History
Weaving Hope is a Christian ministry whose seed was planted after Dr. Mike Soderling participated in a short-term medical outreach to Haiti in 1999. The trip left a deep impression on Mike, which prompted a two-year time of prayer and waiting on the Lord for guidance. Dr. Soderling felt he was being called in the direction of full-time foreign missions and after two years his wife, Chris, was in complete agreement. Together with their two boys, Ian and Taylor, Dr. Mike and Chris Soderling moved to Guatemala in August of 2001, having been sent out by their home church, Community Church of West Bend, Wisconsin. They had no preconceived plan as to what specific ministry the Lord would involve them in; however, they patiently waited for God's direction in this calling.
The first stage of foreign missions work is to learn the language and the culture, so it was off to language school for Dr. Mike and Chris while Ian and Taylor attended the Christian Academy of Guatemala. During the first 1-1/2 to 2 years, Dr. Mike had the opportunity to work with many different organizations during medical outreaches. Through this work, he was able to learn much about the country, its culture, and the various Christian groups working within Guatemala.
Also during this time, Dr. Mike began working with medical ministries closer to home. As Dr. Mike is an OB/GYN physician (obstetrics and gynecology), this involved specific involvement in female health care. Near Guatemala City, Guatemala's capital, there are some small Christian clinics. It is at these locations that Dr. Mike had been doing cervical cancer screening among some very high-risk populations. These patients included young sexually-abused girls, as well as women who had been living as prostitutes for many years.
Being involved in conversation and examinations with mostly women, Dr. Mike heard story after story about how these women had suffered so much throughout the years. He learned that Guatemala had struggled through a prolonged internal conflict that left approximately 250,000 people dead. A peace accord was signed in 1996. As is usually the case, the women and children are the ones who suffer the most whenever war rears its ugly head. Many of the stories that Dr. Mike received involved women who had lost all of the male members of their families, leaving them widowed and without anyone to provide for their most basic needs.
Weaving Hope Ministries has begun to minister to these poor women of Guatemala. This ministry has begun taking form with the purchase of land and the construction of small homes with the purpose of providing shelter for the women described above. Weaving Hope is also hopeful that it can bring in other ministries which are involved in seed programs to help the women get started with microenterprises. The goal is to involve as many local women in the administration of this work as well. The main focus has always been to enable the local people to work so that it becomes a lifestyle/trade that is more promising to last for the long term.
During the spring of 2004, Dr. Mike attended a workshop offered by Dr. Dan Fountain at the Peeke School of Missions. This proved to be an important confirmation provided by the Lord as to what He wanted Mike involved in. This particular workshop helped to define for Dr. Mike the direction that the medical missions work should be taking. This direction is the integration of short-term medical trips with local long-term projects. Dr. Mike is now involved in the building and development of a hospital in Palin, Guatemala, which is a town about 45 minutes south of the capital. The lessons Dr. Mike learned at Dr. Fountain's workshops will be integrated into this hospital/health project. In addition, the workshop strongly emphasized the importance of treating patients in a biblical, holistic way. There is a specific emphasis on the integration of curative health care with health promotion and disease prevention, all the while maintaining a Christ-centered focus.
A final focus for Dr. Mike is his strong desire to see a Christian Health Association formed in Guatemala. There is a very real need to see unity brought to the medical missions work performed by Christian organizations in Guatemala. This type of organization (CHA) would provide a very important foundation as it is meeting needs and bringing them to reality as a living, personal, loving ministry.
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