Dearly Beloved in Christ,
We Are Alive. Praise Him.
It is customary for me in the last 30 years to travel through the night and work through the day, though the path is a jungle area with all the snakes and the jungle animals and the Naxalites.
On the 27th I was returning from Chennai to Malkangiri via the jungle path as this saves me one full day than the regular Bus route. This time I had no peace of mind to drive through the Naxalite infested jungle are in the middle of the night so night halted at Badrachalam hoping to get a good sleep. But at 3:15 AM there was a police raid in the hotel where we were staying and I could not go to sleep again and so started to pray and then got ready around 8 AM. After about travelling for about 2 hours we were in the jungle area stopped by the Naxalites. I was frightened, started to pray and the Naxalite looked inside the jeep said nothing and let us pass.
After about an hour of travel, while nearing Konta we saw a huge crowd of over 100 people with weapons and rods in their hands standing across the road. Suddenly some ran toward our jeep and pulled open the door and were forcing me to get down. Our missionary Sopan who was driving the jeep, tried to move to the side of the road, took a sudden fast left turn into the jungle area and started to drive very fast in the jungle area and tried to go back to the road to take another route but the mob chased us on bikes and a jeep for about 10 minutes and caught us and forced open the door and we got down. They were mad and said that we disobeyed them and there has been a bomb blast and many killed. We knew they wanted our jeep for their use. They said we need to go back to the place where we were stopped to the huge crowd area. We had no options and so went back and here they forced us out and started to break the jeep and broke the rear window completely and when Sopan prevented this they started to beat him. I started to cry and shout and embraced Sopan from getting the beating shouting that Sopan is my staff and they should beat me before touching him. They pulled me off him and made me and Sopan's wife and 2 children and kept us in a hut and drove away with Sopan. This frightened me, and I went in the way the jeep went to look for Sopan. The mob kept shouting at me saying that they are going to kill me, But I kept crying and walking in search of the jeep. Fortunately I met 2 IMS missionaries of Konta area, Mr. Sebastian and Dr Xavier and they told me hurriedly that this is the mob that was to have gone in search of the Naxalites and to hold a rally to plan as to how to capture the naxlites and so the Naxalite bombed their trucks killed 26 of them and took around 250 people as hostages into the jungle and so the mob is angry and needed vehicles for their movements. After about an hour there was some calm, though the women in the village were crying and shouting at the loss of their family members. Finally we found the jeep near a police station with Sopan who was not harmed. Praise God.
After 3 hours when the road was cleared we left for Malkangiri driving through the jungle again and reached Malkangiri around 9 15 PM.
I did not lose my handbag, my mobile, computer and my passport. All our things were there as I had left them in the jeep. Praise God.
The mob was still shouting when we were leaving. This has been a very frightening experience, BUT I see the hand of God in preventing me from travelling through the night as then we would have landed in the area in the night when the Naxalites were setting the bombs in the middle of the road and we would have been sure dead by now. The Hand of the Lord protected us and we are safe in Malkangiri.
I have to travel again in 2 days taking the FC papers to Chennai to consult with Mr. Kandasami. I will appreciate your prayers. Though now I will take the 3 day long route to Chennai, still there is a jungle area which I will pass during the day time. Any way the Bomb blast by the Naxalite was around 10 AM in board daylight. So I will appreciate your prayers for protection for all of us we continue to work here.
Please remember that our missionaries Dilip Bhag, Niranjan and his wife Prabhati stay in Rabaguda to work, which is a Naxalite infested jungle area.
We NEED your prayers.
We are all alive by His grace Praise Him.
Iris