Military couples experience forgiveness for each other, healed marriages, and renewed hope in their journey together with Jesus Christ.
Chad and Emily had a life-changing week at Samaritan Lodge Alaska.
His job was to clear these threats from the desert thoroughfares and provide safe passage for supplies and soldiers. And Chad was eager for the opportunity. He enjoyed the team and the responsibility of keeping fellow soldiers safe.
“He was all excited about it,” his wife, Emily, recalls him telling her shortly after he received the assignment as lead gunner. “I told him ‘I don’t know how that’s good news!’”
Back then, it was also a bit harder to communicate from the frontlines than it is now, Emily said. Connections were not the greatest. Most difficult of all, she recounts those anxious days of radio silence when he was out on a mission.
Those missions seldom leave the locked-away memory that soldiers carry home from war, and now even 15 years and three children into their marriage, the radio silence still returns at times.
This is why Chad and Emily applied for Operation Heal Our Patriots at Samaritan Lodge Alaska this year. They needed time away from the chaos of daily life with children to open up the channels of communication again in their marriage.
Time Alone Together to Heal
The pair were astonished by the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness. Chad was grateful for the early wake up calls and the structure of early morning meals and devotions. And Emily enjoyed out-fishing Chad at least a couple times on the waters of Lake Clark National Park.
Chad got a front-row seat on the way to visit a wilderness fishing spot in Lake Clark National Park.
“A highlight for me was how much fun and joy the fly fishing brought my wife,” Chad said. “I was half expecting her to be disinterested, but she was out there and whipping it and having fun. That was awesome.”
“And I caught more fish,” Emily interjected. Chad relented: “And she caught more fish.”
Emily enjoyed the friendly competition of catching more fish than her husband.
The fishing broke down walls between them and God continued to work in their hearts during the Biblically based marriage enrichment classes. In those sessions, they learned more deeply about the differences in their personalities. They learned about God’s design for their lives, their marriage, and their family. And they learned how to have honest, non-threatening conversations about difficult subjects using the tools taught to them by the chaplains.
“The trips and all those things were great, but the classes were what really pushed me to look at myself and, not necessarily at Chad, for dealing with unforgiveness,” Emily said. “So that I can still grieve, and still remember, but I can forgive and ask God to help me forgive. And for me, that was huge.”
Experiencing New Life in Jesus Christ
Ultimately, God used the classes, the excursions, the meal times, and conversations with military chaplains to draw the couple closer to Him.
Chaplain-led Biblically based marriage classes were integral in the Hindals’ transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
On the very first night at camp, Chad prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Emily rededicated her life to Him.
“This week has helped give me direction. It was really nice being completely surrounded by people of faith and by military chaplains who can understand what we’ve been through,” Chad said. “It’s basically been like a guidebook.”
The Hindals recommitted their marriage to God during a special ceremony at the Lodge.
Chad also joined four others in baptism in chilly Lake Clark on Friday morning of our first week of Operation Heal Our Patriots 2024. The couple looks forward to implementing what they’ve learned back home in Minnesota, with Christ now at the heart of their marriage.
Chad gave his life to Jesus Christ and was baptized in the chilly glacier-fed waters of Lake Clark.
“I enjoyed seeing him put the work into understanding the tools to bring them back home,” Emily said about Chad. “One week is great, but beyond is what’s important. So, it meant a lot to see him fully engaging.”
We praise God that ten couples joined us during our opening week. We are grateful for His work in lives and marriages and for the five individuals who made decisions for Christ, for five participants who were baptized in Lake Clark, and for the seven couples who rededicated their marriages to God.
Please pray for the 180+ couples who will be traveling to Alaska this summer for this Biblically based marriage retreat.
Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham prayed over couples following baptisms in Lake Clark.
