This morning we had an early start as we need to be on the bus ready to go by 7:30am. This meant that we had breakfast on route to Kiyose Keyaki Hall for this mornings service.
Upon arriving the band set up quickly for a rehearsal with the Junior Band. This was followed by a quick rehearsal with the Japan Staff Band, which is the first time that these bands have actually performed together in the 40 year history that we have with the Japanese Tours.
There was a quick turn around and change so that we were ready to lead the mornings Holiness Meeting. This was another awesome opportunity for me to bring a message to the people of Japan to be Children of the Light, so that others would be drawn to Him.
Some of the songs that featured this morning were; Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, The Candle of the Lord, All to Jesus and the Father’s Blessing along with a few Christmas ones to add into the mix.
All in all it was a fantastic meeting and quite a number of people were moved by the music and the Word. As I mentioned in a previous post, there appears to be a Spiritual Hunger here in Japan that cannot be quenched. And so those that know Christ need to not only be examples, but also share the love that they have experienced with others so that God can be glorified.
After lunch we marched towards Kiyose Station and drew quite a large crowd on route that gathered round as we performed a few numbers enticing people to come back for the concert in the later afternoon.
After marching back to the hall we ran through another rehearsal with the Japan Staff Band so that everyone was comfortable with placements and the pieces.
At 4pm the Japan Staff Band started the afternoon concert off to a packed hall with some rousing pieces and they also included in their section a beautiful vocal arrangement.
I was seated up in the top tier of the house getting a birds eye view of the concert and the sound was amazing. The below image shows how many people had been queuing up for a good 1/2 hr before the concert hall doors were even opened so that they could get the best seats in the house.
After a brief change over the Wellington Citadel Band kicked into proceedings with Phoenix followed by three solo’s; My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose featuring Eva, Concerto for Horn featuring Thad and Aka Tombo / Pokarekare featuring Olivia. After a few more pieces they concluded the section with Celebration.
Then it was time for the massed band to commence with Distant Travellers followed by another 5 pieces. The pick of the pieces for me personally, was Kingdom Triumphant which was also a crowd pleaser.
After the concert concluded their was a brief time for some mingling with the crowd before we needed to head of to a shared dinner with the Japan Staff Band and the people who have faithfully served, helping with set up and pack down at each location thus far.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was well past 9:00pm and many of the band members headed straight to bed / relaxation as we have another early start tomorrow, although it is not as early as today thankfully.
The life and times of Perry... 