Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand

Your communications dated April 22nd and August 23rd written on behalf of the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand with the enclosed reports have all been safely received, and their contents noted with feelings of deepest satisfaction and gratitude by our beloved Guardian.

Also he has received the copy of the Mittagong Star, the reproduction of registration certificate, the three snaps and the three photographs which you had mailed under separate cover, for all of which he wishes you to heartily thank the N.S.A. on his behalf.

He wishes you, in particular, to convey his warmest greetings and congratulations to the members of the newly-elected N.S.A., whose names he has been very pleased to note, and to assure 35 them of his prayers for their guidance and confirmation in the discharge of their heavy and sacred duties and responsibilites throughout this year. Despite the sorrow and distress created by the war, and the heavy sacrifices it is increasingly imposing upon the community of the faithful throughout Australia and New-Zealand, he confidently hopes that your Assembly, with the help and support of all the believers in that land, will continue prosecuting, with the same devoted zeal, resourcefulness and determination as before, its twofold task of extending the scope of the teaching work, and of further consolidating the foundations of the Administration. The unity and efficiency with which it has been functioning in the past year, as attested by the rich record of its accomplishments, indeed augur well for the future of its activities, and it is the Guardian’s fervent hope that, notwithstanding the delay and dislocation which the prosecution of the war has inevitably occasioned, it will continue to advance and prosper, and receive unforseen opportunities of spreading and of strengthening the foundations of the Cause throughout that far-off Continent.

In this time of world calamity his thoughts and prayers are often with our dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand, and he is ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh, on their behalf, that He may bestow upon them such measure of His guidance, protection and strength as would enable them to courageously and successfully meet the tests and trials of the days ahead.

Assuring you, in closing, of his special prayers on your own behalf, and reciprocating your greetings,

The report of your activities and of those of your fellow-workers, undertaken at such a time, and despite such difficulties and with such a courage, devotion, determination, thoroughness and fidelity, deserves indeed the highest praise and constitutes a powerful evidence of the unconquerable Spirit and the ever-extending range, and the ever-deepening influence of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Your work is surely blessed by Him, and your 36 fellow-labourers in distant lands derive great encouragement and inspiration from the incessant and remarkable efforts you are so devotedly exerting. Persevere and rest assured that I will, with increasing fervour, pray on your behalf at the Holy Shrines,