Below is a short story related by an Auxiliary Board member from the Rockford, IL (*C) cluster about a new Baha'i who was helped to enter the Faith through loving friendship and concrete acts of service.
The new enrollment is our neighbor who my wife has been visiting weekly over the past several months. This neighbor is mostly home bound due to a chronic physical condition. She had attended a devotional in our home on one occasion and is also friends with another Baha'i who's son attends school with her son. My wife made a commitment to developing a friendship with this woman and to share prayers and discussion of spiritual topics and discussion of the basic teachings of the Faith with her.
These weekly visits eventually resulted in her increasingly identifying with the Faith to the point where she began to consider her self a Baha'i. At that point she was offered an enrollment card and told about the enrollment process. One evening when we were both visiting her and her son, she gave us her completed enrollment card and stated "This just seems like the most natural thing in the world to do". She was welcomed to our community at the last Feast and my wife continues to visit her regularly to share deepening themes and tutor her in Ruhi Book 1.
This enrollment is an example of what can happen when we arise to carry out acts of service in response to training and reach out to our friends and neighbors with an eye to sharing the Faith with them while strengthening the bonds of love. I shared these observations with those gathered at Feast and, far from being embarrassed, this new Bahá'í glowed with pride.
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