A CHRISTIAN ISLAND IN A MOSLEM OCEAN
Dili, Timor-Leste. East of Bali, west of New Guinea, and north of Australia is an island called Timor. The western half belongs to Indonesia. The eastern half did too, but no longer. There are only two Christian countries in all of Asia. One is the Philippines. The other is here, the new nation, independent since 2002 after a horrific struggle, of Timor-Leste or East Timor.
You might wonder how this place became Christian surrounded by the world's largest Moslem country - Indonesia. There are over 200 million Moslems in Indonesia which is almost three times the size of Texas, and only 1 million East Timorese on half an island the size of Connecticut. But it turns out that Christianity came to this part of the world before Islam.
The Timorese had to suffer unimaginable horrors to achieve their sovereign Christian freedom. It's a heroic saga and ought to be inspirational for us. Here is their story.