Just when you think you have it all figured out, God brings you to India.

My story begins with that, because as soon as we landed in India and met the people, I knew that my life was about to change. A question that I can remember asking God was, “Why God? Why did you give me so much and them so little?” I asked this question on my first day in the country.

Little did I know God would answer that question throughout the trip. I learned quickly that God was alive and well in each child, women, and man that I came across and each village that myself and the team traveled through. As the days went by, God made himself visible through my brothers and sisters of India.When the India team traveled through a village, we all witnessed how simplicity in living conditions and – most importantly – God’s love can be all the fulfillment we all need.

God spoke to me even more when we visited an orphanage and we all got the opportunity to feed, play, rejoice alongside, and simply spend time with these children who were without mothers or fathers – or so I first thought.

I asked one of the kids (who knew very little English) where his mother and father were. The child replied with the most amazing answer I’ve ever heard: “I don’t know; but I do have a father – God.”

That was something that I will never forget. I could go on for days about India, but my experience is summed up in this: “Before the trip, it was easy for me to think I was going to India to do God’s work. But I quickly found out that I was in the midst of God’s work.”  Gods plan is so much greater than my own. He brought me to India so that He could meet me there, and so I could come back to America and share my story. Going to India was by far the most defining moment in my life.

By Andy Ortiz