MONTROSE — After a fire Monday destroyed much of her church, Pastor Socorro Andujo is thanking God that another church has offered its building so the children’s Christmas play won’t have to be canceled.

Andujo, who leads the congregation at Templo de Refugio Assembly of God Church, said Crossroads Victory Church on Hillcrest Drive generously offered the use of its building for Sunday and Thursday services.

Sunday services, to be held at 1 p.m., will start this Sunday, but Thursday 7 p.m. services won’t start until after the first of the year, she said.

Other churches also offered space, Andujo said, including Calvary Chapel.

Andujo said Cross Roads Victory Church called and offered space the day after the church burned, causing at least $40,000 worth of damage.

“I want to thank them and all the other churches,” she said.

The children’s Christmas play be presented this Sunday at 1 p.m. at Crossroads Victory, she said, and Thursday services will start at the church on Jan. 8.

Repairs at Templo de Refugio will take approximately three to four months, Andujo said.

The fire started around 2 a.m. Monday, apparently in a wall space heater, Andujo said, while she and her husband Joe were in California.

The Montrose Fire Department estimates total damage at approximately $40,000, but it could be much more, said Vance Velarde of Faith Construction, who was at the church Tuesday surveying the damage with Andujo.

No one was in the church when it burned, and little damage is visible from the outside. Inside, in a hallway past the sanctuary, gaping holes in the ceiling, with blackened insulation hanging down, shows where the fire went into the attic and through the roof.

Soot covers the floor in the back part of the building where several rooms were badly damaged. Although sanctuary is still intact, the odor of smoke is still strong and all the utilities to the building have been shut off.

Despite the setback, the fire hasn’t dampened Andujo’s spirits or shaken her faith, she said with a smile.

“We still have a God that is willing to help,” she said.

Another fire occurred a block away from the church just before noon Tuesday at Christ’s Kitchen on Grand Avenue when the stove caught fire just after lunch was prepared.

Volunteers and the Montrose Fire Department quickly got fire out and moved the stove outside so lunch could be served, but director Carolyn Carter said she hopes someone will donate or loan a commercial stove so that free meals can continue to be served every weekday. Carter can be reached at 240-3941.

“We may have to make sandwiches tomorrow but we have a camp stove so we can make soup,” she said.