USA East Music NYSB BULLETIN - SUMMER 2018 | Page 13

The energetic and decorative
drums of Tokyo opened our brass
band festival followed by the
students playing our national
anthem. Watching the children’s
Brass bands play classic pieces
completely memorized was
amazing . . . watching a young
girl play the cornet solo Glorious
Ventures by Peter Graham from
memory was amazing . . . hearing
the Japan Staff Band and some
of their soloists was amazing.
We then presented Living Power,
Russlan and Ludmilla, Turn Your
Eyes Upon Jesus, Flashback featuring Brindley
Venables and Harlequin featuring Aaron
VanderWeele and Wake Up the Saint. A great
afternoon of music making.
Onward into the afternoon saw us
marching through downtown Tokyo
culminating at a busy office building where
we presented a “lobby” concert. Some of our
secular music was featured . . . New York, New
York, Valero, Stars and Stripes Forever as well
as Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Amazing Grace
and the Japan Staff Bandmaster leading us in
the Star Lake March. Marching once again, we
ended our day of music making
Returning to the school we began to
say our good byes to the many children and
adults we had a chance to get to know. All
of us signing autographs and posing for
pictures made for a day we will never forget.
Our final moment came as we sang our
traditional benediction Rock of Ages. As we
were singing we were reminded that many
of these new friends were not Christians. We
had prayed at the start of our day asking the
Lord to use us, especially knowing that many
coming to the concert were unbelievers. The
Lord was faithful and answered prayer.
Another superashi day!
T H E S A LVAT I O N A R M Y U S A E A S T
Our last full day in Japan is Sunday. We
appropriately started this Palm Sunday
worshiping with Salvationists from around
Tokyo at the Japan Education Center. The
staff band shared three items in preliminary
that set the tone for the meeting.
Bandsman Tom Scheibner shared a word
of witness with the congregation reminding
them and us that “If you are faithful to God,
He will be faithful to you.”
The band played Ray Steadman Allen’s
In Quiet Pastures and the chorus presented
Bobby McFerrin’s Psalm 23 before Lt. Col.
James LaBossiere brought the message. We
were reminded that we needed to stay close
to the “power source,” our faith power source
in Christ. The meeting came to a close with
many people committing themselves in
prayer to their work in Japan.
Following the service we headed to the
Asakusa area of Tokyo. With official duties
being completed we were afforded some
sightseeing time at the Sensoji Temple area.
This was an impressive showing of Japanese
culture. The view of cherry blossoms, ancient
temples, and beautiful kimonos were
abundant. At this point we said goodbye to
our friends and hosts Colonels Kenneth and
Cheryl Maynor.
After our time at the Asakusa market we
headed to a Japanese icon, the Tokyo Sky
Tree. The band traveled 350 meters up the
tower and enjoyed a magnificent panoramic
view of Tokyo. This was the last stop of our
day and the week in Japan.
On the way home we had time to look
back and consider how fortunate we were
to be a small part of building God’s kingdom
through our musical ministry. God really
blessed us and we believe that He used us
to bless the people that heard our music and
who we got a chance to share fellowship
with.
As we finally disembarked the plane at
Newark we couldn’t help but feel very blessed
to have had safe travels to and around Japan
and a relatively bump free journey on both
our gargantuan flights. God’s promises
remain to be true and trustworthy no matter
what language you speak.
Domo arigatou gozaimasu.
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