“...And because of His Glory and Excellence, He has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”  --2 Peter 1:4

     The Lord gave us the first hint of what 2014 would hold for Life of Promise Ministries back in November of 2013.  At that time, we were at the mission house cleaning up water damage and addressing flooding problems. It was the end of rainy season and the mission house took a major hit due to the fact that we had no roof on the second floor.  God instructed us to plan on pouring the cement roof when we returned after the Christmas season.  He put confidence in our hearts that He would make this happen, despite the fact that we had no funding available for this project.  Flat concrete roofs in Central America are a major endeavor because they are extremely labor intensive and they involve more than 20,000 pounds of supplies.  Nevertheless, the Lord instructed us to go ahead and plan without funds or work teams in place. 

A Tale of Two Houses
     When we returned to Guatemala in January of 2014, we began investigating the time, labor, materials and funds needed for the roof.  We consulted with our contractor, who gave us estimates for all of these things.  Throughout  February, we  worked on preliminary projects at the mission house, and on March 17 we began 5 weeks of labor-intensive preparation for the big roof pour.  This was when many of the materials were delivered, hauled up to the second floor, and put in place (iron rebar, sand, rock, thick wooden planks, etc.).  It’s difficult to describe this type of construction process, because it’s completely different from the wood and steel structures built here in the states.  But with a very small amount of funds and manpower, we began.

     In the meantime, a man we have known for years from the mountain village of Pinalito asked us to build a concrete block home for he and his wife and their eight children!  The cost for this would be about $3,000.  We prayed,  “Lord, we have no funds for the mission house roof.  How will we add another home to our construction projects?”  As we asked this, we knew God was inviting us to step out into the deep even further.  We knew we had to say yes to God!  To make a long story short, the Lord kept His promise and provided the funds needed for both houses!!  We never did have an official “team” come down to help us, but our son Mike had four friends come down at different times throughout the process.  Those boys, along with Tom and our two Guatemalan contractors, did the work of many men over the course of the five weeks.  God multiplied their strength and efforts just as He did with the loaves and fishes!!

The Big Day
     April 25 was a day that defies description.  It was the day of the roof pour!  A cement roof must be poured in one day to prevent major cracks and buckling of the structure.  We worked until 1 am the night before making the final preparations (running electrical lines, tying down the iron rebar grid, putting the last wooden planks in place, etc.)  At 6 am on the morning of the 25th, a team of five men from a church in Guatemala city arrived to help us.  Along with their pastor, they made the 4-hour journey in a very old pickup truck.  They thanked us for introducing them to mission work, which is a major step for the churches which have always depended on American missionaries to help their own people.  

     We all worked together from early that morning until 2 am the following morning when the last wheelbarrow full of cement was dumped on the far corner of the roof.  Once again, God multiplied our strength and our efforts in a way that was purely supernatural.  He proved His faithfulness to keep the promise He made to us several months earlier -- that HE would provide if we would just step out in faith when we saw no way to get this job done.  Plus he added one more house to our agenda, just to make SURE we knew it had to be HIM ALONE.  Ok, God, we get it!  Oh, the blessings of our inadequacy!!

Miracles Abound
     Many miracles took place during our time in Guatemala during 2014.  Our calling is to build and run a crisis pregnancy center, and also minister to families in the mountains and at the city dump.  But we still consider it to be a miracle each time God allows us to work within our calling.  We were able to help two pregnant mothers to safely deliver their babies.  One mother is Concepcion, whom we brought down the mountain last year to have an emergency C-section at the hospital.  Through this experience, the Lord spoke to our son Mike and inspired him to take the leap of faith to apply for medical school.  On May 15, Mike’s 25th birthday, we drove Concepcion and her family up the mountain after delivery of her second son.  This really spoke to Mike, and the Lord gave him reassurance that he was following the divine path laid out for his life!  He said he was blessed to spend his birthday serving in a calling that he hopes to return to after medical school -- touching individual lives on the mission field. 

     Another miracle we experienced was made clear in a conversation we had with Nicolas -- the man for whom we built the concrete block home in the mountains.  After the house was completed, he borrowed a cell phone and called us to say that this was the greatest thing anyone had ever done for he and his family.  He invited us to his home for a celebration, and made sure to tell us that he purchased a chicken especially for his wife to make dinner for us.  The only time the mountain families eat chicken is at Christmas -- if they can afford it even once a year!  We could tell he was crying as he thanked us.  His voice trailed off in choked -up emotion, and we are sure he called rather than visiting because he didn’t want us to see him cry.  You see, this is our Gabby’s biological father.  He was the hardest, meanest, and most feared man in the mountains for years.  He would get drunk and have frequent machete fights with other men.  He has a deep scar on his neck from ear to ear from one of those fights.  Michael Beene stitched him up and in his words, “...had to practically sew his head back on.”  Tom led Nicolas to Christ three years ago, and he is living evidence of God’s power to save and change lives!

     One miracle that took place in the spring was completely unexpected.  The mountain villages of Pinalito and Volcan had been at war with each other for years.  Recently, Volcan obtained guns by joining forces with a gang of drug traffickers.  So they had the people of Pinalito (armed only with machetes) living in constant fear, as their girls were raped, their grandparents were murdered, and their property was stolen mercilessly.  The pastor and his church members in Pinalito prayed for this decades-old feud to end.  Finally they were directed by the Lord to go to Volcan to preach the Gospel!!  In fear and trembling they obeyed.  Again, to make a long story short, the people of Volcan repented and the two villages are working together to build churches in Volcan!  Our son Mike was able to hike to Volcan with Michael Beene, as they became the first two white people to ever enter that village!  What an amazing miracle by our Lord who answers prayer!

The Lord of Our Hearts
     Although construction of the mission house is a very necessary and exciting part of our ministry, for us it’s really all about the people.  The times we love most are when we can actually sit down with the people of the mountain villages and get to know them as precious individuals who are so dear to the Lord.  So many times we are running around, trying to give out as many donations and fill as many urgent needs as we can before the sun goes down.  Those times are a real blessing, but the days that touch our hearts the most are when we can throw away the schedule and visit with them.  We have done that at the city dump on Easter Sunday with the people who live there and forage for food every day.  We have done that in the mountains with the young mothers who are frightened about raising their children.  We have visited with the widows who are raising their grandchildren and cannot afford medications for them.  

     We find that although their life circumstances could not be more different than ours, they are surprisingly like us in many ways.  They love to laugh, they like to give, and they need to cry.  They can tell the funniest stories, smile the biggest smiles, and give in ways that are extravagant for them.  We always leave the mountains with a bag of eggs and a stack of homemade tortillas -- gifts from the heart given by just about every family we minister to.  The Lord is all about loving relationships.  We consider ourselves immensely blessed that He has given us the precious Mayan people of the mountains to love.  


Prayer requests for 2015

1. Please pray for the girls who become young mothers at a very early age -- especially for those who become single mothers due to rape.  Pray that the men would honor the Lord and learn to respect the purity of these girls.  
2. Pray that we will continue to build trust with the people of the villages, so that mothers will feel safe coming to our mission house.  
3. We need to improve our Spanish language skills.  Pray that we can make time for lessons and also find a good teacher.  
4. Pray for healing for Tom’s hip, as we may need to stay in Guatemala for most of this year and once again postpone his hip replacement surgery. 
5. Please pray that we will be allowed to appear before the judge in Zacapa and obtain legal custody of Gabby this winter.  We need the Lord’s favor because the Guatemalan government has several agencies involved, which has complicated our situation.  
6. Funds are needed for completion of the second floor of the mission house.  When we are able to move upstairs, (along with interns) then the entire first floor can be used as a shelter and crisis pregnancy center.  Approximately $22,000 is needed to go from the current concrete shell to full completion.  

       Thank you for your prayers and your support.  God bless you and your family!!

A Year of Surprises, Promises and Blessings!

       We pray that your Christmas was blessed with God's love and His presence.  As we were praying and thanking God for all of the ways He blessed the ministry in 2013, we decided to write a brief  "Year in Review"  to let you all know how faithful and full of surprises the Lord has been in the past year.  He is really moving in some amazing and miraculous ways in the ministry.  In addition, God is in the process of teaching us and giving us focus in the direction He wants us to go.  He made it clear in 2013 that He is working lovingly in the hearts of many people we did not expect, in ways we did not anticipate!

       2013 began with a major blessing -- we were able to move our family into the first floor of the mission house!  We have just the bare minimum in basic necessities for ourselves, Gabby and Mae.  But we are so used to that, and it felt great to have a place to call our own.  We had been renting a bedroom in the FIA dormitory for 4 years, so you can imagine how excited we were to have a little privacy and our own kitchen (even though it's just a hot plate, mini-fridge and sink!).  During our time at the mission in March, we were blessed to have all four of our children together for the first time!  Mike was with us for a month and Aly came to visit on her spring break from teaching in Philadelphia.  We had a wonderful time together, and it was such a blessing to do ministry as a family once again!  

       On a trip to the mountain village of Pinalito that month, God allowed us to assist Him in saving the lives of a mother and her baby.  Concepcion had been in labor for 3 days when we discovered her in the family's stick hut.  We noted that the baby was not descending into position for delivery, and suspected that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.  We hopped in our truck and began the extremely bumpy descent down the mountain road (an 18-mile trip takes nearly 3 hours), knowing that the rough ride could very well bring on the birth of the baby.  We arrived at the hospital just in time for an emergency C-section which saved the lives of both mother and baby!  It was such a blessing to care for Concepcion and her beautiful boy for the next several days, and to bring them back up the mountain to join their family.  We also ministered to several other pregnant women by housing them when they came down from the mountains for medical care.  

God's Calling Has New Clarity in Spring 

        God moved in a big way again in May, when our son Mike decided to postpone his entrance to medical school in order to go back and serve in Guatemala.  Although Mike had done mission work throughout high school and college, The Lord really touched his heart in a special way during our time in Guatemala over the winter.  It was so exciting to see God working in him, and to see many of the reasons God called him as they became apparent in the following months.   Mike and his friends discovered the tragedy of children in the mountains who were literally starving to death -- a result of failed corn and bean crops that left families in even more extreme poverty than usual.  With illnesses taking over their frail bodies, and their families unable to feed them or provide medical care,  we became aware of the need for a nutrition center in Zacapa.  We are praying about providing this service to the people once we are able to put a roof on the second floor of the mission house.  At the same time, the Lord showed us clearly that our ministry would expand to include the city dump in Zacapa, where more than 200 people live and scavenge for food in the mountains of garbage.  We are now visiting the dump on a regular basis, distributing food and clothing, evangelizing and praying with the people.  

       God performed another miracle in June, when our son was riding a bus from Guatemala City to Zacapa with our 5 year-old daughter, Gabby.  Someone on the bus called the police because they thought Mike was kidnapping Gabby.  They were taken to jail, and Mike had no documentation with him to prove his identity or Gabby's.  Miraculously, our lawyer friend knows the judge in the town where they were arrested.  If not for God's intervention by using Harold to get them released, it could have been a very grave and dangerous situation for both of them.  Through these circumstances, Harold met a justice of the supreme court in Guatemala City who agreed to help us finalize Gabby's adoption.  God is so faithful!


The Lord of our Hearts

        In October we arrived at the mission house to find the second floor completely flooded from the monsoon rains that are typical from June through November.  We have cinder block walls on the second floor, but we have not been able to pour the concrete roof due to lack of funds.  The house has been through two rainy seasons without a second floor roof, so that is our most urgent need right now.  Water is now leaking through the first floor ceiling, and the integrity of the building will be compromised if we are not able to pour the roof before June of this year.  God directed us to go ahead and plan for the roof, although we do not have the $14,000 needed for the project.  So we sent out emails at the end of October, asking several churches if they would be willing to send down a team and help fund the project.  At this time, we are hoping to pour the roof in March or April.  At the same time, we met two pastors in Guatemala City, who pledged to support our ministry with prayer.  They also offered to send several men from each of their churches out to Zacapa to help us with the roof!  This is a true miracle and example of God changing hearts.  Generally, Guatemalan churches do not get involved in missions.  They do not understand the Biblical principle of helping those less fortunate because they are poor themselves and have always relied on American missionaries to meet the needs of the most desperate among their people.  It is so exciting to see God working in this way, because He is changing a mindset that has been in place for hundreds of years!

       In December, God gave us the idea to provide "Blessing Bags" to families in the mountain villages.  These bags of food are supplying basic needs in the wake of failed corn and bean crops in the mountains.  We put out a request for people to fund these bags, and we will be distributing them this month.  Our greatest need right now is for prayer.  Next is the need for funds and a team to complete our second floor roof project.  The second floor of the mission house is very important, because the first floor has only 3 small bedrooms.  Our family is occupying 2 of them (we could squeeze into one if we had to) so that does not leave much room for the pregnant mothers and their children.  We hope to become licensed as an orphanage one day, because there are so many babies who are abandoned by families in desperate situations.  If the Lord also directs us to provide services as a nutrition center, the need for a second floor will be crucial.  We will live in a portion of the upstairs, so that the rest of the house will be available for these three vital ministries.  The needs are so great, but our God is so much greater and completely able to fulfill His promise to care for these precious people!

        Photos and details of all these projects and experiences can be found on our website.  We also try to keep the Facebook page updated every few weeks with photos and stories of God's faithfulness.  This letter is just a brief summary.  We could go on for many pages detailing the seemingly "little" ways that the Lord has spoken to us.  We are so blessed and encouraged by what the Lord is doing.  This is HIS ministry, and He has invited us to be involved in helping the precious people of Guatemala.  God has shown us in several distinct ways that they are like royalty to Him.  That's how much He loves them!  As we get ready for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on January 19, let's ask the Lord to show us that every life matters!  He created each and every person -- including the scorned and the forgotten -- for a special purpose!  That is His pleasure and His promise!

       Thank you so much for standing with us to protect and preserve LIFE!  We can't wait to see what God has in store for the ministry in 2014!  You are in our prayers continually, and we pray that your walk with Jesus continues to be the center of your life and of your family in the new year.  Do not be afraid to trust the Lord, and obey Him in all that He calls you to do.  God bless you and your family.


Tom and Arlene

     Below is an entry from my personal blog that I posted on April 28, 2009.  I am reposting it here in order to explain the humble beginnings that birthed Life of Promise Ministries four years ago.  Yes, it began with "the love of one..." and that "one" was our little Gabby (referred to below by her given name of Justina).   You can read more personal stories of the women and children we are ministering to at: www.arlenerichmond61@blogspot.com


     I hope these stories bless you and encourage you to follow the Lord with your whole heart.
--Arlene 


        Before we met Justina on November 8 of 2008, our lives were literally and figuratively "worlds apart" from hers. Let me give you a bit of a background to let you know where she came from. Please keep in mind that although I am giving this my best possible effort, there is no way to adequately describe in words the world she comes from. It is so foreign to most people, that on your first visit you would think you must be on a movie set where even the smells are piped in for added effect.

      Michael and Rocky Beene began Faith in Action Ministries more than 20 years ago. Their very first calling as a couple was to the mountains of Guatemala, where the Lord led them to bring the gospel to the indigenous Mayan Indian people of Matessano and Pinalito. These people were driven off their native land in the fertile valleys by colonial rulers from Spain nearly 300 years ago, and forced to settle in the mountains where the terrain is very steep, the land is unsuitable for farming, and clean drinking water is not available.

      The poverty, serious health problems, lack of education and primitive lifestyle of these people make it appear as if they are among the insignificant and forgotten of the world. Families live in huts with thatched roofs made of palm leaves and walls made of bamboo. They cook over open fires inside these huts, so respiratory problems are rampant and death from lung disease is common. Their main crop is corn, and corn tortillas are the main staple of their diet. Young girls and women wear homemade native dresses, while men and boys wear jeans and t-shirts or western-style shirts. Most children go barefoot, and by age 10 the bottoms of their feet look like they were painted with black tar. The children have only a handful of outfits, and most of their clothes are tattered and quite dirty.

      Every man and boy over age 8 carries a machete and knows how to use it for routine activities and for protection. The extremely steep and rugged terrain forces the people to practice the ancient tradition of subsistence farming. Men often sleep in their corn fields with machetes in order to protect their crops from the rampant theft that takes place in the mountains.

      Ever since the indigenous population was ruthlessly exploited by Spanish colonial settlers, they have not trusted those who are educated, and thus do not value literacy or education in general. Although Faith in Action opened a grade school in Pinalito many years ago, only a small percentage of the village children are allowed by their parents to attend school. Many drop out and do not even graduate from the sixth grade.

      The physical and practical disadvantages of the mountain people are compounded by the emotional and spiritual strongholds of the ancient superstitions and false religions they observe. A mixture of warped Catholicism presented by Spanish colonists and Mayan beliefs passed down through many generations, has developed into practices steeped in fear and hopelessness. Only those who have accepted the gospel live with any real joy, moral character and sense of purpose.

      This is the world into which Justina de Rosa Perez entered on June 1, 2008. Her mother died the very next day due to complications of childbirth, leaving a husband and six children under age 10. The missionaries' account of Juana's death is sad and shocking, but the reality is that death from preventable or treatable health problems is all too common in the mountains.

      On June 2, missionaries Ron Moro and Nathan Sampson were at the mission base in Pinalito when Juana's husband, Nicholas, frantically urged them to come to his hut immediately. He explained that his wife had not eaten for eight days and now she was lying in the hut and could not speak. They rushed over to find the woman in a semi-conscious state with leaves stuck in her nose and ears. They recognized the leaves as the work of a witch doctor performing some type of ceremony in an attempt to save her life. They quickly performed CPR and began praying for her as well.

      At that point, a female witch doctor entered the hut and tried to force Juana to drink some kind of black liquid. Ron and Nathan tried to stop her, but by then it was too late. Justina's mother breathed her last breath, as her children and husband stood by wailing in grief. The witch doctor frantically summoned the children over to Juana's side and placed her lifeless hand on each child's forehead in an attempt to transfer her spirit to them. The two missionaries began to pray out loud for the family, and at that point the witch doctor angrily left the hut.


      In the midst of the chaos, Ron noticed that the oldest child had picked up a newborn baby. It was then that they realized the cause of the mother's death. They stayed quite a while with the family to pray for them, and then returned to the mission base to gather some food for them. The mission continued to provide formula for the baby, but the other children in the family also drank it because they had so little food to eat. The baby was left in the care of her 9 year-old sister, Brenda Maribel, when their father went away to work in the coffee fields. Juana's sister also took the baby for two weeks but then returned her to the family, saying that she could not handle an infant plus all of her own children. 

      One day in the fall, Ron and his teenage children visited Nicholas' hut and found that the baby was extremely malnourished. The bottle she was drinking from was completely filthy and the nipple was full of dirt and fungus. They asked Nicholas for permission to take the baby to the mission base and nurse her back to health. He agreed, and that's how our lives crossed paths as we arrived in Guatemala that day in November to help our missionary friends with a construction project. To be continued...