Josephine, the missionary's great love for the poor and her leap of faith to help a little girl like Alisha touched me so much that it became only right for me to give up the sum of money to her. What transpired between us touched my buddies so much that they spent weeks planning and scheming, pooling money and spare parts together as an outflow of their love to me, to give me what they had and so much more.
What they did amazed and touched my family so much that my family, initially immoveable, decided to contribute more so my buddies wouldn't have to give up so much of their own spare parts and items to build me a new bike: "It was a matter of principle that we didn't want to get Wai Jia a new bike. We gave her the money, she decided to give it away, and we wanted her to realise that she had to live with the consequences. But what you all did was really touching, touched us too... ... so we feel we shouldn't let you do this for her-we should be the ones buying it for her. It's different now."
Thank you for loving me by not splurging on me, for loving me enough to feel that standing firm on your principles to teach me life values is more important than giving in to my whims, even though it may take a greater effort. This is just one more reason why I love and respect you so much.
" Yes Uncle, but I want you to know, we're not splurging on Wai Jia. We only bought the main frame of Faith for her, and the rest are simply spare parts put together by the group of us because we aren't using them anymore... tyres, bottle cages, handlebars... It's just a small gesture on our part so don't feel bad. Everyone was very willing! Really! You can buy the groupset (gears) for her. "
"You really have friends who love you, Jia."
".... Yes."
And so the matter was settled, with love and a warm and fuzzy feeling all around.
As I walked J home nearing midnight, I asked her, "But why... I... I don't understand why you guys would go so far for me... It just blows my mind, you know... to even think you would come up with this..."
"Because you're different! You're just different."
"... ... Haha... ... and you all too, J. You guys are a very, very special lot to me. I don't know what to say... "
Love, when given out, just goes around and comes around.
Thank you God, for giving us hope always and Faith to me...
... but the greatest of these, must still be love.
"It's about time you got a new bike, Wai Jia. You deserve it."
Friends and my old bike
"And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is
love."
1 Cor 13:13
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