Our teams are hard at work in Chinle, Arizona, helping families recover from a late-September monsoon that damaged and flooded many homes.
After enduring a blistering Arizona summer, Navajo Nation residents watched as a welcome late-September shower gave way to four-day torrential monsoon rains. The reservation declared a state of emergency as heavy rain and wind pummeled the region and dangerous flash floods intensified.
A four-day downpour flooded properties like this one belonging to Karen Begay.
During the blowing downpour, homeowner Karen Begay noticed the drainage gully beginning to overflow into her already mud-filled backyard, so she and her children rushed outside to try to stop the waters from reaching the foundation of her home.
“We got shovels and we started trying to pile mud where all that water was coming in,” she said. “We also had some really big rocks there around our fire pit, so my kids piled them up and put sand on top.”
Despite their efforts to slow the flooding, water pooled around Karen’s home of 26 years, shifting the red clay beneath it. Strong winds also damaged the roof, allowing rainwater to leak through the ceiling. Karen tried to make the house livable by placing buckets throughout the home to catch the incoming water. She had no one to help her with repairs.
Volunteers are cleaning out homes and providing repairs to flooded properties.
Soon after, though, she opened the door to Samaritan’s Purse volunteers who’d arrived at her doorstep. The team offered to patch her roof with heavy tarp and to replace the waterlogged sheetrock that had started to grow mold.
“The monsoon rains hit every two to three years around here, so when it happens, it is normal for us,” she said. “But this is the first time we’ve actually received assistance.”
Karen’s home is in the remote town of Old Valley Store within the Navajo Nation. From her outlying corner of the community, it takes her more than two hours to drive to stock up on groceries and other essential items. She enjoys spending much of her time tending to her land and making traditional handwoven sash belts.
“Even though the weather can be rough, it is hard to get around, and it is hard to earn an income here. I like to be at home,” she said. “I love my home.”
Karen was grateful for the assistance in cleaning up her home and for the new friendships with volunteers.
The night after our volunteers patched her roof, Karen said she finally got some rest knowing water would not leak through her ceiling.
“In the evening it was raining, and I said, ‘There’s no water!’” she rejoiced. “I was so happy.”
A Continued Partnership
Karen is among many residents we are serving in the area in partnership with Grace Fellowship Community Church in Chinle, Arizona. Samaritan’s Purse previously partnered with Grace Fellowship in 2020 as we provided food and hygiene kits to the Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our work in the area includes patching many roofs with heavy tarp to keep the rain out.
“The Lord opened up a door here in Chinle for us to serve in Jesus’ Name,” said Jackson Spier, assistant program manager with Samaritan’s Purse. “This church did a lot for this community during COVID, and we are partnering with them again.”
Volunteers have been hard at work mudding out homes, tarping roofs, treating mold, and replacing drywall.
“This is a place that gets 11 inches to 12 inches of rain in a year, and they got seven in just two days,” Spier said. “There was some flooding that happened within homes and wind that opened up roofs which caused a lot of leaking and mold growth.”
Karen was grateful as she watched the men and women in orange shirts–most of whom were from out of state–not only repair her home but also share the love of Jesus.
“They came from all different places, and they were just happy to help,” she said. “It was very amazing how they prayed for me.”
Beyond immediate cleanup and home repairs, our Special Projects team is providing affected homeowners with new living room, bedroom, and dining room sets, and appliances.
“The program exists to meet critical needs after a disaster,” Special Projects Manager Shannon Daley said. “In Navajo Nation, heavy rains penetrated roofs and messed up drywall, ceilings, and whatever furniture or appliances that were underneath them, so we have the opportunity to be able to come in and meet some of those needs.”
Wood-burning stoves are a specific need throughout the reservation–an item the Special Projects team is providing many families.
“When you live in a high desert, cold comes fast,” Daley said. “So, to be able to provide families not only a heating source, but a cooking source, for the winter is amazing.”
Growing in Christ
For Rita Taylor and her husband, our teams helped relieve a financial burden created by monsoon wind damage.
“My husband and I don’t have income for now, so we wondered, ‘What are we going to do? What about if there will be more rain? What about this winter?’” she said. “But when Samaritan’s Purse said they would fix my roof, I was so happy that I cried. ‘Thank you, Jesus!’”
Rita Taylor is excited to continue to study Scripture as she grows in her new relationship with Jesus Christ.
Rita’s life in the Navajo Nation exposed her to a number of religions, and, in recent years, she’d been a member of one of the religious groups in the area. It wasn’t until a friend invited her to attend Grace Fellowship Community Church three years ago that she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ.
A Billy Graham Evangelistic Association chaplain accompanied our volunteer team to her home and greatly encouraged Rita in her growing faith.
“The chaplain showed me Steps to Peace, and it made me realize there is a lot more to study in Scripture and there is a lot more to learn more about Christ,” she said.
When the team finished tarping Rita’s roof, they presented her with a signed Billy Graham Training Center Bible–the first copy of God’s Word she had ever owned.
“Keep it on your coffee table or next to your bedside, and every time you open the front and see these names, pray for us as we pray for you,” said Marv Behr, a Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief worker, as he showed her the gift.
With tears running down her face, Rita thanked the volunteers for their kindness and generosity and expressed that she is grateful she no longer has to worry about her leaking roof. She also said she is excited to read the Bible with her granddaughters–especially the Gospel of John, which is her favorite book of the Bible.
“I have always just used the church’s Bible,” she said. “I have never had my own.”
Please join us in praying for the families still recovering from the flood and for our teams as they continue to serve as His hands and feet.
We are grateful for our partnership with Grace Fellowship Community Church and their readiness to assist with disasters in this vast region.
