The Website of Miah and Michelle Collins

It has been a long time since we have updated, and there has been so many life changing moments in this gap of time, that it is really difficult to know where to start.  As many of you know, we had the incredible privilege of visiting Israel with 25 African leaders who have an inspiring vision for the future of Africa and for the Church in Africa. Here is a list of the leaders of J-life Africa that came with us on this vision trip:

Shelly- Capetown, South Africa
Dan- Jo-burg, South Africa
Olefile- Soweto, South Africa
Steve- Jo-burg, South Africa
John & Lorna- Camp Eden, SA
Piet & Linda- Kimead, SA
Warren & Lynette- Heidelburg,South Africa
Bhuti & Jann- Camp Eden, South Africa
Tara- Camp Eden, South Africa
Kenneth- Swaziland
Amos- Ghana
Kevin- USA
Connix- Malawi
David- Zambia
Gary & Sharon- Congo
Sabin- Congo
Florence- Cameroon
Pete- Burkina Faso
Francois- Burkina Faso
Teresai- Zimbabwe
Yallo- Kenya

Each of these leaders were incredible men and women of God with such amazing insight to the problems and spiritual issues in their own countries. So, as you can see, God is doing something huge here and we are very excited to watch Him move in these next years.

The trip to Israel itself was the trip of a lifetime. I learned so much and there’s absolutely no way to summarize such a spiritual, historical, emotional trip. If you want to know, I would love to explain some of the places we went and sermons we heard and things we learned, so e-mail me if you are interested.

After Israel, we came home only to leave the next day to live in a township for the next few days with the J-lifers who are training at the camp this year. It was an amazing experience, with 17 of us sleeping in a 2 bedroom house with one faucet that was outside the house along with the toilet. We took bucket baths and enjoyed brushing our teeth out in the open. It was a great experience! I know that it might sound miserable for some of you, but when you are with the people, there is nothing else that can compare to the joy and community you experience. We led a bible club for all the kids, and just after going around the township and inviting people, we ended up having around 150 kids. I fell in love with a little girl who was tiny and just so shy. The cutest thing that I’ve noticed about kids here is when you try and make them smile , they usually get all shy and immediately cover their mouths to hide their laughing. It’s adorable! But we also worked with the youth there, and it was amazing to watch the J-life guys who could speak Zulu just connect with them, and really have impact in ministry right away. It’s the type of impact that I couldn’t have achieved unless I was able to be a part of that community for a couple of years. There is an understanding between them and when you watch that interaction, you get the visual image of the definition of culture. And this is the beauty of this organization, because J-life understands that connection and empowers these guys to be all that they can be as ministers of the gospel in their cultures.

We have put the J-life guys into teams for the year, and we are so stoked about the ministry these young men and women are going to start in the six churches around South Africa. Most of the teams consist of 3-4 of the J-life guys that have been training on the farm for the past 4 months. We had the pastors from the churches that they will be working with over to the farm last week for a time to get to know each other and share their vision and goals for the year.  We also had training sessions with topics like personality tendencies and conflict management, generational themes in the secular world and in ministry, post- modernism psychology, and visions in leadership. It was an amazing week, and we all learned so much from each other.

As far as transitioning into the culture is going, for me it has been an interesting process. South Africa is not a very hard culture to transition into as an American, and it is very similar to the States in many ways. But I think the difficulty in my transition has come in the little things. For example, there are many differences in accents and when you are really trying to understand someone, or just having a simple conversation, you have to stop to figure out a word they said. Or they might have a completely different word for something and this causes confusion a lot. You wouldn’t think that this is a big deal, but after it happens about 20 times in one day, I get a little exhausted. I’m also realizing how much my mind is analyzing and interpreting things all the time, so at the end of the day, I’m a little bit more tired than I should be. There is also so much humility that comes with being a foreigner. Even if something originated from my culture, I have to accept the way this culture thinks about it, or interprets it or says it. Telling people the way we say things or do things in the States will not get me anywhere, and many times I just have to let go of my way of doing things and accept how they do things here. Other times, it’s very beneficial to talk about these cultural differences and to explain to people why certain things offend me, just to get the open discussion of these things. There are really SO many things that I can do that would not be problem in the U.S., but that really offend people here. So, it is a long process of learning and discovering and although it is very tiring and frustrating at times, it is also liberating and exciting other times.  And the main point of it all is that I am learning and being challenged, which are two things I always want to have in my life. I am very grateful for this stage of life and I am also so grateful for Miah, who is helping me in this transition everyday.

-Michelle-

I’ve been given the job of writing about our unexpected trip to Israel. Firstly, praise God for the amazing opportunity! A group called Global Youth Initiative is a partnership of Christian youth organizations from around the world who share similar priorities such as basing your life and ministry on that of Jesus, the priority of the local church, etc… Anyway, they put on this conference in Israel. There were something like 50 countries represented out of a group of about 280 people. J-Life Africa made up the entire African delegation of 28 from South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Zambia, Congo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cameroon, and I think I might have missed one or two. Unfortunately, our guys from Zimbabwe and Kenya had their visas denied (single, African males without bank accounts from troubled countries don’t make great travel candidates).

The rest of us got to Israel safely as we started our 10 day harmony of Jesus’ life touring around Israel. The African group went out on the first afternoon to get our first taste of the Old City. Within 2 weeks of knowing that I was going on this trip I was in Jerusalem, walking through the famous city walls, watching Jews pray at the Western Wall, gazing at the Dome of the Rock and wandering through the city markets. It was unbelievable.

We spent our second night in a Bedouin tent in the Judean Wilderness which has to be one of the most quiet and surreal places on earth. Its just rocks and more rocks, as far as the eye can see. From there we were back in Jerusalem for about a week, then on to the dead sea, along the Jordan River to the Sea of Galilee with a bunch of sites in between, around Galilee, back to Jerusalem and on to Tel Aviv. It was an exhausting trip, having to fit touring, the conference, and extra J-Life Africa visioning meetings nearly every day. But instead of me trying to give you a minute-by-minute reply of our travels I will just note a few things that stuck out to me the most.

Of course it was amazing being with a group of people from all over the world with the same desire and passion as we have. Every now and then, its great to be reminded that this is so much bigger than me or J-Life. I think about our new friends Czech Republic, Costa Rica and Great Britain often.

The day that had the most impact on me was going into Bethlehem where a huge wall is being build to separate the people from the rest of Israel. The graffiti inside depicts the peoples’ frustration. They lack economic freedom and most storefronts are boarded up because of the economic stranglehold that is on them. They also require a special visa just to leave their own city to find work during the day. In Bethlehem we were spoken to by an Arab believer who told us his story of forgiveness and reconciliation and his hope for peace. It was a reminder to pray not for a political agenda but for Christ to be known amongst both Palestinians and Israelis.

Although I won’t go into any detail, the Holocaust Museum. If you’re in Israel, go there.

The Dead Sea was great fun. I also recommend you go there soon as it is shrinking quite rapidly. We also got to see a group of nuns swimming fully clothed in their robes and everything. It was awesome!

The whole area around the Temple Mount is spectacular. While I was there I really wasn’t thinking that the experience was going to change the way I read the Bible like so many people talk about. I always thought that was a little over-dramatic. But at the risk of cliché, seeing the places, the stones, walls, valleys, olive trees and ruins of the places in Scripture really does change something in you.

We walked through Hezekiah’s tunnel which was built 2,700 years as a secret water source into Jerusalem with the threat that the Amelekites would cut off the main water source. Its an incredible piece of architecture.

Israel has military conscription for men and women from the age of 18. Imagine seeing a group of 30 normal teenage girls walking around with machine guns. And there are security entrances everywhere. It’s like being in a big airport.

I recommend flying Egypt Airlines. The plane rides themselves are terrible but they provide you with a free tour of Cairo if you have a long layover. We took full advantage of this on our way back home. Cairo is like no other place I’ve ever been to. There are 27 million people in the city and no such thing as a one story building. There are 6 million cars but I didn’t see one stop sign or street light. Having said that the Nile is magnificent and the Pyramids didn’t disappoint (but that might have been because it was a free trip). I would have loved to have seen more of the Mosques and museums but we’ll have to save that for another time.

Michelle and I benefited from sharing time with the J-Life Africa delegation and getting a real sense of people’s hopes and goals for a future where the Church of Jesus Christ in Africa is passionate about discipling young people. We came back feeling really energized about our ministry as well and better informed about the movement. This little journal seems such an inadequate description of our journeys. I hope you enjoy our few pictures and that they capture a little more colorfully the beauty of those places.