Calm Before The Storm

Yes, I know it has been quiet a while since I laid my fingers on the keyboard to peck out a few lines about my journey to the Dark Continent. I attribute my lack of posting to the fact that not much has happened on this subject in the past month. Concentrating on Lent and celebrating Holy Week took my attention away from the trip. These holy holidays must have captured the attention of my financial contributors as well. I have not received a donation in several weeks. This dry spell has caused me to feel a bit nervous about reaching my goal. But, my priest tells me not to worry. Lots of prayers and a reminder letter would help the situation. So I am about to embark on a second letter writing campaign. I have never tried to raise this much cash before and I feel a little apprehensive about beating the same bushes a second time. However, I’m going to step out of my comfort zone and charge ahead with asking again for contributions because I feel that is what the Lord wants me to do.

On the camera side of the project, Father Dan and I have shopped around for the best deals on support gear for the new camera. I have spent several hours combing the Internet for the best prices on batteries, camera top light, tapes, and a quick release plate for the tripod we already have. All of this gear put together is starting to add up. We may have to do without a few items or find less expensive alternatives. To me, less expensive alternatives means using equipment that isn’t going to work as well as I’m used to my equipment working. The tripod we are taking doesn’t have a level bubble for the head. Not having this simple piece of equipment makes the video gathering process much more frustrating for me. I will constantly have to be watching walls and trees to see if I’m level. I wouldn’t want buildings or other inanimate objects in the background of my shots to look like they are sliding off the lower right corner of the TV screen.

“You’ll just have to eyeball it,” Father Dan said after getting over the sticker shock of a decent tripod. Eyeballing doesn’t always work. In fact, it never works when the ground under your tripod legs isn’t level. Then there are angles and shadows that come into play. I actually tried to eye ball a shot using this same tripod and a camera at a wedding one time. I set it up in the choir box on uneven steps. I tried to line the shot up on a far wall but when I played back the video in a monitor every body looked like they were leaning forward on their tiptoes. Eyeballs can play tricks on you especially when you are looking through tiny black and white viewfinders.

Lastly, the church handed me new marching orders to edit together a third video for the mission presentation. This one will not take as much time and resources to put together. Basically I will edit all the photos and video from last year’s trip together into a music video. That’s all I need to do but I can’t just leave the assignment at that. I have an idea to dress up the video a bit. After the trip last year, Father Dan and Father Lawrence recorded a sermon for the weekly radio show that consisted of stories from the trip. I plan to take some audio from that radio show and insert it into the music video to keep it interesting. Yea, it will mean a little extra work but I think it will be worth it.

The slow period I have experienced this past month has ended. I’ve got a new letter writing champagne and video project to work on. Soon we will take all my video and start touring churches statewide to raise funds for the trip. I’m eager to get started with the tours. I enjoy showing folks all the hard work I have put into making the videos. I hope that my work will inspire them to join us in our mission to spread God’s love and provision across the globe.