Johannesburg, South Africa

My youngest brother, Tyler, left for his mission last week. He is now a white Mormon kid in a sea of dark African people.

He is serving his mission is Johannesburg, South Africa!

Right after he got his mission call, I got onto Wikipedia to read up on all the wondrous, Lion King-like amazement's of Johannesburg . . . this is what I found out . . .

1. Only 86% of the city have a flush toilet.

2. South Africa has 11 official languages, most of which I can't pronounce (Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu.)

3. There are 1,200,000 orphans in South Africa, whose parents have both died of AIDS.

4. South Africa was ranked second for murder and first for assaults and rape per capita.

5. A vast amount of South Africans suffer from Xenophobia, fear of foreigners.

Needless to say, I didn't mention any of these facts to my mother, but quietly whispered them to Tyler and his friends in a hushed tone as their eyes grew wider and wider with each fact.

I've grown pretty close to Tyler and I'm definitely going to miss him. I'm sad that he won't get to see Asher till Asher is talking and potty trained, but at least it's before Asher will remember anything.

I love you Tyler, may the brown natives worship you for the white, shiny red-head like God that you are!!