Deep community immersion and service-learning experiences bring students a million daily lessons, each one potentially transformative. Harder, more authentic service experiences in the developing world broaden students' sense of what they're capable not just of surviving, but even of enjoying. The best service travel throws kids into difficult experiences, such as local homestays, which are an immediately humbling reality check. Living with impoverished rural families in the developing world means seeing real leaders in a wholly different context: women who raise multiple children with nothing but their own resolve, men who leave home at 3 a.m. and return at 9 p.m. to provide a better life for their children. When students start to realize that living and working alongside other humans in their daily lives really is a contribution, they become increasingly unconcerned with producing tangible outcomes and focus instead on building a connection with the people around them.