I met up with my friend whom I see occasionally as we live a good distance from each other. We talked about what we had both been up to since we last met. He knows a good bit about the Faith and is open to listen. This time we talked for over an hour on how Bahá'ís elect (remember the recent letter from Universal House of Justice) and the nature of democracy. After we parted ways, I realized afterwards that by not having a regular activity (devotional gathering or fireside) I missed an opportunity to naturally invite him. I need to start my own regular devotional and fireside.
I was home visiting a friend of mine. During our evening together he told me that he finds it difficult to pray on his own and finds praying unnatural. So, I offered to deepen with him on the nature of prayer which he was very happy about. I plan to invite him to a devotional and there's a section on prayer in book 1! Invite him to a study circle? I need to be quicker in following up.
I was asking a colleague of mine on how he was getting on with reading Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era as he had requested the book recently. He hadn't started reading it yet. As the expansion phase had fallen during Ridvan, I decided to whet his appetite and tell him about the Festival of Ridvan. I plan to regularly ask him on how he's getting on with the book so I know what he thinks about the Faith and I should invite him to a fireside and soon after to a core activity.
I arranged to visit another friend who had started book one - Reflections on the Life of the Spirit but hadn't been able to complete it. The evening I was due to go over she phoned and said unfortunately she had double booked, and had to meet her two brothers to discuss the care of their mother who had had a stroke. She told me she was really worried and nervous as she had to ask them for more help, as the burden of care was falling on her shoulders. Since she already knew something about the Faith, I told her about Bahá'u'lláh's teaching about consultation - to be frank and loving. I said I would pray for her that evening. The next day she phoned and said that the guidance had really helped her. So hopefully this will develop the next time I visit her.
The Community Relations Forum (CRF) in our community was in touch and wanted to know about the Bahá'í Faith. So we offered to do a presentation of the Bahá'í Faith and a devotional. There were 13 members of the CRF present and we shared Anna's presentation (book 6) up to the life of Bahá'u'lláh and shared the present activities of Bahá'ís in our community and around the world - namely the core activities. They then asked questions for over an hour about the Faith. After the devotional, we left out booklets on the core activities, prayer books, magazines and our contact number. We had a chat with some of them at the end. We plan to get involved with them so that we can build friendships, work together and naturally invite them to our activities. Looking back, I could have invited some of them to a tranquillity evening.
New Cluster Coordinator Seven Valleys, Northern Ireland's priority cluster, has a new cluster coordinator. Jim Holmlund is now serving as the Institute Cluster Coordinator for this Cluster. We wish to extend the warmest thanks to Sina for his dedicated services in fulfilling this role. Sina has been serving in this capacity since February 2006. With the help of his efforts, the cluster has advanced to a point which now needs more concentrated and focused effort to establish itself as the priority cluster. Jim's e-mail:is jpholm@dsl.pipex.com
The next reflection meeting for this cluster will be held on Sunday 16 September from 2 to 6 pm. The exact venue is to be confirmed, but is planned for the Ballymena area.
It was with real pleasure that I received news recently of a new children's class open to all in the Seven Valleys Cluster by Judith George and Suzanne Rezvani. This Cluster is at the forefront of Northern Irelands endeavour to provide spiritual education for a community sundered by trauma and chaos. In a visit in June to yet another class in this area run by Collette and Colin Rodgers, I was highly impressed by the sustained high standard of the work they are doing. The Seven Valleys Cluster is unique in its efforts to open its classes to the general population. The children's classes are now winding down over the summer period however would those interested in starting such a class in September contact me now or if you live in the Northern Lights Cluster contact Marion Khosravi.
Patricia Jamshidi Children's Class Co-ordinator for Northern Ireland
Cluster 1 (Northern Lights): Mahan Hashemi-zadeh
Cluster 2 (Stars of the West): Vida Lake
Cluster 3 (Hainsworth): Anne Munro
Cluster 4 (Seven Valleys): James Holmlund
Junior Youth Coordinator for Northern Ireland: Edwina Agahi
Childrens Class Coordinator for Northern Ireland: Pat Jamshidi
Regional Coordinator for Northern Ireland: Arjang Agahi
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