Cynthia “Cyndi” Sawyer, an LCMS missionary to Hong Kong, died of a heart attack March 7 in Hong Kong. A funeral service was held March 19 at Beth
lehem Lutheran Church in Pleasant Dale, Neb.
Sawyer, 49, was a second-grade teacher at Hong Kong International School (HKIS).
At a March 15 memorial service for Sawyer at HKIS, Head of School Richard W. Mueller said the missionary teacher “had a joy in life and a hope in the future that were truly remarkable” and often took the time to send an encouraging note to others.
“She had a gift for reaching out and touching the humanity in others,” Mueller told some 500 mourners at the school, and “her Christian faith was deep and abiding — it helped to define who she was.”
Mueller asked those present to “enjoy each day you are given, reach out to others, send words of encouragement,” and “practice random acts of kindness,” as Sawyer did, and to “know where your joy and hope are grounded, as Cyndi knew so well herself — in a love of family, in a love of others, and in a love of God.”
To view an Easter video made by Sawyer’s second-grade class and completed the day before she died, go to http://mydragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/blog/post.php?id=1994.
Sawyer is survived by her husband, Greg Sawyer, strategic education developer for Asia with LCMS World Mission, and children Brittany, 18, and Kerrick, 15.
Memorial contributions may be sent to LCMS World Mission, 1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7295, for international Lutheran school development in Asia. Please make checks payable to LCMS World Mission and include “Cynthia Sawyer Memorial” on the memo line.
Posted April 9, 2008
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