Family-

Well, here I am in South Africa! WOW! what an exciting time I am having here! It is taking much adjustment, but I know that I will love this place tons by the time I leave. Let me start from the beginning and tell you about my week. It has been quite adventurous!!! I arrived in Durban Tuesday night at about 7:00pm. I was met at the airport by the AP's. President Stevenson was in the Islands at the time, so I haven't even met him yet. I'll meet him this Friday at Zone Conference. Anyway, the AP's took me to the President's home where I stayed for the night. The following morning 2 other Elders came and took me to the mission office where we just filled out all the paper work. Then I met my companion, Sister Merkley. She is so rad! We get along so well! She is somewhat of a greenie herself. She has only been here for 4 months but she is an excellent trainer! It's great to have such an excellent trainer. Anyhow, we met and then the AP's took us to our area. We are in a town called Empangeni. It is 2 hours north of Durban. We were put in to open or re-open the area. So, it is kind of interesting to be in a new area and trying to get things rolling. Empangeni is a small town. It is a factory town. It is the hottest part of the mission though we really haven't experienced too much heat yet. It has been raining quite a bit. Some of the investigators told us that one point it was 118F at 6:00pm. WOW! I'm not looking forward to that. January and February are usually the hottest months, so we'll see how things are for the next month. Empangeni is really busy with Zulu's. There is a township nearby so many Zulus come into town every day. There are TONS of Zulu people. The area is quite dangerous because of all the township Zulu's coming in. Car-jacking is a big problem. The Elders a few miles away (20K) got their car car-jacked right before I got there. SCARY! Our flat (apartment) here is quite nice for a missionary boarding. It's in a large flat complex. We are on the 3rd floor so we have a nice view.



Thursday was quite an interesting day, so I 'm going to tell you about it. Now Mom, as I tell you all of this you have to remember that I am a missionary and I will always be protected as long as I am doing what is right - ok? I am totally fine, so now worries, right? Ok- Thursday, Sister Merkley and I went to split offs with the Elders who live in Richard's Bay which is 20k away. I spent the day with Elder Merrill and Elder Wooley. I was given a rare opportunity. The Sisters are not normally allowed into the townships because they are so dangerous (townships are where all the poor, uneducated Zulus live) But since I was on split-offs with Elders and they had an appointment in Esekawani, I was allowed to go with them. The Elders told me that I was most likely the first white woman to be in that township for years. I could tell because of the way everyone was looking at me. We stopped at one of the members house and their 2 year old daughter started screaming when she saw me. A new experience for her to see a white woman. Nothing too eventful happened there. It was just scary because we had to lock all the doors and be totally careful. I was quite scared. After we finished there, we went back into Richard's Bay and visited some investigators. We taught the 1st discussion (my first time, it was pretty scary!) We also tracted out this family. They had just gotten EVERYTHING stolen. They had been in Durban for a couple of days. They came back and EVERYTHING was gone. I guess here, when you get robbed, you get everything taken! Even the carpet and padding. I felt so bad for that family. At the end of the day, the Elders took me back to Empangeni to meet Sister Merkley and so they could pick up the other Elders that were with her. We met at KFC. As Sister Merkley and I were driving home, I was telling her about my day. I was feeling kind of scared, mainly because it was dark, there were lots of Zulu people walking the streets and I was telling her about the township and the family we met that got robbed. When we got to the apartment, I opened the door and walked in. I went to turn on the light switch, but they wouldn't go on. I suddenly knew that someone was in our apartment. I just got that feeling, suddenly 2 men came running towards us, yelling at us in Zulu. They had been in the living room. I automatically went to a sitting position on the floor, against the wall. I was in pure panic. One of the men came to me and was grabbing at me. I looked up and there was a gun in my face. That was the worse feeling because I knew I couldn't fight back because they would kill me. I remember thinking that I was being immodest at that point because as I slid down against the wall, my dress came up around my waist. So, I was worried about my garments showing (I know, the things you worry about while you are being robbed!:)) The next thing I knew, they pulled me up and were pushing me towards the bedroom (At this point I had no idea where my companion was) As they pushed me into the bedroom I saw through he glass door of our balcony that that there were 2 more men out there, they ran into the living room just then, so I couldn't see them at all, I just saw their figures. The man with the gun threw me onto by bed. I was more scared now than ever because I thought I was getting raped. But I kept thinking, "No, I am a missionary, I am wearing garments, I'll be protected." The man with the gun was now leaning over me, had hold of both my arms and was pushing me down onto the bed. I suddenly began praying out loud, basically repeating, "Heavenly Father help me" over and over. The man then demanded in English that I give him my money. Suddenly I became extremely calm and in a matter of fact voice said, "you know what, I really don't have any" then I added, "and besides, we are representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and" ... suddenly the man stood up and stepped away. I began to be amazed. Just then my companion yells, "This is your greenie joke!" The lights flipped on and the 4 Elders from this area were standing there. 2 of them had nylons over their heads. One of them was holding a toy gun. I started bawling! I was absolutely sobbing! I have never in my life been so scared! They all felt terrible. Especially when I told them I thought I was getting raped. They totally thought that I would figure it out right at first because the flat is quite light, but my eyes were not adjusted yet. They just felt really bad because they thought it would be just kind of scary and then we'd laugh about it. Sister Merkley was the one that planned it, but she said that it even scared her because it was so realistic. It was so bad! Sister Merkley was so worried that I'd be mad at her, but I wasn't at all, just because even though it still affects me, I still am scared to come into the flat at night, I know that it was just a joke gone bad. I'm alright even though I am still dealing with the fear. I am especially afraid of the Zulus because that's who I thought it was because the Elders were talking in Zulu. I didn't sleep that night. I was too scared to even close my eyes for a long time. We closed all the bedroom doors to make me feel better. About 1Am I had to go to the bathroom, it took me probably 1/2 hr to get up the nerve to get up and go, so by then I totally had to go. When I tried to open the door, I couldn't, it was stuck. It locked from the inside with a key. The lock was stuck or something. Sister Merkley woke up and she tried it also. It still would not budge. By now she had to go to the bathroom too. We decided to pray. The door still didn't open. We were dying! We couldn't like, kick the door open because the door opened the opposite way, so finally we did the only thing we could. We went out on the balcony and peed there! Then we went back to bed. In the morning, we went out on the balcony and waited for someone to walk by and yelled down to them, we threw him our keys and he came and unlocked the door from the outside.

WOW! What a day, hu? Things have gotten much better since then. We are finding people like crazy. Everyone is so nice. We found 2 really cool families through tracting on Saturday. I am excited to go back and teach them some more! I am loving missionary work. It is great, though it is really hard. There is only one branch for 3 of the towns around here. There are a lot of really cool families here. But we have a lot of less active families! It is really sad.

I really do love it here. It is very different. A lot of the food is very different and will take getting used to. The water here in Empangeni is terrible. There is a paper factory here and the water tastes how the factory smells. I can't handle it! I only drink it when I have to! It comes out as a greenish brown color and makes you feel slimy! They don't have showers here so you have to sit in it and see how bad it really is. I guess it is drinkable and all but it gives you headaches. They don't sell bottled water here though. But they do have the best juices or cool drinks as they call it. I love it!



Well, this letter is enormous, so I'll end it now. Sorry about my spelling, I don't know what the deal is, but I cannot remember how to spell anything! Maybe it is the water! :)

I am so happy to be here. I love being a missionary. I already love the people of South Africa! They are so kind! I think they are much more kind than people in Amreica. They treat us so good (except yesterday someone threw dog pooh on our car!) Sister Merkley and I are going to start studying Afrikans and Zulu. So that will hep us contact even more people!

I know this church is true! I love the Book of Mormon. What a great book it is! I am grateful for the Savior and for my Father in Heaven. They give me everything. I am so blessed!

Take care! Love you all!

Love,
Michelle
"Sister Zenger"

PS. Hello- I am Sister Merkley and I am SO soooo SO incredibly sorry that we scared your daughter that badly. We didn't think it would be so scary. It was a bad idea. PLEASE forgive me. I've never felt so awful in my life. I promise you, your daughter is safe. Nothing will happen to her - I will do everything I can to ensure it. Your daughter is AWESOME! She is a wonderful missionary - Best comp. I've had and I love her. Again, I apologize :) Sister Merkley.




(A side note in regard to this letter ... I look back on that greenie joke and am amazed at my ability to forgive! lol I did forgive them and understood that it was a joke gone bad, but that joke did affect me for the rest of my mission. I was terrified most every minute that I was in South Africa, it was not just because of the joke, of course, the crime rate there was truly horrible and there were several experiences that I am sure I recorded in letters that I will post on here later, that happened to me while I was there that just increased my fear. It is very apparent in this letter that I was very biased against the Zulu people at this point. It is a fact that the majority of crimes committed there at the time, were at the hands of Zulu men, and it was something that we, as missionaries, were all made very aware of, but as I lived and served among the Zulu people later in my mission I came to love them more deeply than I ever imagined and I came to realize that just because of a few bad apples, does not mean that all apples are bad! :) I love the Zulu people and their rich culture. I have even named my daughters with Zulu middle names)