Day 7 In the Field - Yogyakarta, Indonesia (July 8th ,2006)

Day 7 (On-Site in Earthquake Zone, Central Java Indonesia) -

Back on track and back on an early schedule. We are headed off to a village in the hills south of Bantul and closer to the Indian Ocean area (south coast of Central Java). The name of the village is Kali-Dada. We are scouting out the village for needs and to speak with the village Duku (Senior Elder) to talk about possible husbandry opportunities for his village to bring in supplemental income for those that cannot make enough of a living for their families since they live so far out of the city. We are greeted as we are everywhere we go, pleasant smiles and warm greetings from all we come in contact with.





After speaking and having tea with the leader "Pak" tells me there is a cave up in the village and that he wants to go explore for a bit, there is a guide from the village that can take us up there and it would be good to honor it with a visit since the village is proud of it. Well ,who am I to turn down spelunking ??? So, off we went with the guide up 500 or so feet of cliffside until we reached the cave entrance. We had no flashlights with the exception of the one little pen light I had from Cabela's that I brought with me for a "just in case" reason. well, here it was the "just in case" time to use it.

Not until about 1/4 of a mile back into the cave did 'Pak" and I realize it probably wasn't the smartest decision we had every made...lets see why -- well 1) This place just had a devastating earthquake 2) another Aftershock hit us this am while we were driving down to this village and 3) Is a cave the safest place to be in weaist high water surrounded by mega tons of rock?. Well despite those thoughts and the feeling of walls closing in around us we forged ahead knowing God was in control. We reached an area where we could have continued to go all the way through to the other side of the mountain, but decided to turn around and head back instead. God's grace was sufficient for us and we were not about to push the envelope anymore!

After leaving the cave and heading back down the mountain "Pak" decided we should cover a few more remote villages on our afternoon work and see what supplies / aid we in apparent need. Several villages were no different than before, most needing clean water, tarps and blankets/mats. "Pak" took quantities down and we returned in the late evening again tired but fulfilled with God's provision for the day.