Shad and Sarah Deal Making Him known in Indonesia 
This last week of living with our Indonesian friends, Ronny and Yanti, has been filled with many good memories. Although our week was cut short by sickness (turns out I have a case of anmeia!) and we were forced to return home for a few nights, we still had plenty of opportunities to experience Javanese culture to its fullest!
One evening in particular was memorable for me this week. Braden has really made himself at home in our “new neighborhood,” wandering freely in and out of houses, borrowing toys, and eating such Indonesian specialities as boiled pig stomach on a stick. This particular evening, Braden was playing inside the house next door with his friend Dias.
Dias’s mom, Suyanti, and his grandmother, as well as almost every other family in this village, spend their days and nights making and selling krupuk karak, a thin rice cake that is dried in the sun then fried. This livelihood is far from easy, and the laborer is definitely worthy of the ten or fifteen dollars he/she makes for their family in a day!! The process goes something like this: First, the raw rice is ground up and formed into soft, square blocks. Then each block is sliced into a hundred or so thin slices using a sharp knife. The slices are then laid out in a single layer on big wooden racks and set out in the sun to dry. The drying process can take anywhere from one to three days, depending on the intensity of the sun and, of course, if it rains. After the krupuk are done drying, they are taken off the racks and put into big baskets, which are brought into a side room of the house. The dried krupuk are fried in hot oil maybe five or six at a time and take only seconds to reach desired crispness. The finished krupuk are placed in another basket and wait to be loaded up to sell at the pasar, or market. In order to maximize space and ensure that all the krupuk can be transported by one woman to the pasar, the krupuk are stacked and neatly packed into yet another basket lined with plastic. The following morning, another woman loads the filled basket on her back, heads down the trail to the road, and rides to the pasar on the back of a motorcycle. 
So, on this particular night at Dias’s house, I was able to help in the packing process! It took almost an hour for three of us to stack and arrange the estimated 1,000 krupuk (they admit they’ve never counted!!) into a neat stack about four feet high. As I laughed and shared this fun evening with Suyanti and Yanti, joining them in what, for them, was very routine work, I thanked the Lord for another opportunity to get a glimpse into their world.
We continue to be referred to by many as saudara, which means family. What a blessing it has been to live and play and work side by side with these fascinating people! Please keep praying that the bonds we are forming with our friends would open up doors for the gospel in this small community.
