Sacrifice

Here is an article, translated to English, about a local animal sacrifice that occured at the airport we are based at.


“Prayer and Recitations while Burying Cow’s Head”
From the 21 October 2006 edition of the Radar Tarakan

The accident involving the Mandala Airlines jet skidding off the runway along with a series of other incidents at Juwata Airport has become the special focus of the government and community of Tarakan. This series of incidents can be attributed to scientific things like technological factors or the effects of nature. However, on the other side, spiritual reason can play a role as well.

At precisely 8:00 am on Friday, in the international waiting room, the head of Juwata Aiport in Tarakan, H. Husni Djau, along with his staff performed “Istiqosah” as well as the chanting of the Islamic confession of faith. Also in attendance were prominent religious and community figures like H. Anas who led the istiqasah prayer for the safety of flights to and from the airport. The head of the Council of Islamic Scholars of Tarakan, KH Zainuddin Dalila, and Islamic teachers Sofyan and H Wahab were also amongst those in attendance.

Deeply absorbed in prayer as he read from a white piece of paper with the prayer for safety written on it, H Anas prayed that Juwata Airport would be able to avoid all types of danger so that all passengers would be able to arrive and depart safely. This act of prayer along with Islamic recitations and a speech took place over the course of an hour.

“Hopefully, with this activity all flight operators and workers at the airport will be granted safety so that they can perform their work well, and passengers that arrive will feel safe and the airport will be far removed from danger.” Said H Husni, head of the airport, while giving welcoming remarks following the ceremony.

Around 9:00 am, following the religious ceremony, Husni asked all members in attendance to observe the process of slaughtering a cow as part of the ceremony known as “Tolak Bala”. The intent of the ceremony is to ward off misfortune by appeasing spirits. In this case, according to stories, there are spirits of soldiers from previous ages that can be appeased.

There are certainly a number of individuals who attribure this recent series of incidents to spiritual causes. This sacrifice was done so that the spirits that reside in the area of the airport won’t feel bothered by the various activities taking place at the airport including the current construction project taking place.

The offering was led by a member of the surrounding community. Also in attendance during the ceremony, which took place outside the far end of the passenger terminal, was the “vice” mayor who luckily happenned to be on hand for an inspection at the airport.

“According to stories, years ago this location was part of a defensive military fortification, so it is thought that a lot of soldier’s spirits are still here, and were neglected until we took part in this ceremony. Hopefully after what we have done today these spirits will be taken care of so that they no longer bother the activities going on here at the airport” said Husni.

After the offering, the cow’s head and blood, which was collected in a bucket, were buried at the end of the runway. However, at the moment the head and blood were to be buried a reavy rain fell on the area around the airport. Luckily the attendees were using a bus for transportation. The cow’s head and fresh blood were buried in a grave-shaped hole more than 2 meters deep. Strangley, while the burial was taking place the heavy rain fell only at the end of the runway. In the terminal area passengers could only feel a few drops falling. Other areas around the airport didn’t have rain at all. (translator’s note: Thanks Lord!!!!)

“The burial at the end of the runway took place so that while airplanes are landing, there won’t be anything around anymore to bother them”, clarified Husni.

The burial of the cow’s head and blood was led by the “vice” mayor of Tarakan H Tahmrin AD SH assisted by Zainuddin Dalila and Husni Djau.

“Some of the meat will be given to the community surrounding the airport and some will be cooked and given to the orphanage,” said Husni.

For the safety of future activities at the airport, prayer and Islamic recitations will take place routinly every year in the international waiting room with Islamic leaders and other notable religious figures from Tarakan being in attendance.

Smoke

I guess I’m setting the record for the longest time that it takes to get my flight check out finished. There have been so many things that were out of our control. First the lack of fuel, then the instructor pilot had to leave the country for a three week seminar, now it’s a giant cloud of smoke.

This smoke has completely shut down MAF’s flying for about two weeks now. This smoke stretches from Sumatra to Sulewesi. This smoke is due to fields being burned off for farming in Central Kalimantan.

So what am I doing in the mean time? Well, I helped weigh and balance all the airplanes, and then last week I was put in charge of a project to build a loft in our hangar. This loft will be used to store spare parts and equipment for our aircraft.

Please pray that the smoke will clear soon.

Latest on Evi

Evi continues to make progress everyday. It’s great to see her smiling, talking, and laughing again. She seems to be doing better with taking her medicine, combing her hair, and getting dressed. Yesterday we got some great news. Evi’s doctors allowed us to bring her home on pass till Friday morning! We are very excited to have a break from the hospital and spend time together as a family. Evi was allowed to come home in hopes that she will eat better here than in the hospital. Her appetite has been very poor, and her nutrition levels low. Things were further complicated when Evi pulled out the central line in her chest on Sunday. Without the central line Evi cannot receive the nutritional supplements. Please pray that Evi will do well here at home, especially with eating. If she doesn’t’ lose anymore weight over the next few days and her nutrition labs look okay on Friday, we may be able to bring her home to stay. But if things don’t improve, she will have to return to the hospital for a while longer and the OR to have another central line put in.



Here are some specific prayers and praises:

Praise that Evi was allowed to come home for a while
Praise for a vehicle (A member of Parks Cities Baptist Church is allowing us to borrow a vehicle while we’re in the States)
Praise for Parks Cities Baptist Church who has provided housing, meals, and lots of loving support
Pray for Evi’s nutrition and that she will eat well. We are really hoping we don’t have to return to the hospital.
Pray for Evi’s skin graft (still looks like she will need some additional skin graft procedures. We are praying that this will not be necessary)
Prayer as Leslie and I change Evi’s dressing every day and as Evi observes her leg and missing foot while we do this.
Pray that Evi will be able to sleep better at night. She seems to wake up almost every hour crying.
Pray that Evi will meet her physical therapy goals by learning to move around on her own. She needs to be able to pull herself to a stand, hop around while holding on to furniture, and possibly crawl or scoot on her bottom. The therapist believes she is physically capable of each of these tasks, but Evi is understandably scared to attempt any of these things. That means that PT sessions (no matter how fun we make them) usually turn into screaming sessions. Pray that God would give Evi courage and comfort.


Thank you to all of you for your prayers, gift and financial support. You have truly been a blessing to us during the last month and a half. Here is our contact information for us at the church. We will be here at least through the 23rd .