Wendi’s Wanders

Through the power released by these exalted words He hath lent a fresh impulse, and set a new direction . . . Baha’u'llah

The Baha’i regional conference in London, one of 41 such being held around the world between November 08 and February 09, attracted over 3200 people. We’re used to biggish conferences in the UK, where we meet all our friends, attend a few `plenaries’, go to couple of workshops, drink tea, listen to great music and watch great drama. Nothing like that this time. All our friends were there but there was no time to do more than say `hello’ and `isn’t this amazing’ and then find a seat (hopefully near the front, hopefully not too cold, hopefully one of the `soft’ ones) and listen as the whole Five Year Plan was explained and we were pointed in the right direction. Later we participated in the workshops where we mapped out our own futures.

Highlights: Well, everything. Excellent organisation for a lot of people at very short notice. Check out these sites for pictures and reports and everything else.

Lowlights: Too bad it was freezing (literally) and that, try as they might, the NSA was not able to provide much for children and nothing for over 4s - understandable, though, with so many break-out groups required. Our cluster bought tickets for the children in the cluster to see a puppet show on the Sunday morning, which they enjoyed very much. Great being in a forward-thinking, unifed, caring `A’ cluster!!!

Our grandchildren were at the conference. Aaliyeh turned two in December and Dreyfus turned five on Monday. Here is a recent picture.

And today a new book was sent to me in the post. I can’t read it, though, because it is in Arabic. However, I did write it, with Moojan. In English it is Understanding the Baha’i Faith, published by Dunedin Academic Press

It is published in Arabic by al-Furat in Beirut (most of the website is under construction). I am really thrilled that a book on the Baha’i Faith has been published by an independent publisher in Arabic - and extra happy that ours was chosen!

And speaking of books, have a look at the George Ronald website for some terrific new books - I am reading Time and the Baha’i Era by Gerald Keil at the moment - fascinating!

I’m taking it with me to read on the airplane to Spain, where Moojan will be speaking at the home of Augusto and Mirta Lopez-Claros on Saturday.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Regional conferences, Understanding the Baha’i Faith, Moojan Momen, Aaliyeh Southall, Dreyfus Southall, Dunedin Academic Press, al-Furat, George Ronald, Time and the Baha’i Era, Augusto Lopez-Claros

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