Day 1

Yesterday we arrived safely in South Africa after 23 LONG hours on a plane. Let's just say that when I got to the bed and breakfast I went straight to bed! Waking up at 7:00 the next morning was VERY difficult, but within 5 minutes of arriving at St. Peter Christian College, I became a human magnet! There were kids hanging on me, holding both of my hands, and hugging me all at the same time! It was great! While I was walking through the classrooms and observing them, it was amazing to see how eager the students were to learn and participate in the classroom. Every student wants to be called on and is so well behaved. While the teacher was talking, all the students were silent.

One of the first things we did after meeting with the students and playing with them was visiting the Caring Friends ministry. Caring Friends is a group of people that go out into the community and talk to their peers about preventing HIV and AIDS. They sing together to encourage and support others as well. Just hearing these people sing almost brought me to tears!

Out of all of the great things I did today, the thing that made the biggest impact on me was handing out all of the supplies that our church and school collected for the students and teachers. While the team and I were piling all of the supplies on these little tables, all of the children were singing at the top of their lungs about the love of Jesus. It was so amazing to see how these kids have a love for Jesus at such a young age! It was awesome to see all of the kids and teacher's faces when we gave them all of the supplies. Some of them were speechless. They were all so thankful!

I can't wait to see what God has in store for me next!