Member-only story
I cannot remember exactly when but I must have met Wan Jee at one of the Japan Prayer Group meetings by OMF, an international and cross-cultural Christian missions agency with a focus on East Asia, in my university and early working years. That was also my first exposure to OMF and my church’s first full-time missionary also went to Japan through OMF in 2009.
Over the years, we kept in touch. After my short-term mission trip to Iwate, Japan in September 2017, I had a few days in Tokyo to spare and I managed to meet Wan Jee for a meal in Shinjuku as she was still staying in Tokyo at that time. In early 2021, I was taking a break from work and I recalled she was back in Singapore for her home assignment, so we arranged to meet up over a meal.
“The OMF Singapore office is looking for someone with digital media experience, would you like to give it a try”? Wan Jee asked me.
I did not have any concrete plans during that work break, so I wrote in to the office — after two interviews, I was hired. I was also newly married at that time and my wife supported decision to join OMF.
I enjoyed the times when Wan Jee came to the office once a week when I started working there, very often we would head out for lunch with the colleagues via the office van. I always told her that I enjoyed her email updates, which were well-narrated over a range of topics — her struggles with cancer treatment, challenges in ministry and above all, her love and burden for the Japanese and Japanese church.
It was an honour and privilege to be able to photograph her wedding day in December 2021. At that time, covid-19 measures by the government was still very strict. I was part of the small team of helpers who were present at the wedding venue because there was a limit on the number of people who could be present in-person on her special day.
I left OMF at the end of 2024 and rejoined recently — my first day at work was helping out Wan Jee’s wake and I believe the timing is of no coincidence. I was glad to be back at ‘work’ but at the same time, to be able to support Wan Jee’s family members during the wake. I did some tech support for the third and final day of her funeral service, which was a hybrid (in-person and online) event held for the Japanese…
