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SALT LAKE CITY — President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, began a tour Friday to offer love and support to church members and others affected by Hurricane Irma.

President Eyring flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday morning, then stopped in St. Thomas in the afternoon, according to a statement from Mormon Newsroom. Both places were battered by the Category 5 hurricane that devastated many parts of the region last weekend. President Eyring was accompanied by Bishop Dean M. Davies of the Presiding Bishopric of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Elder Jörg Klebingat of the Seventy.

“Some of you have family or friends who have had more emotional stress than you even know,” President Eyring was quoted as telling church members gathered at an impromptu devotional in St. Thomas. He encouraged them to “go to family and neighbors over a long period of time. That will give them a confidence that has been shaken. (God) lives. He is close by. He got me here today.”

“I promise you this is going to be a thing that you look back at and say this was my Zion’s Camp. I went through it,” he said.

The hurricane killed dozens of people in the Caribbean, damaged businesses, uprooted trees, ripped off roofs, took out power and caused billions of dollars worth of damage. President Eyring told those present at an evening devotional in San Juan that he met people that day "who lost a great deal.

“I looked in their eyes and I could see that these apparently ordinary people were on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw the light even in the darkness. And so, things for them will work out," the First Presidency member said. "Whatever it takes, they will rebuild. And they will not just rebuild their houses and their businesses. What they will build is a love of the Lord Jesus Christ and a feeling that no matter what comes, they will feel cheerful and confident."

President Eyring acknowledged that rebuilding may take years in some places.

"I don’t know what part we’ll play in that, but we ought to be as helpful as we can to the (government) agencies that are responsible. We can’t do it (all), but we can help wherever we can," he said.

No members of the LDS Church died in the storm. Three church buildings were damaged — one a church-owned facility in St. Thomas, another a rented building in St. Martin and the third, a rented building in the nearby island of Tortola, was destroyed, according to Mormon Newsroom.

President Eyring and other leaders from the LDS Church will visit areas impacted by Irma in Florida on Saturday and Sunday.

Editor's note: The content from the article was taken from a press release sent out by Mormon Newsroom. This is not information gathered by KSL.com reporters.

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