August 10, 2003

Sunday August 10, 2003
Dear Family and Friends,
Another big week has passed for us. We appreciate getting communications from most of you during the week. We are glad that you all seem to be well and things are going along about the same as usual at home. I can’t believe it is about time for school to start again. The time goes fast!
August 6 marked 58 years since the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. It is remarkable what a beautiful city Hiroshima is now compared to that time. On the evening of Aug. 5, one of our English class members invited us to a concert of a symphony orchestra and chorus performing a Mozart Mass held along the riverside, across from the ‘genbaku dome’ (a building that was left standing as a reminder of the tragedy of the bomb in the center of the Peace Park). There was a large crowd there and it was very interesting. It was terribly humid and hot. We sat on a rock on the other side of the river and listened to the concert. (Our backs ached that night when we got home.)
The next evening (Aug. 6) at the same place there was a special commemoration held. That consisted of making boxes about 2 feet square, cover them with colored paper (so you could see light through the box), and then lighting a candle inside the box. Hundreds of those red, green and gold boxes are floated down the river while different musical groups entertain along the bank of the river. It was an unusual and beautiful site! During that evening most of the missionaries from this area tracted many of the people that were there about the Gospel. It was an interesting night.
Last Tuesday, six new missionaries arrived (one Japanese Elder, one Elder from Canada and 4 Elders from USA). Wed. was orientation day and Thurs. they were sent out to their areas. On Thurs. 10 returning missionaries came to the Office and got checked out so they could leave for home Friday. That was a big day! There is nothing like 10 Missionaries hanging around all day with nothing to do. Those are hard days in the Mission Office. Thurs. night was their farewell testimony meeting in the President’s home. We always get invited to that and it was very interesting and humbling.
Pres. Banks told Mom (no one else knew it) that Sis. Banks was going home with the missionaries, this time. She is having serious health problems (fibermyalgia, thyroid) and if she can’t get some help from her Dr. in SLC, there is a chance that her and Pres. Banks will have to be released early. That would be a terrible shame because they are doing an excellent job. They have only served one year and have two years left. We are praying that she will get the help she needs and they will be able to complete their mission. That is hard for Pres. Banks (and the rest of us) while she is gone.
Mission transfers were Thurs. and Fri. One of the Asst. (Elder McCoy) was sent back out into the field and another, Elder Sanford was transferred in to take his place. Also Elder Killian (who works closely with Mom) is being transferred in two weeks. His replacement (Elder Hollis who is from Australia) came in Thurs. to learn the job, we love Elder Hollis’s Australian accent. Elder Killian is especially good at the computer and we will miss him. Last night we sent the elders a plate of chocolate cookies when they arrived home at 9:30 p.m. This morning at church they told us how much they enjoyed them. Elder Sanford said he gobbled down six of them and as a result had heartburn during the night. Elders are a special breed of people, they’ll eat anything and everything! They do love food.
Bro. and Sis. Gollaher went to the States last week for their summer vacation (they will be gone most of the month). Sis. Gohaller asked Mom to give her Relief Society lesson today, so I went in and heard it. It was on the Priesthood (from Pres. John Taylor’s book). It makes it more difficult to teach a lesson when you have to do it through a translator but she did a great job.
It is time to close. We love our work and feel blessed to have good health.
Love, The Ropers