Five years later, Las Vegas residents remember how they helped their neighbors in the aftermath of the tragic massacre of October 1, 2017.

Eddie Rojas remembered the scene at Sunrise Hospital the morning of October 2, 2017, as vividly as a nightmare. Sadly, the nightmare was the horrific reality of a gunman opening fire on a crowd attending a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on the night of October 1, 2017.

After learning of the mass shooting, Rojas, a cardiovascular registered nurse, rushed to the hospital and started a 16-hour fight to save lives. After numerous days of helping victims, Eddie received a call from a fellow Jehovah’s Witness who shared soothing thoughts from the Bible and provided a listening ear. “He asked me, ‘How are you doing?’ That was important to me,” said Rojas.  Soon after, Rojas and his family were offering the same comfort from the Scriptures in their door-to-door ministry. “People were scared. There was a need for them to get some hope, to get some kind of good news.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses acted quickly after the shooting to help soothe their community with spiritual comfort. Nathan Lundholm, another local congregant, remembered how the tone of their message sharpened to fill the need.

“The focus now became providing some comfort and hope for our community,” said Lundholm, noting that spiritual aid in times of crisis “is a stabilizing influence for all of us as the world changes.” That was the case five years ago and continues to be the case now as the Witnesses resume their door-to-door ministry to share Scriptural comfort with their neighbors face-to-face.

For more information on the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses, visit their website jw.org, which has content available in over 1,000 languages. There you can find practical articles to help families

cope with suffering, such as “Can I Find Words of Comfort in the Bible?” and “Where Can I Find Hope?”