Dearly-loved Friends,
On the eve of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the opening of the
Formative Age of our Faith we call to mind the high hopes often expressed by
the beloved Master for the spread of the Cause in this region. His mention in
the Tablets of the Divine Plan of many of the territories represented in this
Conference, and the faithful and devoted services of that maid-servant of
Bahá'u'lláh, the Hand of the Cause Agnes Alexander, who brought the Teachings
to these shores in the early years of this century.
In these days we are witnessing an unprecedented
acceleration of the teaching work in almost every part of the globe. In the
North Pacific Ocean area great strides have been made in the advancement of the
Cause since that historic Asia Regional Teaching Conference in Nikko just
sixteen years ago. The next two years witnessed the formation of the National
Spiritual Assembly of Alaska and of the Regional National Spiritual Assembly of
North East Asia. To the Convention in Tokyo at Ridvan 1957 the Guardian
addressed these prophetic words:
"This auspicious event, which posterity will regard as
the culmination of a process initiated, half a century ago, in the capital city
of Japan ... marks the opening of the second chapter in the history of the
evolution of His Faith in the North Pacific area. Such a consummation cannot
fail to lend a tremendous impetus to its onward march in the entire Pacific
Ocean..."
