en the
believers residing in the western Zone of Germany and the inhabitants of
the territories lying beyond the Iron Curtain and particularly the Baltic
States, Moldavia, White Russia, Albania and Rumania, assigned to them
according to the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan; the intense conservatism
and religious orthodoxy of the people inhabiting the Frisian Islands,
Crete and Greece, constituting yet another barrier and raising yet another
obstacle in the path of the pioneers who have consecrated themselves to
the task of implanting the banner of the Faith in those islands in that
historic land, in pursuance of the objectives of the World Spiritual
Crusade; the limitations placed upon them by their restricted numbers and
modest resources; the temptations and distractions to which a swift return
to material prosperity continually and increasingly exposes them--these, no
doubt, militate against the speedy and effectual accomplishment of their
manifold and sacred tasks.

No need, however, to dwell on the trials, problems and the inherent
difficulties with which the community of the followers of Baha'u'llah and,
to a lesser extent, their sister community in Austria, are beset during
these critical years in the unfoldment of the Ten-Year Plan.

However severe their trials, and disheartening the present situation may
appear, they must remember that the Faith to which they owe allegiance has
weathered, not so very long ago, storms of a far greater severity that
seemed, at times, capable of engulfing and of obliterating its nascent
institutions. The newly planted sapling of a divinely conceived
administrative order, having driven deep its roots in German soil, bent
momentarily under the hurricane which so violently swept over it, and no
sooner had the tempest spent its force than it righted itself, and,
growing with a fresh vigour, put forth branches and offshoots that now
overshadow the entire land, and even stretch out as far as the heart of
Austria.

The experience of so miraculous a recovery from so devastating an ordeal
should, alone, prove sufficient to infuse an invigorating spirit into
those who have been subjected to it, as well as into the new generation
who are still close enough to those events to appreciate its extreme
violence, such as will not only enable them to withstand onslaughts of
still greater severity, but impel them, both young and old, men and women
alike, to struggle, with redoubled vigour and deeper