Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Giving international aid to poor countries
Overview of mentoring
Overview of mentoring
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Giving international aid to poor countries
One week this summer I was able to live in a completely different world than the privileged one I had been living in all my life. This summer Memorial Road Church of Christ took me to Honduras on a mission trip where other students my age would be serving the people and church there, rebuilding houses smaller than my room for whole families to live in. The mission trip allowed me to learn a lot about the people of Honduras and myself. It was put into perspective for me how blessed I am and how much I take for granted and how much I think I deserve, while people are much happier than me with much less than I have. The trip forced me out of my comfort zone, which was challenging, but I always felt like a stronger person after finishing something I did not want to. No matter how uncomfortable I got, serving the people in Honduras who really needed it was fulfilling, and the impact that it had on me was greater than anything I had ever experienced before. One trip to a disabled children’s orphanage allowed me to appreciate my …show more content…
By the next night I was ready to go with my toiletries, clothes, Bible, bugspray, bedding and passport. I reviewed the packing list at least five times to be sure I did not forget anything necessary for me to survive a week in a third world country and despite this, I had butterflies in my stomach. The fear of having forgotten something essential that would be thousands of miles away combined with the uneasy feeling I got from the thought of spending a week with people I wasn’t comfortable with left me with a pit in my stomach that wouldn’t leave me until the next evening. My dad and I arrived at the church around midnight when I boarded a bus full of strangers that I had not taken the time to get to know in the year my family and I had been living in
This experience confirmed in my heart that I was placed on this earth to help others. I want to work in a field where I can counsel, be a role model, and provide clinical help to those who want to turn their lives around. I want to make a difference. I know why God allowed me to face all I did growing up, so I could have compassion, not only compassion, but understanding, relate-ability. Be the person you needed when you were
Later that year, I was accepted into Spanish Honors Society, a volunteer based program to help out the Spanish communities near my school along with volunteering to help raise money for organizations that help less developed countries. One particular project that I helped raise money for through Spanish Honors Society, was Project Running Waters. The money raised for this event was donated to help people living in Guatemala receive fresh water through pipe systems that would be built. We raised over one thousand dollars to donate to this cause. Knowing that I can positively impact individuals in my community and in other countries makes me feel like I have grown maturely and am able to understand what needs to be done to make a difference to
It was the summer of 2013 when I was living with my grandparents and they told me about volunteering at the church. I didn’t know what they were talking about, so I took the initiative to go find out for myself that following Sunday. I was in the balcony on Sunday, when I heard the announcements saying we can volunteer for their hope food pantry. I was excited because it was going to be a chance where I can help other and get community service hours. Volunteering I began to think positive thoughts and telling myself “ I am doing a good deed”.
Growing up on the south side of Chicago in the roughest neighborhood in the city I learned a lot from others and just observing my surroundings. At times, I would always think to myself my situation could always be worse than it was, and that there is always someone who is doing worst off than me. But my situation turned from being in a bad position to being in a position where my mother would come to lose her mother and our home that we had been living in, all in the same year. After losing her mother and bother my mom lost herself in her emotions and shut down on everyone and with that came the loss of a home for me and my siblings and her job. Shortly after my mom began to go back to church and so did we. It was the first time in a log time that we had attended church and it played a big part in a learning experience for me and my siblings. Through the days that came to pass going to church sparked a desire of wanting to help others who had or are struggling to get by. My mentor, Pastor, and teacher deserves appreciation for helping my mother through a hard time and keeping me and my siblings active in a positive manor.
I spent every spring and summer in middle school doing mission work and community service. I loved the opportunity that it gave me to build relationships and share my beliefs with people I didn’t know. Little did I know that this would pave the way for a life-changing experience that I would encounter one day. Each spring my church would host a missionary event called “The Ignite Project.” I felt an urge to join the group, recognizing that it was a calling to profess my faith in Jesus. These mission trips helped me to go out
Never being one of those kids that had many friends seemed like a challenge; I have always felt like I had all I needed. For me, it’s special, that the people who I consider my friends, know so much about me. This past summer, I traveled to the place that gave birth to me, the Dominican Republic, where I was put in an environment where I had no prior knowledge of the people who I was going to encounter doing the things that I was interested in doing, like community service and traveling to certain parts of the country that I had never visited before. Being able to bond with the individuals from my trip while working on mountainsides, digging ditches to help install Black Water Treatments that would help a local community, participating in beach cleanups that belonged to a national park, made me feel that I was growing and expanding my horizons on what I could make a reality.
I would like to travel Nicaragua to spend time with my Family and go visit the beach and beautiful and wonderful different places, I would like to eat food from my country, is very delicious and different kinds.
Coming to Haiti I did not know what to expect. As soon as I stepped off the plane I was filled with mixed feelings on weather I would be able to appreciate and take in an environment that I have never stepped foot in. The air smelled different, the pace felt slower than America and the people appeared to have a communal camaraderie that I have never seen before. The sad part is, my mind was conditioned to expect Haiti to be a sloven third world country, however my time here has proven quite the opposite. I look forward to the adventures and experience awaiting to come.
After making the difficult decision of moving out from a school I called home and attended since Kindergarten, my freshman year in a new environment made for a rocky start. I fell into the wrong crowd, tried getting out, but kept making bad decisions, which eventually led to a deep depression. My dreams I had as a child were fading before my eyes, and negative thoughts consumed my mind. I started to believe that I had no purpose and could never amount to anything, but the four days at Camp Barnabas in Missouri changed the course of my entire life. This experience was important to me and helped sculpt me into the person I am today.
Being in a school that brought students from various counties and cities with different backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives, opened my eyes to seeing just how diverse humanity is. In a time when everyone is struggling with personal problems, I know how monumental a simple volunteer act can be. One of my favorite acts of service is tutoring. I tutored an elementary-aged girl for two years in Fort Lee and I will always remember those two years as the most fulfilling. Education is so precious, and children are the most open to it. Not only was I able to teach her math and reading comprehension skills, but how to carry herself as a smart and extraordinarily capable young lady. In return, she taught me patience and how sometimes you just need to approach a problem differently to see the
I have always considered myself a very promising student. I have worked extremely hard and received high grades. I have a close knit group of friends and my teachers and I have mutual respect for each other .Although I would consider myself at this present stage ‘fulfilled’ something was missing. I realized it wasn’t a materialistic aspect of my life. Through a tragic incident I finally discovered what fit perfectly in that vacancy. The consecutive hospitalizations of my grandparents evoked great pain and sorrow. However, out of the scorching intensity of this tragedy I was warmed and comforted by realizing what I was devoid of: community service.
Growing up in a developing country has really open up my mind about setting up for a better future. My home in El Salvador wasn't the most lavishness, but it's also not the worst. I grew up in a house with two levels; three bedrooms on the top floor, one on the bottom, a garage and laundry room at the lower level, and a small sale shop at the front of the house. Growing up in this home has been a meaningful place for me. Its where I found my sense of place.
They reassured me and my family that we would be okay and asked once again if everyone still wanted to go. Everyone said yes, so we headed for the plane to go to Port Au Prince, Haiti. When we arrived we instantly knew we were a long way from home. The airport was a dirty, rundown building with no air conditioning and half of the lights in the building were not working. There were no restaurants or stores, it was a night and day difference from the Atlanta airport. The security consisted of dogs sniffing your bags, unlike Atlanta’s airport where our bags were checked using high tech scanning equipment. When we got our bags off of a barely moving conveyer belt, we were immediately greeted by Haitian men who wanted to carry our bags for money. This made me realize how lucky I was to have air conditioning, security and all the other luxuries I was so used to seeing. Even though before the trip, we were warned people would be constantly asking you for food and money, I was overwhelmed with sympathy for these people. These men were only trying to make money so they could eat, our translators told us the average pay for a day’s work in Haiti was $1.00. With our luggage in toe we headed for a bus that would take us on a two hour drive to La Gonave Haiti to meet
Each of us had learned something from that trip. For me, this experience has taught me what gratitude is, the impact a good attitude has, what a servant looks like, and really how the relationships we make with our life are the most important aspect of life. It was the summer after my freshman year of high school. Earlier in the year, my parents had decided that they wanted to go on a mission trip as a family and serve somewhere.
People’s lives are changed every day by their actions and experiences. This past summer, I participated in a community service project, an experience that opened my eyes in many ways. I was a volunteer at the County Memorial Hospital. In my time as a volunteer at the hospital, I was able to meet patients and staff members from all over the world and learn about their life experiences. Listening to all of their stories has made me truly appreciate everything which I have.