Dear friends,
Saturday and Sunday mornings the teaching teams read and consulted about guidance regarding expansion, consolidation and collective teaching; the teams reviewed the Ruhi Book 6 teaching presentation: Introduction to the Baha’i Faith. The teaching teams also prayed and memorized quotations from the Writings together. In the mornings, a joyous and spirit-filled atmosphere was created as the teaching teams enkindled the fire of the love of God in their hearts!
In the afternoons, the teams went into the field to the Timber Ridge neighborhood.
At Timber Ridge, the goal of the teaching teams was “to find receptive souls and to teach them”. Much to their delight, the teams discovered a highly receptive population which led to the quickening of souls and new core activities aimed at community building. The ATC shares some quantitative and qualitative news from the first weekend of teaching.
Receptive – 29 (26%)
Not Receptive – 41 (37%)
Not Home – 40 (36%)
Homes Visited – 110
Teaching Teams – 4 (15 adults, 4 children)
Prayer Teams – 1, (11 adults)
One of the most exciting developments was the formation of a NEW neighborhood children’s class. The class was attended by 14 children including nine neighborhood children and 5 Baha’i children whose help is to be applauded (kid-teachers!). We even had to children under 18 months join us at the park where the children’s class was held on this beautiful spring day!
A special token of appreciation goes out to the prayer team who spent their time in prayer in the heart of Timber Ridge (at Sunny’s place, i.e. the mini-Baha’i center in Timber Ridge #270! :). The teachers could feel the divine assistance in the field!
Another very exciting development was that a long-time Baha’i came out teaching with the teams for the first time. He said he felt like he needed to do it or he would never do it. He has been waiting to do this for 30 years as he used to teach in
His story will be shared in the next update along with photographs from Sunday at the Children’s Class!
One other devoted teacher shares the following story:
During the weekend’s door-to-door direct teaching project, a teaching team knocked on a door, waited a few moments, and turned to walk away. A young woman stepped out on the porch with a toddler as the teaching team was making their way down the stairs. The teacher quickly went back up the stairs and asked the woman if she had heard of the Faith. The teacher talked to the woman about the Faith using the Book 6 presentation. The teacher explained the first few concepts: Baha’u’llah is the promised one of all ages, God (the Creator) is Unknowable, the Eternal Covenant, and unity. The toddler was busy opening and closing the door and running around the front porch. The woman explained she was getting the baby ready to go somewhere. The baby was in diapers and it was chilly outside. The teacher commented that she seemed interested in listening and asked if the team could come inside and continue the presentation for five minutes. The woman agreed and invited the team inside. The teacher continued the presentation while another team member engaged the toddler in playing with a ball. That toddler had quite an arm and nearly nailed the teacher in the head as he was talking! The teacher reacted with lightening speed, deflected the ball, and did not miss a beat in the presentation. The teacher informed the woman that Baha’is offer spiritual education for children and her son could participate. After 10 or so minutes, the teacher invited the woman to a fireside Thursday evening in the community. The woman accepted the invitation and gave the teacher her telephone number to give her a call before the fireside. She also said the teachers could come by her home before the fireside. The teaching team left with joy in their hearts for having made a connection with a receptive soul.
The ATC would like to thank the institutions, the community and every individual for their support of the teaching efforts. Throughout the week and next weekend the teaching activities will be ongoing – please see the attached schedule for details. As the Universal House of Justice has encouraged, “may all find a part to play”. Anyone who would like to find or change their unique role is encouraged to contact the ATC or call on your Local Spiritual Assembly.
Above all, the friends need to remain ever conscious of the magnitude of the spiritual forces that are at their disposition. They are members of a community "whose world-embracing, continually consolidating activities constitute the one integrating process in a world whose institutions, secular as well as religious, are for the most part dissolving". Of all the peoples of the world, "they alone can recognize, amidst the welter of a tempestuous age, the Hand of the Divine Redeemer that traces its course and controls its destinies. They alone are aware of the silent growth of that orderly world polity whose fabric they themselves are weaving." It is their institutions that "will come to be regarded as the hallmark and glory of the age" they have been called upon to establish. The "building process," to which they are consecrated, is "the one hope of a stricken society." For, it is "actuated by the generating influence of God's changeless Purpose, and is evolving within the framework of the Administrative Order of His Faith." And remind them that they are the illumined souls envisioned by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His prayer: "Heroes are they, O my Lord, lead them to the field of battle. Guides are they, make them to speak out with arguments and proofs. Ministering servants are they, cause them to pass round the cup that brimmeth with the wine of certitude. O my God, make them to be songsters that carol in fair gardens, make them lions that couch in the thickets, whales that plunge in the vasty deep."
(The Universal House of Justice, 2005 Dec 27, To the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors)
With love and joy,
The Area Teaching Committee
