Laura and I went to UNC together. We were both very close to a mutual friend, Jennifer Yin, and so saw each other quite often during our four years in Chapel Hill. From the time she was young, Laura loved all things Chinese and knew she wanted to move to China one day. She took Asian Studies classes at UNC. I also remember her taking Mandarin classes, and being so impressed she was learning such a difficult language!
She moved to China soon after college graduation, and taught English (as well as many other things). I heard updates from Jennifer as she fell in love, married, and began her family with her husband Haodong. About as quickly as Gabe and I welcomed our little ones, they were welcoming Joshua (8), Elliana (6 ½), Sophia (5), and Ian (3) half a world away.
Since Laura’s parents lives in North Carolina, she and her husband would bring their children to visit when able. Last summer (2018), they came for a visit. After spending time with Laura’s family, they went on a road trip to visit friends and share about their work in China.
It has been exactly 9 months since a nightmare crashed into their world. They were visiting Kansas City, and her husband Haodong shared one evening at an International House of Prayer. The children were tired, so Laura left with them to put them to bed. Haodong finished talking to folks, and walked the few blocks back to the home of the family who was hosting them. It was early evening. 7pm?
Shots rang out. A teenager on PCP shot and killed Haodong as he walked home from the service. He was 38 years old. He was killed a few steps away from the home where Laura was with their four children. Laura told me her young children were excited by the sirens of the emergency vehicles that responded; they ran out to see the ambulance before she shooed them back inside. Praise God they did not see their father laying face-down on the sidewalk where he was murdered. My heart aches that Laura has that image of her precious husband emblazoned in her mind.
I’ll never forget Jennifer’s call last August to tell me the news. We wept for Laura and her beautiful children. I remember so acutely feeling sickened by the total depravity, the evil, that took Haodong’s physical life. He and Laura were married only 10 years! And those sweet children who are desperately missing their daddy. It struck very close to home for Gabe and me since Haodong was exactly our age with four little ones so close to the ages of our children.
That evening, as I almost tangibly felt the vile depravity of sin, the light of the Gospel shone so brilliantly. Romans 5:6-11:
“ 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
While we were sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. The Gospel is the complete opposite of Laura’s nightmare; it is news that is too good to be true. But it is true. Christ defeated evil, death, and sin through his death on the cross and his resurrection. I remember in one of the interviews that Laura did the week her husband was killed, she quoted John 12:24:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
What perspective Laura had only hours after this tragedy! If you are interested in seeing my beautiful friend and her children, here is an interview she did a day or two after Haodong’s murder.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article216053660.html
As I mentioned, Laura and her family were in the United States on a visit. Their home is in China (and has been for over 15 years for Laura); her children are Chinese. When Haodong was killed on August 1, the children were a few weeks away from commencing a new school year in China. In shock, they moved in with her parents in coastal North Carolina, where she enrolled the children in school (only to be uprooted a few weeks later as much of the NC coast was evacuated for Hurricane Francis).
As she and the children grieve Haodong’s death, they also dearly miss their life in China. That is where Laura has lived since college, and where she thought she’d spend the rest of her life. Her friends, the children’s friends, schools, their community, Haodong’s extended family…it’s all in China! Please join us in passionately praying for this beautiful family. For:
- Discernment and direction for Laura regarding her family’s next steps. Her work and her life has been in China for so many years.
- All those difficult “firsts” they are walking through this year (the first birthdays without Daddy, the first anniversary of Haodong’s death, etc).
- Peace for Laura and her children during the sentencing of her husband’s murderer (scheduled for June).
- God’s extraordinary provision for Laura and her children in every way: financially, emotional healing, a place to belong and to thrive.
So many have been generous with the Hao family in the wake of this tragedy. If you would like to make a contribution to their GoFundMe page, simply click on this link. There is also an organization that has placed Laura on a one-year sabbatical. Contributions to that organization are tax deductible through July 2019. I’d be happy to provide more information on that if you message me.
Thank you for praying for Laura and her children. They are such precious ones! Here they are with some of our kids a few months ago.
Sophia (and Will)
Joshua
Ian
Elliana (with Abby)
Treasures Gleaned 