Missionaries from the California Oakland Mission earned praise as they efficiently helped the Red Cross assist people who lost homes in the disastrous Oakland fire of Oct. 20-22.

Trained for just a few hours, the missionaries took non-denominational roles and became case workers in Red Cross shelters. They issued thousands of dollars in relief funds in behalf of the Red Cross. They also comforted those who had lost all their material belongings.As the extent of damage from the devastating fires that swept through the hills above this city sank in, local Church members also united with others to begin the long healing process.

The damage from the arson-caused fire is considerable: Twenty-five people were killed and some 2,700 homes and 500 apartment units were destroyed by the 70-hour blaze that reached 2,000 degrees. The flames leveled 2,000 acres of heavily populated hillside homes and caused up to $2 billion in damages.

The fire also caused immeasurable trauma for thousands whose lives will never be the same.

In the aftermath, as heavy equipment moved into the charred acreage to haul away rubble, community and emergency organizations mobilized the massive job of providing new housing for more than 3,300 households.

Missionaries took a key role in the initial efforts, said mission Pres. Robert A. Madsen. They were instructed simply to "do what Christ would do."

"The missionaries are thrilled to be a tool in the Savior's hands," he said.

"We have always been willing to work in times of disaster, but this time the trust that is placed in the missionaries is remarkable. They have been made case workers in charge of damage assessment: they are being trusted with thousands and thousands of dollars."

He told of a sister missionary in a service center who met a woman weeping, saying she had lost all her possessions. The sister missionary in her sweet way asked, "What possessions will you have in the next life when you meet Christ?" The woman understood immediately and said, "Thank you," and embraced the sister missionary.

One Red Cross worker said: "If the missionaries do it, we need one person. If we assign others, we will need three or four."

The Alameda County Red Cross executive director, Marian Wilson, met four senior missionary couples entering a shelter to volunteer and said, "Oh, we love to see you come in. We remember you from the `89 earthquake." (Missionaries also assisted the Red Cross after a 1989 earthquake hit northern California.)

Red Cross workers said the well-dressed missionaries operating with quiet efficiency created a calmness in a chaotic situation.

Nicholas Peake, a Red Cross director from Connecticut serving in the main relief center in Piedmont, also worked with missionaries following the earthquake of 1989. He commented, "They are so wonderful to work with. They are smart, bright, and they have caught on so quickly. The helping just flows from these young people."

Sister Rachel Cavanaugh of Bountiful, Utah, compared the training at the Missionary Training Center with that of the Red Cross. "At the Missionary Training Center, we were taught the most effective way to teach and help people resolve their problems," she said. "Such caring and concern is also an important part of the Red Cross training."

In the meantime, local members are taking part in community and interfaith efforts. The Church's representative to the Oakland Interfaith Council of Churches is Ron McLain, an attorney and high councilor in the Oakland stake. He said the council is working to provide counseling to those who lost property, and to mobilize volunteers as the massive clean-up effort begins.

Brother McLain is especially sensitive to the situation. He and his wife, Deena, and their daughters Rachel and Laney, lost their home in the fire.

He described his experience when "only scant minutes separated us from being engulfed by the firestorm which swept through the neighborhood and destroyed all of our homes."

After evacuating his family and a neighbor, he returned to attempt to save his house. "The fire had roared to within 50 yards and was consuming a home across the street from mine," said Brother McLain. "At the time I felt a sense of helplessness I had never known before as the certain realization set in that there was nothing I could do to prevent the fire from destroying my home.

"At the same time, I felt a sense of calm and confidence that all would turn out for the best. I took one last look at the house, said goodbye, and drove off."

Later, he said, "I shared with my family the realization that the sense of calm . . . was His Spirit letting me know we need not despair for the tragedy of the moment would be overcome."

Since then, he said, the family has received countless offers to share homes, and have been "inundated with love and support for which we will be eternally grateful."

After surveying the ruins of his home, "I was taken with a determination to help rebuild the neighborhood and my community by doing whatever was necessary."

Grant B. Powell, public affairs director of the Oakland stake, said: "With few exceptions, the community and neighbors stood together solidly. At the peak of the crisis, the fire department command center solicited all able-bodied persons to assist the firefighters and the response was immediate and with genuine brotherly love.

"Now that the emergency is over, the Oakland, Danville, and San Leandro stakes are organizing a cleanup force that will exceed 1,000. Other churches and neighborhood groups are doing the same. Grief, shock and material loss are being shared."

Early in the fire effort, 22 missionaries donated services at the Oakland Tech High School sheltering those who had been forced from their homes.

"They know how to do everything, except make coffee," quipped the shelter manager.

Jill D. Van Orden, secretary to Pres. Julius B. Papa of the Oakland Temple, said everyone was asked to leave the temple grounds about 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 20.

Responding to a call for volunteers to feed firefighters, she and other members arrived at the fireline. There, among the throngs of partially organized volunteers, they "saw gracious chaos. Sandwiches were being made assembly-line fashion and were being delivered to fire fighters.

"It was heart-wrenching as we saw the fire jump from house to house, block to block. Every time the fire brightened, we knew another house had fallen. There was one white house surrounded by four houses that were entirely engulfed in flames. The white house withstood the flames for nearly 45 minutes. "We were all pulling for it, hoping it could somehow be spared; like so many others, it was not."

As the clean-up began, however, Church volunteers noticed a large sign posted above the ruins of one home: "We will be back." And on the branch of a blackened pine nearby sat a bluebird that had already come back. Both, said the volunteers, were vivid expressions of hope rising phoenix-like from the ashes.