Hello! Welcome to my latest update! I will start this update off with two pieces of exciting news.
1. We recorded an album! We had a live worship night here at YWAM Furnace with all songs written in the prayer room over the past couple years and they are currently mixing and mastering the album. I will let you know when it will drop when I get the info.
2. My parents are coming! My parents will be arriving here in New Zealand in less than a week to visit me and do a little vacationing. I can’t wait to be able to see them again for the first time in eight months, and to have a little R & R myself. We will be touring around the north and south island for two weeks then they head off and I will be getting ready for my next quarter here.
Honestly I was having a bit of trouble coming up with interesting stuff to put in this update but I thought that just being real with you guys is better than making things seem extravagant or extraordinary. In all honesty the last month and a half have not been very ideal. There’s been a lot of stress and hard things to face but I am so thankful for the unfailing love of the father and for loving friends.
Essentially my time has been split between my part time job at Kathmandu and volunteering with the prayer room. I recently quit my part time job however so I can spend a bit of time preparing for the upcoming school, in prayer, and resting.
I have spent the last little bit trying to renew my New Zealand visa which has proved much more troublesome and costly than anticipated. It seems like there is always a blockage with every step. But I know that God has plans for me here so I will be obedient and stay for a bit. My current visa expires in January and I am trying to get another year visa. As for my van I am currently moved out into the Youth With A Mission staff house and am in the process of selling the van! It is sad but the time has come, and I can use the money to help pay for my upcoming school.
To be completely real with you guys, there has been a lot of hard times these past weeks, I won’t pretend like it’s all good and fun. There have been good times too, which I have been thankful for, but I am ultimately thankful for the God I serve. That even though my situation isn’t ideal, hopeful, or joyous He will NEVER change. He is the constant and He is my love, joy, and my hope. I am thankful that when all I can do is lie in bed and cry that He is with me, He has never left me and He is faithful to be right there with me in the pain and darkness.
But "see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone" (song of songs 2:11) and now it’s time for the future! What am I up to? Well as most of you are aware I am enrolled in the upcoming School of Worship with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Furnace in New Zealand. The school will be from October first till February fifteenth. The school will be made up of two parts. The lecture phase is where all the learning happens, we will have new speakers every week to speak on different topics involving worship. We will learn on things like the character of David, songwriting, psalm studies, the heart of God, prayer coaching, as well as practical studies in worship. This first phase is the equipping portion, the next phase is the outreach phase. This is when we get to put into practice what we learned. We will be sent out to another nation to do ministry there and use what we learned to aid in that.
As for after the school, well I intend to stay in New Zealand At the base here and continue working as a missionary here, both in the prayer room as I have been doing and hopefully staffing a school as well.
I will take this time also to make you all aware that there will be a second special edition update coming out along with this one! That’s right, two for the price of one! Keep an eye out for “The Need” where I will explain what I am needing financially for this coming season and how you can help. But for now, here are some ways you can pray for me!
Prayer Requests:
Visa will go smoothly with no problems or confusion
Pray that God will provide the funds for my upcoming School of Worship
Pray for the selling of my van. That it will go smoothly and there will be generous people looking to buy.
Pray for me spiritually and emotionally that God will continue to reveal Himself to me and teach me.
Prayer for safe travel for my parents and I across New Zealand.
Pray for my upcoming school that God will just blow our sock off and that all logistics will go off without a hitch.
Pray for rest.
To finish this update off I thought I’d share with you all a vision that I had while writing this that I think God wants you to hear.
I had a vision that I was entering an arena of sorts. There was a huge crowd gathered all looking at something big in the middle, then they started bowing down to it. I wasn’t sure if what was in the middle was God or not but it slowly became clear. It was a statue of what the people saw as an ideal person. How the ideal person acts and looks like and how people should aspire to be. God revealed to me that this was their downfall. That they had created something that none could be or ever hope to live up to, and anyone who wasn’t like it was shamed. But then God said to me what His ideal is. He told me that His ideal person is a person. That’s it. That if you are a person on this earth you are already what God views as the perfect ideal. You are handcrafted by God, the perfect being, who wove you together with such intimacy and detail.
You are God’s ideal.
Go on and give Psalm 139 read.
Love you all!
Benjamin Ens
