The End is Near

As the transfer comes to a close, our work becomes even more crunched. We are currently preparing 3 people to be baptized this week and it's been a struggle. The first person is named Mayra. She is 19 years old and was going to the Polana ward for almost 4 years, buuuut she lives in our boundaries so we talked with her last week and she wants to be baptized so badly. She talked to us about how she struggled to believe in Joseph Smith but knew that she had felt something different in the church, so she did not give up completely. She continued to go to church and pray and after a lot of time, almost 4 years she is finally ready to be baptized. Im very excited to be a part of her story.

Then we have Chelcia who is an 11 years old girl who has been going to church with her aunt and uncle to church for the last 2 years. She never was baptized but knows all of the doctrine super well. Her testimony is super powerful.

The last person is named Serafim. I can't remember what I have said about him already but he is incredible. He has had tuberculosis for the last 6 months and has struggled a lot with that. But even though it's been hard he has walked miles and miles every sunday to be at church. He also finished the Book of Mormon in 3 weeks so that was pretty incredible too. The only complication is that he feels ill this week and is looking pretty bad. Hopefully he will be able to recover and be baptized soon but his faith is inspiring.

This week I was really hit by a scripture in the book of mormon, Ether 12:18 Ninguém, em tempo algum, fez milagres antes de exercer a fé no Filho de Deus. Sorry, i don't memorize in english kkkk but it hit me that we won't ever see miracles in our lives if we dont first put our own neck on the line. We don't get blessings for wanting to be diligent or wanting to be obedient, we get blessings for being diligent and being obedient. I have seen this during my mission, that when I put myself out there. When I push past my fear and doubt and work with faith I see the Lord's hand opening ways for me to succeed. I love the work and I love the Lord. Being a missionary has been the greatest honor of my life. I thank him each day that I have one more day to be here in Mozambique with this incredible people. Love you all and I will talk next week!

-Elder Thornton