What was your "Aha Moment"?

Have you seen the commercials for Mutual of Omaha featuring people telling the stories of their "Aha Moments"?  Ordinary people tell how things that they saw or experienced changed their view of things and made them live life differently.  Maybe they saw someone struggling and they found a way to fix it.  Found a way to spend more time with their kids. They are pretty interesting, you should check them out on Youtube.

I think I had several "Aha Moments" that lead me to missions.  Moments where what I saw changed my perceptions of the world, gave me purpose, or made me want to do something to bring about change.  My first "moment" was week long, and has left me with a face and name I will never forget.

Jaqueline

I went to a great Christian high school that sought to show it's students a broader picture of the world beyond life in the small town where it was located.  One year my whole high school, all nine of us (yes, I said nine- we were a tiny school), packed up a big van and headed down to Juarez, Mexico to work in an orphanage.  Not all of the kids in the orphanage were orphans in that their parents were both dead.  In many cases the parents were living, but we unwilling or unable to care for their children.  For me, as a 15-year-old from a Christian home, it was shocking to see young children living away from their families.  I saw them desperate for love and attention.  One girl, Jaqueline became my constant shadow that week.  She would follow me around, books in hand begging for me to read to her.  She loved Dr. Seuss books, especially the ones in Spanish, but she even wanted me to read the English ones aloud to her.  She couldn't understand the English books, but having someone read anything (even books she couldn't understand) was a special treat to her.  As a child my mom spent a lot of time reading to my brother and I, it was a favorite past time and it was one of the many ways my mom showed her love for us.  I went away wishing I could do more for her.   Realizing that doing something simple like reading a book to a child is a way to show God's love- that was a wake-up moment for me.

While we were there us highschool girls made and served meals.  It was a lot of fun, and although the  children's stories were heartbreaking, we were encouraged by their attitudes.

(I have a good picture of Jaqueline and I, but I can't locate it at the moment.)

What "Aha Moments" has God put in your life?  I would love to hear how God has worked in your life and on your heart!