As his unit rolled out on regular patrol that day, Army Specialist Marco Fernandez took his position in the mounted gun of a Stryker armored vehicle. They were transporting an officer to another base and then checking out Iraqi villages to look for potential threats. As Marco’s convoy sped past a town on that sunny…
Our Ministry
Operation Heal Our Patriots 2019
Strengthening Military Marriages Operation Heal Our Patriots Offers Physical and Spiritual Refreshment, Ongoing Care to Military Couples 2019--Our Eighth Season: 16 WEEKS, 155 COUPLES. Share Tweet Pin Emaily Subscribe From May 26-Sept. 13, 2019, each week for 16 weeks, a new group of U.S. military couples arrived in Alaska for a time of Christ-centered marriage…
Discipleship, Education & Training
Strengthening Military Marriages
Give × Operation Heal Our Patriots Operation Heal Our Patriots - 013960 $ Give ⋮ Menu × See Past Seasons Facebook Twitter email Strengthening Military Marriages Our 10th summer season of Operation Heal Our Patriots began Memorial Day weekend as we welcomed the first planeloads of wounded veterans and their spouses to Samaritan Lodge Alaska.…
Hope, Healing, and Restoration During Week One of Operation Heal Our Patriots
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. She didn’t think their relationship could be fixed. Even the thought of going fishing, hiking, or bear…
Discipleship, Education & Training
Military Couples Press Forward with God
Here’s what military couples said they were leaving behind in Alaska: Their anger Their doubt Their excuses Their resentment Their negativity Their isolation Their old self Their regrets Their pain Their anxieties Operation Heal Our Patriots Week 16 ended with this emotional time around the camp fire pit as ten husbands and ten wives shared—often…
Discipleship, Education & Training
Military Couples Celebrate New Life in Christ, Stronger Marriages
During their first morning at Samaritan Lodge Alaska, seven patriot couples headed down to the bay to receive kayak training together. Tandem kayaking is a great exercise in communication and teamwork—with the goal, as in marriage, of both partners being on the same page, headed in the same direction. “You want to be one movement,…
Discipleship, Education & Training
Operation Heal Our Patriots Encourages Both Spouse and Injured Warrior
Varalin never anticipated that the impact of her husband’s wartime brain injuries could be so devastating—that expressing any kind of emotion would become nearly impossible for him. “After 13 years of marriage, he still struggles to tell me how he’s feeling,” Varalin said. “He has to choose every day to feign emotion. He doesn’t laugh…
Operation Heal Our Patriots Celebrates God at Work in Military Marriages
Samaritan’s Purse recently welcomed our final group of military veterans and their spouses to Alaska for the close of the 2021 Operation Heal Our Patriots summer season. Nine couples experienced the wilderness of Alaska, participated in Biblically-based marriage classes, and had the opportunity to connect with God and each other. Former Army Staff Sergeant Mike…
Forgiveness and Forgiving
Army Sergeant James Sizemore and his wife, Krystle, were already best friends when they were married 10 years ago. James had already left the Army, but he struggled with post-traumatic stress after deploying during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Krystle encouraged him to seek help, and this allowed James to work on his mental health so the…
Franklin Graham
Newsletter August 2024
Franklin Graham Update | August Franklin Graham Update | August A Lighthouse for the Gospel on an Island in the Bering Sea Dear Friend, Nunivak Island is the second largest island in the Bering Sea, about 30 miles off the Alaskan mainland. It is a remote, tundra-covered volcanic rock, home to thousands of reindeer, over 500 musk ox, and less than 200 Cup'ig people. Mekoryuk,…
