The Family Care program of Operation Heal Our Patriots provides ongoing community and support for military couples.
Army Sergeant Brian Matters and his wife Rebecca left Alaska last year with hope. The week they spent there through Operation Heal Our Patriots helped lift a dark cloud from their lives. They even recommitted their marriage to God.
Army Sergeant Brian Matters and his wife Rebecca experienced renewed hope in Alaska, and in the year after Alaska through our Family Care ministry.
Despite his years of faith in Jesus Christ, Brian had long struggled with doubt and hopelessness—especially after serving as a surgical medic in Afghanistan in 2006.
“I saw that evil had a face,” he said, recalling atrocities people inflicted on their own countrymen. “I began to wonder whether God is actually good.”
God used Samaritan’s Purse Chaplain Lou Anda to help reshape Brian’s thinking in Alaska, though he’s careful to say that Alaska was only the beginning of a journey toward healing.
“At the end of the week I was surprised to be able to say I could actually experience joy,” he said. “In Alaska, there was a sense that I could experience healing and I never thought that was possible.”
Today, a little over a year later, Brian says the battle continues as he struggles with anxiety and depression, but one major difference now is that he doesn’t feel alone. Sometimes he’ll text Chaplain Lou Anda out of the blue. At times they’ll schedule a Zoom meeting.
“He doesn’t reply with bumper sticker quotes,” Brian said. “He replies with the Word of God from a place of humility. I know he’s had his own struggles. More important than Alaska, this ongoing connection helped keep me on the [right] path over the last year. It’s helped me recognize the love and the presence of God in the midst of suffering.”
Experienced Chaplains Offer Wisdom, Understanding
Lou Anda served as an Army chaplain and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, which took him into combat—with the constant threat and sound of gunfire all around and the impact of seeing the death of U.S. military soldiers. He also learned about brotherhood.
“More important than Alaska, this ongoing connection helped keep me on the right path over the last year. It’s helped me recognize the love and the presence of God in the midst of suffering.”
“A guy may be a total stranger, but you know he’s got your six,” Lou said, using military slang for having someone’s back. Now Lou joins a different battle, with soldiers like Brian.
He serves as one of several regional chaplains for Operation Heal Our Patriots, the Samaritan’s Purse project focused on strengthening the marriages of post-9/11 wounded veterans and their spouses.
Operation Heal Our Patriots couples begin their journey with us on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska carefully designed to bring them closer to God and to one another. Their days are filled with Biblical instruction on marriage as well as excursions into the wilderness. But the relationship between Samaritan’s Purse and these special couples does not end in Alaska. It is just beginning.
“When couples leave Alaska, they’re faced with the struggles of daily life and the ongoing struggle they may have faced for years,” said Greg Duvall, chaplain manager for Operation Heal Our Patriots. “Chaplains are able to enter a crisis with wisdom from God’s Word and their own depth of experience.”
Our team of chaplains provides support, counsel, training, and more to Operation Heal Our Patriots families on an ongoing basis. Yes, there are still difficult things that happen after Alaska, but our Family Care ministry exists so that couples never have to face them alone.
Family Care Is an Invitation to Community
Family Care through Operation Heal Our Patriots is the year-round, lifetime component of the program. When Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham tells military couples in Alaska “you’re family now,” this is what he means.
Chaplains meet wtih veteran couples during a Family Care gathering in Dollywood.
John Pryor, director of Operation Heal Our Patriots, says Alaska is the gateway into the Operation Heal Our Patriots family. It’s an important experience that further connects the more than 1,380 couples who’ve come through the program, who all already share much in common.
“Just like their shared combat background, the Alaska experience creates a sense of community and trust. Real life change happens in Alaska as well,” said John, who served in the Marines. “But the real work of ongoing discipleship begins when they’re back home and dealing with life again.”
First, regional chaplains help connect Alaska alumni with local Christian congregations that are faithful to God’s Word. They also maintain regular contact with couples through phone calls, Zoom and in-person counseling sessions, and by creating opportunities to gather, both locally and at nationwide reunions. Sometimes, chaplains will even make special trips to be present during major life experiences.
Various gatherings provide new chances for veterans and their spouses to hear and respond to the Gospel—including Fortify Your Marriage weekends and chaplain-led regional events. There’s also our annual Operation Heal Our Patriots Reunion, an event that led Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Ben Hebert and his wife Heidi to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in 2014, the year after they came to Alaska. They were called to ministry a short time later and recently joined our Key Leader initiative to serve fellow military couples.
“Our marriage has been through some of the lowest of lows since Alaska,” Heidi said. “If we didn’t have Christ, we would not be married right now. But Christ can do anything. God brought us back from that, and He’s using our suffering as a testimony to Him and His greatness and what He can do.”
An Invitation to Serve Suffering People
Family Care offers opportunities to serve through Team Patriot, a program in which veterans and spouses can serve U.S. homeowners who have been affected by natural disasters.
Team Patriot members help clean up properties after flooding in Louisiana.
Pam Joaquin, wife of Army Sergeant George Joaquin, served with Team Patriot in Lake Charles earlier this year. This has strengthened her faith and given her a greater sense of purpose.
“I love the idea of spreading Jesus’ blessings and serving around other veterans and their wives. Honestly, I can’t think of anything better,” Pam said. “We get to give back to the community, and, in turn, it’s a huge blessing for us.”
More than 85 individuals have served through Team Patriot, responding on more than two dozen deployments—both rebuilds and disaster relief responses—alongside Samaritan’s Purse North American Ministries since the initiative started back in 2019.
Military Couples Caring for Each Other
Family Care extends beyond the outreach of our chaplains and other staff members. It is also built upon connection and mutual support from other military couples in the program—more men and women who have their back and understand their struggles.
Through our Key Leader initiative, a group of 25 military couples are pursuing their calling to teach and strengthen other couples in their marriages and in their walk with Christ. Key Leaders go through a year-long, chaplain-led training and mentorship process while also continuing to serve military couples in their communities.
Marine Staff Sergeant Chris Sharon and his wife Crissy are one of 25 Key Leader couples serving through our Family Care ministry.
Some Key Leaders are already hosting regular Bible studies and other gatherings in their homes, such as Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Ward Taft and his wife, Amy. The Tafts have served as Key Leaders for more than four years. In this way, God is using Ward’s combat injuries and their family struggles to reach others with the Gospel.
“Because we are able to help others, it gives greater meaning and purpose to why Ward was deployed, why he was injured, and to what we face as a family. None of this was in vain,” Amy said. “In fact, it’s the unique way God has called us to fulfill the Great Commission.”
We thank God for the start of more than 25 Bible studies initiated by Key Leaders and chaplains.
“We want our couples to know they’re part of something bigger than themselves through this program and in the body of Christ,” John Pryor said.
Marine Staff Sergeant Chris Sharon, and his wife Crissy, recently joined the program’s Key Leader initiative as well. Before Alaska, they felt alone. For years Chris thought alcohol was the only way to deal with what was happening in his brain. He suffered from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress and a traumatic brain injury due to wounds he suffered in Iraq.
“I did what a lot of Marines do,” he said. “I looked for solutions in the bottom of a bottle.”
In Alaska in 2018 they got honest with their situation, began to experience healing from the past, and learned of their calling to help other couples dealing with the same dangerous cycles.
“Alaska didn’t suddenly fix all of our problems. We still struggle every day to move past things and to fight for our marriage,” Crissy said. “Serving as Key Leaders provides us an opportunity to intentionally share that struggle with others in a way that brings hope.”
Franklin Graham prays with couples after a baptism in Lake Clark their last day in Alaska before returning home. The couples’ week in Alaska is just the beginning of a lifetime of care and connection through our Family Care ministry.
When veterans return from the battlefield, they are far from enemy fire—but they still bear the physical and emotional scars of combat. Through Operation Heal our Patriots, militar y couples spend a week in Alaska, where they learn Biblical tools for marriage, receive counseling, and many come to faith in Christ. A gift of $6,000 covers the cost for a couple—including airfare, lodging, and activities—and ongoing support after they return home.
