On Monday, China suffered its worst earthquake in three decades with a 7.9 quake which literally toppled buildings leaving thousands trapped under houses, schools, factories and office buildings or dead. The earthquake was centered in Sichuan Province in southwest China but was felt across the vast country.

There are at least 12,000 known casualties, but some of the worst-hit areas have yet to be contacted. The death toll will likely reach tens of thousands of people, with thousands more injured or homeless. There is a risk of landslides and this, coupled with the fact that a chemical storage plant was damaged and is now leaking dangerous chemicals, makes it all the more urgent for Volunteer Ministers to step forward now to help those who desperately need it and to prevent further damage.

Volunteer Ministers from all over the world must be gotten to the scene NOW, to bring help to those in the worst-affected areas. Not one minute can be wasted – one minute can mean someone’s life. These people are in desperate need. Trained Volunteer Ministers need to answer the call.

We need VMs on flights to the International airport in Chengdu within the next few hours. Contact the Volunteer Ministers International Office.  If you are unable to go yourself, your help is needed to sponsor another Volunteer Minister who can go.

This is u-r-g-e-n-t and we must act now. Please pass this message on to your friends.

Please send this to everyone you know!

OVERVIEW:

On Sunday, Cyclone Nargis hit the nation of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma, a country between India and China) and killed in excess of 25,000 people so far. The original report from the military government of Myanmar was a death toll in the hundreds, but there was a belated admission that the cyclone had killed at least 30 times this figure - with 10,000 perished in just one city. The devastation of the area has left several hundred thousand people without shelter and clean water.

HELP IS NEEDED:

The people of this area need our help urgently. A whole team of Volunteer Ministers need to go to Myanmar to start bringing order and delivering the miracles of Volunteer Minister technology.

We cannot just stand back and watch. The situation requires decisive action NOW. We need responsible Volunteer Ministers to bring hope to these people.

MAP:

See below for a map of Myanmar, as visual reference:

SOMETHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT!

“A volunteer minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”  — LRH

At least 250 people are needed in Myanmar on an immediate basis.  Please contact the Disaster Response Officer at the International VM Office at 1-323-960-1949 or via e-mail or Sei Broadhurst or Donovan Reed at the Continental VM Office in Australia on 011-612-9264-7955.   

If you are not already trained as a Volunteer Minister, we will train you on the ground, or you can learn how to help on one of our on-line training courses, available for no charge on the Volunteer Ministers website.

Any Scientology Field Staff Member should absolutely get anyone he knows who would like to help but doesn’t have the tools to know how, to our on-line VM training center so that he or she can get the tools to be effective and be able to assist.

If you cannot go but still want to help, you can make a donation to directly fund these disaster relief activities and contribute in that way in ensuring others can go.

I was just blog-surfing a friend’s blog (Scientologist John Wood from England) and came across this set of adorable shots from the blog “Rescue of India after Tsunami“.   This is only a few of them, but are shots of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in India helping to clean up after the tsunami, but then get the people back on their feet, the children taken care of and into school, etc.  I felt it pretty touching.

posted by Maelle at 6:02 AM

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technorati tags:scientology, volunteer, ministers, india, tsunami

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Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Glasgow and the Church of Scientology in Edinburgh, Scotland have been on the ground helping organize relief efforts after the train derailment in Cumbria, UK. 

The Glasgow-bound Pendolino tilting train derailed last Friday at 95
mph in a remote country area, scattering carriages down a steep
embankment.

“Investigation of the lock and stretcher bars in the
facing points at Lambrigg crossover showed that one of three stretcher
bars was missing, and bolts that secured the lock bar and another
stretcher bar were not in place,” the report said.

Stretcher bars are bolted across the moving rails, keeping them a fixed distance apart from each other.

Network Rail Chief Executive John Armitt said the company was
“devastated” and accepted full responsibility: “We now need to
understand how the points came to be in this condition — and we will
leave no stone unturned in our search for the facts behind this
derailment.”

It was said there was no evidence that the bolts had been “wrenched
free” and indications were that the points were the immediate cause of
the derailment.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson said he took “his hat off” to Network
Rail for being dignified in accepting responsibility for the accident.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers from neighbouring churches all over northern UK are being activated to come and assist with the effort, to help organize food and provide emergency services. 

References:

• Scientology Today news
• Scientology Volunteer Ministers - in presentation by Mr. David Miscavige
• Church of Scientology in Scotland
• Scientology in the U.K.

technorati tags:scientology, volunteer, Ministers, scotland, edinburg, glasgow

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Simon:
Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet your captain, Captain Oveur.

Clarence Oveur:
Gentlemen, welcome aboard.

Simon:
Captain, your navigator, Mr. Unger, and your first officer, Mr. Dunn.

Clarence Oveur:
Unger.

Unger:
Oveur.

Dunn:
Oveur.

Clarence Oveur:
Dunn. Gentlemen, let’s get to work.

Simon:
Unger, didn’t you serve under Oveur in the Air Force?

Unger:
Not directly. Technically, Dunn was under Oveur and I was under Dunn.

Dunn:
Yep.

Simon:
So, Dunn, you were under Oveur and over Unger.

Unger:
Yep.

Clarence Oveur:
That’s right. Dunn was over Unger and I was over Dunn.

Unger:
So, you see, both Dunn and I were under Oveur, even though I was under Dunn.

Clarence Oveur:
Dunn was over Unger, and I was over Dunn.

—–

Ever have trouble being duplicated?

Scientology is
all about being able to communicate.  A lot of people every day think
they’re communicating, but they’re really just talking, moving their
lips around, not really saying anything that people understand.

Honestly, the single most important thing in any job is the ability to
communicate an interact with others.  If one can’t communicate, he’s
pretty dead — no matter what technical knowledge he might have about
his job.  I’ve been to a trillion different job training classes,
seminars, read a ton of books, etc — but the single most important
skill I’d say I have in my job is the ability to communicate.  And that’s something I learned at a Scientology church (in Portland, Oregon, actually — right down the street from where I worked at WebTrends.)

I would heavily recommend that anyone, regardless of your religion, study up on L. Ron Hubbard’s technology of communication — something taught by any Scientology Volunteer minister training centre or Goodwill Tour.  You can do this on the Scientology Handbook website, or you can just order the full book at the Scientology Volunteer Minister site.

References:

• IMDB Movie Quotes database for Airplane II
• Scientology Religion
• This is Scientology - David Miscavige

technorati tags:scientology, communication, duplication, volunteer ministers

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Here’s an outstanding photo I just came across on Thorsten Overgaard’s After the Tsunami site, detailing the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004.

Mr. Jagdish Singh from Kolkata reading Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard at the Kolkata Book Fair.

Mr. Overgaard is an outstanding photographer, IMHO.  His site has a ton of other good works of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers of the area.

As he posted on his site,

“They appreciated our help - many people we met on the streets stopped
us to thank us for being there and for our efforts - but they resent
western, often materialistic, people coming to their country and try to
run things, tell them to change their religion, eat pills to be happier
about the tsunami, paint their houses in some trendy colors and what
have you. What they wanted was help and support to help themselves come
back to the life they have been living for thousands of years in
harmony with nature and their soul.”

The Scientology religion doesn’t espouse any particular explanation
or description of God. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhist or anybody
are welcome to use Scientology to become better Muslims, Jews or
whatever. The purpose for going to Sri Lanka was to help: Therefore the
word “minister” and the Scientology cross were omitted on the shirts
worn by the volunteers working in Sri Lanka to avoid any confusion as
to what their intentions were.

Numerous people and
organizations have helped and are still helping in Asia. In Sri Lanka
for example 2,500 US Marines cleared roads and rebuilt bridges for two
months. I saw UN cars in Colombo and Galle and US AID t-shirts on 100
locals who were cleaning up bricks in Galle.

Ironically,
one also occasionally sees a full blown, Madison Avenue advertising
film crew replete with klieg lights, Panavision movie camaras,
directors chairs, assistants, and French chefs working the catering
wagon while dozens of people are standing around wearing sunglasses –
right next door to acres of tents packed with tsunami survivors. Let’s
hope the commercial being filmed raises lots of aid money.

Help come in many forms.

One
of my reasons for going was, as I said, to help in any way I could. But
I also wanted to learn for myself what was really going on. On one hand
the Red Cross announced that they didn’t need more people in the
affected areas. Yet the Scientology Volunteers on the ground reported
that they could use all the help that could get there. Contrary
information that just didn’t add up. I wanted to find out what was
going on for myself and I wanted to let others know. I wanted to
document and report things as they were - especially the good things,
because the bad things had been reported so extensively, we all felt we
could be hit by a tsunami any moment.

References:

• Scientology Volunteer Ministers
• About the Scientology Volunteer Ministers - Mr. David Miscavige
• Scientology Religious Beliefs

technorati tags:scientology, dianetics, calcutta, kolkata

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Honoring the courage of the Indian people in their fight for
independence, in commemoration of the Republic of India Day, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers of West Bengal held a celebration for children in the slums of Kolkata.

Teaching the children of Kolkata the importance of responsible participation in one’s country, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers of West Bengal hold a flag raising ceremony on the Republic of India Day.

Though India was awarded independence on the
15th of August 1947, it was not till the 26th of January 1950 that the
country actually achieved its status as a sovereign republic.

And with their work to bring personal
independence to each child in the slums of Kolkata, by seeing to it
that they have the opportunity for education, the VMs made this a
special day for the youngsters at their center, with a flag raising
ceremony, sports and a special meal for the children.

In 1978, observing a marked deterioration of ethics and values in society, L. Ron Hubbard launched the Volunteer Ministers program with the publication of The Volunteer Minister’s Handbook (now titled The Scientology Handbook).
A textbook that includes the various solutions he had developed in
answer to the wide range of human difficulties, the tools it contains
are derived from his deeper research into the spiritual nature of man
that comprise the Scientology religion. Having these simple but
effective solutions that apply to so many different aspects of life,
Scientology Volunteer Ministers live by the motto that no matter how
bad it is, “something CAN be done about it.”

Created by humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard in 1978, the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers is “Something CAN be Done About It.”

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program visit their web site at www.volunteerministers.org.

technorati tags:scientology, west, bengal, volunteer, ministers, goodwill tour, kolkata, calcutta

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From ScientologyToday.org:

“If you can’t trust yourself, you will never make it out of the
revolving door of the prison system.” That’s the message of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, working to rehabilitate the self-esteem of inmates in the jails of Taiwan.

Not only is rising recidivism straining the
resources of the correctional system of the nation, it also victimizes
the community with escalating crime and represents a dead-end existence
for the criminal and his or her family and friends.

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion,
described the key to resolving this problem when he wrote, “If one
sincerely hopes to rehabilitate a criminal population then this is the
factor one must consider: ‘Where did they lose their self-respect?’”

The VMs have found that often what
underlies this lack of self-esteem is an inability to communicate.
Incapable of relating to people or dealing with conflicts or
disagreements, they resort to actions that disregard the needs and
wishes of those around them and start on a dwindling spiral that
eventually winds them up behind bars.

The VMs deliver workshops using the Scientology Handbook
based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. They cover such subjects as
ethics and integrity, communication and how to understand people. They
get the inmates involved through practical exercises that increase
their skill in dealing with others. And it is not unusual for those
attending to gain new insight, like a recent participant who realized,
“I thought I could just operate with my own interests in mind. Now I
see I survive better if I help others survive too.”

For more information on the Scientology Handbook and to read selections from the book online, visit www.scientologyhandbook.org

technorati tags:scientology, volunteer, ministers, taiwan

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I actually had the extreme good fortune to meet Mr. Ullah (the main Volunteer Minister described below) when he came to the U.S. to get his recent award for the service he’s done in Calcutta.   He’s an incredible man who just brightens up when you talk about children — he loves children, and making them do well.  So, this ScientologyToday story had particular meaning for me when I read it:

Life can be pretty grim for a child in the slums of Kolkata. But, with the Scientology Handbook
and their motto “Something CAN be done about it,” the Scientology
Volunteer Ministers of West Bengal are working with other community
groups and agencies to see that these children have the care they need.

In the slums of Kolkata, where the spread of disease puts the children at risk, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Center of West Bengal teams up with health care providers to help youngsters get free, basic medical care.

This city is a breeding ground for childhood
diseases, and epidemics tear through the slums where children whose
immune systems are weakened by malnutrition are much more prone to
illness. All too often, parents can’t afford medical treatment for
their children, even at the low-cost hospitals in the area. So the VMs
team up with health care professionals to make free health check ups
and medicine available to these youngsters at the Volunteer Ministers
Center.

But health and well-being depends on a lot more than medicine. And with their knowledge of Scientology technology,
the Volunteer Ministers make sure to supplement the work of the health
professionals with their own special kind of “spiritual first aid.”

Following their checkups, Mohammad Kallil Ullah helps these youngsters with “spiritual first aid” in the form of a “locational assist,” to extrovert their attention.

As described in the Scientology Handbook:

“People sometimes get hurt in the
business of living. The human body is subject to disease, injuries and
various mishaps of accidental or intentional character.

“Throughout the ages, religions
have attempted to relieve man’s physical suffering. Methods have ranged
from prayer to the laying on of hands, and many superstitions arose to
account for their occasional effectiveness. It has been a commonly held
belief, however, no matter the method used, that the spirit can have an
effect on the body.

“Today, medicine treats the body
when there is something wrong with it. But it overlooks almost totally
the relationship of the spiritual being to his body and the effect the
former has on the latter.”

The handbook goes on to state:

“L. Ron Hubbard
developed numerous applications of his discoveries for the mental and
spiritual aspects of a person’s physical difficulties. And as more and
more techniques evolved, a new body of technology came into use, called
“Assists.*”

So, following their checkups, these
youngsters all get a “locational assist” - a procedure that helps the
individual free up his or her attention when it has become fixated
because of trauma, loss or injury.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers of West Bengal exemplify the qualities described by L. Ron Hubbard in his essay, Religious Influence on Society:
“A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and
injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things
and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as
well.”

*Assists: Developed by L. Ron Hubbard,
founder of the Scientology religion, assists can be used by anyone to
help people who are ill, distraught or injured. Assists do not take the
place of medical attention but aid it by addressing the emotional and
spiritual side of the trauma.

technorati tags:hubbard, volunteer ministers, calcutta, kolkata, scientology

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This, from ScientologyToday.org:

After almost a year and a half of service to the people of Botswana,
stationed primarily in Gaborone, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers
(VMs) say their farewells. Rounding out the first leg of their Southern
Africa tour, they are proceeding now to Namibia. As they depart, they
are happy to know that they were able to truly help and leave behind
new VM groups of trained local residents in nine different locations,
who will carry their legacy of help forward to the rest of Botswana.

A Volunteer Minister delivers a communication course to the Botswana Defense Force.

Botswana could not be a more perfect place for
the launch of this tour. Until 2001 it suffered from one of the highest
AIDS rates world over and, while this is now dropping, it is still
strangling the prosperity of the nation. AIDS leads to further problems
such as the 6.4 million children orphaned by AIDS in subsarah Africa,
which accounts for more than half of the 12 million orphaned children
world-wide and leads to poverty and economic strife.

But as Philippa Sondergaard, one of the
VMs on this tour, told BOPA News in July 2005, when the tour first
arrived, “we do not close our eyes to the pain and suffering that is
around,” further elaborating that “our motto is ‘Something can be done
about it.’”

Her words ring true when one considers
the 41,300 people who have been contacted through this programme with
over 4,500 trained on VM courses based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard,
the founder of Scientology. The courses cover subjects such as how to
study, improving marriages, dealing with the ups and downs of life and
much more.

Those trained on these VM courses
include teachers, police, pastors, business owners and their employees,
students and others from all walks of life including hundreds of
officers of the Botswana Defense Force trained in Scientology
techniques.

VMs bring real help by addressing the spiritual aspect of the problems in one’s life.

One young lady from Block 8 of Gaborone
discovered the healing powers of the VMs when her eight-year-old
brother had lapsed into an uncharacteristic aggressive and unwilling
state after his twin brother passed away. Increasingly alarmed by his
refusal to eat she went for help and found the VMs. Through her
training in the VM programme she was able to relieve his pain and
upset, thereby, restoring her brother to a happy and healthy state.

Others have discovered the help that VMs
give, such as the two schools in Mochudi where L. Ron Hubbard’s study
technology was taught or the three local Pastors who took VM classes
and now use the technology to help their congregations. In the
Broadhurst suburb of Gaborone the VMs taught Scientology communication
skills to the employees of the CB clothing store and the Woolworths
Clothing and Home store.

Internationally the Scientology
Volunteer Minister Corps is 87,000 strong and is the largest
independent relief force on Earth with over 1.6 million people
personally helped. Find out more at www.VolunteerMinisters.org. If you want to be trained as a VM in Botswana contact Janie at VM_africaoffice@VolunteerMinisters.org and she will direct you to our training centre.

• Scientology Volunteer Ministers
• Scientology VM Training
• The Scientology VM Textbook
• Scientology Volunteer Ministers (speech in 2004 by Mr. David Miscavige)
  

technorati tags:scientology, botswana, volunteer, ministers, goodwill tour

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