Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Beautiful...

You have heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... I say that beauty is in the eye of the Creator. It is amazing to see the kids that we work with each week and the beautiful way that God has made them. It hurts to then see and hear the ways that the world and those in it have hurt and broken them. It is beautiful to see God's creation and His love for His children shine through!

It is beautiful to see a little boy who is mentally challenged enjoying each moment of camp and saying it is wonderfully fun!


It is beautiful to see a girl who has spent much of the day upset turn the corner and smile so big!


It is beautiful to see a little boy growing up without a father, ask a man to play with him and take his hand along the way...


It is beautiful to see a tough group of boys and girls dress up in costume for their team video and not care what anyone thinks!


It is beautiful to see a little boy who has come out of great abuse in his home smiling and loving being part of a team and enjoying camp with all his heart!


It is beautiful to see a group of girls with special needs all grinning with the love that they receive by having someone sit with them and take an interest in them and show by their love for them that they are worth something and are beautiful!


It is beautiful to see Romanian teenagers volunteering their time and talents to invest in these children alongside us and be the voice for our American teams as they translate each week!


It is beautiful to see through the tough exterior of girls who have had a rough life and see the little girls inside who just want to be loved and accepted!


"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

Please pray with us this week that each of the children at camp will see how beautiful they are to their Creator and Father. Pray that God will give them understanding and open hearts to His love!

Slippin' & Slidin'...

Young or old... boys or girls... All you have to do to kick off hours of fun at Camp Vetca is roll out some long pieces of kitchen linoleum, douse it with soap, and spray it down with a hose!

These you see, are the perfect ingredients for a giant slip and slide... plus the added bonus of a guaranteed camp bath for all! As long as you keep the water flowing and the music on... the kids will run and slide!







And then, there is always more dancing!!!

Week 6... Starring Reghin & The Florida Team

This week the kids & teens from the orphanage in Reghin are enjoying a sunny week at Vetca! We think the sun came in direct from Florida with our team for this week! This team is made up of mostly teenagers and they are being stretched this week to work with... mostly teenagers and are doing a great job! Their leaders are having a pretty good time too it seems!


Dressing up for team videos, hanging out with new friends...



Getting pumped up for the slip & slide or giving a piggy back ride...



As you can see, there are many ways to get to know your new friends at camp and begin to show them how much you care, even without words! We are so thankful for this group from Florida for jumping in and building relationships with the special kids from Reghin!

Friday, July 25, 2008

If You Need A Laugh... Camp will do it!

The Messy Olympics...


The Romanian Dancing...
This is not your typical camp dancing... but it was fun to see all the kids circle up and dance to the more traditional Romanian tune.


The Tourism Advertisements...
Each team creates a tourism advertisement for their country each week. It is always funny to see what each country comes up with as their "catch phrase" and the things they use to draw people to their country. China this week used the catch phrase... "Come to China... the land of Kung Fu"... as you can see... Kung Fu can happen anywhere... even at a national dance performance!


Muscle Mania...
Muscle Mania like you have never seen it before! Wow Adi, Krisztina, Daniel & Fanel must have really trained hard this week to be so huge!


The Winners... UK!
The first day of camp this week the UK team was a little discouraged. They had several little kids on their team and didn't seem to be winning much, but the tables turned by the end of the week and their spirit and teamwork (along with thousands of points) won them the gold medal! Don't worry... every team got a winners welcome up front but it was great to see this underdog team come up and take home the gold!

More of the FUN!

There are just so many FUN pictures of all the kids having FUN this week that we thought it would be FUN for you to see a few!


















We are so thankful for the educators from all three houses that came with us to camp this week and were good sports... sleeping in tents, participating in games, helping to translate and just loving on the kids as they always do!

Grace & LOC Head to Vetca...

Whether it was playing at free time, walking into town, singing or listening to talks together... the team from Grace Church jumped right in and loved on our kids from the LOC group homes this week and some special bonds were formed.







There were fewer kids this week and so there were fewer teams... but Great Britain (UK), Romania, USA (or SUA) and China competed like it was the real games! It was great to watch the older kids on the teams help the younger kids and encourage them along... even if they sometimes slowed down the winning process. The teams worked together well and they had a great time!





Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our kids at camp this week... More to come!

Monday, July 21, 2008

The LOC Kids Kick Off Camp...


Each week starts off with a giant TV screen and the announcement that the Olympic Games have been moved from China to Vetca! It was no different for our kids this week... there were some guest athletes sharing some training tips and of course the big warm up to begin the Olympic training camp!





Another week of camp is off to a great start! Please pray for this week with the LOC kids. Pray that God would soften hearts to hear the truth of His love and desire for relationship with them in a new and life altering way. Pray for the team that is with us this week from Grace Church in Arkansas to have special opportunities to get to know the kids and build relationships with them.