By Michelle de Carion, staff writer.

As I opened the bedroom door, Megan Snider held back her pit bull puppy Sprocket so that it would not run out into the living room and jump on all of her guests.

I was at the dedication of her home in Joplin, Missouri, where Samaritan’s Purse is rebuilding houses that were destroyed in the tornado on May 22 last year. I heard that our staff builds a safe room in the home whenever they do a rebuild. It’s a small room with 12-inch concrete walls and a steel door, designed to withstand future storms. I asked Megan that day to show me hers.

We walked through her bathroom and into a closet filled with storage items and clothes. An air mattress and a few other supplies were in the room in case a storm came.

Before Samaritan’s Purse even finished her home, Megan was sleeping in the safe room on nights she felt anxious or scared. The tornado was so traumatizing to her that the safe room became one of the only places she felt secure in.

Most of the families I talked to in Joplin have experienced some form of lingering emotional stress from the tornado. The Lankfords, another family being helped by Samaritan's Purse, began renting a new place after losing their home. They shared with me that their children refused to sleep in their bedrooms. Instead, they would sleep on air mattresses in the middle of the living room away from the windows. It has been an ongoing effort to get them back to any sense of normalcy in life.

Our volunteers wrote scripture verses and prayers of protection all over the walls when they built Megan’s safe room. She said it gives her added comfort to know that they have asked for God’s blessing and care over her.

On the morning of Megan’s home dedication, program manager Dan Helmich said to her, “God’s home has a safe room in it. The love of Jesus is like that safe room. It’s always there, especially when you need it to run for cover.”

We've all been through some form of trauma in our lives. Whether it is losing a loved one, experiencing physical or sexual abuse, or surviving a terrifying tornado, those experiences will either cause us to run to Jesus for safety and comfort, or to the world.

The things of the world offer temporary comfort, but ultimately, they will never satisfy. Jesus is the only one who will always say “I love you” and promises to never leave you. No matter how terrible the storm gets, He won’t let you go. Those 100 mile-an-hour winds will never be able to separate you from his grasp.

Megan’s story and seeing her safe room gave me a clearer picture of what God’s love looks like, and how we can feel when we are immersed in it. We will always feel peace, and we will always feel safe and secure.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, NIV).

By Robinson Masongo, Samaritan's Purse program manager in Kinango, Kenya.

Communities in rural Africa celebrate success in many ways and for various reasons. The birth of a child, a good harvest, initiation rites, and many others are some of the occasions that people have reason to celebrate.

What always amazes me is the energy, the time, and the resources that people put towards this. Not forgetting the enthusiasm and anticipation! Some form of celebration takes place even in the most impoverished community.

I recently accompanied Samaritan’s Purse staff visiting projects in the Kinango district, and experienced a celebration that I will remember for a long time.

As we drove along the dusty road leading to the villages, a discussion ensued about the celebrations. One of us said that he does not like being received with pomp just like we see politicians in many African countries being received when invited for functions. Before the embers of this discussion died down, our drive led us to a gathering of people and we were greeted with the same pomp we had been talking about, and this time it was unavoidable.



We were in Mtaa, a community where Samaritan’s Purse implemented a water and sanitation project. This village, like many in Kwale County, has no access to clean drinking water from piped water systems. People depend on surface runoff for their daily use and this had led to many deaths as a result of diarrhea diseases. The toilet coverage in the area is low since many people use bushes to defecate.

Since we began the water and sanitation project in the area a year ago, a wind of change is blowing gently in the village. The area chief and the community health workers report that there are fewer cases of diarrhea in the area, and the people are truly embracing change. This change has not gone unnoticed, and so a call for celebration was necessary.



I particularly was overwhelmed by the work the community health workers had put into the occasion. The community health workers (CHWs) are trained by Samaritan’s Purse in collaboration with a local health official assigned by the government. The CHWs performed a funny skit that included a health message. The skit centered on a family that does not embrace health and sanitation but prefers to visit a witchdoctor for solutions to illnesses due to diarrhea. The CHWs pay them a visit and teach them basic hygiene and sanitation practices and encourage them to visit a local dispensary for medication.



It can never be a celebration without song and dance, and one of us had the honor of joining the participants for a dance, the local way. As the dance went on I couldn’t help but thank God for another success: the success of local communities embracing change and beginning to take charge of the process. The celebrations continued as we prepared to leave the place, and I am sure the success will continue too.

This is the end of another successful day in Africa worth celebrating.

By Andrew James, volunteer coordinator for Samaritan's Purse programs in Bolivia.

One of the joys of working in the field with Samaritan’s Purse is seeing the many ways in which God transforms lives. Nutritionist Virginia Lozano’s observations on the Rojas-Pezas family certainly fit this category.

At approximately 14,000 feet above sea level, the environmental challenges posed to this family are a real threat. With little oxygen, scarce water, and poor soil, there is a limit to what an agriculturally maintained family can do. So farmers default to what they have always done: produce potato.

Potato is one of the few crops that thrive in this environment, and for years it has been the main source of nutrition. But while its presence can be a blessing to the hungry people who consume it, it can become a real threat to a person’s overall health when eaten in isolation. Since people don’t supplement this food with anything more nutritious, malnutrition and anemia are prevalent—especially among small children. They simply aren’t getting the vitamins, minerals, proteins their bodies need.

This was certainly the case with the Rojas-Pezas family. Every month when an SP-trained health promoter from the community visited the family to monitor height and weight, one of the boys was constantly reported to have health problems. Along with this, he was constantly diagnosed with malnutrition and other problems.



Virginia Lozano and the rest of the nutrition team devised a plan to help families throughout the region improve their nutrition. They provided seeds for families to grow vegetable gardens and thus increase their vitamin and mineral consumption. Then they provided hens to ensure that each child could improve his protein intake through the daily consumption of eggs.

While the plan had wide acceptance, it was not without barriers. Many families had never implemented such a project and had a series of concerns. One of the primary ones had to do with the fear of running a chicken coop. Many were concerned about the cost, effort, and responsibility that would be needed to effectively build and maintain it. This fear led some to abandon the idea.

Despite these concerns, Beatriz Quispe, the mother of the Rojas-Pezas family, decided to implement the project and trust the Lord with her weakness. And after the initial stage of implementation, she is now 100 percent on board and completely thankful she decided to take advantage of the project being offered.

In fact, she says that when she leaves her home for long periods of time, the children no longer have to wait for her to return before they can eat. They now go into the chicken coop, gather some eggs, make some salad, and prepare a delicious meal. And their nutrition has been improving as a result. Beatriz is truly thankful.

By Michelle de Carion, staff writer. Photos by David Morrison.

Nine-year-old Megan Hughey looks forward to meeting the newest bunch of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers every Tuesday when they come in to help rebuild her adopted mother’s house, which was destroyed in the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, about a year ago.

She and her two brothers survived the storm without a scratch, but the emotional trauma that resulted from losing their home only increased their grief after having also lost their adopted father in a tragic accident a few years before.

The volunteers have not only been helping rebuild their lives by providing them with a new house, but have also become playmates and friends to encourage their spirits.



Last week, Cara Polk came in with a group from Aztec, New Mexico, to volunteer. She is currently a grad student at the University of Notre Dame, studying Theology and Church History. She quickly finished up her final papers and exams then jumped onto a plane and headed out to Joplin to serve.

When interviewed while in Joplin last week, Cara said that God taught her a double lesson while working on the Hughey home with Megan:

“I am a perfectionist, and it was a little bit of a challenge for me to have Megan come around with me at first, helping me with the scraping and taping of the windows.



“She was kind of coming in, sweeping up dust, and it was going everywhere, and she was making the tape go across the windows, putting extra tape here and extra tape there. God was reminding me, ‘You know Cara, this is like you helping me with your hands, trying to do my work, and I accept you, and I want your heart.’

“It’s not about the quality of the work, it’s about the enthusiasm, and Megan was so enthusiastic; she was so excited to be helping. So God was reminding me, ‘Hey you are like Megan, and I love you and I want you to know that is what I want from you—this kind of enthusiasm when doing my work.’



“So on the one hand, it was a good reminder that I don’t have to be a perfectionist, and that God is not waiting for me to be perfect. On the other hand, I learned that I need to show the same grace to other people too.



“None of us are going to do perfect work, so that was a double lesson for me.”