I'm feeling humbled

Three years ago we arrived here in Alice Springs and i remember our first Sunday at church and the culture shock involved. There were so many aboriginal saints in church that day and many visitors as well. For those of you who have never been to the outback, let me tell you a little about my first impressions of aboriginal people. They are not known for being sanitary or clean in any way. To put it bluntly, they stink. I don't mean just a little bit, but they really smell, and when you get a good number of them in an enclosed chapel, it can tend to get a little bit overwhelming to say the least. As you walk around town you see them everywhere. They live in the dry river bed, in the alleys and many of them do actually live in houses as well. They walk all around town, so it's hard to miss them. Whenever you see a group walking together there is almost always one or two in the group carrying a very large case of beer and when you see them elsewhere they are very commonly drunk and beligerent. Ok, so that was my first impression.

Now we've been here for 3 years and have got to know so many of them. I've seen so many change their lives, clean themselves up and start to attend church regularly. These people are a great people with strong spirits and many are just trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. Though it's hard to see this as you get around town and live here, they really are out there.

Tonight we had our branch Christmas party at church and we had a huge turnout. It was truly humbling to see so many people from all over the world there. We have Aussies, New Zealanders, better known as Kiwi's, Americans, many Asians from China, Korea, Philipeans and more and then we had a very large turn out of aboriginal people as well. The smell no longer bothers me ( I actually don't remember even smelling it tonight) and the people bring in such a strong spirit to go with them. As I returned home and got on Facebook (my addiction) I was introduced to a video that was made earlier this year and I felt so strongly that I just want to share it with everybody. It was made by one of the senior missionaries serving here in our branch and so many of the people in it are very dear to us as a family and to our branch as well. To me, this is what living and being in Alice Springs is all about.



Can you see the true joy and light radiating from each and every one of those faces?