Homefront Pioneers

Day 15 – Home Front Pioneer Post, Central Alberta, Canada Inspiration from the Universal House of Justice Universal House of Justice On Wednesday, April 19, 2017, we received a message from the Universal House of Justice forwarded by email from our Baha’i friends located in several clusters across Canada. The Ridvan message was inspiring. We've been travelling across British Columbia and the Prairies for nearly three years and have witnessed how the friends are enveloped in the fundamentals of the Plan and how a large number of them are ‘acting on its requirements, and demonstrating rigour in the quality of their response.’ We’ve met with some who are reservoirs of knowledge and resources and with open hearts provide us with their experience and insight. Today, here in Rimbey, Alberta, taking our inspiration from the Universal House of Justice 2017 Ridvan message and applying its objectives to our clear purpose, we humbly wait for direction from the Central Alberta

Day 8 – Home Front Pioneer Post, Central Alberta, Canada Walk With a Purpose German Shepard On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, we took an alternate route to explore our neighbourhood. There are many large homes great distances apart on huge acreages. We walk a steady pace and with a purpose bring one of the dogs we are caring for - a German Shepard.  She is an amazing ice breaker. As we hike along the gravel road, we see a man working in his yard and we wave at him. He hollers hello and saunters toward us. As he gets closer he compliments us on the dog. We thank him and introduce her and ourselves. He gives us his name and asks us where we are from. Our lengthy conversation at the side of the road reveals how he and his wife moved to this location three years ago. We share a bit of our background and with his encouragement agree to meet him at the upcoming community gathering at his neighbour’s house. We walk away and I pull out my notepad to record his name. Names are

Day 1 – Homefront Pioneers in Central Alberta, Canada What is Baha’i? On Monday, April 3, 2017, we arrived at our destination. For three months we will be housed in an isolated community thirty-five kilometres south-east of Rimbey, Alberta. We accepted an invitation to pioneer the area by the Alberta Baha'i Council. Today, we met several of the town’s people and introduced ourselves to them as ‘newcomers’ to their area. When they asked why Rimbey, we explained that we are house and pet sitting for a local family and that we are also Baha’is who are hoping to learn more about their community. We felt the sensation of an open heart in each person we spent time with. Later, at the dining table of the homeowner, we talked about her tendency to collect protection idols such as porcelain angels, voodoo dolls and gargoyles. She asked us how we felt about protection and how it was that we protected ourselves from the evils surrounding us. Frank took the opportunity to shar