In the summer of 2004 I went on my first short-term mission trip to Monterrey, Mexico. Only a few days before we left my mom decided to come with us. I really didn't want her to come with because I looked at the trip as a vacation from everything, including her. Fortunately, my outlook was changed dramatically throughout the trip.

When we arrived I was face to face with real poverty for the first time. Although it was humbling, I wasn't quite ready to let God take me over. When we got to our house I learned that we had to do chores and take military showers. This was not something I was expecting. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled with the situation. The term 'mission trip' meant something completely different to me by the end of the trip.

With each day I was given a new challenge by God that made a huge impact on how/why I rely on God. At one point I was asked to give my testimony with only five minutes of prep time. I hadn't really understood what this even meant but I said a little prayer, grabbed the mic and let God speak through me. My mom said she had never seen me like that before. With God's help I was able to rely even more on him.

For the rest of the week I was faced with opportunities to spread God's love and I was able to because of my newly developed humble yet enthusiastic obedience that allowed me share all that I knew about my faith. Due to my experiences in Monterrey I have had a reliance on God that is incomparable to any reliance on any human because I know that my God can do all things.