KFC - Mozambique!

We talked to Brady for 2 hours on Mother's Day. He told us the following stories:
He told us about building a house for one of the families they are teaching. They are currently making cement bricks for building the house. Here's what he said: "We get sand and cement and mix it with a shovel, pour it into a mold and pack it really well. Then when it sets, we hit it with a shovel and break it out of the mold. We are making lots of cement blocks right now. Then we'll build the house when we get enough. This family been coming to church for a long time but the husband has a drinking problem. Elder Nascimento and I came up with a program to get people off alcohol when we were in Beira. It works really well and everyone I've used it with has done really well. We put them under a lot of strict rules such as after work they come right home and stay there and don't go out at night, and they give their wife their paychecks. If they really want to quit and will do it and follow the program they get off alcohol. This family hardly had any money because the husband spent it all on alcohol and they lived in a staw hut with their 5 children. Their hut was falling over, the children had little food and no uniforms, supplies or backpacks to go to school with but since he stopped drinking and they have extra money. They used the money they saved to buy their children backpacks and pens and uniforms for school and they started buying cement so they could build a house. We talked to his wife. She said before they were not healthy, really skinny, the house was falling down, She was crying, saying the kids barely had enough to eat and didn't have things for school, now everytime we go there she's smiling and so happy and she's so grateful." It's amazing the impact Brady and his companion and the gospel are able to have on people's lives! Here's a funny story he told us:

"On p-day we got on the chaupa (taxi/van) to Maputo. It was crowded with people. Sitting next to my companion was a scantily clad woman who took a liking to my companion. He's only been out 2 months so he doesn't understand everything with the language yet. My companion did a street contact with her and invited her to church. She said, 'ya I'll come to your church. I could even get married in your church', but my companion didn't get it. She kept saying, 'I'll come to your church and get married.' Then one of the other missionaries that was with us and I start negotiating with her. Here in this culture you have to "purchase" your spouse. So we began negotiating a dowry to sell him to her. We said, 'he's got green eyes. Those are worth a little more.' My comp just kept saying 'ya, come to church on Sunday.' He asked later, 'what were you guys talking about?' When we told him he just laughed."

It was so fun to talk to Brady and have him describe what he was seeing, things he was doing and spend time chatting. He's having an amazing experience. He's very happy being a missionary!