Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand

I am instructed by the Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your letter of the 2nd January, and of the enclosed reports of the Adelaide and Auckland spiritual assemblies, and to renew to you, and through you to your fellow-members in the N.S.A., his grateful appreciation of the warm welcome you have so lovingly extended to that dear and distinguished servant of the Cause Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher during his visit to Australia and New-Zealand. It is his fervent hope that the spirit his visit has released will long serve to sustain the friends in their heavy task of expanding the foundations of the Administrative Order throughout that continent.

Regarding Mr. Bolton’s question as to whether the Guardian has given any instructions to the friends as to the best way to make their investments secure during the coming world crisis; I am instructed to inform you that no such directions have been given either to any individual believer or to any assembly. The only advice which the Guardian wishes to give is that whatever investment the friends make they should do it with the utmost caution, as economic and financial conditions are at present most unstable and even precarious.

Shoghi Effendi has been very deeply grieved to learn of Mr. …’s resignation from both the N.S.A. and the Sydney local Assembly, and of his request to leave altogether the Cause. He wishes me, however, to assure your Assembly not to feel discouraged at this truly sad happening, but to confidently strive to bring him back into the community. Should he persistently refuse to return, the best thing would be to leave him to himself, and to pray for him that Bahá’u’lláh may, in His infinite mercy and love, open again his eyes, and lead him out of the state of spiritual lethargy into which he has so sadly fallen. 21

With the assurance of the Guardian’s best wishes, and of his continual prayers for you, and for your distinguished fellow-members in the N.S.A.,

I am delighted with the progress of your activities and with your splendid achievements in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í service. The National Spiritual Assembly is laying a firm and unassailable foundation for the administrative Order of the Faith, and I wish to congratulate all its members and committees on the marvellous progress thus far achieved. I will continue to pray for them from all my heart. I will specially supplicate for the success of this coming Convention. May your hopes be fulfilled in every respect.