Justin Hibbard, the mission administrator at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Heber City, Utah, had an idea — a special mass in connection with the death of President Russell M. Nelson.

With their weekly Mass usually drawing 25-30 people, Hibbard thought “maybe we’ll get a few more people — like 50 or so" as they put out an “ open invitation ” to anyone in the area to attend, “especially our LDS neighbors.”

The response shocked him, with more than 250 people showing up at the smaller church Thursday morning.

“I mean, we were setting up chairs every which way, in places where we normally don’t set up chairs,” Hibbard said. Every seat in the pews was full, with people standing across the back, along the sides, out in the hallway, into overflow rooms, and even standing in the stairs.

“It

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