DOOR-Asia/Europe, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Mark: Believers’ Fellowship Planting Trainer
Lyndalou: Assistant, Deaf North American
Children: Marisa, Krysta, Tyler, Nathan, Hannah, Stephen & David
Mark is originally from Arlington, Minnesota, while Lyndalou (Lulu) comes from upstate New York. Both came to know Christ at a young age. Both Mark and Lulu attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, NY, but never met there.
They each felt God’s call to missions, but weren’t sure when, how, or where God would call them. God brought them together to share their missions calling, and their lives. Mark worked as an architect. Lulu worked as a Deaf resource person and teacher of Deaf culture. Then God brought them the opportunity to receive missionary training and serve with DOOR International.
As a couple they successfully completed DOOR's one-year intensive training in CBS (Chronological Bible Storying) in North Carolina. In 1999, after graduation, their family moved to Budapest, Hungary with DOOR-Europe. Mark served as the Team Leader at the DCLTC (Deaf Christian Leadership Training Center) for several years. Lulu assisted him in a supporting role, as well as co-teaching Deaf culture and family issues at the training center. In November of 2005, the Sorenson family and the DOOR-Europe/Asia team relocated to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The team’s name was changed to DOOR-Asia/Europe.
Mark, Lulu, and their 7 Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, also serve as a living, breathing object lesson to the Deaf about what a godly Deaf family can be. Many Deaf do not have much communication with their parents, and so never really see or understand what marriage and parenting are all about. Deaf people sometimes cry when they see the Sorenson kids tell Bible stories and apply them to their lives, or sing praise songs to the Lord in Sign Language.
Deaf who have their own children are amazed at how Mark and Lyndalou communicate with praise, and how they discipline their children. They have never seen anything like it in the Deaf community. Some Deaf couples who had been married for years never knew what was said or promised at their own marriage ceremony until Mark and Lulu taught them about biblical marriage.