"A daily effort to give whatever love, nurturing and training we can muster"

You will not be surprised to learn that Savannah, GA (A) continues to grow! Here is an update from one of the friends, reflecting on the wide variety of efforts the friends there are making to nurture and welcome new believers and strengthen the bonds of community life.

Hello dear friends:

It has been a long time between emails regarding the happenings in the Savannah Area Cluster. During this last intensive teaching effort we have had 9 enrollments: 2 adults, 2 youth and 5 junior youth. Most of them have heard Anna's Presentation in some form. On another front, one of our new families had a wedding in which the Bahá’í vows were incorporated beautifully. And this is just the beginning. But follow-up activities have leaped to the front of our list. Meaningful follow-up with our new believers, of whom there have been almost 100 since last November, has become our biggest priority. We are constantly looking at new ways to accomplish this. . . .

We held a couple of summer camps using some of our long-established training methods. We are excited about the new trainings that have emerged in different neighborhoods. There is also some remote training scheduled this month with the Louis Gregory Bahá’í Institute. In addition, some of us just returned from the Tennessee Baha'i School with several of our new young friends. Two weeks before that nineteen of our young friends were part of a trip to the Mother Temple and the National Center sponsored by the Black Men's Gathering Leadership Forum. Our new young friends really enjoyed travelling and seeing other Bahá’ís and learning more about our grand history. Even with all these things going on it is becoming increasingly clear than ever that real consolidation requires an almost daily effort to give the friends whatever love, nurturing and training we can muster.

On a humorous note, I am getting “home visited” by our young friends on a very regular basis, almost every day at times. The new friends have really taken the guidance to heart. Most of the time when my doorbell rings these days it is one or two of our new friends paying me a visit . . . yes, God is good. Please keep our new believers and the rest of us in your prayers.

In His service

M