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A special note from Thuy, heart program manager. A worthy read....
"This is not just about Dorothea a human being."
"This is about the spirit, what is still spreading outwards and existing right here around us after her body has left.
Or just my own feelings upon the things that have been happening with GIBTK's people and vision.
We saw Robert's message the other morning "Dorothea wanted to say goodbye to some friends when she woke up this morning" knowing nothing to say and even not daring to look at each other's eyes. Just a lot of noises between my ears that made it hard for me to hear anything else from the outside. Our hearts hurt.
The next morning after we received the email from Robert saying that she was struggling and that they were hoping that God take her quickly, I completely felt his pain. Then I got a reply from him for my suggesting a heart case to support in which he told "Let's save more lives." I was dull. He asked to save other lives at the time he was losing his beloved one, with such a clear determination and desire. He insisted doing that.
I went to the hospital that day to see my patients, and there were a lot of them waiting for me to come or at least I thought so. The sun was high and the parking place was more crowded than ever. I had to wait like 20 minutes before my scooter was able to get in.
Then I stopped and thought. I have been hating hospitals since I was 17 and my grandmother was there for her kidney treatment. Hospitals' long corridors keep obsessing me with loneliness and fear for years. I don't like the smell in the hospital elevators or the crowd of ill people either. So I asked myself why I really don't mind going there several times a week now. Hospitals are something I am scared of. But it seems like I "enjoy" being there, surrounded with people crying, worrying, waiting, some begging for help or just looking for a sympathetic conversation, though many times I feel overwhelmed.
What leads me to do so? What gives me courage and patience for these? Dorothea last July knelt down beside a child with heart defects, felt his heartbeat by her hands and kindly asked if she can pray for him and his family, and She did. I remember her kissing the head of another child. All of those She did, she did with gentleness and faithfulness. Unconditionally.
Last March, I accompanied her and the ladies team to Hal's Home and I had chance to translate for them and the boys. What I saw there was all love. Love is their means of communication. She stood against the wall, moved along the corridors, held the boy's hands, smiled and encouraged them, and hugged them just like a mom. The boys love their mom so much that they made a poem about her and turned it a very beautiful picture. They laughed with Her and were so comfortable being with Her.
The boys miss you Dorothea, I saw it this March when the ladies team came. Camella, Karla, Kathie and Kelly, four of them are such great women to decide to come here this time despite their deepest sadness of losing the sweet and inspiring friend. I know their mission is made much harder, but like they said she is here, everywhere around and in us.
The "fantastic four" as her arms and legs taught us to FEAR NOT, but at the same time what they are doing is overcoming their own fear. They came here to cry with us, to be next to us but also to make us stand steadily and firmly. I am glad we share the same grief but also the same hope and vision. We will not lose the vision no matter what. Our life on Earth is limited, but it is our choice to live it narrow or large.
 Dorothea has made a decision to be a sweet gentle leader living her life openly and expansively. She reached her hands and hearts to unfortunate kids in Viet Nam and Cambodia and loved them for who they are. She supported, encouraged and inspired Robert in his every little step building up GIBTK. We are still going on as we all know that the afterlife where her God is will love her more with grace and no more pain. Dorothea lived fully to the last moment of her life. Her heart must have felt a lot about this world when she was here, I am sure. With great respect and love,"
Thuy
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