Bunǎ prieten, ma numesc Alyssa Polley.
Hello friends, my name is Alyssa Polley.

Fun fact about me: I am fascinated by languages and cultures. I will always be bias towards French, having lived with a family in France for a summer, but getting to learn a little bit of Romanian has been such a blast this past year! I was a member of the team last year and we started learning some when we were there. I have stayed in contact with some of the Romanians, so I have been able to practice. They are very patient and kind teachers, even with the occasional giggle at the thick American accent. The team has had a few opportunities to learn basic phrases from our Skype lessons with Betty, one of the Romanian leaders.

Some of the coolest experiences from last year came from our time in English lessons at camp. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back on the challenging experience, I see that I was able to use the gifts that God has given me to teach the orphans. It sparked a passion that has continued to be on my mind as I start to think about what I want to do after my upcoming senior year at Waunakee.

Aside from being a busy student, I like to sing, smile, laugh, eat Snicker bars (best candy ever ;))  and hang out with friends and family. My dad and I have gotten fairly good at going on spontaneous road trips together, and baking with my mom is always fun. I have adopted my Cheesy Mac small group as my family every Wednesday night as well. I have so much love for those gals! My amazing leaders (love you Sarah and Emily!) have guided me along my journey with Christ since freshman year and have helped me decipher my experiences in Romania in ways I could never do on my own.

There was much deciphering to be done. Having patience with non English speakers was not the only struggle Jesus tossed my way last summer. It was a HARD trip for me. There were so many questions of “Why?” that didn’t have answers; that will never have answers. I turned to the Lord for some kind of validation of WHY he brought our team to Romania. He made it clear that we had not brought the Holy Spirit there with us. In fact, I have never felt God’s presence so strong anywhere in the United States as I did for those few weeks overseas. It opened up my eyes to see that God really is everywhere, at the same time. He is “constant in the trial and the change” and that the “One Thing” that remains, is Him (God has a really cool way of connecting with me through worship music). He put a few trials on my plate while we were there.

I remember very vividly one day, we were in our room when one of the orphans in my small group said my name and then she told me first in Romanian, then by herself told me in English, “I love you”. She totally rocked my world. A lot of feelings flooded my mind: confusion, guilt, joy, and uncertainty. Before I answered her I leaned over and whispered to the other Americans in the room, “what do I say?” I had no idea! I did not want to say I love you back, so I just said thank you. I just kept thinking about how we were going to be leaving so soon – abandoning them again. To me, that wasn’t love. I felt like even if I wanted to tell her I loved her back, I would’ve been lying. I hardly knew anything about her because she was very guarded during discussion, and rightfully so. My thought in the moment was that when you LOVE someone, you know pretty much everything about them. I didn’t want to give her the wrong impression of what love is. I was also thinking that if I told her I loved her, it would make leaving even more excruciating for both of us. Now looking back, I wish I would’ve said “GOD loves you!” That’s the only reason she felt loved by me, was because GOD’S LOVE was shining through me, over my hesitance. I was too scared to show her what my definition of love was, because I had the definition all wrong. I put contingencies on love. I thought about how I love my friends because they spend a lot of time with me, they know a lot about me, and we have a lot in common. I thought about how I love my family because, well, we are kinda stuck with each other and we have to love each other, but also because of the compassion and support they continuously show me. I wasn’t thinking about why God loves me. He loves me because I am his daughter, he chooses to love me and wrap his arms around me. He loves me more than I can ever imagine, and He loves this girl just as much. It took me a long time to figure out why God gave me that struggle of not being able to understand why she loved me. Through it all He used me to show her His love, but I think He showed His love for ME through her equally as much.

The Lord sure has blessed me with amazing relationships in my life that help me to grow closer to Him. I can honestly say that a lot of those relationships are with people who are on the team this year. This gets me even more excited to return to this special place with them! I am beyond pumped to grow closer to everyone on the team and also to continue to grow deeper in the relationships that I have with our friends in Craiova. I can’t wait to see how God has been working through Dan and Dana’s ministry this past year. I’m excited for what is to come and how the Lord will reveal Himself more to me as He sends us out!

I invite you to pray for unity and strength for us as a team; for all returning team members to see this trip as an entirely new experience and not compare it to last year; for patience for all the leaders at Open Roads day in and day out, and that He would revive their energy as they host a whole crew of excited Americans; that the Lord would continue to work in the orphans’ hearts, and make His presence even more apparent in the fun times to come; that they would hear His voice loud and clear through the verse, Jeremiah 29:11; that we would all be able to trust in the good plans that He has for us and rest in the fact that He has a future for us, even if we don’t know what it is yet, because He is our all knowing God who loves us deeply.

Thank you so much to everyone who has shown me love through interest, support, and prayer!

Yo peeps from last year’s team! I haven’t forgotten about y’all. I’m gonna miss you bunches, but get ready for some shoutouts because I’m sure there will be plenty of memories worth mentioning and updates galore! 🙂

Much love and chao for now,
Alyssa Ann (High five for same middle name, T!)