Former Grand Blanc missionary reacts to fatal Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' church shooting, fire

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man who served part of his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan said seeing the chapel he spent a lot of time in be the center of a deadly shooting and fire is gut wrenching. "My home away from home is being attacked," said return missionary Charlie Gardiner. Gardiner served in the Michigan-Detroit mission and said he knows the Grand Blanc church building inside and out. "We'd spend every day there," Gardiner said. "We would teach lessons there to people wanting to learn more. We would have scripture studies there with a lot of members of the ward." The Utah native said before his mission, he'd never heard of Grand Blanc, Michigan, but the area quickly won him over. "There's like a little pond, like right behind the church, so we would go there on preparation days and just fish," he said. Gardiner said the ward is full of strong families, and many of the members are resident doctors. "When we'd bring people to church, we were confident that they would be welcomed," Gardiner said. According to Gardiner, it's hard for him to see images of the meetinghouse up in flames. "For someone to just walk in and do what they did, it's revolting," Gardiner said. On what was already a difficult day for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he said this added to their grief. "It really is gut wrenching to just see families be broken because somebody committing a hateful act," Gardiner said. "We have to trust that God, he knows each and every one of us, and he knows our purpose here on the earth." Gardiner explained how he doesn't want the building to be remembered for this. "What happened today is not a reflection of the church, our beliefs, anything like that," he said. "Jesus, he taught us to love one another. He taught that any contention is not of him." Gardiner still speaks to some of the members of the ward in Michigan and he hopes those who died are honored for the people they were. "We need to remember the Christlike attributes that these wonderful people have, the families involved and how we put our best foot forward as disciples of Christ," he said. Gardiner told KSL he knows a father and son who were shot at the chapel in Grand Blanc. He said as far as he knows, they're in stable condition, but he hasn’t heard from them personally.

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