On the morning of March 14, 2015, in the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park in Honolulu, Hawaii, a meeting was held in loving memory of Sister Marinna Yi-Ying Wong, which the Church called “Celebration of Life”, for the reason that Sister Wong who went to be with the Lord at the age of 95 in Nantong, China on Feb. 22, 2015, was full of sap of the life of Christ; her life was a life of enjoying the life of Christ and serving in life.
In 1959, Sister Wong and her husband David Wong, who was not yet a believer then, immigrated to Honolulu from Hong Kong. Brother Chenlung Hsieh and Sister Litao Hsieh, who came all the way from Ohio to the memorial meeting, testified that Uncle David drove every week to the University of Hawaii and took Sister Litao, who had for the first time left her home in Taiwan to study abroad, to eat at their home. After meals, Sister Wong would pray with Sister Litao for the Lord’s testimony in Honolulu. Their desire was to see that all the Lord’s believers in Honolulu would meet in oneness, enjoy Christ as the life-giving Spirit and preach the gospel. Sister Wong would invite the students to sing hymns, study the Bible and pray together, nourishing and shepherding the young people devotedly.
In Honolulu, Sister Wong’s home had once given hospitality to Brother and Sister K. H. Weigh, Brother and Sister Stephen Kaung and Brother Titus Chu. The most important of all, Sister Wong’s home was the birthplace of the Church in Honolulu. In 1968, Brother Witness Lee stopped in Honolulu on his way from Los Angeles when he took over 100 saints of different languages to Taiwan. Sister Wong and her husband opened their home to provide hospitality and helped with all the arrangements. Brother Lee, specially burdened for the salvation of David Wong, held a special meeting, to which many local people were invited, and David Wong was saved in that meeting. Immediately following David Wong’s baptism, the Lord’s Table started in the Wongs’ home, bringing forth the official establishment of the Church in Honolulu! Sister Wong, in one accord with Brother David, served the Church and the saints faithfully, becoming the pioneer of planting the church tree and the pillar in building the church.
About sixty people attended the Memorial Service in honor of Sister Marinna Wong, including Brother and Sister Loh and Brother Mark Cherng from Portland, Oregon, and Norman and Nancy Wong from Lake Tahoe, California. The “Celebration of Life” service was directed by Brother Peter Wong from the Church in Honolulu. And the saints testified one after another: the God in Christ that Sister Marinna had received into her life was really life and living to her; the faith she had received and had was not just a doctrinal faith, but a real life relationship she practiced in her daily living. She was a person living in the mingled Spirit; the fruit of the Spirit—-“joy and peace” was embodied in her ever sweet and beautiful smile, leaving an unforgettable impression on whoever saw her. She had a genuine and unconditional love for the saints. With her abundant inner life, she had cared for many people in humanity and fed numerous saints in divinity. Ever since she had seen the vision of God’s eternal economy, she was absolute for Christ and the Church all the time. She lived because of Christ. Her whole life was for Christ and the Church. She treasured the ministry of the Lord’s recovery and followed it closely. She frequently flied to conferences in different places in the US and Taiwan, even at an advanced age of 86. After suffering a stroke in 2006 and moving to China in 2008, she still kept a close relationship with the saints, and sang hymns and prayed together over Skype. How many spirits and souls have been touched and shepherded by her abundant grace, amiable smile and service in life! She had received “free grace” just as depicted in the Chinese Hymn 136 which she loved the best, and she had passed the free grace to numerous people.
2 Cor. 1:12: “For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.” Sister Wong embodied this purity and singleness in her love for the Lord and the saints. Her participation in the expansion of God’s kingdom on earth has been recorded in the divine history. Now, our dear Sister Marinna Yi-Ying Wong, having faithfully finished her race, rests side by side with her husband in the Lord in the green-mountain-surrounded and verdant-grass-carpeted memorial park. We believe that some day we will surely join her in singing praise to God again in the New Jerusalem!
