Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Latest Soul Touch News...

We love you gorgeous girlys! Ps 34:5 ' Those who look to him are radiant their faces are never covered with shame.' You both sparkle and shine with a radiance that reflects the beauty of our Father...we know you'll light up the lives of every person that you meet around the world! We are soooo proud of you! E n L x



We could attempt to be philosophical, theological, psychological, intellectual or even poetical but really the awesomeness of what God has been doing, and is doing, in the world of Soul Touch is far too breathtakingly indescribable that we're not even going to try...

for a change we're going to let others talk! And so what follows are the hearts two precious, beautifully anointed, completely divinely chosen girlys of God. Laura and Jennifer (Jen as we know her).

They are the new (and improved) Soul Touchers! Laura and Jen will be the first (we trust of many) pairs that are going to be going out and serving. Leaving in January and following the same route we took around the world the girls will live life, pray and serve alongside many of our partnership churches and dearest friends around the world. The heart of Soul Touch is give others the opportunity to worship: to be worshipful in the way we are living our lives. We believe that we are part of a generation that want to go and be Jesus' hands and feet; we want to serve and to love.

So girlys we want you to know: we love you. It is such a privilege to witness what God is doing in your lives. We are so encouraged to hear you constantly giving him the glory and we pray extravagant blessings over you. You girlys are the change and we know that as you go others will follow Christ who goes before you!

And to everyone else who is part of Soul Touch (if you are reading this now you are officially a SoulToucher), thank you! Thank you for your support thus far. Soul Touch started with prayer and it will be our prayers that will sustain us and move us forward. So lets all unitedly commit to praying for Jen and Laura. Pray from them as they prepare to leave in January and also for all the host churches who are going to, not only bless the girls, but who are going to be blessed by the love of Christ that exudes out of them!

With overflowing thankfulness and expectation that the BEST IS YET TO COME,

Erica and Lorna xxx



Wow! I don’t know where to start! I am soooooooo excited that Jenn and I are the next ‘Soul Touchers’. Lorna and Erica have been such an inspiration to so many people; I am so excited that Jesus wants us to follow their footsteps around the world!

I feel so humbled that God is blessing me in this way, what an honour to serve such an awesome God! He has been so faithful to me over the years and I am so thankful that he is letting me serve Him and His children all over the world.

This afternoon I met with Jenn, Lorna and Erica to plan our route. We had such a blessed time together; I am even excited about our planning meetings.

Thank all of you for your encouragement so far, I have such peace about Soul Touch. I totally trust God and know it will all come together.

Please continue to pray that God will use Jenn and I to serve and honour Him as we prepare for our journey.

Laura xXx

“Seek your happiness in the Lord and He will give you your heart’s desire.” Psalms 37: 4
No kidding!!! So, after years of searching for someone or something to fill the emptiness inside me, and various attempts to ease the constant overwhelming ache I have in my heart for all those who have so little yet smile for what they do have, I finally (reluctantly) gave up my fight to be happy independent, and gave it all back to God. I opened my over-protected heart and finally got over myself and my ridiculous pride and prayed. Stubborn and impatient as always, I “reasoned with God”. Basically I promised Him my heart but only on the condition He looked after it, gave me support in my journey with Him and was faithful and dependable (which by the way guys is an extremely scary thing for girls to admit they need) and I waited…

...But not for long, the very next day I was alone in St Andrews church gathering my things together to slip out quietly when I was attacked by two extremely chirpy and bubbly (keep in mind it was a Sunday morning and I hadn’t even smelt coffee yet!) girls who I believe you all know as the “original soul touchers”. That’s right… I was jumped at church by Erica and Lorna! And thank God I was. The next few months were basically a whirl wind (as is the case with most newly flourished relationships – I mean with God not the girls) of meeting amazing people, having more and more prayers answered in front of me and so many amazing blessings put into my life than I can’t begin to explain.

At New Year I was receiving the usual “happy new year” texts whilst feeling extremely sorry for myself stuck on the sofa ill for the night, when Spider (an amazing NCLC dude) text me “Happy New Year, God’s gonna blow this one out of the water for you”. I remember reading it and thinking it was nice but, as cool as Spider is, he’s not God so I shrugged it off as a nice text and a hopeful thought.

Three months on and I’m completely bowled over by how faithful God is to prayers, and the extent to which He not only blows thing out of the water, He gives you no warning and generally sends explosions of blessings just when your not looking! After my many prayers to be challenged with an opportunity to really have impact on people’s lives and serve God by serving those who have real needs, I was given the opportunity of opportunities: Laura T and I are officially the next to follow the soul touch journey!

I cannot begin to express my thankfulness for how faithful God is other than, yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiippppppppppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I am so aware of how undeserving I am of this opportunity and how blessed I am to even have God welcome me home to Him, and so the idea of God giving me the desires of my heart before I could even put them into words turns me into a gooey-eyed, love sick teenager. I really pray I can show some of this thankfulness by doing the only thing I can and leaning further into the warm, cosy hug of our Father and entirely following His lead everyday, dancing and laughing with Him and growing in Him.

I can’t wait for the tears, the laughter, the inevitable tummy aches, the amazing people I know we are going to meet, the boundaries Laura and I will push, and of course, singing along to Laura’s guitar at the end of a long day (that’s right Laura, I’m going to work that musical talent of yours for my own pleasure!). We will miss people here, but the support we have behind us is amazing and the friendships we will make I know will be worth every second. Anyway, our personal tour guide created the place and us, so what can go wrong? Watch out world…here we come!!

Hugs and blessings from an eternally thankful heart,

Jenn
xxxxx


11 comments:

Janelle said...

We look forward to meeting you here in Buenos Aires, Laura & Jen!! When will you be here?

Lorna said...

Hi Janelle!!! I do believe that they will be in Buenos Aires December/January 2010/11. The girls leave January 2010!! we love and miss you!! Well done girls for writing up this post!!

love ya lots xx

Laura said...

Thanks Lorna!

And thanks Janelle, Jenn and I are sooooo excited and also really looking forward to meeting you all in Argentina!

I think it will probably be nearer August/September 2010 that we will be with you as Argentina is our first stop in South America.

Laura xXx <><

Jenn said...

how exciting to hear from you all the way from Argentina Janelle!thanks for the message!looking forward to meeting you on the trip!

im just planning on basically following Laura around the world so if she says we'll see you August/september I guess we'll see you then! :)

Jenn xxx

Lilias said...

Cant wait to hear your stories girlies.

Love you to you both

Lilias
:o)

Lilias said...

Hey Girlies,

This is soooo exciting. Cant wait to hear of your travels

Love
Lilias
:o)

Lilias said...

Hey Girlies,

This is soooo exciting. Cant wait to hear of your travels

Love
Lilias
:o)

Lilias said...

Oh my goodness, I only meant to leave one message!!! teehee,

Anonymous said...

lilias you're crazeee
terry :)

Jenn said...

haha lilias ur so funny!i almost did the same thing!u make giggle!
love u
xxx

Anonymous said...

Lorna and Erica.. we love you guys. Still think and prayer for you. Hope the new soul touchers will be able to touch as many hearts as you guys did whilst they visit Bolivia... come to Sucre ( not Oruro - the coldest bleakest place on the planet!!) Pastor Phil and jan will always give a welcome to you guys and there is so much to do.
We're back on the 10th July. Gonna be hard to say goodbye, but looking forward to scones and tea!!
love ruth xxx