Our Journey

The journey to India has been a long one. It took us a year and a half to make it here. Some of you may know some of the struggles that we faced. We’ve shared a little about it in our posts: how do you move overseas and the reason we moved. In a five part series, we will be sharing these highs and lows in detail. We hope our journey inspires you to try new things and to follow those feelings that are from God; especially when it’s hard. 

As part of Dennis job, he has been in charge of outsourcing products for his company overseas. Many of their items have been sourced in China. Several years ago, they decided that they needed to look at other places to outsource. India was the best choice. He began looking into companies there. He traveled overseas about 4 times per year to find companies and follow up on products that were being made, leaving me home with the kids for 2 weeks each time.  As he also made trips to China, he was gone that year for over 3 1/2 months total.

On a business trip in March of 2019, one of the owners who traveled with Dennis, suggested that they look at building a factory in India. Dennis had thought for awhile that this was necessary. During a call on this trip, he told me about the idea and that we were the best choice to run it. Honestly, I have never wanted to live overseas.  We had traveled to many countries and enjoy experiencing new cultures but this was not something I wanted to do even in my wildest dreams. As he told me, the usual reactions of rejection that I expected weren’t there. I felt a desire to look into the country further. 

As I got off the phone, I researched the culture, religion, food, schooling and people. Upon his return, the company decide to discuss the idea further. It would be a 3-5 year assignment. 

After this initial discussion, we went for spring break in March to visit my parents in Wyoming. Due to the time it takes to travel home from their house especially in spring weather, we normally leave early Sunday morning and attend a church meeting in Utah on the way home. Since it was Stake Conference, a church meeting where everyone from town meets together, which meant an earlier meeting time, we decided to stay. We were blessed to hear from Elder Funk, a regional authority for our church who had been an Area Authority over India. This meant he was very familiar with how things would work there. We felt inspired to visit with him after the meeting. Dennis and Elder Funk exchanged emails and a meeting date was set up. 

In April, we traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah a 4 hour drive after work to meet with Elder Funk and his wife. He was able to answer questions, provide insight and contacts, and give advice. After our return, we had a family meeting to tell our kids and ask if they were willing to move.  Things had fallen into place through this journey and we felt God was guiding us. The spirit was present and they all agreed to help. Somehow we swore them to secrecy. Remember our kids were ranging in age from 9-15 and they were just told that they would be leaving the only place they had ever lived for a foreign country, this was no small task. As the plans could fall through at any time since nothing was finalized, we didn’t want the word to get around. Not even my our families or my work knew. 

In May, we were able to visit with other families who had done something similar for Target. Dennis’ company then decided they wanted us to pursue building the factory, so we went to the temple, a house of worship for our church where we seek answers from God, to know if it was right for our family. We felt good about our decision so I turned in my notice to the school district and asked that she keep this knowledge confidential.  At this point we still weren’t telling people, so my departure was vague stating that an opportunity had come through Dennis’ job. Dennis traveled to India and met a man that Elder Funk recommended. He was a great asset in the factory pursuit. 

The kids were glad to finally tell their friends and family our plans as the school year ended. They wore the news like a badge of honor. Not many kids can say they are moving to a foreign country. While we felt good about coming over, I still hadn’t ever been to India. As the school year wrapped up and our plans became public knowledge, we planned a trip so I could see what I had gotten myself into.