Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand

I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge with thanks your Assembly’s communication of October 6th.

Regarding the need you have expressed for a small, inexpensive prayer book for use by the friends in Australia and New Zealand; he views with favour this idea, but does not advise the use of the translations given in the Bahá’í Prayer Book, as these are mostly incorrect and inadequate renderings. He wishes you to preferably select from the book “Prayers and Meditations”, recently published in America, suitable prayers for a small edition.

The Guardian wishes me to express his gratification at the news of the enrolment of three new members in the Sydney Bahá’í group, and of two others in the Auckland community. He will pray that these new believers may continue deepening in their faith, and in their understanding of the Teachings, and that each of them may arise and lend every assistance in his power to the further expansion and firmer consolidation of the Faith in that far-off continent.

The three reproductions of the Sydney Registration Certificate which you have mailed under separate cover have been duly received, and one of them will shortly be placed in the Mansion at Bahjí. 29

The projected visit of Miss Martha Root to your shores next winter, the Guardian hopes, will as on her previous journeys serve to impart a fresh stimulus to the friends in Australia and New-Zealand and inspire them with a renewed determination to re-consecrate themselves to the service of the Cause. Your Assembly should extend to her a warm welcome and every support she requires for the success of her mission. May her noble endeavours, seconded by the energetic and diligent efforts of the believers, result in inaugurating a new era of teaching expansion throughout the Australian continent.

With warmest greetings from the Guardian,

The visit of our dear and cherished sister and exemplary co-worker, Martha, to your shores is approaching and I feel confident that her collaboration with you will lend an unprecedented impetus to the advancement of the Faith. Laden with laurels, animated by an unquenchable spirit, armed with a faith that none can surpass, she will, I feel sure, contribute magnificently to the magnificent work her co-workers in Australia and New Zealand have so valiantly achieved and are so energetically and methodically extending. My prayers for you and for her will continue to be offered with a heart filled with pride, joy and gratitude.