“Eric and Noni Thomas: 100 Percenters!” Ensign, Apr. 1989, 69
Eric and Noni Thomas: 100 Percenters!
At Christmas Creek, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia, members of the Church enjoy 100 percent attendance at sacrament meeting and Sunday School. A New Zealand couple, Eric and Noni Thomas, the only members of the Church for hundreds of miles, dress in their Sunday best and hold sacrament meeting in one room of their house. Then they move to another room for Sunday School, where they discuss, read, and mark scriptures they have studied during the week.
Brother and Sister Thomas are teaching in an Aboriginal secondary school. They and the two local elementary school teachers constitute the entire non-Aboriginal population in their community.
With no television or radio, except shortwave in just-right conditions, entertainment for the Thomases comes in the form of exploring in their four-wheel-drive vehicle—sightseeing, prospecting for gold, and fishing. They also watch Church videotapes supplied by the Australia Perth Mission, of which they are a part.
Electricity for refrigerators and air conditioners, supplied by the community powerhouse, makes life bearable in Christmas Creek, where temperatures often reach 124 degrees Fahrenheit. The Thomases cook with gas from cylinders, purchased along with fresh vegetables and fruits at Fitzroy Crossing, 60 miles away. About every six to eight weeks, they make the trip to Derby, a city about 250 miles away, for groceries.
“Unwavering knowledge of who we are and of the plan of salvation gives real purpose to our work in one of the truly remote areas of the world,” say the Thomases. These 100 percenters enjoy doing everything together. They know it will last an eternity.