Justin in Nigeria

My friend Justin Steele is currently working in Nigeria. Here is an excerpt of an email he sent.

I arrived in Nigeria last week for my second rotation with Chevron, my first rotation had me out in San Ramon, CA working in our Compensation group. I will be in Lagos, Nigeria for six months. When I return to the states I will be stationed in Houston, TX. Carrie....for those of you I haven't spoke to in a really long time or who don't know yes we are back together.....are getting married on Labor day weekend in the grand metropolis of Beaumont, TX. We got engaged over Thanksgiving and are very much looking forward to starting our lives together. I will probably not be coming back to the states during my time here, Carrie and I will most likely meet up in Madrid to visit with my parents and Jonathan who are living there. Nigeria is a beautiful place. There is a lot of poverty and crime as you would expect in any city with 20 million people, but I find the people I work with absolutely wonderful. Nigeria has a very warm and welcoming culture and the people here are some of the most genuine that I have ever met. They remember every thing you tell them and genuinely care to know if you have even the slightest discomfort. It is refreshing to interact/work with such a cheerful group. I attended a Nigerian church with one of my colleagues last week and I was the only Caucasian in the room and it was so neat, kind, humbling, educational , and welcoming the way they treated me. There were three young kids around the age of 4 who got out of there chairs and stood in front of me staring for around 10 minutes...they were adorable.....I wanted to steal them. After the 3-hour service they handed me the microphone and asked me to stand up and introduce myself....so reluctantly I did. There are so many social/political/religious/economic dynamics to learn about I regret that I will only be here six months.......but Carrie probably doesn't. English is the pre-dominant language but I have been making efforts to learn the other languages and they all appreciate my failing efforts.