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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Mail Tribune 100: Oct. 21, 1915 ... Helping Ugandans help themselves ... OHSU opens rural 'hub' campus in Klamath Falls ... Mail Tribune 100: Oct. 21, 1915 ... Helping Ugandans help themselves ... OHSU opens rural 'hub' campus in Klamath Falls ... UCC SHOOTING Grants Pass church mourns the loss of Sarena Moore Comment By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 6:23 PM By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 6:23 PM » Social News In early 2012, Sarena Moore picked up a phone in Grants Pass and dialed. Halfway across the country in Michigan, Christian Martin's cellphone rang. "A call from Oregon?" the Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor recalls thinking that day. "So I answered it and the voice on the other side was the kindest voice. And it belonged to the kindest woman I ever met." He and Moore hadn't met yet. Martin had just been announced as the Grants Pass congregation's newest leader — he hadn't even started to pack. Martin says this sort of outreach was typical of Sarena Moore, one of nine people gunned down Thursday in a shooting rampage at Umpqua Community College. Moore was welcoming, Martin said. She was warm. And she never shied away from asking for a prayer. That's how she ended her conversation with Martin. "Pray for me," she said. "That was my first connection with her. Thousands of miles away — before I even moved here — she was already a friend," Martin said. Three years after that meeting, Martin mourned the loss of his friend during a Saturday morning service at his church on Northeast Ninth Street. Although Moore, 44, had moved to Myrtle Creek from Grants Pass in recent years, she was fondly remembered by Martin and members of the local congregation. Churchgoer Darla Day said Moore was a prayer warrior. "We had a prayer chain and her requests would come in several times a day," Day said. "She knew that it worked." Moore prayed for her sons. She prayed for her pets. When she was down on her luck, she prayed for herself. Sometimes the community would answer. When Moore wanted her son, Kenneth, to attend a private Christian academy 18 miles east of Canyonville, her neighbors at the Seventh-day Adventist Church started a fundraising effort. After a few weeks, Moore had enough money to send Kenneth to the Milo Adventist Academy. "She gave God all of the credit," Pastor Martin said. "'God opened the doors for me,' she would say, 'and I'm just praising God that I get to go back to school.'" That's what Moore told him when she announced plans to attend UCC. Years earlier, she struggled with homelessness. She was in and out of a wheelchair for reasons she never discussed with anyone. And going back to school was one more way Moore was going to push forward. "She was a very determined woman — motivated to be successful," Martin said. Part of his sermon on Saturday was dedicated to Moore's memory. He underscored the Adventist belief in the second coming of Christ and of a reunion with their departed loved ones upon his return. "Our church is comforted by the fact that death is not forever," Martin said. "It's only 'Good-bye until then.'" Reach reporter Eder Campuzano at 541-474-3722 or [email protected] By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Eder Campuzano Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 6:23 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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