Dedication:
She was one of the first people I met during my first visit to São Paulo in January 1990. I was standing at the front door of the Bosque Holiness Church, nervously going over the message I would share that morning.
Tae and her friend Cecilia walked up to the building. As I saw them, both stylishly dressed and differently attired from the people I had seen at a rustic campground in the days prior, my mind thought "Gardena Girls." Gardena girls, not in any pejorative sense, but the girls I remembered from high school who were so cool and fashionable.
Forgetting where I was perhaps, I walked up to them and greeted them in English. "Hi! How are you! Nice to see you this morning!"
The look on their faces told me my mistake as they stopped in their tracks, looked at each other in panic and looked at me and laughed. It was one of my first lessons in cross-cultural interaction. But they were very kind and didn't run away.
I was so sorry to hear yesterday (June 8) that Tae Koga became a victim of the Covid virus that has taken too many already. Reading other posts on Facebook, I see that she continued ministering and created a legacy of kindness and mercy to those around her, and especially to those in need.
May God bless and comfort her husband, Celso, her family and see them through these next few months and years. And, oh yeah, she was only 57 years of age. Taken too soon and too young.
