These have been a great success in bringing new friends and the community together. Being new to Arlington, to the East Coast, to marriage and their first home together, Mojdeh S. and her husband Chris S. set out to share their love for cooking. Since it’s inception in June, they have welcomed many friends – new and old – in their home and elsewhere to share fellowship, food and fun. Conversations have inspired, life milestones have been celebrated and new friendships have blossomed. It has become the place to be each month for those wishing to try out a new recipe, get creative with a family favorite and enjoy the scrumptious dishes being prepared by friends from Bristow to McLean, Germantown to Fairlington, even New York to Washington State.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the inspiration for their parties comes from Iron Chef™, a culinary game show – based on the Japanese original – where a challenger chef competes against one of the resident “Iron Chefs” in a one-hour cooking competition based around a secret, theme ingredient. The “secret” ingredient at the parties is provided in the invitation and participants are asked to prepare an appetizer, main entree or dessert using (at least) that one ingredient in their dish(es).

Future parties will be announced with details in the calendar section of the Arlington Baha’i website.

Please bring your Bahá’í ID card with you for registration!

Should you not be able to attend, please send your ballot to the Spiritual Assembly of Arlington, PO Box 100936, Arlington, VA 22210-3936

For further information about Unit Convention, please visit http://unitconvention.usbnc.org/.

The location is:

Kay Spiritual Life Center
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20016

For a map view, click here.

So what can we do locally?

1. Write to your local Representative and ask them to co-sponsor H.Res 175. Representative Jim Moran of Arlington was one of the original co-sponsors of this resolution that “Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.”

2. Write to your Senators and ask them to pass a similar resolution in the Senate.

3. Attend a Prayer Gathering.

4. Watch an overview of the situation and express your concern on the Speak Out 4 Baha’is Website.

5. Use your talents to express your concern.  An example of this is the “Be Free Campaign” which has songs available for free download.

6. Join Facebook groups or other social networking groups related to the topic and express your concern. “Free 7 Baha’i Leaders in Iran” or “Prayer Chain for the Baha’is in Iran.”

7. Stay in formed – visit iran.bahai.us for the latest updates.

“Should they say: “These words are indeed from God, and have no interpretation other than their outward meaning”, then what objection can they raise against the unbelievers among the people of the Book? For when the latter saw the aforementioned passages in their Scriptures and heard the literal interpretations of their divines, they refused to recognize God in those who are the Manifestations of His unity, the Exponents of His singleness, and the Embodiments of His sanctity, and failed to believe in them and submit to their authority. The reason was that they did not see the sun darken, or the stars of heaven fall to the ground, or the angels visibly descend upon the earth, and hence they contended with the Prophets and Messengers of God. Nay, inasmuch as they found them at variance with their own faith and creed, they hurled against them such accusations of imposture, folly, waywardness, and misbelief as I am ashamed to recount.”
(Bahá’u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 11)

If you are interested in dialoguing more on the topic of “Interpretation of Scripture” we invite you to join the Arlington Bahá’í Community on this Friday January 16, 2009 at 7:30pm. There will be a short introduction of the Bahá’í Faith followed by a lively discussion and some light refreshments. For more information or directions, please contact the Bahá’ís of Arlington.

Stephen Hall and Rachel Ndegwa spoke as representatives of the International Teaching Center. Gerardo Vargas, a member of the Continental Board of Counselors, also gave an address. Continental Counselors are individuals appointed by the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body, to oversee the protection and propagation of the Bahá’í Faith around the world. Nine of these individuals serve on the International Teaching Center in Haifa, Israel, where the world headquarters of the Bahá’í Faith is located. Also in attendance were Robert Henderson, Jacqueline Left Hand Bull and William Roberts, three members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States.

Almost 2,000 people came to the conference in Connecticut, even with a sever ice storm; so many people showed up for this historic event that they needed overflow rooms! Saturday morning plenary sessions were following by a bag lunch, and then afternoon breakout sessions where small groups were able to study and plan together.

Saturday evening there were wonderful musical performances. (We hope to publish a second post highlighting those performances shortly). Sunday morning there were more keynote addresses and then more breakout sessions. Below are some pictures from the weekend.

So what are the activities that are happening here in Arlington, VA? We have study circles, which constitute a learning process that allows the Word of God to penetrate our hearts. There are children’s classes and junior youth groups. Children are the foundation of civilization; if we want to change the world we have to start with children. Local Bahá’ís also host prayer gatherings in their homes. These activities help us develop our own spiritual and social capacities as the world is in decline, and help us better serve the community. To find out more please contact us.