Two families, with firm foundations in service and prayer, have been part of God’s recovery plan for Hugo. One year later, their faith journeys have touched the lives of the community and beyond.

Steve and Sandy Anderson intentionally chose their Hugo neighborhood so they could serve others for Christ. Jerry and Christy Prindle’s home crumbled around them as it was directly hit by the EF-3 tornado. More devastating than the property damage was the impact on their family.

“He is a Christian,” Christy Prindle remembers thinking when she saw neighbor Steve Anderson running to their completely devastated home. “I asked him to pray with us.” Steve laid hands on Christy and her husband, Jerry, both dazed and injured, and began to pray for healing, strength and for God to find their children. Prindle’s daughter, Ani, had stopped breathing under the rubble and would require resuscitation many times. On that day, the tornado would claim one young life: the Prindle’s two-year-old son, Nate.


Servant’s Heart
“No! This is not right. I won’t let this much destruction [and] darkness happen to my friends and neighborhood,” resolved Steve, as he watched four ambulances leave with the Prindle family—and he surveyed the devastated area that resembled a war zone.

As the neighborhood evacuated, Steve left water at the end of his driveway for the mounted police patrolling the neighborhood. In the days and weeks that followed, the body of Christ would find a conduit for serving and giving as Steve and his wife, Sandy, would open their hearts and home to the community.

Dubbed the “oasis,” hundreds of neighbors, volunteers, and first responders found free food and supplies and a respite in the tornado’s aftermath. The Anderson’s driveway, garage, yard and home overflowed with donations, including everything from bedding, clothing, sunscreen, diapers, tarps, gloves, and chocolate to cheeseburgers.

Eagle Brook Church (located nearby) pastors were available for emotional and spiritual counseling.


Living Matthew 25
“We had to help people in help,” said Sandy Anderson. “People wanted to help but needed someone to say, ‘I need you to do this.’” Donations were prompted by viral e-mails and an ever-changing “needs” whiteboard in the front yard. As a donor dropped off a meal for 10 people, a neighbor would request a meal to feed 10 volunteers. A man showed up with two bags full of women’s size two clothing. Within 20 minutes, a working mother stopped by to say that her work clothes were gone and she wore a size two.

“God had His hand in this. He orchestrated all of this,” Sandy recalls.

Partnering with the Andersons during the aftermath, Greg Grimstad, grace pastor of Eagle Brook Church, reflected, “We learned the value of the relational capital of our attendees. The church is not the building; it is the people. Steve and Sandy Anderson were salt and light to the community. They were just who they are in Christ, being the body of Christ.”

The Anderson’s home became a refuge for Christy and Jerry Prindle. As the cleanup crews found the widely-scattered Prindle belongings, those items were brought to the Anderson home. A separate area was set-up so Christy and Jerry could sort, process and grieve in private.


Prayer Recovery
“We have seen God in people,” said Christy Prindle. Neighbors, civic leaders, first responders, friends, family and strangers have been God’s hands and feet in the past year. Knowing that people are praying for them has sustained the Prindles.

Prayer was a firm foundation on the day of Prindle’s son’s wake. Christy saw her son for the first time since the tornado. “I lost it,” she said. Don Arnold grabbed hold of Christy and from six inches away said, “Pray with me.” Together, they would breathe in: “Lord Jesus, grant me strength” and breathe out: “Lord Jesus, grant me peace.”

“I knew that moment God had granted me strength. I couldn’t have made it through such a horrific thing,” Christy said. Arnold was in campus ministry when Christy attended Winona State University. In retirement, his ministry now is helping people deal with overwhelming grief.

The Prindle’s prayer life has brought them closer together and closer to God. Still lifting up prayers for total healing for their daughter, the Prindles also use very precise prayers—to see movement in Ani’s hands or for her to say a specific word. Jerry prayed his mother would get better so she would hear Ani talk. Shortly before his mother passed away in December, Ani was able to say “guh-na.”  “These are the prayers that come true,” said Jerry.

Christy and Jerry believe it is part of God’s plan for them to talk about their experience and how they have grown in their faith. Recently, they shared with their church, Eagle Brook Church in Lino Lakes: “The why question is a very human question. It is not the right thing to ask. It is an anchor. It holds you to a past event, or holds you in the past. It won’t let you go forward. There is never going to be an answer that satisfies your longing for an answer.”

“We both know God did not cause this tornado,” said Christy. “He was in the aftermath. He protects us and gives us guidance.” 

The couple constantly relies on the promise that they will see Nate in heaven and will get to hold him again. There are periods of sadness. “God gives you something,” said Jerry. “God has done something in us. He allows us to come out of the grief. He allows us to see life in a different way.”