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Hello from El Salvador 

Because of you, I was able to touchthe lives of many children with the

love of God and my life waschanged as well. All that I can say

Thank You! Gracias!Thank you so very much for your support and your prayers! This trip was an adventure I shall

never forget. We worked under the leadership of “Castillo del Rey.” With your help I was able to

bring laughter to the faces of many broken children that have not smiled in a long time. El Salvador 

is a country known for it’s broken families, violent gangs, and large population percentage of kids.

80% of children live without both parents. This supports the formation of gangs, who recruit new

members as young as 5 years old. These gangs are the prominent authorities in many areas that we

visited. In environments as threatening as these, our team boldly performed on the streets and in

schools, for kids of all ages. In high schools we would start off with a sports competition and a dancebattle. It didn’t take much to catch the attention of anybody within ear-range of out speakers, which

would lead them to a band of dancing gringos. We were quite the spectacle.

Our mission? To change the system. Many of us could not speak Spanish, so all we had was our 

body language. And boy, did we sing it out! Through dramas put to a Spanish soundtrack, our 

message was a revolutionary one. Through our drama, “La Caja” we communicated that

disobedience ultimately leads to destruction. The most popular drama “Un Lugar Especial” was

based off of a “Castillo del Rey” staff member’s life story, which was very similar to that of a majority

of the crowd. The main character was a boy with a Father 

whose alcohol abuse led to a life torn by abandonment,rejection, and emptiness. By the end, when “Jesus” provided

“Un Lugar Especial” (A special place) Teary eyes dotted the

crowd, followed by a mass rush of the stage to receive Jesus

as their savior.

As I looked out at the masses of children, I knew they

where much braver than I could have ever been at that

age. We heard story after story of death threats to individuals

who refused to join a gang, or tried to leave on behalf of their faith.  

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Each telling shocked me

to the core, as a trend

began to form. In each

instance the gang tried to kill

them, their guns would not

work. They would climb out

of their cars and resort to

machetes only to discover 

with much frustration that

some invisible force

prevented them from slicing

their throats.

As I watched

highschoolers wearing gang

signs break down in tears

upon being prayed for, I

knew something powerful

was in store for this nation.

As I held a

disfigured and malnourished

little boy named Manuel in

my lap as I slowly fed him a

protein bar, I realized the

power of radical love. As I

watched a boy one minute

wincing in pain and the next,

take off his sling and

effortlessly lift his arm above

his head, I knew this was no

God-forsaken land. I knew

in my heart: “The King is

here.” By the end of the week,

the statistics were 3,721

people reached, 792

salvations, and 190

miraculous healings. The

whole week was full of 

stunning moves of God.

However, topping all was

the one location where we

didn’t use a sound system.

There were no funny dances

or dramas to catch any-

body's attention. It was just

plain old us. The team was

split up into about 12

classrooms. Since very few

of us gringos knew any

Spanish, those of us that did

had to step it up a notch. As

I stood in front of a

classroom of nonchalant

middleschoolers and

explained the love of Jesus in what broken Spanish I had, I

watched their faces soften and their eyes gleam over with

tears. That day I was reminded that He is enough. And that day, He

got all the glory. I couldn’t have impacted those kids by my own power. I was just a

15-year-old white kid with a few words of broken Spanish. But He did.

Thank you again for supporting me in my adventure to El Salvador. Many lives where changed-

both theirs and mine. I can’t thank you enough for giving me that chance.

Until next time, toodle-oo! :~) RIVER 

“I realized the power of radical love.”