LETTER OF 11 DECEMBER 1932

11 December 1932

It is surely very unfortunate that the material means do not permit you to travel as much as you desire. But these days are exceptional. Better days are sure to come, and you, as well as other souls who desire to serve, will find the way open for them.

Meanwhile you can try and teach those you meet-people who are within easy reach and who also need the spiritual enlightenment that the spirit and teachings of the Cause provide.

The German people have true appreciation for spiritual matters and when they are interested in a certain sphere they are not satisfied with a shallow knowledge of it. They try to go deep in any subject they take up, and once they are convinced of its truth are ready to devote all their life to it. Such are the people that the Cause needs. Such should be the souls that you should try and interest in the Faith.

[From the Guardian:]

I greatly value your past and present services, and cherish bright hopes for your future contributions to the spread of our beloved Faith.

Persevere in your efforts, and, if possible, travel to different centres in central and south-Eastern Europe, and do all you possibly can to further the interests of the Faith. This work is highly meritorious. May the Beloved inspire, sustain and bless you.

Your true brother, Shoghi

LETTER OF 2 JANUARY 1933

2 January 1933

Through Dr. Grossmann Shoghi Effendi has come to learn of your activities in serving the Cause of G.o.d and diffusing its divine spirit in Frankfurt.

He therefore wished me to write you this short note and express his deep appreciation.

He sincerely hopes that through your persistent efforts and G.o.d's infinite guidance and blessings the Faith will be established in that city and many earnest souls will cl.u.s.ter around its banner.

Consider what source of joy and gratification it should be to you to see people, who have been for years seeking for the truth and craving to obtain it, who look upon the prevailing conditions of the world with distress and earnestly pray for salvation, find through you the object of their quest and attain the peace, tranquillity and spiritual life which they have longed for. The accomplishment of the task and the resulting success will be an ample reward for all your strivings.

LETTER OF 16 APRIL 1933

16 April 1933

The Guardian sincerely hopes and prays that the study of the Dawn-Breakers will inspire the friends to greater activity and more exerted energy in serving the Cause and spreading its message in that town. The life of those heroes of the Faith should teach us what true sacrifice is, and to what extent we should forego our personal and worldly interests while endeavouring to carry the divine message to the four corners of the earth.

Shoghi Effendi would advise the friends in Rostock to hold regular study cla.s.ses and read that book with great care, committing its salient facts to memory, so that while teaching the Cause, they may be able to show the motivating spirit of the Faith by referring to some incidents of those early days.

LETTER OF 25 APRIL 1934

25 April 1934

The Baha'is of Esslingen

Dear Baha'i Friends:

The Guardian has read with deep and sustained interest your beautiful message of Ap. 15th, and he was greatly touched by the expressions of hope, of devotion and of loyalty which it so faithfully conveyed, and by the repeated a.s.surances it gave of the united and continued efforts of your community to extend and consolidate the foundations of the Faith in your center. Such repeated evidences of your determination to spread the Message and of your splendid cooperation in establishing the administrative order of the Cause in Germany make him invariably think of the promises the Master did so forcefully give in regard to the future progress of the Movement in that country. May your endeavours contribute an increasing share towards the gradual realization of these promises.

Shoghi Effendi was greatly impressed by the beautiful marriage ceremony which you had organized in honour of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Bender. He hopes that through this union the bonds of cooperation and of fellowship will be further strengthened between the members of your community. His prayers for the success of your activities will continue to be offered to Baha'u'llah, that you may each and all be enabled to a.s.sist in the consummation of the great work He has summoned us to achieve in this Day.

[From the Guardian:]

Dearly-beloved co-workers:

Your joint and most welcome message brought infinite joy to my heart. I am delighted to learn of your hopes, your plans and activities. The summer-school is the object of my constant and fervent prayers. I cherish great hopes for its expansion in the days to come. May it become a great teaching center and may the light of this glorious Revelation radiate from it to all parts of your great and promising country.

Your true brother, Shoghi

LETTER OF 25 APRIL 1934

25 April 1934

The Guardian has deeply appreciated your kind words to him, as well as the beautiful message addressed to him by the Esslingen friends, all of which conveyed in a remarkable and touching way the intense devotion and the unflinching loyalty of the German believers to the Cause. His hopes for the future development of the Faith in your country are brighter and firmer than ever. He is fervently supplicating to Baha'u'llah that you may all be given a wider opportunity to carry into the field of action the n.o.ble thoughts and the good and sincere wishes you so deeply cherish in your hearts.

...please convey the Guardian's warmest greetings to all the believers in Esslingen and in Stuttgart, and also to our dear Mrs. Schweizer who seems to be still living with us in Haifa. Let me also a.s.sure you of his prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines.

LETTER OF 25 SEPTEMBER 1934(7)

25 September 1934

Dear Friends and co-workers,