Culture difference

I am praying that soon I will be going to south africa to do missionary work with abandoned and orphaned AIDS kids...since I am from America, what would you suggest I do to prepare for the culture change?

I would not think that you would experience any greater culture difference between the USA and South Africa. As a European I was shocked by how American South Africa is. You will feel at home; The impossibilty of being a pedestrian, the poverty and the crime level - everything is there as you should be use to.