The time has finally come when I (Ben) will attempt over the course of the next few weeks to catch you up on a lot of my news. I honestly value your love, prayers, and financial support more than you know but that is only because I don't blog often enough to tell you!! Haha but seriously I really do.
I really miss Australia and all of you friends and family deeply, but at the same time have never felt more alive, happy and content with being over here in the States but would love to make more of an effort to keep you updated with my life.
I was so thrilled to be given the opportunity to go on a Mission's trip to China as part of my schooling this year. The school splits up and travels all over the world on Mission's trips. I think the entire school went to over 45 nations on missions trips during that 2-3 week period. Pretty incredible! And a massive logistical operation for the school.
I am really not able to be able to share with you over this medium all of the things I did or who I spoke too or where I went due to the delicate nature of the situation over there, and wanting to protect those that we were lucky enough to minister too and with. And so it makes it hard to share with you the awesome testimonies from our time there. But needless to say it was a very impactful trip, travelling to three different locations across China and meeting with key leaders and being fortunate enough to minister to them and encourage, prophesy and pray for them. It truly was a remarkable honour to minister to these giants of the faith that have gone through so much, and are bearing such INCREDIBLE fruit. God is alive and well in China, and the Gospel is spreading literally out of control, and it won't be stopped by any man or any system.
We encouraged those where persecution was an everyday occurence, and fruit was more sparce or harder to measure. We went to one of the most beautiful areas surely on the entire planet, we did most of the tourist things, like the temple's, the forbidden city, even bike riding and rock climbing.
We stayed at heights equalling Mt Everest base camp, and climbed even higher in a bus to where just bending over trying to tie up your laces left you gasping for breath because you weren't getting enough air into your lungs. We had 5 of the team rotating on 3 Oxygen tanks as we landed at around 14,000 feet with absolutely no time to adjust. Girls where fainting and spewing up, it was pretty full on. It took a couple of days of almost complete rest for everyone to start to feel semi-normal again. I was mostly okay I had a bad headache, but when the first girl fainted I started to run to get the oxygen tank and realized very quickly that walking quickly was going to be the best that I could do without passing out myself. It truly was a bizzarre experience and something that unless you have experienced it you would never think would affect you. Who would have thought that oxygen was so important.
We travelled for over 60 hours on the trip, with many different airports and airplanes. The culture changed more and more the further inland we went. One cultural adjustment that was particularly difficult was the squatting toilet. All for one time I managed to avoid the squatting toilet and quite often most places would have an option for both. And man they love to smoke in China, it's not banned anywhere every room pretty much will have someone smoking in it. AAARRRGGHHH!!! So I am at the airport looking to start my long journey home. Not really being that excited about going to the toilet at 30,000 ft I decide it's best to go while still on the ground. So inside the toilet/restroom they would have mostly squat toilets and often one sit down toilet right at the end. So I get to the end stall and the door is wide open so I glance in hoping to find that elusive "normal" toilet but instead find a man squatting down doing his business, smoking a cigarette, holding his phone infront of his face and texting all at the same time. And I am shocked, slightly disturbed and full of admiration of such a feat all at the same time. I thought that was a fitting way to begin my way home from China, as many things there had looked very different than what I was expecting to see. But unlike that experience in the toilet stall where I had been disturbed with what I had seen, all though I was disturbed at the hopelessness of those stuck in religious Bhuddism, and the attempts to control by those in authority it was nothing compared to what I had expected it to be coming in. Mostly I walked away with a whole new first hand experience of the hope and the level of momentum that Jesus Christ and His bride is having in the great nation of China.
So I just want to say a massive thank you to all of those that contributed in any way to my trip to China, either financially or prayerfully I so appreciate it, and returned back from that trip a different person. I came back with a different perspective on what is possible in God, and how impossible it is for His purposes to be stopped no matter how strong, intentional and powerful the opposition.
He really is winning, and in His grace He uses us to outwork that victory.
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