fiesta en las montanas

the last post was really long.. ill try and keep this one a bit shorter..

we got to go up into the mountains to this little village that has a pretty popular little festival every weekend, with food and music and little booths where people sell their wares.. little threaded bracelets, assorted nuts, foam alligator toys, mariachi singers.. it was pretty sweet, we had a lot of fun.. and then we went a little further up into the mountains to a little coffee plantation, where we had a little dessert and mochaccino.. layo and luchy are trying to show us their country and welcome us with appreciation and true salvadorian hospitality.. and we are soaking it up, it has been wonderful..

it was difficult seeing poverty so close at hand, to really be immersed in it.. throngs of street dogs with skin sores and sunken rib cages, old women with no teeth, little children peddling beans and tomatoes for their parents profits.. and all flocking to our team because we are perceived as being incredibly wealthy.. it was deeply moving, and i spent a lot of my time in that town just quietly observing and contemplating.. my thoughts kept centering on two things really:

first, that i am so blessed.. for whatever reason, i was born in a land of justice and opportunity and freedom, where i have never faced corruption or starvation or true poverty.. i have to think that i have been so blessed because the Lord wants me to use the incredible blessings He has bestowed upon me to serve those who are hurting around the world.. we are so well taken care of in america.. praise God for that, and may we all be more willing to give out of that incredible blessing to reach out to those who genuinely need..

second, that these are the people i have a heart for.. Jesus' heart broke for the impoverished and the hungry and the sick and the blind and the hurting and the burdened.. a quick breeze through any of the four gospels can tell you that.. and He has begun to develop that same heart in me as well.. i ache for them, and with them.. as much as my privileged mind can understand what their daily lives are like.. i want to see these people come to know the wonderful love of Christ that fills empty hearts.. but i know that i can share the Gospel with these people all year and see a handful, maybe even a churchful of people come to Christ.. but in order to truly care for these people, to care for the people after them, we must also work hard at reaching the leaders with the love of Christ, so they can in turn pour it out lavishly upon the people they are supposed to be serving.. the crimes will continue to spiral out of control, the poverty will continue to permeate their society, children will continue to go to bed hungry, unless the people who have the power to change these things are moved to action.. and that is why the Lord has called me here!

well i tried to keep it short.. looks like i kinda failed.. but i hope it was an encouragement to you, and i hope it moves you to action.. whatever that may be.. but of any action you choose to take, please continue to pray for our ministry here, for the people of el salvador to be touched with the Gospel, for the children and mothers who i can picture in my head even now who so desperately need what Jesus Christ has to offer..

love you all

here are some pictures from our mountain adventure..





i set up a photo gallery at http://gallery.me.com/trevor.miller, and ill try and keep it updated with lots of cool pictures!

big vision, big God

we had dinner at layos tonight [layo and his wife luchy are the national directors here in el salvador.. they also oversee campus crusade for the rest of central america, mexico, and the caribbean.. they are incredible people].. anyways, they gave us a big picture view of why we are here and what we are helping them accomplish.. it was incredible! i got goosebumps several times sitting at that dinner table, and i wanted to share it with you as well.. i want to give you a picture of the reality of this country, and the reality that God can use our team to literally change the course of history for this entire country!

layo shared with us a bit of the history of his country, which many of you have probably already heard through my conversations with you.. el salvador, like many central american countries, was conquered by the spanish empire long ago.. when they came, they pronounced everyone Catholic, and declared that the native salvadorians had no souls and were not equal with them.. when they finally did recognize the humanity of the natives, they forced them to abandon their gods and embrace Catholicism.. the natives, however, continued to worship their gods internally while practicing a ritualistic, external Catholicism.. this created a fracture in the salvadorian culture, fostering a dual morality that exist to this day; there is no conflict here between doing whatever you wish during the week, and simply performing a few rituals at mass to be forgiven..

five percent of the population owns almost everything here.. this five percent is made up almost entirely of people of pure spanish descent.. they are called criollos.. they run the banks, the government, the media, they own the land.. there is little opportunity to move up in class.. in the past few decades, a small middle class has emerged that now is about twenty five percent of the population, mostly made up of mixed spanish and native descent.. they are called mestizos.. the rest of the population, about sixty percent, live in poverty.. if they dont sell something today, they do not eat tomorrow.. sixty percent of the population!

there have been a steady stream of missionaries here since the fifties.. as of 1970, less than three percent of the population claimed to be evangelicals.. during the war, the Catholic church became very political, driving away people who genuinely wanted to worship apart from connections to political issues.. the evangelical church exploded during the next few decades, and continues to grow.. as of now, one in every three people here are evangelical Christians.. there is one church for every seven hundred people here..

this is incredible! praise the Lord for using an ugly war to bring life to so many people.. but here is the thing that i find so inconsistent.. why, when the evangelical church has grown so much and there are so many believers, is the country still wading in poverty? why have crime rates skyrocketed? why is there no real change?

this is the case because the vast majority of the true evangelicals are in the ninety percent of the population that are relatively powerless to change much.. the way the social system is set up, it is nearly impossible for that ninety percent to move up in the social system, let alone affect any sort of lasting difference in their society.. an attitude of, 'this is just the way it is' permeates this country.. no one is motivated for social justice because the ones who need the change are powerless to produce it.. and the ones with the power to change it simply dont care enough..

here is the point: in order to see real change happen in this country, that top five percent need to see Jesus.. they need to hear how Jesus had compassion on the sick and the poor, how he changed the world, turned religion and politics and economics upside down.. if this top five percent really sought to be more like Jesus, the entire country would, without doubt, transform.. the only way poverty can truly be solved is if the countrys leaders want to see this transformation, and begin to have a heart for the poor and the starving..

the sweet thing about all this is that this is what my team is here to do! we will be sharing Jesus' powerful, radical, life-changing and life-giving message to the current and future leaders of this country.. we will be working with students who will literally assume control of this country within the next five or ten years! if these leaders are truly touched with the message of the Gospel, they will literally alter their countrys history..

how sweet is that?! what an honor it is to be here in the very foundational stages of such an incredible awakening! it is so humbling to think that the Lord may use ten college students from another country and eight national staff to forever change el salvador..

please be praying! pray for the hearts of the students we will be working with, that they will see how beautiful the Gospel is! pray that they will want to be the men and women that God uses to change the violence and corruption in their country! pray that our team and the staff would be united in this incredible cause! this is a huge vision, but there is a very big God who is in control..

thanks guys!

i have arrived!

hi everyone,

i hope you are all well! first of all, thank you so much to those of you who supported me in going on this trip.. i want you to know that the Lord has used you in incredible ways already, and i know He will continue to do so..

i set up this blog so i can keep you all informed about what im doing here and what our ministry looks like..

we have had a very sweet last couple days, from arriving on the plane until now.. we are settling in to our house, which i share with the three other guys on my team, jeff joe and brandon.. we absolutely love it! [i will post pictures online soon] we have had the privelege of meeting layo and luchy, the national/regional directors.. they are incredible people, with an incredible vision and heart for the people of el salvador.. they stayed all through the civil war and raised their kids while a third of their fellow salvadorians fled to other countries as refugees.. you will be hearing much more about them..

earlier today, we actually got to do a little ministry! we visited one of the campuses we will be working on, universidad evangelica, and got to be a part of their weekly meeting.. campus crusade in el salvador is called 'vida estudiantil'.. we introduced ourselves and had conversations with the students.. it was really exciting to talk with students that we have been praying for for many months already!

i have already started to pick up on the spanish much better, i am understanding most of what the students say, and i can respond back fairly well.. my three years of high school spanish are flooding back, and i have such a strong desire to be able to speak to these students in the language of their hearts.. i still have a long way to go before i could be considered bilingual, but it has only been 48 hours.. hopefully i will get there!

here are a couple ways to contact me:

- skype: my user name is trevor.d.miller
- email: trevor.miller@mac.com
- phone: 1 (661) 347-0594
- when you call this number, it will actually dial my computer in el salvador, while your phone sees it as simply making a local call! technology is amazing yeah? feel free to call, it works really well.. you can leave a voicemail too..
- paper mailing: it would be so much fun to get a paper letter! im not sure how much it is, you would just have to ask at the post office i guess.. here is my address:

Trevor Miller
Senda Los Claveles #13
Colonia Primavera
Santa Tecla, La Libertad
EL SALVADOR

and one other thing: i will be posting pictures on my mac gallery.. go to http://gallery.me.com/trevor.miller and you can see all my pictures! there arent any posted yet, but hopefully soon!

well i think thats all for now.. please feel free to call or write with any questions or encouragement or anything you like!

i love you all..