By Leonardo Blairsenior reporter Monday, November 4, 2024

Members of the Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, where the late Beau Shroyer and his family were long-time members before moving to Lubango, Angola, to serve as missionaries in 2021, are now reeling in a complex web of emotions after learning that the wife de Beau, Jackie Shroyer, was arrested in connection with her murder in the southern African country just over a week ago.

“It has been a pretty heavy and emotionally complicated week. The news of Beau’s death, along with the heartbreaking news of Jackie’s arrest in connection with his death, has overwhelmed us with grief, speculation and confusion,” said Troy Easton, senior pastor of Lakes Area Vineyard Church, he said in a message to his congregation on Sunday.

Easton’s comments to his congregation about the death of Beau Shroyer, 44, came less than 48 hours after announced in a letter that Jackie Shroyer had been arrested.

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“As you all know, our community has been deeply saddened by the death of our beloved brother and friend Beau Shroyer, who was murdered in a violent and criminal attack in Angola, Africa, on Friday, October 25. Today, our pain and sadness have increased. “The situation deepened greatly when we learned that his wife, Jackie Shroyer, has been arrested in connection with his death,” Easton wrote. “I am so sorry and simply have no words to express my disbelief and sadness at this news.”

The Shroyer family had been working with the missionary organization. SIM USA during their stay in Angola and Easton said the couple’s five children were “well cared for” despite the tragedy.

“What I can tell you is that the Shroyer children are well cared for and we will work together with SIM USA and SIM Angola to ensure that it remains that way,” Easton explained.

In a presentation about his missionary work in Lubango to Country Faith Church In June, which the church has now made private on YouTube, Jackie Shroyer, also 44, revealed that she and her family moved to Angola about three years ago. She said it was her family’s first time living abroad and their first time working as missionaries and they struggled to adapt.

He explained that in their first year in Lubango, they focused on learning Portuguese and its culture and constantly battled malaria and security issues.

“We fight many other diseases. We had many security problems. Distrust with the guards. We went through a lot of guards and had several break-ins at our house during the night while we were sleeping,” Jackie Shroyer said.

“On top of everything else, trying to figure out how to live in this culture, we had so many changes, so many difficult experiences that caused a lot of fear and trauma,” he added.

The couple said they had returned to the US this summer for the first time since moving to Lubango in 2021, and Beau Shroyer, who previously worked as a real estate agent and police officer, quickly announced the Your Professional Real Estate Agent Facebook Page that he was open to work during his stay in the United States.

“I returned to Detroit Lakes for the summer and am still licensed to help you buy or sell your home in Minnesota. (…)”, he wrote on June 1.

While ministry officials have confirmed that Beau Shroyer’s death was “violent,” it was unclear Monday how exactly he was killed as the church asked for privacy during its time of mourning. And although he doesn’t know exactly how God will work this tragedy for the good of the church, Easton said he believes God will make things right.

“I understand that losing my friend this week, our friend and brother, to a cruel and senseless crime was already very painful, especially in light of the family he left behind and the sacrifices we know he has already made to love and serve God. but now that pain is compounded by unthinkable news,” he told his congregation on Sunday.

“I am very sorry to the church for your loss, for our loss and for how much it hurts. “I am sorry for all the unanswered questions and confusion this creates for us, and I am deeply sorry that this is what we must go through and face as a community right now.”