选择新的道路

我非常爱克多村（Kodo Village）的教会。我每周日都会参加礼拜，每次祷告会也不缺席。并且我也会参加所有教会举办的活动。

直到有一天，马力欧来到了我的村庄。

来拜访我家时，他告诉我自己来自一个偏远的村庄，是一位基督复临安息日会外派到我们这个村的查经义工。我之前从未听过基督复临安息日会。

马力欧与我分享他的见证，他如何在了解安息日的真理之后决定加入复临教会。他打开了《圣经》开始向我解释真正的主日。他说真正的主日是在星期六，而不是星期日。他也让我从《圣经》里看见星期六是第七日，而星期日是第一日的证据。

我便开始恳切地向上帝祷告。我问上帝我是否该保持我原先的信仰并且遵第一日为圣日，还是选择新的道路并且遵安息日为圣日。

我在祷告中询问上帝说：“主啊，旧与新的道路，究竟哪一个才是好的？”

我为此连续祷告了三天。后来在一次睡梦中，我梦见了前面有两条道路：一条是旧的道路，另一条是新的。有一个人站在我面前对我说：“你要放弃旧路，走上新的道路。”

早上醒来的时候，我再次回想那场梦，感觉非常逼真。

同样那天，马力欧再次来拜访，他邀请我到我朋友安吉罗的菜园裡一起工作。马力欧与我们一边工作，一边与安吉罗分享《圣经》的话语。马力欧常常会在帮助居民处理菜园琐事时讲解《圣经》，但他那天的分享深深地触动了我的心。我就邀请他为我查经。

几个月后我就受洗了，也开始教我的妻子关于《圣经》的话语；她和我，还有另外两位我们在村庄的家人，后来也跟着一起受洗了。

但加入复临教会后，我们的生活并不是一帆风顺。在我的妻子受洗几年后，她的哥哥，也是我们上一个教会的领袖，要求我们与复临教会断绝关係。他甚至在我面前打了我的妻子。

他生气地说：“只有妳的丈夫可以改信，妳不能跟他一样。”

我的妻子坚决地说她要跟随新的道路。

她回答说：“我已经有自己的家庭，而我的丈夫是一家之主。倘若他选择走这一条路，那我到世界的末了都会跟他一起走下去。”

虽然我们受到来自亲戚的压力，但上帝对我们非常眷顾。我和妻子都不断为亲戚们祷告，后来我的母亲和另两位兄弟姊妹也加入了复临教会。

我身为一名警卫，并没有太多的金钱来资助福音的事工，但我有的是向他人分享真理的精神。引领人们到耶稣的面前是我的责任，也是我的负担。因为我知道每个人在上帝的眼中都是宝贝。我告诉每个我遇见的人，耶稣是多麽地爱他们，想要拯救他们。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2022年第一季

Taking the New Path

I loved my church in Kodo village in Timor-Leste. I attended worship services every Sunday. I went to every prayer meeting. I participated in every church activity.

Then Mario came to my village.

Visiting my home, Mario told me that he lived in a faraway village but had been sent to my village as a volunteer Bible worker with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I had never heard of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Mario told me about how he had found the biblical truth regarding the seventh-day Sabbath and decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He opened his Bible and spoke about the true Lord’s Day. He said the Lord’s Day actually is on Saturday, not Sunday. I saw evidence in the Bible that Saturday is the seventh day and that Sunday is the first day.

I began to pray earnestly to God. I asked Him whether I should continue in my old way and keep the first day as holy, or should I go the new way and keep the seventh day as holy.

“Lord,” I prayed, “is the old way good or the new way good?”

I prayed for three days in a row. Then I had a dream as I slept at night. Ahead of me were two paths: an old path and a new path. Someone stood in front of me and said, “It is better if you follow the new path and leave the old path.”

In the morning, I woke up and thought about the dream. It seemed so real.

That day, Mario came to my house again and invited me to work with him in the garden of my friend Angelo. As we worked, Mario shared the Word of God with Angelo. Mario always spoke about the Bible while he helped villagers in their gardens, and we enjoyed listening to him. But his words touched my heart in a special way on this particular day. I asked him for Bible studies.

After I got baptized a few months later, I taught my wife about the Bible. She was baptized, together with members of two other families in my village.

Life hasn’t been easy since we joined the Adventist Church. Several years after my wife’s baptism, her brother, a leader in our former church, demanded that we renounce our faith. He even beat my wife in my presence.

“Only your husband can convert to that religion,” he said. “You cannot follow him.”

My wife declared that she intended to follow the new path.

“I already am married and have a family,” she said. “My husband is the head of the family. If he is on the path that I have to go, I will go with him even to the end of the world.”

As we have faced heavy pressure from our relatives, God has been very good to us. My wife and I have prayed for our relatives, and my mother and two of my siblings have joined the Adventist Church.

I don’t have much money to support the gospel through my job as a security guard, but I have the energy to share the truth with others. Bringing souls to Jesus is my duty and responsibility because I know that every soul is very precious in God’s eyes. I tell every person whom I meet that Jesus really loves them and wants to save them.

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa22q1-08