discharge befittingly the one remaining
responsibility in the North American continent.

I am praying for the achievement of a resounding total victory in all the
Americas, thereby sealing the triumph of the first stage in the Divine
Plan for whose execution the entire machinery of the Administrative Order
was for no less than sixteen years patiently and laboriously erected.

May 27, 1943

THE CROWNING CRUSADE

The American believers' seven year enterprise consecrated to the service
of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, deriving direct inspiration from
'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, launched on the eve of the world catastrophic
conflict, recognized as the greatest collective undertaking in the annals
of the first Baha'i Century, is rapidly culminating. Their sister
communities of Persia, British Isles, Egypt, 'Iraq, India, Syria,
Australia and New Zealand marvel at the scale of the prodigious labors of
the American Baha'i community, gratefully rejoice at the accumulating
evidences of its incomparable victories and are galvanized into action,
inspired to emulate its example. The multiplication of Baha'i centers in
recent years in both East and West, the erection of administrative
headquarters, the purchase of historic sites, the settlement of virgin
areas, the migration into neighboring territories are all directly
attributable to the potent impulse communicated through the superb action
initiated and executed by the American adherents of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. The initial stages of the momentous plan have been
brilliantly executed. The most formidable obstacles impeding its progress
have been courageously faced and progressively swept away. Its first
fruits, exemplified by the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the
Temple and the formation of a nucleus of the Faith in every Republic of
Latin America, have been triumphantly gathered. The pivotal year marking
the turning point of its fortunes has been immortalized by the
unparalleled exploit of the formation of twenty-eight Assemblies in the
States and Provinces of the North American continent. The range of its
unfinished tasks is swiftly diminishing. Total victory is within sight but
the six remaining virgin areas of Alaska, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward
Island, South Carolina, North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as the
inadequately reinforced Republics of Nicaragua, San Domingo, Paraguay,
Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru still demand the concentrated and susta