a freestyle technique that we didn’t rely on anything in particular, but a penchant for illustration,” he said. People had a positive reaction when they saw the mural, he said. “They stopped to ask what it was all about and to see a bit of the process, and [said] that it was a positive message unlike the type of street art that people are used to seeing.

For a mural with a religious background, it surprised them that it piqued people’s interest.

“The theme of the Second Coming is interesting to Seventh-day Adventists and somewhat mysterious,” Medina said. “We rather imagine what it will be, what will happen, and we try to interpret it through colors and shapes.” The mural includes not-so-traditional colors influenced by the urban pop art palette, he explained. “We used a combination of the latest styles and trends.”

Ensenada 14 Adventist Church, one of six in the district, has designated a team to track people who call or contact them through social media information posted on the board itself, Beltrán said. The project was also a collaboration of the Baja California Conference and the Northern Mexico Union.

Church leaders said the mural should be on display for a year.

The original version of this story was published on the Inter-American Division news sites.