A Great Guitar Story - by: Willie Riese

I was having lunch with Joel and Rachel (Colbourne-Eagy) Hoffman, and we started talking about my participation in the upcoming trip to Kenya. Somewhere along the way I mentioned how we were praying for a guitar. It just so happened that Joel had an extra guitar he was looking to part ways with. (A little trivia: this was the guitar I learned how to play on when Joel and I were housemates in college.)

This guitar had been an “extra” for a few years after Joel bought a newer, nicer, guitar. However, the newer guitar was destroyed, along with all of the Hoffmans possessions, in the Port-au-Prince quake when their fifth-story apartment found its way to the ground level (at the time, they were missionaries with the Mennonite Central Committee in Haiti). Their survival of that quake is an entirely separate God-story – you can find it online by Googling “Joel and Rachel Hoffman”.

A custom-guitar builder here in Oregon heard about Joel and Rachel’s miraculous story and put together a very nice custom guitar and gifted it to the Hoffmans recently, leaving Joel once again with an extra guitar, which will find its way to Africa – a place very near and dear to the Hoffman’s hearts – they have served several times in missions work in Malawi and Burundi.

While buying new strings for this guitar in The Dalles, I inquired about whether the shop might have used guitar cases – we still need to get the guitar over to Kenya in one piece, after all. While they explained to me some different options (and they were willing to give us a great deal – thanks CRM), Derek Reaves, who happened to be with me, mentioned that he had an extra case that he could give us. The case is perfect for what we’re doing.

So just like that, we have a good guitar and a nice, sturdy case; all we need now is a guitar strap. Not too shabby, eh? God just continues to show His providence and hand in preparing the way for this trip.