A Sheltered Upbringing

You’d never guess I grew up underground

Bethany Mantle, 28, Tweed Heads, NSW. Hopping up onto the rock platform, I ordered my siblings to gather on the stone floor in front of me. “Let’s play church,” I said. At four years old, I loved bossing my older siblings around. As the fourth of eight kids, I lived with my parents, Tim and Robyn, at a church in Coober Pedy, SA. In 1994, my dad had felt the call of God to pastor a church there. Known as the opal capital of the world, the remote outback town had thousands of mines and little vegetation. Our church, like most dwellings in Coober Pedy, was a dugout built underground as a refuge from the scorching heat. The town had a population of less than 3000 consisting mostly of opal…

You're reading a preview of

Take 5 (Digital) - 1 Issue, TAK2509

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.