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"I did not feel I deserved to be knelt to," he said, his head bowed as he talked. The team visited a few different villages, some comprised entirely of huts and others that were more urban with brick homes and stores. Simmons's team helped in the construction of a granary. They ministered to small audiences and persuaded some—children and adults—to become Christians. They learned African songs, and Simmons, a student at Wor-Wic Community College in Salisbury, Maryland, took his guitar and wrote a song about his experience with his friend Kirk Kroeger, 17, of Fredericksburg, Texas. The children liked having their pictures taken with digital cameras and seeing the photos. Simmons played duck-duck-goose with the children and came to feel like a brother to them. He had something in common with them: He was adopted as a baby.

As teenagers are often accused of being self-involved, it was perhaps unsurprising that what Simmons and most of his teammates brought back with them from Zambia was a desire to put others before themselves more diligently. Niki McDanel, 13, of Casselberry, Florida, described how three orphans shared a single blanket at night to keep warm and another orphan with a mental disability had little care available to him. She decided she wanted to become a famous actress and, like Angelina Jolie, spread awareness about Africa.

"People don't know the half of it," said McDanel, with long dark hair and purple, wire-rimmed glasses. "Once you meet these kids, you realize it's not just aids that's the problem. They die of things like malaria and things it would only take $5 to cure."

Simmons missed his own bed while in Africa. He missed the luxuries he had back home. But over time he came to realize those things were "distractions," as he put it, drawing his attention away from the children he was sent to Africa to care for. The trip reordered his priorities, he said—God first, then others, and then himself. Once he let go of those distractions, he said, he could enjoy himself and his time with the children.

Was boot camp worth it? Oh yes, he said. Simmons arrived in Zambia well prepared for the worst of living conditions. "The Christians in Africa were different [from] American Christians. There, all you have to depend on is God so they're totally focused on God," he said. "While we were out there God really showed me myself. … It was a challenge, really seeing myself."

Amy Green is a journalist in Orlando.

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Teen Missions International's website has more about its programs.

Recent articles on youth ministries include "Gospel Talk," about the shakeup in North Carolina Young Life staff, and "Young, Restless, and Ready for Revival."

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February 2008, Vol. 52, No. 2