NEBY--The Movement moves the Northeast into action

The annual North East Bahá’í Youth conference (NEBY) is eagerly awaited each year and brings together hundreds of spirited and enthusiastic young people and inspires them to confident service to the Cause. If you thought NEBY couldn’t possibly be more energized than it has been in recent years, think again! This time around, NEBY’s format was refined, it was renamed “NEBY—The Movement”, and its focus on the Five Year Plan achieved laser-beam intensity.

Our Teaching Blog staff spoke with one of the attendees, who recounted their experience at NEBY:

“Every single aspect of the conference was completely focused on the Five Year Plan, and all details reflected this, from the sessions, to the devotions, to the artistic presentations. Even the talent show was oriented around the Plan! One of the talent show participants had a hilarious skit with a hand puppet squirrel asking and answering questions about junior youth group animators.

“Most of the attendees were high school and university students from all over the Northeast region. It was emceed by a ‘2-day-old’ Bahá’í. Members of all the elected and appointed institutions were working together and present, and always mingling and conversing with the youth.

“At registration, each attendee was personally welcomed by two members of the Regional Bahá’í Council, who then reiterated the purpose of the conference: to encourage everyone to become involved in some way in the Five Year Plan. . . .

“There were some plenary sessions, such as an update on the situation in Iran, and a lot of workshops that everyone could choose from. There were workshops on all 4 core activities, with titles like ‘Devotionals 101’, and workshops about services such as homefront pioneering. There was also one workshop attended by everybody about direct teaching. It covered topics like ‘What is direct teaching (i.e., it’s not just door-to-door teaching)?’ It also dissected Anna’s presentation, and analyzed each of its elements, so we all could understand it’s not just a series of pictures in a book.

“We also had sessions where participants were grouped by the clusters they lived in; at these we studied the October 20, 2008 and December 6, 2008 messages of the Universal House of Justice.

“At the conference, there was a call for volunteers to go out teaching in a neighborhood in Stamford (the city where NEBY was held). 40 people volunteered to participate! But it was realized that so many people teaching could result in so many new believers and seekers, much more than the Bahá’í community of Stamford could sustainably follow up with, given its current human resources. So some went teaching, and others went to a cemetery to pray for those friends who have already passed on to the next world. They called it a ‘home visit to the dead’!

“Another group of volunteers went and visited a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. This special individual, (Vivian) Gail Curwin, who was the first Bahá’í ever to visit the Bahamas, also came and spoke at NEBY. She did NOT talk about her past international services. Instead, she spoke completely about the Five Year Plan, and the teaching activities in her cluster. She was able to paint the big picture for everyone. She explained that in years past, there wasn’t systematic consolidation, but now we have it, which makes growth sustainable in a way it wasn’t previously.

“There was so much sharing. Someone would ask, ‘How do you teach at a school environment where people are skeptical about religion?’ And someone else would talk about their experiences: ‘When people are talking about TV shows or movies, I break the ice by saying that I have met Rainn Wilson, and that opens the door to talk about the Faith.’

“There was almost no time to sleep! Some sessions went very late at night. There was even a midnight devotional.

“Throughout this gathering, the devotions were incredible! They were creative, they used prayers, voice, music—and the quality was phenomenal.

“The most important aspect of the conference was to inspire us all to movement into action.”

Momentum building in South Salt Lake

Keep an eye on South Salt Lake, UT (B). The momentum is clearly building there. This report from one of the believers there is a delightful snapshot of a recent direct teaching activity. First you have the friends stepping forward in unprecedented numbers to participate in teaching. You have the friends offering to directly share the Faith with those who are interested. You have core activities, such as a children’s class and a study circle starting—and in a cohesive manner. You have follow-up steps that strengthen connections made. All of these are contributing to the beginnings of a breakthrough.

Friends:

As you know last Saturday we had a direct teaching activity in an apartment building in South Salt Lake.

Around 35 friends participated in the project with 6 teaching teams visiting homes to share the Message and to invite participation in a children’s class at the complex. The results were marvelous! 9 children were registered for classes, and home visits were set up to offer Anna's presentation. . . .

Yesterday, the Area Teaching Committee organized a follow-up activity. 6 friends gathered in groups of 2, and visited apartments where no one was home the previous time. One family was visited, and Anna's presentation was shared with them. They were happy to study Ruhi Book 1 in Spanish at their home. One of the friends will conduct this study circle at the same time their children are attending the children’s class.

We visited the apartments to pick up the children for the class. We had 12 children attending, of whom 10 were from the wider community! Also, we had one declaration in our Cluster this past weekend!

Friends, our cluster is on fire! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Much love,

M

Evanston-Skokie IPG, Days 1 and 2

We have been receiving a flurry of teaching stories from Evanston and Skokie, IL (A), in the midst of a new cycle of the intensive program of growth. This time around, the friends are focusing on reaching out to existing contacts and to the community of interest. They have been very busy! Here are some stories from the first two days; more will follow!

One teaching team reached out to a couple of very close friends of theirs, and visited them in their home:

A: "I had never been sure if they wanted to know more about the Baha'i Faith, because I never asked." . . .

"We shared with them all of Anna’s presentation. I would check with them periodically as I went through the points. __ would comment that a quote was beautiful. __ had lots of questions and my friends helped answer them. Afterward, I was hesitant to ask, but am so glad I asked, 'Do you believe in Baha'u'llah?' __ answered, 'I believe – my spirit and heart believe.' I invited her to become a Bahá’í, she said that she has some things to get through in her mind. As for __, he was saying that he gets it all. He said, 'I can't jump in, commit to it yet; I have to understand it.' It is great that we were able to be open with each other and now I know where they stand with the Faith.”

"I've been wanting to ask __ for a long time because I talk with her a lot about the Faith. I have told her my whole experience from my first teaching effort onward, and share with her what I have been doing. The more I do, the more I share with her.”

B: "A gave them 'Anna's presentation', and the whole thing was nicely done. This is getting me warmed up to do it now myself, after hearing C share it today—I had a chance to hear two nice presentations."

A: "The flip-book served as a guide to help me stay on task. It helped me feel comfortable. It was very refreshing to know—a load off my mind.”

C: "It is so interesting, we have an instinct that we talk ourselves out of it, especially this directness. Once we overcome this fear that they will reject us, then it is freeing. In terms of your own growth in teaching the Faith, it is a big step, isn't it?”

"Also, once you watch someone else do it, it seems easy. The other day, someone watched his teaching partner give the presentation to a seeker, and went back to his own community and shared it with someone that very week.”

"The other point here, is that someone may declare his belief but not necessarily be ready to enroll right then."

Another teaching team shares its story. The previous week, a coordinator for the teaching effort had been in contact with __, a seeker in the cluster, to make an appointment for a teaching team to meet him.

A: “Well, let me see . . . B was going to go, and I was going to accompany him. Something happened and B had to work at the time of the appointment. So I called C and asked if he could come along; and today, D was here and is like, yeah, I'm coming too.”

The seeker suggested meeting at a restaurant.

A: “At the restaurant, he looked at me and said you must be A. And I said, __. And he gave me a big hug. Getting started, I said, well, we are in a public spot so everything is up to your comfort level, we can just talk and answer questions; and I asked what he knew about the Faith. __ says, ‘Cut all corners, I want to go straight to the essence.’ I said, "Well, we have a presentation that takes about 45 minutes, maybe more." He says, ‘Let's do it!’”

“He was riveted for the whole thing. Our teaching team was great. We were a really good team. There was great energy. During the presentation, I'd turn to D and say, D will tell you about this topic … and he'd spring into it. I would ask __ along the way, "Do you have any questions?" and he said, "No I want to wait to the end."

“After we gave the presentation, he was really excited and said, ‘You'll be seeing more of me.’ Then he said, ‘I want to know more about you three gentlemen, a little about your life and how you became Bahá’í.’ Each of us shared. And eventually I invited him, in the way we were talking, to become Bahá’í. It was up-front but without pressure: ‘If you'd like to become a Bahá’í, and want to be a registered member, this is what you'd do.’ He took the enrollment card with him.”

“The Ruhi study circle sounded good to him. He told us what days he would be available. Later I sent him a text message, "How about Friday?" So I hope that he is ready to start this week. I will also ask two other seekers to join this study circle, but even if they are not available, I will start right away with him.”

One of the benefits of teaching in teams is learning from each other:

A: “Yesterday, B was telling about watching C, and then F, give Anna's presentation and feeling that she could do this; today D said also, "I'd never seen it done before," and he saw C share it, and today he saw it again. They both feel like they can do it. The ‘flip chart’ is there to help you. There is some thought that you are supposed to be good at it and be able to share Anna’s presentation without an aid. But this is a good tool that helps the teacher and the seeker.”

Another teaching team wished to expand their teaching contacts. But more importantly, they wanted to do something that would help others.

E: “Our aim was to offer something that would be helpful, and the spiritual journaling workshop we held yesterday attracted Bahá’ís as well as their friends and seekers, so it was successful for me. We have inquiries to offer it again. Our goal was to meet people who are not Bahá’ís, but the way we wanted to go about it was to be of service to them. We wanted to help mankind. When we saw what was going on in the world right now, we could see people are facing difficult issues. So the idea was to help people focus on their spiritual side, and a lot of what we presented was about being detached. This will take more effort than what our team has typically done, which was to hold a devotional meeting and pass around prayer books, or talk about some topic at a fireside. So we tried to look for things that were directly related to issues currently on people’s minds. We'll see about the upcoming events (a devotional gathering this Wednesday and a discussion gathering on Saturday on the theme, ‘How to be anchored in troubled seas’).”

Prayer, firesides, teaching, love and more in San Diego

San Diego, CA (A) has recently started another cycle of its intensive program of growth, and we have received wave after wave of exciting news. The friends are teaching, praying, working together, and reaching out with joy to their neighbors in all parts of the cluster. All I can say is, WOW!.

Let us first share an excerpt from a story about one of the teaching days in the City Heights neighborhood. The friends there had the bounty of a visit from one of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, who accompanied them on this particular day.

We were delighted to learn that one of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly was going to visit our cluster during our expansion phase and had requested to form part of a teaching team.

The day started with a home visit to one of the first believers in the neighborhood, a lady who had joined the Faith a little over a year ago and whose profound love for Bahá’u’lláh led her to write songs for Him. As we sat around in her backyard, in between the kind conversation of loving friends we were lulled by the sweet sounds of an Afro-Caribbean ballad, a dad pleading Bahá’u’lláh to take care of his young son, to guide him and raise him in His service. . . .

We went to visit another home. The door opened and a beautiful, radiant woman peeked her head out. “Good evening”, she greeted us. We readily answered her and introduced ourselves. We told her all about the reason for our visit, “We are in your neighborhood offering to share a presentation on the Bahá’í Faith”, we said. “It is a religion which accepts and elevates all others, and it is a wonderful way to unite the world. Could we have a few minutes of your time to share this presentation with you?”. She readily agreed. “Sure, come in,” she said.

We all sat around her dinner table, and we went through the presentation slowly and lovingly. She read along with us the creative word of God in her own sweet voice. By the time we got to showing her the picture of the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, she had been so touched by the quotes and the principles that we told her that we wanted to invite her to be a member of this Faith, of a community which is working to establish a new world civilization. We also said that once she feels comfortable with her knowledge of the principles, she would be a magnificent teacher herself, helping us share this wonderful message with others. She declared her belief in Bahá’u’lláh! We are planning follow-up visits with her.

A key element of this latest cycle of teaching activity was the devotional/fireside gathering. One believer gives an overview of this approach:

The area teaching committees in the Southwestern region have started formally introducing devotional/firesides as an additional line of action in the intensive teaching efforts. They are learning how to promote this activity systematically and how to accompany the friends to fulfill their goals. There are many success stories coming in from various clusters.

And San Diego is definitely home to some of these success stories! A believer who recently hosted such a gathering talks about her experience.

Our cluster has one neighborhood they had been focusing all their energies on. But this cycle they decided to try a new approach in some of the other areas of our cluster. It is called the devotional fireside.

Well, part of the process is of course to invite your neighbors. Well in my neighborhood, we don't do much more than say, "Hi", "Bye", or "It looks like another day of sunshine!" You're considered a good neighbor if you don't have loud parties or too many cars parked on the street! But I approached several of my neighbors. One neighbor I had not yet met. One who said she would see how her schedule was. And so on.

Ultimately there was not a large turnout at this gathering, but it was a positive experience for everyone involved.

After prayers and readings the host asked if any one would like to learn more about the Bahá’í Faith. She mentioned Anna's conversation. __ said she would like to hear more. P and I volunteered R to give the talk because she is in Book 6 and that would be part of her practice for the course. She gave the talk and invited __ to join the Bahá’í Faith. (bold and audacious), and she agreed! It is interesting that 5 people in the prayer chain [more on this below] were also present at this gathering.

The believer who shared Anna’s presentation states:

Since all the other friends had already finished Book 6, I took on sharing the presentation as my practice. My Book 6 facilitator, P, was there to help me if I slipped. I used the one with the flip chart and sat next to my friend. I pretty much just looked at the headings and put the ideas in my own words as much as possible. When I finished I asked __ if what she had heard was something she'd believed and if she'd like to help us build the unity of mankind and she said, "Yes."

Here is a summary of another devotional/fireside that was held in another part of the cluster.

__ and I hosted a devotional gathering at our home and we thought we would share the experience with you. We passed out invitations to all 46 units in our neighborhood by going door to door and talking with our neighbors. It was fun! Everyone was pleasant and a total number of 10 people attended our devotional.

A friend reflects on their experience with this gathering, and some of the implications for future teaching efforts:

It is much easier and sustainable to follow up with our neighbors! No driving! :) Going door to door to visit our own neighbors should be done with the objective of being their "loving friends" as the House of Justice wishes for us all to be. In just one neighborhood, 10 neighbors showed up to a Bahá’í devotional. 10!

As mentioned earlier, the believers in the San Diego cluster were engaged in a non-stop “prayer chain” throughout the entire teaching effort. This is but one example of how the friends throughout the country are starting to use prayer more systematically in their teaching activities. One friend shares their thoughts:

No wonder our teaching efforts have been so extraordinarily successful! The non-stop prayers 24/7 since the beginning of the cycle 13 and a half days ago have filled our cluster with the divine fragrances—and the scattering angels of the Almighty have been very busy. The prayer chain has also connected our hearts together in a sustained, systematic way and has created a very special unity of action for these very special 16 days. The discipline of praying together so intensively has caused some to remark that it reminds them of fasting or of going on pilgrimage. Here is one sweet thought from one of our teachers in the prayer chain:

I just wanted to share with you the joy and spiritual gratification that I am experiencing through this prayer chain. I feel a closer communion with Bahá’u’lláh by getting up at 4 a.m. to pray (although at times I do feel tired, but my spirit is still uplifted). It is teaching me a discipline that I utmost needed. I also feel the power of the prayers within the group of our prayer chain. It's amazing! I love it and would like to do it again.

Another believer reflects on the implications of the prayer chain and series of firesides:

This is proof that there is receptivity in every single neighborhood in our cluster, regardless of the strata of society, and proof of the power of the prayers that are being said 24 hours around the clock keeping our hearts centered on asking for and relying on Divine Assistance and confirmations.

Finally, here are the words of a new believer, who approached the friends expressing an interest in studying Ruhi Book 3 (Teaching Children’s Classes, Grade 1) in Spanish. In this request, she also describes her experience of becoming a Bahá’í:

I so recently became a Bahá’í and recall vividly the questions I had, as well as the time that the Bahá’ís who were loving me into this global family offered to give me this process. I was able to express fears, confusion, sadness and concern and was held throughout the process in a container of compassion and gentleness. There were even times when I reflected on my own history and related it to the new concepts I was being exposed to about the Faith. . . . It was ultimately this unconditional love that enabled me to trust my heart and its path to Bahá’u’lláh! . . . It really made me long for the ability to extend to others the same quality of discovery that I was gifted with. I have some education in Spanish and I thought doing a Ruhi course would allow me to move towards offering Spanish-speaking Bahá’ís the gift of unity.

The teaching spreads to every part of the cluster

This update from Savannah, GA (A) has some exciting news: The teaching and core activities are now starting to spread to more and more parts of the cluster.—now more things happening in more areas of the cluster. The institute process is taking off, the Bahá’ís are reaching out to their friends and neighbors, new believers are being welcomed into the Faith, and existing bonds of unity are being strengthened. Finally, there is a great example of a “within-cluster” homefront pioneer. Everyone, wherever they are living, is helping Savannah move forward!

Hello friends:

The last couple of weeks have given us various opportunities to incorporate more fully the efforts of every friend in EACH location in our Savannah Area Cluster. The friends in Statesboro had a wonderful, diverse entry in the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade, supported by friends and youth from Savannah, as well as their own contacts in Statesboro. The friends there have just finished Book 4 and will be starting Book 5 next month! They want to take Book 5 so they can start a junior youth group in Statesboro with some of their friends from the parade. They have also recently begun a Book 1 with 5 or 6 participants from the wider community. . . .

In the Chatham County part of the cluster, the friends visited neighborhood where a Bahá’í family lives and invited children who live there to a new children's class. 5 neighborhood children and one set of parents along with 6 of the Bahá’í children participated. Everyone had a great time, and the children are anxious to invite their friends! As we expand our teaching beyond the area near the Bahá’í Center in Savannah, this neighborhood has been chosen by the area teaching committee as one place where a collective teaching effort will continue along with the monthly children's classes.

Last week two youth brought a 14 year old junior youth by my house because "he wanted to be one of us". After some discussion among all of us, he decided to enroll. Please say prayers for him and his family. Tonight he and one other of the young friends came by my house to hang out. We watched a little bit of the super bowl and they talked about how they wanted to catch up with the others in their youth classes starting this week.

We also have a 19 year old native Savannah youth who has started her year of service as a home front pioneer right here in Savannah. Her action adds greatly to our ability to work with the many youth and junior youth who have become believers. We are growing in size and capacity to systematically continue to grow. There is so much more to say but I will stop now.

Keep us in your prayers please

Love,

M

Learning from the community

Each community, each neighborhood is unique. The friends in Monterey, CA (B) have embarked on a teaching effort in their cluster and are learning from the community with whom they are working. They are identifying the human resources they need, adapting their approaches, and looking to the longer term.

The homefront pioneer to the cluster has opened many doors. His bilingual skills have allowed for greater connection with the local community.

A good long-term solution to language issues is for bilingual residents of the neighborhood to participate in the training institute courses. . . .

Scheduling of Ruhi study circles needs to be flexible to accommodate the schedules of seekers and new believers. We should not hold up and delay some people waiting for others to be available. This usually necessitates having small, one-on-one study circles.

We have learned that in the three apartment complexes in which we are working there live many people from the same locality in Mexico, and many of them are relatives to each other. These pre-existing relationships can be a foundation for us to reach out to others in this community.

Having in place a clear and specific action plan helps us to maintain focus.

Human resources at all levels

This summary list of “lessons learned” from the recent teaching efforts in Nevada North (A) raises a number of interesting points related to human resources. They are gaining experience in making effective use of human resources from other clusters, from within their cluster, and within the specific neighborhoods and apartment complexes where they have been teaching.

Having individuals from another cluster come and assist was an energizing experience for all of us. Guests from outside the cluster should be paired up with individuals from the local area. . . .

Connecting with many of the individuals who previously expressed interest when we last visited can be challenging due to economic and personal situations requiring them to work unpredictable hours.

Prayer teams provided a spiritual atmosphere for the teaching work.

It was helpful to have available people who lived in the apartment complex we were visiting who could serve as Spanish translators.

Anna’s presentation in Spanish needs to be summarized when we introduce it.