My name is Chelsea Diefenbach.  I have an average size family: a younger brother, a sister and a beautiful baby niece!!  I grew up in Southern California; a product of Arcadia High School, Whittier College and Claremont Graduate University.  Though I never moved out of the area, I have spent my whole life as a member of various short term missions teams.  That can mean many different things, depending on what organization/church you are ministering with, but in general, short term teams support and facilitate growth through pre-existing programs and ministries.  Since the age of 12 I have been to Mexico, Ecuador, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica and several domestic locations as a part of such teams.  I even returned to some of those places 2 and 3 times!

I believe in bringing joy and love to the people around you.  I strongly believe that my purpose and mission through Jesus Christ are to show his joy and love to everyone I encounter!  I also have a passion for kids!  I taught math at Montclair High School for 7 years and honestly, I thought I might grow old there.  A little piece of my heart will always be in Montclair!  I love the children there with a passion that is impossible to explain.  So, I guess you can say that my true loves are Jesus, laughter and children!

In April of 2016 after going through a pretty intense Bible study program with Grace Church of La Verne, I felt drawn to leap into full time ministry.  So, I applied with ITeams and quit my job at Montclair.  Now, I am in the process of becoming a site host with a ministry called Quito Quest.  Quito Quest is a small part of a much larger ITeams program called Youth World and it serves youth in Quito, Ecuador.  In the Spring of 2017 I will be leave for a language school program in Costa Rica and I will be moving to Ecuador in early 2018.   In Ecuador, I will be in the amazing position of running the type of short term teams that I have spent my whole life serving on!! I could not be more excited!!  I truly see God’s work in my life and am insanely grateful for the training and experiences he arranged, so that I would be prepared for the adventures my future holds!!