Romanian Chels

The beginning was so, so hard for me. I had to leave my family, my house, my church, my friends, my city, my province, my country and jump on a plane to the unknown that was on the other side of the world that was waiting for me, but when it was time the excitement slowly disappeared and the unknown started to be frightening....

with everything being so different there it was hard for me to adjust to it all. The first week, first month and first 3 months were definitely the hardest parts for me. The culture, the way of eating, dressing, sleeping, working, talking and living were all so different than what I had been living. It was all really hard for me to accept in the beginning. I read a little about the handbook beforehand and I thought that I covered most of it. and you usually think that it's not going to be as bad as you think... but in my case it was worse and it was hard for me to accept everything. Going from not having things at home be strict at all to having things be very strict and super conservative was super hard. I actually hated it and I was wondering why on earth did I sign up for all of this?

But then I realized that God didn't bring me there for it to just be a piece of cake and for it to just be fun and games all the time. He brought me there to learn more about other cultures and people and to give me patience and to be able to succumb to the things there that I didn't really like at first and try to do it with a smile for HIM and to make me a stronger person. I wish that I would have known this all sooner and I wish that I would have gave it all to God right from the beginning but I didn't for a little while and that's when it was the hardest for me. But then I told God that since He brought me all the way here that He has to help me through it all, and He sure did. what I realized most about what I learned is that you really need God in everything. Before I had mom and Mel that would help me out in a lot of things so I never really felt alone. But going there I had never felt so alone. I really didn't think that I would be able to stay there for a year. But I cried out to God many times and He was beside me every time and once I knew that and felt it, I knew that I could make it through. And I grew a lot as a person and in God and I think that is one of the biggest reasons that God brought to Romania for 1 year. I'm so happy that after the rough times we can see it from a different angle and then understand why. If only we could see from the beginning all the amazing things that can happen after we go 100% and be open to new things and give it all to God right from the start. We are just people and sometimes we think that we don't need god but we do always need Him in every area in our lives.