Video & News - Iowa Missionary Recovering (from Channel 13 News)

News Article and Video from WHO TV 13 in Des Moines, Iowa:



Iowa Missionary Recovering

Des Moines, July 28th, 2005 -An Iowa missionary continues to recover after being shot multiple times in Brazil. John Leonard just got out of intensive care this week. He nearly died after being shot in the arm and the mouth back on July 3. The closest hospital was an hour away, and then it took six days before he could get on a plane and fly home to Iowa.

"After the service I went out and the guy said whose Pastor John I said 'That's me, how you doing?' He shot me, I can't put a face to him - I've tried to." It only took a second for John Leonard's life to change. He was shot at least two times. One bullet fractured his arm. The other went into his mouth and injured his spinal cord. "I praise the lord for the prayers that everyone's been sending out for us, for our family, for the men who did this to me because I've forgiven them" Leonard told Channel 13.

John has been a missionary in Brazil for 20 years. He and his wife worked in a small fishing village. They started churches and government housing projects, doing whatever they could to make life better for the people who live there. "It's a real dark place, about an hour away on a dirt road to the nearest hospital. A lot of prostitution. A lot of drugs," says Leonard. He and his wife were making big changes in the small village and that, he believes is what led to the shooting. "I don't have any enemies. I would say the only person that would have done this is one of the drug lords."

Dr. Gary Anderson is the president of Baptist Mid-Missions in Ohio. He says there are 1,000 missionaries in 55 countries, and few ever experience this kind of danger. "In my 18 years I've taken four calls of missionaries being shot, but none like this we really. We have no indication that John was doing anything except what he was called to do. We know of no fault with what John was doing."

After six days John was flown from Brazil and rushed to Methodist hospital, where he's been for the last month. His friend Pat Members keeps daily tabs on John's condition as well as the whole Leonard family. "He's very tender hes very grateful to be alive to be able to give glory to God for what has happened to him," Members said. His family waits around the clock for any good news that their dad will pull through what happened.

John is making progress. He's now breathing on his own and has feeling in his upper body. He has a long road ahead and even with everything he's faced, John says he'd still consider going back to that little village in Brazil. "If the Lord gives me strength if he wants me to go down there I'll go."

The Saylorville Baptist Church is the supporting church for the Leonard family. They are offering meals and supporting family and they are also looking for a place for the family to live. John has surgery tomorrow to try to stabilize his spine.

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