A ‘gentle spirit’ leaves this world
By Rae KrugerArticle Photos
Ministers often talk about how Jesus Christ's light can shine through people. Those who knew Sarah Buller saw it and said it was readily evident in her smile.
"Everybody remembers that smile," Charles Hulsizer of Marshall said of his friend. "It was so intense, so full of life. So real."
Buller, 18, died in a car crash Sunday in South Africa, where she was on a roughly year-long Christian mission trip working with children and families. Buller was one of nine children of Peggy and Dwight Buller of rural Hendricks.
Funeral services are pending with Birk Funeral Home of Hendricks.
"She had the real light of the Lord," the Rev. Dave Kaufman of the Holy Life Tabernacle in Brookings, S.D., said. Kaufman is Buller's former pastor. "She had a tremendous heart for people. As a result of her heart for people, her core belief in Jesus Christ, she went on different mission trips."
"Her priorities were strong," Hulsizer said. "God was No. 1, as evidenced by what she was doing in South Africa. Second, was her family."
"She just radiated love and joy for everyone," Joyce Baun of Hendricks said. Baun's husband Duane "Bogie" Baun is the pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Hendricks. The Bauns met Peggy Buller, when Peggy was younger and the Bauns were at their first church in Brandt, S.D.
"It's an incredible loss for (Sarah's) family and our community," Baun said.
Buller was compelled to serve God and Christ. She participated in various mission trips as a teenager, including a mission project in Ethiopia in 2007. Buller was also active in church activities and was a camp counselor.
She was an active member of the New Grove 4-H group in Hendricks, Lincoln County 4-H director Kate Johnson said. She held various offices, was a day camp counselor and also worked for two years in the 4-H after-school program at Lincoln HI schools in Ivanhoe.
"The thing about Sarah is she brought out the best in everyone," Johnson said. " She could not only see the good in people, she brought out that good. From the kindergarten kids she worked with in the after-school program to her fellow youth, to leaders, to teenagers....When I think of Sarah, I think of her gentle spirit and her big beautiful smile."
Kaufman said Bulller affected hundreds of lives. She met youth from throughout Minnesota and South Dakota on mission trips, Kaufman said.
Buller's Web site includes comments shared by those who said Buller touched their lives and those of others.
"Her life deeply impacted all of theirs," Mary Sample said of how Buller influenced her daughter and other AIM South Africa team members in a comment posted on Buller's Web site. "They are better for having known her. She will not be forgotten."Buller was the kind of person you wanted to talk to, Hulsizer said.
"She was outgoing, she was engaging," Hulsizer said. Buller listened and she was genuine, he said.
It's difficult when someone young dies, Kaufman and Baun said. Yet, Buller's death will cause people to examine their own lives, their own faith and relationship to God and Christ, they said.
"I'm sure that people are already being affected in a wonderful way by being drawn closer to Christ," Kaufman said.
And, they said they are assured Buller's life has left a legacy.
"We can (say)she died too soon but (Buller) lived her life to the fullest (for Christ). What more of a legacy can any of us leave," Baun said.
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HankRoso
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04-11-09 8:49 AM
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Sarah, my knowledge of you has been limited to watching you grow through tiny snippits of Christmas photos and news briefs from your parents. Suddenly, at the same time I'd realized that you'd grown to a beautiful and godly woman who'd make any parent proud, I learned that your life is over. How is it that I hurt so much when I knew you so little? I have a pain for two parents who I've admired so much, and pain for siblings who will never be the same, but even more. It's a pain for myself as I wish that I'd known you better. People like you are so rare I feel like I've been cheated. Someday dear sister in Christ and young soldier for the Cross, I will embrace you and say thank you for leading the way for the rest of us."Oh Jesus if I die upon a foreign field someday 'Twould be no more than love demands, no less could I repay, But if by death to living they can thy glory see,I'll take my cross and follow close to thee." -Ira Stanp. Rev. Hank Roso
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abruhd
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04-09-09 10:05 AM
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I am a cousin of Sarah's and she was a WONDERFUL person! For anyone who knew her she was always willing to lend a helping hand at anytime when needed. Sarah always wanted to be helping someone out. Sarah enjoy all of her mission trips she has been on and has been spreading the word of god to all children and adults. For anyone who knew Sarah she will be greatly missed by our family VERY much so.
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