Is there a way to avoid recursion?

Why do I have a recursive function?

In my script, I have this function that checks if there is a value called "Status".

NOTE: THERE IS CODE IN BETWEEN THE LOOPS AND IF STATEMENTS THAT I DIDN'T SHOW

local function recursive(model)
    for _,child in pairs(model:GetChildren()) do
        for _,descendant in pairs(child:GetChildren()) do
            if descendant:IsA("StringValue") and descendant.Name:lower() =="status" then
                if string.sub(descendant.Value,1,4):lower() == "jump" then
                    --code
                elseif string.sub(descendant.Value,1,5):lower() == "speed" then
                    --code
                elseif string.sub(descendant.Value,1,4):lower() == "kill" then
                    --code
                end
            else
                recursive(descendant)
            end 
        end
    end
end

recursive(newMap) -- newMap is declared before in the actual script

What is newMap?

newMap is a map that is being cloned into Workspace. I have declared this variable before so you don't have to worry about that.

Status

Status is supposed be in a model, not added.

As you can see, I am using recursion. However, I want to avoid using recursion as much as possible for good performance in my game. Is there an alternative to recursion?