Today was amazing. South Africa has officially stolen my heart. It was my first day on the job and I really could not have asked for a better day. We spent the morning at the Living Hope headquarters doing some grunt work...cutting out cardboard to make "armor of god" for the kids to wear. While cutting cardboard is a little rough on the hands, it did however provide us with some supreme bonding time. Later in the afternoon we all went our separate ways to our different communities for "club"...this is when the day gets really good.

We had not been in Red Hill (the community where I work)for a solid minute and in comes Mona Lisa jumping through the car window and into the car...needless to say she was excited for club. And then doors opened and kids just started piling in, jumping right in my lap and trying to call "dibbs" on me. But there was not near enough room for us all, so Stewart and I got all the kids out told them we were going to race to the top of the hill (it is a mean and rocky hill...). I start running and I looked behind me and kids appeared out of nowhere and our "pack" was increasing by the minute.They were running behind me and singing their little "African" songs...I don't think life could have been any better at that moment. But at that moment I just felt free. I didnt know any of the kids but for some reason they entrusted me as their leader, so by golly I was going to steer them in the right direction.

Next thing I know they start calling me "Mom" and told me that they wished I was their mom...and oh how I wish I could be. We got up to the top of the hill where we had "club" and started off by singing a few songs and then Zor told the story of "Hannah" in the bible, and just talking about how important it is to pray. Simply the idea of talking to Jesus so that we may be forgiven for all of our daily sins and accepting him as our Lord and savior.

But something about these kids is just so beautiful. They might have dirty clothes, smell bad and have endless amounts of boogers...but ultimately they are just full of love. As I looked them in the eyes, they seemed empty at first...but then I could see into the depths of their hearts and realized that all they wanted to do was give love and in return seek love. I think that so many times we often forget to love on each other or the other hand we seem to take it for granted. Love is beautiful. Not everyone gets love, so I would encourage you to love on one another because love never ends...