My part in the written curriculum is complete.

This is the testimony of Safwat & Pearl Habashi, long-time friends of George & Bobbie Anderson, and faithful supporters of Lisa and her family.

“The day you presented the entire curriculum you and your team have written over the last 30-years I was stunned. I have tracked with you over the years, carefully read your newsletters, and yet had no idea of the breadth and depth of writing you were involved in. I am impressed with the professionalism of the materials. It is like you have an entire university curriculum completed for Christian camping, with college level professors prepared to teach it as well. These folks have chosen to belong to this team, they each have full lives, have their own jobs and families to take care of, but here they are with a long-term commitment. It’s obvious they look beyond themselves to the next generation of Christian leaders these materials will help them shape. They came as learners, with a vision to impact their sphere of influence in Latin America. They are not one-time camp counselors trained for one summer of service, they are being trained for a lifetime of service.”

The team of professors who are assuming the responsibility to teach instructors how to use these training materials to develop leaders in Christian camping all over Latin America.  

“Lisa, regarding your particular role in CCI’s publications. I see it like this: Once a house is built, the residents often celebrate with a house warming. That is what we did during the party held at North Way Christian Community—we celebrated. In a manner of speaking, you have built the house; the curriculum is completed. Now it is up to the residents of the building to maintain it. Let them make corrections, tweak, and improve it. Beware of the tendency to dependence, don’t become a nanny to the professors. Keep coaching them but don’t hold their hands, let them fly.”

This trip to Pittsburgh granted me many opportunities to listen to wise counsel like this.

You can view a series of 4 video clips on youtube.com where I present CCI/Latin America's written curriculum:

Publications CCI/LA English 1

Publications CCI/LA English 2

Publications CCI/LA English 3

Publications CCI/LA English 4

Steps of faith to get to Pittsburgh

Before we bowed our heads to thank God for this momentous occasion, I looked into the eyes of each of the team members and images flashed through my mind of all they had sacrificed just to be here.

Gloria’s father had just spent one month in her home convalescing from a sickness and returned recovered to his home the day before Gloria and her husband Victor Hugo flew to Pittsburgh.

 Carlos (Honduras) took out a loan to pay for his airfare. His mother had passed away just 2 months prior and this trip was serving as a time of comfort and solace.

Rixy had been back home in El Salvador for just 3 weeks after having been gone for nine months in Niger, Africa as a short-term missionary teaching CCI/LA’s training courses. She was still recovering from dysentery. 

 Evelyn’s mother had just had surgery for cancer of the mouth and daily Evelyn was in contact with her siblings who were taking care of her. (Evelyn’s mom passed away one week after she returned from Pittsburgh.)

Karina left her four young children in Argentina with her husband and got a friend to help in their family bakery while she was gone.

Robert arrived to Pittsburgh in the throes of having to raise missionary support for a severe shortfall he and his family are experiencing.

Each team member had taken a step of faith and had seen the hand of God move mightily just to enable them to be seated there in front of me.

Henri Doren, Pittsburgh-Lisa's partner in ministry

Tears blurred my vision and a hush came over the group as we breathed a collective sigh: Whew, we finally made it. We are here. We have dreamed of this moment for 3 years. I looked over to see Henri Doren’s smile lighting up her face, without whose help this Summit would never have taken place. As I have toiled in Latin America for this trip to become a reality, so has she toiled in Pittsburgh.

After we prayed, Karina approached me and said:

“As a mother of four children, my own needs for new clothes takes a back seat but once I got my US visa, I knew I needed to remedy that. I began to make up my packing list starting from a suitcase to the little shampoo bottles to shorts and tee shirts. God is a God who cares about the little and big details.  One by one the women of my church began to call me asking: Karina, what do you need for your trip? At first I gave them a polite answer that all was fine but when they insisted I finally showed them my list. Look at my list, every item is crossed off! One additional need I had was for US dollars which under the current Argentian government are illegal to have much less acquire. When my great-uncles found out, they went to their stash of dollars that they literally had under their mattresses from years ago and gave me exactly what I needed.”

What steps of faith have you taken recently and where has it taken you? 

Please share your comments in the space provided on the blog below.

Broadening our global perspective of God’s Kingdom work

Robert Bruneau, Lisa, Evelyn Umana, Carlos Baca

The atmosphere breathed excitement as I anticipated the arrival of our multicultural team of professors. This would be the first time all of us would be gathered in one room, face-to-face. For the last year, we had been meeting monthly via the internet, planning, preparing, praying for each of the team to get US visas (14 out of 15 got visas).

I breathed a prayer of gratitude as I saw them arrive with their host families, smiling, moving their hands and making great efforts to communicate.

Analu Cornejo (Peru),  Patti Salla, Norma Canales (Honduras)

Warms hugs, kisses on the cheek, loud greetings filled the room. “Finally, Karina (from Argentina) we meet face to face!” Oh Rixy (from El Salvador) “I haven’t seen you since 2010 when you traveled to Honduras for Lisa’s 50^th birthday! “Victor Hugo, wow, you are much taller in real life than on the screen, ha, ha, ha.” Just the greetings and introductions took 15 minutes!

Mimi Seigfried, Alvaro Cordero (Boliva), Walter Seigfried, Bob Sabean (Costa Rica)

I looked over the faces of the team gathered and tears sprang to my eyes. So many dreams were coming true in this moment. Here is one of those dreams:

This event is a landmark in the life of the association of Christian Camping International, Latin America  (CCI/LA) because it gives a group of leaders whose gift is teaching a global perspective of how God’s Kingdom works.

Pastor Manuel Cortez (Costa Rica) & Pastor Alvaro Cordero (Bolivia)

CCI/LA's curriculum for developing leaders in Christian camping

Manuel Cortez works year by year since 1974 with my fellow missionary, Bob Sabean, in the rural area of Costa Rica. He is a pastor and daily he labors to give his fellow pastors a vision for the power of Christian camping (the power of camp). When he travels from his rural setting to Pittsburgh he meets the churches that have been supporting CCI/LA through me and discovers that due to their provision, he has ample written material with which to do his work in Costa Rica. His eyes light up as he makes the connections. He says: I see this curriculum as a dream come true. Bob and Lisa envisioned CCI/LA's written curriculum long before it was published. I ask myself: What do we see 5-10-20 years from now? What vision do we anticipate? I believe our point of entrance is the church, specifically through the pastors. I recently saw how the vision of one pastor expanded when he took one of our CCI/LA courses.

The diagram below attempts to convey how Manuel's perspective is broadened. Starting from right to left, the circle represents Manuel's starting perspective and progressively expands as he critically reflects throughout his short-term missions experience in Pittsburgh. 

Diagram attempting to illustrate how short-term missions trips broaden one's perspective.

What experience have you had that broadened your perspective? Please share about your experience and how your perspective was broadened in Comments below.