On April 22, 2020, the pastoral staff of the South Station Church in Dongfeng County, Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province came to Sui Shulan’s home in Banzhehe Village, Dongfeng Town to help her with her housework.
On April 7, an accidental fire damaged the home of the elderly Sui Shulan. She is 78 years old and has a slight disability. She lives alone with her grandson on a minimum living standard. In the fire, the old woman accidentally fell down, was injured and her neighbors sent her to the hospital for treatment. Because of the medical expenses, Shulan decided to go home to recuperate. However, because the fire damaged most of the rooms of the house, there was only one room in which she could live.
Pastor Liu Xuesong, director of the South Railway Station, learned of the situation and decided to assist her. At the same time, he appointed several pastoral staff to send 5,000 yuan to the elderly lady.
Seeing that there was only one room left for her to live in, the church wanted to rent a temporary room for her, but she expressed her thanks and politely declined. She said that due to the church's suspension of meetings, their income was reduced, and she did not want to increase the financial burden on the church.
Pastoral staff respected the opinion of Sui Shulan, helped her clean up her living room, and took precautions against the cold. Since she had not completely recovered, church co-worker Wang Xiling went to help with cooking, heating and other housework.
(The author is from South Station Church in Dongfeng County, Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
