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Teachers, Secretaries, Nurses
Needed in Pacific Islands
The United States Navy is advertising for teachers for schools at its bases in the Far East and on Pacific islands. Vacancies appear to exist in Japan, Formosa, Philippine Islands, and Kwajalein Islands. Applicants must have Bachelo‘r’s Degrees and at least four semesters of teaching experience in the last five years. Single teachers or man-and-wife teams without dependents are preferred. Applicants may apply at the Navy Overseas Employment Office, 45 Hyde Street, San Francisco, Calif.
The United States Department of State is in need of secretaries in the Far East. Tours of duty are for one year, with transportation and housing provided. Applicants must know shorthand. Applications may be sent to the Civil Service Commission, Pearl Harbor, Main Gate, Oahu, Hawaii.
There is also a need for nurses, who may apply at the same address.
Bahá’ís who can qualify are encouraged to investigate the possibilities of pioneering through these means.
—ASIA TEACHING COMMITTEE
los Angeles Assembly Develops
Successful Group-Study Technique
The Local Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles, Calif., reports a very successful technique used in that community for the study of the individual and group discussion material which has been distributed by the National Spiritual Assembly.
Each study session was held in the form of a group panel, with from four to six questions assigned to each panel. Each group leader was appointed in advance and came prepared with the references and answers for the questions assigned to his group. The panel participants were called forth from the members present without any fore-knowledge that they would be called upon. No panel member was permitted to have reference material with him at the discussion table, so all discussion was entirely an interchange of individual thought and understanding.
The groups all remained in one room, each group discussing its questions out loud so the other _L},‘roups could participate as listeners. The response to this
BAHA'l YEAR 116
News
MAY T959
type of group panel was enthusiastic, and all present were more than willing to take part.
Some community members who are usually hesitant in expressing their thoughts out loud had no reluctance in contributing to the panel discussion. Forty-five minutes were allowed for each panel, and the last question in each outline was open for general discussion by all present.
The report states that “there is no question as to the benefits received by all who attended these study sessions, and that the method provided a release of the fear of speaking out,” which often prevents an individual from expressing his thoughts in front of a number of people.
Increasingly-Important Service to Bahá’ís Fulfilled by Area Teaching Bulletins
The area teaching committee bulletins are becoming an increasingly-important medium of communication and source of news within the regional areas they serve, and many have displayed notable improvements in a wide coverage of news, in format and inspirational quotations in recent months.
One of the most valuable functions of these area bulletins has been in the recognition of individual and group teaching activities and accomplishments, in a personal manner that is not possible in Bahá’í News.
Other important services include the publication of many communications from the National Spiritual Assembly, announcements of state conventions, area teaching conferences, youth conferences, reports of progress in fulfilling goals of the Ten-Year Crusade, and appeals for pioneers in needy areas.
All isolated believers, group correspondents, and local spiritual assembly secretaries receive a copy of their area teaching committee bulletins, and all are encouraged to read and discuss these bulletins at the Nineteen-Day Feast consultations.
In many cases these bulletins are the only personal contact that isolated believers have with Bahá’ís in their region for extended periods, and in this lies their value as well as their responsibility for efficient and inspiring service.
That these duties are being performed in a heightened spirit of dedication and service is a tribute to the editors of these bulletins.
[Page 2]
WORLD CRUSADE BUDGET
Sixth Year: 1958-59
Annual Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$-150,000.00 Total Requirements: May 1 to March 31 . . . . . . 412,500.00 Total Contributions: May 1 to March 31 . . . . . . . 287,500.00
——NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
America's Spiritual Mission is Theme
of Seattle's Negro History Week Program
Almost 180 people from Washington and Oregon filled the East-Side YMCA in Seattle, Wash., on February 8 to observe Negro History Week. The Bahá’ís of Seattle were privileged to present Ellsworth Blackwell, National Spiritual Assembly member; Joseph Powe’s Songcrafters, a unique male chorus; and a script depicting America's physical growth and spiritual struggles from her beginnings to the present time.
Voices raised in praise of our Maker formed a colorful and inspiring background for the speaking voices, telling in verse and prose the story of America’s spiritual mission. A script compiled by the Seattle Bahá’í community combined the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh with Bible quotations, and factual historical events into a meaningful explanation of America’s reason for being.
Mr. Powe’s masterful direction of the chorus brought forth a powerfully, yet delicately executed rendition of many songs. All of this served as a preparation for Mr. Blackwel1’s inspiring talk.
The governor of Washington was unable to honor the invitation to attend, but sent his representative, Sydney Gerber, chairman of the Washington State Board Against Discrimination; that board itself was represented by its executive secretary, Glen E. Mansfield.
Rocky Mountain ATC Sponsors Conferences
in Santa Fe, Casper, and Denver
The Rocky Mountain Area Teaching Committee has reported “three inspiring conferences” in its area, in all of which there was a deep sense of “the presence of the Holy Spirit, the transcendent power of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and an atmosphere of love. consecration, and service.”
Included in the agenda, which was the same for all three conferences, was a study of the message from the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land sent from Bahjí on November 30, 1958, consultation on the materials for reorientation sent out by the National Spiritual Assembly, and the condition of the National Bahá’í Fund.
The first of the three conferences was held in Santa Fe, N. Mex., on February 15, with twenty-nine in attendance. The “notable spirit of cordiality and enthusiasm” that prevailed was further enhanced by the hospitality of the “pre-Bahá’í husbands” of two of the members of the community, as well as to the leadership of Mrs. Muriel Ives Barrow, who acted as chairman.
Nineteen believers attended the second conference in Casper, Wyo., on February 22, where the discussion
MAY ‘1959
leaders were Mr. and Mrs. Tom Morrill of Denver. This gathering was preceded by get-togethers on Friday and Saturday evenings, the second featuring the reading of Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s “Mount Your Steeds.” The Laramie friends drove five and a half hours through winter storms to attend. A meeting for prayers in the evening, following the conference, engendered “such a tremendous presence of the spirit . . . that it was almost overpowering.”
The third conference was held in Denver, Colo., on March 1, with an attendance of twenty-seven adults and several youth. Mrs. Kathy Rodgers of Kremmling was the discussion leader here. This gathering, too, developed a “high pitch of ‘concentratedness,’ consultation characterized by love and harmony, and a climatic closing message by the conference chairman.” The reporter’s comments was that this was “the friendliest, most constructive conference we have had.”
The Area Teaching Committee is confident that every believer present at these gatherings returned home with a new sense of rededication to the Faith and the Guardian's Ten-Year Crusade.
"Finding the Path to Inner Peace" Topic of Lecture Series in Danville
A series of lectures has recently been presented in the city of Danville, Ill., through the cooperation of the Bahá’í group of Danville, two isolated believers of Covington, Indiana, and the Bahá’í community of Urbana, Illinois. The subject for the series, “Finding the Path to Inner Peace,” was divided into five areas of adjustment to life problems: childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age, and marriage. The opening lecture explained basic concepts in the fields of psychology and mental hygiene.
These lectures, carefully prepared from a background of reputable graduate study in psychology and mental hygiene, presented in each period the Bahá’í point of view regarding adjustment to life, but they did not directly present the Bahá’í Faith. Firesides were held during the series for those who wished direct information regarding the Faith.
Eight hundred folders advertising this series were distributed, including the mailing of one to each teacher in the public schools of Vermilion County. Advance publicity in five different newspapers amounted to seventy-seven column inches. Follow-up articles including -.1 personal interview with the lecturer added up to twenty-six column inches. This is the first time in many years that the Bahá’ís in Danville have received adequate and correct coverage of activities in their area.
Total attendance for the five lectures (one lecture was cancelled due to inclement weather) was one hundred-three of whom fifty-five were non-Bahá’ís, representing twenty-five different people and more than half of these were attending their first Bahá’í meeting.
Proclaim Faith at Iowa University
Iowa City, Iowa, Bahá’ís have held monthly meetings at the State University’s Memorial Union to make the Faith known on the campus. Publicity in newspapers and on radio has been generous.
