Indonesia is a predominately Muslim country. There are five national religions: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christian, and Confucianism. Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world. This is the first time I have been in a predominately Muslim country. Five times a day I hear the Muslim call to prayer throughout the island on loudspeakers. It is very loud and goes on for close to 10 minutes. It is a reminder that even though I am teaching in a Christian school, this really is a Muslim country. It is normal for me to see women with their heads covered with a scarf and wearing long sleeves and long pants in sweltering heat. It appears that this is not a strict Muslim area. I have seen women out without a man and teenage Muslim girls and guys on dates. Christianity is an accepted religion as long as you stay within your churches and Christian community. It is not acceptable to evangelize to Muslims. The school we are teaching at does accept students of all religions and the parents have to sign a waiver that states that the school will teach about Jesus to their child. That really amazes me that there are many students from Muslim families that attend the school. The school has bible lessons and prayer regularly throughout their day. 
This past Thursday Team Bling was able to visit a Muslim Mosque. We have gotten to know a missionary couple, David and Jules, who have been in Indonesia for round 30 years. They have been educating us about Islam in Indonesia. They were able to take us into a Mosque. We had to make sure our arms and legs were covered and a shirt long enough to cover our rear ends. We did not have to cover our heads because we are not Muslim and were not going to worship or pray.
I wish I could truly describe what I was feeling as I was standing in the worship/prayer room. It is a huge open room with tile floors and no pictures or images on the walls. This is not allowed in Islam. The room was beautiful with all its decorative carvings and stain glass windows. The men line up in the front of the room and kneel and the women are in the back. There are no chairs. Standing there I was shaking. I was watching a woman begin her prayers, but first she had to cover herself with a large white scarf. She already had her head covered but that was still not enough. It broke my heart to know the bondage this woman was in. There is so much ritual that has been done just right or you have to start over or your prayers don’t count. It is all about earning your salvation, your blessings from Allah. There is no such thing as freedom and forgiveness.
It was hard to know that Muslims do this five times a day. I am reminded every time hear the call on the loudspeaker. There is still no guarantee that they will get to Heaven. It was hard to be in the Mosque. I am glad that I got the opportunity to witness Islam in its place of worship. This month has given me some glimpses into a religion that I have only read about in books, but had never truly got to witness until now.
We are leaving Indonesia today (May 24th) to head to Malaysia for a couple of days. Our contact Angela is going to show us around Malaysia and maybe even a day trip to Singapore. Then on the 27th we head back to Bangkok for debrief.
