Tongan Names!

Koriann,

I took the time to do separate emails because I had a lot of time today. That and there's honestly not much to say since not much has happened or changed since we spoke last ha. It doesn't mean that things weren't uneventful though or that my mission is ever boring, some weeks are just like this, you know? Something really great that did happen though is that Rudy passed his baptismal interview!!! I knew he would. He's a great guy who wants to know the Lord better. What a better way than to walk as he walked. It's so cool to see how naturally we change when we look to the Savior as our example. There's no way I could build willpower sufficient enough to keep me out here for 2 years, I'm completely reliant on the lord and that's what makes missionaries powerful. 

As for the Tongan names, it definitely takes some getting used to, trust me. I caught on relatively quickly, but I'm always so proud to type their names when I mention them. I just love their culture and their names and their personalities so much! 

We finally had a service project! It's very rare that happens in the ward. we went to Ngalu's and did some yardwork and he fed us little caesars. mmm, pizza. 

I need more things to say but I just don't know what to mention! Things are just going great. The Liava'a's are awesome and we're having a Hawaiian barbeque at Fe and Sese's on Saturday and they're one of my favorites in the ward. Our lessons have been pretty consecutive too. Normally the Tongan ward isn't so busy, but miracles are happening left and right here! This is definitely the busiest I've been on my mission, that explain why time goes by so fast! 

Well, good luck with your diet! At least you're not trying to quit smoking/drinking like someone we're working with ha. Speaking of which, I hear Shelby is dating someone that doesn't quite have the best habits; we shall pray for her. I can't do much while I'm away except email her, but I know you can be of help to her in this situation. 

I love you Yan Yan! thanks for always thinking of me. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say from this weekend. Take care, miss you!

- Elder Bennion

Small Miracles

Family, 

Your week sounds similar to mine; nothing crazy, but I'm enjoying every second of it at the same time. This week went by really fast though. We had a zone conference with 3 other zones and President Hobbs wanted each of the zone leaders to give a training, so we were preparing that for a lot of the week and it went really well! Like, really well. The Spirit is really cool as it assists us and brings to our minds things that we need to share. I know that this work wouldn't be possible without it!

As for the proselyting, this is a small miracle to us: Sister Ngungutau's husband, Tamasi, isn't baptized yet, he wants to be, but is feeling a little pressured. But we stopped by their house and he was outside so we got to talk to him for about 5 minutes. We don't teach him right now, but he has come to church a couple times, so I hope that small visit will allow us more time with Tamasi and he'll be comfortable with having us over to teach him the lessons soon. I'm really positive he'll come around soon though (:

We got to teach Rudy on Friday and he has definitely experienced a part of the Atonement because he keeps expressing how he wants to be a good example to his co-workers and is trying really hard to keep all the commandments, and keeps saying how he wishes his family understood the gospel better. I remember feeling all those things when I started preparing for my mission, it was so cool. His baptism is for sure happening on the 31st, he is very excited, and we are as well! 

Agnes had us over for dinner on Saturday and fed us Chinese. i'm not sure what it is, but no Chinese food compares to Panda Express! ha. As we were leaving we asked if we could speak to her and Nehasi outside. Our conversation went really well, Agnes said if she didn't want them to get baptized then she would've stopped the lessons a long time ago. She said she really enjoys having us over because she sees Siosi and Latu are happy when we're over. She said she sees a little brother big brother relationship thing, and that's when it hit me. We are all brothers and sisters in the gospel. Not too long ago, we all chose the same plan our Father presented, so it only makes sense to help them understand the plan once again. So really, my Polynesian brothers are getting baptized on February 7th!!! It sounds so much better that way, I am so excited!!! AHH! her daughters Envy and Emma are gonna take a bit more work though. Agnes said she doesn't want to force her kids to do anything, so she says to keep working with them. But man, what a blessing it is to be in this ward. I don't ever want to go back to a Palangi ward while I am on my mission. There are so many great things about the Tongan ward. The people are so kind, they sing beautifully, people are coming out to church more, we cover the entire high desert, we have such great support from the ward, and they're continually improving their organization in their callings. I've seen so much improvement since I've been here, it's awesome. I really love serving here. We have really good relationships with our leaders and the members in the ward and I love being around the Tongans. There's just something so unique about em! I have it really good here. The Lord is truly magnificent.

That's about it for this week. I'm excited for this upcoming week, we have a lot of good things comin' up. We started off this week with a bomb family home evening last night with a family named the Samano's, it was great. This is week 4 of the transfer and it's gonna go by quick. Then the next 2 weeks after that we have 2 baptisms, exchanges, and President interviews. We're gonna be pretty busy, I'm excited. Elder Thompson only has 2 more transfers left after this, crazy! Though he is ready to leave the ward, we're working hard while we're together. 

I hope this email reaches you all with high spirits. The Lord has restored His church to the earth, we have prophets that continue to relay God's will, and we have a forever family as long as we are faithful to our covenants, so what's there to be down about?! I love the gospel and I love sharing it even more. My mission has been such a blast. I hope life back home is going great, I hope the cold is bearable, and I certainly hope that I will get to hear from you next week as well. Thanks for all your continual support, encouragement, and prayers in my behalf. I love you all! 

- Elder Bennion

The plan is brilliant and immaculate

Mom, Dad, and Koriann,

It seems as though with each deliverance of good news there is bad news to follow. I will start with the bad of course. My ministerial certificate expires on January 12th, 2016 and you all know what today is ): I've spent a year of my life in divine and selfless service to other people in a hopeful attempt to teach by the spirit, lead by example, and invite others to partake in the restored gospel that encompasses the Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice given to each one of his brothers and sisters. The plan is brilliant and immaculate, and I know that I would have a very difficult time giving my perfect and glorified son to others who didn't even love him or myself. And that is what captures the essence of the gospel; everything was given to us through our Father who loves us. I know that my identity is a child of His, and because of that, there needs be no insecurity and negligence in any positive thing that I can be apart of. Our Heavenly Father has blessed me with inspired people whom you can all thank for changing me and molding me into the missionary I am right now, and I knew the second I read Rancho Cucamonga, that that was exactly where the Lord needed me. I have a second home within my mission boundary, and I witness miracles happen every day within it. I've been able to expand my everything as I've been here in California and I am having a hard time believing that so much has happened all within one year. I'm so pleased with the decision to serve and the Lord couldn't be more merciful to me than He is now.

We had a great week in the Tongan ward where we taught 20 lessons throughout the week, which has only happened one other time on my mission. And if you thought that was good news, you are going to freak when I tell you this. Bishop 'Iongi had a prompting to visit the Liava'a's, so he fasted that evening/morning and went over at 3:00 on Saturday. After a 2 hour talk with Agnes, Bishop followed the spirit so distinctly and the result of the visit was this: Agnes Liava'a is now allowing Siosi and Latu AND the two un-baptized daughters to be members of Christ's eternal church come the beginning of February, and Agnes has also made the decision to come back to the church as well (: (: I AM FREAKING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been fasting and praying for this to happen since I got here!!!!! You've no idea the amount Agnes has changed since I first met her!!!!! Best news ever. It makes me ponder in the best possible way, why? Why is the Lord blessing us so abundantly? I just can't believe that all this is happening while I am here. I'm sure it's no shock to you that I say that the Tongan ward is my favorite ward ever, but my goodness, I can't say it enough! Things are just so good here. And to think that had I not chose to serve a mission, this is what I would've missed out on; I would never hesitate to tell anyone to serve a mission because of my experience out here. I feel so privileged and outrageously honored the Lord has let me serve here, the ward is so awesome.  I'm beyond excited for the Liava'a's, I love their family so much and this is far from what I was expecting from being here. I didn't know that I would get to see them baptized while I was here, but I do, and my happiness exceeds all down-trodden emotions I may have had while serving a mission because of experiences like these. I love love love the Liava'a's so much and am so excited for this and their entire family. Oh my goodness, I would love to rejoice with you, but I know you'll be just as excited as I am as you read this fantastic news. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing your excitement for them!!!

Also, this is Po, and we stopped by on a day she just so happened to really need us and she got us a basket of so much stuff. I told you they're the most thoughtful people you will meet. (: MATE MA'A TONGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Elder Shawn Lyle Bennion

Information and Thoughts

Koriann, Mom, and Dad,

I apologize for not warning you, but we went to the Redlands Temple this Thursday, so it then became our P day and we worked like regular on Monday.
I now have 10 days to update you on, wow! Let's do this:

On Tuesday, we have scripture study with the ward and only 2 people showed up and because we had to be in by 6:00 for new years, we went out for pie at Coco's and had scripture study there, it was awesome ha. DJ (the guy you talked to on Christmas) took us and he's so awesome! I got to say that I am so glad the holidays are over ha. It's a great time and all, but it makes missionary work so tough. We did however see a guy named Nalu that is recently coming back to church. I will admit, I lacked a bit of charity for him when I first met him, but he's really so awesome. He doesn't want to miss out on our visits he says. He's working on getting his patriarchal blessing and Melchizedek priesthood (: on new years, we were able to go to the Fotu's and teach Rudy there. He's progressing well, we just have a hard time getting him to church. On Friday we had a super long meeting down the hill in Rancho and the traffic was awful on the way back, so that's pretty much all we did, those days stink "/ But the next day was great! Here's some really good news. Agnes had all intentions of taking us to San Pedro, but we have to stay in our mission ha.
What I do have to add though is my feelings in between all the great stuff going on and the challenges that come with a mission. I learned that in the church, a mission is the one calling that you will sign up for in the church. I felt like since then, I've adopted a more focused mentality when it comes to my service. When I did accept this perfect calling, I didn't covenant with the Lord to give Him 3/4 of what He has already blessed me; But I promised that I would become swallowed up in the will of our Father, similarly as Christ did. Of course my degree of service to the Lord will never compare to our Joseph Smith's, or even Jesus Christ's, but I do comprehend more and more that a mission is shorter than it sounds. In one short week, I will have hit my year mark of being in the field, and I realize that on the 15th, I will only have one more of each day in the mission field in the year of 2015/2016. I am dis-wrought as I realize that I haven't been taking advantage of this time. I want to work so much harder than what I have been doing. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet and restored the church and that is something to rejoice in entirely. I am so passionate about that man and the atonement of Christ and want to let others feel similarly. This was a weak explanation of my love for my mission, but just know that I've been so touched by the ward I am serving in now. They have made me love my mission and I feel like I accomplish my purpose as I labor amongst them. I truly am in such good hands and I want you to know how lovely the Tongan people are. I wish so bad for you to meet them one day. We will visit the Tongan ward and you will fall in love with them. It feels as though I get to be in the most fortunate ward in the mission because of how profound a love Tongans have for us and the Lord. I love them so much and feel changed by their example and distinct compassion for treating us like their own family. The Lord deserves complete gratitude and praise every single day for placing me here and blessing me immensely. I love my mission and the people in it. I love you guys somehow even more and hope you know that. Have a great weekend, talk to you on Monday!

Last Two Weeks of Emails

12/29/2014
Koriann,

Of all my Christmas', this probably wins when it comes to favorites. I had a wonderful Christmas day where I felt motivated to work the second our call had ended. Last Mother's day, my emotions were weighing me down so much. To the point where during our studies, I napped instead because I didn't want to feel so homesick. I've never done that since on my mission, but man, my heart just ached. I was so nervous prior to the call that the same thing was going to happen, to the point my stomach felt sick all that morning. I was relieved to find out that I could handle it much more smoothly and optimistically. The Lord really blessed me with emotional strength and motivation to pursue the best Christmas I've had.

I apologize that I was so clueless on Skype, I was seriously at a loss for words yet I couldn't bring myself to pull away from our conversation ha. I'm satisfied with how it went, lets hope that next Mother's day I will actually be obedient and keep it under an hour ha. 

The rest of our day was great, we spent a lot of time with members, we roasted smores, and we went to the ward Christmas Party. (Below is a picture of the Liava'a's. Latu is right next to me, Nehasi is on the end, and Irie is in the middle. Latu and Nehasi are brothers and Irie is their cousin. I would've attached a picture of Siosi, but in every picture, he's making ridiculous faces haha!) 

The rest of our weekend was pretty good. We decided to take Rudy and Tita out to dinner for a wedding gift and had a lesson at the restaurant. It was fun. Then we were able to talk to Agnes on Saturday. Awesome news! Agnes really wanted to join our pizza party but she was too tired last time, so we set up another pizza party for this Wednesday. Also, for Christmas, she got us a $30 Coldstone gift card!!! She's so awesome. She said she really wants to take us to get seafood on the pier in San Pedro. She doesn't quite know our boundaries obviously ha.

Today is the beginning of a new transfer and I personally am very excited to be spending another 6 weeks here. Elder Thompson on the other hand... not so much. He's been in this ward/zone for a while, he was really hoping to get transferred and I am one to conform to other people's feelings, so if you will do me a favor and pray for him to draw upon diligence. I love the ward and the work so much, but it's not fun working with a burnt out companion. But I do know the Lord has us here for good purposes. I mean, we are supposed to have 3 baptisms this upcoming 6 weeks, so we are stoked. Plus, Rudy's brother said he wants to have a lesson with us, so things are going very smoothly. I really don't know what we're doing to deserve all this good news! 

This week is going to be good. We are seeing Rosie today to re-establish her baptism, we're running district meeting on Tuesday in Barstow, New years Eve is on Wednesday, we have a Zone leader meeting on Friday, and weekends tend to be really good for us. I'm looking forward to many great things! Have a great new year! Love you! (:

- Elder Bennion

12/22/2014Mom, Dad, and Koriann,

I would make this email detailed like the last one, but you've all stated the obvious, that in a few short days I will be seeing your lovely faces!!! As I type I get super shaky because I'm so anxious and excited at the same time!

I will share a couple highlights/news from this previous week.

We had a fun pizza party with the Liava'a's, we had a very good lesson on temples. Understandably, they were more excited about the pizza, but they all seemed to enjoy the lesson. It was an interesting topic to them, especially since Tongans are all about family first. If it were up to them, I know for sure they'd be doing baptisms for the dead and encourage their parents to get sealed.

On Wednesday we had our Christmas devotional with all the missionaries in the desert, and that's when I realized that a lot of my friends are in the valley! It was a slight bummer. But Lucerne Valley made all the missionaries beanies and Phelan bought us scarves, it was so nice of them! 

On Friday, we started teaching a member's friend named Nancie, but she goes by Sissy. She accepted a baptismal date of January 17th and she's really excited! I'm excited too, President Hobbs just has a slight fear of non-Polynesians getting baptized in a Tongan ward, and I understand why. The ward will eventually try to shift her over to the Adelanto ward, which will be good.

Saturday was Rudy and Tita's wedding and they wanted a very small wedding, and they did get what they wanted ha. It was in the relief society room and there was about 20 of us ha. Which is very abnormal for Tongans. Chris and Jasmine's wedding was way different than this one. But it brings them one step closer to baptism, so that's cool! 

Speaking of Chris and Jasmine, they got callings on Sunday! So rad. We taught Rudy and he's not ready to be baptized because of WOW issues, but he's working hard! and Rosie has been funny lately. We haven't seen her in a week and a half and she's out of town for the week, so her baptism is getting moved once again. It's alright though, we just gotta be patient!

We've been in a trio since Friday because a guy's companion went home and Elder Fernando and I have been in the same zone twice, so I'm cool with having him for the week. It's made things kinda stressful though trying to stay on top of 2 areas and he is from the Philippines, so the time zone for this Christmas is WAY different. It'll all work out though. 

Because Tongans aren't super into technology, we're gonna have to do the same thing we did at the Rich's. The Nau's only have facetime available for their tablet. I'm not sure how that works, but if there are any complications, I still remember your guys' phone numbers so I can receive permission to call you on a member's phone and get it figured out. I assume I can call Dad's phone on the tablet, that way you can see my face as if it were skype. I hope that made sense. We will be skyping at 12 p.m. PST, so 1:00 p.m. in Utah! I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you all. I'm sure that when I see you guys, I will be tear-filled, but I am so excited for Thursday! I love you all so much and will talk to you then!!!

- Elder Bennion

Lots of Information

Mom, Dad, & Koriann,

This works out quite well to send you all three the same email as you seem to be the most interested in how things are going. I remember Brother Moore telling me that you can never add too much detail in emails, so I will try not to be short on things (:

As I reflect on our week, I have to say that we had a GREAT week! It was so exciting. Our investigator Rudy who is dating Tita Fotu is getting married this Saturday! Then will be baptized on the 27th most likely. How exciting to have another wedding/baptism combination. Elder Thompson and I marvel at how little we feel we are doing for the Lord's prepared children. Chris & Jasmine, Rosie, and Rudy all accept the gospel without hesitation. It makes you wonder if those you encounter are ready, we just may not know it. This is why we must not be scared to share the gospel! You'll never be able to say "I regret talking about the church to this person", so make sure if you get a prompting, you somehow make a way for these people to come a little closer to their Savior (:

On Monday, we went on a really nice hike! The weather was perfect. It's crazy to me how big California feels, yet we were only in Barstow. God has great taste in the creation, the world is a very beautiful place. Don't be fooled though, every morning we wake up with the windows fogged up and frost growing on the top and the trunk. On Tuesday, we had a nice zone meeting. For every zone meeting, we give one training and assign 2 other companionships to participate in sharing something we feel the zone needs to hear. It can be very stressful. It went good though. Afterward, we went to see a lady named Clara who always feeds us. We visit her weekly because she LOVES the missionaries in her home. We are very lucky to have her as a friend. Then we do our weekly scripture study on Tuesday night and that was REALLY good. I love reading the book of Mormon out loud in groups. Wednesday was pretty darn good too. We were able to see Siosi and Latu Liava'a! Such rad kids. We're going over tomorrow for a pizza party we're putting on. I really hope that this isn't considered being a 'suck-up' to Agnes. It's really not to soften her heart, Latu just talks about pizza everytime we go over there, so we thought it'd be fun. BUT I know Latu has been talking about it all week to Agnes haha! I want those kids baptized SO bad! Agnes really likes us though, it makes us happy (: Then we had dinner at the Moala's and she made an excellent Chicken pot pie with a delicious pecan pie. Her Grandmother lives in Plain city! pretty cool.
On Thursday we went on exchanges and Elder Houston and I had a fun day even though a lot of our appointments fell through. We had dinner at the Lousiale's who is our ward mission leader/relief society president and man, they are so great! They are very funny people, I so wish that you could meet all them and just know who I'm talking about, you would love the ward so much. Then we got to see 2 less active families and that was great. On Friday, there was an Elders quorum activity that we stopped by at. We had a busy day, so got food and left. Clara had us come over again to share the Restoration with her friend. Her name is Sissy. She is palongi, but as long as the fellowship is in the Tongan ward, we are allowed to teach them. She was really excited to hear about the Book of Mormon! The rest of the day went kinda wacky, but the Lord always provides a way! We say Rose and for real, she is getting baptized on December 26th. Sheesh, the process has been hectic, but she really does have a good testimony. Saturday was good too. We had our lesson with Rudy and then we were scrambling for plans all day long. Then all the sudden we got a call from Sister Hobbs. Someone asked if we could go to the hospital to give a blessing to someone. We were very excited for the opportunity. She was in the ICU and when we got to her, she wasn't conscious. But we proceeded with the blessing and man, the crazy thing is is that lady is going to continue with her life without knowing that her life might've been drastically changed by the influence of the priesthood. It's just a cool little story I will have with me from most interesting blessings I've given/received. Sunday was so awesome! We had 5 investigators at church! Then we had to go to Barstow to give a baptismal interview and the Hobbs were there too! i'm not sure how, but word got around I can do a backflip, so Sister Hobbs asked if she could record it. ha! she's awesome. I love my president and his wife. I'm very happy that we get to see them more often now that I am a zone leader. Later that day we saw a less active family, had a great dinner and then went to the stake musical christmas fireside thing. All week, Elder Thompson and I have been practicing Silent Night in Tongan so that we could sing it in Sacrament and this stake thing and I thought my chest was going to explode! I was so nervous. It's a beautiful song though, hopefully Elder Thompson and I can sing it for you on Christmas. The ward really liked it, they said we sounded pure Tongan! Later that night we went to the Batisaresare's. We haven't been over since the funeral, so we thought it'd be a good idea to stop by. I am so glad we did too. Atama is their father and he was very excited to see us. Although he is Methodist, he is such a great person. Fijian's are SO cool. They are an awesome family. We asked if we could take a picture of their flag and instead he gives us one to hang in our apartment. Man, their family really is so special. I know God has a special eye out for them.
So yeah, that concludes our week, very informative I hope!

I look forward to hearing from you all in 10 short days. We do in fact get a P day next week, so I will be able to email you next week as well. I do hate to admit it, but it is true that when I did talk to you all on Mothers day, it took me pretty much a couple weeks to adjust to missionary life again. It was painful to end the call, but I'm really hoping things will be different this time. Then again, I was still homesick, Grandpa had just passed away, and my birthday was in the next couple weeks, so it was emotionally draining. But I look forward to Christmas so much. Tongans don't really have a ton of technology, so we will probably be borrowing members laptops and skyping at the church. I'd love for you to meet someone from the ward, but I'm not sure that will be happening. No worries though. I appreciate any time I get to see your lovely faces. Christmas will be here before you know it! I love you all and am looking forward to our skype date. Send Kaylee my love!

- Elder Bennion

An Email to All of Us

Mom, Dad, & Koriann,

I'm writing you an email all together because we are going hiking later and this will make life easier. Also, Mason emailed me telling me how much progress he is making and how he's excited for his mission, so I need to tell him how proud I am of him. I was worried about him recently. What's neat is that he says his testimony has grown since he picked up the Book of Mormon! Same with me. I love that book. We actually just gave out a copy of it to someone at the library (: But anyway, it's interesting Mason says that because in Alma, it says that as soon as we wrest the scriptures, it bring on destruction! That doesn't sound very fun. I'm currently in Alma myself at the war chapters. I have a hard time reading them for some reason. Blood and carnage just isn't my favorite topic I guess. But I know that with each sentence of the BOM, there is something the Lord wants us to know. We had a REALLY interesting lesson this week with a girl named Shontell. She is afraid to eat pork and do her shopping on a Saturday. We showed her where Christ fulfilled the law of Moses and how the Sabbath day is now on Sunday and man, my stomach was just burning with the spirit! I was so excited to show her how the Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel and she accepted it so easily! She's very excited to eat pepperoni pizza (: She's awesome.

It was rainy earlier this week, which got to me a bit. Rain typically makes me a bit gloomy. I felt off all day, but by Thursday things started getting better. Thank heavens I am in California. Do you know how many times it has rained since I've been on my mission? Less than 10 times! It's always sunny here. I love it. But we had such an awesome miracle happen with a guy named Rudy. He used to live outside the mission boundaries, but recently moved to Hesperia. He's met with the missionaries before and been to church a handful of times. He is dating Tita Fotu who is a member and we had a lesson on Friday and showed him the restoration dvd and he said he'd pray more specifically about Joseph Smith being a prophet. When the lesson was almost over, the spirit must've hit him hard, because he all the sudden said he's tired of waiting to be baptized and he doesn't want to go through another set of missionaries. Him and Tita are now getting married and he will be baptized sometime before 2014 is over (: AHH! So cool. The Lord is blessing us immensely! The cool thing is there are so many miracles I see. And they certainly are not mini miracles!

Our teaching pool is fairly big for the Tongan ward. President Hobbs expressed his concern to our stake president about keeping missionaries in Polynesian wards busy, but luckily we are not having that problem. There are 3 Polynesian wards in the mission, and by far, I am in the best one. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be serving in this ward. I've never wanted to better myself so much than when I realized how much I've been blessed with by serving in this ward. I've been inspired so much by their charity and thoughtfulness. This weekend was Meme Batisaresare's funeral. She's actually Fijian, but loves the Tongan ward. The Tongans are so cool, there were 3 days prior to the funeral where we spent time with the family and the ward brought them the most beautiful quilts and piled food in their home and we sang a couple of hymns and a prayer for their loss. I'm not sure what it is about being a missionary in both cultures, but Atama Batisaresare isn't a member, but thanked us so many times during his speeches for showing our support. Please remind me during skype to bring up the funeral and all the things I got to experience in their cultural.
But Anyway, we are busy and it makes me happy. We only have 3 Tongan investigators though. We got to see Latu Liava'a this week and he's such an awesome kid. He wants to be baptized so bad! We taught him the principle of fasting and he said he'd fast for the Lord to prepare a way for it to happen. For a 13 year old, he is so smart and wants to be a member so bad. He's so awesome.

I'm sure I'll have so much to say during skype, but I just want to let you know how much I love serving in this ward. I've only been here for 2 months, but this is by far my most favorite area I have served in. I have found so much joy and pleasure in missionary work in this ward, as there's never a dull day here. The Tongans are such delightful people, to the point if I stayed here for the rest of my mission, I would be happy. I know that won't happen, but I've just been living in such a different world in the best way possible. I have an enhanced desire for missionary work and been able to expand my heart because of these people and the way that they care for me personally. I often feel as though I have to pray for more charity in order to attempt to have the capabilities of loving them the way they do for the missionaries. I love them so much. Sometimes it still leaves me in awe that I am serving in a Tongan ward, but I couldn't be happier. I love you all so so much and am so excited to share stories and catch up with you in 3 short weeks. It'll be here before you know it (: I love you!!!

- Elder Shawn Lyle Bennion