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One of the simplest acts of service in which you can engage, as you
trace a path of service for yourself, is to visit newly enrolled
believers and. together, deepen your knowledge of the Teachings of the
Faith. The account that follows, which is based on the experiences of
Baha'i friends from various localities, will help you organize
your thoughts and decide how you will carry out this meritorious act
of service.
Let us imagine that you have just finished participating in a highly
successful teaching campaign. The campaign was organized by your Local
Spiritual Assembly which, with the help of the Area Teaching
Committee, invited a few experienced teachers from nearby communities
to assist in the expansion and consolidation of the Faith in your
community. Although physically tired from many days of constant
activity, you feel exhilarated and your mind is fully alert. You
remember vividly the joy of participating in the
diverse activities of the campaign in the company of experienced
teachers—visits to the leaders of the community in order to win their
friendship and help them gain respect for the Faith, repeated visits
to homes during which entire families were taught and deepened,
classes for children that made you wish you were a child again and
could take part, community meetings in the evenings that raised souls
to higher and higher levels of spirituality, and deepening sessions
held among the visiting teachers which you also had the
opportunity to attend. And you have the fondest memories of those
occasions when the Local Assembly would meet with the participants of
the campaign and give you loving and illuminating guidance.
The thought that most persistently occupies your mind now is how to
deepen the considerable number of believers who joined the community
in a span of some thirty days. You still remember the words of an
experienced teacher who kept emphasizing the importance of visiting
the homes of newly enrolled believers in order to establish strong
bonds of friendship with them and assist them in their deepening.
Having thought and prayed about this matter for some time, you choose
a few families you more or less know and decide to visit them
regularly.
The first family, the Sanchezes, is well known and highly respected
throughout the towns and villages in the area. Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez
belong to a large extended family that has lived in the area for
generations. They are in their sixties and, having raised their sons
and daughters, live alone in a house near you.
Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez are literate but have not received a great deal
of schooling. They have gained respect in the community through their
deeds and by the purity of motive they have shown in their
interactions with others. You, of course, are not one to judge people
by their wealth or degrees. You will never allow yourself to have
feelings of superiority because of your own education or position in
life. Nor will you allow yourself to fall prey to that terrible and
subtle enemy of the Baha'i teacher, the patronizing attitude. One of
the greatest lessons you learned during the campaign from the more
experienced teachers
is that, in the name of simplicity, one does not water down the
Teachings, and one does not use the language of children to address
adults who, literate or illiterate, possess a wisdom that life itself
has bestowed upon them. Humbly, and with a prayerful attitude, then,
you sit down to organize your thoughts about the first deepening theme
which you have carefully chosen, the Eternal Covenant of God. Since
you are somewhat nervous about your first meeting of this kind, you
decide to write a few paragraphs on the subject, not to read to the
families you visit, but to help increase your own confidence.
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As you can gather from the above statement, your thoughts and
attitudes when visiting the homes of new believers will be important
factors in determining your success. It would be useful for you to
pause, then, and consider how some of your thoughts can help make your
visits more fruitful. Let us suppose you are on your way to visit the
Sanchezes. Below are some of the thoughts that might be running
through your mind about the visit, the Sanchezes, and the way you will
explain things to them. Mark those which would most likely contribute
to the success of your efforts to help deepen these friends.
About the visit:
____ It's my job to instruct them in the Faith and make sure they learn
a great deal.
___ What a privilege it is to be able to spend some time with this
wonderful family and share with them passages from the Writings.
____ I know it is important to help deepen new believers and I'm happy
to do it. Still, I hope this doesn't take long because I have other
things to do today.
____ I have a long list of things I want to present to the Sanchezes
today, and I will make sure to tell them every single point.
About the Sanchezes:
____ The Sanchezes are good, pure-hearted people, but ignorant. They
may have accepted Baha'u'llah, but what could they have possibly
understood about the Faith.
____ I'll have to be very careful when I speak to the Sanchezes and
make sure I don't bring up anything difficult. Most of the ideas in
the Faith are probably too difficult for them. What is important is to
show them love. After all, I understand they have had very little
schooling.
____ The poor Sanchezes! At their age what can they possibly leam.
____ Every new believer brings new talents to the community. As the
Sanchezes become imbued with the love of Baha'u'llah, and as their
knowledge increases, they will render more and more valuable services
to the community.
About the way you will explain things to
them:
____ They arc adults. They can read. I'll just leave some short
quotations with them to study by themselves.
___ Now I'll have to remember that I should sit down and patiently
explain every word to them, for otherwise they won't be able to
understand these difficult ideas.
___ It is most important for me to establish a dialogue with them.
When presenting ideas, I will have to pause often so that we can study
the quotations together and consult about them.
___ Let's see. I'll begin by telling them all my ideas and then, at
the end, ask them if they have any questions.
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January 15, 2004