Samaritan’s Purse COO welcomes an east Texas family to the house we built for them after May floods claimed theirs.
The Avila family is now home again—just in time for Thanksgiving.
At a Thursday dedication ceremony in Livingston, Texas, Samaritan’s Purse staff, including COO Edward Graham, presented the family with a certificate stating their new home was “PAID IN FULL.” The parallel to how Christ’s blood covers sin was not lost on this family of believers.
Edward Graham gathered with the Avilas in their new home.
“I just love their testimony,” Graham said. “I know they’re going to use this house to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout this community.”
The foundation of Laura and Hugo’s home was damaged on May 2 when profuse rainfall caused the creek behind their home to rise. The home they had worked hard to purchase eight years ago was suddenly beyond repair.
Graham dedicated the Avilas’ new home, which replaced their home that was destroyed by floods in May.
Samaritan’s Purse U.S. Disaster Relief came to their aid to help them retrieve what they could from the flooded structure. Before long, the Avilas had donned the orange shirts themselves to help other homeowners in their community.
“Knowing how much we were helped, now we can help others,” Laura said then of their desire to serve. And that was before they had learned they would be receiving a new home from Samaritan’s Purse.
“They had saved up, bought this house, and they just finished paying it off and it was completely destroyed,” Graham recounted on Thursday. “So today we dedicate a brand-new home, everything from the ground up. The foundation, we raised it, everything is new.”
Graham receives more warm hugs from the Avilas’ young son.
The Avilas expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the blessing of a new home that now stands where their old home had been ripped through by floodwaters.
“We would like to say that our hearts are full of gratefulness to Samaritan’s Purse,” Laura Avila told Edward and the staff. “We will take care of the house. And everybody is welcome to come to the house anytime.”
The family received an invoice stating their home was “PAID IN FULL.”
