Community Church

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Now you can shop and support the Soderling's ministry at the same time.

 

Dr. Mike & Chris Soderling's ministry in Guatemala includes an outreach to abused women call "El Refugio." You can send some funds to this organization by accessing the Amazon.com website through their partner organization Emmanuel's Heart International. Here's how:

WEAVING HOPE FOR WOMEN is a ministry dedicated to bringing hope to poor women in Guatemala, with a special focus on widows and single mothers with children.

 

In 2001, Dr. Mike Soderling, together with his wife, Chris, and sons Ian and Taylor, left for Guatemala to begin a ministry to the women in Guatemala. Dr. Mike left his OB/GYN practice in West Bend, Wisconsin, to begin a cervical cancer screening program for the country's underprivileged women. Thus, the beginning stages of WEAVING HOPE FOR WOMEN OF GUATEMALA.

 

The Soderling family grew with the addition of Leah. This adoption has greatly increased the circle of love within the Soderling family and we are thankful to have Leah, Ian and Taylor as part of our church family!

 

"We (Soderling family) believe Weaving Hope will have its greatest impact if, at all times, we seek to come alongside Guatemalans who can be enabled and empowered to carry on the vision of this ministry as a native people. It is our desire to set the cornerstone, so the work can be continued by Guatemalan people as Christ as ordained."

 

Our ministry has evolved over the past eight years. We operate with three main prongs:

1. ACHC - Guatemala. This is a legally established Guatemalan association that has attempted to network Christian healthcare facilities and those that administer them so as to create a community of individuals and organizations that share resources and ideas. It is intended to promote a holistic Christ centered way of caring for the sick. This association is going into a time of transition to what will in the future be called Health Development Guatemala, to more clearly reflect the work we are doing.
2. Partnership in Women's Ministry: El Refugio is a women's shelter that opened its doors June 1, 2008. We are partnering with Emmanuel's Heart to help with funding the daily operations. We have two full time staff: Pamela Leon, who is the Executive Director and Karla Bonilla, who is the House Director. As of January 2009 we are only one of three shelters available for this great need. You can read more at our website about this very rewarding area of work.
3. Light and Life School. We began a partnership with this small school in Salquil Grande approximately four years ago. It has been rewarding to work alongside a group of dedicated teachers. They desire to offer the best to those they are teaching. We donated the land we purchased in 2005 to the Light and Life Foundation with hopes that they will use it to teach agricultural techniques to the children as well as growing other programs. They are already raising chickens using the eggs as a nutritional benefit to the school. We are excited to bhe a part of the facilitating of teach from Christian Academy of Guatemala (where I kids have attended school here) as they observe and give ideas on other ways to teach, giving the teachers at L&L more options in teaching techniques.

We thank God for all He is doing in the country of Guatemala...