Monday, May 10, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,
Our family had the chance to talk to Kyle for Mother's Day and I wanted to share some of the things we talked about. He and his companion went to the Lowe's for their calls. They are a senior missionary couple and this is also where they go to use the computer for emails on pdays. Apparently Sister Lowe watches over them as well. She baked Kyle a birthday cake last week! Kyle expects to be transferred soon. He has been out a year and this is only his second area. So far he has had no Japanese companions (of the 5 he's had 1 was Australian, 1 was Canadian and 3 were Americans).
Charlie asked about his language skills and Kyle said it's coming along really well. During this last transfer he took the lead in much of the teaching because he had been with the investigators longer and knew them better.
He has still been playing his guitar some but not as much in the 'public arena' like in Sasebo. In the area where he's serving now, there's not a public place to play and hand out invitations to their English class.
Food was a topic of conversation as well. He goes to Sushi bars often and even eats sushi. However he doesn't 'love it' and said if he is buying then he chooses cooked food - usually a breaded shrimp dish that he loves. He has also eaten something called basa shi (of course this isn't spelled right). This is raw horse! Apparently there's an area that is famous for their raw horse so he did try it but didn't like it and so he cooked the rest of it. He has also eaten raw chicken. Amazingly his weight is still the same. He said the food really is good and he has never gone to bed hungry! Oh he told Kim and Kemper that MacDonalds over there is like a fancy restaurant!
Kyle said they get to play lots of sports for their exercise - volleyball, soccer, basketball and he even practiced his pitching recently in the church parking lot with a member of their ward. He said his curve ball was really working! Baseball is VERY big there and it's not unusual to see men practicing their batting swing on their lunch break. They are outside in their suit with a bat in hand! It's the same with golf for the more affluent people.
Weather wise they are about to begin the rainy season. He said during that time it will be high 90's and rain every day. In general we are talking HOT and HUMID. He gave it a Japanese word something like mushi autsy (again I'm clueless on the spelling).
After talking to Charlie and I, each of his siblings got to call and talk for a few minutes. I know they loved getting to talk to him and he even got to talk to his nieces and nephews. They think their Uncle Kyle, the missionary, is pretty awesome.
In closing I will just add that he sounds so happy and that makes it so easy for us to talk to him and then say goodbye without being sad - knowing he's about the Lord's work. When he told us goodbye he reminded us that 'he knows the church is true'. Well hope you enjoyed this update. Please keep Kyle and missionary work in your prayers,
Sandy