Church Asks Thieves To Return Stolen Trailer

HESPERIA (CBS) — A Christian congregation in Hesperia made an emotional plea Monday night, hoping that the thieves who targeted their church over the weekend would have a change of heart.

Mary Jaggli, the Children's Ministry Director at Grace Christian Church in Hesperia, got a heart-breaking surprise before Sunday's service.

"You can see the tracks where it was pulled out," said Mary Jaggli referring to the church's trailer, which was stolen sometime during the weekend.

The trailer was used as a mobile classroom for children's Bible study, as well as an outreach vehicle for the less fortunate.

"We'll give away clothes, jackets, school supplies, whatever the need happens to be that presents itself," said Pastor Chris Centola.

"I met a boy, it was his birthday and he had no shoes. He really had no shoes," Jaggli recalled.

"The economy has hit the High Desert hard and we want to be able to go out and to love our community and to meet those needs and to share with them out of what we have been given," said the pastor.

The white Komfort Travel Trailer had Grace Christian Church stickers on the windows at the time it was stolen.

The monetary loss was not clear, but he church said that its value to the community could not be measured.

"I would like for whoever took the trailer to have a change of heart, to return it," said Jaggli.

The thieves left behind some shoe prints in the dirt where the trailer was once parked. The congregation hoped that in the future they would choose to walk down a different path.