Alice Springs

Engawala? Have you heard this name before? In Aboriginal language, Engawala is also known as Intiarntwa. It is a small community of about 150 people located 200 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.

People at Engawala felt the calm presence of the Holy Spirit over the community knowing that the Finke River Mission bush camp was close by.

Ladies from the Alice Springs and Hermannsburg Lutheran churches shared their history and knowledge with Yirara College staff during professional development sessions earlier this year.

Lost and found – this was the theme of the Finke River Mission women’s Bible Study camp, held this year at the Mission Block in Alice Springs.

Wilbur and Monika Klein normally live and work at Tjuntjuntjara, 660km east of Kalgoorlie WA. They decided to use their long service leave volunteering with FRM for the first six months of 2015.

Lutheran Community Care worker Wendy-Lea Lechleitner has deep roots in the Lutheran Church so when a position came up for a Money Worker on the ‘Mission Block’, she jumped at the chance.

At Hermannsburg the song ‘Kumbayah’ was sung in fifteen different languages at the same time. Eleven of those languages came from the hearts of the multi-Grammy award winning Soweto Gospel Choir.

Over forty interstate visitors with connections to Finke River Mission joined locals to celebrate over 75 years of God’s work on the Alice Springs Mission Block.

In 2009 Lutheran Community Care was invited to work with Finke River Mission to respond to the needs of the local community. They set up on ‘the Block’ in Alice Springs five years ago.

Pastor Simon Dixon ministers to residents of the town camps, scattered in and around Alice Springs. He prays for the sick in hospital, renal, aged care and alcohol rehabilitation centres.