Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief
Somehow I/we knew we’d be following tornadoes this year. This was apparent to us as far back as January. When I say we, I’m referring to my LifePoint family and Samaritan’s Purse (SP). I now refer to Becky Haas and Nicole Calvert as my Disaster Relief Sisters. As far back as the beginning of April, we knew something was happening in and around May 9ththrough the 13th. Though we nearly went to Ft. Lauderdale on those dates for flooding clean up, we canceled. We all still felt strongly that somehow those dates were very important, but the spirit spoke to me “It would be close to home and devastating”. That week of May, the Calvert family was hit hard with life. Nicole and her daughters were in a vehicle accident and days later, their littlest was severely ill and in the children’s hospital for many days. Thankfully, they weren’t hurt in the accident and Rhyan fully recovered from her sickness. PRAISE the Lord!
Back in April, when we collectively decided against serving in Ft. Lauderdale in May, Holy Spirit kept telling me Texas, Texas, Texas. I told my Disaster Relief Sisters it was ok that we didn’t go to Florida because we’re due to go to Texas anyway. Fast forward to last weekend, on June 17th, we got the text message from Samaritan’s that they’d be in Perryton, Texas offering help to those affected by the string of storms and THE TORNADO that hit them on the night of Thursday, June 15th. Only my Disaster Relief Sisters and much of LifePoint Church had no clue about it because they were on the annual camping trip and “off grid” from cell service. The Sunday prior to this, Kimberly Covert saw me at church and asked me when we’d be going on our next SP mission. She’d served with us in Ft. Myers back in November of 2022. My response to her was “hold tight” as I had a feeling we’d be going somewhere soon, just didn’t know what yet. I then shared all the above info with her. Little did we know that a week later, I’d be asking her if she could leave in the next few days.
God CLEARLY led me to Texas. Kim and I drove from Arizona to Texas on Tuesday, June 20th. Served with Samaritan’s Purse for three days in Perryton, and got home Saturday, June 24th. We arrived about five days after the storm. We learned a lot of what was knowingly going to be bulldozed was already done; this community and surrounding area is mostly agricultural and therefore lots of people were helping out with their tractors/ heavy equipment. On Wednesday morning, we completed work on two homes. Shortly after lunch as we were preparing to move on to our 3rd job of the day, the Sheriff’s Dept came by to alert us of the impending weather…reports of a large storm, possible hail, and of course a tornado watch. We were sent back into the church we were staying at. Fortunately, there was a large overhang to the front of the building and many of us were able to squeeze our vehicles in tightly under some cover. I was completely impressed by the way Samaritan’s Purse handled the situation but in no way ever doubted that they wouldn’t have handled it in such a highly organized fashion. Though we were ready, the storm that was initially headed straight for us, ended up going completely around us. We never had rain or hail from it either… just some strong winds. It did however hit Matador TX. Samaritans quickly surveyed the area and decided to send in a group of chaplains only; damages to structures didn’t warrant sending crews of ‘orange shirts’. Some of the orange shirt volunteers were made chaplains for the day so we weren’t short of them in Perryton (some have dual training for that purpose).
The weather on Thursday morning started off good but again, took a turn in the afternoon. That morning, we broke our team into 2. I stayed with the first part of the crew. Three others and I tarped a roof while the rest of our team proceeded to the next job, a street over. This was my first time on a roof; my teammates were excellent at teaching tarping 101…patient, kind, and great communication as they explained ‘how to’. I’m not going to lie; I was pretty dang proud of myself for getting up there. It’s satisfying to know we finished the one but man our hearts sank knowing we couldn’t get to the other one in time. It’s also hard to sit around and see this poor little town get pummeled with rain and wind yet again. We spent the rest of Thursday afternoon indoors. Listening to the rain and thunder, watching the lightning out the front windows and doors. Fortunately, some people brought jigsaw puzzles and playing cards for sharing during our fellowship time. Friday, we had MORE thunderstorms in the morning, and we were delayed in going out to work but by the end of the day the sun came out… and it was brutal. There aren’t too many trees and the ones that were there are missing their tops from the storm. I’ll never neglect bringing my sunscreen to Texas again.
Usually, the team prays for the homeowners before we leave each home we work on, but at our Friday morning job, the owner wanted to pray for us instead. She prayed in Spanish. I’ve no idea what she said but WHOA you could tell it was spirit filled! Some of our group understood as she spoke. Others just felt moved to open their eyes to watch her as she prayed. All of us were wiping tears from our eyes when she was done… it was extremely moving.
The pastor of the church where we stayed is quite a character and was right there working alongside of us. Many in the neighboring area were driving around and offering support by way of handing out meals, water, Gatorade, and ice cream to the community and the volunteers. Sometime during this week Tulsa, OK was also hit hard by tornadoes and rainstorms. Samaritan’s Purse not only launched a site there but immediately extended it from three weeks to six weeks due to the number of work orders already coming in. While these aren’t the final numbers from Perryton, they are still quite impressive for the whacky weather and a small group of volunteers.
61 requests
91 volunteers
1100 + hours served AND….
21 salvations 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Jamie Morse
Samaritan’s Purse Mission Leader
Disaster can strike quick and when no one is expecting it. Having a team of willing individuals ready to go at a moment’s notices is so important. If you would like to learn more about joining the next disaster relief mission, email Jamie Morse at morsefamilymanagement@gmail.com. If you want to get communication on future mission and outreach opportunities, please fill out this interest form. https://lifepointaz.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/67/responses/new