The Website of Miah and Michelle Collins

I just uploaded some new photos. I hope they really capture the spirit of training. We are moving into the 4th and final month with these guys before they hit the road or return to their home churches. This last week we spent in a township for some practical hands-on experience. Its good for us to see how the guys handle the pressures of ministry. The context is quite foreign for most of the guys making things a little tougher. Our group was in a township called Duduza. Michelle and I took more of an observing role as the guys organized ministry opportunities for the week.

In other news, I ran my first marathon last week. It was pretty rough but I think I may be hooked. I’m planning for another in May and we’ll see from there. Michelle also ran the 10km and might try a half marathon next month!

South Africa is heading for national elections in just 3 weeks. We have been blessed here with relatively peaceful elections in the past and are praying for that to continue this year. Tensions are higher this time because of a new party who broke off from the ruling party last year.

Please feel free to email us at or . And of course, there’s always Facebook.

Faith, hope and love
Miah

African Realities

Growing up in sub-Saharan Africa one is faced with many harsh realities. We would count out our money at the grocery store just to make sure we did not go over budget. I was, and still am grateful to God that I have never gone hungry, or lived without a place to sleep or clothes on my back.
I thought I was a compassionate person, but living out the three days of African realities proved otherwise. I was exposed to some of the challenges and hardships people here go through (after watching a documentary about child soldiers), and it hit home because the people in these situations are my friends…. so I was inclined to help them. Jesus had compassion and helped the people who were regarded as social outcasts. We tend to deny what is going on around us, hoping that it goes away rather than embracing and considering the resources we have and adjusting our lifestyles in order to share what we have with others.
I learned that giving is a grace. I did not and I still don’t deserve the favor God has shown me but I should also do the same for those around me, showing them undeserved favor in my giving. (2 Corinthians 8:7)
The Lord spoke to me and assured this word through 1 Peter 5:10: “ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect establish, strengthen, and settle you.” My prayer is that I don’t ever forget this experience and that I remember those in such situations and do something about it.

Shegz Gicheche
Kenya

A day in the life of J-Life training

Michelle and I stayed the night last night at the training center as the evening seems to be the best time to connect with guys on a more personal level. Unfortunately a team member got sick and I spend the whole evening at the hospital. Earlier in the day I lectured on “postmodernism and youth ministry.” It is sometime I really enjoy because it involves a lot of history and it was great to try and make that stuff come alive for the guys. It really sparked some good conversations such as how the church should respond to worldview changes in society.

It’s cool to see how creative the team is this year. Whenever we give them something to teach or present they really get into it and they always seem to create some brilliant presentation. Yesterday one of the groups came up with a musical in 30 minutes… and it was actually really good. We are excited to see what they are going to accomplish on the road this year.

Last week the guys went through something we call “African Realities.” They learn all about the issues of the continent facing young people. We talk about wars, diseases, abuse, malnutrition, education etc. But the thing that makes it so impactful is that they actually live it out. They live on $1 a day and sleep on the floor in really tight quarters. They cannot use the showers and they cook their food over a fire. They even have to walk 6 miles and catch a taxi into town to buy their food. This year we also had them go to the hospital to be tested for HIV. It’s a very emotionally draining weekend but an experience I’m sure none of them will ever forget. You can really see the passion they have for these issues coming out through the week, even as they are hungry and tired.

On a personal front, Michelle and I are settling into our new apartment in Vereeniging. Our neighbors are flight school students from India and Nepal. They are great guys! It has been nice to be closer to friends and our church as well. My parents and my little brother are coming up from Durban to visit us this weekend.  They came up last year when I was in the hospital so it will be nice to be able to hang out with them more this time.

Some prayer requests:

With about a month and a half left of the training some issues within the team start to come up making things stressful. As the novelty wears off there is more conflict that comes out with the guys. We have also had some problems with stealing over the past couple of weeks. This is something we deal with a lot in South Africa and is such an ugly problem when you are trying to create an atmosphere where community can grow. It causes people to be skeptical of the person next to them. Please pray that this would be figured out so that we can deal with it and move on!

Michelle and I have had such good opportunities this year to invest in peoples’ lives. Pray with us that this would continue into the rest of the year.

We are still deciding when to come back to the States for furlough. Please pray for us in this!

The title my entry is the chorus to a rap that our one year students made as I was teaching them the DNA of J-Life. It was hilarious! I wish I had a video of all their raps and the dances- it was pretty amazing.

Training Training Training

It has been way too long since we have had time to come down to our little deli shop and use their free wireless internet. But a lot has happened since our last update and we are so excited about what God has already done and what He is doing this year.

First off, we are now in full swing with our one year program and we have an incredible group of young men and women. We have a great group of 4 Kenyans this year who are always singing and dancing and getting everyone excited. One of the Kenyans name is Sheila, and she has just finished her Psychology degree. She is passionate about God’s Kingdom and really wants to help youth in Kenya deal with some of the deep issues that they are going through as a culture. Last year, after the riots after the elections, many youth were either a part of the violence or witnessed many people being killed in the chaos. They also basically lost an academic semester with all of the riots, and are now having to fight to motivate these young people again. Sheila is passionate to do something about these situations and she seems to have a clear vision of how to use her education and her experience to make a difference. She loves R&B and is very animated in how she communicates…..she’s a constant source of laughter in our small group.

This past week, we had our J-Life summit where all of our country leaders from around Africa and leaders in the U.S. came to the campsite for a week of meetings and leadership development seminars. It was a very intense week, meeting for 8 hours everyday and having two devotional times with a worship time in the evenings. But the progress we made in communicating what God is doing and what our goals are for the next year was phenomenal! God is raising up training centers in Swaziland and Zambia this year, and we cannot wait to see what God will do as we decentralize our training and make it more accessible and contextualized in more and more African countries.

Lastly, we really need prayer. Prayer for what God wants our role to be in J-Life in the next year. Prayer as we are trying to move into the nearest town in order to be a part of a community here. Prayer as we need to decide when to take furlow. All of these things are kind of dependent upon each other, and we have been praying a waiting for clear direction from the Lord for months now. Please join us as we trust God in these big decisions!