Wow. I cannot believe that I just made it through my first country and am just a few days away from my halfway point on the race. Time sure is flying. I am currently in the Dominican Republic, safely made it here after a 50 hour travel day a few days ago and wanted to do a final update on Romania before ministry starts to pick up here.

Romania was very challenging, but with every challenge came an even sweeter reward. There were many days where choosing into ministry and picking up my cross every day was exhausting, but the good that came out of facing those struggles is what kept me going.

On social media, it may seem like life is a dream, and some days it really is! I loved getting to explore Romanian culture and getting to experience what the country had to offer- the food, the people, the city life, it was all amazing and such a privilege that I got the chance to enjoy that. There were also hard parts as well though that don’t get shown as often on social media or blog posts- crying late at night because I wanted nothing more than the comforts of home sometimes, experiencing spiritual warfare, disunity within relationships and friendships, and various other things that the Lord was challenging myself and other squadmates with.

With all that being said, the amazing parts far outweighed the trials, and the trials were what made the good parts so great. I can’t imagine doing ministry and life in Romania any other way. The Lord used me to cultivate friendships, share His love, speak about His son, and so much more and I am overjoyed by how good He was to me in my time in Romania.

It is hard to simply summarize what I learned, saw, and experienced and I may never be able to comprehend how close He was to me in my valleys and how He smiled right there with me in my mountaintops. I couldn’t even begin to explain how He challenged me to view others through His eyes and to put others before myself. Not only that, but to put Him before others AND myself. I wish pictures and videos could show the joy that was in my heart serving the community in the way my squad and I did.

Romania, I love you. Thank you for containing a love like the kind in Raul, or Ana, or Diana, or any of the other Romanians we met that showed us more love than we could ever imagine. I praise God for the people that I met and how they changed my life forever.

In the Dominican Republic, I will have wifi very sporadically, so please be patient with me and I will respond and update as soon as I can :) As for now, I am very excited and expectant to see how the Lord moves through me and around me here in Santiago.

Thank you for taking the time to read and thank you for the love and support. Until next time!

-Alyssa