November 23, 2002

Sat. Nov. 23, 2002
Dear Family,
We are still here plugging along with the Japanese language. Shirley is doing very well with the language and our teacher’s are all amazed at her progress. We had a native Japanese who has graduated from BYU and served a mission in Japan come in last night and went through some discussions with us. That was really a good learning experience. All three of our teachers are really good and although we are putting in some long days, we are happy with the language program and anxious to get to Japan and put it to use.
We hope you are all well and things are going well at home. Chris and Marie have invited us to Thanksgiving dinner over to the Holmes’ parent’s place. We don’t have classes that day but the MTC has arranged special programs during the day. In the morning they are showing all the missionaries the movie: “The Other Side of Heaven”; following, Elder Groberg is going to talk about it and answer questions. That should be really good. In the afternoon will be a Mission Conference and in the evening a special Testimony Meeting. They feel it’s important to keep especially the young missionaries occupied even on holidays. The Sr. Missionaries are free to go as long as they stay on the Wasatch Front and are here in the evening.
Last week another Sr. couple came in that are going to Japan (Tokyo South mission). They are CES missionaries and don’t have to learn the language and have left all ready. We are amazed at the quantity of missionaries they accommodate here every week. There are always between 2000 and 3000 missionaries here all the time. An especially large group came in this week and there won’t be any come in next week because of Thanksgiving. We. have looked for Linda Wilson’s Tony, who is going to Fukuoka, but haven’t run across him yet.
I was just talking to one of the Sr. Missionaries who was called to Ecuador and has been here about a month learning the Spanish language. Yesterday they were called from Salt Lake and asked if they would mind going to the Washington DC mission. Evidently one of the Temple couples who were called there became sick and they needed someone immediately. He said they have been having a problem getting a visa to Ecuador so as disappointed as they are, they are leaving for D.C.
We hope all of you enjoy a good Thanksgiving. We heard a rumor that Afton & Howard were on a trip. That sounds fun and hope we get more details. We are appreciative of all our many blessings. Until next week- The Ropers