Photos

Baby Schneider KiviKivi and his Mother

October 9 letter to Mom

Momma dear, whom i love alot, who birthed me, who now misses me, in Idaho,

HEY!!!! Wow that sounds like quite the trial time for Daddy. The Lord is definitely testing him i think. Read Mosiah 23:21-22. It is a super great scripture to explain why sometimes we go thru trials. It is not always a punishment or because we did something wrong. Rather, it is because there's something we need to learn or He just simply wants to build us! Ha, i do feel for Dad and you though. Don't fear, all will be well :)

I have not recieved the box yet, but it must be coming soon. The AP's will tell me when it gets to Nairobi. But guess who i saw in Nairobi? Habibu and Douglas both!!!!! I spent alot of time with Habibu. I love him so much!!! He is an awesome guy. I am excited to give stuff to him and Douglas when the box comes. Who knows! Maybe i can be in the same district as Habibu or Douglas again someday!

So i was thinking about something the other day. I was walking in a dirt path, actually in a valley in between some banana trees. And suddenly i stopped and looked around and was like - "Oh my goodness, i have lived in the bush of Kenya for almost a year!!!!" Did you EVER imagine i would be living in the African bush for a year straight preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Cuz i sure didn't! 

hahahaha holy crap man, that is one of the suckiest days i have ever heard of!!!! hahahaha as horrible as it is, it is totally funny movie material. Man, sorry about all that! Atleast you got to have a nature walk with Dave, right? haha man... well, the Lord must have been teaching you something during all of that huh? I bet you prayed your heart out!!!

This past week i saw Habibu at zone conference, and he is doing awesome! I love that guy so much. I also saw Douglas, and he too is doing fantastic! Few people understand him, but we had fun talking together and catching up a little bit.

Ok ready for this?

STORYTIME!!!!!
We were travelling back from zone conference, and we were in a matatu in a tiny town called Nunguni. Well suddenly i hear a knock on the window next to my seat. It is Christine, the wife of Leonard Kivikivi, one of the men who asked me to help ordain him to the Melchizedek Priesthood. She called me over to where some women were sitting. Me and Elder Munyoro went, and she had just delivered a baby boy that day!! Well he was healthy and strong. then she goes, "We named him after you. We named him Schneider." HAHAHAHA WHAT?!?!?!?!? THEY NAMED THEIR BABY AFTER ME!!!! So now our name will forever be here in Kenya!!!!! :D Even more than that, when one Kenyan does something like give a peculiar name like that, others will follow suit. Man, if Ben and Danny come here on a mission, they may find our name more than just on their name tags! hahahaha is that not totally awesome?!?! The tender mercies of the Lord, things we don't ask for, but things that happen because we demonstrate real and sincere and constant love to these brothers and sisters. I love these people so much Dad!!!

So basically the work is going awesome too. We were introduced to a whole entire family who are totally into the church!!! They all came to church on Sunday, except the Dad, who told us he couldn't come, but promised this week to come. WOO!!!! Next week we have 2 baptisms. And tons are going to follow. There are also 2 weeks left in this transfer, and most likely i will stay for six more weeks (1 more transfer). I am going to die when i have to leave here. But you know what? I am seriously going to be excited to get in my next area and gain the love of members. And investigators. The power of faith makes life and especially mission exciting. I have no fears! It is all in the Lord's hands :)

Love you forever Dad. I will keep you in my prayers for sure, and just know that your son is doing totally great here. I am safe, healthy, happy, and hopeful!!!! Be the same Dad, cuz God loves you so much. You are His precious son, as i am yours.

Love, Conraddio

This is the email I sent that Conrad is responding to:

Hey Son!
Sooooooo.....this last week David came up and we went hunting moose.  So Tuesday morning we took the 4-wheelers I borrowed from Jerrad Thompson and headed out at 4am.  We got up there before dawn and didn't see anything as the sun came up.  So we decided to get the ATV's and head up a trail.  Well the small one, a 250, wouldn't start so we decided to jump start it.  It didn’t work, sao we both got on the big ATV which is a 500, and started on the trails.  We didn't see anything so we went back to the car.  Then I remembered there is a fuse that probably got blown so I checked it and sure enough, was able to get the little ATV running!  So we drove around and went a few other places but didn't see anything.  Then we got to the canyon where we used to bear bait.  We got the atv's off and started up an awesome trail.  We were almost all the way around the trail when we came to a very steep part of the trail.  I was riding the small ATV cause David didn't have much experience with them and the bigger one was easier to drive.  So we got to this steep part and I stopped and looked it over.  I thought I could make it up.  So I tried and got about two thirds up and it lost power.  I rolled back down safely and decided to get a run at it.  Well I gunned it and made it to the top, which I then could see was not the top.  So the machine lost power so I jumped off so I could walk it up.  But I started slipping and losing control of the machine.   I stepped back down the hill and tried to move the front end sideways.  That's when I felt something ripping in the back of my knee at the top of my calf.  It hurt mucho.   We got the machine down and drove back to the car.  I was in a lot of pain and couldn't walk on my right leg.  David loaded everything up and we were all ready to go.  David got in and turned the key.   The dashboard went black.  Battery dead.  We didn't have cell reception so we unloaded the big ATV and I drove out to the highway to get cell reception.   I called Matt and told him to come get me.  We loaded up the atv's and unhooked the trailer so we could hook it up to Matts car and tow it back to Thompson's.   While we were waiting in the dark, we heard a bear "chuffing " in the trees nearby.  Well Matt finally got there and we hooked up the trailer and headed out.  I got hurt around 4pm.  It was now around 8pm.  We got to Thompson's and unloaded the atv's.   We discovered that the seat of the 500 had blown off on the way home.  Lost.  We unhooked the trailer and talked to Jerrad for a little bit.  Then I thought I better get to the emergency room.  It was now 10pm.  We got in Matt's suburban and he turns the key and....dead battery! !  I kid you not.  Jerrad gave us a jump and we finally got home at 10:30.  We got to the ER and of course waited for a while.  They x-rayed me to see if ligaments had torn bone fragments off my bone.  They hadn't thankfully.  And it wasn't my pcl ligament.  I had just torn calf muscle.  So I came home about 1am.  It has been tough to walk but it is getting better slowly.  Wow huh?
In other news, Ben and I drove down to priesthood session yesterday.   It was good.  I think I would rather just watch it at church.  Too many people, crowds, traffic, hassle.  You know how it was.  But it was good to be with Ben just us two.
Well dog, I love you.  You know how much.
Give yourself a hug from me.
Dad

Cute little girls

Mother Dearest!

Whoooweee! What a change! I got a new companion named Elder Munyoro from Zimbabwe. He is a cool guy! He is an excellent teacher and together we feel that the area is really going to progress. I am excited to get to work with him.  I may be in Kilungu for 5 more weeks, or up until December 2. We won't know until mid-October though. I love this area Momma, and my heart is with these people here.

New phones huh? Sounds like you guys are receiving even MORE blessings! Yeah, definitely get Benny something hard core. Except he is growing up a bit, right? So his phone will probably undergo less pain. WITH CLAIRE?!?! Wow.... scary huh? Except they both have the highest of standards, so as long as they play it safe and smart, all will be well with those two. Aww... wittle Benny is getting more hormones!!!!!!!!

Poor Jessie... give her a big ole' hug for me and make sure she knows that her big (taller) brother will talk to her soon :) She can endure anything. With both her brother and best friend gone, God must surely be testing her at this time. She must  make sure she learns from these trials, and she will come out a true and able servant of the Lord for sure. Give her my love please.

And Danny too, what an awesome kid. He is unusually sharp for a kid his age. He has incredible potential as we know. Make sure you tell him i said that please. I love him so much too, and he will need lots of nourishment from the fam.

Ohhhhh lucky... you get to go to the temple!! I want to go sooo bad. Thanks for putting my name in the temple. I have faith that the blessings will come somehow. Maybe i won't even see them, but the Lord has always, always provided for me Mom. He has never left me alone when i needed Him. Even now, my heart is just full of love for the Lord. I am blessed far beyond what i deserve.

Is all good? All is fantastic. You know why? I am developing hope! Hope is basically optimism and faith combined! And wow, blessings are flowing from the development of this Christlike attribute! Please PLEASE Momma, go look up hope in Preach My Gospel, and discuss it with the family for Family Home Evening. If it is possible to have Jessie there when you discuss it, she could definitely use it as well. Hope will make life a thousand times happier! All becomes well if hope is developed. It goes hand in hand with patience, and Momma, we need hope in this world. We need hope in our fellow men, in our family's welfare, and mostly hope in Christ that He will make everything work. He will, and i testify in His holy name that He will make everything work. PLEASE go look that up and really mull it over. Ponder it and even search it out. Ether 12 helps as well, especially verses 4 and 32.

I am thankful for you Mom. You are amazing! I could never ask for a better Mother. The Zweifel's wrote me a letter and went on about how awesome our family is. In my reply letter i said, "DUH!!!!" hahaha just kidding. But they are right, you and Dad and the Lord have raised a family that is upright and honest and prosperous before Him. We all love our Heavenly King, and it is because of the example that you and Dad have set for us!

By the way, i got the letters from Great Harvest! It was really nice. And as for the box, i would also love some memory cards, some deodorant would be great, and if there's room past all the candy and other stuff, a pedometer. Just so i can see how much i walk each day.

By the way, Elder Semnonza is Elder Sarlo's new companion. He is my new friend and i love him! He is from Uganda and he is so funny and cool. AND, from the same ward as Habibu!

Well Mommy, you are my hero and i love you! Keep up the good fight! Expect some letters that i may need delivered. And some that won't need to be delivered :)

Love you forever,
Conrad

MORE BLESSINGS FROM THE LORD!!!!!!  Seriously tho, I will thank the Lord as well tonight for the awesome blessing. He loves us so much. I love Mosiah 2, especially verses 17 to about 25 i think. We are of the dust of the Earth but He loves us as His own. I love our Father in Heaven so much. There's so much more i could do for Him, and so much more i plan on doing for Him when i return home. I am excited to put God first, be tested and tried, and prove to Him that  i can put Him first.

Daddio, please give me information on how the weight loss is going. It is a serious desire and concern for me that you and Momma get in good shape. I will love you and Mother just the same either way, but i know that you want to feel better and i know that you can still do so much good for our family. And i want Dad to live to a ripe old age. I'm not trying to say you're gonna die anytime soon, but i just love you alot Dad, and i wanna climb mountains and do fun crazy stuff as us 4 boys together. All you gotta do is cut down the portions in the evening, eat less carbs before bed, and drink water too. It may be a little unpleasant for a bit, but it will go away when the results come. And from what Elder Gideon told me, they will come fairly quickly. Please Dad, i love you so much and you deserve to be even happier. I know you can do it. You are a super-Dad, and mom a super-Mom. I love you Daddio!

Well.... i am going to send a letter soon to the family. A BIG old letter. And probably seperate letters to each of you. I am happy Dad. Check up with Mom about "hope". I am happy and my life is just wonderful. Me and Elder Munyoro are seriously working to progress the area. My district loves me, and President Broadbent expresses deep appreciation for the things i do. Man, life is good no matter what Satan can throw at us. The work is like the stone in Daniel for sure! Onward, ever onward!

Love you forever,
Conrad

Momma!!!

You can call me boy even if I am 100 years old. If you happen to be living when i am that old then you have total license to call me boy. Because you, are my, MOTHERRRRR!!!!!
And i can't wait to snuggle :)

I love you Momma, and you have a connection with the Spirit as our mother that we as your children cannot match. The Spirit works with mothers like no others! Just know that you are doing what you are supposed to do. You will be rewarded Heavenly for the service you give and the sacrifices you make. That is an eternal principle. So keep it up, we all love you sooooooooooo much :) :) Especially me!!!

As for the river rafting, i am envying but also not envying. I will be excited to come do those things again, but i know that if i went to do them now, i would never live down the fact that i left while i was supposed to serve. I know you aren't asking me to leave, but i'm just saying. I want to be here, and there is nowhere i am going until i have served the full 2 years. This is where i'm needed and this is where i will stay. No questions in my mind :)

SPICES!! Ok we have garlic, black pepper, cayenne, and that's just about it. I would love some meat seasonings, that would make me happy. Also, I would like things that go with any meal. Like... well i will leave it up to Mommy. No matter how good i get at cooking out here, i can't come close to rivaling you. In fact i tell Elders all the time out here, "No meal here will compare to my Mom's cooking." They try and argue it, but i have never budged. Sometimes i reminisce about Thanksgiving and oh....... my stomach growls and i yearn for squash and brown sugar and marshmallows and broccoli with cheese and turkey and cranberry and taters and AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Ok..... gotta calm down. That feast is atleast a year and 4 months away. Can you tell i miss your cooking?

Besides all that Momma, we worked hard this week in the hills. We have some fantastic investigators that will be baptized. The branch president here told me that he is so thankful for our service and that he is so excited to see the branch growing. He is an amazing branch president and sacrifices a ton to do his duty. I love my district leader duties too!
The district is really strong and work gets done. I may get a new companion next week, transfers are coming. I will let you know next week what happens ok?

Love you forever Momma, All is well here :) And guess what? I will talk to you in less than 4 months! WOO!! Start the countdown. That is my one year mark too. Who said 2 years is long?! The only 3 material things i am missing are the temple, Mexican food, and pianos. But 2 years without them is worth the blessings coming to Kenyan and American alike :)
Love you Mom, you are my hero :)

Love, Conrad