ROwrestleMANIA...

You all know about Camp Vetca and the theme of Super Summer... but did you know about RO"wrestle"MANIA??? It is the theme of our Day Camps that will take place three weeks this summer.

It has seemed quite fitting over the past 10 days or so that the theme was about "wrestling, " as we have had to wrestle in many meetings and most of all in prayer to finally be allowed to begin Day Camp this week! We have met some resistance from the local Child Protective Services as far as visits and day camps this year. In years past it has been no problem, so this year we have truly been wrestling in prayer to see the Good News go out to these children.

We are still in prayer for the coming weeks. We were finally cleared to begin day camp with the kids from Sincrai this week, but were only allowed to go in the mornings. God again was faithful and had an open door waiting, with children flooding out! The team from Allen Bible Church has been very flexible and when the door opened to spend all afternoon doing Day Camp with about 50 kids from the gypsy village of Petelea, partnering with a local church, they were all for it!

As you can see, there were many more than 50, but that didn't stop the singing, playing, and sharing of God's love creatively through a "wanna be" wrestler named Hi5! Our special guest Hi5 learned along with the kids how to "build yourself up" in the Lord... Jude 20. Take a look at this sweet surprise...






As you can see here, the Allen Bible Church Team jumped right in with the kids and led many large groups of kids in games, memory verse, small group discussion, crafts and more... having prepared for 50 and been greeted by over 200... they didn't skip a beat!







Please continue to pray for Day Camp going on this week in the mornings with the kids from the state group homes in Sincrai and for the afternoons with the kids (& adults) from Petelea. Please also pray that as we continue to work and pray, that God will open the door for day camp next week and for all of our weekend visit opportunities.

Super Hero Transport...

You may know Batman's Batmobile and Wonderwoman's Invisible Jet... but you haven't seen anything until you've seen the Super Hero Transport from Super Summer 09 at Vetca!

Here are a few of the latest models under construction...





The kids had fun, but also learned about Jesus, who is our Ultimate Super Hero... A great week!

Welcome to Super Summer 09!

Yes, our Super Summer is underway and it started off with a great first day at the LOC group homes! The interns and volunteers were able to spend a little time playing together and getting to know one another...





and then it was time for the fun to begin! Superman made an appearance... saving many lives and helping many people in need... "she" was so worn out at the "end of the day" that she was looking to recruit some brand new "Super Heros!" and of course our kids volunteered!



Soon, it was time for team Spiderman, Hulk, X-men & Batman to take part in a few friendly competitions... They had to take down "The Joker" with water guns...



See how fast they could put on their super hero costume and fly to the rescue...






Chase down the villain in in hiding...



And get the kryptonite away from their team... while loading the other team up with it...



Needless to say, after all this fun... the kids were fired up and ready to get on the bus to Vetca this morning! Pray for the week ahead, for the kids and leaders as it is predicted to be a rainy week, and for the Holy Spirit to work in "super" ways in the lives of our kids this week!

The Summer Interns...

Livada has eleven summer interns joining our staff in Romania for the summer. They will help lead the summer camps along with Sarah Meszaros, Rebecca Rasmussen, Ovi Sand, and Alina Muntean. Behind the scenes, Kelly Hornsby will be directing and coordinating millions of details for the summer teams. Marian Ciurariu-Gliga will continue to get the camp facilities in working order and help overcome all of the many obstacles in hosting 120 people per week at our Camp Vetca. Intern Michael Hale will be the camp pastor and STINT Sarah Meszaros will be the camp administrator.


Front Row from left to right: Rebecca Rigell from Florida, Hannah Bottom from Texas, Emily Dick from Kentucky, Daniel Mathewson from Tennessee, Austin Spurlock from Georgia, Michael Hale from North Carolina.
Back Row from left to right: Caitlin Braswell from Alabama, Bruce Thomas, Leah Ronk from Iowa, Kaylea Mattern from Florida, Justin Hendrix from South Carolina, Carrie Lomac from North Carolina

There will be six short term teams joining them for seven weeks of evangelistic orphan camps. The theme for this year is "Super Summer" and walks the kids through the book of Romans as they learn about the "Ultimate Super Hero" we have in Jesus Christ. Please pray for open hearts and that the Lord would give spiritual protection to the campers and leaders as they seek to evangelize the lost and encourage the believers.



The interns helped pack over 750 lbs. of supplies to take to Romania for summer ministry!

Intern orientation was held at the "Hodge Lodge" in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Livada Board President, Bruce Hodge, hosted the intern team at his home as they went through intern orientation.


Livada board member, Bruce Hodge with intern, Daniel Mathewson


Rebecca Rigell shares her life map as the interns get to know one another better during orientation.

Through prayer, team building, cultural preparation, and job training, the interns were made ready for the adventure that awaits them in Romania. Please pray for them as they help run the summer camp for around 400 orphans this summer in Vetca, Romania.

Getting Back to Normal...

It is nice to see that after a few crazy weeks of transition, things are starting to get back to normal. Kids from all the houses are hanging out together in the courtyard...


The kids are settling into their new rooms and things are getting organized...


A little bit larger family is sharing a meal around the table together...


And kids are joining back in to help out in the kitchen and making themselves "at home" in their new homes...


Thank you for your ongoing prayers for our children and staff.

A Welcome Home Party...

This week after the move... we had a "Welcome Home Party" for all of our kids. It was a chance to celebrate the changes, spend time together, have a little pizza and a little fun! The kids were able to share the things they liked about the changes and some of the things they were unsure of or didn't like so much.



By the end of the evening, everyone was playing around and having fun. It was a good way to come together to celebrate a new beginning!

Renovation, Repainting & Relocating...

We have had a busy few weeks at our group homes. As many of you know from our Spring e-letter... we have some older teens moving into mentor apartments and so we are consolidating our three group homes into two. In order to do this, we have added a room in each house and are in the midst of repairing and repainting the houses to make them fresh and new for the transition.



It has been a lot of work and we are so thankful to Marian and his crew for all of their hard work... there is still a little more painting that will be done next week while our kids are at camp and then we will be ready to settle in, in our "new" homes!



Even though all the work is not done, the moving went ahead according to plan this past weekend and finished up on Monday. It was a large undertaking and we are still unpacking and making ourselves at home. It is a blessing that we will be able to use the former Casa Rebeca property as our "Intern House" this summer to house all the young adults that will be serving with us all summer here in Romania! They arrive on Thursday, so we are also working to get their home ready.


Thank you for your prayers for quick and quality work as we finish up the renovation, repairs and relocation!

Manna Relief & Rebirth Visit LOC

We had some special visitors this week in Targu Mures... Manna Relief & Rebirth has a team of 23 people traveling around Romania right now visiting orphanages, gypsy villages, anywhere that they may find under nourished or delayed children in need of nutritional supplements. We were blessed to have them visit us!





Our children enjoyed meeting new friends and the boys especially liked having some older boys to play a game of soccer with!


This team came spreading more than just nutritional supplements around Romania and our group homes... they came with puppets, songs, skits and a message of hope.



We were also thankful of course to receive lots and lots of wonderful, quality supplements which help with development, building the immune system and more. With the delays that our children have experienced in development due to malnutrition and neglect early in life, supplements like these are a welcomed gift and a great help to us as we continue to work towards helping all of our children develop to their full potential.


Thank you Manna Relief & Rebirth!