In June 2009, I was blessed with an amazing opportunity, through my church, to go on a missions trip to South Africa. We were in the town of Rustenburg, which is in the Northern part of South Africa. There were 14 of us who went. We had an amazing leader named Lincoln. Lincoln's family is returning to South Africa as full time missionary's in January. They are such amazing people with a huge heart for helping those in Africa.
There is a children's shelter in Rustenburg, called the Lighthouse Children's Shelter. This is were we stayed and spent alot of our time. It was a blast. While we were there we tore down and rebuilt the playground for the children, helped with feeding the children, and also played with the kids. It was very obvious that the children are starving for love. It was such a wonderful feeling to be there for them, hold them, and just tell them how much you love them. Being with these children really made me feel whole. Their stories made my heart ache, but also gave me hope in my heart that these children now have a safe place to live. Imagine having 20 kids run at you when you walk out the door yelling "mommy mommy!" soon followed by 20 little hands grabbing at your pant legs to be held. They truly were so full of life and little lights of God.
