of and occupy the most
honored position among, the cities throughout the American Union, the one
as the mother city of the North American continent, the other named by
'Abdu'l-Baha the City of the Covenant. Indeed, so grave are the exigencies
of the present hour, and so critical the political position of the
country, that were a bare fifteen adult Baha'is to be left in each of
these cities, over which unsuspected dangers are hanging, it would still
be regarded as adequate for the maintenance of their local spiritual
assemblies.

WORLD CRUSADE TASKS

While this vital process of multiplication of Baha'i isolated centers,
groups and local assemblies is being accelerated, through a rapid and
unprecedented dispersion of believers, and as the result of the initiation
of vigorous teaching activities, through individuals as well as
administrative agencies, the incorporation of full-fledged local
assemblies--a process which has been noticeably slackening in recent
years--must be given immediate attention by the community's elected
national representatives, reinforcing, thereby, the foundations of local
Baha'i communities, and paving the way for the establishment, in a not too
distant future, of local Baha'i endowments.

The inauguration of the first dependency of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, the
first link to be forged destined to bind the Community of the Most Great
Name to the general public, expectant to witness the first evidences of
direct Baha'i service to humanity as a complement to Baha'i worship, is
yet another task which must be conscientiously tackled and fulfilled in
the course of the second phase of this Ten-Year Plan. The consummation of
this project must synchronize with the termination of the landscaping of
the area surrounding the Temple--a double achievement that will mark yet
another stage in the materialization of 'Abdu'l-Baha's often expressed and
cherished hopes for this holiest House of Worship in the Baha'i world.

Yet another task, of extreme urgency and of great spiritual significance,
is the selection and purchase of the site of the future
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in Sweden, as well as the appropriation of
sufficient funds during the coming two years, for the establishment, on
however modest a scale, of a national Haziratu'l-Quds in Anchorage,
Alaska, in Panama City and in the capital of Peru, in Suva, in Tokyo and
in Johannesburg, and the lending of financial assistance to the
Italo-Swiss Na