It does feel like we have been blessed to be able to travel a lot more this year but this week I have already unpacked my suitcase once and will pack it again tonight! We spent the night in Imbau, where we work, on Tuesday night as after work we went with another teacher from PETI to accompany her with her adult English class later in the night. The bus unfortunately does not run that late so we had to sleep there. The other English teacher at this school happened to be good friends of my parents from when we lived here all those years ago. Dad, do you remember a Paulo Alves? I sure hope so because he remembers walking around Telemaco with you practicing your Portuguese and you helping him with his English. I could tell my dad really left an impact in his life as he was so proud to tell the class all about how we were connected. Supposedly he gets a Christmas card every year so his class had already seen several pictures of me and the family from past years- small world huh?!
I have said lots of good things about how on top of things the new teachers here at PETI are and just another example- one teacher thought one of our morning students was a little hard of hearing as he is constantly screaming even when you are right in front of him, it can be a little scary ha but they immediately set up an appointment for him with the doctor in Imbau who is now sending him to Curitiba, the capital, to have a test done free of charge! It gives me such a sense of peace knowing we will be leaving our kids behind in such great hands in 2 short months. At the same time though, we sadly lost a teacher this past week as he moved jobs to one with a greater salary. He was the one who planned our upcoming camping trip so we are in the process of making sure that can still happend without him, maybe in another location.
This whole week we have dedicated ourselves to our brand new Project Discovery Center!! We decided to rent out two small rooms very close to the building we work in where we plan to take small groups of students to study, whether it be English or math, or to just read or play some games! We also plan to use the space as a meeting room for when we need to talk with parents in a more professional, quiet setting. We were given permission to paint so that we did! The walls are the colors of PD- red, green, yellow and blue. It has left the place with such a bright, cheerful atmosphere! The kids came today to paint their hands and leave their handprints on the wall- it looks really awesome and kid friendly, just what we wanted! Next with the help of Sister Rose we are trying to furnish it a little bit with a couch and some pillows and a rug. One room is more for relaxation and the other will be more of a quiet, study space. It is small and nothing special but we are so proud to call it our own!!
Today with my first Thursday off I went with Katie to pray the rosary with an elderly woman in the community, Dona Rosa. Katie goes there every Thursday and always comes back with stories and a gift and I felt so blessed to tag along today. This woman is an angel if I have ever met one. The gentle way she talked about the suffering of her son and how much she prayed to take his place in the suffering almost brought tears to my eyes. It was a really special experience to pray the rosary in another language and I immediately thought of you Mom and how much you would love that! :)
This weekend we are headed to Maringa, a nearby city that we randomly visited last year and fell in love with. It is a beautiful, bigger city with a small town feel! We are just going to spend the weekend there, finding entertainment who knows where, but ever since last year we have been looking forward to returning!
Especially with this new Project Discovery Center, I want to take the time to again thank all those who have financially donated to our work here. Things like this would not be possible without your generous help, we can´t thank you enough! All the support we receive, spiritually and monetarily, help in ways only God knows!
May God bless you all with a wonderful weekend and upcoming week! Hope your birthday month is starting out great Dad!!
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