David Leventhal

The idea of living overseas was not something that just came to us recently.  Missy & I have discussed this as a possibility for a while – in fact the last 18-24 months it’s been a repeated topic of conversation.  I remember pretty vividly about 15 months ago I came home from work and began to download the details of my day.  I remember where we were – in our bedroom in the area where she puts on her makeup ( not sure what you ladies call that space & as a side note, she doesn’t need b/c she’s so hot).  I told Missy that I really think we needed to begin praying & processing through the idea of selling our stuff & moving to Africa.  And though this was not the first time I’d mentioned something like this to her – she would tell you that there was something different in the way I was speaking at that moment.  A resolve or conviction that had not been there in prior conversations.

What she said verbally::  “Well…I’m not there yet, but I’ll pray about it”
What she said non-verbally::  Something along the lines of “you’re awfully cute to want to do something like that, but ‘Hell, no!’.  Now….go run along you silly, silly man.”

I’ll let her tell the story of how she’s gone from “No!” to “This is a great opportunity!” some other time.  I will say that it is remarkable & another testament to what an amazing wife I have.  I have never met someone who is as open to what the Lord wants to do in her life as she is.  Seriously, in that respect she is unlike anyone I’ve ever met…totally willing to engage with the Lord to allow Him to change her heart.

Fast forward to late summer/early fall of this year.  The burden to utilize my experience & passion in an overseas context had continued growing to the point where I felt it was time to start looking outside the for-profit world.   Through several conversations we came to the conclusion that the sweet spot for me was a role that leveraged experience gained over a decade in the business world (leading people, developing processes & systems, growing organizations, etc…) & combined that with my passion for the orphan, the widow, the disenfranchised, the powerless & hopeless…preferably in a developing country.

So…that was the charge.  Find an organization that I could partner with that would employ me to do those things.  And so I began looking – and I came across a bunch of really great Christian organizations.  I talked with some really talented men & women serving in those organizations.  One of these organizations is called Opportunity International (OI).  Opportunity International is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the working poor. They provide small loans that allow poor entrepreneurs to start or expand a business, develop a steady income, provide for their families and create jobs for their neighbors. They offer savings, microinsurance, business training and many more services to 1.1 million working poor in 28 developing nations.

I’d actually heard about OI a while back & had even jumped on their website to check out the roles they were looking to fill.  Through a friend I was able to sit down with their local representative, Nat Haas.  Nat is an older guy…a father figure kind of guy with years of experience in the business world, married a long time, grown kids & a heart for Christ.  Nat is a great guy & I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with him.  Nat began sharing with me OI’s plans to increase their investment & expand further into Africa.  And through his encouragement I reached out to a senior level executive within the OI network & thus began a dialogue about a Chief Operating Officer role in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  I’ll spare you the details but after several phone calls to OI’s leadership in Africa & a trip to OI’s headquarters in Chicago we find ourselves on the cusp of a terrifyingly exciting journey.

In three weeks Missy, Lilly & I will depart for a 10 day trip to Tanzania to check out the area….to make sure we can really live there.  We’ll be gone from January 7th – 16th and though neither one of us can really imagine a scenario where we would back out – a trip to Dar es Salaam will solidify the decision.

We’ve prayed a ton, done lots of research, we’ve talked to several people living in Africa with small children & we’ve processed the heck out of this decision – both as a couple & with trusted friends.  We expect that living in Africa is tough…much, much more difficult then we can really grasp at this moment.  We expect that whatever picture we have in our minds is at best drawn in colors from a 8-count pack of Crayola Crayons and that the reality….the true picture is much different.  The true picture, we suspect has a much broader range of dark hues, but we hope that it also contains colors that are more vivid…more rich than we can imagine.