ministrative activities,
signalizes the launching of yet another phase in the slow and
imperceptible emergence, in these declining times, of the model Baha'i
community--a community divinely ordained, organically united,
clear-visioned, vibrant with life, and whose very purpose is regulated by
the twin directing principles of the worship of God and of service to
one's fellow-men.

The decision you have arrived at is an act that befittingly marks the
commencement of your allotted term of stewardship in service to the Cause
of Baha'u'llah. Moreover, it significantly coincides with the inauguration
of that world mission of which the settlement of Baha'i pioneers in the
virgin territories of the North American continent has been but a prelude.
That such a decision may speedily and without the slightest hitch be
carried into effect is the deepest longing of my heart. That those who
have boldly carried so weighty a resolution may without pause or respite
continue to labor and build up, as circumstances permit, around this
administrative nucleus such accessories as the machinery of a fast
evolving administrative order, functioning under the shadow of, and in
such close proximity to, the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, must demand, is the
object of my incessant and fervent prayer. That such a step, momentous as
it is, may prove the starting point for acts of still greater renown and
richer possibilities that will leave their distinct mark on the third year
of the Seven Year Plan is a hope which I, together with all those who are
eagerly following its progress, fondly and confidently cherish.

The American believers, while straining to accomplish befittingly this
particular task, must simultaneously brace themselves for another sublime
effort to discharge, ere the present year draws to a close, their manifold
responsibilities allotted to them under the Seven Year Plan. The placing
of yet another contract for the casting of the ornamentation of the First
Story of the Temple, the permanent settlement of the six remaining
Republics of Central America, and the extension of continual support both
material and moral, to those weaker States, Provinces and Republics that
have been recently incorporated in the body of the Faith, combine to
offer, at this hour when the fate of civilization trembles in the balance,
the boldest and gravest challenge that has ever faced the community of the
American believers both in the propagative and administrative