Hello everyone! I hope you are all getting off to a wonderful start in this new year! It is hard to believe it is 2021 already. The start of this year also marks the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Lausanne. I have taken some time to reflect back over the last 12 months and two things hit me. First off, I feel tremendous gratitude towards all the people like you who have joined me in prayer and financial support to make it possible for me to serve. The second realization I had was excitement for all that is to come. Last January, when I moved over here, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. I knew it was the right thing to do and an act of obedience to follow where God had called me, but it was still quite a leap to take. At the time I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Over the past year, I have had to grow in so many ways as I have had more and more adventures with God, and all I can say is wow is He faithful. I am excited to see what is in store for this next year, and I hope to take you along!
After the tranquility of the Christmas break, the base is back up and running at full speed again. We started our new quarter and have over 50 students! Just listening to the travel miracles we have had in the past few weeks with visas and flights has me so expectant for what God has in store for this quarter. Students have received visas in days instead of months, flights have continued to operate, and there is such a sense of joy around the campus. Our office is also staying quite busy. We had two staff transition out after last quarter, leaving just me and the department head, Jukka. While it was sad to see them go, it is creating a new opportunity for us to streamline and put in systems to make our office more efficient. For those of you who know me well, this won’t come as a surprise, but I love designing and implementing these sorts of systems. We also are blessed to have 9 students doing work duties in communications that will help us keep things humming.
At this point, the whole COIVD-19 situation here is starting to feel like a game of ping pong between opening up and closing down. On Monday, we entered a very strict 5-week lockdown (only essential stores and services open, no more than 30 people in a room, no more than 5 in a group outside, and even no singing). Due to the situation, we had to suspend our local outreach efforts. Much to my dismay that included the photography ministry circle. Hopefully, things will open up again for the next quarter, but for the time being that aspect of the ministry has been placed on hold. However, the changes have meant more live streaming to connect our campus virtually in compliance with the new regulation. This has spurred us to do more live streaming which has been enjoyable to oversee. When one door shuts another swings open.
Near the end of last year, we rerecorded one of the sessions in the Going online course. However, it was not until this month I finally got a chance to edit and upload it. The teacher is the leader of the YWAM Paris Connect base and the session was on worship. As I was working on the post-production I had to watch the video multiple times. Right now with our restrictions on singing, we are having to find new and creative ways to worship. I found the message very timely and a wonderful encouragement about the true essence of what it means to glorify God even when usual avenues are not open. If you are interested here is the session:
Over the Christmas break, I took a few train trips with my camera. Here are a collection of my favorite shots from the different towns I saw. Enjoy!
The Reuss River flowing through Luzern. 
The Lion in Luzern. 
Thun Castle. 
The Red Cathedral in Basel.
I am so thankful for the last year here. I have been able to get established and get settled. I am looking forward with great anticipation for Gad has in store for me. I have been blessed by many of you who have contributed financially towards my work here and I am so incredibly grateful. As I look towards the future, I am needing to raise my level of monthly support so I can continue here long term. If you would prayerfully consider partnering with me in the ministry here I would so appreciate it. God is already moving in powerful ways and there is so much more incredible fruit coming from the ministry. If you feel led, I invite you to join me in helping to make it happen. All the info can be found here: http://benonamission.com/index.php/support/ If you have any other questions please let me know.
As always, thank you for coming along with me in this adventure of faith,
Ben