Kyle Wuz Here

Well, FINALLY Kyle is gone.
Actually, it was a lovely time of fellowship when he was able to come here. I feel sorry for him, really - he's been in Bangalore for quite some time - months - and he flew from Bangalore to Bangkok, waited 9 hrs in the Bangkok Airport, flew to Seoul, flew to Kagoshima, and then flew to Kikai on Friday. Oooff. That's a long way and it's dang near a whole day of traveling w/o staying in a hotel. He was a trouper, though - he arrived after not so much sleep on Friday and didn't miss a beat. So we were able to hang out a lot and had a great time.
On Friday night, we went to the Tokumoto house and enjoyed some really good Japanese food, including the much-beloved niku jaga, and good convos. Though the wheels seem to have been greased on our Japanese friends' part by a few cans of suds (as usual), I believe it was a great time of explaining the Gospel. Aubrey got to hang out w/ the Tokumotos' daughter Naoko, who has appeared on this blog before. Mrs. Tokumoto made an interesting observation about the plethora of Japanese gods (who are similar in scope and specialisation to the Greek pantheon of gods) along the lines of "Since Japanese gods only deal w/ certain specific life topics, they're really not all that powerful, given that a human being can work between many different kinds of experiences and life paths." Um, didn't expect that.
Kyle was able to share his testimony, specifically laying out how he was convicted by the Holy Spirit during an LDS trip during which he feared he would die and wondered why he had an excuse in his mind to give to the God that he didn't think existed. Mr. Tokumoto expressed a rather inordinate amount of interest in the LSD Kyle used, but anyway. 'Twas a good time.
Kyle was then able to sleep a good long time though we stayed late at their house. We gave him our bed b/c we are trying to learn to sleep on futons on the floor. The experiment is not going great for Aubrey's back, to be honest, but for me it's OK so far.
Anyway, the next morning we had some good fellowship time, prayer, and such and then took a tour around the island w/ Mr. Izumi. Saturday night we had a good time w/ many people coming over to our house to enjoy keihan and an excerpt from the VeggieTales: Jonah movie. Two kids were present, 14 months and 6 yrs, and they were great.
Sunday we went to church and then enjoyed lunch w/ our friend Michiyo, who has taken Aubrey and me around the island along w/ others at least four times now. We went to Sugira Beach and then the Araki Boardwalk on foot, and it was a really nice walk. We had great convo and picked some berries from a mulberry bush, getting our hands all stained, and Aubrey got to practice her Japanese on Michiyo, especially along the lines of seeking a husband and the idea that a husband will complete a young lady's happiness.
We had to spend a lot of time on Sunday night preparing for Aub's lessons on Easter this week at various schools. Stayed up late.
Monday morning Kyle and I had coffee w/ the pastor and his wife and we had some convo about evangelism. All in Japanese, yes, and I was doing perhaps better than I ever have in terms of understanding, so that was cool. Kyle's flight was later in the morning, and it turns out that he will be delayed so as not to be able to get back to OK until at least 10 hours later than he had originally planned. That stinx, and it appears that this is the first time in recent memory that this plane to Kagoshima has been delayed. Fortunately, Izumi-san was there to help us interpret as well - it would have been much harder w/o him, though I think I could have handled it mostly.

Many thanks to Kyle for bringing us a few purchases from India:
-Ink cartridges for our printer
-A pretty blue Indian outfit for Aubrey
-An external hard drive (which happens to be a Seagate, actually) in a 3rd party case. Really cool, good price.

Along w/ some great pix and stories from India, it was a great time.
1st pic - Izumi-san and I at the famous straight Kikai road.
2nd pic - Kyle at the huge gajimaru tree in Tokuzuku. Amazing.
3rd pic - Aubrey and me at the Araki Boardwalk at a panoramic viewing spot.
4th pic - Kyle and Izumi-san at the map of Kikai at Hyakunodai Park on top of Kikai.

Pix from the house later. Keep your pants on.