We are currently focusing on community building, through four main activities, which we call the "core" activities. These work on uniting people and uniting neighbourhoods. Baha'is believe in a two-fold moral purpose, which entails working on one's own spiritual transformation, while also working on the general betterment of the world. The four core activities are: devotional gatherings, children's classes, juniour youth groups, and study circles. In a message to the Baha'is of the world in 2010, the Universal House of Justice -- our elected institution which guides the international Baha'i community -- explained that our work can rightly be viewed as community building, and as a "process that seeks to raise capacity within a population to take charge of its own spiritual, social, and intellectual development." In the same message, it wrote about the core activities in this way:
"...meetings that strengthen the devotional character of the community; classes that nurture the tender hearts and minds of children; groups that channel the surging energies of junior youth; circles of study, open to all, that enable people of varied backgrounds to advance on equal footing and explore the application of the teachings to their individual and collective lives..."
I'm really regretting that I didn't take a photo of the wonderful devotional gathering we had last night! In attendance we had two friends from near Budapest who were in the neighbourhood, Raymond and Forough; Dan and Jeanne who live in the attached apartment, and who I share the kitchen with; two young Hungarian Baha'i guys, Richard and Attila; as well as Kitti, a youth I know from the american corner.
Instead, here's a photo of Dan and Jeanne and I, at least. This was during one of our morning devotionals:
Incredible! Sheldon, thank you so much for having this blog. I was particularly touched by your story about searching for our Baha'i friend, now deceased. Thank you for this service to the Faith, and keep praying (so will we) for your tenacious efforts there! What an inspiration to us all! Tonight at Feast we discussed your travels and we are trying to encourage others to follow your courageous example! With Baha'i love, Yvonne and Andrei
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