Transcript:US Bahá’í Newsreel/Volume 15/No 3 (Spring 2006)
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The revelation of baha allah, whose supreme mission is none other. But the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations should if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as signalizing through its advent, the coming of age of the entire human race, the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity is reflected in the process of building the last continental Temple on Earth. The Temple of Light in Chile. It is reflected in the organic qualities of design, of variation and of order of light, of reflect and of translucence. The theme of the temple is light and there was this one quote from the seven valleys which was so important to all of us. Whensoever the light of manifestation of the king of Oneness set set upon the throne of the heart and soul. His shining becomes visible in every limb and member. At that time, the mystery of the famed tradition glee out of the darkness. A servant is drawn unto me in prayer until I answer him. And when I have answered him, I become the ear where with he hearth for thus the master of the house. Hath appeared within his home and all the pillars of the dwelling are a shine with his light and this is like phenomenal passage and how do we make it a building where all of the pillars of the edifice are shine with his light central to the development design of the temple was an understanding of an organic process. The creative team from Hariri Pourri architects of Toronto Canada engaged in an extensive process of discovery in the organic nature of this design. Mr Hariri, the architect for the temple explains the wings identical in form are organically shaped and twisted slightly to produce a nest like structure, a soft undulating dome positioned around a raised base. The forms and organisms of phenomenal being and existence in each of the kingdoms of the universe are myriad and numberless. What if a temple could have the extraordinary feeling of sitting underneath a canopy of trees, the vegetable plain or kingdom for instance, has its infinite variety of types and material structures of plant life. Each distinct and different within itself. No too exactly alike in composition and detail right out of the seven valleys. You know where you say, you know this kind of he was searching in the dirt for there are no repetitions in nature and the virtue augmentative cannot be confined to any given image or shape. We knew what we were looking for. We just hadn't found it yet. Each leaf has its own particular identity. So to speak its own individuality as a leaf, whatever we do, we want it to have this idea of movement, capture this sense of movement not only becomes imbued with the powers and virtues of the kingdoms, it traverses but also reflects the attributes and qualities of the forms and organisms of those kingdoms. And this moment happened and it was like, wow, what's this? We didn't know what it was, but it's just happened upon us. And it has all of those qualities which we were looking for in a way as each of these forms has its own individual and particular virtue. Therefore, each elemental atom of the universe has the opportunity of expressing an infinite variety of those individual virtues, the softness, you see the movement, it's got the symmetry, but at the same time, it's got the variousness that we were interested in this kind of diversity of floor. And this moment happened. And it was like, wow, during the day, the soft, undulating alabaster and glass skin forms the outer expression at night, the image reverses itself the entire volume then becoming a warm, totalize glow with the inner form of the building visible through the glass, the temple notable for its absence of straight lines will rise amidst an extensive radiating garden comprising nine reflecting lily pools and nine prayer gardens. When we observe the world of created phenomena, we discover that each atom of the atoms of substance is moving through the various degrees and kingdoms of organic life, for instance, consider the ethereal element which is penetrating and traveling through all the contingent realities. When there is vibration or movement in the ethereal element, the eye is affected by that vibration and beholds what is known as light. And so this really was the very original concept is this building that somehow is constructed. Light is structured light. This whole idea that it becomes a sister temple to the mother temple of the West, which is this temple of light. And it sits alongside that as perhaps a reinvention or reinterpretation of that same theme of light. From that point of light, the spirit of teaching, spreading the cause of God will permeate to all parts of the world. I would say there's been a year and a half to two years of technical development and engineering of this project. So it's really an extraordinary moment in the life of this project that we've sort of moved now to the next phase, which is the detailed testing and the fabrication of the temple building. The temple in Chile is now an extension of the Kingdom project. As we celebrate the victory of achieving the first phase of the Kingdom project. We can now move on to new goals. Plans for the new visitor center at the mother Temple of the West are now near completion. And the process of building the Temple of Light is now on our horizon. It is a privilege so priceless against the backdrop of a world gone awry where religion whose very reason for being is the service of brotherhood and peace. We are witnessing the fire of fanaticism on a worldwide scale in Iran, the birthplace of baha Allah's Revelation. Baha'i have come under siege as the current regime steps up its efforts to dismantle the Baha'i faith with an overt and systematic plan to deny economic and religious freedoms to our beloved co religionists. In late march of 2006, the un special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief released a confidential letter from the chairman of the command headquarters of the armed services in Iran instructing government agencies to identify members of the Baha'i community and to monitor their activities on all levels. The Baha'i institutions are vigorously pursuing avenues that will focus light on the injustices perpetrated by those agencies that wish to harass the community of Baha'i in Iran focused attention and hatred on the 3 to 400,000 Baha'i who live in Iran attacks that followed a long history of persecution determined to shoulder the responsibilities entrusted to it by the covenant of baha allah, the American Baha'i community has responded to such turbulent events with a renewed sense of urgency and resolve to carry out the major aims of the five year plan throughout the country. Children's classes, devotional gatherings and study circles are multiplying at all levels. As the friends intensify their focus on building the capacity to learn, love and spiritualized their relationships with others. As we began the five year plan, Baha'i gathered in Milwaukee to define strategies and begin a process of learning designed to characterize this plan. In 2001, we were talking about strategies of growth. Today, we are fully engaged in a culture of learning and have begun to discard old notions of community development with newfound enthusiasm and understanding. Baha'i are finding fresh opportunities to introduce the Baha'i faith to friends, family, co workers and neighbors. In Monrovia, California, a neighborhood is turning to the Baha'i faith to provide a safe haven for its Children. In San Diego. A large community is learning to create greater intimacy and friendships are fueling the fire that's warming up campus life in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The engine driving this process of growth is the training institute. It has galvanized all levels of the community in rural urban and suburban areas each day. More individuals with new skills and confidence are finding creative ways to serve the institutions through initiatives of their choosing. Now emerging as a community revitalized and fully prepared to meet the challenges of the next stage of growth. Nearly two years ago, the San Gabriel Valley cluster in California attained the a stage of development. The institute process began to challenge the ways in which the community utilized new human resources. Since then, encouragement from the local assemblies has stimulated individual initiative. You know, one of the things our wonderful National Spiritual Assembly some years ago, gave us some directives on how we uh what kind of work we needed to do to develop our human resources. And as we turned and looked at each other, we kind of said, you know, what, what, what does that really mean? And to be quite honest with you, as we looked around our assembly and our community, we realized that we had just a wealth of human resources. Stephen Gaar has become one of those new human resources. He grew up on Cyprus Street in Monrovia, California. His parents became Baha'i. When he and his siblings were young, the Golar made Baha'i education for Children such a top priority that they hosted children's classes in their own home, both their home and the classes served as a safe shelter from the distressing life in the neighborhood. As a kid, my dad and my mom was always opening up their arms in the house to people in this neighborhood. It was something that as Children, my brothers and sisters, we always saw that. We always saw that everyone in the neighborhood also knew that we were. Stephen is now a busy father living with his wife and Children in the same house on Cypress Street where he was raised. The neighborhood has recently begun to change as gang activity subsided. Stephen worked on ways to provide a positive alternative for Children and teens in the area. For me, it was a natural thing to try to start something up in this neighborhood for the Children. I was always connected to these Children anyway. And, uh, I would always take these kids, I would take them out on field trips to the zoo of hiking or anything like that before I had Children. And now they're adults and now their little brothers and sisters are around this neighborhood and this is the ones that we're bringing into this oneness class now. And it was something that I, I felt I had to do. Uh I felt that's the reason why I was here and that was the reason why I didn't leave the neighborhood. Stephen found that his daily walk to his daughter's bus stop was a perfect time to talk to other neighborhood parents about spiritual education. He took the results of those conversations to the local spiritual assembly and received encouragement to start a neighborhood children's class. He and his family began holding it in their home and named it the Cyprus Oneness class. We wanted to start here and start something special because we knew we're bringing in. And that was the key. There was no hesitation at all. Uh I knew it would work. Uh Just because my relationship with these families and these Children in this neighborhood, they trying to uh reach for with these Children to show them a whole another life of changing their life morally. And that's what we're trying to do with this class. Over the last five years, the Monrovia Baha'i community built on its long history of children's classes. Baha'i and their friends engaged in a variety of community building activities growing out of the training institute process. The result Stephen was able to call on fully trained, motivated and confident friends who could help him with the class. Lisa Evans is an elementary school teacher by profession and has been studying the Baha'i Faith for several years. She has taken the core curriculum teacher training and has been assisting at the Monrovia Baha'i Sunday school now. She is also supporting the Cyprus Oneness class. I get to learn through the kids at the same time as I'm teaching them. So it's, you know, they're learning and I'm learning at the same time. So it's really good for me to teach them to. We have so many diverse families involved and so many other religions and no one says anything about, oh, I don't want my child to do this or that they just come, you know, they leave their kids and this is a safe zone for them. They learn about someone else's religion, but we still have all one goal. We still have God, they have God, we all have it. So that's one common thing that we still have in common with everyone that comes here. Lisa is very active, you know, she's active Baha'i, even though she's not a baha yet. So uh but she's been in this Baha'i community forever. Now, as more people in Monrovia are trained to teach children's classes, there are opportunities to establish additional classes in the community and reach the needs of families in other neighborhoods. So we're looking at building the human resources by assisting folks to become class, teach children's classes in their homes, um encouraging them through the model that Steven has used. How easy it is for you to go if you know your neighbors to go and ask your neighbors to join you and to know that we are providing a service and that service isn't, isn't only the principle of the what of oneness but might also be one of enrichment and helping kids with their um education outside of spiritual education. Nice. Can you show me a smile? I said, OK, the training institute process provides intimate connection with the word of God and has sparked a transformation in the lives of thousands of people across the country. Alvaro Ki in Florida, grew from a troubled young man in prison to a mentor for young teens, Martha Martinez in Massachusetts saw her family reverse old traditions of gender inequality while she and her sisters put their talents to use in the Baha'i community. Meanwhile, the Khans in Arizona experienced greater family unity, bringing the institute courses to other parts of the world. They became global citizens. And Alice Mahomes in Detroit healed from the pain of losing a son and found deeper love for her neighbors. Cambridge is a city in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts. It's most famous for the two universities that call it home Harvard University and M I T, the city has more than 100,000 residents and its diversity is striking ranging from distinguished professors, working class families, students, and immigrants from around the world. Lately. Baha'i of this area find themselves interacting with Cambridge residents in ways that no one could have imagined five years ago. And in the process, they are learning how small loving acts of a few can ripple through the community and change the lives of many once a week people pack. The Ruhi study circle held in the apartment of Brett Gamboa and his wife Gladys Lee. They're all here to discover ways to create stronger spiritual relationships with their friends, family and co workers. The study circle started back in September when the academic school year began. I think on average 15 came regularly, but it was always full house. We descend, you know, we bring numbers, you know, so for them to accommodate all of us is it been really inspiring to me hosting uh the study circle. It really has to be the most underrated thing. Step list those qualities you feel are most essential to success, to see all these people come together and that people stay after and want to hang out on a week night, on a school night, no less Brett and Gladys are full time students, Gladys is in her third year of medical school. The couple has been hosting study circles in their home for about two years. And at the beginning of this school year, they realized a breakthrough. We really made it a point to invite everybody personally. Like we want you to be in our house once a week, we want to see you more. And here's all these other people that are going to be in our house and come and see them too like that really excited people. And I think it made them as they started to come, want to bring other friends. Katrinka Haman was raised in a Baha'i family. But before joining the study circle had not been involved in the Baha'i community for many years, this Ruhi group has been a really big important piece of my spiritual path for sure. And she said, spiritual reality, what was that? And I was talking like, Katrinka traces her first steps along that path back to a conversation on a train with her friend Louise. And I said, where are you going? And he said, oh, I'm going to Ruhi. And I was like, oh, man, I'm like, that's cool. Still being like, that's your thing. And I'm going home to my roommate and, um, and I was like, really? Where is it? And I was starting to ask him questions and he's like, is it Harvard? There's a lot of people there and it took me the whole train and we got to Harvard Square and I jumped off. I was like, I'm not going home, I'll come with you. And so I really attribute my renewed kind of the, the life that I have now in some ways to that interaction that I had with him, that the whole lot kind of brought us together and gave me like the personal connection to get me to come here. And ya started to, I think, participate in that spirit where you can't get enough of the people you're studying with. And I'm talking about growing in love. It was so beautiful and I felt so much energy in my body and my spirit just was completely moved that I asked, would you guys come to the devotions if I had one at my house every week? And so we've had devotions ever since. And, and ordinarily, I would not have gotten up this Sunday morning because I was, well, I was out partying kind of hard. I find um a lot of peace being and I need that right now. So thank you in terms of my spiritual growth, it has been dormant. If I'm being filled in some way by this, then there's, then it's true in whatever capacity it is, whatever that truth is. So, um I'm very glad to be here. I really don't think there's anything um that I can put in medical terms. Um This is way beyond that, this is way bigger than that. Um This sort of chain reaction from Louise to Katrinka to now all the people that's been to her home um for devotionals and um how she comes here weekly and just inspires everyone in the study circle who then goes out and I don't know what they do, but something though, she finds it hard to explain the process. Gladys too has felt its effects. It happens that she was not a member of the Baha'i Faith when Brett first introduced her to the idea of hosting study circles in their home, her decision to become a Baha'i was simple. Basically, it became too hard for me to teach to faith being baha. I mean, it's so it's so I, I wanted other people to become Baha'i so much I would say, oh yeah, my friend is behind my husband's behind. It's great. You should become Baha'i, but oh, am I no, which you know, it just got a little bit odd. So I thought I'd give it a shot. I think it, it really just emphasizes the importance of not drawing boundaries between behinds and non behinds and making these distinctions because Gladys was inspired by everything that she was witnessing. And really this transformation has been so natural and so seamless Brett and Gladys plan to always open their home as a spiritual oasis for friends, family and co workers. I think it's very important to have a spiritual dimension to your life. And if I could write it down on the prescription pad, I would life will only get busier. It will only be more difficult to find time. So I think it's important to get in the habit of having a spiritual component to your life so that you can't live without it. And you'll always try to make time over the past five years, the training of individuals has resulted in communities developing the capacity to grow and progress from one stage of development to the next. Broward County Florida was one of the first communities in the United States to respond with full faith and obedience in participating in the institute process today. Their roster of activities includes programs for Children and junior youth, a wealth of study circles, devotional gatherings, firesides and direct teaching in neighborhoods in cities like New York activities have become decentralized so that residents in all five boroughs can be a part of Baha'i community life in Austin, Texas. The phrase every believer is a teacher rings true as Baha'i of all ages and backgrounds are sharing the teachings of the Baha'i faith with their peers in their high schools and college classrooms, places of business and retirement villages in Chicago, local institutions have collaborated to help create new entry points for friends and neighbors. Nurturing intimate relationships has become the core of the energy of growth in this city. So loved by Abdul baha in the Knoxville, Tennessee cluster, one woman kicked off the growth process by driving three hours each way to provide the first study circle in the area developments since then showed that a small number of dedicated people can be a catalyst to drive any sized community from one stage of development to the next in San Diego, the local assembly began the five year plan faced with a major challenge to heighten the intimacy and participation in their community's feast. We have a big community, you know, almost 700 people in San Diego itself. People say that I'm not shy, but I was shy to put my hand up and say in front of 600 people, what I thought on this subject and it was easy to walk away because I thought nobody knew I was here and nobody would know halfway through the five year plan, the San Diego Assembly decided to take a bold step. They divided the city's one feast into several neighborhood feasts. They hoped the move would encourage intimacy and individual initiative. Actually, that that was a part of the piece of the continued maturation of the of the assembly. Because several years ago, the community wanted to do that very thing. And in its consultation, the assembly decided, well, no, we don't want to break up into these different, you know, because it won't be the togetherness that we are seeking as a overall behind community because of uh because of the five year plan, uh it decided uh that this was the direction we need to go. Once the decision was made, community members realized they would be building capacity together tonight. I'm responsible for the devotional portion. Very, very happy. It's my honor. The feast groups themselves uh choose from among those attending feast, who's gonna chair and choose who's gonna be the secretary, which means everybody is getting a chance. It incorporates however many Children might be in that neighborhood or however many seniors might be in that neighborhood or how many women might be in that neighborhood. However many men, it's whatever that neighborhood needs. Actually, it brought the community into a more, you know, level of being more responsible and active because they feel like this is their community. This is the neighborhood that they need to take care of an assembly basis. When when the feast uh consultation comes back to the assembly. Now you have 17 different pieces of paper with different ideas. And so sometimes it gauges our effectiveness at communicating with our community because uh we sometimes get the same questions over and over and over. Well, why is that? Is that because we didn't effectively communicate it. The most important thing is people don't feel scared to come to a feast. There's more likelihood that there will be a more spirited consultation because people feel more free to, to uh say what's on their heart, you know, and say what's on their mind. We became a baha like officially like what a year ago in December. And we never knew even about t until after that time and we went to one just around the corner and that one I actually felt more at home at, and then I got to realize they really needed someone like me in this feast because a lot of them have not done Ruhi books and a lot of them didn't realize how important it is. I personally love to know Baha'i who've been Baha'i for a long time because that just blows my mind that you have known baha for so long. I'm just so in awe because all these things are they know about. And so it was really exciting just to have a whole new set of friends that I had never really gotten to meet before. You have the beauty of of them all growing and us learning to communicate and us as, as a community, perhaps even being patient with one another to allow ourselves the space to mature and to follow the guidance. Today. The San Diego community has 16 neighborhood feasts and more people are serving the community than could have been imagined five years ago. As the five year plan draws to a close. Our institutions have a new understanding of collaboration and communities have a renewed spirit of vitality. Baha'i in America have reached a new level of capacity to learn to love and to share the Baha'i faith with others for individual Baha'i the task is to extend the transforming potency of the Baha'i faith to hundreds of thousands more at our disposal is the training institute process. All humanity. Welcome with the beans, the Children of the kingdom, the Children of the kingdom. May all humanity welcome with open up the Children of the king. Mhm. Things happen in children's classes that they'll never experience in school or in their neighborhoods or anywhere else. It's very hard to compete with outside world, the TV, all those games. But when you come here, it's something deeper like when everybody is sharing their ideas, I mean, and then we're like talking, I think when I was about 13 or 14, I really feel that our, the life of our school was enhanced, you know, not only you learn a lot, but it also gives you confidence but to put that the message in their hearts. Um And so they can grow up to be, I think after the Children leave and the energy dies down and I spend time reflecting on what did we do today? What did we learn? I realize it's not just something I'm doing for them, it's something they're doing for me as well. The then and shall promulgate the teachings of and so it can, it was something that uh my parents kind of instilled in us. Our house has always been a safe house for this neighborhood. We're always trying to, you know, lead by example anyway, and you know, with us or our family and you know, my Children and everything like that, right after the last uh cluster reflection meeting, they decided that they would focus on the Children and the parents at the bus stop. In the beginning, they started talking about oneness and just among themselves, the three of them and other people standing there, the other Children and the other parents became interested in what they were talking about and started asking questions and giving a little of their information and they started real conversations about oneness. We, we talked about what we thought the class should be about. And so, uh so we came up with that concept because that's, that's like uh something that these kids have to deal with every single day of their lives. And again, it was, it was actually pretty simple to get the the parents uh doing that. Plus it was a positive thing and this is called the Cypress Oneness class because it's on Cypress Street. And all of the Children that come are um that actually live on that street on Cypress Street. And the goal is to have a class on each street in this neighborhood, we start off with prayers and everyone is allowed to say whatever background they are, whatever type of prayers they want. The kids range from around 13 to 2. Uh And we're trying to figure out how are we gonna incorporate this where it wouldn't be too much for the little ones and too little for the old ones. We use the core curriculum lesson plans so that you can either train to the child's age level or you can train to their, to anybody's level of understanding of the faith. You can start at a, at a more simplified level and, and get deeper and deeper and deeper. Well, I, I think the quality is, is actually just awesome and I, I think one of the things is uh talking to the parents. Uh when I approached them with it, they just thought it was the greatest thing that they had ever heard. A lot of people. Um I wonder why I was still here uh because of the violence because of the things that were, was happening here. And for whatever reason I really felt about how a lot wanted in me here. And I think this class, the success of this class is proof and had I left uh this class wouldn't be happening because like we're by highs and some are not. So we're like teaching them how to like be highs like us. They say, oh, I like this class. I wish I can go every day but it can't, it gave me confidence to interact with adults in a way that most kids my age uh never had. That's only because you learn new things and it's always good to learn new things. Uh We learn about the Baha'i faith like to put your trust in God and to be steadfast in the covenant that God is the most important in your life. And if you put it in His hands, he will guide you to the right things. There was an increase in the number of immigrant Persians into the ST Louis community. One of the parents um indicated that she wanted her child, young son to be Baha'i educated. And at the time, there were not any children's classes in the ST Louis City area. It started with one child which we met several times and then a few other Persian families started to bring their Children. The first year that he started, we had five Baha'i and seven non Baha'i kids and all that seven non Baha'i kids, they were from one block. It was really growing experience for us to we really understood the capacity of Children. We're learning about the past about baha baha, the and like see what baha and Abdul baha did and how amazing it was. It's actually working really well because um we, we teach, it's on several different levels. You, you teach about baha and Abdul baha. But at the same time, you teach virtues, which is something very common. Well, first of all, I use the books, this series right now is on the early history and see the sacrifices the early Baha'i has made and we try to conduct that with uh good living, good actions, the virtues, qualities uh that was a game about consultation and cooperation. We are trying to get the tennis ball to the bucket without it hitting the floor and we had to cooperate and consult about what we're gonna do to make sure it didn't hit the floor because this is like a seed in their heart that's gonna grow its love of even though they come from, most of them come from Christian backgrounds. It, it doesn't seem to be any a hindrance towards them. I think they enjoy the high classes because they see people who share the same values that they do. Uh You know, this is a dynamic process and a necessary process for the transformation of the world when their comments are coming from their heart, then you know that it has really, really touched them. Uh behind class is really fun. You're together with all your friends and you make new friends. Well, I like getting to see my friends because we live in West County. So we don't see them often and I get to see some friends. You should come because it's like what you won't learn this in like your regular schools. The reason why I come here because I think it's fun just to, to experience a new religion that you don't know about because most of them, you probably know a lot about them. So it's like when you take a break and you just just um be with all the kids and they're all having a good time. I like that to learn how to be helpful and how to help others. Every time when I come here it's like, it's always I leave with something like, whoa, maybe I should keep this in mind. These classes got started about a year ago. There had been some issues at, uh, my, uh, children's school and I had been talking with other moms too on the playground And it seemed like, you know, it was something that was bothering a few of the moms. And I thought, hm, here's an opportunity that maybe I could offer something positive. I had just come back from a core curriculum training and because I didn't want to alienate anybody, I thought I will, I will not discuss spirituality at all in the beginning because maybe there were some people who had, who didn't think they had a belief in God. So, um we just did virtues. My mom first started the classes at our house and she invited some of the kids that go to our school that are me and my brother's friends and she taught us like virtues, happiness, fun stuff like that. And she gave us activities to do. You know, after I came back from the teacher development workshops, uh I started mentioning to the moms, you know, individually that I was uh thinking of giving it a spiritual basis. And there are a lot of material on the internet for character education and we could go and download those and work with those. But I had been trained in the core curriculum training. And, um, and I was wondering if they would be interested for art classes. And I went over the different strands, but the Oneness strand covers the themes that we are all interested in and we like to teach our Children about it. And so they were, uh, they were all uh very happy. Actually, the first comment that I heard was that, oh Marion, that's a great idea. It was very exciting for me. The teacher development workshops were very exciting for me because one of the workshops is about outreach and inclusion. And it was amazing to me because I felt like, how did these people know that it was the spiritual quality of generosity that is gonna touch the heart? I hope that maybe some more of our friends will join the classes and then it might be a little funner and they'll be more at and maybe we could go on like field trips, all the violence that's in the world now, like where other people live, people house getting broken into and all that stuff like that. I think it's just unnecessary like how, how the life, how hard it was for baha to live. But no matter how hard it was, he was always happy. I wanted to like um changed the world to make everybody else know how they felt and stuff that no matter where you grow up, you still can be nice. That's one of the most important things for me is understanding that we're really raising the next generation of kids who uh as adults will transform the world. At the beginning of this plan, we realized that we need to be having children's classes in our cluster. And there were, were no classes. I don't know, that's just kind of just set off bells and whistles. And I said we need to start some classes. So at the time, we thought we only had one child in the area, Isaiah. And so we invited Isaiah to come to the class. Next thing you know, we have triplets coming. And so now you can see that it's grown to about nine or 12 Children. We usually have when we began Marcus. And I, we we aren't teachers by trade. We've never taught children's classes since we've been by heist. And we're like the main thing we want is that the Children feel loved and we think that's why they really like it because they feel loved and um they seem to be happy about their faces. They uh their faces look like love. And we ordered the lesson planning guys. But the classes uh you know, we didn't do any planning lesson plans. We started like a few months and then we came to teacher training before we were singing songs and uh trying to do some of the activities as best we know. But after we went to training, we understood uh those activities and how it fit in with the goal and the topics and those objectives. Oh, it made every difference. They, they seem to love the class. So it works. That's all I can say is I did it, it worked. The Children are happy and they are learning things. You see the grown ups over there, like sometimes someone goes, well, I didn't know that and you start talking on the way home about it. One thing I must say is this is that, you know, when I open up the book to see the core curriculum and the way that our programs are laid out, hey, if you follow them programs, you know, you ain't gonna have no problem. You know, it's just like uh a cake mix. You know what I'm saying? You follow to t I mean, read all of it. The little program, it becomes very simple. Last Sunday we did, we got a straw and we put a little uh circle in it and then you had to blow and then try to lift, um, there's paper heart up up and then there's a heart and you blow through the straw and it lifts the heart. And they were surprised. I think that's why they remember because they thought don't, you shouldn't, you suck the straw. I said now you blow and put the air out and then we explained about the lift and they were fascinated and then we did uh a heart and we cut it into puzzle pieces and each piece had one of the golden rules on it. And of course, we fit them together. And then we had a quote from Abdul baha. I know one of the parents. The parent is uh not a Baha'i, but she is so excited about her daughter learning these prayers. I've seen um more community involvement. I've seen uh more unity in the community and one of the things I've been doing is going out and finding kids. You know, first of all, you know, you had all these kids that were in the community that wasn't coming to children's class. So I said, oh, man, then maybe I can just go and see if it's right if I take them, man, man, that's what I did. So I had to go out and buy a new car. I've seen, uh relationships and love grow between the Children themselves. We hope that, you know, it can help foster, help bring together, you know, a larger community. And, you know, and these kids, they're coming from different parts of the city and that's the best thing about it. You know, it is, you know, these Children, we're trying to raise their Children free of prejudice. Well, let me tell you a little story. I took my first teacher training. Well, my only teacher training way back in 1992 so many techniques are shared and the way the training is done is that we experience all of those teaching techniques. As we take the teacher trainer class, we're actually participating in those activities that we might later use with the Children. So we can see what it feels like to discover something or think deeply about something. It gives me a greater understanding of, you know, the developmental state of each child and their spiritual needs and having um gone through the the program, it allows me to address those needs at their level. I loved my teachers. I saw, I looked at them as my idols kind of. And that's when I said, OK, I wanna teach Children classes when I'm older training for teachers is just another task that us youth or us Baha'i must take to have more instruments to serve the cause of baha. It's just another step that we must take to help this progress. When we were taking Ruhi three as one of the activities we were supposed to go to the children's school and one day to be to act as one of the teachers. And that definitely was a really positive experience for me at the beginning. Of course, it was everything was kind of new to me how we, we gonna uh put together the lesson plans and I, I started downloading it from, from the web. Uh So once I found out that there's actually a class that covers Kium. I, uh, decided I, I, I need to be there and, uh, that's, that's why I'm here. You can, you can buy the le less plain guides and you can buy the books but you don't really understand the system until you actually take the core curriculum training. Once you take that, then it all comes together and then you can run with it. I think that the quality, uh, of the classes increased after um our core curriculum, teacher training, which more than provides enough resources for you to be an effective classroom teacher. Their minds are like a sponge. And that's why I think this training is so important because they just wait for you to teach them and whatever comes out of the teacher's mouth, it just goes right into their hearts and into their brains. You should do teacher training because you want to give the best that you have to offer to the Children. And I think curriculum training, teacher training helps you do that. Even if you aren't a Baha'i, anyone's welcome to come with us. And it's really fun and you get to learn a lot more about different cultures and different religions because they will have fun and they might, and they, and they will believe in God. Well, if we tell other people, they might want to come and join us, it really gives a lot of flexibility to the teacher. I just think this core curriculum can go as far as anybody would ever want it to go. I don't see a limit. They teach you about baha a lot. They, the classes are fun and I think that people all around the country should come. Think you might like it. All humanity. Welcome with open arms, the Children of the kingdom, the Children of the kingdom. All humanity. Welcome with home, the Children. Um These Children are neither oriental nor, and the heaven they and shall promulgate the teachings of. And so right. Oh, is heaven you so probably of the and.