Going on a mission trip changed my life. It is the truest of clichés, but not in the way you might expect.

Over winter break, I took a week-long mission trip to Guatemala. I am not really sure what I was expecting. I was excited about the trip, but considering it was the week after finals, I was just trying to survive until I could get there. Everyone told me before I left that they could not wait to hear all about it when I got back, and now that I am back, I cannot even put into words how I feel about my trip. Words simply just do not give justice to God's presence through the experience.

I guess when people told me in the past that a mission trip changed their life, I just kind of thought that they had reached a realization about how blessed we are to live in the United States. Don’t get me wrong. We are so blessed, but that was not my takeaway from the week. The overflowing amount of love from every person involved in the Vacation Bible School was a true reflection of God’s love in every way. That was what was life changing.

I was assigned to a group of 5-7 year olds for the week, and at any given time, there were three to four of them attached to my limbs in some form or fashion. They loved to hug on me, sit on me, and bombard me with questions in Spanish that I only halfway understood. Sometimes their affection was quite humorous. At one point, I had my hair braided in a hairstyle that I am quite positive will never catch on, and at another, I was sitting on the ground being tickled by five different little kids. Turns out, it is hard to come up with the Spanish words for “stop tickling me” when you are outnumbered and can’t stop laughing.

I also think I took more kids to the bathroom that week than I have in my entire life combined. At first, I was confused because I was sure that even those tiny kids could not have had that tiny of a bladder. However, after a little bit, I realized that the kids just wanted to walk with me and hold my hand on the way to and from the bathroom. Just their constant, overflowing affection was one of the sweetest ways they expressed love.

They were also such givers. It’s amazing how much more you notice and appreciate actions when you don’t speak the language fluently. On the last of our trip each kid received a gift bag from our team. I walked up to one little boy and watched him open his bag of small toys. He then unexpectedly offered me the Silly Bandz that were in his bag. I could not explain to him that those exact Silly Bandz had been sitting at my house in a drawer for years. I told him, “para ti!(for you)," and he just quietly smiled and put them back in his bag.

Another little girl, after she got home, gave her mom the only friendship bracelet that she had worked so hard on. One kid gave a hand-drawn picture to one team member, and still, several other kids went to the store and bought presents for two other team members. They gave so much, even when they did not have much to give

It just goes to show that circumstances do not have to define you. When the leaders asked for prayer requests, the kids would ask for prayers for family members that did not believe in God or for their parents to find work. Their pure childish love prompted some of the most humble and powerful prayers I have ever heard. There were so many moments that it was evident that God was moving and where God demonstrated his love through other people.

I got a glimpse into a small piece of what God’s love truly looks like and how I should try to love. I learned that I need to love more like the Guatemalan children, where actions really do speak louder than words. I need to love complete strangers more freely in a reflection of God's true love. I have tried to avoid the cliches but the truth is that my mission trip really was life changing, and next time you ask someone how their mission trip went, know that if they reply with a cliché, it is only because they cannot come up with any other words to describe their feelings.

Watch their face light up, their smile, and their eyes sparkle as they talk about how truly amazing their trip was, and if you really want to know specifics, ask what they learned from God through their trip. Because while God changed my life in this unexpected way, He may change someone else's in a completely different, unexpected way. Because God’s ways truly are that: unexpected.