Another friend passes away

In August an American friend and fellow missionary passed away in Japan from a brain cancer. She'd battled it for nearly two years (I wrote about praying for her in this post in 2016). She and her husband were long-term members of the CAJ community, and also our Japanese church. She'd taught our boys and served us in the library many times. We watched the memorial service on our computer.

Last week another important person in our lives passed away from cancer. Carole was our pastor's wife at our church in Australia in the late '90s. She and her husband did pre-marriage counselling with us, and Geoff married us and baptised our eldest son in his strong Irish brogue. 

When I met them in Japan in 2012.

They were a great encouragement when we were just taking baby steps towards becoming missionaries. We served on the church's missions committee together and my husband served with Geoff in leadership at the church. During that period they also had a near-fatal accident and I visited Geoff in the spinal injuries ward. Then later they themselves came to Japan as short-term missionaries, teaching English in a rural church. 

They were always encouraging us and standing behind us as we continued on this missionary journey. They were always full of questions and keen to know how we really were. I wrote here about when I met up with them in Japan when they were visiting in 2012.

Carole was a bright, lively spark. There was never a quiet moment when you were having a conversation with her—her words often tumbled over one another like a waterfall. When they first arrived in Australia from Ireland (1996) it was difficult to understand her Irish accent spoken at quite a rate. It's hard to imagine that spark has now been snuffed out...at least on this earth. I'm sure that she's now livening heaven with her beautiful enthusiasm and passion.

As I write, David is at her memorial service. Another funeral I couldn't attend! The timing of it conflicted with school pick-up and having called in one favour from a friend for that yesterday (we had a work-commitment), didn't feel like I could do it again today. 

In April I wrote a poem called "Dates" that I published here on my blog. The final stanza read:

There is no end, indeed, on this sad earth. 

The dates keep piling up and I can no longer keep up

The worst are the farewells that can only be marked as "thank you for what you were".

But I rejoice for those who've been called heavenward, for as Paul says in Philippians 3:

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the powerthat enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (vv.20 & 21 NIV).

Carole and Lois were both ladies who lived significant portions of their lives in countries that they weren't born in. Their true citizenship, however, was in heaven. They've truly, finally, gone home. We miss them, but we also must be happy for them, for they are now in a place that has no "death, mourning, crying, or pain" (Rev. 21:4 NIV).