Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand

On behalf of our beloved Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your deeply-appreciated message written on behalf of our Australian N.S.A., and of various materials, including Assembly reports and photographs of the Yerrinbool Summer-School, mailed under separate cover, all of which reached him 33 safely, and for which kindly convey his heart’s deepest gratitude to your Assembly.

He has read with great pleasure the account of Miss Root’s last few weeks in Australia, and feels exceedingly gratified and thankful at this renewed evidence of the loving hospitality so spontaneously and generously extended to her by all the friends in each center she visited, and wishes me, in particular, to convey to you and to dear Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne his special thanks for having kindly offered to accompany our precious and well-beloved sister throughout the last stages of her journey to Melbourne and Tasmania. May Bahá’u’lláh richly reward you with His choicest blessings for all the tender care and affection you lavished upon her all through her teaching itinerary, and may He sustain, strengthen and guide you in your endeavours to further enrich and consolidate the notable teaching results she was able to accomplish in your midst during all these months.

The Guardian was highly encouraged to hear of the news of the confirmation of Miss Lamprill’s friend, and earnestly hopes and prays that through the combined, sustained, and loving exertions of these two dear believers the Cause will gradually make a headway in Hobart, and a group of well-confirmed souls will soon be established in that center. Kindly convey to these friends the expression of his warmest good wishes for the extension and success of their labours in service to our beloved Faith, and do urge them whole-heartedly, joyously and confidently persevere in their task of promulgating the message in Hobart.

With regard to Mrs. Routh’s request for permission to visit Haifa; much as the Guardian desires her to undertake such longed for visit to the Holy Shrines, he feels that owing to the continued disturbances agitating the Holy Land, and which give no sign of abating, it would be inadvisable for her to come at such a dangerous time. He hopes some day when the situation will have returned to normal in Palestine, she will have an opportunity of undertaking this pilgrimage.

Assuring you, and your newly-elected fellow-members in the N.S.A. of his continued prayers and best wishes, and with affectionate greetings to all the friends,

The recent evidences of your marvellous activities in the service of our beloved Faith have brought infinite joy to my heart. The institutions you are so devotedly and laboriously erecting, multiplying and perfecting, notwithstanding your limited numbers, the scarcity of Bahá’í teachers and proper facilities, and despite your limited resources and the varied obstacles in your way, attest the splendid progress you have achieved and augur well for the future of your historic work in His service. The summer-school is but one of those institutions which you have established with such a rare spirit of devotion, such magnificent loyalty and such assiduous care. The foundation you have laid is broad, solid and unassailable. The rising generation who will build upon it will extol your virtues, ennoble your task, preserve the record of your acts, and transmit to posterity the great tradition which you are now so happily and nobly establishing. My heart brims over with gratitude for all that you are achieving, and is filled with hopes for all that you will achieve in the near and distant future. Perseverance, fidelity, redoubled effort, will enable you to reap a rich harvest and to attain your shining goal.