and seven children, she arrived in New Zealand
where she endured hardship and difficulties in a strange country. She
persisted in her unfettered search for truth and rejected several dogmas
until, with an open mind and a prepared heart, she read in "The Christian
Commonwealth" of 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to London in 1911 and sent overseas
for additional literature. When Mr and Mrs Dunn arrived in Auckland in
1922-3, Mrs Blundell invited them to her home, "Lymbury", Ridings Road,
Remuera to meet a group of twenty people whom she thought might be
interested. This was the first Baha'i meeting held in New Zealand and
shortly afterwards Mrs Blundell accepted the Baha'i Faith.

On hearing from Martha Root that Shoghi Effendi and the Ladies of the
Household were eager to welcome the New Zealand friends, Sarah Blundell
arranged to make the journey to the Holy Land in 1925 visit the Holy
Family, and the Shrines of the Bab, Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, and to
meet in person many other Baha'is--this was "a crowning gift to one whose
spiritual path had been travelled alone."(12) She returned to New Zealand
after first going home to England to see her relatives and, at the
Guardian's suggestion, make personal contact with the English Baha'i
community. She continued to work unsparingly in New Zealand to serve the
Cause of Baha'u'llah until her passing at the age of eighty-four years on
December 20th, 1934.

One of her daughters, Ethel Blundell who accepted the Baha'i Faith in
1925, was a delegate to the first Baha'i Convention and was elected as a
member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Australia and New Zealand in May, 1934.

Mrs Blundell's son, Hugh, was also destined to serve the Baha'i Cause.
Although not at that time a Baha'i, Hugh accompanied his mother and sister
on their pilgrimage to Haifa in 1925 and accepted the Faith the following
year. A tireless worker for the Cause, he was New Zealand's first
Auxiliary Board Member and passed to the Abha Kingdom on October 16th,
1976 in his ninety-second year.

Note 4. (Letter No. 2)

Effie Baker became disenchanted with the Church and, having an open and
enquiring attitude, was one of a committee formed in Melbourne responsible
for arranging speakers to address the "New Thought" organisation. This led
her to attend a public meeting at which Hyde Dunn spoke on the Baha'i
Faith and, recognising the truth of the Message, Effie Baker accepted the
Faith