The assignment was simple, but almost impossible to fulfill: find a precious heirloom ring, worth $7,000, amidst the ruins of a home in fire-ravaged Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Samaritan’s Purse volunteers accepted the challenge on behalf of a resident who was in Edmonton and couldn’t be at the scene to provide direction or encouragement.
The six volunteers worked with an excavator operator. He used his machine to move sections of rubble to open areas beside the home so the volunteers could search for the ring, which they were told was inside a small blue box.
“The first time we saw a piece of blue box we got really excited,” said volunteer Kennedy Galloway, a 21-year-old U.S. resident serving a summer internship with Samaritan’s Purse Canada.
“We thought we were close, but we found nothing. Our hopes started diminishing, especially because it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
However the team didn’t give up.
“I was praying all day to find the ring because I thought it would be a miracle,” said Kennedy. “I was also aware that the resident was a Muslim, so I knew that being willing to do this for him would be a big witness for the Lord.”
Kennedy started digging in a small area of ashes and found items that she knew came from the resident’s bedroom. She continued this seemingly fruitless search until coming across a small, hard clump of ashes. Cleaning it off as best as she could, Kennedy found Arabic writing on a small, round piece of metal. It was the ring!
“I honestly was in disbelief,” she said.
Stories like this have happened many times in the burned suburbs of Fort McMurray. God has mysteriously directed Samaritan’s Purse volunteers and they have obediently followed that direction. The result has been joy and gratitude from residents, many of them non-Christian, who have found hope and encouragement through an organization working in Jesus’ Name.
Each of these incidents has provided opportunities for us to tell people why Samaritan’s Purse and Canadian donors like you are helping them: “We are [the Lord’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV).
You can be part of this God-ordained work through your prayers and donations to Samaritan’s Purse.
Help Samaritan’s Purse strengthen the impact of local churches in communities recovering in the aftermath of disasters. As caring Christians are trained and empowered to walk alongside individuals and families to find solutions to complex needs, God opens doors to share the Gospel.