God is transforming hearts in storm-battered Indiana.
Steve Daggett, 73, said the EF3 tornado that barreled toward his Winchester, Indiana, home sounded like a jet engine.
Steve Daggett rushed to his homemade shelter as the tornado passed overhead.
“My kids told me it would sound like a train. To me it sounded like a jet starting up,” said Steve, who recounted the ominous sound of the twister roaring across town as it closed in on his street.
He moved quickly out of his back door to the steel enclosure he’d built for himself and buried years ago between two pine trees in his backyard.
“For a minute there, I thought that this was the final punch,” Steve said. In the terrifying moments as the funnel passed, he’d wondered if those would be his final moments alive.
He was one of hundreds of homeowners surprised in the evening hours of March 14 by one of at least two EF3 tornadoes spawned during a massive storm tearing across the Midwest. The twisters ripped through downtown businesses and destroyed hundreds of homes in east central Indiana and in neighboring Ohio.
Before the tornado struck Steve’s neighborhood, it shaved the tops of brick homes, sheared off the crowns of old growth trees, mangled wind turbines, and turned longstanding farm homes into rubble—picking them up and dropping them in a heap.
Amazed By God’s Love and God’s People
When Steve emerged minutes later from his shelter, he realized just how close of a call it had been. The funnel had passed right over top of him as he’d held the shelter door closed.
Steve greets volunteer and, now, friend James Azure near the entrance to the storm shelter that saved his life.
The two pine trees above him were broken clean in half. His yard was filled with debris—some of it belonging to him, some of it carried there by the twister—including song sheets from a nearby church that had been destroyed. Metal roofs were wrapped around his trees and others were tangled up in high branches.
A few days later, sitting in his front yard to warm up in the sun after nights spent without power during a sudden cold snap, a Samaritan’s Purse volunteer asked if he needed any help. Soon after our volunteers got to work at his house, cleaning up the branches and other debris that filled his yard.
“I was amazed,” he said. “I didn’t know there were so many of you around.”
Samaritan’s Purse has been working in the region since March 16 running a two-state relief effort, helping homeowners with tree and debris removal, yard clean up, and placing tarps on wind-damaged roofs.
Some homeowners requested help salvaging valuables from homes destroyed in the storm.
We praise God that He used our volunteers’ work to remind Steve of the hope found only in Jesus Christ. He said he’s spent years spiritually “drifting,” and the encouragement was needed.
“You all came to my door, and as you were ready to leave, you prayed for me,” Steve told one volunteer. “I think that’s what I needed most, even more than all the help. I needed someone to pray for me. And I think God is telling me something through the storm—that I needed to turn to Him again.”
The volunteers gave him a special Billy Graham Study Bible as they finished their work. Later in the week, as one of our volunteers checked on him, Steve shared that he’d spent the past several nights reading the Bible for the first time in a long time.
Another homeowner we helped, LaDonna Aslinger, was grateful to receive a Bible signed by all the volunteers who worked on her home.
“You gave me that Bible the other day with all the notes from Billy Graham, and I may not have thought about him much when I heard him as a teenager, but I tell you what.
“I started reading the part about salvation in there. That really meant a lot. It opened my eyes back up about where I should be with God. I’ve been drifting and I’ve drifted long enough,” Steve said.
Through the work of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers and the truth of His Word, God opened Steve’s eyes. He renewed his commitment made long ago to Jesus Christ.
Volunteer James Azure struck up a friendship with Steve as our teams worked on his house. Through our work, friendship, and the Word of God given to him in a Billy Graham Study Bible, God has opened Steve’s eyes to his great need for Jesus Christ in his life.
“This is something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” he said. “Life really takes a twist and turn sometimes. You just never know where you’re going to end up at or what’s going to happen next. But something actually came good out of this tornado. I have a real strong suspicion they’ll be seeing me at church again real soon.”
Volunteers Still at Work
Hundreds of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers are at work in Indiana and Ohio as homeowners continue requesting assistance with storm cleanup.
Brothers Ethan (right) and Evan Wyatt were first-time volunteers in Indiana. They came from their hometown an hour away from Winchester.
Brothers Ethan Wyatt, 22, and Evan Wyatt, 20, first-time volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse, were part of our teams serving on Steve’s street, helping homeowners remove dangerous limbs, tarping holes left in roof and siding by the tornado’s shrapnel, and raking yards clean of sticks, shingles, and other debris left in the storm’s wake.
“I just told Evan last night to be ready at 6 a.m. because we’re leaving,” said Ethan, explaining a fairly regular practice of surprising his brother with a mission. “We live pretty close, about an hour away, so we thought it’d be a good opportunity for us to help our communities out and give back.”
A chainsaw team takes down dangerous broken branches from a tornado-damaged tree.
Evan said he’s grateful for the surprise workday on a Saturday morning with Samaritan’s Purse, because this last-minute mission was especially meaningful.
“It’s important that we get to do this, because, even though we don’t know the people we’re helping, they live close to us,” he said. “It’s a privilege to be able to help them in the time of need.”
Wounded combat veterans were also among the volunteer teams working in Indiana, serving through our Team Patriot program, which deploys military couples who are a part of Operation Heal Our Patriots. They respond to disasters across the country and often have the opportunity to help fellow combat veterans.
Team Patriot volunteers helped fellow combat veteran James Lanter salvage belongings from the wreckage of his home.
Ten-year Navy veteran Shawn Hayes came to Alaska last summer, an experience he said saved his marriage and renewed his desire to serve people through his church and elsewhere.
“It gives me a sense of belonging to be with all these guys. I’ve known them for what, three or four days? And they’re already like family. Like brothers,” Shawn said. “Serving is what we’re built for. It’s all a blessing to me. I don’t wish this destruction on anybody, but I look forward to being able to serve and help again and again as often as I can get the call.”
Team Patriot teams served dozens of homeowners during their deployment to Indiana, including a fellow combat veteran named James Lanter (shown in video at top). His house was destroyed, but Shawn said James was blessing them with his faith in Jesus Christ despite the loss.
Please continue to pray for homeowners in Indiana and Ohio, for our teams as they serve in Jesus’ Name, and that God would continue to open eyes and hearts to the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Volunteers pray with a homeowner in Winchester, Indiana.
