Love Brings Change

Translated by Dawn Lim

Ah Xin’s kidney had not been functioning well since she was young. In addition to that, the doctor discovered that there was a tumour in her uterus. It was a painful journey for her over the past fifty years, but her physical pain was incomparable to her hard live. 

Full Gospel Church (AOG) came to know about Ah Xin from a news report. One day, they paid her a visit. A volunteer named Candy found out that Ah Xin was a kidney patient who was staying alone. As she had to undergo a few hours of dialysis regularly, Ah Xin could neither find a stable job nor earn a stable income. She had diarrhea constantly but the reason was unknown. Volunteers could only help her through the provision of Manna Food Bag which included an item that she needed most i.e adult diapers. 

Although Ah Xin was afflicted with kidney disease, she stayed strong and kept her faith. She attended church before but due to some misunderstandings and bad experiences, she stopped going.  Candy tried to untie the knot in her, but although Ah Xin did not avoid talking about her faith, she was still unwilling to return to the church.   

 “Ah Xin had to visit the hospital regularly for check-ups and she asked for our prayers every time she was going,” the volunteer said. In June last year, Ah Xin had to go through an operation. The nurse made a mistake and moved a COVID patient into her room a day before the operation, thus, she could not be operated the next day. To make matter worse, she had to be quarantined for two weeks due to close contact with that COVID patient. When the church volunteers knew about that incident, they gathered together and prayed for her. During the quarantine period, Candy helped her on the purchase of food too. After the quarantine, Ah Xin was healthy and was not infected by COVID and her operation was successfully carried out. 

Other than the Manna Food Bag which was delivered once every two months, Candy sometimes brought some self-grown vegetables to Ah Xin. Candy also helped her to buy daily necessities when she felt unwell or unable to go out.  After some time, Candy realised that Ah Xin’s perceptions of church and religion had changed, and she would even go to church with Candy to worship whenever her physical condition allowed.  
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The Church was planning to provide continuous care for Ah Xin and hoped she could feel the love of God again and return to the big family of Christ. Unfortunately, Ah Xin passed away in an accident. Looking back, the volunteers managed to build a good relationship with Ah Xin with wisdom in the last days of Ah Xin’s life. They not only understood Ah Xin’s physical needs and prayed for her, but also recognised and supported her spiritual needs. The volunteers were thankful to God that Ah Xin could feel the great love of God once again in the final days of her life.