We are so excited to report to you what is going on in the mountains. Prayers have been answered. First off nobody has been killed.  A group of men from the village who were terrorizing Pinalito went to an area of Guatemala called Gualan which is outside of Zacapa’s jurisdiction. There, these terrorists have no backing of dirty cops. In this village, they stole a man’s horse, which they did not realize was a powerful man. As a result, this man sent two trucks full of police to capture them. They drove in as far as the road would take them, hiked the rest of the way by night, and captured a majority of the terrorists. The rest took off by night and have left to go to an area called Peten which is the jungle area of Guatemala.  The remaining men left who were terrorizing the village of Pinalito are forever left with the memory that you will reap what you so. Hopefully those wounds will bring them to an even greater purpose of understanding the mercy of God. Even though these horrible people deserve death, they still live. We pray for their redemption. Our mountain has been rid by the grace of God, not sacrificing anyone’s life from these evildoers. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers. God is good!

-Michael & Rocky Beene

There is one small, dusty road winding out of the jungles, connecting the villages to civilization. It is a well-traveled anthill. The villagers systematically journey this road back and forth with their valuable supplies and families. Of course, in a thieves mind, it is the opportune place for a stake out.

Heavily armed with guns, four brothers have assembled a well-organized society of thieves. They hide in the overhanging bushes and watch for unsuspecting prey. Young girls and older women alike have been brutally taken advantage of. They are not only stripped of their dignity, but also robbed of the meager supplies they’ve been able to gather. These thieves portray nothing more than a hollow heart and a bitter mind. The brothers go so far as to use their own women and children as decoys in their plots, forcing them to stand out in the road and beckon on the weary travelers. Trapped within the clutches of poverty Pinalito has known nothing but war. Whether it’s the daily threat of hunger carving out their bodies, or savage betrayal becoming the only means to survival; this village is one of the most Spartan of mankind.

A couple weeks ago, the Pinalito men gathered at the entrance of their village under the cover of night. As the bandits from Volcan approached, Pinalito fired its first blast of retribution. Amidst the conflict, two of the men leading this espionage were shot: one in the leg and the other in the abdomen. While this could seem victorious, Pinalito has just signed up for war. Forced to play a daring game of roulette, the outcome is yet to be determined.

We stand in prayerful support behind our village. However, this commitment has not come without a cost. Threats have been posed against our mission base and family. Rumors of attack have spread in hopes of us abandoning our call and deserting the people.

There is a story in the Bible that has reminded us of perseverance: David, pursuing the call upon his life, was anointed to be king. Saul and his army led a raid against David in hopes of derailing him from his purpose. In fear for his life, David retreated to the caverns on the mountainside. Every night brought terror of the unknown. It was in these cold, dripping caves, under a trembling hand of courage that the Psalm 23 was penned.
{The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters….
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.
…}

To be honest, it’s hard to stand on this Psalm’s truth when we are forced to walk through the valley of death. However, the enemy would have already won the battle if we allowed ourselves to be consumed by our fears. Though the future lies in question, our confidence wavers not from our Heavenly Fathers purpose. It is not by our strength, but His, that we are able to go on. With that being said, we have been guaranteed victory, even if it means falling in battle.

Today, word has come that there is a massive raid on Pinalito scheduled in the coming days. While the women and children will hide in our mission apartments, the boys and men alike will be forced to defend. The tension continues to build, as both parties are preparing to face death for the sake of their cause. When the firing has stopped, and the smog of gunpowder has settled, the earth will have had its quenching of blood.

I believe this could turn into a testimony of Gods reality amongst the villager’s lives. Is it not in the darkest of nights that light shines at its most brilliance? Does the cry of the sheep not bring a warring Shepherd? Our trials and suffering are only a glimpse of the spiritual battle that takes place over our souls.

It is written that what we bind on earth through prayer is also bound in Heaven.
As we are all a vital part of Gods community, we ask that you embrace us in your prayers! As advocates to the cause of liberty, join us as we echo this prayer in unity and break the chains of bondage that now threatens to defeat us.
Pray: That through the demise of Satan’s attack, Gods glory would be revealed. That the clanging symbols of fear ringing in our ears would not drown out His quiet whispers of guidance. That Peace would no longer be a stranger to these lands. That God would grant us the faith to lie down in green pastures.

Our duty is simply stated: To stand for our call, until death do us part
With our lives on the altar, our hearts only cry is for Freedom.

We have recently finished production of our new Faith in Action overview video! Watch the full HD version on Vimeo

Take a look, then show your friends, family, and church! We believe that as believers, our ministry serves as an extension of God’s love towards his creation here on Earth. We also believe that everyone deserves a chance to experience God’s love, even the ones in those hard to reach places! If you feel like Faith in Action is an organization that your church could get behind we could definitely use your help! You can find a list of all of our current projects that need support here by clicking here

A shuddered laugh escapes his lips at the mention of Jesus.  His head twitches uncontrollably, left to right, as he smiles back into my Dads eyes with pure mockery.

“Do you want to ask Jesus into your heart?”

“I cant!”

Salvador (ironically meaning Savior) approached our mission base with a face of pure horror to claim he was on his deathbed and to plead for our help. This appeal came from one of the most abusively wicked men of the village.

It is people like this that make it hard not to believe in hopeless causes and condemned souls.  People like this entertain the notion that there is a possible 1% of the human race that Christ could not have died for. His mother wears his abuse like an infamous wardrobe, his wife drowns out her own cries like a dried up well of tears, and his daughters are well seared with the scent of their father. In these instances, we are obligated to interrogate the question longer. Does an unredeemable soul exist?

That being said, we do not stand as the jury over a person’s life, nor do we have the right to be biased towards our fellow man. We are merely a channel through which God’s love can flow.

Therefore, seeing this problem as a chance to experience God at work, we laid hands on Salvador and interceded for a miracle. We pressed through the polluted fog of his past and ignored the ringing voice in our heads whispering “..he had it coming.” We choose, instead, to look into his bottomless, tortured eyes and tell him he was loved.

During this time in the mountain, a dentistry/construction team from Michigan had come to be willing vessels in shedding light through the village of Pinalito. The one prayer that this team echoed in unison through every night of our group devotions was that the chains of spiritual bondage would be broken over the people of Pinalito and that the enemy would be forced into retreat. As one man on the team, Howard, stated, “Don’t pray for something unless you are ready to truly receive.”

The following day, here was Salvador, bound by the powers of darkness, a man who had sold his soul to the devil, sitting in a rickety lawnchair in the middle of our clinic. This is what we had asked for. We were now commanded to act.

Upon realizing that this man was not here on physical illness but of greater torments of the mind and soul, my dad called four of the men from the team, our village pastor, and I. Quickly giving us the update on Salvador’s condition, we affirmatively decided to dedicate whatever time necessary to overthrow the powers that were trying to damn him.

Throughout our intercession, we would ask if he would like to say the sinner’s prayer and have Jesus enter his heart. His eyes pleaded with us, as he would readily shake his head in agreement, but then simultaneously shout, “No, no, I cant! I cant!”

The result continued to a clamped mouth and jerking movements being his only responses. As my Dad’s prayer became more fervent, Salvador’s twitching became more prominent. We were on the frontlines of a spiritual battle for this mans soul. The mere fact that we could speak with authority, as ambassadors of Christ, meant the enemy had no choice but to surrender.

Shuddering the tile walls with shrieking laughter, then wailing sobs, a schizophrenic personality of a man at war with himself was ever present. As the time ticked by at a grueling pace, the outcome seemed less then positive. When all of a sudden, he sputtered out the word, “Pan’te’och!” While not in the Spanish vocabulary, this was a common word from the Mayan dialect, Que’tche, meaning “Im leaving!” We only recognized this because it was the language spoken in the river village we work in. This in itself was a miracle to be recorded, as the people from the mountains had never crossed ties with anyone from the Que’tche-speaking part of the region.

After these words were voiced, it was as if the veil of darkness was being pulled backed from his eyes. Salvador managed to take back the grounds the enemy had been given and had demanded control over his body once more. Through still hazy eyes, the exhausted words of a changed man crept forth in a broken sinners prayer. The astonishing change in his appearance is something that will never be forgotten to all who were in the room. The simplest of smiles played at the corners of his lips, as the realization of what he had just done dawned on him.

At that moment I realized that it was for the hopelessly condemned that God sent His Son to rescue and defend. Had it not been for the red that stained Calvary’s hill, we would all have been found guilty. We were unredeemable souls, with a redeemable Savior.

Salvador needs our prayers now, more then ever. As the enemy does not easily abandoned his  pursuit of his once  captive soul. Pray that Salvador’s first taste of freedom will never be forgotten and that he will not retreat back into the dungeon of his past.

Andreas Steffensen, one of Faith in Action’s key members, returned to Guatemala with 16 other members from his church which is located near Albany, New York. His church’s heart was to see the construction of the school in Castulo finally begin after so many months of fund raising and planning. In February of 2010 that vision finally became a reality. This is a brief glimpse of what their trip was like.

With baby clothes and vitamins at hand, a group of us marched down a trail in our usually disorderly fashion to congratulate her on her new child.

After our eyes adjusted to the dark wooden cot where she lay, the glow from Martha’s face quickly directed us to the tightly wrapped bundle next to her. Wrapped in household rags, they struggled to keep the bitter cold of night from getting to her. Though the tiniest newborn clothes we had brought seemed to swallow her whole, she lay on the wooden cot like a sleeping angel the world had come to marvel at. The baby, seemingly exhausted from her travels into this world, peacefully rested in the crook of her mother’s arms. The baby smacked her lips from time to time in a satisfied fashion. Being love at first sight between mother and daughter, Martha has decided to keep the child instead of giving it up for adoption. This decision made by a confident mother gazing at her child with nothing but love left us all with a confident peace in her choice.

The silently spoken language between a mother and daughter translated once more the universal fact that we are a people created to love and be loved. This thirst burning within our souls will only be quenched fully when we unleash the floodgates of Gods love into our lives by acknowledging Him as our Creator and our All.

A village, trapped by the claws of darkness and plummeting towards the edge of extinction, raise their voice one last time in the hopes of someone hearing their cry!

As the banks of their village life quickly eroded before them, whispered prayers into a blackened sky drifted up to knock on the gates of Heaven. The people of Castulo Creek soon became aware that they were caught in a web of love that reached to the ends of the earth to catch even the most isolated prayers of His forgotten saints.

God called my parents 16yrs ago to the forsaken marshlands of the Rio Dulce tributaries. Since then, a very innocent and tender relationship has been woven together, connecting these people to the tapestry of civilization and better yet, the masterpiece of Heaven.

As the people have readily embraced belief in God and His love, they have grown hungry to read His word. The spiritual boom throughout the villages has awakened a desire for education and an aspiration for the future!
Roughly 4yrs ago, we helped the village coordinate a small, 2 room schoolhouse that began teaching 1st through 4th grade. With the village climbing out of a population decline and heading towards a stable growth rate, the simple school structure is now busting at the seams with children.

This past week has created anticipation for what is too come! The future, breaking on the shores of the horizon, continues to flood into the hearts and minds of these people.

Laboring with a Canadian team from Winnipeg, the foundation of a new school building has sparked a fire in the hearts of the young, as well as smothered out any doubt some had towards the reality of a new school.
Using picks and shovels, the men easily overcame the language barrier as they worked tool in hand with the villagers. Sweat, dirt, and hard labor universally translates into any culture.

Now, the women of the team had a different idea for bonding with the people. Though hesitant at first, the girls and women of the village quickly adapted to the concept of painted nails and hair styling as we gathered in the center of their village for a specialized salon day! (I say specialized, because the shampoo we unanimously decided to use could also be considered a medicated lice treatment to some.)

Teresa, a professional hair stylist from Florida, was put in charge of the haircuts, while the rest of us either washed and prepped their hair for cutting, painted their nails, or sat on scattered school desks and threaded colorful beads together.

Though communication was kept at a minimal and there was a lot of skeptical giggling that echoed out of shyly covered mouths, a relational bond blossomed through the universal connection of pampering girls.
As our hearts joined together, another piece of beautiful tapestry was woven together while always recognizing God as being at the center of it all.

Hard at work on the Rio Dulce mission base

Dear Saints,

Daniel Parker here, lifelong friend of the Beene family. I have been fortunate enough to be able to spend a few months here in Guatemala working with Faith in Action.

On January 14th a team from Canada, as well as our good friend Dan Fekete and his son Greg arrived in Guatemala to help work on the mission base at Rio Dulce and to minister to the river village of Castulo. We have begun the construction phase of our long-awaited and planned-for block school in the village. Juggling construction at the mission base and trips to the jungle village is no simple task!

Last week Dan Fekete, one of our long-time supporters and dear friends was injured while working construction on the job site at the Rio Dulce mission base. Seeming to suffer only a few scrapes and bruises and on his way to a full recovery over the weekend, an injury on his arm has become infected and is causing severe swelling and pain. Michael and Rocky took him to the emergency room at the hospital in Guatemala City where he is under the supervision of their best doctors. I do not have all of the details at this time as I am in Zacapa and not with Michael and Rocky. Our last conversation concluded with Rocky telling me that surgery may be the only option to relieve the swelling in his arm.

It is at times like these when we need the support of all of our fellow prayer warriors. Anyone who knows Dan personally or has met Dan while on a mission trip here knows what a great man he is and that he is one tough guy! Please pray for Dan and for the hands of the doctors who may be operating on him. Pray that he will make a swift recovery. And also as important, please pray for his family, especially his wife Kay as I know the mental anguish they must be experiencing. Details will become more clear in the future and we will do our best to keep you posted!

God bless,
Daniel Parker

We are so incredibly blessed to see years and years of labor, love and the fruits of your support all coming together in a grand finale.  Graduation Day!

These children living in bamboo huts with dirt floors never dreamed that the embrace of God’s love would open a door for them to not only learn to read and write but actually get a quality education that elevates them to a place to get very good paying jobs to support themselves as well as their families.

Are you ready for this shocking news?  We have 4 students graduating this year as school teachers!  Yeah!  We are so proud of them that we couldn’t contain ourselves.  We went out and bought graduation rings for each one of them. Rocky bought the girls their very 1st pair of dress shoes with heels. They were so happy, words cannot express the joy in their hearts. Then we took them to Pollo Campero to celebrate. One of the girls after we got back to the dorm went into her room and I heard her crying and thanking God.

They never knew that He loved them sooo much!!!   Some of the village students, after long hard years of study have come to the moment that they have been waiting for.  A new day is dawning.  This is the hope of the new future that these degrees represent.  Not only for their destiny, but a big, ‘Yes We Can,‘ to all the peers and siblings from the villages.  These students are some of the first students to have graduated in the history of their village. Their example is inspiring and is opening the way to the rest of the children from the villages to also study and follow their lead.

Please pray because we have 15-20 students coming this new year from our mountain villages. Pray that God provides for their education and that their lives will be touched and transformed as they have Bible studies and go to youth group at Calvary Church in Zacapa.  Pray for this program because we need 10 precious Saints to make the sacrifice of monthly support starting by January 1st. for these children in their quest.  It cost us $100.00 per month to cloth, transport, house and educate each student.

We know that your monthly support is a huge sacrifice and just think of the benefits.  We ask God to pour out His favor and joy on your lives for participating in the destiny of these students.    When they go to school, even though they are all dressed just like the other children and they are clean and their hair is cut the same, sometimes when they open their mouths to answer the teachers questions, the rest of the class can tell that the are mountain children by the way they talk.  Sometimes they laugh at them and make fun of them.  They shrink back and feel so inadequate but It is a huge motivation to them just to know that others believe in them enough to support them.  So we want to really thank you for your support and love towards these children.

Please share this burden with us by helping support one of these children for this upcoming year.  You can click below and it will take you to a secure website to log on and set up a monthly donation for $100.00 per month.  Click Here