Do you know what a "Manda" means?

Today I want to share a story from a friend of ours who lives here and is from here. (Guadalajara)

It all starts with the word "manda", what does this word mean, why is it so important and where does it come from? The word "manda" is a promise or sacrifice to God or a saint or a virgin in return for a favor or miracle. Or when God or a saint or a virgin does a miracle, you then repay him with a promise or sacrifice. This is a yearly tradition in the culture and religion here in Mexico and specifically in Jalisco, it is very important to the people. For example, people will walk barefoot (in some cases) for 6 to 7 days to a catholic temple to pay respects or make a sacrifice to the virgin of that region. Some people walk out of tradition because their parents did and grandparents did before them. While others walk because they need a miracle in their life or the life of a family member. I do not know where or how this all started, but through many stories of locals, each town or region has its own story. There is a virgin, a temple where they make sacrifices to seek miracles or to fulfill a promise made in return for a miracle. There are paintings, books, stories, statues of different virgins, different representations of Jesus and different saints that have done miracles for the people all over the country.

Now, for the story of my friend. We went to their house (a married couple with a 2-year-old son), to celebrate their newborn child, and here is where it begins. The mom was doing well with the pregnancy until she came to the day the child was going to be born. She started having trouble breathing and so her husband rushed her to the hospital, which was an hour away from their home. Once she arrived, they told her she had really high blood pressure and they needed to induce her into a coma so she and the baby could live. Once she was in a coma, they started working on the baby, but she also had complications. To make a long story short, they both lived; it was a miracle! The doctors told them afterwards that they both almost died. The husband, after going through all of this, decided that he was going to make a "manda" or promise to not drink alcohol for 5 years to pay back God for the miracle He did for his family. This was something very important for him and his family because he struggles with drinking. After we left, I asked Nayeli about this and she said it was very common for people to do this after something miraculous happens.

I find it very interesting because on one hand, you can say, well that's very kind of that person to thank God or want to be dedicated but on the other hand, I see it as a false transaction. Like you have to do something to receive something, yet God tells us in His word that we cannot repay Him for anything nor do we need to earn His love. Obviously, this is not taught in their churches, but they do have those words in their bible that they can read and apply. The problem is they are not reading them and are not being taught that, so they continue to live enslaved to a false god that requires payment for their faith, miracles or blessings. We want to see them be free and truly know the real God who does miracles and is the only who can do miracles and is their salvation from this horrible world. We understand that they are suffering in many ways and do not like to see that, which is why we share The Gospel!