Worshiping in Tokyo

by Nathan Waggoner

Even without a common language, worshiping with brothers and sisters in Christ is always uplifting.  Today was no different.  We attended the Immanuel Fukagaea Church this morning and joined them in worship.  After the service we ate a delicious meal of Japanese Curry while sitting on the floor at low tables in typical Japanese fashion.  The church provides an inexpensive meal each week after church and most of the church family stays to eat a fellowship.  Once a month the church puts on an afternoon concert, so after lunch we enjoyed some classical and sacred music performed by the youth and college-age students at the church. According to the pastor’s wife, about 2/3 of the people who came to the concert were non-Christian.  It is rare for a non-believer to feel comfortable coming into a church building, so these concerts are a way to introduce new people to the church.  The music was beautiful, but after a good meal and while sitting in a warm room, the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” felt a lot like a lullaby.  The only think that kept me awake was filming Nathan Crum struggling to stay awake himself. 

After the concert, we had the chance to interview lots of people in the church.  We did six individual interviews and then had a panel style interview with about a dozen youth.  According to Kevin Zirkle we got a lot of good stuff, but we have to trust him since all of the interviews were in Japanese today. 

We did several of our interviews up on a little balcony above the sanctuary.  We have gotten pretty good at being creative in tight places.

Trent is showing where to attach the mic.

We try to use available light whenever possible, but sometimes we had to get out the video light to add depth to the subject.

Shooting a panel 'interview' was a little tricky, but hopefully we have something usable.

Tomorrow we will be working hard at translating some of the interviews we have shot.  As they are translated into English, Trent will be transcribing them.  Nathan Crum and I will be working on scripting and making sure we have all of the shots we need.  We will be using this information to plan out Wednesday and Thursday’s schedules.

Pray that tomorrow is productive!