Once again, Lee Ya was late...

Heard a very bad news today. A member of our church passed away yesterday afternoon. I was stunned, speechless, shocked, you name it! I know she has been sick for a while. We visited her every now and then. The last time Yong Chen and I visited her was on the 30th of December. This couple was very excited when we came over. I still remember what she said when we just stepped in to their house, "How have you been? I've been worried about you guys!"

I told her that we've been really busy with finals, christmas party and other things. Although those are true, I still felt bad. This couple did not have anyone in Wichita. And I felt that those are just 'excuses.' Before we left that night, I asked her if there's anything that I could pray for before we leave. She suddenly broke down into tears. Two wishes that she had. One is that she could go back to church. Two is that God would heal her. She had been really sick. She kept crying when I prayed for her. I hugged her after that and she said she loved us (The Mission).

I talked to her again last weekend for the last time. She told me that she was gonna come for the Valentine event. I was excited to hear that. But then right before 6 p.m. she left a message on my cellphone saying that it was just too cold to both of them that night, so they decided not to come.

Sunday afternoon, a friend of mine said that her husband woke up that morning found out that she wasn't really breathing. They then took her to the hospital. Her husband is Indonesian and his English is really really limited. He couldn't really understand what the doctor said. So, he wanted me and Cuyang to go over the hospital on tuesday morning to be his translators because the doctor wanted to talk to him and his family; and they had to make a very important decision.

I was scared and nervous. I prayed real hard that Monday night. I was scared that I wouldn't understand some medical terms. I didn't want to mislead him when he had to make a very important decision.

I still came that Tuesday morning to the hospital. She was lying on the bed unconcious. But, we saw a progress! She had some responses when we touched her. I thought there's still hope. Her husband said, "Amelia, would you lead us in prayer?" So, I did. While we were waiting for the doctor to come, I felt miserable. The thoughts about all the events with her came to my mind.

I felt even worse when her husband showed me a piece of paper that she wrote for him couple days before she was in coma. The paper contained few names and phone numbers. She told him that if anything happened to her call these four people. Those people were her three children and me. Yes, it was me, Amelia Hendra. I saw it with my very own eyes. I felt really bad because out of all those four people, I was the only one who live in Wichita! So I promised myself. You know what? Once she's out of the hospital, I will visit her more often. She's lonely. She needs someone.

Once again, I was too late. Now she's gone. I feel bad, guilty, and again terrible. Whatever that I thought I was gonna do is just too late. Looking back at last semester and this semester, yes I have been busy with a lot of stuffs. But the truth is I still had time. I could have taken one Friday night to go over her house and visit rather than sitting at home. I could have taken one evening to stop by her house for just half an hour rather than chatting on MSN or doing whatever nonsense that I did. Although I didn't mean to "ignore" her, somehow I chose to stay home and did all those.

Totally a big lesson for me to learn today. I know a lot of people say it's the heart that counts. Someone even told me one time that if you have the heart, no matter how late you are, things will work out. I'm not sure if I translated it right, but anyway. I really regret the things that have happened.

Sometimes we don't know how important people are in our lives until we "lose" them. Today, I really wanna encourage all of you who read my blog that if you care or love someone, show them that you care before it is too late. Show them that you love them , before your time is up...