Intern Update, 6/29/12 (Mr. Seymour: Part 1 of 2)

            Thursday, June 15, I departed the U.S. on my way to the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region.  In the days before my departure, I was blessed to have many of my friends and family pray over me and ask for the Lord’s provision and favor in the work I would be tasked to complete.  I remember, clearly, balking at their mention of this word “adventure” in describing the journey I was about to undertake.  Over and over again, it came from their mouths.  I dismissed the thought of any “adventure” with overly serious thoughts such as, “It’s not an adventure.  It’s work…to be done hard and until finished.”  The word “adventure” came with it, at least in my mind, a connotation of the ‘F’ word.  You know…fun. 

            80 hours after my departure I had experienced: a four-hour delay on a transatlantic flight to replace an “engine pressure valve,” a personal tour of London by a Syrian refugee (with whom I’ve become great friends), a five-hour connection with no A/C, and 41 degree (Celsius) heat in a land where people drive on the left side of the road (or as my English colleagues would call it, “the right-side”) and treat traffic laws as advisory in nature, all with only six hours of sleep.  I now have no issue comingling thoughts of work and adventure.  I’m actually quite worried that I might not, much to my beautiful wife’s chagrin, be able to disassociate the two.

            Fast-forward 12 days.  I’ve settled in to my new surroundings, been acquainted with our office staff, and become somewhat familiar with the geographical location in which my organization bases its operations.  My organization was crazy enough to provide me a car and as a consequence I’ve experienced numerous heart attacks and become irreversibly numb to people honking their horn at me.  But! I’m here.  I’m alive.  I’m incredibly blessed to have this opportunity.  And, I’ve been afforded the privilege of mixing in some work as well.