Summer Intern Team 2007

The Summer Interns have arrived! We are excited to once again have a wonderful group of folks serve alongside our staff in the summer ministries of Livada. Camp, day camps, baby hospital ministry and much more will kick off soon and all of these interns arrived today ready to serve. They have come with one heart... to love the Lord, love the kids, love the staff, love the teams and love each other. We are so glad they are here!

This year we have the extra bonus of the Briley family being back with us in Romania to serve as the leaders/pastors of this intern group. We couldn't have asked for more! We are thrilled to have the Briley's and the intern team here and are looking forward to a summer of sharing Christ and His love with the orphaned and abandoned children of our county together!


It is hard to change your time clock after flying over the ocean, so we had a welcome dinner for the interns to help keep them up a little bit so that their bodies would adjust to the time change.


Pray for the interns this summer. They are called upon to serve many times in ways that are out of their comfort zone in a country where they know little of the culture or language. Pray that they will be unified and work together well. Pray for them to enjoy the little things and not let little annoyances get to them. Pray for God to show them more of Himself this summer. Pray that they will have opportunities to be God's hands, smile, ears and words to these children and the others that they will serve alongside.

A few of the interns have set up their own blogs to help their friends and family keep up with their time of ministry here in Romania. You can visit them to gain another perspective on the summer ministries... Here are their blog addresses...

Heather Smith: www.heatherinromania.blogspot.com

Sarah Meszaros: www.sarahmeszaros.wordpress.com

Michelle Burton: www.creationcaptured.blogspot.com

Jessie Carr: www.littleclayfigure.blogspot.com

Crystal Mendez: www.blogger.com/crystalmarie87

Andrea Peake: www.andreapeake.blogspot.com

Brian Briley: www.xanga.com/brianz_thotz

Alysha Orme: www.romania07.blogspot.com

Weston Eckert: www.xanga.com/westoneckert

Eli Elliott: www.lifeinro.blogspot.com

Through the day and into the night!

We are so thankful for this dedicated and talented work team! They have put up the bathroom building and a two story kitchen building with stairs, a porch, etc. all in just about five days. God has been good to provide the materials and even allow a few storms that hit around Vetca to pass by us this week. There is still much to be done before camp begins, but we know He hasn't brought us this far to leave us... We are confident that God will continue to provide!




As you can see, even our grass cutting crew has been working hard. This is not your average riding lawnmower or tractor that we would use to cut over 3 acres... this is a man with a long blade on a stick, whose family comes behind him in their cart to gather up the grass to take home to feed their animals. It has taken this crew all week to get the grass cut down for us! We are quite thankful for their efforts!


The finishing of siding, roofing and other jobs were done by the glow of car headlights after dark last night until about 10:30, when it was finally too dark to work. Amazing!

Elvis & Ana Maria...

Elvis is a graduate of our Mentor Program. He came into our program a little older and was officially with us for a year. He graduated out of the program last fall and has been working construction. When he graduated he used some of the money that had been saved for him and some he had saved from working to buy a tiny house that he fixed up the best he could.

He was recently engaged to a young lady named Ana Maria. They plan to marry in July and will have their first child later this fall. It is not the ideal way to start a marraige, but we are proud that Elvis is standing by this young lady that he loves and wants to marry her, provide for her and raise their child together.

Pleaes pray for this young couple. Pray that God would draw them into a personal relationship with Himself. Pray that they would break the cycle of abandonment in their family and be an example to others around them. Pray that we would know how to best encourage, assist and be a part of this time in their lives. Pray for Elvis, who recently lost his job, to find a new construction job that will pay him well and allow him to provide for his soon to be wife and child.

We will be sure to post pictures of our first Livada wedding later this summer!

Marian

Marian is the project director for the Vetca project and has worked alongside Paul & Fiona to get camp ready for the summer. He has been a trooper working through land & water issues, working mostly with men he found in the village nearby as his crew, planning for the American construction team and learning that buying supplies for how a Romanian would build something and how an American team builds something are sometimes quite different. He has run for supplies, searched for pumps and generators, worked alongside the team and kept a great attitude through the whole thing! We are thankful for Marian. Pray that as this team wraps up their time here this week, that Marian will have the energy, resources, man power and wisdom to know how to finish up the project... so that it will be ready for our first week of camp starting on June 18!

Even the kids want to help...

Okay... so maybe they wanted to play with their sponsors and spend time with them... but they did help some. Claudia, Eniko, Kati, & Stefan paid a visit to Vetca yesterday and all hammered a few nails, learned how to use the big table saw, and basically provided a smile to the guys out there working away! Here are a few fun shots...



As you can see... even with a little bit of little kid distraction... the work continues and the roof is about done. Even Elvis, one of the graduates from our mentor program, who works in construction (seen on top of the roof) came out to help...

Making Progress...

The difference a day makes! These guys are moving right along and have the second floor of the kitchen building up and are starting the roof. The electrical crew was working on wiring up the inside...


while the painting crew was staining all the siding, windows, doors... while the construction crew was cutting wood and framing up the bathroom building...



It was a busy day at Vetca! There have even been three teenage guys from Ludus who have come out each afternoon to work alongside these men. They are very hardworking and so glad to work alongside this team and learn from them. What a powerful investment of time and love this team is pouring into this ministry by investing in this camp that will touch lives for years to come and in these boys who will be attending camp later this summer!

Getting started...

Here they are... our fearless and patient construction crew. There have been a few set backs in the process of getting these buildings up and running for camp (like a lack of wood) but this wonderful team of folks here have worked rain or shine... made wood work that isn't quite ideal and made a good start their first day out.


We were even able to salvage one of half of the meeting tent and used the other destroyed one as a large tarp to paint under...


The first floor of the kitchen building was up on day one... waiting for wood for day two... PRAY for WOOD to be available and the weather to cooperate with us!