Amarzaya assumed she would die young and not live to see her 20th birthday. Her days were filled with exhaustion and pain. She often had sleepless nights as she tried to regulate her struggled breathing. She didn’t feel symptoms of a heart defect in her early years. But by age 16, the Mongolian girl could…
Healing in Christ Alone
Victor loved the metal walker that his father, Richard, had crafted for him. It gave the 18-month-old the freedom and mobility that he otherwise wouldn’t have had to explore his thatched roof home and the surroundings of his Ugandan village. Richard had used what was available to piece the walker together, including bottle caps as…
Beekeeping Project Lifts Families in Kenya Out of Poverty
When Samaritan’s Purse staff met David, he was struggling to provide for his wife and two children in their poor village in Kenya. He worked hard as a farmer, but it wasn’t enough to keep the family out of poverty. “I had lost hope of educating my children,” David said, as he couldn’t afford their…
Building Better Health Among South Sudanese Women and Children
Until just recently, sickness was simply a way of life in the many remote villages of Mayendit County, South Sudan. Waterborne illness, poor nutrition, and infections ran rampant among mothers and their children. This was true until women like Nydech, a mother of seven, was invited to join the Maternal, Infant, and Young Children Nutrition…
Former Vice President Mike Pence Encourages Military Couples in Alaska
Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, joined Franklin and Jane Graham to support wounded veterans and their spouses at Samaritan Lodge Alaska this past week. “To be some small part of simply saying thank you, thanking them for their service, but also encouraging them to grow in their faith, to strengthen their…
Thanking God for Military Couples Saved in Alaska
On the eve of the 17th anniversary of 9/11, ten U.S. military couples gathered by the glacial waters of Lake Clark to spend a restorative week (Sept. 2-8) in the Alaskan bush for the penultimate session of Operation Heal Our Patriots 2018. And much like the nearly 140 couples that had already come to Samaritan…
Celebrating God’s Work in Our Military Couples
Army Specialist Shawna Watkins and Army Sergeant Jesse Watkins started dating after serving on combat deployments in Afghanistan. They’d been on the same mission together in 2011 when their convoy was struck by an improvised explosive device, and Shawna was sent flying from atop her vehicle’s gun turret. Next thing she knew she was in…
Faith Restored
The two Army medics were ready to quit their marriage and had a hard time remembering why they’d bothered applying to go to Alaska with Samaritan’s Purse. Just a couple weeks before Army Sergeant First Class Jason Smith and Army Specialist Amy Smith were scheduled to leave for Operation Heal Our Patriots, they delivered the…
Warrior Ride
Military Couples Strengthened by God in Faith and Marriage
Corporal Derrick Sharpe said he joined the U.S. Marine Corps because he wanted to “be the best of the best, be the first to fight.” “I don’t have a very good, happy kumbaya story. I grew up really poor and all I knew how to do was fight and take a beating, so I joined…