Parlez-vous rendezvous?

Today I had the pleasure of hosting our good friends Geoff and Darcie Davis and their three young daughters at the mission home. They are on their way to Menton, France, a small village on the Mediterranean, close to the Italian border. Geoff is recovering from a serious illness and is under doctor's orders to live in a picturesque Mediterranean village for 10 months. Remind me to get the name and number of that doctor! In all seriousness, we pray for Geoff's complete recovery and know that this change in life is a true leap of faith for the entire Davis clan.

In the year 2000 some friends and I started up a little organization called Unitus (www.unitus.com), with the goal of helping relieve suffering, while promoting economic self-reliance, in the developing world. In early 2001, I had become chairman of this fledgling non-profit and needed to hire a CEO. Elder Neil Andersen, Quorum of the Seventy, suggested I interview Geoff who was just completing an advanced degree at Harvard. We flew Geoff and Darcie out to Seattle on the one sunny day of summer and gave them an offer they couldn't refuse.

Seven years later Unitus has become a leading innovator in the field of microfinance. The organization, headquartered in Seattle, has 22 microfinance partners in 8 countries. And through these unique partnerships, we are providing microfinance loans and other services to over 4 million families. The outstanding loan portfolio is approximately $750 million. Imagine that -- 4 million families having access to capital to invest in sewing machines, milk cows, farm seed, a used taxi cab, etc. The income from their endeavors pays back the loan (average size $190) and they begin climbing the economic ladder. To see a list of all of the 22 partners, go to www.unitus.com/news-and-information/media-center.

This was not just a job for Geoff. It was a calling. He was prayerful, on a daily basis, about his leadership role. He approached this much like our dedicated missionaries approach their work. This should not surprise those who know the real Geoff Davis -- he was an assistant to his mission president years ago in France. His mission president was Neil Andersen, now Senior President, Presidency of the Seventy.

Parlez-vous rendezvous? It was not a coincidence that I met Geoff on a sunny day in Seattle in 2001, nor was it a coincidence that he came to the mission home today on his way to France. How else is God directly involved in our lives, and we fail to notice and to acknowledge? It causes me to slow down a bit and be more reflective.