Another shocking loss

We've had another shock. A missionary colleague passed away suddenly two days ago. 

Ruth Ayling had beaten breast cancer 15 years ago and she and her husband were looking forward to retirement very soon (this year or next, I believe). However, earlier this year the doctors discovered a re-occurance of the cancer. It didn't seem too bad at first, but then doctors advised them to return home (the UK) fairly quickly for treatment while she still had strength (as opposed to sticking around for treatment here). They left suddenly in June. It seems as though treatment wasn't going all that badly when this week a heart attack suddenly took her.

Now this is no eulogy, and I am not doing the cliché thing of saying only nice things about the dead. Ruth and her husband were whole-hearted servers. They served as boarding home parents for many years here in Japan and since we've been here they've been caretakers of the Guest Home here in Tokyo. Ruth was the most sympathetic, kind-hearted person I think I've ever met. Most often we met her after a harrowing journey with our boys (be it a plane journey or a cross-city journey). She always enquired if there was anything she could do to help. She had an enormous heart and it seems impossible that we'll not see her again this side of heaven.

They quietly served without complaint and it is so tragic that after serving their whole lives like this, just as retirement is in their grasp the partnership is taken away and Gareth faces life without his beloved Ruth.

Below is the "thank you" that I gave them as they left earlier this year. (I've modified it a little to protect our kids' identities.) 

This is the second beloved colleague we've known and lost in the last four years to breast cancer. So sad! Please pray for her family and colleagues, and give thanks for the thousands of people whose lives they touched together.