, without delay, of a
similar institution which the phenomenal progress of the Faith in that
continent has made imperative. The Construction of the Home for the Aged,
marking the inauguration of the first of the Dependencies of the Holiest
House of Worship in the Baha'i world, must, now that the site in the
proximity of the Temple has been acquired, be started and expeditiously
carried forward. The process of incorporating the newly formed National
Spiritual Assemblies, whether regional or independent, must be initiated
soon after their formation, and should be continually stimulated with
every increase in the number of these assemblies in all the continents of
the globe. Above all, an effort unprecedented in its range and intensity,
must be exerted for the speedy multiplication of local spiritual
assemblies in all the territories where National Spiritual Assemblies,
whether independent or regional, provisional or permanent, are to be
established, for the purpose of broadening and strengthening the
foundations on which these potent national institutions--the pillars of the
future Universal House of Justice--must rest. Immediate attention should be
focused on the multiplication of such institutions in areas where these
National Spiritual Assemblies are to be established in the near future,
such as South and Central America, the Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia,
Pakistan, Alaska, Japan, New Zealand, Scandinavia and Finland, the Benelux
countries, the Iberian Peninsula and France, as well as those territories
in which national assemblies are to be established at a later stage in the
course of the unfoldment of the present phase of the Plan, and the date of
the formation of which will, to a large extent, depend on the rapidity
with which these local assemblies are formed.

A MAJOR TURNING POINT

The Crusade, on which the army of the Lord of Hosts has so joyously and
confidently embarked, now stands at a major turning point in the history
of its marvelous unfoldment. Three years of magnificent exploits, achieved
for the propagation of the light of an immortal and infinitely precious
Faith and for the strengthening of the fabric of its Administrative Order,
now lie behind it. A spirit of abnegation and self-sacrifice, so rare that
only the spirit of the Dawn-breakers of a former age can be said to have
surpassed it, has consistently animated, singly as well as collectively,
its participants in every clime, of all cla