Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

It’s hard to believe we made it.  I’ve always dreamed of seeing Alice Springs ever since reading A Town Called Alice by Nevil Shute.  It’s much bigger than I had pictured especially given that it’s literally in the middle of nowhere.  Australia doesn’t even recognize this part of the country as a state because there are so few people who live here.  Of those who do by far the majority of them live here in Alice Springs or Darwin (1500k north).  The rest are scattered throughout the territory in tiny little settlements.

We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday and will be here for a week.  Our accommodations aren’t exactly what we were expecting.  It’s basically a dorm room.  We were told that it slept 6 and it does.  We should have asked for specifics, it has 3 sets of bunk beds.  Matt and I feel young all over again.  There’s a really small kitchen area which consists of a microwave, sink, mini fridge and a tiny (2’ x 2’) counter.  They also said that we’d have access to internet (the kids are way behind in school – time to catch up); which we do.  They just failed to mention and we didn’t ask if there would be a cost involved.  Turns out it’s $1 for 6 minutes or $10 an hour.  The other problem is that we are right next to a ridge so we can’t use Matt’s cell to hook up.  Bummer!

There are pluses to our lodging – they have a really nice pool that Hannah and I have enjoyed.  It also cools off at night so we can get a break from the heat. 

Before we arrived I had checked and knew there was a branch here so we were excited to go to church today.  We got up early because we knew finding it could be a challenge without access to the internet.  Luckily, the receptionist (from Dresden, Germany)  was very kind and willing to help.  She looked it up for us and even printed out a map. 

We knew that church started at 10:00 but were a little worried about the time – no one seemed to have the correct time.  Our kindles said one time, Matt’s phone said something else and the office even had a third time all different from each other.  It’s a really weird feeling when you don’t know what time it is and no one seems to be able to help you.  Turns out if you look at time schedules for the world – there are two areas that base their time on 30 minute increments instead of hourly like the rest of the world, one is Darwin and the other is Adelaide.  We’re right smack in the middle of these two cities.  Once we adjusted our clocks we were right in line. 

Our biggest fear of being off on the time is that we’d get to church and be late and miss the sacrament.  I have to say that there have only been a few times that I really, really felt like I needed to get to church and this was one of them.  The long, tiring drive followed by the disappointment in our lodging had left all of us a little down.  We needed a boost to help us make it through the week.   Going to church in the Alice Springs Branch did just that. 

We were so excited when we pulled into the church parking lot and there were cars there (at Armidale there was usually the Branch President’s car and maybe one other).  Alice Springs would be considered a large branch, but not big enough to be a ward.  The Branch President, Brother Ford told us that up till 2 years ago there had been 50-60 members but now they averaged about 120 (for one reason or another a lot of people moved to the area over the last couple of years).  Looking around you could see that the majority of members attending were Polynesians. I couldn’t imagine what would bring Polynesians to this hot, dry area.  I asked a sister in Relief Society what people did here for a living.  She told me that many of them worked with the Aborigine people in the area also a handful worked at the military base (American) about 40k north. 

It’s hard to explain how welcome we felt in the branch as well as the rejuvenation that came from being around other Saints.  It was one of those treasured experiences that we can only hope to go home and put into practice with people who come into our lives.  Even the kids commented on how much fun they had had at YM/YW.  It was absolutely wonderful, exactly what we needed. 

One of the nice things about LDS church buildings throughout the world is they have internet service.  Each week when we went to church in Armidale we made sure we took our kindles to update them (for some reason they wouldn’t update at home with our internet but had no problem at church).  When we left this morning we made sure that we took them along.  Last night I prayed that we would be able to solve our internet situation.  The kids had to get caught up but we also couldn’t afford to pay for the internet at the lodge.  After church I approached Pres. Ford and told him we had a bit of a problem we were hoping he could help us with.  We explained our situation, without any hesitation he handed us a key to the church.  He had only met us a few hours earlier, didn’t know us but knew we were brothers and sisters in the gospel.  He told us to feel free to use the church all week and to make sure we turn on the A/C because it was going to be hot.  With one gesture he changed our dismal week into one we are actually looking forward to. I get teary just thinking about how kind that was as well as being grateful as it was an answer to prayer.  We not only have access to the internet but can cook and have a decent place to eat.  We’ll basically be going back to the lodge to sleep, swim and feed the wallabies. (I’ll have pictures tomorrow). 

It’s going to be a great week.  I’m just so grateful to be a member of the church and to feel the love of the members no matter where we are.