Baha'i Views: On Teaching with the Prisoners of Shiraz in Mind: After every doorstep visited there is a story to tell

Every day I am having exquisite teaching experiences as part of the Tacoma Intensive Program of Growth. After every doorstep visited there is a story to tell. I have not yet had the time to recount here the details, but I look forward to being able to reflect on them upon the conclusion of the teaching campaign Sunday night. Below is a brief overview written by one of the team members as distributed via email to the Baha'i friends in Cluster 19.

Inspiring us are the three prisoners of Shiraz. -gw

There have been many exciting and inspiring stories from our teaching efforts over the past few days. There were so many positive experiences. On Saturday there were 28 people (adults, youth and children) that made up 11 teams and on Sunday there were 22 adults,youth and children on 8 different teams. During the week days there have been 3-4 teams going out doing follow up visits and visiting new homes. These are just a few of the stories so far.

At one home when the team went to the door and said they were Bahá’ís, the person at the door excitedly said “I am a Bahá’í!! I never expected Bahá’ís to come to my door. God works in mysterious ways.” Two days later, Bahá’ís went back again.

At another home a woman came to the door and there was another young woman lying on the couch. When the team told the woman at the door that they were Bahá’is, the other woman flew off the couch and said, “I am a Bahá’í!!! Allah’u’abha”” . She had just moved to the area and hadn’t had time to contact the Bahá’ís yet. She had been very busy with school and work but now she isn’t working and will be able to be involved in the activities of the community.

At the home of a Bahá’í in the target neighborhood, some other Bahá’ís came to visit. The visitors included a man, a woman, her son and the son’s girlfriend. The girlfriend was not a Bahá’í but knew some things about the Faith. So, the Bahá’í who’s home was visited asked if he could give her a presentation on the Faith (Anna’s presentation from Ruhi book 6). She agreed. At the end of the presentation, she embraced Baha’u’llah!

At another home the team came across a Vietnamese couple. The couple didn’t speak much English so the team said they would come back with a translator. Two days later, one of the original team members along with another Bahá’í woman and the Vietnamese speaking Bahá’í went back to the house. They were there for about 45 minutes. The English speakers said the Vietnamese couple were very gracious and offered them tea. Everyone seemed happy but the English speakers didn’t understand one word of the exchange. However, phone numbers were exchanged between the Vietnamese Bahá’í and the seekers.

At another home a very radiant man heard part of Anna’s presentation and asked that someone come back any day after 7:00. He said the door would be open. He was very open and responsive to hearing about the Faith.

At another home the team gave part of Anna’s presentation by holding the book up to the window with the person peeking thru the blinds! The person told them to “come back and who is this Baha’u’llah?”

The home of another Bahá’í has many non-Bahá’i relatives living there. The Bahá’í asked the fiancé of his daughter if he would take the time to hear a presentation on the Faith that would take about an hour. This fiancé knew some things about the Faith from talking to the Bahá’í but hadn’t had a comprehensive presentation. The fiancé agreed to take time out from his Easter dinner cooking to listen. As the presenter was getting going, there was a knock on the door. It was the Mormon elders who were teaching this fiancé. As it turns out, the fiancé invited the elders to hear the message of Bahá’u’llah because he said “they need to hear this!”. Other members of the family gathered in the living room to hear the presentation and the quiet that descended on the room was amazing considering all the previous activity and people who were there. One Mormon friend was very agitated and impatient to go, but the other one, along with the fiancé, was enthralled with what they were hearing. The Bahá’í was singing prayers to his baby grandson so the praying for the success of the presentation was very natural. In the end, the fiancé was very excited about what he heard. The presenter is going to start a Ruhi book 1 with him and whoever else wants to come. The next day, some Bahá’is were at that house using it for the headquarters of the Expansion phase and the fiancé couldn’t stop talking about the Faith and the presentation of the previous day. He was still so afire with what he had heard.

One of the team members who is a veteran Bahá’í said that it was “really fun”! For the past 25 years she said she would never do door to door teaching again. When the core team invited people to do direct teaching she decided that she was just going to take photographs. But once she stepped into being part of the team and they started teaching, she said she was filled with joy.

Another team member who was 13 and had never done door to door teaching, reported with a smile when he came back “it was fun!”

Photos by Flitzy Phoebie

Also, please check out my wife's posts so far on the campaign. - gw:

http://flitzyphoebie.blogspot.com/2008/01/little-kindness-travels-long-way.html