God transformed lives and renewed marriages over the first week of the 2025 Operation Heal Our Patriots season.
Tammy Unruh didn’t want to come to Alaska. She had no interest in attending Operation Heal Our Patriots to work on her crumbling nine-year marriage to Mike, a retired sergeant who served in the army for 20 years.
Mike and Tammy Unruh started their week in a crisis of faith and with a failing marriage.
She didn’t think their relationship could be fixed. Even the thought of going fishing, hiking, or bear viewing in the beautiful Alaskan wilderness didn’t appeal to her.
“I’m an indoor person,” she said. “But Mike kept telling me that there’s going to be a lot of support from other military couples and that we could make new connections. I told him I have enough friends. I don’t need to meet anybody new.”
Tammy’s disinterest grew when she realized the program was Biblically based and centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“I had no interest in religion,” she said. “I’ve never really felt connected to God or Jesus. Whenever I’ve talked to people in the past about God it just seemed superficial. And even if He did exist, I never felt worthy of Him.”
But God began to change all that.
Despite Tammy’s aversion to the outdoors, Christianity, and connecting with other people, Mike applied to Operation Heal Our Patriots because he knew their marriage was likely headed toward a divorce. “As we say in the military, this was our last hoorah,” he said. “Either this was going to fix us or we’re over.”
Surprised by God
When Mike and Tammy arrived for Week One of our 14th season at Samaritan Lodge Alaska, they were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic greeting they received from the local townspeople and from our ministry staff who welcomed them with waving flags, warm handshakes, and friendly smiles. That night, they met with one of our retired military chaplains who shared the truth of the Gospel. A light bulb went on.
During marriage enrichment classes led by our chaplains, couples learned skills in communication and about God’s plan for a healthy marriage.
“It really opened my eyes and my heart big time,” Tammy said. “I realized that the Bible is not just a book. It’s stories told by people who experienced it. And I accepted God into my life at 21:10 on 5/25, 2025.”
Mike also invited Jesus Christ into his life that night.
“I used to attend church growing up,” he said. “But I had lost my way.”
Then God began to work on their marriage. During Biblically based marriage enrichment classes led by our chaplains the following five days, Mike and Tammy learned how to communicate in healthier, life-giving ways. They also picked up practical relational tools to help resolve conflict when they get back home to Missouri.
Mike and Tammy both committed their lives to Jesus Christ. Mike was baptized in Lake Clark.
“But most of all, we now have hope,” Tammy said. “We have support. It’s nice to know that we’re not alone and that it’s okay to open up and it’s okay to accept God. It’s so reassuring to know that He accepts us with all of our flaws. He’s really changed me.”
Now she’s even eager to stay in touch with her “16 new friends,” the other eight couples who attended Week One. “I really look forward to mingling with these people after we leave.”
On Friday in Alaska, this couple, once cold to God and each other, were now full of the warm life of God’s grace. Mike decided to join others to be baptized in the glacier-fed wilderness waters of Lake Clark. Later, as the Unruhs prepared to leave camp and board the airplane to fly back to Anchorage and then home to Missouri, Mike summed up their time at Samaritan Lodge Alaska.
“The most important thing I’m taking away from here are the words written in a book of truth, the Bible, that was shared with us,” he said. “Truly, it changed our lives. We’re never going to be the same. It’s onward and upward from here on out.”
Another Surprise
God also surprised Paul and Tasha Messier with new life for their marriage. They were on the verge of divorce when they arrived at Samaritan Lodge Alaska. The Messiers had received a link from a friend who encouraged them to apply to Operation Heal Our Patriots. When they arrived, they had little confidence that the week in Alaska would work for them. They assumed they’d probably still be splitting up when they left, but the Lord had other plans.
The Messiers were on the brink of ending their marriage until coming to Alaska.
During a hike with two of our guides to nearby Tanalian Falls, they began to inquire about the spiritual aspects of the program. This opened the opportunity for the guides to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. Later that night, they met with a chaplain who walked them through Scripture—and they gave their lives to Christ. Before leaving Alaska, they were baptized together in chilly Lake Clark. They also renewed their wedding vows, recommitting themselves to God and to each other.
The Messiers were both baptized in Lake Clark.
“We came here with no expectations and along the way we found God and each other again,” Tasha said. “We will always be grateful. This place has changed our lives and our children’s lives.”
Paul agreed. “Yes, we came here with no expectations. I certainly didn’t come here expecting to be saved and baptized!”
A Life Saved
For one veteran, coming to Samaritan Lodge Alaska was not only life-changing, but life-saving.
He hated himself. Every time he looked in the mirror, he only felt disgust. His spiritual and emotional wounds had broken him and he just couldn’t move past and forgive himself for the things he had done in combat. He also carried a crippling burden of guilt for surviving deployment when so many of his buddies had not. He’d known, personally, more than 60 soldiers who’d been killed, both on the battlefield and post deployment, more than half by suicide. On top of all that, his marriage was falling apart.
Couples gathered for a special Memorial Day service at Samaritan Lodge Alaska.
In Alaska, God began to heal him as he and his wife spent time with our chaplains and in the marriage enrichment classes. He also began to see God in a fresh way as he fished and hiked in Alaska’s pristine frontier. Earlier in his life, he said he experienced a strong relationship with God, but tragedies at home and overseas created a crisis in his faith and he walked away from the Lord. Several months ago, he wrote a suicide letter, which he had secretly carried with him everywhere.
Last week, though, at the Samaritan Lodge Alaska fire pit, he took that letter from his pocket, dropped it in the flames and watched it turn to ashes.
“If I had not gotten the call that we were accepted to Operation Heal Our Patriots, I don’t think I’d be standing here or being around anymore,” he told our staff and the fellow veterans and spouses shortly before leaving the lodge. “I literally owe all of you my life. I thank you, and I love you all. God put you in my path to save me and help save my marriage.”
Join us in praising God for these changed lives, and please pray for the many other couples who will attend Operation Heal Our Patriots over the summer. Pray that their lives would also be transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ—for now and for eternity.
