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naby of Bur mber 2009 y l b se m Septe al A s
before printing this newsletter
news & views.........................................2 core activities...........................................3 fund report..................................................4 calendar............................................................5 children’s corner.............................6 The newsletter welcomes its readers to send relevant news, stories and articles. Neighbourhood Liaisons and Area Coordinators are also encouraged to forward regular updates and any important announcements for inclusion in the newsletter. The deadline for next month’s issue is Tuesday September 22nd. Burnaby Bahá’í Newsletter bbynewsletter@gmail.com (604) 421-4494 Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Burnaby P.O. Box 56574 Unit 236 9855 Austin Avenue Burnaby, B.C. V3J 7W2 (604) 710-3985 www.burnabybahai.com lsaburnaby@hotmail.com
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Burnaby News & Views
Please consider the environment
contents
Feas t
Multiplying Core Activities in a Lower Mainland Neighborhood
T
he friends in the Burnaby-New Westminster cluster, in addition to taking part in fireside and home visit campaigns, focused their attention on the Hillside neighborhood, which was opened last year. Due to the settlement of a homefront pioneer in the neighborhood, they were able to establish a few core activities. Their goals for this expansion phase were to start 2 new children’s classes in the neighborhood, 1 new devotional meeting and 3 new study circles, to do 36 home visits, and hold devotional meetings every night. By the end of the expansion phase the friends were radiant, no doubt due to confirming experiences like the ones below. “A few days ago we booked a visit with one of the mothers of two children in the children’s class. We went there and the mother invited us in. We called her son…over to share a prayer he learned in the class. Without hesitation he said the prayer. His mom then told us that every night he tells her that he can’t go to bed until he says his prayers. Each night he does not just say his favorite prayer, “O God guide me...”, but he sings it! Then (one of the teachers of the class) began to sing a Bahá’í song with [him]. They sang the whole song. It was so sweet. The mother teared up as they were singing the song”. “I was outside and saw a man just watching everything that was going on. At the beginning of the teaching project we all agreed that we would try to develop 3 spiritual qualities: courage, detachment, and love. Looking at this man I knew that I had an opportunity to go outside of my comfort zone and do an act which, for me, still requires courage. So, I mustered up my courage and walked up to him and started talking about the weather. Soon the conversation moved onto the subject of the community and the need to have more unity and better care and education for the children. The man warmly invited myself and another Bahá’í to stop by his house whenever we can, and we agreed to come by soon. So, the next day, we stopped by and he greeted us with hugs! Then, we sat down and chatted for a long time over coffee. He has been very impressed with the volunteer work that we have been doing (i.e. the core activities) and said that he himself would like to get involved and wondered if there was any training that he could do. We were both shocked at what an opportunity Bahá’u’lláh gave us…
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September 20
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Neighborhood Feasts
Saturday September 26th (Will/Mashiyyat) Northwest (Hastings) Northeast (Lougheed) 7:30pm@Farahani 7:30pm@Samimi (604) 444-2122 (604) 421-4494 Southwest (Metrotown) Southeast (Edmonds) 7:30pm@Ravanbakhsh To Be Determined (604) 777-9159
By-Election After many years of dedicated service, the Elmasri family has moved to New Westminster leaving a vacancy on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Burnaby. In order to fill this vacant position, there will be a byelection held in our community on September 26th at the neighborhood Feasts.
”Founders of Faith” A series of courses are being offered which explore the basic ethical and spiritual teachings of the Founders of some of the major faith traditions. 1 – Sept 10 – Introduction, Moses & the Jewish Faith 2 – Sept 17 – Zoroaster & the Zoroastrian Faith 3 – Sept 24 – Krishna & the Hindu Faith 4 – Oct 1 – Buddha & the Buddhist Faith 5 – Oct 8 – Jesus & the Christian Faith 6 – Oct 22 – Muhammad & the Islamic Faith 7 – Oct 29 – Nanak & the Sikh Faith 8 – Nov 5 – Bahá’u’lláh & the Bahá’í Faith Instructor – Harold Rosen (haroldrosen@shaw.ca) Thursdays, 7-9 pm, at the Surrey Bahá’í Centre To register, call 604-589-7939 and bring a cheque for $40 to the 1st session.
Autumn School Eighth Annual Harper Mountain Gathering Friday, Saturday, Sunday - September 25, 26, 27 Near Kamloops, BC. A weekend dedicated to learning to interact with, serve, and engage the Aboriginal peoples of this land. For more information contact Gladys Anaquod at glad@jetstream.net (250-832-9750) and/or Noni Nault at noninault@yahoo.ca (250-281-4222).
Burnab y News & Views
09, Issue 10
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Baha’i Conference in the United Kingdom The Bahá’i Society for Persian Arts and Letters presents Άbdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh 27-29 December 2009, Hilton Watford, United Kingdom. We are delighted to announce the introduction of an English program at our annual conference. This is at the request of many friends who have expressed a wish to benefit from our lectures. This program will run parallel to the Persian conference and there will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion. The evening program will consist of music, films and discussion. Speakers include: Dr V Raafati, Dr V Behmardi, Mr B Khadem Misagh, Mrs L Ayman, Dr B Sabet, Dr I Ayman, Dr M Momen Evening program: Mr E Sabeti, Persian Cinema and music. For further information, enquiries and hotel reservation contact: email bs4paal@yahoo.com, Tel. +441707327522 or +442076027569, or Fax +441438712100
Baha’i World Centre Staffing Needs There is an urgent need to fill several positions at the Baha’i World Centre which require strong communication skills including demonstrated skill in writing and the ability to read, analyse and summarize back-ground material. The Office of Personnel is making a special appeal for the required human resources. Offers of service for these positions should be submitted by no later than the end of October 2009 by emailing a résumé to serve@ bwc.org.
International Pioneering The International Pioneer Department will be holding a pioneer information session in Vancouver on the 12th of September 2009, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm at the Vancouver Baha’i Centre, 5880 Main Street. An evening session with a panel of former pioneers is also scheduled from 7:30 - 9:00 pm.
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Northwest
Neighborhood LSA Liaisons
Core A
"Institute Process & Core Activities"
Zia Hosseinzadeh (604) 444-4155 Northeast
Babak Samimi (604) 218-9201
► ► ► ► ► ► ► ►
Children’s Classes
www.transformingneighbourhoods.org
Southwest
Tofigh Tabarmanaf (604) 430-1167 Southeast
Neda Park (604) 438-2324
ctiv itie s
"Ideas & Resources for Neighbourhood Planning" As our Community continues to transition each Neighbourhood into activelearning-centers throughout Burnaby, it is most useful to take advantage of the below websites to assist the planning and organization of activities.
Northwest
www.bahai.org/attaining
(September)
Southeast
www.reference.bahai.org
(September)
www.onecountry.org
Sunday mornings @Niki Smith’s (604) 422-0070 Sunday mornings @Kathy Flood’s (604) 434-0789
Jr Youth Classes
www.bic.org
Southwest (September)
www.bahaicanada.ca
Hillside
www.childrensclasses.blogspot.com
(ongoing)
Sunday mornings @Shahrezaei’s (604) 454-9653 Weekly Children’s and JY Classes erfan@rocketmail.com
Neighborhood Coordinators
www.ruhi.org
Northwest
Nahid Farahani (604) 444-2122
Neighborhood Devotionals Northwest (Hastings) Northeast (Lougheed)
Northeast
Friday September 18th 7:30pm@Samimi (604) 421-4494
Simin Samimi (604) 421-4494 Southwest
Southwest (Metrotown)
Afruz Zaeri (604) 297-0084
Southeast (Edmonds) Sunday Septemeber 13th 7:30pm@Izadi (604) 540-8739
Southeast
Amineh Alizadeh (604) 525-5705
Junior Youth
Area Coordinators
John Sorenson (604) 813-4197 Study Circles
Behzad Saisan (604) 727-5541 Cluster Growth
Erfan Farhangpour erfan@rocketmail.com Children Classes
Book 1
Book 2
Study Circles Book 4 Book 5
Book 7
Metrotown Metrotown New West Lougheed Metrotown Sun 7pm Thurs 6pm Tues 7:30pm Wed 7:30pm Wed 7:30pm (604)569-8165 (604)431-9798 (604)521-1955 (604)421-4494 (604)444-4155 (farsi) New West (604)517-9999
Neda Park (604) 438-2324 The Burnaby Bahá’í Community offers the above devotional and education classes for the greater community and Burnab warmly invites your participation. Please consult the listed contacts for more information. y News & Views
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September 20
Fu
epo R d n
1 Where We Are
rt Feast
3 Annual Goal
2 Where We Should Be
% of Monthly Goal
% of Annual Goal (scaled per feast)
09, Issue 10
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# of Participants
Splendour
54%
54%
40
Glory
65%
59%
42
Beauty
79%
66%
65
60000
Grandeur
90%
72%
63
50000
Light
98%
77%
54
40000
Mercy
51%
73%
53
Words
96%
76%
60
Perfection
48%
73%
47
Names
64%
72%
47
80000 70000
30000
28%
20000 10000
1
3
2
Chile
0
ental Contin g erin
e Pion
BC Council
c Ar
In te r
na tio
Wilmette
na
l
Online
Local
l
na
tio Na
Monthly Goal
Actual Contribution
Splendour - Names
100%
80%
60%
Burnab y News & Views
Loftiness
Dominion
Sovereignty
Honor
Questions
Speech
Power
Knowledge
Will
Might
Names
Perfection
Words
Mercy
Light
Grandeur
Glory
Splendour
40%
Beauty
REPRESENTATIVE SERVING THE INSTITUTION OF HUQÚQU'LLÁH Mrs Nadia Vargha Majzub 435 Stevens Drive West Vancouver, BC V7S 1C8 (604) 922-5152 (home & fax) (604) 925-3949 (work & fax) n_varghamajzub@yahoo.com
Detailed Fund Report is available at monthly Feasts. To make contributions online, please visit: http://bahaifunds.ca.
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September
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Sunday
Calen
Monday 6
Study Circle ---Persian Radio* ----‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Visit to Canada
Tuesday 7
Assembly Meeting 7:30pm lsaburnaby@ hotmail.com
13
8 Feast of Might (‘Izzat)
Thursday
9 Study Circle ----‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Visit to Canada
Friday
10
Saturday 11
Study Circle
Neighborhood
----‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Visit to Canada
Study Circle ---Persian Radio* ---Devotional(se)
Wednesday
Pioneering Information Session
12
9:30am-5:00pm and 7:30pm-9:00pm@ Van. Baha’i Center
----‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Visit to Canada
14
dar
15
Assembly Meeting
16 Study Circle
17 Study Circle
18
19
Devotional(ne)
7:30pm lsaburnaby@ hotmail.com
20
Study Circle ---Persian Radio*
21 Assembly Meeting
Newsletter Deadline
22
23 Study Circle
24
25
Study Circle
7:30pm lsaburnaby@ hotmail.com
27
Study Circle ---Persian Radio*
26 Feast of Will (Mashiyyat)
Neighborhood
28 Assembly Meeting
29
30 Study Circle
1
2
3
Study Circle
7:30pm lsaburnaby@ hotmail.com
Persian-language Bahá’í radio program Every Sunday evening, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm on CJVB Fairchild Radio AM 1470. *
Burnab y News & Views
Burnaby Village Museum 6501 Deer Lake Avenue
Bonsor Recreation Complex 6550 Bonsor Avenue
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts 6450 Deer Lake Avenue
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September 20
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09, Issue 10
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Stories & Reflection for Children “Justice - The Violent Carriage Driver”
Once when Abdu’l-Baha was in Egypt He hired a carriage so He could offer a ride to an important Governor, who was to have lunch with Him. When they reached their destination, the driver asked for a lot more money than was owing for the ride. Abdu’l-Baha was fully aware of this and refused to pay the extra amount. The driver, big and rough, grabbed His sash and jerked Abdu’l-Baha back and forth, demanding his unfair price. Abdu’l-Baha paid what He actually owed him and told the driver that had he been honest, he would have received a large tip instead of only the fare. Abdu’lBaha then walked away. Adapted by Munirih Hodge from Honnold, Vignettes, p. 109.
Say: O God, my God! Attire mine head with the crown of justice, and my temple with the ornament of equity. Thou, verily, art the Possessor of all gifts and bounties.
Baha’u’llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
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