It is the final countdown here in São Lourenço da Mata! Basically, this tranfer (a period of 6 weeks) is about to end which means our goals that we have set need to be met! I am loving being able to work so hard, and like I have said many many many times....THIS MISSION IS NOT EASY! But the rewards are grand.....and not just the reward after when I come home and see how much I have changed. There are other rewards that I have been able to see on the mission.
Two miracles that have happened this week with two families that we have visited that had left the church. The first is the Cunha family. We got into their home, almost got malled by an enormous dog, and then, being extremely direct, shared a message about how we could help them face their challenges by returning to church and renewing their covenants. What does it mean to renew covenants? When this family joined the Church of Jesus Christ through baptism, they made a covenant, or promise, to always remember Christ and to take upon them his name, becoming a lifelong disciple of Him. These covenants help us to live a life in which we are always improving and always serving others. When these covenants are broken or forgotten, our happiness is in jeaporady and also the choices we make are not always in correspondence with God's will. I, as a missionary, am trying to enter people into these covenants of Baptism by teaching people that have not accepted the Gospel yet. But my purpose is also to go after those sheep that had lost their way.
There are many lost sheep. But Christ, the perfect example, left the 99 to save that one. How great is the reward for the one who was lost and then rescued! And with the Cunha family and also Mauro's family, all we saw was a name on a list of people who have been lost. To many, it just seems like we invited a couple people to attend church regularly again, and it is exactly as it appears. But the very Church that we invited them to attend again is the very same church that Christ established here on the earth. Yes, that Church was contorted and conformed by the will of man, but the will of our Heavenly Father was greater. For this reason He, our Eternal Master, restored His church on the earth so that his children, all the world, could partake of the covenants made in His church. I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ that I represent. I am so grateful to have the chance to bring people unto the eternal light and happiness the Restored church offers. I am an instrument in the hands of The Lord of the Flock and am so grateful and humbled to have this calling.
Elder Flake
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