{"id":40932,"date":"2023-07-09T08:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T12:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=40932"},"modified":"2023-07-03T14:58:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T18:58:40","slug":"matts-mishaps-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/matts-mishaps-65\/","title":{"rendered":"MATT\u2019S MISHAPS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cServing overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Matt<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Productive in unideal circumstances<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had the honor to grow up in a pretty much idyllic childhood.  Most of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouths when we compare our childhood with those in the rest of the world.  Maybe one of the reasons it was an idyllic childhood for me was because it wasn\u2019t perfect –  I had to actually work through trivial and less than trivial experiences.  Bailing hay or straw on sunny, hot, humid and dusty afternoons in Indiana is some of the best training for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overseas, one of the first lessons I give new workers is on how to be productive in less than ideal circumstances.  They will never get anything done if they wait for the situation to be ideal, before they can start working.  Many are growing up in conditions that would be considered luxurious by the world\u2019s standards or by our previous generations.  I once had a team from the States come to help.  They did a great job, but it was not easy for them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
No, don\u2019t be afraid to travel outside the USA!\u00a0 Drinking ice with beverages is now becoming more common, but it may come with just one ice cube.\u00a0 American beverages like Coke are available in every corner of the world.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before one meal, their prayer included a petition for the Lord\u2019s help in the hot temperatures without AC and to be able to live without ice in their drinks.  A national worker was standing by me at the time and asked, \u201cWhat was that praying for ice in their drinks thing all about!?\u201d \u2013 it was something he had never done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our early years, I shared an office space with another worker, but it was often noisy to work there.  The other worker returned to the States and it was no longer affordable to keep that place.  I downsized and rented a \u201cgarage-storefront\u201d space to work from, but rats, cockroaches and a plummeting currency exchange rate meant that place would come to an end.  I now do office work from a dinner table or a chair in our family room.  It is in the mid-80\u2019s and humid.  I am sweating like mad and have a beach towel on the chair to soak up perspiration.  I have a 1 liter glass of water at my side to keep my fluids up while I work.  I have no basement to escape to as I did as a kid growing up with no AC.  My childhood was idyllic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years back I read the story of one of America\u2019s most influential writers and leaders who ran various organizations.  His son said his dad did all his office work while sitting on the end of his bed and used a clip board as a desk.  He never had a corner office.  I think I can get something done when things aren\u2019t perfect, because perfect conditions just aren\u2019t idyllic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something similar ever happen to you?   Contact me and let me hear your story!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Matt\u2019s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN  46741<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cServing overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,13165],"tags":[19385,13025,19383,19384],"class_list":["post-40932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-matts-mishaps","tag-light-hearted-story","tag-matts-mishaps","tag-productive-in-unideal-circumstances","tag-serving-overseas"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/matts-mishaps-coke.jpeg?fit=318%2C201&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-aEc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 22:36:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40934,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40932\/revisions\/40934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}