High Endeavours: Messages to Alaska

Dear Bahá’í Sister,

Your letter of Aug. 5th has been received, and the Guardian was very pleased to hear from you. He has instructed me to write and answer you on his behalf, and also thank you for the photographs you enclosed.

He feels that this is a very important opportunity which you have now obtained of teaching the Faith to the Eskimo people, 1 and he hopes your efforts will be crowned with success.

He would not advise you to teach them Esperanto, as we have no way of knowing whether it will ultimately be chosen as the auxiliary language of the world. He thinks the most direct and quickest way of communicating with them in a common tongue should be chosen; in other words either you should learn their language or they yours, whichever will yield the quickest results.

As they are a relatively uncivilized people, unused to the modern cosmopolitan forms of life, and consequently not au courant with the thoughts which to us have become mere commonplace, he would advise you to approach them through love, friendliness, and association, until you are in a position to enter into their confidence, and gradually teach them, in a simple way, the great truths of our Faith.

To confirm them in the Faith should be your main objective, always 7 bearing in mind that faith and belief are different from learning and a full grasp of the implications of such a vast Cause as ours.

You may be sure his loving prayers will be offered for the success of your historic mission, and he will be interested to hear how you are progressing.

[From the Guardian:]

Assuring you of my abiding gratitude and appreciation for the magnificent services you are rendering, and for the laudable spirit you are demonstrating in your historic activities and achievements in these days of stress and peril, and assuring you also of my special and constant prayers for the success of every effort you exert, and every step you take in the path of service,