I believe that the world can be a dark place. Everyone faces horrible situations, people, and moments. Everyone comes to a helpless point at least once in their life, where they find no matter how desperately they want change, they have no ability to do anything. I also believe that there is good that comes out of every bleak moment – a kind of good that brings the amazing joy of overcoming and a kind of good that perhaps the darkness of the world is not aware of.

Last year I went on a mission trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. This changed my outlook on life. For the first time, I saw the world from outside the shelter and comfort of the United States. I saw transparent pain and struggle. Families of five lived on one dollar a day in cardboard and metal shacks by a dirty river. Fruit sellers and fire jugglers lined the roads, attempting to make a minuscule living. Malnourished, gray horses wandered along trash-covered dirt streets. Police armed with machine guns guarded every place. Life was so different. Life was dangerous and unpredictable.

In the orphanage there, I held a precious newborn who would never know the name of her mother. I heard the story of a boy who was trapped in a cage for 10 years, resulting in his inability to walk without aid. At the community center, I spent time with a boy who traded his candy for other kids’ pizza to take back to his family, because at eight he was the provider.

At the girls’ home I connected with Lilian. At 15 years old she had been kicked out of her house because her dad did not want her. She had been raped by a man she did not know, and was being bullied at the center. I held Lilian, and in that moment all we could do was sob.

Because I was exposed to these lives, I believe the darkness I saw is a necessity to gain the most treasured ability in life: the ability to understand and have compassion for another. The lives of that baby, the young boy, and Lilian seemed to consist only of dark events. What I did not realize then was the enormity of joy each of them had despite their situation. Their smiles were uncontainable. Their laughter was loud and contagious. Their joy, unfailing and courageous.

I can see the impact I was able to make in their lives but, more important, the impact they had on mine, all because of their experiences of darkness. I now see the power that companionship and human connection can have during these moments and how that power can bring light to people’s lives. And I now see the hope and strength a person can have even in the worst moments. This light brings joy, the kind of joy you can only achieve through experiencing and overcoming the worst darkness.