This is Joel's Old Blog

Corrie Ten Boom

Last year when we were  living in Asia, we sent out a request for teaching tapes, music, etc.  Someone sent a sermon by Corrie Ten Boom when she was 80 years young.   Today, we listened to it at our own house church we do weekly in our home - Who ever said a woman can't lay the truth out??  Some of my favorite sound bytes...Read more of her life here  - If anyone wants to mail out some tapes, please let me know....

"Love still stands when everything else fails."   

"The bank account of the Bible is not frozen"

"We must live as beggars"

"Jesus gives you the love he demands of you"

"Those who are for me are far greater than those against me" (comparing angels vs demons)

Zayd listening to the roosters

I take Zayd to school every morning and Elise picks him up - As any 3 1/2 year in a foreign land, language issues are very stressful and confusing for him, as he is just trying to figure out how to speak English.    Every morning this week, he has asked me what the chickens/roosters are saying as we pull up to school.  It usually has to do with a lesson I am trying to teach him "Share today" etc.

Elise wrote this up in  recent email,

" Zayd has just figured out that he can't communicate with everyone. Recently we told him to not get frustrated when other children act as if they aren't listening to him. We have tried to explain, "It is not becasue they don't like you it is because they speak another language that you don't understand and they can't undersatnd you."

He would still seem put out that he couldn't play with them (or at least tell them what to play) like he wanted to but just today I figured out how he actually processed it. There are lots of chickens in the road on the way to his school that squack and cockle doodle doo loudly. Zayd shouted, "Mommy, Mommy what them saying?" I kept saying, "What is WHO saying?" Zayd demanded, "The chickens, the chickens!" It was soo cute. Finally, I realized that he thought EVERY living thing has its own language from chickens to different colored kids that just has to be interpreted by mommy or daddy.

Today the chickens said, "Time to go to school Zayd." Who knows what the chickens will say tomorrow!?"

Land and Car purchase in India

Here is a photo of the new land purchase for Servlife India and a new vehicle just purchased!  Albert is in both photos (Director of ServLife in India and 2 of his daughters)

Nepal King ends direct rule, reinstates parliament

Breakthrough in Nepal situation in the past day -  Read more here  & BBC has a good write up - The Maoists seem not be pleased 100% of the outcome - But things are FOR sure in the direction of more peace

Good thoughts on Spirituality

"If God has come in the flesh, and if God keeps coming to us in our fleshly existence, then all of life is shot through with meaning. Earth is crammed with heaven, and heaven (when we finally get there) will be crammed with earth. Nothing wasted. Nothing lost. Nothing secular. Nothing absurd...All grist for the mill of a down-to-earth spirituality"     Paul Stevens

Nepal slipping downward

Email today from a friend who is a local pastor in Nepal

"Today is the 19th day of ongoing nationwide strike in Nepal, no vehicles are running, goods for daily uses are being shortage, very few domestic flights are available and the air tickets' price is increased. The day today life is very much effected.  The seven agitating political parties have rejected the king's offer to recommend a Prime Ministerial candidate . The people have been continually protesting and defying the curfews.It seems to be continued  in the days to come as the political parties have made their position clear for "the election of the constituent assembly" and have urged the people to continue to protest and some (specially communists) are demanding for a complete end of monarchy and not accept anything less than a republic set up."

Next time you eat chocolate..think again

While chocolate is sweet for us, it can be heartbreaking for the hundreds of thousands of child laborers that pick the cocoa that goes into some of our favorite treats. In 2001, the U.S. State Department, the International Labor Organization and others reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, source of 43% of the worlds cocoa. Subsequent research by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture revealed some 284,000 children between the ages of 9 and 12 working in hazardous conditions on West African cocoa farms. Of these children, it was reported that some 12,000 child cocoa workers that had participated in the study were likely to have arrived in their situation as a result of child trafficking.  In 2001, this unacceptable practice caught the attention of the media and the government, and the American public began to voice their abhorrence of the use of child slave labor in the production of one of their most beloved treats: chocolate. In response, the US chocolate industry agreed (via the Harken-Engel Protocol) to voluntarily take steps to end child slavery on cocoa farms by July of 2005. Unfortunately, this deadline has now passed, and the chocolate industry has failed to comply with the terms of this agreement. As a result, Global Exchange is spearheading a campaign that will provide an opportunity for communities nationwde to voice their concerns about the chocolate industry's abuse of children's rights.  (Source: Global Exchange)

Poetry Reflection after leaving Nepal

GOD IS NEAR - By Joel Vestal 4/17/06

In the peace here and the chaos here - GOD IS NEAR

mobs in the streets

riots in our souls - GOD IS NEAR

blood, anger, tears

nothing is clear

all in fear

storms within - GOD IS NEAR

Stones are thrown

is it not known?

the innocent child

no glass shatters-  GOD IS NEAR

Injustice shouts

many without

hope

a future

it must be known to all

GOD IS NEAR

Praying & Longing for PEACE in Nepal

Beauty in Chaos - ServLife children's Home NEPAL