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"Pray, pray, pray," Tim, my youth pastor, told my youth group at one of our meetings. I zoned out because I'd heard his message before. Tim was constantly telling us that prayer could change a person's life. I'd already spent a lot of time praying during church and youth group. Now I wanted to do something—which was why I'd signed up for my youth group's upcoming week-long mission trip.

We were headed to Tim's hometown because the church he'd attended as a kid had fallen on hard times. Many of the people had lost their jobs, fewer and fewer people attended on Sunday morning, and the church building was badly in need of repairs. I didn't mind cleaning up and painting, but what I really wanted to do was connect with people—especially kids.

When we arrived at Tim's old church, I was excited to hear that we were going to spend time at a park with neighborhood kids. Tim explained that everyone was getting a "little buddy" to spend the day with. He told us this was a great chance to tell these kids about Jesus. I couldn't wait.

But only 13 kids showed up—and there were 14 of us. I ended up as the only one in my youth group not paired up with a child. So just to keep busy, I filled water balloons and cleaned up after everyone. I tried not to let it show, but I was feeling totally down. It seemed like I wasn't needed. I started to feel even worse on the ride back to the church. My friends talked nonstop about what an amazing day they'd had. They were sure God had worked through them to impact the lives of their "little buddies."

"I felt completely useless all day," I blurted out. "I didn't do a thing."

"It may not feel like you're doing important stuff, but God is using you," Tim said gently. "He's using you in ways that you can't imagine."

Yeah, right, I thought.

Then he said something that really made me stop and think. He said, "Whitley, I am really glad you want to do things to help out. But don't forget you should also be praying for the people here."

Once more, Tim was talking about prayer. And maybe Tim was right. Maybe I really did need to spend more time in prayer. So for the rest of our mission trip, I started spending time in the church's prayer room. I asked God to use me in any way he wanted to. I also prayed that the people in the town would get to know him. As I prayed, it hit me. Praying for people went hand-in-hand with helping them.

When I focused on prayer, I started to feel like God was using me. One afternoon, a bunch of kids from the neighborhood were headed to the town pool. I noticed one little girl was staying behind. She told me that her parents didn't have any extra money for things like the pool. It didn't cost much, so I gave her money so she could go swimming. She smiled and happily went on her way.

I knew I probably wouldn't see her again. And the money wouldn't change her life, but what could change her life was prayer.

When it was time for us to go home, I couldn't help but feel like there was so much more that needed to be done. I didn't feel helpless, though. I felt like I could do something really powerful for my new friends. I could continue to pray for them. Tim was right, getting out and doing stuff for other people is really important—but one of the biggest things I can do is pray.

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