When you go on a short-term missions trip—just like anytime you serve in ministry—you grow, you give, and you go from where you are in life. God uses your unique experiences and perspective to stretch you and use you in His service.

For me, on my trip to Kenya this summer, the part of me that felt the deepest and gave the most came from my role as a mother. It was also my biggest obstacle.

From the beginning, when I sat in my living room looking at the application or lay in bed imagining the trip, nearly all of my fears and objections came from being a mom. I had never left my two young children for more than a night. What would happen? How could I do this? I had wanted to go since before my son was born, and now seemed like the best time, but I was seriously afraid.

I had learned from a couple of semesters in Evangelism Explosion that God can use fear. When you do something hard and feel too weak for the challenge, it’s then that you have to rely on Him. Time and time again, in my fear and weakness, I had been amazed by His power, His comfort and His peace.

So, with a lot of encouragement from my husband, I committed to go. I left behind those I treasure most on earth, knowing that they would be in the care of the One who treasures them more than I ever could. I know that there was a lot of prayer that kept me calm and peaceful and my family safe and healthy while I was away. Truly God’s peace transcends understanding.

My experience in Kenya was a collection of moments that will be unforgettable, as well as feelings and experiences that I hope will change me forever. I saw both beauty and poverty beyond my imagination. I saw barefoot children in tattered clothing sitting in classrooms with muddy floors and broken windows. These children melted our hearts when they sang “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” In many cases their bright smiles spoke of joy and spiritual riches that contrasted starkly with their earthly poverty.

Fifteen of us went to Kenya. We had fifteen different experiences and took from the trip many different lessons. It is said that memories are made up of moments. I don’t want our memories to sit on the shelf and gather dust beside the wooden giraffes and elephants we got in Nairobi on the way back home. I hope that the lessons we learned, and are still learning, from this trip, are put to use in our lives and in our service to our Lord.

I keep replaying different scenes and looking through the pictures to keep the memories alive. Most of the moments that affected me the most profoundly were spent in the orphanage—a place where I felt my role as a mother put to task.

When one of the orphans, a little girl named Benta, took me by the hand, she really grabbed me by the heart. She led me inside the orphanage and sat me down on the floor to read storybooks to her by the light of the window. There’s no electricity in this part of Choimim, so work at the orphanage is done the way it was 100 years ago in America—by hand and by daylight.

Benta was bright and interested in the books and so eager for attention. Everywhere she went, she wanted to hold hands, to show off her doll, to see the pictures I took with my camera.

Before I left that night I helped sort through some of the things we had brought from home. In the big blue Rubbermaid tub I found the little white leather sandals that my daughter Ruby had worn nearly every day two summers ago. They still had plenty of life in them. They were a perfect fit for Benta. As I put them on her feet, my heart flooded with emotions as I felt these two far apart worlds collide. One image I couldn’t get out of my mind was the box of old shoes in my attic. I have so much and give so little. But even with that little, God can bless others. What if I gave so much instead? That’s a lesson I hope God continues to challenge me to put to use.

One of the most memorable moments of the trip came a few hours after I left the orphanage. That night, we were sitting around the dining tables in the dormitory, debriefing from our day, when Damon Davenport, the director of Build the Village ministry, found out that some of us had spent the afternoon at the orphanage. He said something like, “Orphans really need love and hugs and attention. So I don’t want what I’m about to tell you to affect the way you treat any of them, but I should warn you that Benta is HIV positive. She is one of the two who were rescued from child trafficking.”

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I thought I was going to be sick. This little girl had been through more in her two-and-a-half years of life than anything I could imagine in all of my grown-up years. And yet, in that moment of raw emotion, in the pain of hearing the challenges she had to face, I was overwhelmed by the goodness and mercy of God. This little girl had been rescued. God had spared her from countless unspeakable pains and heartbreaks and put her in a home where she was surrounded with love and care, meals and medicine, and taught of Jesus and His great love for her.

The next day as we were finishing up at a public school I was put on the spot when the Head Teacher asked me to pray and speak to the students. I told the kids that we had left our families in America and travelled for two days because we love Jesus and we wanted them to know how very much He loves each of them.

When it comes down to it, shouldn’t that motivate all that we do in life?