Hello! My name is Diego. One interesting thing about me is my love for serving people in other countries. I had the opportunity to serve in Costa Rica and the Philippines. These experiences allowed me to understand different cultures in impoverished areas.

Most of my team’s work in both countries involved playing with the children at local schools. We would take groups of kids and play games and sing songs with them for hours at a time. Along with this, we did community work like restocking the school with supplies and bringing groceries to many families. I helped repaint the school and local community college. We also constructed a stage for the whole community to use for events. Our team hosted a free auction at the end of the week with lots of prizes to celebrate the finishing of our stage construction. Hundreds of members of the community attended and won free food, toys, and school supplies.

While I am proud of our work and know that I made a memorable impact on the countries’ communities, I feel that the people I served made just as big of an impact on me. It made me realize that my purpose in life is to serve others no matter where I am. I feel the greatest about myself when I am helping other people. When COVID caused my mission trip to Mexico to be canceled, I decided to serve in my own community. I helped lead a canned food drive that delivered to homeless people and did housework, cleaned cars, and bought groceries for the elderly who couldn’t leave their house due to the pandemic. With my studies, I hope to pursue a career in medicine and serve on more mission trips as the team doctor!