FLINT, Michigan — An apostle traveled to Michigan on Tuesday and ministered to the families of the victims of Sunday’s deadly attack on worshippers at a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also visited the burned-out Grand Blanc Stake Center where the attack happened.
“It’s horrific,” he said of the attack that killed four members of the Grand Blanc Ward, injured eight others and forced over 100 more to flee the killer.
“There’s a tremendous immediate reaction of just gut-wrenching sorrow,” he said of his first reaction to news of what police say was a targeted attack on the church.
Elder Bednar said he and his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, ministered to small groups throughout the day. They visited the injured still at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital and had special meetings elsewhere with others who suffered injuries.
They were joined by Grand Blanc Stake President Marcelino Sanchez and Elder Allen B. Haynie, a General Authority Seventy.
“We’ve tried to make it as close to one by one as we could,” Elder Bednar said.
In the evening, he led a two-hour devotional for approximately 250 ward members and their families, who had been deeply traumatized for three days.
“I cannot begin to describe the pain and tension that was there with everyone in the room, some people terrified to even walk into the church, let alone the chapel,” said a member of the stake, Brandt Malone. “Once Elder Bednar spoke, waves of calmness washed over everyone.”
The apostle asked the families to sing the relatively new church hymn, “Gethsemane.” Then he asked them to sing it again.
After the devotional, Elder and Sister Bednar and local leaders spent 20 minutes shaking the hand of every person. They also shared many hugs. For many of the victims and family members, it was the second time the apostle had done that with them on the day.
“The apostolic message of healing is that we spent all day meeting with them,” Elder Bednar said before the devotional. “So what we will do in the devotional is secondary to the fact that all of the people who’ve been affected, we sat with in a small group. We hugged them. My wife embraced every one of the women.”
Elder Bednar arrived Tuesday morning and flew out again after the devotional to return to Salt Lake City for Wednesday’s memorial service for President Russell M. Nelson, who died Saturday at age 101.
Elder Bednar said the schedule showed how important a personal visit was to him and the Quorum of the Twelve, the current senior governing body of the church in the wake of President Nelson’s passing.
“I don’t think words are enough,” he said. “The brethren wanted to have one of us come because if we show up, I think that says more about our love for these people and our support then all of the sermons we could ever preach.”
He also shared a clear message about the healing power of Jesus Christ for even the most traumatized or affected people.
“There’s a wide range of impacts as a result of this,” he said. “Some have received personal injuries. Some have lost loved ones. The message is really very simple:
“They have loved ones who may have died, but they’re not dead. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, every human being that now lives, ever has lived, ever will live, will be resurrected, and there is hope in that eternal truth. So that’s part of the message that I hope they will understand.”
He also said the purpose of the gospel is to strengthen each person, “to help us to become new creatures in Christ."
“He gives us the strength from heaven to be able to deal with these kinds of hard situations and learn the lessons that can be learned,” Elder Bednar said.
The apostle said visiting the stake center was a revelation.
“The pictures, the videos that you see on television, can’t give you any kind of accurate portrayal of what took place,” he said. “To see the devastation of the stake center, then more importantly to talk to the people involved, to hear their reactions as they heard the very large noise as the truck came crashing through the (wall), the pop-pop-pop of the gunfire, then to to see the firmness and the steadiness of these Latter-day Saints in the midst of that horrific experience — I don’t know if I’ve done any good coming here to be with them, but (in) my coming here, they have blessed me richly."
Federal and local investigators have labeled Sunday’s assault a targeted attack on the church. Elder Bednar said he’d leave that to the police.
“I just am impressed,” he said, “by the faithfulness of these people.”
