The thought of taking our entire family on a mission trip was exciting and daunting. Exciting, because who could pass up traveling to Mexico and living in a house on the beach, especially when accompanied by friends and family? Daunting, because we did not know how the kids, or us, would do in the heat and humidity, or what ministering in a foreign context and not speaking the local language would look like. Fortunately for us, we were well taken care of on both accounts. The

The reason I came on this mission trip was because I wanted to get a first-hand experience of what poverty actually looks like, as opposed to what they just show on TV. It's one thing to be told what an experience is like through the eyes and ears of another. But to experience it personally? That's a beast of an entirely different color. I wanted to see and hear the poverty with my own eyes and ears. I wanted to feel like I actually helped out. Even in some small way, I wante