El Sal

proximamente

2009-03-28T08:14:00.002-06:00

proximamente means 'coming soon'.. because a very large update will be coming in the next couple days.. the last two weeks have been the craziest weeks yet of my eight months here.. i have so much to tell you and no time at the moment to start.. but i promise it will be soon! thanks for all you guys who read regularly!

trip to the zoo

2009-03-17T11:47:00.009-06:00

hey everyone, sorry its been a while since ive posted.. ive had a lot on my mind and havent really felt like writing.. also, we havent really done much.. but anyways, we went to the zoo on friday just to get out of the house and do something fun as a team, and it ended up being really sweet.. i love animals, and i got some decent pictures of some of them so yeah.. enjoy!

if you click on the pictures and look at them full size, some of them are really incredible.. and as always, there are a lot more pictures at the gallery..

even trev has a bad day..

2009-03-09T00:46:00.002-06:00

its late.. i should probably be in bed.. but i just have this nagging.. something.. that wont let me..

i just listened to a podcast from francis chan called, 'even francis has a bad day,' hence the title of this post.. he was just talking about feeling like he was under strong spiritual attack.. he explained that he had been planning on having the sermon that morning be about rejoicing, and praising God.. but when he got to church, he was feeling like anything but rejoicing.. and he talked about just not being able to fake it up in front of all these people..

i really identified with that.. i dont know what it is in me, but i think im realizing something about myself.. i noticed it last night when my mom and sister were skyping with me, and asked me how i was doing.. i said, oh im fine.. and i realized that i really was not fine.. i realized that i usually respond to questions like that with, im great! or im fine.. and thats pretty much it.. part of it is honestly because i just dont get bummed out too often.. but when i am, i still tend to just say, oh im fine..

i feel like most of what i say on this blog is just awesome stories of how everything is great, and sweet things im learning.. stuff that gets you pumped and makes you wanna listen to 'eye of the tiger' and go save the world.. and i think its so awesome that the Lord has been teaching me so much, and giving me an incredible, crazy vision for what He wants to do in this country.. but at the same time, im not always at that place of just loving life.. i have been hesitating to post anything for the last week, because i honestly just felt like i didnt have anything to say that would be of any value or encouragement, nothing i was feeling that would get people pumped up.. i couldnt bring myself to write about how awesome life is right now because actually, life is really hard right now.. and i think i needed to just say that.. not for anyone to console me, but i think i just needed to be honest in saying that life is hard right now, i feel like im under attack, and please continue to pray for me.. i know so many of you do pray faithfully, and i cant thank you enough with any amount of words..

i have a sense of peace about all this.. im not crying myself to sleep, by any means.. i think im just getting to a point in my stint year where i will really need to lean fully on the Lords strength to push through.. i have been getting weary of being apart from ali.. it has been so hard to feel connected to the woman i love with so many miles between us and such sporadic communication.. i just really miss her..

well, im rambling at this point, and my eyes are starting to quit on me.. i better call it.. i hope this didnt come off as depressing! i still love Jesus and He loves me too.. its just been really, really hard this last week.. but thats ok! God is still good, and i am still privileged enough to be here in el salvador, sharing what He has done to change my life.. i knew when i signed up that it would be a great honor, but that it would also be really hard and growing and stretching.. turns out i was right..

thanks for all your prayers, friends..

real men | Gods Word

2009-03-01T23:05:00.002-06:00

one of our favorite things to do here on stint is listen to sermons.. its something that i think makes life feel very normal, or at least more normal.. and our choice every sunday is really between attending a spanish speaking church here in town, or listen to a podcast of a pastor from the states.. call it a cop out if you wish, ill own it.. i just know that for me, church is a place where i go expecting to be fed and refreshed, and charged up to go back out into the world for the rest of the week.. at this stage in the game, a two hour sermon in spanish is a total drain; we tried it when we first got here for several weeks, and it was just really tough.. so now.. podcast sermons!

also popular on our team is one particular pastor that some of you may recognize.. his name is francis chan, and he is a pastor at cornerstone community in simi valley.. i heard francis speak a few times during high school, when he would come speak at grace baptist, and i was always just amazed at how real this guy was.. he spoke with passion and authority, but without a hint of pride or self glorification.. he speaks with this kind of conviction and passion because he is a man who humbly recognizes that he is broken, and is willing to live his life in front of the world, fully exposed, so that God might be glorified through him.. he reminds me so much of paul from the Scriptures..

ive been listening to a short five part series he did a while back called, the end of the world.. i honestly started listening to it because i just wanted to hear about the prophecies and the end times and that sort of thing, but its totally not how it has played out.. he has been focusing on 2 timothy 3, which starts with the verse, 'but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty..' the series has not been centered on the prophecies and the wild things the Bible says will happen.. besides, when paul says 'the last days,' it includes everything from Jesus' death on the cross until Jesus returns.. no, the core of the study is the question of whether or not we are prepared, whether we are living our lives to stake a stand for Christ in the face of all the evil the world throws at us every day..

todays sermon, part four in the series, was about two things: leaving a rich heritage, and living by Scripture.. from 2 tim. 3.13-14 says that people will continue to go from bad to worse as history draws to a close.. paul, the author, encourages timothy, the recipient, to continue in the things he had learned, always keeping in his mind who had taught him.. francis explained that no matter what is going on around us, we have been laid with the charge to raise men and women of God who are committed to His Kingdom at all costs.. i want to be able to look my kids in the eye one day and confidently tell them, 'i have lived my life before you.. you have seen that i would do anything for Jesus.. now go do the same..' i want to be one of those solid, unwavering, absolutely real men who people can point to and say, i watched his life, and he is the real thing..

the second part was really just a total encouragement to me.. he just talked about the power of the Bible, that it is completely sufficient for salvation.. it was humbling to be reminded of the fact that there are no words that i could ever say that would be powerful enough to save someones soul.. the Word of God is even more powerful than any physical miracle that God could perform.. the Bible is simply more convincing.. its an incredible and bewildering and startling truth, but it is true nonetheless.. there is just so much power in the Word of God.. its comforting to know that as i am down here, surrounded by people who speak another language, often stumbling over words and feeling insecure or uncertain about what to say.. i know what to say.. i speak Gods Word, nothing more or less.. and i trust that God will do the work in the persons heart.. 'the Word of God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...' its funny, it doesnt mention anything in the Bible about the Word of Trevor, and how powerful it is.. its nice to know i dont have to rely on myself for people to meet Christ..

nehemiah part one

2009-02-25T21:59:00.003-06:00

we have been reading out of nehemiah for team Bible study, and we have been learning some really cool things about ministry, that are really applicable to what we have been doing here in el salvador.. God has been so faithful to show us a lot of truth and wisdom from nehemiah and his experience, so i thought i would share some with you..

just a little bit of a summary for anyone whos not too familiar with the story: nehemiah is a jewish exile in persia, and the cupbearer to the persian king artaxerxes, when a messenger from israel comes and informs nehemiah that the walls of jerusalem were broken down and the gates destroyed.. he is heartbroken for the state of his people and their city, and asks the king for permission to go help rebuild the wall.. the king allows him to, so nehemiah returns to jerusalem and leads his people in the effort to restore honor to the God and His people.. so here are some sweet things weve seen:

- nehemiahs ministry is borne out of need; he sees a need, and it is through that need that he feels the Lord call him.. most of our team felt the Lord call us here to el salvador because we were confronted with a great need.. and when the greatest cause in the world meets a great need.. its something to really consider..

- nehemiah was so heartbroken for his people, for the injustices being done to them at the hands of their enemies, for their helplessness and hopelessness.. it was just really challenging to me to really think through how broken i am for those who dont know Christ, and for people who suffer every day..

- nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king.. this pretty much meant that he stood by the kings side, testing all his food and drink to make sure it was not poisoned! in some ways this really resonates with a team like ours pioneering a new ministry.. first of all, we get the very first taste.. every morsel of exotic, gourmet food that the king ever ate.. was first tried by nehemiah.. he got the first sweet taste of some of the best food in the world.. but he never, ever got the full portion of that meal.. and, he also risked his life with every bite and every sip he ever took; if it was poisoned, he would die.. yet he willingly took those bites and sips.. as a pioneering team, we get to have the sweet first tastes of what will be a thriving ministry, but we wont experience the full portion.. and we also get to be risky, try new things, fail, and pass that on to the future teams!

- today we talked about nehemiah 3, which is basically just a huge list of names.. brenna led our time, and she drew a map of the wall on a whiteboard, and as we read through we found all the places that are called out in the chapter that people worked on.. the content was really mostly just names, but we pulled out some really cool thruths..

1. often times its nehemiah who is credited with the rebuilding of the walls, but the fact that so many names are listed just shows Gods character in wanting to honor all the families who built right along side nehemiah..

2. most of the men and families who helped in the efforts worked on the section of the wall closest to their home.. this is really sweet, because they really took on what was in their own backyard, the thing closest to their hearts.. we all have unique roles on our team, and we all get to tackle things that the Lord has laid on each of our hearts.. and we are continuing to see clearer and clearer just how uited each persons role is for how the Lord has uniquely created them to be..

3. one really sweet thing we saw was that such and such a person rebuilt the gate and 'set its bolts and its bars...' this occurred over and over.. i think what this said to me was that these people often couldnt offer much; they couldnt build the whole wall by themselves, or maybe couldnt really build a wall at all.. but they did what they knew, they focused on one thing, and they absolutely poured their hearts into it..

4. they were unified, but dispersed.. they were all of one mind, but worked contentedly and faithfully on different parts of the wall.. they couldnt all work on the same part of the wall; that would be absurd.. but they spread out and worked until the wall came together, all with one unified purpose..

we are building a wall of sorts here in el salvador.. our 'wall' is a foundation for a movement that will last for years, decades, who knows.. pray with us: that we will be united; that we will be willing to take risks, for the sake of the movement; that we would be faithful to pursue what is closest to our heart, and do it to the best of our ability; that others back home would see the need and answer the Great Call to come here and be a part of God moving in this country!

more in nehemiah later..

know your enemy

2009-02-21T19:30:00.010-06:00

so i wrote a couple days ago about my study in genesis 3, and Satans temptation of eve, and the fall of mankind.. and i wrote a little bit about how Satan is cruel and ruthless and what not, and cares only for the destruction of our souls, or something like that.. and it reminded me of the way cs lewis presents satan in one of my all time favorite books, Perelandra..

Perelandra is the second book in a science fiction trilogy that follows a man named dr ransom as he travels to distant planets in our solar systems.. ransom is brought to the planet called perelandra supernaturally, with little explanation as to why he was summoned there.. because i encourage every single person who reads this to read Perelandra i will keep details to a minimum, but we find out from reading on that venus (as was speculated to be during the time the novel was written) is a vast ocean.. cs lewis creates this world filled with floating islands that collide and separate again, always changing the landscape.. ransom discovers a woman, and through speaking with her discovers that she has become separated from her husband, and is searching for him, and that they are the only native inhabitants.. ransom also discovers through the woman that there is only one island on the planet, 'the fixed land,' that the woman is permitted by God to be on, but not permitted to live on, or sleep on.. the woman takes him to the fixed land, and while there ransom discovers that a spaceship carrying a physicist from earth had landed on perelandra.. the woman leaves and ransom and this man, named weston, begin having a philosophical conversation.. to make a long story short, weston says that God and Satan are really the same 'Life-Force,' and calls it into himself.. at this point weston becomes possessed by Satan himself, and the stage for the rest of the novel is set..

the parallels to the genesis story are unmistakable (the only addition being ransoms presence) as the possessed weston begins to tempt the woman to live on the fixed land, thus breaking the only commandment given her by God.. the majority of the novel becomes very dialogue-driven, revolving around the very precarious interactions between the innocent 'Eve' and Satan himself (through westons body), with ransom battling against him to help the woman cling to truth.. lewis does an incredible job of displaying the weight of what is at stake, and the weight of that moment we read about in genesis that once existed for mankind on earth.. the fate of this planet hinges on ransoms ability to fight against Satans crafty temptations directed at the woman..

i bring this all up because i feel that lewis paints an incredibly convincing picture of what Satan is really like.. i wanted to share a couple quotes from the book, to more or less just expose Satan for who he is..

"I [the woman] have said already that we are forbidden to dwell on the Fixed Land. Why do you not either talk of something else or stop talking?"
"Because this forbidding is such a strange one," said the Man's voice. "And so unlike the ways of [God] in my world... It is mere command. It is forbidding for the mere sake of forbidding."
"But why...?"
"In order that you may break it...that you may become really old [wise]..." (p. 89, 100)

the parallels here are so clear, arent they? it is almost an excerpt from Scripture, with the implications Satan makes in his questioning of eve.. he questions Gods goodness, and tries to create doubt in the womans heart.. this next section of dialogue gives me chills:

Ransom: "He [weston] says I am young, but I say not."
The voice of Weston's face spoke suddenly, and it was louder and deeper than before and less like Weston's voice.
"I am older than he," it said, "and he dare not deny it. Before the mothers of the mothers of his mother was conceived, I was already older than he could reckon. I have been with [God] in Deep Heaven where he never came and heard the eternal councils. And in the order of creation I am greater that he, and before me he is of no account... consider how white his cheeks have turned and how his forehead is wet... It is what happens -- it is the beginning of what happens -- to little creatures when they set themselves against great ones."
..."Listen, Lady," said Ransom. "There is something he is not telling you. All this that we are now talking has been talked before. The thing he wants you to try has been tried before. Long ago, when our world began, there was only one man and one woman in it, as you and [your husband] are in this. And there once before he stood, as he stands now, talking to the woman. He had found her alone as he found you alone. And she listened, and did the thing [God] had forbidden her to do. But no joy and splendour came of it... all love was troubled and made cold, and [God's] voice became hard to hear so that... life became narrower, not wider."
"He has hidden the half of what happened," said Weston's corpse-like mouth. "Hardness came out of it but also splendour... He has not told you that it was the breaking of the commandment which brought [God] to our world and because of which He was made man. He dare not deny it."
"Of course good came of it. Is [God] a beast that we can stop His path, or a leaf that we can twist His shape? Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever. The first King and first Mother of our world did the forbidden thing; and He brought good of it in the end. But what they did was not good; and what they lost we have not seen..." He turned to the body of Weston. "You," he said, "tell her all. What good came to you? Do you rejoice that [God] became a man? Tell her of your joys, and of what profit you had when you made [God] and Death acquainted."
...The body that had been Weston's threw up its head and opened its mouth and gave a long melancholy howl like a dog... (p.102-104)

i think we tend to forget who Satan is.. he has done an incredible job of making himself a laughable idea in our culture: the tiny little man on your shoulder, whispering things to you; the dude in red spandex with a plastic pitchfork that kids dress up as for halloween.. Satan is perfectly content in being mocked, so long as he continues to accomplish his tragic mission: to devour the souls of men (1 Peter 5.8) and destroy humankind (John 10.10).. we forget that Satan stands before God as an accuser of man, that he hates us with a fiery passion, and that he will do anything to destroy us.. we forget that Satan was once an archangel, and that he is still very powerful and incredibly manipulative, driven by his pride and consuming hate.. in another passage, lewis describes a way that the Satan-possessed body of Weston smiles, saying:

"The smile was not bitter, nor raging, nor, in an ordinary sense, sinister; it was not even mocking. It seemed to summon Ransom, with a horrible naivete of welcome, into the world of its own pleasures, as if all men were at one in those pleasures, as if they were the most natural thing in the world and no dispute could ever have occurred about them. It was not furtive, nor ashamed, it had nothing of the conspirator in it. It did not defy goodness, it ignored it to the point of annihilation... The extremity of its evil had passed beyond all struggle into some state which bore a horrible similarity to innocence. It was beyond vice as the Lady was beyond virtue." (p.95)

i could honestly quote the whole book here, and i want to, but youd stop reading (if you havent already) and i might get sued for copyright infringement.. so i better wrap this up.. i think just writing about Satan and the fall of man a few days back just got me thinking about who our enemy is.. that he would stop at nothing to destroy us, and that he would do it with joy in his heart and a smile on his face.. and if all goes as he hopes, all of mankind will have smiles on their faces as well..

but have no fear! thank God for Jesus! thank God that He is so much stronger than Satan, that we have a hope.. but lets not forget that without God, without Jesus, we are hopeless.. if we try to face Satan and his attacks alone, we will fail.. we need to be daily putting on our armor (Ephesians 6.12-18) and coming to the Lord in prayer for His protection and strength..

i just think that if we can get a clearer picture of who Satan is, what he really wants with us, and how he goes about his business, then it makes it so much easier to resist him.. we can almost hear his deceptive and tempting voice in our heads, beckoning us into sin.. and if we recognize that he only desires our destruction, then sin becomes so much more repulsive and undesirable.. and his attempts at beckoning us become much more pathetic..

thats all.. thanks for taking the time to read this.. buy the book!

An Emergency

2009-02-19T22:49:00.003-06:00

this was written by lauren sexton.. if you dont know lauren, she is a member of the STINT team here in el salvador.. i thought you would like to read what she has to say..

So the other day my team and I got an email from Cayla Hatter and the Campus Crusade for Christ PSW team, giving us the status of the El Salvador STINT applications for 09-10. With only 11 days left until the application deadline, the official count of people applying with El Salvador as their first choice was....

one.

I think I have only been moved to tears two other times since coming on STINT, which is saying a lot. But after reading that I was suddenly overcome with such a heavy sadness. One? Really?

Before I go any further I would just like to clarify. I know that God is going to provide. I know that the work we have done, the hours we have spent praying for the salvation of these students, the hundreds of methods we tried that didn't work, will not have been spent in vain. I know the Lord will be faithful to continue to draw this nation to Himself. People will be saved. Leaders will be raised up. His purpose will be accomplished.

But you see, in that moment my heart was not burdened by the tragic state of this nation, but rather for our own.

9 of the current El Salvador STINTers, including myself, come from Cal Poly SLO. Our movement is one of the biggest in the US. Sometimes reaching up to 800 people, SLO Crusade students can easily pack out the giant auditorium in which our weekly meetings are held. Students have an awesome opportunity to be surrounded by community, hear challenging teaching from the Word, and be poured into individually by a discipler. Men and women are growing exponentially in their love for Jesus.

And yet, from that giant number, from the hundreds of students who love the Lord and are giving Him the glory in their lives, thus far only one has decided to take the leap of faith to go and meet the need in El Salvador. This, in my opinion, is much more than a sad statistic... it is an emergency.

I really think that Jesus meant the things He said. I think that when He said things like:

"anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:38)

and

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

Well I think He really meant it.

So I have to stop and wonder, what is it that prevents us from doing the things Jesus asks of us? Maybe it is fear... fear of leaving home or family, fear of what other people will think, fear of giving up a year of our lives. Maybe its a fear that we just aren't good enough.
Did you know that that the most frequent command that we see God give us in the Bible is "do not fear" ? I've heard that it is said around 365 times. You could have one for every day of the year that you are on STINT.

Or maybe we are believing Satan when he whispers things in our ear like "Fix your own problems first. You're just still too sinful to be of any use." The truth is that God likes to use the weakest, most broken people to do His work. I'd be the first to volunteer myself and every other person on my team as an example.

I think what a lot of this boils down to is this: We are simply lovers of self. We value our own lives and comfort more than we value what God desires. I know because I have been a victim of it myself. But the Lord gives us this verse:

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Cor. 5:14-15)

And so I urge you, brothers and sisters, to consider El Salvador. Consider the broken souls and desperate hearts that need to know Jesus. Consider carrying on the work here, of being co-laborers in Christ, of supporting your SLO Crusade's partnership. Consider the calling that God has for your life. Maybe it isn't STINT, but either way, I pray that you are listening to Him. Because truly, I have found nothing on this earth more rewarding than loving and serving the Lord with all my heart.

And if you do make the choice, I can absolutely guarantee you two things:
1) It will be the most growing year of your life.
2) God will move.

Thanks for reading.

Yours in Christ,
Lauren

Ps: Even if you know you are not being called to go on STINT, you can still join in helping us! If you know anyone who might be praying/thinking about STINT, please pass this message on. Not everyone knows how great the need is.

(please also join us in praying! pray with us that the Lord would move in peoples hearts; pray with us that those who feel the call would answer it, and not push it aside for any reason; pray that students who have not felt called yet would bring this before the Lord again, in humility and boldness, asking if they will be the one the Lord uses to meet the great need here; pray that people would see the need and feel it in their souls and be moved for compassion for the Remnant of believers here that is ready to be raised up!

thank you so much for reading! feel free to pass this along and encourage others to pray for El Salvador!)

trev

'but God' part 1: genesis 3.3

2009-02-18T18:45:00.007-06:00

so i finally started my 'but God' study that i mentioned a while back.. click this and read the third paragraph if you dont know what this new study is all about.. im really stoked about it! so here is the verse, prefaced with v.2 as well:

"and the woman said to the serpent, 'we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, "you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die."'" (genesis 3.2-3, esv)

this use of 'but God' does not explicitly fit into the general trend that i am trying to explore, the dynamic nature of the phrase 'but God,' but i wanted to study this in context more and include it anyways, because i think it has some very interesting things to take note of..

to set the stage a bit for this verse, the world at this moment is pure, innocent, untouched by the horror of sin.. adam and eve experience true fellowship with the Lord, communion with each other, harmony with nature.. they have it made, you could say.. then satan comes and tempts the woman, and mankind falls.. fellowship is broken between man and God, because of this ugly barrier of sin that is erected.. this is one of a very small handful of the most significant moments in the whole of human history (along with alis birthday and the invention of the wii..) man and woman are banished from the garden.. their banishment comes with a curse: women will experience pain in childbirth and striving for power in her relationship with her husband; the man will have to toil and labor to survive.. in a moment, life is no longer perfect.. life becomes hard..

i think there are some interesting things having to do with 'but God' in this verse:

- the 'but God' in this verse comes as eve is reciting the one and only commandment God gave them.. i find the addition to Gods commandment, 'neither shall you touch it,' kind of interesting and i dont know exactly what to make of it yet.. some people believe eve throws this in there as a reference to a command that adam possibly gave her, for additional protection.. but the fact is, its an addition to the single, simple command He had given the pair..

- the way satan asks eve the question is interesting too, because it highlights how deceptive he is.. he asks the question, 'did God actually say, "you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?"' and the insinuation is clearly, 'God has really restricted you from enjoying this place to its fullest? it doesnt sound like something a good God would say..' he sows doubt, and presents himself as an enlightened, heavenly being who is bringing a greater, newer truth than what God has presented.. satan continues to do this today.. he is ruthless, and purely hates, and enjoys the destruction of man.. he is cunning, and twists the truth into half truths that are filled with promise of blessing, but lead only to death and destruction and unhappiness..

- its so sad to picture the scene of adam and eve explaining their sin to the Lord.. Gods heart must have been so broken for His dear creation in that moment.. and instead of being truly remorseful for their distrust and disobedience, they compound the utter tragedy of this event by trying to pass the blame.. adam first tries to pin this mess on God Himself because He gave eve to him.. and then shifts the blame to his wife, because she tempted him.. God turns to eve, who shifts the blame to the serpent, trying to absolve her responsibility for her actions.. it just makes me so sad to think that this is our nature.. we constantly try to hide our guilt from an all knowing and perfectly holy God, who just wants us to be honest with Him and try our best to be holy as He is..

- finally, i just love that the Lord immediately answers this tragedy with the greatest beacon of hope and joy.. He says to satan, in more or less words, 'there will be war between your rebellion and the followers of Christ, until you are crushed forever..' i just love how swiftly the Lord responds to this devastating moment with the greatest promise of grace and redemption.. man has just fallen, but God immediately promises to send the One who raises up.. man is lost in sin and darkness, but God promises a Rescuer.. man is defeated, but God promises Victory.. its just such a beautiful contrast in that moment of what our destiny would have been without God, and what it can be when He steps in.. its even cool how He closes off the garden so man cannot eat of the tree of life and continue to live forever.. physical death in some ways was an act of mercy on Gods part, because spending an eternity in that fallen state would be a horrific punishment..

i guess in essence, that is the 'but God' moment in this passage.. a sad and hopeless story of death and separation becomes a glorious story of hope and redemption..

a sip of home

2009-02-17T09:17:00.003-06:00

the four of us guys have a time every week set aside to talk about how were doing, keep each other accountable, ask hard questions, etc.. jeff has been doing a great job of leading us in this time, making sure that its creative and doesnt become boring and routine.. so last night we decided to have our time out, and go to a restaurant none of us had been to yet.. there was some mild indifference regarding where we ate (my only stipulation was that they had good food, cause i was hungry..) so i suggested a taiwanese place called 168 that we had heard mentioned several times as the best asian food in the city.. so we decided to check it out..

the place was great, they serve family style platters that you all share around the table.. we didnt know how big the portions were, so we ended up ordering five plates of food! it was way too much, so we took it home and have lunch for a couple days now haha.. but it was so good! it definitely lived up to its reputation..

the whole reason i bring this story up is, well.. one, to just tell you about a cool experience with the boys.. but mostly, to talk about tea..

im serious..

now im not much of a tea drinker.. i actually might prefer coffee, for its ruthless efficiency.. for the last three years of being an architecture major at cal poly, coffee became a good friend of mine, keeping me company during the long nights hunched over projects trying to keep my eyes open.. but when i dont need to force my body to stay awake, i definitely prefer tea.. its smoother, and more sophisticated right? at least i cant help but feel slightly sophisticated when i drink tea.. anyways, of all teas my favorite is jasmine tea.. its chinese, and very clean and simple, and great.. well they sold it at this restaurant we went to last night! and its authentic stuff, the same kind they sell in asian markets or in chinatown.. its not loose tea, its just the regular bags.. convenient, but not as good as the kind that comes loose.. but still really good! ive had three cups of tea in the last twelve hours..

finding this little box of jasmine tea was good for my soul.. i think coming back from my trip to guatemala and honduras was strange, because the whole time i was looking forward to being 'home,' and realizing when i got there that i still wasnt home.. its really easy to start missing people and places and things back home: all my brothers, matt broseph, nolan, fick, t.hall.. my family.. my architecture studio, strangely enough; i dont miss the work so much as the atmosphere.. i miss discipleship with joe priola, and w8, and driving down the 101, and splash cafe in pismo.. i miss my loft bed.. i miss wii! i can go through most my days here not really thinking about these things, kinda blocking them out and focusing on the here and now.. which i think is healthy.. but realizing how much i missed all these things kinda snuck up on me as i rolled across the guatemala border back into el salvador and realized that it was good to be 'back' but also hard to swallow that it will be another four months until i am back to slo, back to the crusade library and calvary slo on sundays and my djembe.. finding this little box of jasmine tea was so great, cause it was just a little taste of home, a little reminder that i will be coming back, a little bit of the joy of home that i can experience here..

and its just dang good tea..

'learning'

2009-02-15T22:08:00.010-06:00

three foreign countries in two days.. 54 hours total, 36 of which were spent in a car or bus.. nearly no english the whole time!

this is just a glimpse of what this past weekend looked like for me.. i decided to entitle this post, 'learning,' because i feel like i learned a lot of interesting things on this trip that i thought i would share with you..

layo called me on wednesday last week and asked if i could go on this trip to represent our team, in the development of a spring break-like trip for university students to go to honduras.. it was very short notice, but we have learned to fly by the seat of our pants here.. so i got the bus ticket the next day, and left on friday afternoon..

there were several legs to the journey, and i really wasnt clear at any point exactly what was happening.. so i took a charter bus to guatemala city, and was supposed to meet a man named chino.. i had his number, but my phone didnt have service once we crossed the border.. so when i got to the hotel, i waited to be approached by someone.. he walked up and said my name, and i asked him his name and he said chino, so he must have been who i was supposed to go with! so we hopped in the car and went to a local hostel that was owned by some friends of his.. it was about ten at night.. i slept until two in the morning, and then was picked up by a younger student named juancho, and his girlfriend noemi.. and we were off!

this is my room at the hostel the first night.. not too shabby..

the next leg of the journey, i was mostly sleeping.. i was exhausted.. but we drove for about seven hours from guatemala city up to the north eastern border into honduras right up by the caribbean sea, crossed the border, and drove to a city called san pedro sula.. here we met a man named joaquin, a staff guy in honduras, who is part of planning this spring break trip.. i thought i was going on this trip to meet him, but once we met him, i learned that i was incorrect.. we jumped into his car and drove for another three hours to a tiny little town somewhere to the east, near santa bárbara.. we had finally arrived! we met with a group of about ten pastors from nearby towns and villages.. chino presented his ideas for what this trip would look like, and juancho and i also added our ideas of what it should look like.. about forty five minutes after our arrival, we prayed and finished! lots of driving for a very short little meeting, but a very important little meeting.. we immediately began our return trip right after the meeting..

entering honduras

the caribbean, from honduras..

the church where we met with the pastors

i learned first hand on this trip that the border between honduras and guatemala closes at 6pm.. i learned this because we tried to cross at about 7.30pm and the guards with M16 rifles and black tactical gear did not seem like the types who made exceptions.. luckily, there was a tiny little hostel right on the border that cost 250 lempira for the night (about 13 bucks).. we definitely got what we paid for.. i also learned a new spanish slang word, shuco, which means 'dirty' or 'filthy' haha.. i learned that sometimes frogs can be inside the pipes, and may hop out when you turn the water on.. i learned this just after learning that at some hostels, a pipe coming out of the wall suffices for a shower.. shower heads are altogether unnecessary, arent they?

the hostel i stayed at on the border.. encouraging name, right?

we awoke a shade before sunrise and got back on the road, driving from six in the morning until about one in the afternoon.. i learned on this leg of the journey that noemi had a brother who owned a gas station, and that typical guatemalan breakfast was not too different than their salvadorean neighbors: egg patties, refried beans with sour cream, and slices of bread.. we ate breakfast quickly, then got back on the road.. when we got back into guatemala city, and dropped chino off at his home, and at this point i learned that it was noemi's moms birthday! i got to meet her family and hang out at her house for about an hour, which was a very interesting time.. then i learned that they have taco bell in guatemala! i had not had taco bell since ive been here, so i got a supreme burrito for lunch, and brought back some bean and cheese burritos for the boys.. then it was off to the bus station to complete my journey..

taco bell in guatemala!

some other things i learned on this journey: i really like my team.. i really missed them, and realized that i can take them for granted sometimes.. i missed their community and their jokes, and their english.. it was tough to be on the road with three people who didnt know me and didnt speak much of my language.. i also was learned, or perhaps reminded, of how much i like music.. i had plenty of time in the car to put my headphones in, close my eyes, and listen to music that ive been wanting to listen to for months.. i also was reminded of how much i love my girlfriend.. i thought about ali non stop.. she brought many, many smiles to my face this weekend, just thinking about her and praying for her..

so i learned a lot.. some of it was great to learn, other things i would have been ok to live my whole life without learning.. but i was reminded that life here is a total adventure.. ministry here is a strange new experience every day.. the Lord is a God who loves adventure, and rarely does the exact same thing twice.. He is never changing, but His ways of doing things are always fresh; He makes every day new and exciting for us.. He doesnt have to do things this way, but He loves us and created us with a love and desire for excitement and adventure.. and despite all the moments this weekend of just.. confusion, or apprehension, or exhaustion.. i got to go on a very interesting adventure and experience some really cool things.. thank you to all of you who rpay regularly for my safety, the Lord definitely kept me safe! (and taught me a lot..)

but God..

2009-02-11T22:21:00.004-06:00

so im sick.. i think i have a cold, or something like it.. my head feels like its in a vice, my nose is really congested, and my ears kinda hurt.. ive been cooped up inside all day, mostly sleeping or reading.. im not really sure where it came from, but i think it might have been from our midyear with joe and allison.. it was so much fun, but i think i worked too hard at having fun and it didnt end up being incredibly relaxing..

it was actually kinda nice being home today.. i got to read quite a bit, and just relax and get re-energized.. i actually spent most of the day sleeping.. and im getting ready to go to bed again! before i do, i wanted to tell you about a really cool study through the Bible im about to start..

i will be starting in genesis, and going through the entire Bible studying each time the phrase 'but God..' appears.. my high school pastor, and current prayer supporter, once told our high school group that the two most beautiful words in all of the Bible are, 'but God'.. and im inclined to agree with him.. it is a characteristically powerful concept: everything hinges on those two little words.. the state of things after that phrase is used is always so incredibly different, so rich and glorious, than the state of things before.. the goal of this fairly in depth study (it is used eighty one times throughout the Bible, in the nkjv, esv, and niv translations combined) the goal is to enrich my perspective of who God is, who Christ is, and who i am in light of that.. i want to be reminded of how horrific my sin really is, and how unthinkable Christs sacrifices are.. more than anything, i hope to see in a richer way how astounding and glorious Gods grace is..

please pray for my sickness, and for motivation to be in the Word regularly, studying and ruminating.. im really excited about it, but its also easy for me to get overwhelmed by the scope of what im undertaking.. thanks!

i cant believe were past halfway!

2009-02-10T23:15:00.004-06:00

we just got back from our midyear 'conference' with joe and allison priola, some staff from slo crusade and some dear friends of mine.. i put conference in quotes because typically midyear conferences have many stint teams involved, not just one.. we have had a fairly unique experience, however, in that our midyear vacation and conference happened separately, and our conference was just our team..

joe was my discipler, or spiritual mentor, for nearly two years before i came down here, and his wife allison began to disciple ali around the time i left.. they are both very close to ali and me, and it was so great to have so much time with them (and their ten month old son, kai).. joe has been one of the most influential men in my life, an outstanding example of true leadership and humble service.. i have been told, and have learned first hand being down here, that leadership can often feel like isolation.. its a position that is often misunderstood and underappreciated.. i have a wonderful and encouraging team, dont misunderstand me.. they are wonderful.. but there is something that is just missing, you know? my job is to pour into my team, and enable them to pour into each other and into salvadorean students.. and often, it feels like no one is pouring into me.. it has been great being forced in some ways to turn to the Lord in that, and not depend so heavily on people to pour into me.. but i have to admit that it has been a real battle to feel motivated and excited about my walk.. and a lot of that has been not having an older, wiser guy around who is pouring into me.. all to say, it was so SO good to have him here this past week, and get to reconnect and have fun and be challenged and encouraged in a way i havent been since ive been down here..

their primary reason for being here was to work with the team as a whole, to kinda give us a check up, encourage what we are doing well, and speak truth to the areas we are not doing well in.. we did several really thought provoking and challenging exercises and studies that helped give our team some much needed perspective, and recognize some really hard truths about ourselves.. for example, we realized in one exercise that most our team has a hard time being really performance-based in our ministry: perfectionism, fear of risk or failure, and satisfaction in results and not effort are all some forms that a performance-based ministry will take.. and, interestingly enough, these are all things that should not characterize a first-year, pioneering team like ours.. we need to be messy, and try new and crazy ideas, to find out what things work and what things dont.. we do not want to play this year conservatively, only doing what we are comfortable with.. and it is very likely that we will not see much fruit this year for our hard labor.. the reality is that it typically takes many years to see a real movement take shape: our job is not to create it this year, but to lay a foundation for a strong, thriving, Christ centered movement in el salvador! i think that is such an important perspective for our team to have.. we also talked a lot about faith: that faith is not about how much we have, but about who the object of our faith is.. trusting in our own strength as fallible humans will lead only to temporal pride and happiness in successes, disappointment in failure, and most importantly, it will not result in a movement.. but if God is the object of our faith, then He can use the smallest little glint of faith to do incredible things.. read mark 9.14-29 if you wanna see an incredible example of a mans small but passionate faith in Christs power..

so yeah, it was an incredible week with them.. we also had a lot of fun just enjoying the beach! we did some surfing at punta roca, hung out at the sweet beach house that we scored for free! (thanks to good old salvadorean hospitality) and had some good kayaking adventures.. check out the pictures at the gallery!

beautiful sunset! i cant seem to get over how gorgeous they are around here, especially when were lucky enough to watch the sun set over the water like this..

this is the backyard.. this is an inlet from the ocean that empties out during low tide and fills up during high tide.. to the left, you can see where it begins to stretch out into a series of little channels among a salt water forest.. so much fun kayaking! just above the red-roofed gazebo and to the right, you can see the volcano izalco, which the boys hiked together in december..

the storm!

2009-02-04T11:15:00.003-06:00

i finally got the opportunity to work on the blog! im so stoked..

ill post everything on the days that they actually occurred, like i mentioned below.. so anything after november 16th should be new!

enjoy!

ps

2009-02-01T14:27:00.003-06:00

i also have a lot of pictures to put up! ive been loving my new camera, and trying to be better at documenting this trip more frequently.. look for a couple pictures on here, but also dont forget to look at the online gallery, http://gallery.me.com/trevor.miller.. i have lots of pictures on there!

the calm before the storm

2009-02-01T14:21:00.004-06:00

its been a busy couple weeks here in el salvador! after returning from vacation in costa rica, we had about a week to plan and prepare for our first week of the semester at matías, and then one of the craziest weeks of my life! i seriously cant wait to fill everyone in on how that first week went, how costa rica was.. ive made a list of all the sweet things that have happened, and i cant wait to share it.. we have a super bowl party tonight that we invited a bunch of students to, so as soon as it is over im gonna be pounding away furiously at my keyboard, getting this thing up to date.. i guess if youve learned anything about me, it is that keeping a blog is not one of my stronger disciplines.. bear with me, and look for some updates soon!

ill put them all in on the dates they happened, so anything past november 16th will be new for you to read!

thanks everyone, hope all is well..

God uses pizza in cool ways..

2009-01-31T00:18:00.007-06:00

this was our first week back on matías, and it was so cool! the Lord moved in really sweet ways, and we got to see some great things happen..

there were about four days between getting back from costa rica and the new ciclo (semester) at matías, so potter and i declared that time a 'planning retreat'.. we developed a schedule, what crucial things needed to be discussed and planned, and how they were to be executed, and spent those four days preparing for the new ciclo! honestly, our team came through in flying colors.. everyone stepped up to the plate, pushed themselves, and worked so hard to make everything come together! because we were really starting brand new on this campus, especially with all ten of us finally working together, we wanted to introduce students to a group that was real, and legitimate.. previously we were just a couple gringos walking around talking about Jesus (which isnt necessarily bad) but we really wanted to present ourselves as a sweet new group on campus, focused on sharing Christ and having community.. here is a short list of some sweet things that happened, just to give you the smallest taste of how the Lord moved:

- lauren designed a completely new and awesome logo for Vida Estudiantil! we had posters, banners, flyers, t-shirts.. all with a sweet new logo to draw attention and lend some credibility to our movement.. here is the logo on a quarter-sheet flyer..

in spanish it says, 'to grow in Christ and a community of change'

- on the other side of this flyer, we had a five-week calendar of all the events we have planned through february: a pizza party (ill get to that shortly); a Super Bowl party; a movie night; a valentines day outreach called Amor Real; a dessert night at the girls house; and an English club meeting..

- we were very blessed by the administration! the Lord used them to provide us with an information table near the cafeteria, where we could sit and talk with any students who were interested, provide them with all our information and invite them to the friday pizza party and raffle.. you might have an image of the first week of classes at most universities in the states, where the main plaza is packed with booths and free food and craziness and fun.. we were the only table! student groups and clubs here are extremely uncommon, practically non existent.. we definitely generated a lot of interest!

- on friday we had a pizza party and raffle! the ticket for the raffle was a short spiritual survey and contact/interest card.. we handed out over two hundred slices of free pizza! free food here is something that rarely ever happens, and the students were so excited to be blessed with a free lunch.. thanks for your support, you made it happen! we got to connect with so many freshman students who were experiencing their first week of college, and present ourselves as a service and spiritual resource to the entire university! we ended up collecting about 150 contact cards! so many students seemed genuinely interested in being a part of Vida Estudiantil!

it was such an exciting week.. thank you all so much for your prayers.. please pray that the Lord will continue to use us to reach lost students with the Gospel, especially as we follow up with all the students who filled out contact cards! we have a lot of work ahead of us, but it is good work, and so much fun! pray that our motivation will continue, and that we will continue to take big steps of faith! here are some pictures of the first week and the pizza party; many more on the gallery page!

wouldnt you want to get information from these lovely ladies?

a couple freshman guys filling out cards and getting a little more information..

pizza party! we ordered twenty seven medium pizzas from pizza hut, and every last slice got demolished! its incredible how much the students here like pizza hut.. and free food..

clean up..

the rich coast

2009-01-21T22:20:00.006-06:00

we just got back from costa rica! i know i know.. i told you i was going to belize.. well we ended up getting a really good deal on a flight to costa rica, and some sweet accommodations, so we booked it and didnt look back.. i actually kinda looked back; i still really wanna go to belize.. maybe it will happen..

anyways, it was a really great week! we stayed at some sweet bungalows right on the beach and did a lot of relaxing.. costa rica is actually quite a bit different than el salvador.. for one thing, we werent in the city at all, so everything was much more laid back and there was more.. nature.. everything was green and blue and gorgeous.. it was a very nice contrast to the typical muted tones and blaring horns and stress of the city..

i dont really have too much to say about this time, because really not too much happened: surfing, swimming, reading, relaxing, cooking and eating together as a big happy family.. one of our days, we got to take a little adventure and go to manuel antonio national park, which has been featured in the book, '1000 places to see before you die' or something like that.. it was definitely gorgeous, but i think i had too high of expectations.. it must have been toward the bottom of that list of 1000, if i had to guess.. but it was a great adventure!

so yeah.. i will let the pictures speak for themselves (and the captions under them..)

our bungalow, about twenty yards from the sand..

this is franklin.. he hung out with us for like an hour.. i really like this shot..

gorgeous costa rican sunset, as seen from our porch.. that almendro tree is supposed to mark one of the best breaks on our stretch of beach..

this dog was the most fun nuisance ive ever had.. he was a stray, as far as we know, but was in really good shape and just kinda lazed around.. really good natured and mellow.. he made me miss my dog oreo..

more pictures at the gallery..

sad day!

2009-01-10T17:33:00.003-06:00

well, i guess not that sad when you put it in proper perspective.. there are a lot of things in the world that cause more sadness than what happened to me today..

my laptop charger is taking a vacation.. well, i guess you could say it retired.. the little charger light on it faded about a month ago and i didnt think anything of it.. then today, sitting at viva espresso, with ambitious plans of getting my blog completely up to date.. it quit on me.. no warning, just a 'hey, guess what? im outta here..' and he was gone..

so now, with about twenty minutes of battery power remaining, i am forced to postpone my blog updates yet again, faithful readers.. i will be visiting the apple store in the next couple days, and hopefully getting a replacement for my deadbeat charger, and then i will be back in business! if they are unable to simply give me a replacement, then i will have to wait for one to be shipped to my dad, and then shipped to me.. i am really hoping to get everything up to date before our costa rican vacation!

love you all, pray for success at the apple store!

happy new year! and Christmas.. and my birthday.. and thanksgiving..

2009-01-03T22:07:00.003-06:00

man.. i dont even know what to say, friends.. i think i will start with the sincerest of apologies..

life has been hectic, and the first thing to go was my blog.. if you know me at all, you should have seen this coming haha.. i tend to have good intentions in starting big projects, and i can be consistent for some time, but eventually i hit a wall where it feels like a drag, and i have to push through it, and i often times dont push through.. i just kinda let it die.. so i owe an apology to all of you who read my blog consistently, and have been wondering where i went (did he die? is he still there? if he isnt there anymore, then why am i still sending him money every month?) all valid questions..

well im back on track! a lot has happened that i would love to let you guys know about.. some are just fun, some are serious.. but i will put them in on or around the dates they happened, for the sake of chronology and clarity.. i think it would be helpful to read it as a story.. i will be working hard for the next few days to get this blog whipped back into shape.. he has slacked off for long enough, and its time to work off all the 'holiday weight' he has gained..

thank you all for your patience and grace!

much love,

trev

i almost died

2008-12-12T23:51:00.002-06:00

well.. it felt like i almost died..

our team went out to a lake called suchitoto (pronounced sushi, as in the food, and toto as in the dog from the wizard of oz) in the northern central part of the country.. i had not been out there before, but we came with boardshorts ready to swim.. we ate at a little restaurant, and i had some incredible fish filet with garlic sauce.. reeally good!

as we were driving in, i saw an island out off one of the shores, and said to the people in my car, 'lets swim to that island..' well, the guys were slightly more excited about actually doing it than i was.. so after lunch, we got out boardshorts on, walked down to the water, and hopped in! the swim-to-the-island crew consisted of me, brandon, joe, and a guy named rob who was visiting from the states (he had come down for the spring break trip earlier in the year)

so we started swimming for this island! its crazy, but boys will be boys right? im doing my best not to exaggerate, but i would honestly say it was a good half mile.. okay okay, it doesnt sound like much to some of you people who do triathlons or are in decent physical shape.. but to me, it was brutal.. about halfway, i seriously thought i wasnt going to make it on my own.. it seemed like it just wasnt getting any closer.. the wind was going almost straight against us, so the waves were making forward movement tough.. we were all tired (except joe, who was a swimmer and was hardly winded) but i felt like i was gonna die.. i was about to start praying, 'Lord if You save me from this, i promise i will serve you in a foreign country or something,' but quickly realized that i was already doing that! so.. my selfish prayers of desperation and promises to God were kinda nullified..

well we finally reached the island, and i really cant think of a time in my life that i was more exhausted.. i smiled a weak smile, cause it felt so good to do something so hard, and actually accomplish it.. and it felt so good to realize that it was the Lord who gave me the strength and determination to make it to the island and not give up..

the island was not nearly as glamorous as we had hoped.. images from treasure island or swiss family robinson were quickly removed.. the island was surrounded on all sides by a tangle of thick floating vines.. we had to army-crawl through about twenty feet of these nasty vines just to get to solid ground.. the solid ground was covered with rotting leaves, spider webs, and enough cans and bottles to build a boat and sail back.. we were happy to get headed back..

we found a large log that could easily bear all of our weight, shoved it into the water, and began the swam back.. it was much more enjoyable having the log: one, i knew i couldnt drown; two, it was a lot more fun swimming together as a team than as four individuals; three, we were just kind of a goofy spectacle.. a fisherman in a boat rowed by us at one point and we must have looked like some pretty crazy gringos..

anyways, it was a lot of fun, a little scary, and a total adventure.. thank you for all of you who make it a priority to pray for my health and safety down here! ill try not to directly require it so much..

coatepeque hospitality

2008-11-30T23:18:00.003-06:00

we went to lake coatepeque today with the whole team! it is one of my favorite places in el salvador, its just so gorgeous.. i think ive already mentioned it back when we went to the weekend camp with evangélica; if you dont remember that far back, let me refresh your memory.. it used to be a volcano at some point long ago, but collapsed and cooled off after an eruption, and the top filled with water.. its a lot like crater lake in oregon, if you have ever been there.. anyways, its one of the most beautiful spots that weve been to yet..

so we had lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the lake, and then we decided, hey lets go on an adventure! thats what were all about here.. the only way to actually get down to the lake shore is through private property, so we hopped a fence and ran as fast as we could.. no, not really.. we were just driving (along a very rough dirt road) trying to find a place where we could get down to the lake, and we saw a man at his gate, doing a little gardening.. we rolled down the window and, half genuinely wanting to know and half counting on good old salvadorean hospitality, asked him if he knew anywhere that we could get down to the lake shore.. so he totally invited us to come down! we were so thankful, we got to hang out on his tiny little boat dock, sharing with him about our work on the universities and enjoying each other with the girls dipping their feet in the water..

aside from just being really fun and such a blessing, it really just showed me yet another glimpse into the heart of this culture.. everyone we meet, regardless of what they have to give, are so willing to give it, and do it so humbly.. many americans with a lake house or a beach house would be tempted to invite people,more out of a desire for their guests to be impressed, than a desire for their guests to be served and loved.. this is not true of everyone, of course.. but i think there is a very noticeable difference in what our cultures value.. it was just great to see a man so willing to serve a group of gringos he had never even met before..

oh, and he also invited us to call him if we ever wanted to come to his beach house.. thats hospitality right there!

a crazy week.. some big developments!

2008-11-16T18:25:00.002-06:00

another week has passed, and i have not updated my blog.. i assure you there is good reason! this last week has been the most intense, probably since i have been here.. i have been in constant meetings with my co-leader kristen (potter), planning and talking and praying and working really hard.. like i said in last weeks post, there are some significant changes that have taken place in this past week, some really exciting things! i have to wait for a while to let you know about one, because we have been asked to not mention it yet.. but there is one that i do want to tell you about!

this past week, potter and i prayed through and settled on sixteen unique roles that each person on the team (other than the two of us, as general team leaders) would get to take ownership in, and lead the team in! this is a really exciting move for a couple reasons:

1. each person on our team has very unique spiritual gifts, that in some ways have yet to be utilized.. by giving everyone a role, we will all be able to use our spiritual gifts much more profoundly for the ministry here

2. there has been a general feeling of a lack of accomplishment among the team.. it often feels like we are just spinning our wheels here.. but now that everyone has roles, people will be able to see some very tangible things happen!

3. everyone plays a very significant part in accomplishing our mission for this year.. without everyone working together, we could miss some very important steps..

4. some of these roles involve things that have not been happening, that we have really wanted to see being done.. now we will see progress in areas we havent yet!

there are many more reasons why these roles are so important, but i hope that gave you an idea.. i thought it might be cool to share with you what these roles are, and what they entail.. ill just type out half of them, to give you an idea:

Prayer/Encouragement Leader (Bean)
Focus our team on and lay a foundation of prayer; lead our team in making each individual valued; do both creatively and intentionally

By laying a foundation of prayer and encouragement, our team will be energized by seeking the Lord and building each other up relationally and in ministry

Team Activities Leader (Joe)
Coordinate bi-weekly team fun times on Fridays; you would have a rotating monthly partner to assist in planning these times

By planning team activities, our team will value good rest, and be bound more closely together, thus growing our unity in ministry

Foundation Layer (Lauren)
Through information, strategy, tips, etc., paint a very broad and accurate picture of what life is like here in El Salvador for the future teams pursue interested students from the PSW region; compile a book by the end of the year of all gathered information

By laying a foundation for the next team, we ensure forward momentum for many years to come, demonstrate love for the future teams in easing their transition, and decode the culture for our own ministry in the process

Outside Communication Leader (Marijke)
Encourage people to keep their supporters updated; encourage and coordinate team-wide correspondence with ‘the outside;’ report ministry statistics to PSW each month

By communicating well with supporters and our region, we allow them to pray for the current state of our ministry, cast vision for why we are here, and work toward the broader mission of Campus Crusade

Outreach Leader (Jeff)
Lead our team in evangelizing Matías broadly and creatively; this includes daily evangelism tools, as well as envisioning and coordinating campus-wide outreach events

By leading our team in evangelizing well, we accomplish our mission of letting every student hear the Gospel, and give more opportunity to meet potential leaders for the movement

Men’s/Women’s Bible Study Leader (Brandon, Brenna)
Set direction for the men’s and women’s on-campus Bible studies; this doesn’t mean you will lead the study, but will lead the team in purpose, vision, and content

By coordinating these Bible studies, we will seek to gather interested students and grow them in their knowledge and love of the Lord, along with building community and relationships with them

Student Events Leader (Jenna)
Lead the team in gathering students for community events; this may evolve into developing a weekly meeting

By gathering students for community events, our team will continue to build relationships with students, along with connecting them to each other; having this type of community is a foundational step in building a movement that is not dependent on STINTers

so yeah, i hope that gives you a taste of what the roles are all about.. each person got to let potter and i know thier top two choices out of each group of eight, and one that they might not want to do at all.. it was so sweet seeing how peoples giftings were so orchestrated by the Lord that everyone got at least one role that was one of their top two preferences!

we had a really fun time announcing these roles to the team.. potter and i declared this past friday 'Roles Day,' and made it just a huge celebration for this sweet new phase of ministry.. we put 'rolls' of lifesavers into balloons and had each person pop one to determine the order.. the house was decorated with toilet paper rolls and we played a rap song that says 'roll out' every time the next person came up to find out their roles.. and then had cinnamon rolls for everyone after! kinda cheesy i know, but it was fun..

anyways.. this, along with the other ministry change, made for a very long and tiring week.. sorry i havent kept this blog totally updated!

love you all, please continue praying for our team!

of one accord

2008-11-12T00:41:00.001-06:00

we got a second car!

after nearly two months of scouring the country for a reliable car, we finally found one! our team is now the proud owner of a 99 silver honda accord.. brandon and i went with layo to look at the car for the first time, then took it to our mechanic, mingo, who said everything checked out.. we got it at a great price, and are so excited to finally have two cars! we can now do things as a whole team, without needing to call a taxi.. it is honestly such a blessing..

it was also really fun to bring the car home; brandon and i planned it as a total surprise for our team! we paid for it, picked it up in the morning, got all the insurance and registration stuff taken care of that we needed to, and then showed up at the girls house with music blaring, honking the horn like crazy people.. everyone rushed out to see what the noise was.. and were immediately introduced to the newest member of our team! it was a lot of fun..

anyways, thank you all for your support! it enables us very practically to function as a team.. it enables us to take care of everyday needs, but also to get to campus more economically and with much for freedom: having ten people and five seats was pretty limiting, as you can imagine..

were so excited! thanks so much for your support!

coaching visit

2008-11-07T15:56:00.002-06:00

dan and deb goodson came down this past week! they are our distance coaches from the states.. they used to be on staff in slo but now they are the campus directors for campus crusade at berkeley.. it was so good to see them! they were down here to check in on how were doing, personally and in ministry, to encourage us with what is going well and challenge us with things that need some work.. we had a lot to learn from them, and they were faithful to share their wisdom with us.. i feel so much more geared up for the rest of the year now.. very soon i will be letting you all know about some pretty significant changes in ministry down here.. cant wait!

so yeah, sorry i didnt write much last week! it was pretty crazy with them here.. ill try and get you all caught up with life here in the next couple weeks!

¡día de los muertos!

2008-11-02T16:55:00.000-06:00

día de los muertos (the day of the dead) is a celebration that happens the day after halloween in many latin cultures.. it originated in mexico, but many cultures have adapted it in some way and celebrate it differently.. the original holiday was focused on family gatherings to honor those who had died through prayers, grave visits, and altars built using artificial skulls and filled with the departed's favorite foods..

el salvador does it a bit differently.. honestly, i think the only thing in common is the name haha.. we went to this little town up in the hills called tonacatepeque, the hometown of our national directors wife luchy.. we ate dinner at her sisters little restaurant as we waited for the festivities to begin.. we really had no idea what to expect; all we had heard is that its typically a little creepy..

well here are a couple pictures, you can judge for yourself.. a lot of folklore and history are the foundations for most of what you see in these pictures.. for example, there are stories handed down through generations of a headless priest who roams the streets after midnight, stealing the souls of children who are out too late.. there are also monsters and demons who are said to do the same thing.. im not sure where the wagon comes in to the picture, but i think its something equally creepy..
this whole experience was a lot of fun! there were tons and tons of people crowded on the streets watching the parade, there was a costume contest, and an annual tradition of gathering in the town square for pumpkin chutney (very interesting flavor..)

i have a cyst on my face

2008-10-28T21:23:00.003-06:00

thats pretty much it.. i have a cyst.. and its on my face.. right on my cheekbone.. i have no idea where it came from! i pretty much woke up one morning a couple weeks ago and it had moved in and set up camp.. i was just waiting it out a while to see if it would do anything and just kinda go away, but i started to get pretty bad headaches so i got an appointment with a dermatologist..

the appointment was crazy! first of all, the clinic is really really nice.. and the doctor who owns and runs it graduated from uc irvine! so that was kinda fun, and reassuring.. anyways, she told me it was a cyst and that she was going to inject it with some stuff and it would start to go away.. well whatever she injected it with had a really fancy name, but it was basically just liquid fire that burned the whole side of my face.. no joke, i hadnt felt that kinda pain in quite a while..

anyways.. well see what happens.. i have a follow up appointment in a couple weeks so ill let you know how that goes..

and i decided not to put pictures of it on here.. youre welcome..

pre-skype craziness

2008-10-26T16:05:00.001-06:00

i just wanted to post these cause i think theyre funny.. we were just waiting for fall retreat to call us on skype yesterday, and we started messing around on photo booth.. were kinda a goofy bunch, so yeah.. hope you enjoy!

emo band shot

a cow just got hit by a car..

trev just got in a car accident..

everyone got stung by bees

no one called anything..

fish hook!

nap time

we want you for stint

you know..

be super stoked..

oh dang, theyre calling!

campamento! and skype with fall retreat!

2008-10-25T23:08:00.009-06:00

so the last few days have been pretty long.. evangelica had an overnight retreat at this incredible lake in the mountains, at a place called castillo del rey, or 'the kings castle'.. we went as students, not part of the event planning or anything but just as students going with other students.. we really wanted the students to see us as just fellow students, not as part of a group or associated with anything, but just as friends who want to know them more..

we started on friday afternoon by dividing into teams (i was on the águilas anaranjadas, or the orange eagles) and the fun began with some ice breakers and games.. it was fun to get to know some of the students on my team.. then at dinner i sat near some girls, and i got to share with them why i am living in el salvador.. it was great to be able to have a full conversation in spanish! its seriously so encouraging to feel like i can carry on a conversation for the most part..

then we had a speaker share about how we can 'face the giants' of sin in our lives by following the Lord, staying in the Word and living correctly.. again, he spoke all of this in spanish, and we were able to understand about ninety percent of what he said, and one hundred percent of the heart behind it..

then we watched a movie called 'facing the giants,' which you may have seen or heard of.. it was pretty good, but the cool thing is that they decided to show it with spanish audio dubbed over, and spanish subtitles.. i was pretty proud of myself because i understood practically the entire movie!

by the time the movie and the 'battle of the sexes' was over (i cant explain in words, but i have some pictures) it was past one o clock.. after a mildly uncomfy sleep in a bunk bed, i awoke at six in the morning, ate a very.. conservative.. breakfast, and got on the road..

then we got to skype our entire campus crusade movement at cal poly! our team got to tell about five hundred students what we are doing in el salvador, and hear from my good friend natalie who is in turkey on stint..

it was a crazy couple days, but it was such a blessing! i feel like i really connected with a couple students, and i cant wait to continue those relationships!

i love you all, thanks for your prayers.. i feel like the Lord is about to do really great things here! so please keep praying!

the two most beautiful words

2008-10-23T18:20:00.005-06:00

thursdays are our weekly meetings at evangélica university, and this week i got to talk about grace! it was really cool.. i shared on a passage i had read in 1 kings 19.. i will give you all a short summary:

elijah is this amazing prophet of God, but when his life is threatened his faith falters in the Lord and he runs for his life.. he flees into the wilderness, and when he is all alone he asks God to take his life.. why? because he was ashamed of his sin, and realized that he had committed the same sins of doubt that his forefathers committed.. but God, instead of ending his life, gave elijah food to eat.. twice.. and then took him on a forty day journey through the same wilderness his forefathers wandered through many years before.. and then brought him to the same mountain on which moses received the ten commandments.. and then revealed Himself to elijah through a mighty wind and an earthquake and a fire..

isnt that crazy? elijah was in the pit of despair, filled with shame because of his sin, deserving and desiring death.. yet God had other plans, and just lavished grace on elijah.. he met his physical needs, then strengthened him and prepared him through his journey, then revealed Himself to elijah, an honor that a small handful of men have ever known.. we see a very different man at the end of this passage than we do at the beginning, and the difference is Gods abundant grace.. someone very wise once said this, and i think i agree: 'the two most beautiful words in all the Bible are 'but God...'' those two words change everything.. we were dead in our sins, but God.. we deserve to be separated from Him forever, but God.. we will fail, but God.. over and over again, God steps in to our failures and rights the wrongs.. do we see that in our lives? do we give God the recognition and the glory due His name?

this is the question i tried to leave the students with.. how have you seen Gods grace in your life? and i connected it to my own life and my struggles with sin, and how i have seen Gods grace mark my life so clearly..

anyways, it was really sweet! i just wanted to share that with you, and i pray that you will look for Gods grace in your life! here are a couple pictures from our weekly meeting..

left to right we have elisa, xavier, julio, tatiana, lauren, bean, and brandon there in the back.. and chiky cookies..

Christmas retreat site!

2008-10-21T17:49:00.001-06:00

i dont think i have filled you guys in on this! but this gives me an excuse to i suppose..

we are currently in the beginning stages of planning the first Christmas conference/retreat that campus crusade has ever had in el salvador! this is an incredible opportunity to gather students in a place far from the stress of school and every day life, continue to build relationships with them, share Christ with them, and hopefully even see some of them step up as leaders in the movement! it is a really cool thing to be a part of, and our team has a lot of ownership over how it will look, the theme, what we will be doing.. pretty much everything! you will all be hearing a lot more about this conference as it develops, because it is such an incredible opportunity!

well potter and i drove out to the camp where we will be having it, and we fell in love with the place.. we can totally see this retreat happen here! it is a really cool place, with a lot to do and a lot of space to have fun and move around.. just wanted to show you all a couple pictures!

hallelujah and a dance party

2008-10-19T23:11:00.001-06:00

we went to church (me and three others) with andrea, a good friend of ours, and her mom.. it was really interesting! it ended up being a somewhat pentecostal church, with a lot of singing and dancing and hands waving.. the pastor was very expressive and passionate.. it was difficult to understand everything, but we could generally follow along and the teaching was pretty solid..

one really cool thing about this place is that they have such a strong sense of community.. at the end of the message, they invited people to come forward, and a ton of other people came around and among them, and laid hands on them and prayed.. it was just so cool, because there were old women laying their hands on the shoulders of young men, girls hugging their friends and praying over them, men praying for groups of younger boys.. it was just really cool, because i think it was kinda a picture of what God created the universal church to be.. it is inter-generational, and transcends gender, and is simply a group of people following Christ.. so yeah, it was really encouraging!

next sunday, we might try and check out a different one.. ill let you know when we finally land on one for good, if we do..

well after church, we celebrated jennas birthday, shes twenty two! our third birthday celebration so far.. and i am next in december (send me something)..

we went to dinner at benihana, where they cook all the food in front of you and do nifty little things with knives and shrimp and onions and stuff.. i have done that kinda thing before, but when you have twelve or thirteen people crowded around it definitely adds to the experience..

after dinner, we came back to the house and had a piñata party (they are crazy with piñatas here) followed by a dance party until about one in the morning.. i learned a little bit how to salsa!

our birthdays are one of those days that we hold sacred around here, because it is a chance to feel like we are at home, with family.. and to take a break from the chaos and really enjoy each other.. so, thanks jenna for being born!

day off

2008-10-18T13:04:00.000-06:00

everyone went to a lake today, and im guessing theyre having a pretty sweet time! i decided not to go cause i had a pretty exhausting week, and had a lot that i wanted to get caught up on.. such as getting caught up on this blog, writing letters home, reading and journaling, administrative stuff.. its been really nice actually! i really enjoy spending time by myself, in the quiet, with no one else around.. its really relaxing for me, and i definitely needed to relax.. saturday is the only day all week that i get to sleep past eight or so! so i totally loved it, even though i would have loved to go to the lake.. but the lake isnt going anywhere, so im sure ill get out there at some point.. anyways, im gonna get back to work.. love you all

a tightening.. and some karate kids..

2008-10-16T18:32:00.002-06:00

i went with lauren to the orthodontist today! she has been going to this guy for a couple weeks now, and i guess he is one of the top orthodontists in the country.. anyways, i just thought it was funny that i went to an orthodontists office in el salvador.. pretty random right? its one thing i definitely never thought i would do here haha..

oh, and right above the office, there is a tae kwon do studio for kids, and it was one of the funniest things i have seen in a while.. these little three and four year old boys were trying to figure out how to jump.. some of them werent paying attention at all, and were just standing in a circle hitting each other on the head with folders.. i guess some traits of boys transcend culture haha.. anyways, i am not sure why i included either of these things on here.. i guess just cause its a little slice of life for us down here..

making friends

2008-10-15T23:37:00.001-06:00

one thing our team has been experiencing a lot of lately is just a desire to be friends with the students here, and not just have 'contacts'.. we want relationships with these people! we want to be investing a lot into those we meet with, know them personally, become part of their lives.. and it is something that we havent been experiencing much of..

well today was a pretty sweet breakthrough with this! we invited some students to go to the movies with us.. we watched a (somewhat lame) action movie with vin diesel.. but the point wasnt the movie, it was just to spend time with students away from campuses and appointments.. we had a couple guys show up and hang out with us! it was really cool..

then.. do you remember carlos from my prayer letter? brandon and i met with him a few weeks back.. anyways, he wasnt able to make it to the movies, but he invited us over to his house to watch the el salvador vs. suriname soccer game with him! we ended up going to a restaurant near his house, had dinner with him and his girlfriend, and watched el salvador dominate..

it was a really sweet day.. please be praying that we will continue to make true friends here!

TIHANY!

2008-10-15T22:56:00.000-06:00

some of our salvadorian friends invited us to the circus! it was 'two for the price of 1' week, so we couldnt turn it down.. i guess its a show that started in vegas and has been traveling through central america.. it was pretty good! it started out kinda slow (with a crowd of creepy clowns) but it ended up being pretty sweet, and we had a really good time.. i took some pictures, but one of the ladies working for the circus came and yelled at me for taking pictures! ..so i had to sneak some.. more at the gallery

a new friend

2008-10-13T23:38:00.002-06:00

i had a really cool conversation today that i wanted to share with you.. we were on matías this morning, pretty much just wandering around, looking for students who were available to talk for a while.. walking through the cafeteria near the arts building, i saw a girl sitting at a table alone with an architectural model next to her! it was soo cool to see an architecture student! i was hesitant to sit down and initiate a conversation with her, because i was nervous about my spanish.. but i told the other guys i would catch up with them in a little bit, took a deep breath, and introduced myself..

we ended up talking for about forty five minutes about architecture, all in spanish! it was incredible.. all my inhibitions about my abilities to speak seemed to vanish, and i felt like i was just having a conversation with a friend.. its hard to describe why this was so significant to me.. i guess the language barrier has been such a huge hindrance in our teams ability to connect with students.. and i feel like today was a real breakthrough for me personally, because i really connected with a salvadorian student in a full-spanish conversation! it was really encouraging at one point, when she actually said i spoke spanish well and she could understand me..

i know this probably seems like a really small thing to be talking about.. and i think it is.. but at the same time, it was huge.. so thank you for rejoicing with me!

welcome, dave!

2008-10-13T23:25:00.002-06:00

we received a visitor today in el salvador! his name is dave myers, and he is originally from north carolina.. he has spent quite a bit of time doing missions work, through several organizations including campus crusade, for the last six years or so.. he is currently on a visoin trip through central and south america, visiting different missionaries and organizations and seeing how their ministries are run.. in the next six months or so, he hopes that the Lord would lead him to a ministry where he could dedicate anywhere from the next three years to the rest of his life in full time missions work..

we are so happy to have him with us! it has been a privilege to open our home to him and invite him to be an eleventh member of our team.. please pray that the Lord would give dave direction as to where he is called to give his life in service.. what an exciting time for him! please pray for his provision and safety in his travels as well..

thanks!

dinner italiano

2008-10-12T23:38:00.002-06:00

theres this really nice looking italian place right next to where the girls live, and we have always wanted to go in.. well tonight we finally did! we got really dressed up, took a couple trips to get all the girls over, and had a really nice team dinner together! we got a little bit of red wine and white wine (the red wine was much better), i had some dang good pesto, and we had an awesome time as a team! here are some pictures.. theres also more at the gallery..

wine through a straw is classy.. dont judge me..

here we go..

2008-10-11T10:22:00.002-06:00

so i finally have a moment to catch you all up on why life has been so crazy the last couple weeks.. we have been all over the place, and ministry has been pretty exhausting lately.. i figured the best way to do this was to put the blog entries in chronological order, so that way there isnt one huge blog you have to sift through.. cause thats never fun.. so yeah, there should be three or four new blogs below, after "im sorry.."

thanks, love you all!

worldwide day of prayer

2008-10-07T22:45:00.000-06:00

the leadership of our movement here in el salvador - our stint team, national staff, and some student leaders as well - gathered today to pray for each other, this nation, and the entire world.. it was amazing to realize that the entire campus crusade community in every land and nation around the entire globe assembled in the Lords presence to lift up praises and requests.. it was a very humbling and encouraging time, as we spent nine in the morning til four in the afternoon in prayer.. we prayed for each others personal needs; we prayed for our ministry; we prayed for the students on our campuses; we prayed for the leaders of this country, and the leaders of the united states as well; we prayed for the leaders of crusade movements in the latin america region, and in every region around the world; we prayed for physical needs, spiritual needs, and emotional needs; we praised, we worshipped, we asked boldly of the Lord.. we trust the Lord heard our prayers, and that the Lord will use the prayers lifted up to Him around the world in mighty ways..

thank you for joining with us in prayer! please continue to pray for our ministry here in el salvador, that the Lord would use this year to raise up a movement of passionate students that will long outlast us.. pray for our upcoming Christmas conference, the very first student conference campus crusade has ever done in el salvador! pray that our planning would go well, that leaders would be raised up out of this time, that the Lord would soften hearts and change lives!

thanks everyone..

i'm sorry..

2008-10-03T20:50:00.003-06:00

i just want to apologize to all you guys who come here to stay updated regularly on my ministry.. i havent done a very good job of keeping my blog up to date.. we have been pretty bogged down the last couple weeks, and most of the nights i have been really exhausted.. i promise i will update soon! tomorrow should give me some time to sit and write, and fill you in on all the craziness of the last couple weeks.. thanks for your understanding!

feliz cumpleaños

2008-10-02T23:00:00.000-06:00

we were tricked! my team of five was invited to a Bible study with a couple students who have really befriended us.. we have been wanting to see ore of what they were involved in, so we gladly accepted (despite being a little tired).. so we show up expecting a quiet spanish Bible study.. but we found out, pretty much once we arrived, that it was a surprise birthday party for a friend of theirs!

it turned out to be a crazy night.. there were about twenty students there, and they were all so hospitable and accepted us as their own friends! we had cake, sang a ridiculous amount of birthday songs (no joke, they have about seven..), and played the most insane round of piñata that i have ever witnessed.. we have some video of it that i can hopefully figure out how to show you all.. it was crazy!

anyways, i just wanted to let you all know that we had an incredibly fun night, and that it is honestly a huge part of our ministry here to just become friends with these students, and tonight was such a sweet breakthrough.. please pray that we would continue to make friends and build strong relationships with students here!

car update

2008-10-01T17:24:00.002-06:00

i just wanted to update you all on the car situation here..

we have one car bought and paid for, with registration and insurance! it is a 2003 hyundai elantra, and we got it for a really good deal! praise God for His provision.. it took about a month for the whole process, which was long but worth every minute.. our car has been an incredible blessing to our team, allowing us to meet regularly with all ten of us, drive ourselves to ministry, set our own schedules more or less.. it has brought many blessings to our team, so thank you for your financial support and your prayers!

we are currently still working on car número dos.. a second car will allow us to do things together as an entire team of ten without relying on taxis, which are pretty expensive.. it will also allow us to do ministry without having to ask the national staff to drive us, which will be a blessing to everyone involved.. we are looking into more elantras because they are the best quality for the best price we can find.. we have had some good leads and driven a few around, but it has been hard to find another car that is a good deal and is in good condition.. we really depend on our national director, layo, in the process of searching for a car.. if we went out as just americans, we would get taken advantage of! having layo there means that we will get a fair deal.. this process has been difficult because layo has been very busy (september and october are his busiest months of the year), and he has not been able to help us much in this process.. so please just be praying that the Lord would provide a second car for us!

if you would like to see pictures of the first car, and some of my house, check out my gallery! i should have them up in the next couple days..

http://gallery.me.com/trevor.miller

some bittersweet news

2008-09-24T17:01:00.002-06:00

manuel and cecy, the national staff couple that works with my team of five on matías and evangelica, sat us down today.. and through tears imformed us that they would not be able to join us on campus for the month of october, because they need to focus full time on support raising.. they have been so close on finances that it has been difficult paying bills on time.. the entire national staff team leaves campus for the entire month of november to raise support full time, because by the end of the year they are nearly out of support! it is such a difficult situation to be in, because they want so badly to be able to continue in ministry alongside our team.. i just cant imagine the stress they feel as november approaches.. first and foremost, please be praying that the Lord raises their support! pray that the Lord would increase their reliance on Him, and trust in His provision.. pray that they would be encouraged during this time! they, as well as the rest of the national staff, have such great hearts for the Lord.. it is hard knowing that they are unable to do what they love because of money.. so please just keep them in your prayers..

if there could be a bright side to such a sad occurence, i want to encourage you that the Lord has used this in some interesting ways for our team.. it has been difficult for our team as we suddenly had appointments scheduled all week with students who only spoke spanish, which is something our fluency levels were probably not quite prepared for.. but the Lord has really blessed us through this process, as it has stretched us to use spanish much more, and experience a lot more ownership over our ministry here.. and i feel like our language skills have been growing greatly through this 'baptism by fire' process.. it has been hard, but there has been so much joy, and bonding as a team, and growth from all this that it has really been a blessing in disguise having to take the reins of our ministry here.. praise the Lord for His sovereignty, in ordaining this to happen at this specific time! and please continue to pray for manuel and cecy, as they are raising support and being stretched in their faith as well!

love you all..

fresh perspective, new direction

2008-09-23T19:05:00.000-06:00

earlier this week, we sat down with manuel and cecy, after a couple weeks working on campus, to discuss what we liked, what our goals are, and how we are doing in reaching them.. after looking at the goals set in the past for reaching our two campuses, we talked about what needed to be changed.. we ended up having a really incredible and inspiring conversation that really reminded me of why i am here..

we discussed how these students arent simply just numbers.. the goal is not set at a certain number of students each year to share the Gospel with.. our focus is not on numbers or percentages or demographics.. our focus is really on the hearts of students, the lives of young men and women, and our scope truly is the entire country.. for example, what is more important: to see five hundred students come to know Christ, and then vanish into the woodwork of everyday life; or to see a handful of students become truly passionate for the salvation of their families, friends and peers? to have hundreds of people fill the churches year after year, so long as american missionaries are working here; or to see a movement form that sustains itself long after our teams leave?

we realized, after looking through the Gospels at Jesus' three year ministry, that His focus was not on simply preaching to the masses.. He knew that He was here on earth for a very short time, and He had a very specific purpose for everything He did.. His primary focus was on pouring time and energy and love into His disciples.. the twelve followed Him everywhere, knew Him intimately, learned to trust the Lord for everything, and were trained to carry on His ministry.. with Jesus' last words before He ascended, He urged His disciples to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations," teaching the people what Christ taught them.. flash forward two thousand years or so, and now there are thriving movements of Christ-followers all over the world..

we want to model that same focus here.. we want to pour out everything we know, everything we are, for these students.. teach them to observe what Christ has taught us, and send them out to reach the far corners of their country, and beyond their own borders, with the love and truth of the Gospel..

so pray that we would be building friendships and solid relationships with students! pray that we would be able to hang out with them outside of time on campus! please pray that the Lord would be revealing to us how to have truly effective discipleship times..

thanks everyone!

2008-09-19T19:23:00.002-06:00

we bought our first car today! its a hyundai elantra, and we got it for a really good deal.. it handles really well, which is incredibly important in a place like this.. brandon and i took turns driving it back to our house, and it was quite the adventure.. i actually felt surprisingly comfortable amidst the huge buses flying past, the weaving motorcycles, the jaywalking pedestrians, and the other cars constantly trying to jam their way ahead of you.. it felt natural, but we definitely need Gods protection as we are out there on the road..

this car is such an answer to prayer itself: it will allow us to do ministry better; connect more as a team now that we have more control over our schedule; take care of details that we used to have to depend on others to take care of.. it is such a blessing to finally have a car! thank you for your prayers, and for the financial support you gave so generously.. it has enabled us as missionaries to do what we have been called here to do!

hopefully soon i will put a video up on the online gallery of me and brandon driving!

a sweet opportunity

2008-09-18T23:30:00.000-06:00

despite being in recovery mode from our stomach issues the last couple days, our team was invited over to layos house for dinner to hear about a really cool opportunity for ministry.. we met with a representative from josh mcdowell ministries, a branch of campus crusade.. josh mcdowell, if you have not heard of him, is an incredible man who has done so much for the Lord in his life.. he has written many books that have impacted countless people around the world for the Gospel.. he is also a traveling speaker, speaking at venues all over the globe..

well josh has agreed to come to el salvador for a week this coming may! although it is a long way off, we have a lot to plan and prepare for.. the Lord has used josh's speaking engagements in other countries to bring a lot of change and make huge differences in the movements happening in those places, and He is definitely capable of using josh to do similar things here in el salvador.. please be praying that the Lord will use this opportunity somehow, however that may be.. pray that students will be touched by the truth josh will bring, and that our movement will grow!

it was bound to happen..

2008-09-17T21:32:00.000-06:00

..and it finally did..

well, our whole team has been sick now for the last two days.. we must have eaten something this weekend that got us sick, because everyone on our team (except laucky lauren, last one standing) has been 'riding the d-train,' as they say.. everyone has had some combination of multiple digestive symptoms and fevers with chills..

me personally, i have experienced it all in the last couple days.. i havent thrown up, praise the Lord for that.. but yeah, it has been difficult.. we are all incredibly exhausted, and have missed two days already being on campus..

please pray for healing! thank you so much for those who already have! we are taking medicine, drinking electrolytes, and getting plenty of rest.. i will update you soon on the health of the team!

happy independence day, el salvador

2008-09-15T22:43:00.008-06:00

we went to a parade today in the heart of san salvador in celebration of the day el salvador gained independence from spain in 1821.. i have written a little bit about the circumstances of the spanish occupation of el salvador, but to summarize; the spanish treated the native salvadorians pretty objectionably, and tense relationships even today..

therefore, independence day is quite a celebration.. and salvadorians know how to party..

dont forget to check out the photo gallery for more, and better, pictures:

http://gallery.me.com/trevor.miller

'vamos a la playa'

2008-09-15T21:19:00.006-06:00

a salvadorian student from our movement invited our team to stay at his beach house for the weekend! it was such a blessing from the Lord, after our first full week of ministry, to be able to just relax and enjoy each other as a team.. this past week has been the hardest so far, but to end it with a weekend trip to an incredible beach with my whole team was amazing!

the water is about eighty or eighty five degrees.. we were in this beautiful little bay with only locals and not much tourism.. gorgeous waves.. soda in glass bottles, 'ceviche de camarones' (kind of like a shrimp salad).. it was pretty picturesque..

speaking of pictures, the ones at the online gallery are full quality, and i have quite a few more from this little trip.. so go see them at http://gallery.me.com/trevor.miller

love you guys!

spanish with yuri

2008-09-12T15:48:00.004-06:00

language has been somewhat of a drain on our team as a whole, because it becomes very exhausting to have to have your mind working so hard constantly to translate everything in order to eat, or know whats going on, or make important decisions with the national staff, or simply have a conversation with a student.. these are things i have taken for granted until i got here and realized how hard it is.. it has been fun, but it has definitely been challenging.. we have had some trouble finding someone who would be able to tutor us, seeing as most tutors around are english tutors.. there are also french schools and german schools, but there is obviously not a big market here for americans trying to learn spanish..

today we started our spanish tutoring! manuel, one of the national staff here, talked to an acquaintance of his that was willing to tutor us in spanish.. it wasnt until meeting him today that we found out just how privileged we are.. his name is yuri, he is a Christian salvadorian jew, and he has an incredible story.. when the war began, he was fifteen years old.. he loved languages as a kid, and taught himself english and german, so when the war started he made a very good living translating for all the reporters from the u.s., england, and germany.. when he was seventeen, the president of el salvador went about hiring a personal translator, and yuri was hired among the hundreds of applicants.. although he was a year too young to work by law, the president simply signed papers making him eighteen years old so he could hire him! yuri has been working for the president personally for twenty two years now, and is the only man in the country with the power to sign off on legal documents in other languages.. he oversees image for both political parties here in el salvador.. he is fluent in nine languages and five dialects, including hebrew, portuguese, italian, french, russian, yittish, japanese, and zulu.. he is currently teaching himself mandarin as well.. he only teaches executives and high ranking government officials, and charges $300/hr per person for his lessons, because he has been able to make people fluent in a second language within two months.. he is a very brilliant and gifted man, who truly loves the Lord and cares about us..

oh, and he is teaching all ten of us on the team, an hour each week, absolutely free!

praise God for His provision! there is no way that something like this can happen apart from the Lord simply providing for us, and desiring to make our ministry effective.. please pray that we will be diligent in learning the language, devoting time to it, and not wasting this incredible blessing.. be encouraged that God is watching out for us.. pray that these spanish lessons will enable us to have a much stronger ministry here.. and pray that we get to meet the president of the country! it may not happen, but it is entirely possible, and change happens quicker if it happens from the top down..

love you all..

God is moving!

2008-09-05T22:23:00.001-06:00

a while back our team met with layo and luchi, our national directors, to discuss vision.. i wrote about it in an earlier blog, but just as a refresher, one of the things he talked about was a great need for discipleship and training.. pastors here in el salvador arent very 'movement-minded,' meaning that they are not focused on discipleship and outreach.. churches here do little to move beyond their own walls, spiritually or physically..

today, layo met with an old friend named luis who used to be on staff with vida estudiantil (campus crusade here in el salvador) for many years.. luis informed layo that he had a plan to start a training center for pastors in el salvador! the closest thing to compare it to would be a seminary.. he had all the details worked out, and asked layo to come along side the project to provide curriculum and actual training and discipleship materials.. he came to layo because he knew that vida estudiantil had exactly what he wanted, exactly what was needed, for this training center to work..

what an answer to prayer! el salvador is in need of multiplying movements that are focused on leaders.. this new training center provides exactly that, and so much more! we are seeing God do incredible things, and we have yet to really jump fully into ministry yet.. amazing! please keep praying, the Lord is definitely answering them..

i need a bit more practice

2008-09-04T21:32:00.001-06:00

i led a discussion today at Evangelica, one of the two universities i will be working on this year.. it was a great discussion, we talked about the Vida Estudiantil (Campus Crusade) vision statement:

'ayudar a plantar movimientos in todas partes, haste que cada salvadoreno tenga contacto con un verdadero seguidor de Jesus'

or, in english:

'to help plant movements everywhere, until each salvadorian has contact with a true follower of Jesus'

we talked about whether this was important, if it was necessary.. i asked them if they thought it was even impossible.. i asked them what they saw in their country that needed change, and who they thought was capable of accomplishing it..

and i tried to do it all in spanish! it was really hard, slightly embarrassing as i stumbled over my words.. and i felt like i wasnt getting through to any of the students because of the language barrier..

we ended up having such an incredible discussion! praise the Lord for using my feeble spanish capabilities to bring about some truly thought-provoking dialogue.. we read the Great Commission, which you can find at Matt. 28:16-20.. Jesus calls his eleven disciples together, after His resurrection and before He ascends into Heaven, and tells them to go forth into all the world, teaching people about the incredible things Jesus did..

then i just encouraged them with this thought: Jesus used eleven men to change the entire world forever.. the world will never be the same because these eleven men were faithful to what Jesus had called them.. these men were simple fishermen and farmers, most of them with little or no formal education.. yet Jesus used them to do things never seen before in the world.. then i told them, 'you guys are leaders.. within the next five or ten years, you will be the leaders of your country.. you have the opportunity to change the course of history of your entire country!'

i hope and pray that the Lord will plant the right seeds in the right places, that these students will understand what a crucial role they play in seeing their country change.. please pray with me.. this is what we are here for, to help this come to pass!

a crack and a boom

2008-09-03T17:51:00.002-06:00

i think our house may have been struck by lightning earlier today.. we were all waiting for our ride to come pick us up, just reading or whatever, and it started to thunder.. only occasionally could we see the lightning in the beginning; it was almost noon and it was hardly cloudy at all out our windows.. within minutes it was absolutely pouring, and the thunder was setting off car alarms every time.. then we heard a huge crack and all the windows shook with the thunder that came right on its heels.. it was nuts, ive never heard thunder like this.. so yeah, im pretty sure we got hit.. or at least it came incredibly close.. and it happened more than once too!

thats what the rainy season in el salvador is all about apparently.. kids arent even phased by it..

ps there was a little earthquake the other day.. we live kinda close to a volcano that rumbles every now and then.. it was like a four pointer..

and now the thunder is starting back up again..

cell phones

2008-09-02T20:38:00.002-06:00

we got cell phones today! it was a pretty complicated process, but i think it was worth it in the end.. cell phones are much different here than in the us.. we have five phones from one carrier [digicel] and five from another [movistar]; both are pretty expensive.. the only plans they have are for eighteen months, so we had to do 'prepago,' or prepaid.. its not terrible, but we have to watch how many minutes we are using.. and do a lot of texting!

we are also getting ready to purchase our cars! this will finally enable us to work better as a team, as well as do ministry much easier.. as of now we are depending on the national staff for rides, and it is getting difficult.. pray that we get some good cars that will last for many years! we plan to leave them for the teams coming down after us, in the next few years..

thats all for now..

fiesta en las montanas

2008-08-31T01:25:00.003-06:00

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

2008-08-30T00:30:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-08-28T23:06:00.000-06:00

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..