A New Chapel in Maputo

Hi! I thought you guys might want to see this. We have been trying to buy this land for a long time and we finally got it so they are going to build this chapel in the heart of Maputo in a great spot! Have a good week! Love you all!
Love Brady

Queridos Elderes:
Well, after more than four years the Church is the owner of the property in front of Shoprite in Maputo. I was told that the process was started in 2005 and it was finished today. Construction is planned to begin in 2010 and to finish in 2011. The new chapel will be a landmark for the whole city.
President Spendlove
Mozambique Maputo Mission

This month really has just flown by! I'm amazed that September is already over! I'm glad to hear that everything is going well for you guys back home though. Here everything is going alright. My talk went well. I really think people understood it. I talked about how the people of Christ are a special people, and that we aren't and should not be like the world. Then I talked about some things that the people of Christ have to do and how we should act. I also talked about how there can't be divisions in us. Like in 4 Nephi where the almost everyone was converted to the church and there were no Lamanites or Nephites but they were all the people of the Lord. I talked about how as the people of Christ we have to keep the commandments, and that there are no exceptions to them. People also think that the commandments are for Americans and that they don't have to obey them in the same way. For example with tithing, they only pay it if they have extra money or don't use the 10 percent at the end of the month cuz they are just all "poor" and the Americans are all "rich" so they can do it. So as you can imagine, very few pay tithing. I talked a lot about how, if we really love the Lord we have to keep the commandments and sacrifice to keep them, not just keep them when it is convenient. I did tell everyone that I loved them and that was why I was saying the things I was saying. There are just a lot of problems and things that people are doing and no one has the guts to say what needs to be said. That's why I did what I did, missionaries are too nice sometimes so I always have to be the bad guy. I think I've given a talk like that in every branch I've served in so far except when I was a secretary. I don't mind doing it though, it just makes me feel like a missionary of old and in my opinion it would be better if more missionaries did it. Obviously we show love and care but when something needs to be said, it needs to be said, boldly, but always lovingly. Otherwise people will just keep doing things wrong until it becomes a habit that will be even harder to break.

Elder Chimica's leg is super bad so we stayed at the mission home all week. Sister Spendlove took care of him and I was a secretary again for a week. It was fun though, I missed the office! I got to drive, write letters, fight with the Angolan embassy again! It was pretty fun, but we did no work in our area and only 2 of our investigators came to church. Oh well, there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. Anyways, we did get to go home for a few days. I was designated to change his bandanges so I've been playing doctor for him. However, I told Sister Spendlove, "I don't know what I'm doing and I'm only going to make it worse." Sure enough, here we are again and we will probably be staying another week... oh well, she said it wasn't my fault but... yeah I'm pretty sure it was. Man!

I have grown on a lot of ways in my mission. First off, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm a softy.... I've turned into a soft hearted touchy feely guy! It sucks!!!! I use to not let anyone get away with crap when it came to me but now I do! Dang it! No it's a good thing, I'm not a door mat, but I have learned to forgive and give people the benefit of the doubt which is a good thing. I just feel like a softy everytime I do it ha ha! it really is a good thing though, I will be interested to take that personality test again. When I left I was a red/white, now I think I'm more of a blue which was my lowest ha ha! that should be interesting.

Anyways, it looks like I will be a secretary for another few days so that's good. I'm excited. There were a lot of things that I wanted to get done but just couldn't because I didn't have time with all the other things we had to do but now I can do all that stuff. It's good, I'm happy and everything is going well. Anyways I better get going, I love you and I'm so grateful to be a part of our family.

Love Brady

That is so crazy that Kyler is home!!!! I almost forgot that he was going home this week! That is way crazy! I still remember when he left and it doesn't feel like it was that long ago. I'm glad you guys ran into him! I'm also super happy to hear that he did well on his homecoming talk. I really to love Kyler, he is so great! We've kept in touch through the mission and man he is such a good kid! I'm super lucky to have him as a friend. I look forward to hanging out with him again when I get back as well. I'm really glad that you guys enjoyed your trip to NY and the Sacred Grove. I'm really happy to hear that the Lord is blessing you guys so much. I really am super happy to hear that! It is something I pary for everynight and I'm so glad that He is answering my prayers. The Lord truly has blessed us so much. This week wasn't the best week. Elder Chimica has a skin infection on his leg and can't walk. But we are going to the hospital today to get his leg looked at so we'll know what's up after that. The Branch missionaries just told me they don't have time. So I've sat at home all week doing nothing. Actually I picked up the guitar and learned some songs. I think I'm going to try and really learn it when I get back. But yeah so really nothing happened this week sorry. I don't really have anything to talk about. We (me and the other missionaries with me right now) are super happy to hear about what the fed chairman said about the recession! Everyone cheered ha ha! That really is great news though! No hopefully the health care bill doesn't screw it all up hu? It's a good thing we have the Lord we can trust on. Even though we as men screw up all the time even though we are trying to do what is right. The Lord always has a way of making everything work out in the end and if we trust in him everything will be alright. It makes me think of that song that says "Jesus take the wheel" But if you think about it, that is exactly what we have to do, let the Lord take the wheel and trust that whatever happens will be the best. Sorry about that ha ha I had a soap box moment too ha ha! This sunday I will be speaking and I'm going to talk about those scriptures that talk about the people of the Lord and how we have to be a people that is special and different. Most of the teaching the church has they look at them as if they were just for the Americans so we'll see how this goes. Well sorry this is kinda short but like I said, nothin happened so I got nothing. Thanks for the letter though! I miss you, I love you, and I'm super grateful that you are my parents. Thanks!
Love you!
Love Brady

Questions: 1. Do you eat fish with the heads on?
yes.....
2. Have you grown to like the vegie, cornmeal thing?
no..... 3. Are there foods there you do like?
no..... i can just stand it all now. Actually there is one member who makes really good food! But other that that i haven't had anything that i would eat just to eat. There are Chamuses and Recoise that are good. The Chamuses are like meat filled doritos and Recoise are like sea food bite things that are like minnie hot pockets kinda. I can't really explain them but those are good.
4. Do the missionaries always go to an orphanage for Christmas? Can we get the little kids together and get some toys or other items to send for that?
I'm not sure, I'm actaully doing internet at President's house so I'll ask him what we are going to do. He isn't here right now but remind me next week to give you the answer will ya? thanks!

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

Brand New Mozam Do

Sister Spendlove said that I could buzz my head.... so I did!
Thanks so much for the pics of the Sacred Grove <<< and for the description. Just looking at the pictures I can almost feel the spirit of that place. I'm so glad that you were able to go to these amazing places! Thanks for telling me so much about them also.

Everything here is going pretty good, things with the branch have gotten better. We've been working a lot with inactives still and we found a bunch who we will be sitting with this week so I'll let you know how it goes. It's unfortunate that one lady really doesn't like the church anymore. She told us that our church doesn't teach anything and whatever else. I kinda got into it with her but oh well it's her choice. Anyways the funny part was that even though she hated the church, she was still willing to help us ha ha ha! It was kinda funny! She answered all of our questions and in between answers she would just go off about how much she hated the church. Then we'd ask her another, she stopped, answered the question, then kept going! I thought it was kinda funny.

Well I have a pretty funny story for everyone. So we did this family night thing at a members house. Anyways at the end of the lesson, she brought out this traditional drink stuff (oh boy) called maheu. Anyways she poured me a huge glass of it. It smelled kinda funny, so you know I had to ask "This doesn't have any alcohol does it?" She said it didn't and was a little offended that I would even ask if she was serving alcohol to the missionaries. Anyways my comp said that he made it all the time in his house and that it was fine. So I drank some.... it was pretty nasty, so I asked my companion again if he was sure and he said yes. Then she started looking at me funny so I started drinking it. I couldn't leave it in my mouth for very long because of the taste so I drank it pretty quick... That was a bad idea because then she thought I liked it and gave me more. I guess what happens with this drink stuff is that it's fine if you drink it soon after you make it but if you leave it too long it ferments.... yeah it had fermented for sure ha ha! I started feeling it on our way home. So I made it home and the other missionaries we live with thought I was acting kinda weird. So I told them what happened and they all got a pretty big kick out of it ha ha!

This week was pretty good. Things with the branch have gotten better and the work continues. We taught one lesson that was pretty interesting. One of our investigators just never wants to pray. He knows how cuz I've heard him do it before, but he never wants to pray. He always just says that he'll do it next time. So one day we went there and all of our appointments fell through for the rest of that day. So we showed up there at about 4 in the afternoon. We sat and told him that it was his turn to pray. He again said that he wasn't prepared and that he would do it next time. I had about had it with that answer. So I told him we wouldn't start teaching or leave until he had said a prayer, and that we had until 9 that night to just sit if we had to. He just kept saying "no next time I'll do it but not today." So we sat for a while. He still wouldn't say it. So I pulled out that book mom sent me (thanks a ton by the way mom that book helps me a TON) and I started bombarding him with scriptures about prayer. After each scripture I asked if he was ready to say it, each time he just said the same thing "next time today I can't" So then I would find another scripture and give it to him. Anyways to make a long story short, we were there for 2 and a half hours, needless to say I ran out of scriptures. So I was trying to thing of what else I could do... then I saw his mom washing clothes kinda near us. so I said "I'll tell your mother you wont pray!" he laughed and thought I was kidding... So I called his mom over. Unfortunately she wouldn't do anything. But anyways he did end up saying the prayer but we were there for a long time.

Well I better get going. Have a good rest of your trip though! Love you!

Love Brady

This week we gave a baptismal date to one of our families. Arlete, Katia, and Julieta will be baptized hopefully on the 26th so I will probably be here, that is if they keep progressing. They are doing great and we are super excited to see them get baptized. She has a daughter named Silvia, she's the mother of the baby I was holding, and a son named Paito who is the one who lost his hearing who are already members so they should have lots of suport. We are super excited for them!

Elder Chimica is doing really well. He is the humblest person I have ever met. He's a really good guy. He's funny and he teaches well. I've kind of given up on learning Massena and learning dialects, too many weird sounds and stuff.

It's a holiday today so the streets are full of drunks and everything is closed, but luckily we found an internet place that was open. It was pretty funny, while we were waiting for the place to open, there was a drunk guy that just sat outside our car and just kept saying "Elder, Elder, Elder" over and over again. I love drunk people! Then he told us he could run 80 kilometers an hour, and we were all like "no way!!! we don't believe it!!! you have to show us! run to the end of the street and back and we'll time you!" so he agreed and got down like he was about to race. We yelled go! and he took off running! He didn't quite make it to 80 but it might have been because his pants were falling off and he kept having to pull them up, otherwise I'm sure he would have done it!

Anyways i better get going. thanks mom! Have a good week! love you!!

Love Brady