Brother Gao Peizhong left Zaozhuang for his hometown on July 14, 2019, and rested in peace on July 16, two days later.
On June 18, a brother sent me a picture and said, "Two years ago on this day, Brother Gao Peizhong, a volunteer in leprosy rehabilitation villages who suffered from liver cancer for 12 years, boarded the train home with the last bit of his strength... Three days later, he died in his hometown."
Gao Peizhong, a native of Qingdao, Shandong Province, was also a patient with liver cancer. He had four operations in three years. After the final operation, Gao was persuaded to go home by the kind attending doctor, as the doctor said that he would only live for six or seven years even if he had a liver transplant, and the cost would be as high as several hundred thousand yuan, bringing him nothing but debts. Helpless Gao chose to wait for his death.
The wonderful God's grace came to Gao and his family. With the careful care of his wife, his physical condition gradually improved. He could not only take care of himself, but was also baptized in August 2006 under the influence of his Christian wife. In 2011, his wife started to volunteer in the Leprosy Rehabilitation Village in Guangdong and then returned to Tengzhou Leprosy Rehabilitation Village in Shandong to do God's work. During this period, he visited his wife three times, and his heart changed from fear and rejection to gratitude and acceptance, and then to sympathy. Since his wife went to those villages, her body had been recovering unconsciously. After that, the couple embarked on the road of serving leprosy survivors.
From 2012 to July 2013, they served in Tengzhou Leprosy Rehabilitation Village, Tengzhou Love House, Guangzhou Love House, and Jiangsu Taixing Rehabilitation Village. In August 2013, they were transferred to Huashan Leprosy Rehabilitation Village in Wuhan due to work needs. Faced with new challenges, they all relied on the Lord and earnestly prayed, and overcame them despite hardships.
They did not return to Qingdao during the 2014 Spring Festival. As the co-working sisters there left for various reasons, only the couple stayed in the Leprosy Rehabilitation Village. There were 82 leprosy survivors then, of whom over 30 believed in the Lord. The couple led them in Bible studies every day. Further, there were six seriously ill old men who could not take care of themselves, and the couple helped take care of their everyday lives. He was so busy that he even forgot that he was a cancer patient.
In 2016, he once again left the Lord completely to the secular world. He thought all about how to earn money and live a good life, and had no control over diet, making his wife very sad. After the 2017 Spring Festival, his wife left him and returned to serve in leprosy rehabilitation villages. Facing a three-inch huge tumor, he prayed to God for the forgiveness of his sins.
In June 2018, Gao was dispatched to serve in a leprosy rehabilitation village in Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province, because there were no males there. As this village is deep in the mountains, he drove a tricycle outside the mountains to buy daily necessities for the old people. One day during his driving, a bug flew into his eyes, and he rubbed his eyes, resulting in an accident in which he crashed into another tricycle parked on the roadside. He got a comminuted fracture in his left leg and hip bone. Two months later, he was healed amazingly and could walk on crutches.
One day before the 2019 Spring Festival, Gao had another car accident on his way driving an electric bike out to buy food in Nanchang Leprosy Rehabilitation Village, which resulted in a severe thigh fracture. However, as the Spring Festival was soon coming, he only rested for no more than a month, and wore crutches with pain to visit the lonely old lepers and send holiday blessings to them.
When Lost Sheep House, which serves orphans in Zaozhuang, Qingdao, moved, Gao worked as a porter in order to save money. In fact, he was then in the advanced stage of liver cancer. He worked crazily, regardless of his personal safety. In the moving process, he paid close attention to every link of loading and unloading. He even checked small screws in the refrigerator drawer. Further, he lifted a quite heavy drinking water box and labored with faltering steps. Until he finally looked at all the things on the car and into a new home created for the wandering disabled, he covered his abdomen and whispered to his wife, "It hurts!"
(The author is a special contributor to Gospel Times Northwest Region.)
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
