Lisa’s two worlds become one

The Leadership Summit in Pittsburgh was a dream come true for me because my two worlds became one.

I have lived and served in Latin America for thirty years. I started when I was twenty-two years old and so apart from Mirna Sotomayor and my husband, no other Latin American with whom I work really knows the world in which I grew up in. I feel like an “ahistorical figure” in Latin America, like I dropped into Latin America and no one knew my roots, my family, my upbringing, and the role my churches and friends have played in my spiritual journey. Every day I lived and traveled with my Latin friends on the streets of Pittsburgh (really the North Hills), I felt more and more known.

Below you will find a short video (1.24 min.) of the tour I took the team of Latin Americans on.
(here is the link from youtube.com in case it's not visible from the blog:

Lisa's tour down memory lane (visits to her Pittsburgh homes growing up)

Here is a sampling of their impressions:

• Don’t despise rambunctious kids. Lisa was quite rambunctious and look how well she turned out. (Gloria, Mexico)
• Why would she leave such a nice neighborhood? It must have been a call from God. (Rixy, El Salvador)
• You can clearly see her healthy foundations; she was well invested in by her parents, church, and youth leaders. (Robert, Panama)
• As a child, she never could have imagined returning to these woods she played in forty years later with people from Latin America in tow. We can’t visualize the future—good thing! (Duglas, Guatemala)
• Don’t forget your past because it can be inspiring to others. I feel closer to “my professor” for having seen where she grew up. It’s important for me to understand the person whose leadership is so influential. (Alvaro, Bolivia)

“Your father was my surrogate father.”

Those were the words a complete stranger spoke to me after the church service at Memorial Park Church. She smiled as she saw the surprise on my face and proceeded to explain: “George Anderson. That man was like a surrogate father to me. He was my ‘pretend’ father during Glenshaw Players theatre production of South Pacific.” I listened with interest: “My father died when I was nine years old so when I played the role of his Polynesian daughter in the play his kindness and the role he played made a huge impression on me just when I needed it. I have always wanted to thank him, but now I get to thank you.”  

Where, but in Pittsburgh, could I discover precious gems like that memory? Thank you Lord for how modern missionary life allows me to return yearly to my home base!

Alfredo giving the benediction at Memorial Park Evangelical Pres. Saturday night service

At that same time, Alfredo had moved to the back of the sanctuary to greet people at the end of the service at Memorial Park Church. A woman came up to him and said: “Your mother-in-law, Bobbie Anderson, helped me become a Christian when she taught my Sunday School class—I was 4 years old! And I have been attending this church ever since, and have remained faithful to the Lord.”

I didn’t even know my mother taught a 4-year-old Sunday School class!

Once again my heart was filled to overflowing with news of how God used the “good works” of my parents to make long-lasting impressions on people.

Here is an audio link to listen to my father, George Anderson, singing Some enchanted evening  from the play, "South Pacific."

George C. Anderson singing "Some Enchanted Evening" in South Pacific 1973

Bobbie Anderson's enduring legacy

Lisa translating for Baha Habashy's workshop: Living your strengths

One day when we were at North Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church receiving a workshop on “Living your Strengths” I walked into the bathroom and was greeted:

Bobbie Anderson! Oh I’m sorry, I know you are Lisa Anderson, but when I saw you, you reminded me so much of your mom. Do you know that your mother led me to the Lord when I attended her Bible study at Woman-to-Woman over at Memorial Park Pres. Church?

At this point my eyes are filled with tears as we embrace and I praise God for how the Lord used my mom in her life. I return all teary-eyed to the workshop to continue translating and everyone wonders why I am crying:

As I related this story, I said: Where else in the world could you be where you would hear first-hand stories of my mother? Only here in Pittsburgh can stories like these convey the impact my mother had on me and countless others whose stories we’ll never know until we are all together in heaven.

George & Bobbie Anderson

It happened again while we were at Ligonier Camp when Ray Speicher dropped in for a visit. As we introduced him to the team, he told a story about my mother that heretofore I hadn’t known:

After my conversion in Dec 1976, I was attending a Bible study at  Ingomar Methodist Church. There I met Betty Pomeroy who was talking to Boobie about the upcoming Easter play at Memorial Park. Bobbie told Betty that she wanted someone a little older than the kids in Memorial Park’s youth group (called F.U.D.D.) to play Jesus. Betty suggested to Bobbie that she call me. I came to Memorial Park to meet and talk with Bobbie about the play. The first person that greeted me was Marcia McCabe who is now my wife of 33 years. Bobbie was also a great encourager and mentor for Marcia.

While I was getting in involved with F.U.D.D. (Fishermen’s Union of Devoted Disciples) and the play, I met Dave Van Gorder and he told me about Vision 77, the evangelistic outreach at North Park. I started to help with the prep for this event and during a time of prayer Bobbie prayed for the Holy Spirit to come fill us. She prayed in tongues and it happened for me as well. Another wonderful thing that happened during the Vision 77 event was my younger brother received Jesus and he was born again by the Spirit. Bobbie in many ways was functioning in an apostolic way to the FUDD leaders and Pastor Jay Passavant. She was bold but gracious and effervescent. I loved her and admired her.

Where but in Pittsburgh could my dear Latin American friends hear first-hand stories about my parents and their impact as parents and fellow co-laborers in God's Kingdom work?

This is one more of the reasons why it was a dream come true for me to have had these Latin Americans in my hometown of Pittsburgh.

Do you have any memory of my mother or father that you would like to post? I would love to hear about it!

Remembering how I got started in missions...

So what do you want to be when you grow up Lisa? My answer from High School on was that I wanted to be a gym teacher, just like Mrs. Bryant at North Allegheny High School has been for so many years. So, I attended Penn State University, main campus, and during my practicum, right before I graduated in 1982, I found myself seated in a locker room asking myself the question: Do I see myself doing this five years from now?  I was quite dismayed to hear myself say: NO.

Up until this point, I had a strong relationship with the Lord, having been brought to Christ through my mother, Bobbie Anderson and having grown up nurtured in the Lord by my parents (George & Bobbie) and Memorial Park Presbyterian Church under the leadership of the youth pastor, Jay Passavant.  However, I had never really considered becoming a missionary. I do distinctly remember loving the stories Pastor Black (affectionately known as Blackie) used to tell us about their missionary service in Africa. Missions simply was not on my radar. That was quickly about to change!

 

After that shocking discovery that I didn’t feel fulfilled being a gym teacher, I was encouraged to attend Urbana 1981-1982, a huge gathering at University of Illinois campus, to join in with 14,000 other college students to ask: What would you have us do with our lives, Lord?  I signed up for a SHORT TERM missionary experience which I figured would get whatever was bothering me out of my system, after which I would return to the USA to get a job in the field of education. God, however, had other plans. Exactly, almost to the day, one year after signing up with Latin America Mission I was in Costa Rica learning Spanish. In the intervening year I had graduated from PSU, fallen in love with the ministry of Christian Camping while serving as a VIM (Volunteer in Mission) at Bingle Memorial Presbyterian Camp in Fairbanks Alaska, and raised support to serve as a missionary at a Christian camp outside of Mexico City, Camp Kikotén.

1 Lisa Anderson is leading a team of young people to discover what it means to be “The Body of Christ working together” as they prepare to climb over the 14 foot wall a work team from Pittsburgh has just built.

The first hump God had to overcome was getting me to commit to a THREE year service contract when I had anticipated only ONE year (and that felt pretty generous to me!). God wooed me by providing me with a job description that was my dream job—it required of me elements that I already possessed like my PE background, love for nature and building outdoor recreational facilities, a strong desire to disciple and reach young people for Christ plus other elements I had little or no experience in like developing promotional materials for camp, and training camp counselors. Drawn by such an attractive job description, I said: Alright God, I’ll give you three years, and not a day more! What a sanctified attitude I had! God is so patient with me.

2 There's no better way to learn about "letting go and letting God" than experiencing the trust fall and reflecting on its implications for your life.

As my time of service neared its end, my Mexican boss, Juan Isaias, prodded me to reconsider and stay on another two years. At first resistant, shortly after our conversation the big Mexico City earthquake hit (8.2 Richter scale Sept. 19, 1985), I found myself deeply moved by the suffering and anguish all around me. God used this and other experiences to woo me into continuing to serve Him as a missionary. So, “my call” had no bells and whistles, no bright lights or voice from heaven. It was progressive in nature and at the end of those first five years, I returned home to Pittsburgh for a year’s furlough and felt like there was nothing else I’d rather be doing than being a missionary.

At that point, I was invited to serve with the Association of Christian Camping International in Latin America (CCI/LA) as the director of leadership development. I was to live in Honduras and develop a curriculum to train camp counselors and program directors. That is exactly what I did, working together with a team of Hondurans we wrote a number of training manuals which are currently in their 5^th edition and are being used throughout 12 different countries of Latin America.

The Umana-Anderson family

Almost thirty years have passed since those initial years of wondering what I would do with my life. I have found that following God’s promptings no matter where they lead you provides the most adventurous, exhilarating journey one could ever ask for. While in Honduras one of my students was Alfredo Umana, who is now my husband of 16 years and with whom we have formed a family with Valerie (born 199) and Victor (birth 2001). We live in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and serve at our local church, Christian Community El Hatillo, in charge of the Sunday School for ages 0-18 years and we regularly use camp outs and nature activities to create a strong bond of friendship within each Sunday School class and to discover those invisible attributes of God which are visible in His creation (Rom. 1:20).

4 CCI/Latin America's multicultural team of professors, receiving on the job training during the IFI held in El Salvador Aug. 2012