Peng, May Justice Prevail

** Updates on the wake at the bottom of this entry **

Peng making PaulOS look like an elderly daddy

I was happily lost in the middle of my latest read yesterday - an Agatha Raisin murder mystery. She was in the midst of investigating the murder of a girl whose body was swept by the river currents under the bridge.

It was then that my phone buzzed.

"Peng was found dead and murdered in her apartment just now. No details yet."

I couldn't believe what I've just read. It took about a minute for the facts to sink in. A cold hand gripped my heart and my stomach felt twisted in knots. The bubbly and chatty Lovena Loo Thing Peng dead?? Not only dead but murdered in cold blood, too. It must be some kind of twisted joke. Real life murder wasn't as nice and juicy as the books portrayed them to be.

I felt like calling her up just to verify that she was still alive and well. Still up to tackle life in that gutsy way of hers.

But the sms came from a trusted friend. As much as I wanted it to be otherwise, it can only be true.

And I did the only thing I could do. I prayed. I asked God to forgive the sins of our nation. To bring justice to the person(s) who did this to Peng. To comfort and protect her bereft family. Perhaps I did ask God why didn't He protect her. It was a horrible, horrible thing to happen. I wouldn't wish it on my enemies. Least of all, a friend.

But the friend who buzzed me did say that we cannot take God's protection for granted. And we should do all we can to be cautious. A single girl living alone in a notorious area like Peng and who comes back at odd hours because of work and ministry is a prime target for criminals.

Today we her friends are morose. Shell-shocked. Still coming to grips with what had happened. I've only spent time with her during our numerous Punctuation productions. She was there for all of the productions that I was involved in. Always a cheerful chatterbox who doesn't mind travelling a great distance just to help us out and lending her gifted hands to make us all up. She was a whiz at transforming youthful people into stooping wrinkly old prunes. Making devils out of respectable looking citizens. And making me look maternal in my motherly roles.

It's hard to accept that we'll never ever see her in that basement room dolling us all up. Or be greeted by her cheerful smile as an usher at the church foyer.

Peng, may you rest in peace and may your murderer be brought to justice.

For more details, please visit Josh's blog. PaulOS blogged about Peng here, Grace here and Anson here. Friends who like to share their thoughts and photos of Peng, please head here. The pics here are taken from that site. Thanks, Josh.

Happier times with Peng

Updates on Wake on 23 May: The wake was a sober affair. About 200 people turned up. Because of the time limit, only a few people were able to give eulogies but they shared with us the other facets of Peng that we didn't know. Her cg leader's wife, her school's Vice Principle, her Punctuations Ministry leader and her cell member told us about her love and passion for God, cooking and being a blessing to the people around her. From what I gather, though she may not be wealthy, she was so rich in the many, many friendships and lives that she has invested in.

Pastor Allan led the service in a sensitive and timely manner. And though it was a difficult message to preach Pastor Seng Fei reminded us of the legacy that Peng left behind and spoke of her last words in CG where she shared that if Jesus were to appear, she would want to bring Him back home to her family dinner and let them get to know the God she loved. They were aided by two Mandarin translators - one guy and Emily who did a great job.

Her family was devastated by the loss of a filial daughter and loving sister. Because of the decomposed state of the body, we were not allowed to pay our last respects to her. If we, her friends feel robbed of that opportunity, her mother felt so much worse not being able to take one last look at her beloved child.

There were a lot of familiar faces around from near and far. Some whom I haven't seen for a long, long time but who turned up to give support to Peng's family. Her brother, visibly overcome by grief, thanked everyone for coming and urged us to pray together with the family to see the murderer apprehended and brought to justice.

I hugged a few girls who were in tears. "She asked me out for dinner but I was so busy with my exams," said a girl in regret.

And in the eulogy her cg leader's wife Edna said that for the past two weeks, Peng was not able to attend cell meetings because of her sprained ankle. But in response to Edna's sms, she turned in cg last Friday dressed in her favourite party dress. She looked beautiful. She sat at the dining table where they were having Tom yam for dinner and declined to eat saying that spicy food wasn't suitable for her at that moment.

She looked at Edna and asked her to sit next to her. "Aunty Edna, I want to talk to you," she said. Unfortunately, Edna was not able to talk much to her because she was busy preparing for the cell meeting that was starting soon. One of them sent her home after cell. After three days of not hearing a word from her, they got worried and went to her apartment. The door was locked. So they called Peng's family who broke into the place and found her body. Edna said that the words "I want to talk to you" will always ring in her ears... If only she wasn't busy... If only...