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Compass Direct News reports that two churches in the greater Jakarta area have received bomb threats. In East Jakarta, the pastor of a Batak Protestant Christian Church received a threatening phone call before Sunday services on Oct. 4. The church building is located near the headquarters of an elite police corps. The unknown caller to the Rev. Abidan Simanungkalit's cell phone said the bomb would explode during the morning worship service. The pastor immediately called police, who discovered a fake bomb hidden in the back of the church. In the north of Jakarta, a church leader of a BethelIndonesia congregation received a similar threat the previous day, Oct. 3. Police did not find any explosives during their search. Officers speculated that the caller was unable to construct a real bomb but wanted to publicize a threat.
Mission News Network reports that as typhoon victims recover from last week's storm, they must face a devastated harvest. According to Debbie Toribio with Food For The Hungry, the typhoon "devastated our agriculture. The province that was hit by the second typhoon is our rice granary. It's really bad because there will be a rice shortage." The group has mobilized partner churches to clean up the affected areas and aid injured victims, and is bringing in short-term supplies. Long-term needs will be harder to meet. "Most of the people are still needing food and other non-food items," Toribio said. "Some areas are still flooded up to the waist-level. Many people could not really work, and the spread of disease is starting."
