It was just a little over a week before Vacation Bible School was supposed to start at House of Refuge, a church in Ikes Fork, West Virginia. Everything was in order until the storms came. The storms produced torrential rains. With the rain came flash flooding, and devastation followed.

Mary Damron, a member of the church and a national representative for Operation Christmas Child, was with her daughter an hour and a half away from Ikes Fork when the flooding started. They couldn’t get home, so they had to park and wait until morning. When she returned home, she saw the extent of the damage.

“We have houses and cars in our creeks and streams,” Damron said. “It’s unreal. It looks like a war zone.”

The flood waters had spilled into the church. They contemplated moving the date of Vacation Bible School, but Damron wanted to keep to the original schedule.

This was just the latest disaster to hit West Virginia. Earlier this year, 29 people were killed in the country’s worst mine disaster in four decades. The state has been hit by flooding several times over the last couple of years. Damron wanted to bring hope to the area through the church outreach.

“A lot of the children who will be coming are children who have lost their fathers in the mining disaster,” she said, “And now these children have lost their homes. A lot of them are living with friends or in tents. Now is not the time to cancel Vacation Bible School. Now is when they need it.”

The church members knew they couldn’t get the church ready alone, so Damron called Samaritan’s Purse. Our staff agreed to help. A team went to help get the church ready for children to attend Monday.

“I’m grateful,” Damron said. “Samaritan’s Purse is great to help physical needs and minister to people’s spiritual needs. I heard three different people say, ‘You changed my life.’ It’s been such a spiritual blessing.”

Many people in the area seem to have lost all hope. They don’t plan on rebuilding their homes, and they don’t know what their next step will be. Starting over again seems like an impossible task, and after so many floods, they just don’t have the heart to do it.

“I told Samaritan’s Purse to bring stuff for materials but also bring people full of Jesus who can comfort people,” Damron said. “I’ve been praying that this will open the eyes of the people who don’t know the Lord, to realize that they need Him because without Him we are nothing and we have nothing. He has supplied everything that we have. I don’t want people to worry about the material things because He is there and He loves them more than they can imagine.”

One elderly lady couldn’t get to her house because a bridge had been washed away. Her car wasn’t working from all the water, and she couldn’t find her dog. Our team sat down to pray for her.

Damron also had an encouraging conversation with another man.

“He looked at me, and he said, ‘Mary, I have worked for 50 years,’” she said. “And he pulled his suspenders and said, ‘This is all I own. I don’t have insurance.’ I told him what God told me: ‘You’re blessed today. You lost no loved ones.’ And he said, ‘You’re right.’”

House of Refuge has also been trying to meet as many physical needs as possible. Their priority is to help the elderly and people with babies. One elderly couple sat on their roof with their grandson the entire night of the flood. A woman with a 9- month-old asked the church for diapers, clothes, and formula. Damron said church members are constantly praying that they will be able to provide for these needs.

“We’ve had people coming and begging us for water,” she said. “There was one woman whose well had collapsed and was nothing but mud. She said, ‘You just don’t know what this water means to us. We’ve went three days without anything to drink.’”

Damron said she heard a message in her heart from God to support people who are struggling physically and spiritually. It was the closest thing to an audible voice that she’s ever experienced, and she decided to tell everyone about what she heard.

“The Lord told me to tell everyone I saw to not worry because to worry is sin,” she said. “And then the Lord reminded me that the hurricanes we’re having, the tsunamis, the volcanoes and all this is just the earth itself moaning and groaning and desiring to be in its new body. Our hearts should desire to be in their new bodies.”

Though the people of Ikes Forks have lost a substantial amount, Damron has continued to be optimistic.

“We’re still a blessed people,” she said. “Other people have lost animals, but as far as I know, I haven’t heard of anyone who has lost their life.”

Gov. Joe Manchin declared a state of emergency for four counties in West Virginia after the flood. Although no official report has been released, Damron estimated that at least 200 people lost their homes and thousands more have lost other possessions. Remember to pray that those affected by the flood will stay strong and hopeful.

“We’re helping with what we can, and we’re just praying,” Damron said.

Samaritan's Purse , United States , U.S. Disaster Relief , Helping a Church Offer Hope