Happy Birthday Andy
It would have been your 34th year on planet earth today. I imagine you might be working downtown Toronto, at some financial institution, making good money. I imagine you still single for some reason, but dating, and finally dating steadily with a lovely and godly lady. It took you a while to figure things with God, but by God's grace, you do have a strong relationship with Him now.
We probably would have had a phone conversation sometime last week to talk about how to celebrate today. I might have made you a cake. I wonder what kind of stuff you would be into at 34?
Of course, you are having a much better party up in heaven today - celebrating with our Creator. No worries, no tears, no pain. And even though I still miss you - I am happy. I am giving thanks to God that you are up there in heaven having a p-a-r-t-y with Jesus.
But I still want to celebrate you today. As I continue my journey into finding out more from you, I thought this from one of your best childhood friends does justice to you and the kind of impact you made.
Happy Birthday dear brother!
Love you,
Che
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I don't remember well the first time I met Andy, but I remember the times as we grew up in the Chinese Alliance Church in Lima, Peru. We had the same age, and thus participated in the same Sunday School Classes and we competed to see who would win the prizes for memorizing Scripture. But undoubtedly Andy always won over everyone else since he was a extremely smart and intelligent.
No recuerdo muy bien cuando fue la primera vez que conocí a Andy, pero sí recuerdo cuando crecíamos en la Iglesia China en Lima Perú. Teníamos la misma edad, por lo que siempre participábamos en las clases de escuela dominical y competíamos por quien se ganaba los premios de la memorización bíblica. De hecho que siempre Andy nos ganaba a todos pues era un niño muy pero muy hábil e inteligente.
In addition to his smarts and intelligence, I remember that we used to like to play a lot after church. We would play until we were told to go home and we would all be sweating and tired. We played a lot of soccer, basketball and when we were older and in the JACCH (that was the name of the youth fellowship in the church), as we were allowed, would play table tennis.
Además de su habilidad e inteligencia, recuerdo que nos gustaba jugar bastante después de la iglesia. Lo hacíamos hasta que nos pasaran la voz para irnos y nos retirábamos todos sudados y cansados. Jugabamos bastante al futbol, basquetball y y ya cuando éramos más grandes y los jóvenes de la JACCH (así se llamaba el grupo de jóvenes de la Iglesia china) nos lo permitían, jugábamos contra ellos ping pong.
I don't have any recorded memory with an image of Andy in a sad state, but I do remember when he would get angry when someone would bug him or when he would lose some game. His competitive and creative spirit is something I will never forget.
No tengo en mi mente ninguna imagen de Andy en una actitud de tristeza, pero sí recuerdo cuando se molestaba cuando alguien le fastidiaba por cualquier cosa o perdía en algún juego. Su espíritu competitivo y creativo es algo que nunca voy a olvidar.
You were really good in everything you did and you many times you would make me work harder to win over you!!! I remember how great you were with music and swimming (I remember the swimming poses you made in the swimming pool at Huampani during the youth camp FILOI).
Eras muy bueno en todo lo que hacías y muchas veces me hacías esforzarme más para ganarte!!! Recuerdo lo bueno que eras en la música, en natación (tengo en mi mente las poses que hacías en la piscina de huampaní en el campamento FILOI).
I have kept the photos of the different times during our adolescent years. There is one that is very funny during the time you returned back to Peru for the last time. I remember we went with Michael, Isaias, and Tony to the Malecon de Miraflores and we were taking all sorts of photos as we were able to think of...There is one where we got on top of each other, pushing each other and where we barely saw each other's faces...thankfully at that time there were no municipal police or they would have come over!!! That was the last time we saw you, all muscular, jovial as always and so full of life and happiness. I still remember all of that.
Aún conservo fotos tuyas de las distintas épocas de nuestra adolescencia. Hay una muy graciosa que nos tomamos cuando vinistes a Perú por última vez. Recuerdo que salimos con Michael, Isaias y Tony al malecón de Miraflores y nos tomábamos cada tipo de foto que se nos ocurriese.. Hay una donde nos montamos uno sobre el otro aplastándonos y apenas se puede ver nuestras caras… menos mal que en ese tiempo no había serenazgo (la policía municipal) o nos hubiesen llamado la atención!!! Esa fue la última vez que te vimos, tan musculoso, jovial como siempre y tan lleno de vida y de alegría que aún recuerdo.
I could not believe it when we found out about your illness. For all the youth in the church that felt like a cold bucket of water. We prayed a lot asking God to heal you, but that didn't happen. We could not understand the reasons why you had to go through all of that. I am moved now when I read about your last moments as Sandy describes them and am beginning to understand now God's will for your life.
No podía creer cuando nos enteramos de tu enfermedad. Para todos los jóvenes de la iglesia eso fue como un balde de agua. Tuvimos bastantes momentos de oración pidiéndole a Dios que te sanara, pero eso no pasó. No pudimos entender los motivos por lo que tuvistes que pasar todo eso. Me conmuevo ahora cuando leo sobre tus últimos momentos descritos por Sandy y capaz empiezo a entender apenas la voluntad de Dios para con tu vida.
I remember the Sunday morning when Pastor Joseph Lee had to tell the congregation that you had left us. Miguel MacChiu was beside him translating and they could not finish the sentence because they were crying from the stage. I remember Miguel giving a pat on Pastor Lee's back as they both identified with each other during this sad moment. Everyone in the congregation was quiet...crying that Sunday.
Recuerdo el domingo por la mañana cuando el Pastor Joseph Lee tuvo que decir a la congregación que habías partido. Miguel Mc Chiu estuvo a su lado traduciendo y no pudieron decir toda la frase pues lloraban desde el altar. Recuerdo a Miguel dándole un abrazo en la espalda al Pastor Lee como una muestra de identificación en este momento tan triste. Toda la congregación se quedo callada… llorando ese domingo.
Today, as I write these lines, 18 years after your departure, tears begin to stream out. Perhaps it is part of that liberating process Sandy is inviting us to journey through as we write these memories. After you left, I don't know why we did not want to talk about your passing, or to deepen our memories of you. Perhaps we wanted to keep the idea that you were still in Canada or we simply did not want to accept that you were no longer with us.
Hoy al escribir estas líneas, después de 18 años de tu partida, lágrimas empiezan a aparecer. Capaz es parte de ese proceso liberador que Sandy nos está invitando a transitar al escribir estas memorias. Después que te fuiste, no sé porqué no quisimos hablar de tu partida ni profundizar en recuerdos; quizás para mantener la idea que estás aún en Canadá o no aceptar que no estás por ahora con nosotros.
Nevertheless, it was Sandy and your mom that made the first move. I remember after you left, and when your mom returned to Peru, she gave me one of your yellow T-shirts. She told me to wear it since it was a shirt you loved and she saw me as a son...I will never forget those words from your mom. I also remember the last time I saw Sandy, not too long ago, here in Peru, where she told me I reminded her a lot of you (of course, you were more good looking, hehe)
Sin embargo, fueron Sandy y tu mami quienes dieron el primer paso. Recuerdo que después que partistes, y cuando tu mami vino a Perú, me regaló una camisa amarilla tuya. Me dijo que la usara pues era una camisa que tú apreciabas mucho y que ella me veía como a un hijo…. Nunca voy a olvidar esas palabras de aprecio de tu mami. También recuerdo, cuando la útima vez que ví a Sandy hace poco en Perú, me dijo que le hacía recordar mucho a ti (claro que más guapo, jeje).
Thank you Andy for having accompanied me through life during this short time, in the church, the camps, the group outings, the many rehearsals for the innumerable number of theatre and singing functions! Thank you for the example to fight on and for letting me see life in a much more intense and at the same time simple way.
Gracias Andy por haberme acompañado en este corto tiempo de caminar por la vida, en medio de la iglesia, los campamentos, las salidas en grupo, los incontables ensayos para un sin número de cantatas y obras de teatro! Gracias por ese ejemplo de lucha y por permitirme ver la vida de una manera intensa y a la vez plena.
Jaime Mok
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