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As far back as I could remember, my grandpa Carmelo, from Sicily, played
the mandolina at family gatherings and by the end of the night would be
weeping as he played and sang "Arrevaderci Roma". When he died, I was not
able to inherit his mandolina but decided that playing one was for me. I
played with friends who were into folk and bluegrass music - dulcimer
players, zither, guitar, dobro and when I became a Christian in 1974 began
playing in worship teams, prisons, and in street meetings.
In 1989, my husband and I, our 5 kids and a team of
people went on the mission field to Europe working in the inner
cities to plant churches and one of our favorite things to do was to play
lively praise music in the streets, mainly in England, Holland, Italy,
Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Well, as a mom with many kids and as a
missionary, one learns to do without a lot of things. But one day, I made
a wish list to my Father God and said, "well, you are a God who gives good
gifts and Lord, you know that if I could ever have one luxury in this life
it would be a Gibson F -hole electric mandolin", knowing full well it was
out of my reach. Well, I'd been playing my little mandolin for about 25
years and it’s got some high mileage.
Yesterday, when my colleague Dan told a story at our
company weekly prayer meeting (which I had been faithfully playing
at) about his friendship with Bruce, a former Gibson craftsman, who began
his own company called Weber, Dan then proceeded to say how he spoke to
him of me and my acoustic mandolin. He pulled out this most beautiful
and precious gift, which represented the culmination of a long time desire
of a prayer spoken in secret to my Father, to a very grateful daughter who
screamed in utter delight, and shock. The sound of this Weber
mandolin hits me deep in my soul and I want to use it to bring glory to
the Lord wherever I play. Thank you Bruce for your talent, craftsmanship,
and generous donation that will bring sunshine and beautiful music into my
life, for the glory of the Master.
October 2003
VivaLaViv
Viv
Villalobos,
Volunteer Coordinator
Human Resource Department
Orange County
Rescue Mission
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