PFO - Thursday July 8th

Thursday was our final full day of PFO...our final sessions were good, looking at assessment in an international classroom (could have used more "case studies"). Also had an interesting "International School Panel" with some of the participants and staff who shared info about their particular schools and talked about some of the challenges and blessings specific to their school.

In the afternoon session, Dr Egeler presented a short video that juxtaposed the stories of the Lost Boys of Sudan, with the Lost Children of Rockford County...It was amazing to see the reactions within the context of losing part of your childhood and the role that their faith and dependence on God played in some unthinkable situations.

The afternoon session was short in order to give us time to pack up and get ready to leave, and also so we could get ready for the international banquet...

It was so hot that even the fire alarm system in our dorm building thought it was on fire and went off as we were getting ready...It is really not good when you start sweating the moment you get out of the shower.

The international banquet is a tradition at PFO for us to have some "international food", dress in our "international dress", and watch the PFOKids perform a program. Below is a collage of some pictures from the international banquet.

And a couple of pictures of Justin with his Teachers from the week...

Justin with Seth

Justin with Matt and Andrew

You can tell they got along great...

So there ya go...we're done with PFO.

Tomorrow we will have a final reflection time, goodbyes, and Communion before we all head out on our separate ways...

Check back tomorrow for some of my final reflections...

Comments

and baby makes four...

that's right...our little family will soon become a foursome. We have found out that Rebecca is 6 weeks pregnant! There is definitely "something in the water" as all the families that live within our block have recently had a baby or are currently pregnant. Our baby will be the 6th baby born to ICSV staff in a span of less than a year (first one was born in early November and we will be welcoming our new addition in September). So, kind of unexpected, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless!

Fly on the wall and shipping possibilities

We left Gjakova yesterd to go to Pristina for the night before our flight back to Vienna today (Thursday)...but before we left, Berat invited us to join him at the Bethany Christian Services Community Center for an event as part of the USAid celebration of 15 year anniversary of providing development assistance in Kosovo. We helped Berat do some last minute set up stuff, but mostly, we just sat around waiting for the show to start. Maples and Faisal spent a lot of time with some of the young men and women who were waiting to present their vision to the USAid Executive Director. Soon, the delegation from USAid arrived and took a short tour of the center, in the middle of the tour, Berat took some time to introduce the Baseball camp to them...and then graciously introduced me. The delegation was surprised and excited to hear that there were some baseball opportunities. We spoke for a short while and it turns out that the Executive Director used to oversee the Denton Prog...

Who are these kids at ICSV...

Hi everyone... The first week and a half of school has been absolutely amazing! We have had some great opportunities to begin building lasting relationships with the students that God has brought to Vienna to be educated at the International Christian School of Vienna. Rebecca has been adjusting well to her role as secondary secretary. She is learning quickly the many demands of her new role and is doing quite well in supporting us teachers and the rest of the staff. Rebecca hard at work I have been really enjoying my classes. I have a total of 43 students spread out over 4 periods. The students I have represent 14 different home nations, with many of the students who are "Austrian" are first generation, so they are of other nationalities as well. I have also had the opportunity to begin working with the soccer team...again, many nationalities are represented on the field, truly an international squad. Here are some pictures of the team training at the local club...

Johnstein!

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