Slain missionary's family feels 'numbing' grief

Doug Burnham, brother of the slain hostage, spoke to reporters before a daily prayer meeting in Kansas.

(CNN) -- Caught in a painful place between grief and gratitude, relatives of a slain American missionary say they're numb.

Martin Burnham, who had been held captive for more than a year by Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group in the Philippines, was killed Friday morning during a rescue attempt, as was Philippine nurse and hostage Deborah Yap. Burnham's wife, Gracia Burnham, also a hostage, was wounded by gunfire in her right leg.

"It's kind of shocking news," said Doug Burnham, Martin's brother. "It's difficult, but God is giving us strength. ...It's kind of numbing right now. I suppose the full impact will hit us later on."

"Obviously it hasn't turned out the way we were expecting it to turn out," he said from the family church in Rose Hill, Kansas. "But we are grateful Gracia is alive. Our faith in the Lord is still the same. That hasn't changed."

EXTRA INFORMATION Abu Sayyaf: Militants in the Philippines

Martin and Gracia Burnham, from the Wichita area, have three children -- Zach, Mindy and Jeff -- who are with their maternal grandparents, Doug Burnham said. Church members have been gathering recently at the family's church to pray each morning. Friday they repeated that practice. The church's pastor said church members were grieving but grateful that Martin Burnham was no longer suffering in captive conditions.

Philippine authorities said that Martin Burnham's body would be returned to the United States, via Okinawa, at the request of the family. His wife will be taken to Manila for further medical treatment.

Deborah Yap, second from right, who had been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf, was shot and killed in Friday's rescue attempt.

Paul Burnham, Martin's father, said the family "had no idea there was going to be a rescue effort."

"We weren't even sure they knew where they were," he said outside the family's home in Rose Hill, right outside Wichita.. "We knew they were trying to find them and get them out, but we had no idea it would be today."

The Burnhams refused to criticize the rescue mission that cost their son his life, saying they didn't know the details.

"We trust them to do what's right," Paul Burnham said. "It has been year, and it has been frustrating for everybody. But the real enemy is Abu Sayyaf, who are ruthless killers."

Scott Ross of New Tribes Mission, which sponsored the Burnhams, said, "We are all saddened by the loss of Martin... and we are praying for the three children."

The mission was working to reunite Gracia with her sister, Cheryl Spicer, in the Philippine capital. Like the Burnhams, Cheryl and Walt Spicer are missionaries in the Philippines.

The mission's Web site includes suggestions for helping the family and includes biographical information about them. According to NTM Online, the Burnhams had worked in the Philippines since 1986, and Martin grew up there.

Abu Sayyaf snatched the Burnhams in May 2001, along with American Guillermo Sobero and 17 Filipinos. Yap was taken a month after the Burnhams. Sobero was killed. Abu Sayyaf recently admitted to having links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network -- confirming U.S. suspicions that the kidnappers were tied to the group blamed for the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.