The services rendered by this same community in recent years, in its
capacity as the chief executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, in the
course of the second stage of the initial epoch in its evolution, are of
such importance and significance as to deserve particular mention at this
time. In the North American continent, throughout the republics of Latin
America, in the ten goal countries of Europe, on the shores and in the
heart of the African continent, the members of this community have, in
conformity with the provisions of the Second Seven Year Plan, performed
feats of such noble and enduring heroism as to enhance immensely their
prestige, demonstrate unmistakably the caliber of their faith and qualify
them to assume a preponderating share in the prosecution of the Ten Year
Plan whose operations are to extend over the entire surface of the globe.
In the multiplication and consolidation of Baha'i administrative
institutions and their auxiliary agencies throughout Central America, the
Antilles and every South American republic--a task supplementing the
initial enterprise undertaken, in pursuance of the first Seven Year Plan,
in connection with the introduction of the Faith into the republics of
Latin America; in the even more rapid development of nascent institutions
of the Faith in Scandinavia, in the Benelux countries, in Switzerland, in
the Italian and Iberian Peninsulas; in the laying of the administrative
basis of the World Order of Baha'u'llah in the capital and in some of the
major cities of each of the ten European sovereign states included within
the scope of the Plan; in the convocation of a series of historic teaching
conferences in the north and in the heart of the European
continent--heralding the convocation of the recently held, epoch-making
Intercontinental Teaching Conferences; in the translation, the publication
and dissemination of Baha'i literature in various European languages; in
the still more dramatic evolution of the Faith in the African continent,
culminating in the convocation of the first Intercontinental Teaching
Conference of the Holy Year in the heart of Africa; in the tremendous
sacrifices spontaneously and repeatedly made to broaden and reinforce the
foundations of the Faith in the North American continent, to sustain the
campaigns undertaken in Latin America, Europe and Africa, and to meet the
many demands of the Baha'i Temple, rapidly nearing completion in Wilmette;
in the successive emergence of three national spiritual assemblies in the
Western Hemisphere--an outstanding contribution to the evolution and
consolidation of the structure of the world Administrative Order of the
Faith; in the completion of the interior ornamentation of the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West, the provision of its accessories and
the initiation of the landscaping of its grounds; in the support extended
to the development of the institutions of the World Center of the Faith;
in the role played by its representatives, whether as Hands of the Cause
or members of the International Baha'i Council; in the financial aid
unhesitatingly given to hasten the construction, and insure the
completion, of the superstructure of the Bab's Sepulcher on Mt.
Carmel--above all, in the share its national elected representatives have
assumed in providing the means for the convocation of the second
Intercontinental Teaching Conference of the Holy Year; in commemorating
worthily the dedication to public worship of the Mother Temple of the
West, on the occasion of its Jubilee; in befittingly inaugurating the
launching of the World Spiritual Crusade, and in celebrating the climax of
the Holy Year marking the centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's
Mission--in all these the American Baha'i Community has fully deserved the
praise and gratitude of posterity, has merited the applause of the
Concourse on High and earned a full measure of the divine blessings and of
the celestial sustenance of which it will stand in such great need in the
course of the prosecution of still mightier and more glorious enterprises
in the days to come.