Hope for girl's resurrection shifts to Bethel memorial service

Mike Chapman | Redding Record Searchlight

While grieving continues for 2-year-old Olive Heiligenthal, the family and the Bethel Church are transitioning from praying for the girl's resurrection to focusing on a memorial service to celebrate the young girl's life.

A Facebook post by the Bethel Church on Friday acknowledges an outpouring of prayers hasn't brought the girl back to life. A press release from the church says the girl's parents, Andrew and Kalley Heiligenthal, are now planning the service.

Olive died Dec. 14 when she suddenly stopped breathing and since that day, church members and others turned to prayer, music and song on the girl's behalf.

"Here is where we are: Olive hasn’t been raised. The breakthrough we have sought hasn’t come," the Facebook post says.

The church said following the girl's sudden death, the Bethel community in Redding and around the world had been hoping to revive her.

"We have sought a miracle from God to raise her from the dead. We realize this is out of the norm, but that’s what a miracle is — it’s outside the box of nature and our power," the church said on Facebook.

"When you are a friend of God and know that He is your heavenly Father, you trust Him and ask for big, outlandish miracles."

The family called 911 when Olive stopped breathing. Paramedics tried to revive her at home and she was taken to a Redding hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead.

As of midafternoon Saturday, a GoFundMe page that was posted by co-workers and friends of the family had raised $57,238.

The Heiligenthals will use those donations to pay for funeral and family living expenses, the church said.

"They are incredibly thankful for the prayers and support that the community has shown as they and thousands of people have been believing for a miracle," the church statement says.

Related: UPDATE: Bethel pastor Johnson addresses attempts to resurrect child

Mike Chapman is a photojournalist for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Follow him on Twitter @mikechapman_RS. Subscribe today!