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Answering the call

Anna Suderman

It was 1937, my final year at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas. I was working toward a Bachelor of Theology degree. It was the culmination of years of praying, waiting, working and struggling to reach a goal – to fulfill a desire, which had begun in early childhood, to prepare for some service in the Lord’s vineyard.

Where did the Lord want me? What service did He want me to do in the years ahead? I sent up many prayers for guidance during that last year of preparation – alone and with close friends.

Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Lohrenz, on furlough from India, were in Hillsboro that year, and I had good fellowship with them. But my inclination was not at all to go to India. Rather, I thought, “I’m getting too old to go into foreign service.” It was really quite absurd! After all, I was in my mid-30s.

The Board of Foreign Missions was to meet in March 1938. Dr. H.W. Lohrenz, on the Tabor faculty at that time, was chair of that Board. To get more information on possibilities for service, I went to his office one day and poured out my heart. He listened quietly but made no comment. Finally, to get a response, I asked, “Where is there a need at this time?” Without hesitation, his response was, “India!” It hit me like a dagger thrust into my innermost being. “Not India,” I said within myself. “I can’t go to India.” Having read the book Mother India by Pearl Buck that year, I had a very uneasy feeling about that country. Besides, it was so far away.

India remained on my mind, however, and I struggled against the idea of going there. Turmoil filled my thoughts. I recalled the time when, at age 11, I had stood by a wall in our little country schoolhouse and talked with my teacher. Suddenly, with pointer in hand, she had said, “Anna, if you want to be a missionary, that would be a good place to go.” She had pointed to a map of Asia and to, of all places, India. The memory of this incident, brought back to my mind 25 years later, was no accident.

One night, in desperation, I fell to my knees by the bed and said, “Lord, if you want me to go to India, I’ll go.” Peace came instantly. The battle was over. Fear of going was replaced by anticipation.

In March 1938, the Mennonite Brethren Board of Missions met in Hillsboro. They considered my application for service to anywhere I was needed. When I approached Rev. Lohrenz several days later, his greeting was, “Anna, we have decided to send you to India.” Unspeakable joy flooded my being. To be needed and wanted was enough. God, in His wisdom, had provided the answer. He would see me through. And He has done so.

Missionaries travel by boat in India, early 1900s.

Reprinted, with permission, from True Life: First-hand Stories of Mission (MBMSI, 2000) and from Memoirs of Anna Suderman 1902-1980, edited by Laurene Peters (Center for MB Studies, 1983).

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Last modified January 5, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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