Six baptisms – and a surprise visitor
During a Holy Communion service in early February, six baptisms took place. These were the first baptisms for a long time at Nturiya (Ti-Tree Outstation), a small community 200 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
Nturiya is located in the Anmatyerr language area, which has not had a Finke River Mission (FRM) support worker for a number of years. Yet the local communities are still faithful; they want to worship in the Lutheran church whenever a pastor visits.
It is not unusual for dogs to visit the fringes of the worship space in Aboriginal communities, but it is not often that you see a pig come visiting. On the occasion of the six baptisms, Jodie the pig came along to watch, but it wasn’t too long before she was sent home for being too disruptive!
Another four baptisms took place in April.
On top of all these baptisms, the people of the Anmatyerr communities have another reason to be excited. They recently saw the launch of a Mini-Bible in their own language (see story on page 3). Now they can hear the gospel in their heart language!
Robin Zadow is the pastor of the Alice Springs Lutheran Church and an FRM Board member.
