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Mormon missionary killed in Samoa

(Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune) The moon rises as it simultaneously is eclipsed over the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015.

A 21-year-old Mormon missionary serving in Samoa was hit and killed Sunday by a vehicle. the LDS Church announced.

Aaron Ahkau Matapa Patiole, who was from Australia, was walking with his companion in Upolu when he was struck.

Patiole had been serving in the Samoa Apia Mission since December 2016, according to Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“We are grieved by his loss and extend our prayers and love to his family and loved ones,” Hawkins said in a news release. “We pray they will be blessed with peace as they mourn the loss of this valiant young man.”

Samoa, a Pacific Islands nation of about 200,000, has nearly 80,000 Mormons, more than 150 LDS congregations and a temple in Apia that was rebuilt after it burned down in 2003, according to the Utah-based faith’s website.

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