Letter of 2 February 1957
2 February 1957
The Bahá’í Group of Salzburg
He is happy, to hear that the Bahá’í friends from Budapest are safely installed in the United States, and that they are going to make an effort to settle in a way that will serve the work on the Home Front.
It was too bad that you lost some of the members of your much-prized Community there, just when you are trying to build up a Spiritual Assembly, but the Guardian hopes you will soon replace them with new believers recruited from the local population, in other words, permanent ones!
He attaches great importance to the creation of an Assembly in Salzburg and will pray that you may be successful in the teaching work there....
[From the Guardian:]
May the Almighty bless, abundantly and continually, your high endeavours, guide every step you take, and enable you to lay a firm foundation for our beloved Faith in that city,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 17 March 1957[54]
17 March 1957
He fully appreciates that you are not strong enough to act as National Secretary and at the same time fulfil your functions as a member of the Auxiliary Board, and he therefore approves of your asking the National Assembly, if you are reelected on it this year, to not make you the Secretary. He does not think however that you should resign from the National Assembly if you are elected to it.
Letter of 25 March 1957[55]
25 March 1957
Regarding the matters raised in your letter, as he wrote you before, he does not feel in this stage in the development of the Faith and the Institution of the Hands, that the Hands should request to not be elected on National Bodies, or resign from them. However, there is no reason why they cannot ask their fellow-members, if they are elected, to leave them free of the heavier administrative offices, so that they can do more in their function as Hands. There is no reason why there should not be a frank discussion of these problems before the National Assembly itself votes for its Officers.
The National Assembly is not obliged to follow the wish of the Hands.[56] It is also not the Body empowered to tell the Hands what to do; they can make suggestions to them.
As regards your highly meritorious desire to pioneer behind the Iron Curtain, he does not feel that this would be advisable or in the best interests of the Faith. You should continue your work where you are in Germany, and do all you can, as a Hand and as a member of the National Body, to see that some pioneers undertake this important service.