Nine views, one sun 
My favorite blog snippet (and pun) of the day. -gw
I visited the Baha’i community of Belguam using that Ottawa family’s good name and it eventually became a second home and a place to charge my Bahá’ítteries.
http://samuelbenoit.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/belguam-photos-posted/
I love Samuel's stories and pictures from 
India. -gw
Reading Steve Marshall's "No Assembly Required" on his blog Cormorant Baker this evening after having participated in our Intensive Program of Growth here in Tacoma for the past nine days, constitutes a rather odd juxtaposition of experiences for me. I have viewed Steve Marshall as a long-time nay-sayer, whose intent has been to denigrate what the International Baha'i Community has been endeavoring to do. Here I am, reading Steve Marshall, having just had this really great Baha'i experience to promote the growth of the very same International Baha'i Community that he opposes.
Steve is best known for his primary website, Baha'is Online, which re-posts material that deals with Baha'i subjects from other sites, as does Baha'i Views. There are some big differences between my site and his, however. His mix includes marginal and apostate material which I don't include. His sidebar claims almost a million and a third visitors, whereas my blog has drawn only about 54,000 in the year since I've had a visit counter, so big difference there.
David and Goliath come to mind, but this David is feeling sorry for the giant. Reading "No Assembly Required" I am struck by the fact that Steve is regularly posting about the Baha'i community, but, if I read him right, he has no opportunities to actually experience Baha'i community life.
This is the man who has come to my site on several occasions to say, "I am a Baha'i in good standing," yet who, despite this "good" standing, has cut himself off from contact with a physical Baha'i community. According to his post, he stopped going to feasts, and has avoided social and devotional activities. How long has he been cut off? Eight years, he says.
No wonder his observations sound odd and outdated, in this post especially. Steve writes, "Arguably, mainstream Baha'is are becoming less adminocentric," using a word apparently in use only among his circle of online friends. From my lived experience Baha'i administrative bodies perform at a higher level now than ever before, and Baha'is are more focused on their decisions. The Baha'i community is certainly more organized. There is no question that the collaboration between the institutions of the Rulers and the Learned has never been more successful. The degree of organization evident in the teaching campaign just completed today was extraordinary and clearly reflected that close collaboration.
Baha'is speak lovingly about the Baha'i administration brought into being by Shoghi Effendi. It is a topic we cover as part of Anna's presentation, along with such basic subjects as the Covenant. For Steve and the others who together form an online oppositional coalition, Baha'i institutions and administration are bad, yet Baha'is love their institutions and administration and know that they are in place to facilitate the unification of the world.
"The Baha'i Faith is a world religion whose purpose is to unite all the races and people in one universal Cause and one common Faith." That is how Anna's presentation begins. Steve extols the virtues of so-called "unaffiliated Baha'is on the Internet" who "may pray, fast, carry on a trade or profession, do charitable work, look after their family, consort with the followers of all religions, and so on." An Internet community is no substitute for a physical community, and the fact that "unaffiliated Baha'is on the Internet" do the things he lists outside of the very community that represents "one universal Cause and one common Faith" means they are ... missing out. To unify the world, the Baha'i community itself must be united. There is no plausible Baha'i identity outside of membership in the Baha'i community and participation in Baha'i community life.
Steve writes accurately, "I'm guessing" and "I wouldn't really know." He comes to conclusions about so-called "mainstream" Baha'is and the communities they live in, yet he hasn't had the experience of Baha'i community life in eight years to reflect upon, so all he knows is what he reads and what he imagines.
Over the past eight years Steve has nurtured an expectation that the International Baha'i Community would sputter and splinter, or come apart at the seams. That hasn't happened. As Baha'i sister Bon used to say, "We're here, we're dear. Get used to it."
Teaching is taking over in Baha'i culture. -gw
In eight days of door-to-door teaching on 45 blocks in the heart of Tacoma we have had three declarations and about 50 individuals identified for follow-up, out of which we expect about 20 to nurture in the months ahead. Today we complete our 11th Intensive Program of Growth.
Below are pictures taken on Friday in the Joseph home, our home base during the weekdays of the campaign. The teaching taking place during the IPG was not just on the streets, but in the Joseph home, too.
Here is 
Kit, on-fire with the Faith but not yet a declared Baha'i, doing Ruhi Book 1 with our Board Member Shawn and Baha'i youth Jason.
Here is 
Betty with child in her lap learning of the Faith from Chris who is doing Anna's Presentation with her, and Sandy who is silently praying.
Grandma Shannon is holding 
Betty's newborn while Betty takes in the presentation.
Fourteen year-old Baha'i youth Kierra is playing with 
Dylan, Betty's oldest.
Here I am with 
Aloma, Shannon's youngest.
Shadi 
is all smiles here, as is 
Kierra. -gw
"Panama," 
+Michael of Michael Frank photography fame brought to my attention a series of posts with mentions of the Baha'i Faith on a blog called true life planet, one woman’s journey traveling/volunteering around the world. The blogger travels to Panama to live with the Ngobe people. Michael writes: "I had to chuckle over the evangelical Baha'is comment! I don't think she has met any in person yet, kind of lumping folks together....." - gw
... Church here is really big-generally the first question many people asked me here is if I believed in God. Atheism is not a concept understood here-so even people who visit who don´t believe in anything in particular, tell people they are Christian. There are many different churches: The Manatata, which is the traditional church of the Ngobe, and has a woman phophet; The Catholic church; The Bahai church; the Jehovahs Witnesses; and countless Born Again sects. ...
... In a community where everyone lives 10 to 20 feet from one another, and much of life takes place outside(since the homes are so tiny), it is rare not to hear all the goings on of your neighbors-and, at all times of the day and the night. You hear everything from the radio blasting the local Bahai´evangelical music (the Bahai´own the only radio station here), to domestic violence to a pig getting butchered. ...
... He told me that they had three kinds of markers they used as headstones-one, a Christian cross(this being the most popular, as most people said they were Evangelical); a piece of wood cut into a star, for those people who were of the Bahai faith...; and for people who either believed in nothing or nothing was known about them, a tree was planted. ...
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/gigirtw/?s=Bahai
The Baha’i Vietnam Community held its first congress in Ho Chi Minh City on March 21 to mark the Government’s recognition of the religion’s legal status.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/03/774707/
Vietnam recognized the Baha'i Faith a year ago, an anniversary just commemorated. A reader emailed me to note the following. -gw
"There are not that many places where the Baha'i Faith is not recognized anymore. Of the remaining places that would make real news, I think the first will be Iran. Don't laugh! I think at the very least there will be a de facto recognition, if not de jure. It has been moving in that direction the last couple of years, in spite of the GOIRI's hardest attempts to crush the Baha'i Faith. The messages of the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'i students in Iran and to the Baha'is of Iran make me think that it will be
{Photo: "'Memory of Imam' highway," uploaded on January 5, 2008 by nima s+ on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic}
Bead One, Pray Toohttp://static.ning.com/soultalk/widgets/index/swf/badge.swf?v=3.0.1%3A3917" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="lt" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="100%" height="242" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="networkUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsoultalk.ning.com%2F&panel=network_large&configXmlUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ning.com%2Fsoultalk%2Finstances%2Fmain%2Fembeddable%2Fbadge-config.xml%3Ft%3D1206516245" /> http://soultalk.ning.com/%22%3EVisit Soul Talk
Get it?! -gw
Exploring Concepts of Spiritual Import
Though we can never impose our opinions upon others it is incumbent upon us to engage in conversations on topics of spiritual import in an atmosphere of love and humility if we are to progress as one united race.
your soul talk box
We should strive for "...an etiquette of communication worthy of the coming maturity of humankind..." -The Universal House of Justice
http://soultalk.ning.com/
+
To get your very own Soul Talk widget, go to http://soultalk.ning.com/main/embeddable/list. -gw
After months of patiently pounding away at their keyboards and staring at their screens, the legions of Baha'i Views staffers operating in the dimly lit backrooms of Central Headquarters have finally gotten behind the curtain. With this post the results of their collective efforts can now be shared. The Baha'i Internet Braintrust has been uncovered.
And you know, all this time we thought they were operating in secret, and what have we discovered? The Baha'i Internet Braintrust has a blog, for gosh sakes, for all the world to read. -gw
What we’d ideally like to have from a web presence. In our wildest dreams. IF we could do it all -
• Give Baha’i Youth an identity
• A kickass introduction to the Baha’i Faith (videocollage)
• Spark a spiritual conversation / engage in a newdialogue about God
• Spark a spiritual revolution, a youth movement
• Bring the focus to the core activities.
• Make the core activities cool
• Give Baha’i Youth a community, an identity to beproud of
• Use Baha’i arts celebrities to inspire
• Focus on creativity and arts as relates to spirituality
• Become an epicenter of Baha’i arts and spirituality
• Facilitate action and service
• Make spirituality cool
http://bahaibraintrust.blogspot.com/
{"The man behind the curtain," uploaded on November 6, 2007 by drurydrama on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic}
Indian Temples 
From SlideHero, 1 year ago
Various types of Indian Temples, including a picture of the Baha'i Lotus Temple at night.
http://www.slideshare.net/SlideHero/indian-temples/
Found on Slideshare with links to flickr. -gw
SS- Kahlil GreeneEvery 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 
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
http://flitzyphoebie.blogspot.com/2008/01/just-counting-my-blessings-here-friends.html
IPG clutter. 
+
designated area of the Hilltop neighborhood in Tacoma where, through a process of consultation, the decision was made to concentrate our efforts for our Intensive Program of Growth. Each numbered section marked off constitutes an assignment for a teaching team to cover. 
folder carried by a member of the team to keep the records of the attempts to present the Message to the occupants of each house.
and Debbie are consulting on team assignments and sizing up the materials. 
provided his home as the home base for the teams to operate from. There are 21 people living in Toby's home, and, no, 21 is not a typo. 
means fewer teams going out, four today, as it depended on believers being able to get time off from work and other commitments, but the fire burned just as brightly as on the weekend when 18 teams went out over the two days. 
who has done direct teaching in decades past came out to support the effort, here studying up on Anna's Presentation in preparation.
Martha was holding, we are "together."
weather, cold and rainy at times.
Propagation Mauricio is one of the best teachers, whether in English or Spanish, and one of the most humble.
Debbie went for a follow-up visit to the new believer who declared Saturday night. And after that, she had an evening Ruhi 1 study circle to go to that she is tutoring. What a servant of Baha'u'lah! This is what members of the Baha'i religion do to raise up the Kingdom of God on earth. -gwThe Internet is amazing. So is Jessica. -gw
Hello, My name is Jessica, and I'm really interested in learning about the Baha'i Faith. I know quite a few Baha'is through my boyfriend and his family, but I'm so very hesitent to ask them where is the best place to start off, the best book for introductions, and all of that because I feel so extremely stupid when it comes to religion. I know they'd be willing to help, but I just don't want to make a fool of myself, so better to ask someone who is knowledgable but whom I don't really know. So, if you don't mind, could you recommend a few good books to start off with? I've never been religious at all, mainly due to a lot of my ideas clashing, but how my boyfriend explained some things to me it sounds like this has really put all of my thoughts and ideas on God and existance into line. I'd just really like to test the water, and see what the faith is all about- especially the whole idea of how we came to be. So, thanks in advance, if you don't mind giving me some advice as to where to start looking.
- Jessica
How wonderful to hear from you, Jessica! There is no one place to start. There is no one book. No need to "feel stupid."
One good place to begin are the official Baha'i websites, such as www.bahai.org and www.bahai.us.
Next you could contact your local Baha'is and ask them about participating in a Ruhi study circle. It's small group study using a series of books that will give you the best possible foundation for understanding God's teachings for this day. All of the core activities of the Baha'i Faith are open to all, so you should feel comfortable being with others who, like you, are seeking and wanting to know more about this spiritual path.
With your permission I would like to re-post your lovely email on my blog.
Please get back to me and tell me how all this goes for you.
- George Wesley Dannells
Thank you so much, Mr. Dannells! As soon as I went to the bahai.org website you gave me I found a lot of the answers I was looking for right away! The more I learn about this faith the more everything really makes sense to me, and I really believe this is the most wonderful thing that could have happend to me. Now that I feel more confident that this faith backs up virtually everything I've ever thought and believed in, I really want to dive into it. And even after discovering the Baha'i faith and their view that all religions of the world are ultimately connected through one God I am so excited to learn all about all of the world religions! I really feel like I've found my direction for once, because for so many years I've been so confused because I felt that all of the things I believed in contradicted one another. I will definately contact the Baha'is in my community when I feel comfortable with all of this, right now I'm just taking this all in because I feel like I've had this massive realization, as cliche as that sounds. And sure, go right ahead and use anything you want for your blog- that is how I found you, afterall. Thank you so much!
- Jessica
Here it is folks . . . This is a very special limited edition original poster . . . offered here on Ebay by it's creator - NYC artist/photographer David Robert Bliwas. 
Dennis complains when an ad for a certain new religious movement appeared on his LiveJournal blog. -gw
http://nutsjesmoar.livejournal.com/7141.html
Our world today is full of truth too. No, not all religions and ways of thinking lead to Heaven, but they have a real truth to them. Muslims, LDS, Baha’i, Islam, Christian Science…all of these religions have God’s truth enveloped in them in ways. Even those who claim to have nothing to do with God, atheists and agnostics, still have a sense of right and wrong – God’s truth.
http://deeptodream.blogspot.com/2008/03/truth-is-out-there.html
Weight loss is not the purpose of the Baha'i Fast, but it can be a time of focusing on health, both spiritual and physical, in preparation for a new year. -gw
Spring Break was last week, and, without a doubt, it was the most disastrous week I’ve had in a long, long time. It was bad-bad, like half-a-gallon-of-blue-bell-ice-cream in 2 days bad. A feat, I might add, that I have NEVER accomplished in all of my days of crazy eating before last week. {Re-posted with permission}
Bonita gazing at the beauty of 
This is the news from home from my wife emailed me at work today after her experience of door-to-door direct teaching this weekend. -gw
Oh! I invited two Jehovah Witnesses in today, telling them to "come in and warm yourselves a spell". We sat in the den, had a good conversation, very 'mutual', as I not only validated so many of their concepts but was able to convey the basic themes of Anna'sPresentation: the Great Covenant, the Manifestations, God, Baha'u'llah's mission, His station, His exile and imprisonment; Baha'i community life... and also shared my experience of direct teaching -receptivity, areas that are 'more open'. I let them know we all walk the same path of service, to bring humanity together in unity. They were stunned when I told them who Baha'u'llah was, and in time, they closed their books and left. I thought about the word 'bold' over Jaqueline Left-Hand Bull's head in my photograph - gentle tone, but bold direct statements. It left them a little unsettled, but resolute on their path throughout the neighborhood.
One of the cool, cool Baha'i bloggers is moving her laptop to back to South Carolina. -gw
My Dear Friends and Family,
Well, those of you who are still in Korea and have been able to spend time with me know that I am leaving today. Many of you I haven't seen for a long time, so you don't know and for that I am very sorry. I was here for 6 years and during that time each one of you had some impact on my life, big and small. I am soooo grateful and happy that my life path brought me here...that I got to meet so many beautiful, wonderful, good people.
I am going home to South Carolina where I will start a Masters program in June at Coastal Carolina University. It is a 14 month program, at the end of which I will have a Masters in Teaching and will be a certifide secondary education social studies teacher. I have no idea where this is going to take me. I am very excited though because I had no idea at the beginning of my journey to Korea what would be in store for me and I can only say that it has been a life changing experience.
I want to wish each of you well. I hope that you are happy and that you are working towards fulfilling your dreams, whatever they may be. Please feel free to write me and to stay in touch. I would love to hear from you!
Take care and until our paths cross again....
Peace and Love, Adalia
http://jeongeui.blogspot.com/
In her copyrighted column, "the Urban Erma" Leighann Lord gives a nod to the Baha'i religion. Oh my, Lord! -gw
Although not a formal member, I subscribe more to the Baha'i religious philosophy which teaches equality of the sexes. Be bold. Be bold.
Chair of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, was present to go out door-to-door teaching with us on Saturday as we launched our 11th Intensive Phase with 11 teams scattering to different assigned blocks in the Hilltop. Seven more teams went out Sunday.
El Rico, Tosca, Robert, and Linda, included in this picture, entered the Faith along with others from a tight-knit group of friends and family.
with a Reflection Meeting that included several small-group break-out sessions, this being one of them on prayer.
to the Lewis home for further training in the use of Anna's Presentation and the formation of teams. Then out the door. To be continued.... -gw
