Two More Missionaries Give Their Lives In Service To The Lord: Elders Connor Benjamin Thredgold And Yu Peng Xiong

Just one day after Sister Nancy Vea passed away, two more LDS missionaries made the ultimate sacrifice. Elders Connor Benjamin Thredgold and Yu Peng Xiong were found dead in the apartment they shared in Taiwan after police conducted a welfare check when other missionaries reported them missing. Authorities have not yet determined the official cause of their deaths, but LDS Church spokeswoman Jessica Moody said no foul play is suspected at this point. According to a comment posted on KSL Channel 5 by Brent B., a gas leak resulting in carbon monoxide in the apartment is unofficially suspected. Both missionaries were assigned to the Taiwan Taipei Mission. They are, respectively, the sixth and seventh missionaries to give their lives in service to the Lord in 2014.

Elder Connor Benjamin Thredgold, 19, hails from Springville, UT. He began his mission in March 2014 and had been specifically deployed to Taiwan since June. Elder Thredgold was critically acclaimed by his mission president for being particularly hardworking; he reportedly worked tirelessly to earn money for his mission, working 24-hour shifts at times for a disaster cleanup company and repairing computers and remote control cars to resell. Blake Rapier, who was Thredgold's stake president in Springville, also paid tribute to Elder Thredgold. A missionary is formally set apart for a mission by the hometown stake president prior to deployment.

Elder Yu Peng Xiong, 24, hails from the Kaohsiung Taiwan West Stake. He began his mission in March 2013.

An updated story from Focus Taiwan now states that police found a faulty indoor gas water heater, which they determined as the cause of the carbon monoxide leakage. There were no suspicious circumstances and the case has been closed.