While Americans celebrate freedom on Independence Day, couples in Alaska experience freedom for their lives and marriages through the hope found only in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024. It is a day that Ruth Szymansky will never forget.

A few days earlier, Ruth and her husband Matt, a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant, had arrived at Samaritan Lodge Alaska for the fourth week of Operation Heal Our Patriots' summer season.

Ruth applied for the program after coming across a mention of it on Facebook. She did some research online and liked that the program was Christ-centered, even though she wasn't a Christian and Matt had turned away from the church decades earlier.

“I knew I would be welcome,” Ruth said. “I don't always have that feeling. I felt like people here would be open and that I would find a place where I belonged.”

Matt served in the Marines for 26 years, from 1988 to 2014. He has been deployed multiple times, including to Iraq. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and was seriously injured when a suicide bomber exploded near him. He also has breathing problems from months of inhaling the heavy toxic smoke rising from a massive burn pit nearby in Iraq.

“When I got out, I was in a really bad mental state,” Matt said. “I was drinking quite a lot at the time. I only got out of rehab last December. I gave up the addiction. I'm much clearer in the head now.”

But the marital problems between Matt and Ruth remained. And what made matters worse was that Matt isolated himself from everyone.

“We didn't know how to communicate,” Ruth said. “Our communication consisted of me slamming a door and him going to sleep in his recliner. That was all. We never talked about our problems. Ever.”

When Matt found out they were going to Alaska, he thought it would be cool to go fishing, watch bears and do lots of other adventurous things. He thought the marriage education classes were “the price we had to pay to have fun,” he said. “But when we got here, my mindset quickly changed. The classes were exactly what we needed. Everything else was just an afterthought.”

Feel God’s presence

Through classes and counseling sessions with our clergy, Matt and Ruth learned to communicate better and resolve conflicts in healthy ways. Ruth also began to sense God's presence.

The biblical-based marriage course was instrumental in helping them begin to see God and each other with new eyes.

“After I arrived at camp, I started thinking more about the Lord,” she said. “Just seeing the staff call each other brother and sister meant a lot to me. I loved the camaraderie they had and knowing they were all children of God.”

But Ruth never thought she would know Christ personally. She grew up with an atheist stepfather who wouldn't allow her to go to church. “So I just accepted the fact that I would never know the Lord, because it seemed like that was the way it was.” And Matt went to church as a child, “whenever the doors were open,” he said. “But when I left home and started going to church, I had enough of church. It had been forced on me. I pushed it away for a long time.”

“This is a day I will never forget”

Then on Wednesday, June 19th, Matt and Ruth joined a few other couples on Operation Heal Our Patriots Jay Hammond's fishing boat on Lake Clark. The boat docked at White Sands Beach. While some were fishing and exploring, Dana, one of our female leaders, asked Ruth if she knew the Lord. Ruth said she didn't know Him, but would like to know Him. A chaplain then shared the gospel with Ruth and she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

During a fishing trip, Ruth accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and the couple found new hope for the future in Him.

“I was ready,” Ruth said. “I had been thinking about it for a long time. This was the right time.”

When Matt saw Ruth come to Christ, his long-dormant faith was awakened. “Now I'm looking for a church,” he said.

Later that evening, Matt and Ruth learned that their fifth grandchild had been born. Ruth and her new granddaughter now share birthdays — both physical and spiritual. “It's a day I'll never forget,” she said.

A new chapter

On Friday, just before leaving Samaritan's Lodge Alaska, Matt and Ruth renewed their wedding vows and dedicated their marriage to Christ.

“We're going to go home and start a new chapter in our lives,” Ruth said. “Things will be different because we now have the means to make it happen.”

They also said they would encourage other military couples who are struggling to apply to Operation Heal Our Patriots.

“We will recommend it because it has changed our lives,” said Ruth. “It has made a huge difference in the way we think about each other, the way we talk to each other, and it is the place where I found God. It was a life-changing experience.”

They renewed their marriage in Alaska and returned home with renewed joy for the years to come.

Please pray for the more than 180 couples participating in Operation Heal Our Patriots in Alaska this summer for once-in-a-lifetime wilderness adventures and Bible-based marriage strengthening training.

SUPPORT

Bless the marriage of a military couple Operation Heal Our Patriots helps military couples build a strong spiritual foundation during a week of Bible-based workshops, relationship-building wilderness activities, and one-on-one mentoring from our retired military chaplains. We offer all of this free of charge to these American heroes as a token of our appreciation for their service and sacrifice. Your donation helps us cover the costs—including transportation, lodging, activities, and long-term family support—so we can help them find hope in the Lord.

---

Operation Heal Our Patriots 013960

Recommended gift: $60

$ Checkout