The summer season of Operation Heal Our Patriots is off to a great start! We’ve already welcomed about 30 couples to Samaritan Lodge Alaska, and we expect to host nearly 160 couples before the season ends. We praise God that we’re already seeing life transformation among these wounded veterans and their spouses. Individuals are coming…
Veteran Couples Find Healing, Help in Christ During Alaska Marriage Training
Celebrating True Freedom in Christ
We are grateful this Fourth of July for the many freedoms we enjoy in the United States of America. We praise God for the even greater freedom—true, lasting, eternal—that many military couples have experienced at Samaritan Lodge Alaska this summer through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Dozens of wounded military veterans and their spouses…
Love Restored, Hearts Made New
Nearly every day for several months of his deployment, Army Sergeant Jake Southern’s unit came under enemy fire or were blasted by a roadside bomb. “It was nonstop, every day. The violence was increasing,” Jake said of the wartime situation in Afghanistan during 2009. Back at home, his wife Susan was raising their baby boy…
Alaska Pilots Are a Lifeline in the Wilderness
A deafening buzz nearly every summer morning fills the air, echoing through the trees and mountains surrounding Port Alsworth, Alaska. There’s a good chance that one or two Samaritan’s Purse planes and pilots are responsible for breaking the wilderness silence. “As a young kid I grew up next to an Air Force base, and I…
Hope Begins Here
Not long before Army Sergeant Ian Hunt arrived with his wife Maria at Samaritan Lodge Alaska, Ian had gone through treatment after attempting to take his own life. He had believed the nightmare of his battlefield experiences and injuries had become more than he could bear. In 2012, on his third deployment, he was severely…
Preprinted Shoeboxes – Plastic (Pack of 12)
These sturdy, decorative Operation Christmas Child plastic shoeboxes are ready to be filled with gifts for children around the world and serve as a useful and valuable part of their gift—a treasured keepsake for years to come. Order in packs of 12. Specifically designed to fit well in our shipping cartons, these shoeboxes are 13…
Veteran Couples Find Spiritual Renewal in Alaska
The last thing Natalie heard was a mortar round exploding and her husband shouting, “We’re taking incoming.” Then, the phone line went dead. Natalie wondered if that was the last time she’d hear his voice. Natalie endured many restless days and nights while her husband, Army Sergeant Eddie Shanks, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.…
Walking Together in New Life
Army Staff Sergeant Chad Hindal doesn’t talk to many folks about his two deployments to Iraq where he helped protect convoys along roads lined with IEDs and sniper fire. 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.…
We want to Finish Well
New Friendships, Stronger Marriages Built Among Military Couples
Army Sergeant Larry Kaibetoney and his wife Chani touched down on the runway at Samaritan Lodge Alaska to a hero’s welcome—with a crowd, young and old, cheering and waving American flags. They might have expected such a welcome after Larry’s injury in Iraq more than a decade ago, but those hopes had never before materialized.…













