The Death of a Dear Friend

**CAUTION** The following story is true and contains graphic details. May not be suitable for young children. Some of the names may have been changed to protect the identity of those involved in the story.

Today, my friends, we mourn the passing of a dear friend to all of us.... Gojida. We were out in the parking lot today taking group photos for our outreach team, and it was my brilliant idea to bring our instruments to put in the picture. We wanted to take a picture without the instruments, and I didn't want to set my guitar down on the wet grass, so our staff member called over one of the other people that was standing around and asked him to hold my guitar. I handed it to him, and he grabbed it by the strap, but since I don't have strap locks, the strap came off and it went crashing down on the pavement. When we picked it up, there were two big cracks in the side that it hit where the front panel connects to the side panel. As I looked at her fatal wounds, I felt as if I were mourning the passing of a dear friend. I knew my life would never be the same.

I know that many of you are shedding tears right now, as you have all been touched by Gojida's sweet spirit and beautiful nature. But remember my friends as we mourn, that our Lord Jesus told us, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25)

As I called to mind this scripture, I began to have hope that Gojida would rise as a phoenix from the ashes. I spent the afternoon looking up guitar repair shops, and finally found one about an hour away that could get it fixed before I leave for outreach (all of the other shops gave a 2-3 week minimum wait time). The most amazing and wonderful Tim drove me out to the shop, and they said that not only can they fix my baby, but she'll be ready by Wednesday! The shop looked pretty freakin legit and the guys seemed to know what they were talking about, so I feel like they're going to do a good job. I had to pay extra to get it done by the time I leave for outreach, but in all, it wasn't as expensive as I was anticipating.

So, that was my little adventure for the day! All in all, everything turned out well, and everything will be well, so I'm not worried. I'm just glad we got it taken care of today because the shops aren't open this weekend, and I would have spent the whole weekend fretting about it if we hadn't taken it in. Other than my little adventure, today went well! The fundraiser was great--I've heard rumors that we made about $3,000--Praise the Lord! I'm really excited about that, but it is kind of a drop in the bucket of the $24,000 we still need for all the teams to go on outreach. Please be praying for our staff and students--that EVERYONE gets the finances they need to go on outreach and that God will pour out in a really miraculous way (he's pretty much going to have to, because we're running out of time...) Love you all and hope you're enjoying the beautiful, (albeit quazi-bipolar in WA) spring weather!

~M