f
activities, not falling within the original scope of their Plan, not only
fully compensate for an apparent shortcoming, but constitute, instead of a
stain on their record of service, additional embellishments to the scroll
already inscribed with so many exploits for the Cause of Baha'u'llah.

Assured that no blot has marred so splendid a record of service; confident
of their destiny; reliant on the unfailing guidance of the Founder of
their Faith as well as on His sustaining power, let them address
themselves, with unrelaxing vigilance and undiminished vigor, to the task
of rounding off the several missions undertaken by them in Latin America,
and in the North American and European continents.

The extension of the necessary material support and administrative
guidance to the forthcoming national assemblies of Central and South
America that will enable them to develop along sound lines and without any
setback in the course of their unfoldment; the steady consolidation of the
victories already won in the ten goal countries of Europe; the
maintenance, at its present level and at whatever cost, of the status of
the assemblies and groups so laboriously built up; the provision of
whatever is required to fully complete the interior of the Temple and
beautify the grounds surrounding it, in preparation for its formal
inauguration and its use for public worship--these should be regarded as
the essential objectives of the American Baha'i Community during the
two-year interval separating us from the Centenary celebrations of the
prophetic mission of the Founder of our Faith.

Time is running short. The effort required to discharge the manifold
responsibilities now challenging the members of a lion-hearted community
is truly colossal. The issues at stake, demanding every ounce of their
energy, are incomparably glorious. An ominous international situation
emphasizes this challenge and reinforces the urgency of these issues. In
the Holy Land, amid the tribes of a dark continent, over the wide expanses
stretching from Panama to the extremity of Chile, in the heart of its own
homeland, as well as in the new European field, marking the projection of
its world mission across the seas, the American Baha'i Community must
deploy its forces, hoist still higher its pennants, and erect still more
glorious memorials to the heroism, the constancy and the devotion of its
members. 'Abdu'l-Baha, Whose Plan they are executing in both hemispheres,