A New Journey!

Our family has been on a new journey for the last several months.  This has not been something new to our hearts but more a growing up of seeds God planted 6 years ago.

Six years ago, God took us to Africa...

Six years ago, God broke our hearts for his children living in poverty...

Six years ago, God gave us a vision of how to help...

Six years ago, God changed our hearts forever.

But for the last six years, we have been uncertain how to pursue the vision God gave us.  Our lives have been filled up with a full-time corporate job, 3 toddlers running around, a second set of twins, homeschooling, an out of state move...and the list goes on.  Now don't get me wrong, I believe we have spent the last 6 years right where God wanted us (give or take a few spots!  :o) ).  As He has opened and closed doors, He has made it clear that His timing is not ours.  For this, I am grateful!  But with each step along the way, the calling on our hearts for the people of Africa has not subsided but grown stronger and deeper.

And in November, 2011, God said "Now is the TIME!"

So what is our vision?!?

Here it is...

There are many factors contributing to poverty -- lack of clean water, disease, corruption, lack of education, war, famine, etc.  All of them leading to hunger...sickness...death.  One of these factors (less known but well documented) is lack of transportation.  In 2006, while visiting a village in rural Malawi, we asked the locals why we only saw them planting a small portion of their fields.  They said they could only plant as much as their family could eat and they could carry to a market on their heads.  Many mothers/children walked 5-6 hours a day carrying baskets of food on their heads to the closest market to sell.  This was their only source of income, usually less than an $1 a day.  In the nearby city where we visited, the people talked of the high food prices they were paying because food was having to be imported from other countries even though just miles outside the city, there was some of the most fertile farmland in the world unable to be used.  For these people, transportation would mean jobs...a way to earn a living farming their land and providing food to a starving country.  Jobs mean income...food on their tables...education for their children...dignity...HOPE.

God has blessed Don immensely in the business world.  He has learned a lot, grown a lot, and has experienced a lot of success.  Now God is calling us to channel those skills into a kingdom business.  Our mission is to start a company (Vytrak Corporation) in Africa fighting poverty through the development and manufacturing of an intermediate transport vehicle (ITV) designed specifically for the rural African market.  That will be our specific task, but ultimately, we will get to be on the front lines of God at work...empowering people with dignity to rise above their present circumstances and embrace the hope of JESUS!!!  I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing!!!