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Dearly loved Friends,
1 We acclaim with grateful hearts the eager response on all continents to the
Four Year Plan launched last Ridván.
2 Consultations of the Continental Counsellors and National Spiritual
Assemblies started an extensive planning process, also involving Auxiliary
Board members and Local Spiritual Assemblies. Through such a process the
national and regional character of the derivative plans took shape. But
this world-encompassing exercise did more than yield distinctive schemes
for the different countries; it also boosted the collaborative relationship
of the two arms of the Administrative Order, a most welcome portent of the
victories yet to come.
3
A sign of the immediate impact of the Plan was the speed with which steps
were taken to establish nearly two hundred training institutes during the
last twelve months. Many of these have gone far beyond the point of
designing their organization; they are actually in operation and have
offered their first courses. Moreover, in the movement of homefront and
international pioneers and travelling teachers; in the increased attention
given by individuals to deputizing teachers; in the preparations made to
ensure the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies only on the first day of
Ridván; in the increasing endeavours to hold regular devotional meetings;
in the widening efforts to make use of the arts in the teaching work and
community activities — in all these respects could be discerned the
friends' keen awareness of the importance of concentrating on the
requirements of the major aim of the Plan, which is to effect a significant
advance in the process of entry by troops.
4 Nor can we neglect to recognize other developments during the past year
which confirmed the high merit of the manifold efforts being exerted by our
world community and the results being achieved. Among these, to mention a
few, were: the acquisition of the apartment at 4 Avenue de Camoíns in Paris
where the beloved Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, resided during His historic visit
to the city; the special session on 14 August of the Federal Chamber of
Deputies in Brazil to mark the 75th anniversary of the introduction of the
Bahá'í Faith into that country — a unique, official occasion at which
Amatu'l-Baha Rúhíyyih Khánum was present as the honoured guest; the
launching last July of the Bahá'í International Community's site on the
World Wide Web, entitled "The Bahá'í World", which to date has received
from more than 90 countries and territories over 50,000 visits, averaging
some 200 per day.
5 Hardly outpaced by such accomplishments, the construction projects onMount
Carmel maintained a dazzling momentum highlighted by the completion of the
marble colonade of the Centre for the Study of the Texts, by the rise of
the International Teaching Centre building towards its seventh level, and
by the ongoing emergence of the far-stretching features of the Terraces of
the Shrine of the Bab. In this connection must be mentioned the partial
lowering of the section of the public road over which the line of terraces
will pass, and the acquisition and subsequent demolition of the building at
the foot of the mountain which stood as the last obstruction that had to be
overcome to make possible the completion of the lower terraces through
which the glorious pathway rises up towards the sacred Edifice and beyond
it to the crest of the Hill of God.
6 Also of acute relevance to the progress thus described was the maintenance
of a level of contributions to the Arc Projects Fund which fulfilled the
goal for the last year. Clearly, the financial demands in this regard are
being met with incessant heroism by rich and poor alike, and must be
sustained over the remaining years. At the same time, however, a parallel
effort, equally strenuous and sustained, should be simultaneously exerted
by the Assemblies and friends throughout the world to fill the critical
needs of the Bahá'í International Fund.
7 Such an auspicious beginning to the Four Year Plan as has been experienced
cannot but inspire confidence in the hearts of the members of our worldwide
community that they are fully equipped to execute its requirements as
outlined in the messages that launched it, and as elaborated in the plans
adopted by their respective Assemblies. A further and especially
appreciated encouragement as we enter this second year is that
circumstances have made it feasible for the re-establishment this Ridván of
the National Spiritual Assembly of Rwanda. This victory over crisis will
bring to 175 the number of National Spiritual Assemblies that will be
eligible to participate in the Eighth International Bahá'í Convention to be
held next Ridván at the Bahá'í World Centre. How dearly we hope that by
then, at the very midpoint of the Plan, the Bahá'í world will have made a
major leap forward in the multiplication of its human resources, the
maturation of its Spiritual Assemblies, and the evolution of its local
communities!
8
The opportunity offered by the brief span of time before the century ends
is precious beyond all telling. Only a united and sustained effort by the
friends everywhere to advance the process of entry by troops can befit such
a historic moment. Responsibilities urgent and inescapable press upon every
institution, every member of a community striving towards its God-promised
destiny. As there is only a short period in which to achieve a great deal,
no time must be spared, no opportunity lost. Rest assured, dear friends,
that the hosts of the Abhá Kingdom stand ready to rush to the support of
anyone who will arise to offer his or her acts of service to the unfolding,
spiritual drama of these momentous days.
The Universal House of Justice
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