NORWICH – Two young Norwich men will be spending the next two years of their lives on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and learning the Spanish language along the way.

Ben Mennis headed to Provo, Utah last week to receive missionary training, cultural skills and to brush up on the Spanish dialect before heading to Trujillo, Peru, his final destination. The 19-year-old Norwich High School graduate will spend the next two years within a 400-mile radius of the city knocking on doors, doing service work, teaching people about the Mormon religion and staying in church-owned apartments along the way.

Jeremiah Hodack, also 19 and a Norwich High School graduate, leaves in mid-September for his own training in Utah before heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina to do the same.

Both men completed their freshman year at Brigham Young University in June. Mennis is a biology major and aspires to become a veterinarian. This summer, he completed an internship with Dr. Michael King at Pet Street Station in Norwich.