19 January 1923
The beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout Germany,
Care of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly.
My dearly-beloved friends!
Ever since I have resumed my work in the Holy Land I have been awaiting with eager and particular interest the detailed letters, individual as well as collective, of my loved ones in Germany, who, I am sure are arduously, devotedly and efficiently carrying on the Great Work which the Master has destined for them in this world.
Much as I desire to correspond individually with every one of you, yet I find that in view of the marvellously rapid extension of the Movement all over the world to start and maintain individual correspondence with the vast and ever-increasing number of Bahá’ís in the East and the West would entail so much time and energy on my part as to prevent me from paying adequate attention to my other duties that are so urgent and vital in these days.
I shall therefore very regretfully and reluctantly have to content myself with direct correspondence with every Bahá’í group in each locality, be it a city or hamlet, keeping in constant touch with them directly and through their respective local assemblies and co-ordinating their spiritual efforts and activities through the National Spiritual Assembly (National Body), representative of all the believers and local assemblies throughout the land.
I am exceedingly anxious, as a preliminary to the faithful execution of this plan, to receive as soon as it is convenient an official, comprehensive and detailed report from the National Spiritual Assembly, stating accurately the actual standing of the Cause in Germany, describing the progress of the activities of the friends throughout that land and the adjoining countries such as Austria and Northern Switzerland, and setting forth the names, the numerical strength, the history, the needs and the activities of every locality throughout these regions, however small in size, where the Light of the Cause has so far been able to penetrate.
I hope by this measure to enter into direct and constant communication with every locality, however small it may be, where a single friend or more is striving to teach the Cause and establish a Bahá’í centre.
It has been my great pleasure to read some of the letters addressed during the past months by the German friends to the Greatest Holy Leaf, and their perusal, I assure you, has filled me with intense satisfaction and made me still more confident of that glorious era of spiritual reawakening which the unseen Hand of our Master is sure to unfold to our eyes in the near future.
Your labours are unceasing, your effort knows no bounds, your devotion and selflessness are indeed worthy of the many blessings our Beloved has bestowed upon you and the Guidance of Bahá’u’lláh and His unfailing assistance will, I am certain, enable you to crown your ceaseless endeavours with glorious and well-deserved success.