On Jan. 20, Zhang Ruzhen traveled from her home in Wuhan to Chengdu to celebrate Chinese New Year with her son, Xue Ximing, and his family. She soon developed a cough and low-grade fever, so the family brought her to the local hospital. By Jan. 23, doctors discovered she had contracted the novel coronavirus and quarantined her and Xue’s family.

Members of Xue’s Enfu Church prayed for Zhang and the family, bringing them food as they remained under quarantine. Pastor Paul Peng called Zhang on Jan. 24 and shared the gospel with her, explaining man’s sin and Jesus’ saving death on the cross. He asked if she wanted to accept Jesus. After a slight hesitation, she agreed.

The church gave Zhang’s nurses a sound system to play hymns, and nurses said she spent the last 24 hours of her life listening to it before dying on Jan. 29. She was the first coronavirus fatality in Sichuan province.

With her family quarantined and the epidemic keeping most people home, Peng held a memorial service over a videoconferencing platform for about 100 of Zhang's friends and family. He preached on Psalm 80 and how calamity should lead people to pray not only for God to rescue them, but also for people to repent and turn to God. “If the sudden death of Mrs. Xue can lead you to repent before God, then this day will be the day your mother rests in the Lord and the day your whole family is saved,” Peng said. Xue also gave a testimony of his mother’s life.

By that afternoon, the audio and transcript of the memorial was posted on Enfu Church’s WeChat page and has since garnered about 80,000 pageviews. Peng said that after the service, several of the family’s friends came to profess faith in Christ. One person even contacted Peng asking if the pastor would lead her in the sinner’s prayer.

Despite the terror and the anger the outbreak has stirred up, Peng said he also sees the fruit of God’s work amid dark times: “Through this, we’ve seen God’s grace and the love between the brothers and sisters in the church. The church members also feel a greater burden to evangelize with their family members.”

The coronavirus epidemic has shut down entire cities in China, infecting more than 28,000 people and killing 563 as of Thursday. Health officials have confirmed about 193 cases in 24 other countries, including 11 in the United States. The actual number of cases is probably much higher: Overcrowded hospitals are turning away patients. Some die at home without knowing if they had the virus.

The United States and other countries have banned incoming foreign nationals who recently visited China and placed travelers under quarantine. Major airlines have canceled flights to China as countries are evacuating their citizens from Wuhan. The State Department has asked U.S. citizens not to travel to China. The travel ban has also hurt China’s economy: Stocks in China dropped 8 percent as the market reopened this week after the Chinese New Year holidays.