South Africa!

Dear Friends,

WOW!!! It is amazing to see Jesus partnering with normal people (like me) to bring forth signs and wonders! Today during worship I sat down next to an older woman I had never met. As worship began I felt God's tremendous love for her and I was compelled to put my arm around her shoulders. Upon doing so I suddenly felt burning all over my left knee... I knew God was telling me something in regards to her body! I turned to her and asked if she had a problem with her left knee... did she ever! Her right knee had already been replaced because it had gotten so bad and now her left knee was in the same place. Her meniscus was totally deteriorated and there was no cartilage left. It was bone on bone, very painful. And get this! While praying for her God told me to whack her knee with my hand! Picture how weird I felt when asking her if it was okay to smack her bad knee! I would never have thought in a million years that I'd be doing something that crazy! But, I took a big gulp and, SMACK! I did it! Then I asked the cliff hanger question, “How's it feel?”. In the midst of her tears she told me how much better it felt... AWESOME! Later she told me there was no more pain! Weird, but awesome. It was hard for me to comprehend that God had just used me to heal someone... but that and so much more is happening here every day through normal people! I wish I had room to tell you of all the amazing stories of the other students here!

Recently I was accepted on a team that is traveling to South Africa for a missions trip from March 10-23. We will be ministering in churches, townships and orphanages, plus we will have the opportunity to minister at a large open air crusade. We will be flying in to Johannesburg and then taking a bus to Pretoria. From Pretoria we will be splitting up into six groups of five team members which will then be sent out all over South Africa and Namibia. This will be the Eleventh trip the school has taken to South Africa. Every trip has been heavily marked with mighty manifestations of God's kingdom through the healing of the lame, sick, blind & deaf, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and MANY lost saved! It is sure to be a time of signs and wonders!

Please consider partnering with me in one or two ways:

First and foremost is prayer. I will need as much covering as is possible before, during and after the trip. Because we will be aggressively going after territory claimed by the devil there will be resistance... guaranteed. Please, I implore you, keep me in your prayers daily. I NEED IT!

Second, I need to raise $3200 in a very short period of time. Please consider sowing into what God is going to be doing in South Africa! If you want to pay by card go to their website: www.ibssm.org   Once on the website go to the “GIVE TO BSSM” tab. Once there, it is very self explanatory. If you would like to pay by check: Mail it to: Bethel International, 933 College View Dr, Redding, CA 96003. Leave the memo blank and instead, include a piece of paper with my name "Justin Collins" and "South Africa" printed/written on it. Bethel (not in Rochester, but the Redding one) will send you a tax deductible receipt. 

Thank you so much for your love and support. I appreciate you greatly. May God bless you!

Justin Collins

MY WALLET!!!!!!!!

What a fun weekend! I'll cut right to the chase... don't look so happy:P

2 wonderful things happened in the following order:

Friday, we, as in over 800 students, were recording the "crowd" vocals for the new worship CD they are producing here at Bethel. This meant there was no band, no worship leader, no onstage vocals. We had to sing along with a CD... epic, right? My exact thoughts were, "I wonder if I could get some school work done right now, especially since this is going to be the most amazing worship service we have had all year!". Let me also add that the CD being used was mixed so that our voices would stand out on the recording.

For those who don't understand the significance of this, let me explain. Put your favorite CD into your CD player. Find the thickest pillows in your home. Duct tape them to the front of your speakers. Turn your volume up about half way. Begin to worship. If you don't have all the words right in front of you, you may, at multiple times, wonder where in the world the song is currently at. Now add 800 people to this choir. Also, add the fact that you can hear yourself and your neighbor singing clear as a bell. And, you can't sing like Jeremy Riddle, or a dying frog for that matter. Glorious!!!!

Yes, I thought it was going to be a big chug of toilet water. But, God just doesn't stop surprising me. Worship started, and with the first strum of the badly muted guitar His presence dropped like a bomb on the whole place... to a CD!!!!!!!!!!! What the Heck! Near the end of the first song everyone was ready to blow up, Jeremy Riddle (who was at the front to give direction between songs) was weeping on stage, us students were being consumed from the inside out,  His presence was tangible. The song ended. The choir of voices didn't. They actually grew louder, we actually grew louder. Once again, no worship leader, no band, no amazing vocals. A badly mixed CD, desperate people and the Love of Father. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Sufficed to say worship was a staggering experience! What came next was even more fun, for me!

I felt this urge to sit down, even though my spirit was exploding inside of me. After sitting down I felt the urge to put my arm around the woman sitting next to me. Her name was Anglus. She was in her early fifties. Moments after putting my arm around her shoulders I felt an intense burning in my left knee. I didn't have to guess what it was, I immediately knew. I could feel the excitement quickly building inside of me. I turned my head towards Anglus and asked her if she was having a problem with her left knee. She was a little surprised, yet, surprisingly, I wasn't. She proceeded to tell me how she recently had her right knee replaced, but now her left knee was in bad shape. No cartilage, bone on bone, painful to move around. This is where it gets funny or weird, however you want to look at it.

I knew I was supposed to pray for healing. But, while I was praying God frightened me. I felt like He wanted me to whack her bad knee! I'm thinking,"Come on! Really! This seems absurd!". An immediate struggle arose within me. To smack the disabled woman or not. My pride and my reason were screaming at the top of their lungs, "Don't be a fruit loop! Don't do it! For our sake, DON"T DO IT!! God doesn't need you to whack the poor woman for it to happen... YOU'RE CRAZY!". On the other side was my spirit, "Whack her Justin! Give that knee a hardy smack boy! What are you waiting for! You want to see her healed?! SMACK HER! I SAID, SMACK HER!!!" I gave in to my spirit. I whacked Anglus' bum knee! After asking permission of course. And, Yes... she did smile a bit nervously when I asked.

After giving that left knee a good what for, I looked up at Anglus and she was crying. Oh my God, I hurt her! Not really. She told me it felt a lot better. She was quite excited to go use it and try it out. I checked up on her yesterday and she told me there was no pain left! Sweet day in the morning! Didn't see that one coming!

And now for the whole wallet bit. I lost my wallet at a park filled with homeless people on a Friday. Realized it on a Saturday around 5 pm. Frantically drove to said park and, with poor wifey in tow, searched the whole field where I had been playing frisbee. Upon feeling frustrated with my inability to locate my precious wallet, I asked God, "You know where it is, can you make this easy and give me some direction?". I stopped walking immediately, turned around, and made a b-line to the other side of the field. I literally landed on my wallet! I walked in a straight line to my wallet on the other side of the field! CRAZY! You may not be excited about this, but I sure was/am!

See ya:)