Prayer Request - FBC of Lake Orion

From Steve Sundberg (missionary to Brazil):

“W e recently learned that a fellow BM Mmissionary had been shot Sunday night. He was from another state in Brazil and had been on)furlough recently only returning to Brazil to take care of his son who had fallen and broken hiswrist, ankle and hip last week. This, evidently, is what happened. Three men waited in their carwhile the church service in Coqueiro Seco was going on. W hen it was over, two of them got outand approached the people asking for Pastor John. They then headed over to him and called hisname. W hen he turned to greet them, one of them shot him three times. O ne bullet broke someteeth and his jaw, another broke his arm. The third was fired after he had fallen to the groundand was evidently the one that hit his fourth vertebra. The church people did not recognize anyof the men. John Leonard is in the hospital at this point and unless God works a miracle, thedoctors are thinking he will be a quadriplegic. How can this happen? O ur seminary studentfriend told us that vengeance is strong here in Brazil and these kinds of things happen. Bev (hiswife) will be arriving on W ednesday. They have done a tomography and it will be necessary todo three major surgeries. His spinal column was severed and he will need a prosthesis put in sothat he will be able to sit up. It will not give any movement. Then they will have to do recon-structive surgery on his jaw, and finally on his arm. There is also a fragment of a bullet lodged inhis skull, though it is a simple procedure to remove that, at least in comparison to these otheroperations. The crime was announced on the news, which also reported that the local and statepolice are investigating. They already have suspects. If necessary, the family can ask the USConsulate to request the participation of the Federal Police as well. A special police unit is pro-viding protection at the hospital. Please keep John and Bev Leonard in your prayers.”