Using one's work to teach

These two brief stories from Star Valley, WY (a remote locality in a huge C-stage cluster) are intriguing for a number of reasons. First, the friends here found a creative way to teach the Faith specific to their situation: In the store that they own, they display a number of Bahá’í prayers that visitors can take for free, as well as other pamphlets, and when questions and conversations on the Faith open up naturally, they then step in to teach. Second, it also shows the power of deeds to transform hearts and stimulate interest in the Faith. Both stories involve visitors to the town who came the store.

One afternoon, two women came into our store in Star Valley. One of them started reading literature on the Faith that is displayed in the store. I told her she was welcome to take it; she then said, “Explain this religion to me.” So we spoke for 30 minutes. She said this is what people like me and the rest of the planet need. She intends to look up the Bahá’ís in her home city, and also come see us on her next visit to Star Valley.

Yesterday another woman came into the store. We have displayed the Tablet that begins with “Be generous in prosperity” that people can take for free. This woman was holding the Tablet, and she explained that she had recently lost her husband. A Bahá’í had made the coffin, and the care he had taken, and the kindness he showed her and her children, had impressed her. However, he had never explained what the Faith was. She now wanted some information to take back to her family so they could understand what motivated this individual to be the way he was. She took a copy of The Bahá’ís magazine, the “Be generous in prosperity” tablet, and the morning prayer (also displayed in the store). We shared a prayer together for her departed husband.