Teaching Campaign #12 – Day 1 (Mentari)

Friends gathered in the Old Town center early in the morning.

Invigorating mornings prayers were followed by a yummy potluck breakfast.

Team’s were split, photo albums and flip charts distributed.

Santi, Kogila, Balan, Ashwin, and Mitra had their hand at some role-play.

And then we were off!

25 friends, in 6 teams visited a grand total of 16 homes.

In Nov 2008, a young Viguna stepped into a Ruhi study circle tutored by Tamarai Akka. To the dismay of the team, Viguna was unable to finish Book 1 as she had to return to Perak once the new school term began. But Viguna’s sister continued with JY. Anna’s Presentation was shared with their mother during Teaching Campaign 11 and though positive, Viguna’s mother was reluctant to enroll – I agree with you, but you need to speak to my husband.

After months of casual visiting, the Mentari Task force felt it was time to revisit this family with Anna’s Presentation. Tamarai’s team was deployed. “The spirit was different in the house this time. Semua ceria!” Anna’s Presentation was shared with the parents until check-point #1 –

“Do you accept that Baha’u’llah is the Manifestation of God for this Day?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are a Baha’i!”

“Yes.”

The parents and 2 children are now Baha’is. Sadly though, Viguna, the youth who led her family into Baha’i core activities, was not here to be a part of it. But surely her time will come. 🙂

Ya’Baha’ul’Abha! The team and entire battalion of Baha’is at Mentari last Sunday were overjoyed!

The Baha’is feasted to a lunch of chicken curry and vegetables prepared by Mona and Balan’s family.

The days ahead for Teaching Campaign 12 look promising…

Cluster Reflection Meeting

The expansion is getting serious…

We call him Forest (Gump).

Seriously FUN that is!

...Rolling over the ocean, rolling over Mentari and Pelangi...

Check out the new faces popping out of nowhere!

If you want to see these BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN perform at Nawruz next year… Come for the RELFECTION MEETING and volunteer to talk to their parents about the Faith!

Cluster Relfection Meeting

Saturday, 30 May 2009

7pm

Damansara Perdana Baha’i Center

Dinner provided

Spiritually re-invigorating night ahead!

Earth Day at Mentari Children’s Class!

Teacher Alayna and the children of her class

Two Saturdays ago, the children in Desa Mentari learned about Earth Day, what it means to recycle and to not waste our Earth’s resources.

Teacher Alayna’s class did a beautiful Earth Day Tree which was barren at the beginning of the class.

By the end of the 2-hour class, the tree was full of beautiful, coloured leaves which were the actual handprints of the children!

The friends in Iran

Our Faith in Iran is becoming increasingly besieged.

Here is an excerpt from the recent letter from the NSA:

While the Supreme Body had deeply acknowledged the yearning of the believers throughout the world to “to alleviate the tribulations of their Baha’i sisters and brothers in Iran“, it had stressed that “What all must realize is that this longing may best be expressed through single-minded dedication to the prosecution of the Five Year Plan“.

Friends, let us redouble our efforts in our cluster as we remember our brothers and sisters in Iran…

For more information please go the http://www.bic.org

The letter sent to the prosecutor general is also linked here: Prosecutor-General-Iran-en

Ayyam-i-Ha Party!!

Ayyam-i-Ha only comes 4-5 days in a year and is a great opportunity to have day after day of fun!!

This year the community came out in FULL FORCE!

Youth conducted games, JYs enthusiastically did the same, adults put together the food and the community of Desa Mentari had their first and most memorable Ayyam-i-Ha party…

New JY participants join in...

True heroes are true servants...

He ain't heavy, he's my brother...

Unity in action...

Leyshani's child...

Under the watchful eyes of a well-wishing teacher Alayna...

My Friend, Happiness

Twenty four years and some number of days,

I have breathed the air of this earthly plain,

Wondering since then where happiness lies,

Beneath a rock, up above, a twinkle in the sky.

In my younger days, there was no doubt,

Happiness flowed through my fingers and my heart,

Life was simple and a joy to live,

But then the plague came, its name was puberty.

Through my teens, happiness was there,

But he was elusive, hiding behind the door, sneaking a peek when no one was there,

And slowly but surely he went away,

Replaced by the evil twins, complacency, and apathy.

Now try to understand that life was not a frown,

It’s just that when happiness is fake, it does not last all that long,

A month, a year, sometimes five are lost,

Before you realize that what you had was false.

So my search began once again,

To find my friend who had went away,

“Happiness” I called, “Where art thou?”

And he replied “Here I am, in your Father’s home, did you have a doubt?”

I asked “Where have you been my long lost friend?

Why did you abandon me?”,

“Here, here, always here, I never left this place.

It was you who ran and hid away and sought other company.”

And so my search was finally done, I found my happiness again,

I will hold him close, I won’t let him go even though there is bickering,

But now you ask, which road to take to find your blessed friend,

“How will I know if he is here, or in another land?”

He is in the eyes of the children you teach, especially when they hold your hand,

He is in the voice of any youth that says, “I can move this land”

He is in the heart of every person that arises to serve the Plan,

Where our Father’s work is needed most, that is where he dwells.

The Rainbow of Love

My dear lovers of the Faith! There is the saying, “There is a Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow”. However, in this context, i would say, “There are Potsss of gold IN the Rainbow”. I’d just like to share on the kind of souls that live in Pelangi Damansara.

On the left is Mei Lian, on the right is Chee Choong (lives beside the tuition centre)

2 Sundays ago, a bunch of us we waiting outside the tuition centre because we didn’t have the key. Chee Chong was coming up the stairs with his mother and brother, and when he looked up at us, I thought he’d give us a smile, but in return he had such a worried plus excitment look on his face. He turned to his mother and said, “Ma, Kuai Tian, Lao Sze Lai Liao!” (Mother, hurry up, teacher is here!). This is how excited they are every Sunday.

Mei Lian’s Father, Ah Seng, is the Taiko of the Chinese Residence in Block A.  Many are afraid of him. But little did he know, that there was another Taiko called Uncle Peter. Being Taiko’s that they were, they became good friends. Just last Sunday, Uncle Peter had asked him for names of other families whom he can visit. Ah Seng gave him 5 other names, and by the grace of Baha’u’llah, starting from next week, there will be an additional Mandarin Speaking children class conducted at Ah Seng’s house.   

Sri Santini (The girl in pink)

Big things come in little packges! This little 6 year old angel, in short, is the BOSS! But she is a boss with the sweeetttest smile. She goes around telling the bigger boys what they can and cannot do. According to her father, she can order around the whole family. I once spelled her name wrongly, she looked at it for awhile, then she looked at me, pointed her finger and said “Teacher my name is not spelled like this!”. This is how meticulous they are even at that age. And when she chants, O God Guide Me, she’s loud and clear.

Mr Ah Wong

This young man was showing off his kung-fu skills to Eric and Darmain on his first class. He is a handful, but there is no doubt that we can find gems within him. He comes for JY classes religiously every single week.

Little taiko with our very OWN taiko

This lad lives on the 5th floor. He used to just roam around, knocking on his neighbour’s door then running away, teasing individuals that walk pass, basically being mischieveous. Then one day, he met the taiko of all taikos, and that was the end of his roaming around on Sunday mornings. I personally think that this is a great picture 😉

Puvandren, being colourful

Puvandren is the voice of the class. He memorizes so quickly and is not ashamed to recite what he has learnt. Whenever we ask for a volumteer, it is his hand to be raised the first. His father is a great supporter of the JY and CC. He even helped us look for a mandarin speaking animator.

In short, there is a story to be told about each and every child.

ps. Photos were taken by Shermaine Chong

“Armed with the power of Thy Name”….a living proof

In short, O ye believers of God! Endeavor ye, so that you may take hold of every means in the promulgation of the religion of God and the diffusion of the fragrances of God.

– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan

 

67 friends, armed with love and servitude to the Cause, knitting the framework envisioned by The Blessed Beauty, guided by the love of the beloved Universal House of Justice, blessed by the Counsellor, accompanied by the Auxiliary Board Member and hand held by the Local Spiritual Assembly, full-heartedly step forth as vanguards and used as instruments by Baha’u’llah to spread the message of God. What resulted from this is an ever stronger bond of unity that no earthquake magnitude can ever shake.

What was unique is to see friends from various ages and background coming together, singing in unison the same message composed 166 years ago. That message is to build an ever-advancing civilization and that is what the friends have embarked on in Desa Mentari and Pelangi Damansara. For those who are serving in these receptive places are not merely helping develop a new set of human beings but rather nurturing souls, plowing the seed of love in each and everyone’s heart.

It’s the spirit that connects and not the body. The dynamics of each team and the approaches they take are all heavenly ordained. Each team spirit are aided by the concourse on high and showered with confirmation. “Arise…” Baha’u’llah tells us and that is what took place, “Falter not…” Baha’u’llah warns us and steadfastness was seen, “Confirmation will be upon thee…” Baha’u’llah ensures us with His love.

As we exit from the Expansion Phase with joy, fruitful results and sweet memories, we take a step into the Consolidation Phase to further deepen, strengthen and accompany each other in the path of service to nurture and show love to souls who will be encapsulated and transformed by Baha’u’llah.

Armed with the power of His Name….Our Cluster will soar to greater loftiness.

Pelangi High

Happy Day!

Like the wonderful news from Mentari, Pelangi too has been kicking high with joy!

 

 

 As of this moment, nearly 30 homes were visited during our 2 weeks expansion phase. And these homes were visited not ONCE but TWICE some TRICE! How did we do it? Well, we had at least 10 wonderful and solid teaching teams comprising the young, the not so young, inspired, expired, serious, crazy, friendly, busy, funny and you know what I mean but seriously, each team were given a list of homes to visit and an introducer to break the ice. What all teams can vouch is that they were never turned away. We were all warmly welcomed and even served food and drinks.

We don’t have the exact number at this point but here are some of the facts:

30 homes visited…

60 home visits…

7 new Jys…

 1 new CHINESE JY group…

Many new children in children class…

Children’s class now a mix of the Chinese and Indian community…

10 new committed souls in core activities…

*These are just for the expansion phase dated 8^th February to 22^nd February 2009!

Isn’t it exciting!

Enjoy some photos!

 

Teaching teams in actionbefore going in Pelangi

Vanathi the record keeper

our version of a romantic dinner

Teaching Campaign 11 – Week 1

Amidst the celebration of Ponggal, about 30 friends from across the cluster joined hands for a truly fun 1st weekend of the teaching campaign at the Desa Mentari receptive population!

Details:

…About 15 homes were visited.

…28 new children signed up for children’s class!

…7 new JY signed up for JYSEP!!

…and 7 friends accepted the Faith!!!

A conversation between a group of JY and a Youth:

JY – Macam mana nak masuk Baha’i? (how do I become a Baha’i?)

Youth – Kalau dalam hati you fikir you adalah Baha’i, so macam itu you Baha’i la… (if you feel in your heart you are Baha’i, then you are Baha’i!)

JY – So kita semua Baha’i la!?! (if that’s the case, then I am a Baha’i!)

Youth – [nods profusely]

The JY were overjoyed to hear the news!!

Some photos from Day #2:

Leela doing a home visit, her recently begun Book 2 participants looking on...

Munusamy off to another home...

Having lunch all together... Exchanging stories...

Looking up at all those floors...

While still in the middle of Book 3, Leyshani has arisen bravely to be a children's class teacher to meet the exploding need!

Children's Class teachers managing attendance records with the new influx of children...

Devaki must either be saying "It was perfect!" or "That's 3 homes with new Baha'is!" or quite possibly "I can't believe this only costs 3 Ringgit!"

Aleysha uses her lunch break to do some additional teaching with a visitor...

Radiating that glow one can only get when teaching...

Also glowing... Jer Han, a Baha'i of only 4 months, is already in the midst of Book 5 and fully part of the teaching campaign!!

Ashwin...or is it Arhwin? Anyway, from the looks of it, it seems 'someone' has been out teaching...

German reinforcements add to our diversity and hence our spiritual attraction...

Tamarai, replenishes her energy after lots of teaching. So many of the teachers were having dry throats... Next time, CGC must sponsor some lozanges! 🙂

More coming up next week…