An African Heart

An African Heart

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Made it to the Motherland!

Conrad finally arrived in Africa last night at 10pm our time, but at 6:50 am on December 15th, Johannesburg time.  They are 10 hours ahead of us.  He had to be exhausted but he sounds pretty charged up.  We were hoping he could call us from the airport when he landed so I was waiting up, waiting for his call.  By 12:45 I fell asleep.  At about 3:15 this morning I sent an email to the MTC President asking him to let us know when Conrad arrived.  At about 5:30 this morning, I got an email from Conrad.  Here are some excerpts.




DAAAADDDD!!!!!
Guess where i am? AFRICA!!!!! Yes, South Africa. I am already loving it here. Some of the African elders are Chimgazi, Salacama, Kamgawe, and other various African, cool sounding names. Seriously tho, I am so excited to be here.  I have been able to see some of Africa already and it is gorgeous. It is like nothing i have ever seen before. The flights were all successful and comfortable. I was able to have a missionary moment with all of my plane ride buddies. I even had an extended conversation with a lady named Julie and i gave her my pass along card. Funny story, on the flight to Johannesburg from london, i fell asleep because i was totally dead and i drooled all over. i was out like a rock. and when i woke up for a second, i was all leaned up against the lady next to me and it was super embarassing. I took some cool videos that i will try and post. Also some pictures.London, by the way, was not all it's cracked up to be. Atleast, the airport isn't. Sure the accents were really cool, but people in London are weird. I went to a cafe in the airport called Giraffe. I ordered the Salmon sandwich because it looked yummy and Julie (from the plane ride) travels alot and advised that i do not eat red meat. So i did. And it came out and it was RAW!!!! I choked down about three fourths of it, then proceeded to gag. So i stopped. It was slimy. Incredibly, i did not have a stomach ache at all. I felt pretty good actually :) i was surprised that my first taste of questionable food was in the airport, not even in Africa. Today for lunch, one part of the meal was this cabbage, coleslaw type stuff that was spicy. That was interesting. The Africans here are really awesome and really nice. They have great accents and they have cool handshakes, it is very interesting. And Johannesburg is more lush than you'd expect. It is very tropical. So here's something, all the Africans here, when i mention that i am going to Kenya, tell me i will love it. Same with Tanzania. Which, by the way, is pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable. So like, tanZANyuh. Like banana, but Tanzania.  

Elder Kamgawe is my MTC companion. He is so nice and he is a happy guy!! Also in my room are Elder Somgala and Elder Tukuafu. Elder Somgala is from Zimbabwe and Tukuafu is a Tongan from Arizona. I will write more when i have more to tell, but know this. I am doing this because i have a strong desire for others to be as happy as our family is. We are blessed. We have luxuries that people here don't have, and i'm seeing it already. This Gospel is the most true Gospel on the Earth, and it is restored in fulness. I love it with all my heart, and I love my Elder buddies here already!!

Jessica, Danny, Ben, I love you all so much and i think about you. Mom and Dad, i love you as well and i hope you are happy and peaceful. God is watching over our family. But not from a big podium like somebody who harshly commands. While He is the supreme God of the whole universe, He is with us more like a father who stands b y, with His arm around you, and tells you all is well!! Eternity is longer than two years, and that's how long i have with you all. I am going to work like never before. get to the temple, get ready for the mission field cuz it happens sooner than we think!! I love you all with all my heart, see you soon (relatively).
With deepest love,
Elder Conrad Schneider
Kenya, Nairobi mission

2 comments:

  1. Ahhhhhhh, let the adventures begin. You are all going to LOVE going through this with Conrad. I will forward the blog post to Tanner. I will ask him if he can read it, and if not will it be okay to copy and paste and then send Tanner a separate email?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sure! Feel free to copy and forward anything on here!
    Dale

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