Obituary of Sara Pualani Determan

Sara Pualani Determan died at her home in Shelton on November 25. She was 23 years old. She was born in Shelton on April 14, 1982 and graduated from Shelton High in June 2000. Sara served as a missionary in China and was a member of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Ensenada, Mexico. She touched the lives of many people in many places. In recent years she studied pre-nursing at South Puget Sound Community College with dreams of serving the poor as a medical missionary. She was a member of Calvary Chapel Olympia. In spite of struggling with anorexia, Sara was a runner and surfer. Sara is survived by parents, Celia and Tim Determan (Shelton), a sister Celita Johnston (Shelton) and brothers Rafael Determan (Olympia), Luke Determan (Lynwood) and Lorenzo Determan (Shelton). A memorial service and reception will be held at the Shelton Civic Center starting at 3 PM on Friday December 2. Instead of flowers, well wishers are urged to donate to Compassion Intl., 12290 Voyager Parkway Colorado Springs, CO 80921-3668. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26) A Father’s Message Thank you all for coming to remember and honor the life, the faith, and the grace of our daughter Sara. The outpouring of grief and tears and treasure our family has received from so many people and places during the past week has shown me that the reach of Sara’s love for God’s people went far beyond my narrow realm. Sara was a bright, articulate, powerful, even willful, young woman who fell head over heels in love with Jesus. Sara was driven to share God’s love with everyone she met. She wanted to take Jesus’ love for the poor to far places. She went to China and to Mexico to serve His Great Commission to preach to the nations. Her goal was to complete nursing studies so that she could become a medical missionary. Yet, near or far, Sara saw the face of Jesus in everyone she met. Like Mother Teresa and Therese of Lisieux before her, Sara believed that we best serve Our Lord by doing little things with great love. By faith I believe that after her life of love and service God called her home to be with Him. I’m convinced that she is rejoicing with him now. But we who are left behind in this “vale of tears” need to think about a broader message in Sara’s life and death. The coroner’s report confirmed that she died of factors related to anorexia nervosa. As a scientist I am trained to understand this clinical jargon. Yet at the risk of sounding hysterical, I see a strong element of “spiritual warfare” in my daughter’s story. Who but the Evil One would warp Sara’s mind into believing that the beautiful young girl she saw in the mirror each morning was grossly overweight and pathetically unattractive despite protests to the contrary from family and friends. And who else but Satan would triumph by convincing this Daughter of the Lord that she was without value or that she needed to starve herself to be acceptable? For most of her young years, through the grace of God, she struggled mightily against these demons and by appearances was holding her own. Yet Scripture tells us that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our power to resist. Perhaps the Lord Jesus decided that now was the time to reward her heroic virtue and bring her home in victory, rather than to allow to her to be forced to play Satan’s game any longer. Only God knows. Yet the struggle continues for countless young women, and most don’t have Sara’s spiritual resources. And it falls on us all to stand with them and for all of our young people in their struggle against the Culture of Death that surrounds us …a culture that exploits a young woman’s God-given beauty to entrap and ensnare us…in everything from peddling cheap goods to pushing promiscuity in the arts. But before I get carried away on a binge of blame of Hollywood or Wall Street for our sorry state of affairs, I must look closer to home. I know that as a Christian father I set high standards for my daughter’s behavior. But is that enough? As a man, as her father, did I affirm and support her as strongly as I should have? Did I let her know that I loved her and believed in her? How will I account to my Creator for my stewardship of the treasure he gave me? Every father of a daughter needs to ask himself these questions and be ready to repent of their failures. And what of you young Christian brothers? You have been taught to reject hazing of young women because of their weight or appearance, to reject lewd locker room humor that disrespects your sisters. But do you boldly (if gently) intervene to stop this behavior on the part of your less graced brothers? I can remember almost to the day when a careless comment triggered Sara’s struggle with anorexia. Are you resentful when your sister’s God-given talent exceeds your own? Or do you rejoice with her for her success? When you are in her company, do you share the secrets of your minds and hearts, or do you find yourself “drawn to Dark Side”? In short, my brothers of all ages, at the risk of sounding hopelessly stuffy and outdated, do we give the women in our lives the honor and respect they deserve as our Sisters and Daughters of the Lord? We must not allow Christian chivalry to go dead in the 21st century. I must admit that in recent years I was worried about Sara’s future. Would she marry or would she choose the single life. I knew that in either state she would serve the Lord. I learned through her mother that she insisted that any young man who shared her life would need to be a strong imitation of Christ. These are very high standards for the men of our time, including her father. But God has made His decision in the matter. He took her home to be with Him. Please indulge me as I give her away to Him as a bride for His Son. Almighty Father Twenty three years ago you entrusted Sara to my care. Please allow me to release her to you To have and to hold From this day forward Forever and ever Amen.