It has been a while since my last post...not that lots of things haven't been blog worthy...it's just that we have been busy with all those things. 

      In the last few days something has been happening in our neighborhood that I could not postpone blogging any longer. Below you will find the photos and story about our latest Indonesian adventure.

     This past Wednesday was just like any other Wednesday.  Wednesdays are Rich's and my Sabbath. We usually stay in the house and just rest. All of our friends and Indonesian kids know the "Do Not Disturb" sign is out for that day and our gate stays locked. That's why, when we got a call from our friend, Pak Masrin, we knew something must be very important. with an urgent tone to his voice, Masrin said "Don't go outside! Lock your doors and stay inside!" He then went on to explain...
    " I am trying to get to your house to guard you. There has been a killing in your neighborhood and your neighbors are rioting.

 The police won't let me through."
     Rich and I had been resting, watching tv and apparently oblivious to the chaos going on just outside our gate for the last hour or so. Rich walked out and and peeked over the gate and saw lots of people running around in the street, and police directing traffic and turning vehicles around in front of our house so they could not go through. For the rest of the night we were on high alert. The sounds coming from over our 9 foot tall fence were loud, angry, mob like, "let's go get them" sounds.

 Finally, a little after 12 midnight, God sent a heavy rain that cooled things off temperature wise as well as emotionally. Most people left and went back to their homes. Through all this we felt safe and peaceful. It was closer to 2 before Rich and I were able to drift off to an ever alert sleep.Waking at the littlest noises just to go look over the fence to see what was happening.
    In the morning we looked out and there were police EVERYWHERE.We found out that a 16 year old Muslim boy was killed by 4 Hindus because he rode his motorcycle too fast through the streets of the neighborhood. Many people said alcohol was involved. The Muslim community took revenge on the Hindu neighborhood and burned and destroyed several homes. Every one was standing around talking about this tragedy throughout the next day. Other than that, life looked to be going on normal as any other day. For the most of the day every thing was quiet, peaceful, and uneventful. Even to the point that most of the police left our area and just concentrated on the Hindu area a hundred meters down the street.
    Rich and I were looking forward to a peaceful night of sleep and was preparing for bed around 11:30 when, all of a sudden, we heard repeated screaming from the speakers of the mosque "Allah Akbar" (God is Great) This is the cry of Holy war for the Muslims. Then the chaos began again, hundreds of people pouring into the street in front of our gate, stirring each others emotions up. After a while it sounded as if they were settling down so Rich and I decided to try to get some rest. What we didn't realize is the mob had went down the street to the Hindu area to take more revenge. Around 1am, not 5 minutes after our heads hit the pillow, we heard burst of gunshots, more blood curdling screams of "Allah Akbar" from the mosque and more gunfire with a final "boom". Rich went out, once again to look over the gate, and smelled tear gas. Through all this, we felt safe and peaceful.

We found out the next morning that the Muslims had once again tried to attack the Hindus. The mob had ran with sword, sticks, knives and rocks to the area and was met by the army and police who in return started shooting rubber bullets, bean bag bullets and tear gas into the crowd.
     Things once again started to settle down around 2am. Once again, we tried to rest while remaining alert. (You know the phrase 'sleeping with one eye open'? Well we were 'sleeping with one EAR open'.)
    The next morning, lo and behold, we looked out the gate and everything seemed to be normal. Women were walking to the market, motorcycle taxis were waiting at the corner and Ibu Ros was selling her bags of breakfast rice in front of her little store in front of our gate.
    Later that day (Friday, the Holy day for the Muslims) the village leaders, the mayor of our Indonesian province and the police chief for our island all spoke against the violence and demanded the riots to stop for the sake of each individual, the community, the island, and Indonesia as a nation. ( What is ironic is if you were not in the immediate area of our neighborhood, you would not have known anything out of the ordinary was going on.)
    The government decided to show they meant business...The community was warned and then more army troops were dropped in front of our home. As you can see from the photo above...We could not have been more protected with all those guns and smiling faces eager to help.
   Last night we got a full uninterrupted nights sleep. Thank you God for your Peace.
     What I learned from all of this is ...No matter where we live there is evil...whether it is in Connecticut or a small island on the other side of the world in Indonesia....What we must remember is that no matter where we are GOD is there and we can have peace and rest in HIS mighty hand and can feel safe in the middle of a war..... Ephesians 6:12...For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.