Diamond Bar

I know at this given time, it doesn't affect me much, but I am so sad that our ward has been split! I have no idea who our bishop or his counselors are unfortunately. Thank you for informing me about this, I now need to inform our mission office about this. Church at 2:00 huh? Perry must really be growing in membership then. 

I read a letter that I got from mom today and she mentioned that our family keeps having bad experiences with the Jazzy haha! You'd think our family would've learned from the first time. "and she says STOP!... That's what mommy said" ha! Brighton is too cute. That first time was actually kinda startling, but I now I look back on it and laugh about Brighton's reaction to the whole thing. Teasing aside, I am grateful that you are all going okay.

To explain the dynamic of Diamond Bar, we cover the south side of Diamond Bar which is very populated with Asians. Diamond Bar High School is 80% Asian I think and there are less than 10 LDS kids there. Needless to say, it's so nice that Elder Hsu is here to speak Chinese to those who are interested. In China, they don't really go to church there, so he says coming to church in America is kinda just a fashion thing, so I think a lot of the Asian population here are simply unfamiliar with church and unsure of what to expect. The majority of the Asians here are Buddhist, so they really don't know much about Jesus Christ, since they worship Buddha. They typically don't show much interest in the church, but they are nice people. That's why I love the English class that we are doing because it's showing them that there's no need to be afraid of the church or missionaries (: We're located about 25 minutes east of Los Angeles, so the people are pretty wealthy. There's a gated community called the Country that Snoop Dog has a house in, if that gives you an idea of that place is like. We haven't been there because the security is outrageous and not many of our members live there and they need to inform the Country of our visit in order for us to come in.

We are trying so hard to find a new investigator and often I'm a bit hard on our companionship because we've been unsuccessful with it so far, but we do try awfully hard and that's what counts. I could definitely extend a bit more gratitude for being able to serve a mission regardless of where I'm called to serve. President Hobbs advised that I set little goals each day to help me feel effective and that principle will bless me for the rest of my life. Bishop Thornock said something similar to me yesterday, so therefore I will proceed with their counsel and we will see what results come from it!

I woke up with a headache and a stuffy nose today so I'm ready to call it good for email today and get home to take a nap. Take good care back home and keep serving as the Savior would. I love you!

- Elder Bennion