New Position

Family,

I have had a very busy week as I got into this position a week before transfers so we spent A LOT of time finalizing the transfers and I will tell you what: President Hobbs does not have an easy job! Not that I thought he did in the first place, but it's definitely been made more apparent to me. My time to email will be brief because our P day involves a lot of driving missionaries places, so I am not going to be on the computer for long.

Let me start off by letting you know that my first week in Rancho has been really good! The valley is such a different world in our mission, it's an adjustment for sure. I am serving in the Highland ward and it is a very young ward! Lots of very young families, but they're awesome. We have ward mates that are sisters and one of them is Tongan! She's from Tooele, so now my Tongan can stay pretty amateur, but it won't fade! Elder Va'enuku from Tonga is also in our zone and he's awesome! This week I got to be with Elder Sudol and Elder Keller and I didn't love my trio in the MTC, but I had a really good week with these 2 elders. I'm replacing Elder Keller and he is from Idaho but goes to school at USU and he's super awesome. He goes home in 2 transfers and he loves the Cinefour, he says it's the cheapest place in Logan for movies, so maybe you'll get to meet up with him and treat him to some free stuff! He's been an awesome companion. Elder Sudol is from Sandy and I mentioned him not too long ago I believe. We've been on exchanges twice and they've both been good experiences, so we are looking forward to be companions!

Yesterday was the departing devotionals for the missionaries going home and I got to run into a lot of familiar faces, which one of them was obviously Martha! What an awesome lady. She really loves you guys as well and I am really hoping that you get to meet up with them when Kalani leaves for her mission. I was so happy to see my Alta Loma friends, whom I have failed to give my love to because I've been very boastful about the Tongans. I felt so bad that I may have made them feel less valuable than what they really are to me. I had no idea they were reading my blog and I didn't want to give off that idea to them. I do apologize, it's been on my mind since yesterday night, but I do love them immensely and always will. I got to see Gabby and she is doing great. She is attending the YSA ward and we share the building with them, so hopefully I will get to see her more around. There were 2 young men in the ward who also got their mission calls and I am so excited for them. If I did magically get transferred into their ward again, I would hope it would be during the duration to see Martha get baptized. I'm not sure when that will be taking place, but I do certainly hope that I get to be there for it (: You really meet the best people on the mission.

We have just found out that we will be skyping on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Utah time, 4:00 p.m. California time. Please only plan on visiting with me for 45 minutes. Let's make this the best final call of my mission. I am looking forward to seeing your wonderful faces once again, I can't believe how quickly time has flown since Christmas! It will most likely be Facetime again, let's plan on that. Thank you very much for your excitement and support as I proceed upon my mortal journey. Love you!

- Elder Shawn Lyle Bennion