When my daughter and I joined the 2024 Family Mission Trip to El Paso with our church, I had a plan. Vesper had just finished third grade, and my hope was to widen her world—to show her life beyond suburban Grapevine and teach her the joy of serving others in gospel-centered ways.

This past March, I had the opportunity to go on our church trip to Ecuador with Compassion International to meet my sponsor child, visit the Compassion center our church partners with in Jivino Verde, and see firsthand how sponsorship benefits not just the child but the entire family and community.