By admin
Kcci.com
Leonard Wants To Return To Mission Work
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DES MOINES, Iowa — A missionary from Ankeny was gunned down last July as he greeted people at his church in Brazil.
John Leonard defied predictions that he wouldn’t survive. Though his life has changed forever, he hasn’t stopped spreading the word of his faith.
Leonard listened to the latest news from Brazil, a place he has called home.
“(I) never had a reason to feel unsafe,” John Leonard said.
Leonard grew up in Brazil, living there with his missionary parents. As an adult, he and his wife, Bev, have also served as missionaries, starting five churches and working to change the lives of the people there.
“We saw many people come to meet God and change that way in their life, also,” Leonard said.
Last July at one of his churches, two men came looking for him and opened fire.
“The reason why or who did it has not been discovered yet,” he said.
Now, he’s paralyzed and must use a wheelchair. His family and his faith sustain him.
“We all know that God has a purpose,” Leonard said.
His son, Josh, was there when his father was shot. At the time, the Leonards had just returned to Brazil after a trip to Iowa to bring him home. Josh has a brain tumor and had an accident.
“I had a seizure and fell down some steps, broke my heel, wrist and hip,” Josh Leonard said.
The family’s ordeal has definitely tested them.
“You think, ‘I could never take this.’ The Lord always gives you exactly what you need,” Bev Leonard said.
“He’s the only one who brings anyone through anything,” Josh Leonard said.
Mission work can be dangerous as a new movie called “End of the Spear” shows. It tells the story of five missionaries who are murdered in Ecuador.
Leonard said even with all he knows, he doesn’t regret anything.
“If God makes us fit to go back to Brazil, we’d be back in a heartbeat,” he said.
Leonard and his family will soon be going to various churches to talk about his ministry in Brazil.
Leonard’s churches are continuing to operate. He has family members in Brazil as well.
By admin
Just a note to up-date our faithful prayer team and to thank you for lifting us up before the throne of God. John has been enjoying some good days health-wise, and we praise the Lord for this. No more infections, and he has been feeling well. He also has been trying “new things” such as getting his hand up to his face to scratch (he can do this best while lying on his back in bed), going off by himself in his chair while shopping (he has disappeared on me a couple of times and sent me into “mini-panic mode”), and once again, speeding around even faster than before. One of our Brazilian missionaries suggested to me that we use some “lombadas,” (portuguese for “speed bumps”), to help slow him down a little! For awhile, John didn’t even want to hear the word “hospital,” so we have not pushed too hard the idea of more intense rehab. However, we have felt more and more in recent days that the time has come to make contact with Craig Hospital in Colorado where we are planning to go for a one-week evaluation. This will most likely happen sometime in March, and we are praying that the Lord will give us wisdom to find the right doctors and the right time to do this. Please pray with us regarding this matter. It will basically be a “second opinion” on John’s condition at one of (if not THE) best SCI (spinal chord injury) hospitals in the nation. We would only go back out there if they feel they could help John significantly more than what he could be helped here at Iowa Methodist.
Our lives continue to be busy. John has some dear “Aunts” and one of them, Aunt Janet McClanahan (missionary to Brazil) came to spend a few days with us this past week. It was a real treat for all of us! Then yesterday, John’s Aunt Marabel Kersey came over for the evening meal and brought with her a very interesting guest–”Dr. Kim” (her name is more complicated than this) from South Korea, who is currently training parish nurses in South Korea, among other things. John had a big day yesterday, since he had an interview with channel 8 yesterday morning, and then in the afternoon, a lady came from ISU vocational rehab. We were so pleased, since she is getting him all set up with computer software and adaptations which will enable him to do absolutely anything he desires on the computer. He was pretty excited to see how the computer could “understand” his voice and type as he talked! He also was able to control things with his right hand by using an oversized “mouse.” They were just testing it out yesterday, but hopefully within one month, he will be all set up. Who knows, John may be the one to write the next up-date!!! Won’t that be neat? Please remember to thank the Lord with us for this wonderful gift.
John talked to Pastor Lelo and Pastor Andre yesterday. It was great to hear the kids making noise in the background at the church. This is VBS week (that’s right–it’s summer in Brazil!) there at Graciliano Ramos, so it was exciting to hear about it–LOTS of kids, it sounds like, and things were going very well. The church in the fishing village will wait until the second week in February to have theirs, since Pastor Andre is just getting “on board” and trying to organize everything. Your prayers for the churches in Brazil are appreciated.
Josh received his “orientation papers” from Iowa School of the Blind last week and his official first day will be March 20th. He is excited…Bev tested him yesterday on his Braille, since he claimed that he had been studying. It does seem that he is doing pretty well and knows about half of the alphabet. His teacher should be here again next week to teach him the rest. His hip is healing nicely, for which we are thankful.
Jerrod has applied for a job and is driving quite a lot. We talk seriously to him every time he goes out of the door about being careful, but it still makes us nervous. Continue to pray for protection as he takes the girls to and from school, and sometimes to church as well. Jonna had her first soccer team meeting, and that sent her on an “exercising kick.” Since Bev doesn’t like her running by herself, she goes with her, which slows Jonna down quite a bit!! But we have enjoyed it nevertheless. Jeanne started going crazy doing things she never did before–cleaning mirrors, going out of her way to do things for her brothers and sister, helping out with meals without being asked… We were all very pleased, of course, and then we realized where she was going with all of it. Last week sometime, she had asked if she could go to a church slumber party that she was REALLY wanting to go to this evening. Her dad had then proceeded to talk to her about how she was not being very responsible these days and how she needed to make some improvements in her behavior. Oh well…even though she had obvious “ulterior motives,” at least she was trying to get better, and I think she somehow gotten through to her dad’s heart–at least the last I checked, she was going tonight. Of course, we were quick to tell her that her little “strategy” will NOT work every time!
God is hearing and answering your prayers–THANK YOU!
With grateful hearts,
John and Bev Leonard and family
By admin
Just a quick up-date… Thank you so much for your prayers… John continues to do well health-wise, and we are so thankful. He has been asked to do a Bible study at the D.O.T. in Ames, and he is excited. We are not sure of the starting date, but are thankful to the Lord for this opportunity–especially since some who study may not be believers–a great chance to reach out to the unsaved. Our schedule for 2006 continues to fill up, and we praise God that our furlough plans will be able to continue. We are anxious to visit many of our supporting churches in the up-coming days. This Friday evening, we have invited “Heyder,” a Brazilian young man who has been attending our church (Saylorville Baptist), and his family over for dessert. They are believers, but we want to try to have fellowship with them to encourage them in their walk with the Lord. We heard that his wife is missing Brazil, so we will do our best to speak Portuguese the entire evening, plus serve them Brazilian coffee (we have a good supply!…etc.) We remember how it is to be in a “foreign” country and be missing our homeland. Please pray with us that we will be a blessing and encouragement to them.
Josh is doing well–got a good report from the doctor for both his hip and also his tumor. We were especially encouraged by the MRI for his tumor, since we have been doing the tests every 4 months and now they are saying we can wait until June (six months). The doctor said that there is a good chance that the tumor will not grow back at all. We were thrilled to hear this, since no one had ever said that to us before. Because of his hip surgery, Josh was not able to stay at the school of the Blind the beginning of this month as planned, but is busy learning braille here at home, which will “hurry up” his course there. A lady comes out from the school once a week to teach him. It looks as if he will only be able to attend FBBC in January, 2007 rather than August of this year, though. Continue to remember Josh in prayer.
Jerrod, Jonna, and Jeanne are back “in the grind” at school. Jerrod will begin to take the kids to school tomorrow since he now has his official license. He is very happy, and John and I are pretty nervous about the whole thing. It will help us out having him drive, since he can run errands for us…etc., but we have stressed to him the importance of driving carefully. He is saying that he is going out tomorrow to look for a job, so please pray with us for Jerrod and especially for his and the girls’ safety. Josiah, our nephew, just left to go back to FBBC tonight since his classes begin tomorrow morning. We have enjoyed having him here during his Christmas break.
Thank you for lifting us up before the Lord!
With grateful hearts,
John and Bev Leonard