When five-year-old Ryan and his parents immigrated from South Africa, they gave up everything in pursuit of the American dream and a chance for their family to grow in the land of opportunity.*
More than twenty years have passed, and Ryan will leave again next week with his wife, Victoria, away from the land of opportunity and into east Asia.
The GO Fund staff had the unique opportunity to sit down and spend time with Ryan and Victoria over a meal on their way out of the country. Most relationships with The GO Fund’s partners occur over emails and phone calls, so this trip was a cherished one for the organization’s team.
The couple knew throughout their relationship that the Lord was leading their lives into full-time ministry and life overseas, although neither knew exactly what it looked like.
As teenagers, the two dated through high school and all four years at university and were married after graduation. Victoria earned her degree in communication disorders and speech therapy and Ryan studied landscape architecture.
In a class called Perspectives, a curriculum focused on unreached people groups and God’s plan of redemption, the couple was affirmed in their call to move their lives overseas. When they found and reached out to The GO Fund’s student debt repayment program, they were only one of six partners to ever apply. Now, after years of training, raising financial support and the birth of their first son, they are finally going. They will move to an area in east Asia where more than 200 unreached people groups are represented.
Ryan and Victoria are excited about the business opportunities their degrees will provide.
Ryan envisions a small-scale agricultural business with aspects of rural design and soil. As Victoria’s field is highly relational, they both have seen interesting ties between speech therapy and how that will connect them to others.
As they are sent out, The GO Fund team is honored to link arms with a family whose lives reflect the love of Christ and the urgency of the Gospel.
*Names have been changed for security