As regards various questions you asked in your letter of February 17th:
It is of the utmost importance to keep the pioneers in their goals. If, for reasons over which you have no control, they are forced to leave a certain pioneer area, then he would strongly recommend that, instead of returning all the way to their home base, they be routed to another base in the Pacific where they can serve the Faith. This is both economical, and hastens the attainment of our goals. Matters of detail as to how these plans are best worked out, are naturally left to the discretion of the National Body responsible for the area in question.
In your letter of August 14th, you mention a small translation of a Timorese language has been secured from Dili. The Guardian would like to know what the specific name of this language is, and, if it has been printed, he would like to receive a copy.
He was very sorry to hear that dear Mother Dunn’s son had died. This, no doubt, in spite of her devotion and fortitude, must have been a severe blow to her at her age; and he hopes the friends will do all they can to comfort and take care of this precious soul—the mother of their Community. Please assure her that he prays for the progress of the soul of her son in the holy Shrines.
The successful culmination of the long standing partnership of the Australian and New Zealand believers thru the emergence of the New Zealand N.S.A. is a source of great satisfaction to the Guardian, and no doubt to all the members of both communities. He feels sure this will mark a turning point in the work in the Antipodes and the neighbouring islands and give a new lease of life to the teaching work throughout that area. Both your Assembly and that of New Zealand have now emerged into your permanent form as pillars of the future International House of Justice. The bones of the skeleton of the World Order are growing strong, but only the teaching work can clothe them with flesh.
You may be sure that he will ardently pray for the success of your work, and that you may be strengthened and guided to discharge your important duties and to fulfil your goals under the Ten Year Plan.
With warm Bahá’í love,
R. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The progress achieved in recent years, rapid and extraordinary as it has been, by the Bahá’í Communities labouring so patiently, so methodically, and so faithfully, for the consolidation and expansion of the institutions of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh in the Antipodes, has been highly gratifying and has served to deepen my confidence in their ability to achieve their high destiny, and to evoke sentiments of ever-increasing admiration for the manner in which they have acquitted themselves of their task in the face of varied and almost insurmountable obstacles.