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Nor did the nascent communities established in France, England, Germany and the United States cease to receive, after His memorable visits to those countries, further tokens of His special interest in, and solicitude for, their welfare and spiritual advancement. It was in consequence of His directions and the unceasing flow of His Tablets, addressed to the members of these communities, as well as His constant encouragement of the efforts they were exerting, that Baha'i centers steadily multiplied, that public meetings were organized, that new periodicals were published, that translations of some of the best known works of Baha'u'llah and of the Tablets of Abdu'l- Baha were printed and circulated in the English, the French, and German languages, and that the initial attempts to organize the affairs, and consolidate the foundations, of these newly established communities were undertaken. (303:2) In the North American continent, more particularly, the members of a flourishing community, inspired by the blessings bestowed by Abdu'l- Baha, as well as by His example and the acts He performed in the course of His prolonged visit to their country, gave an earnest of the magnificent enterprise they were to carry through in later years. They purchased the twelve remaining lots forming part of the site of their projected Temple, selected, during the sessions of their 1920 Convention, the design of the French Canadian Baha'i architect, Louis Bourgeois, placed the contract for the excavation and the laying of its foundations, and succeeded soon after in completing the necessary arrangements for the construction of its basement: measures which heralded the stupendous efforts which, after Abdu'l- Baha's ascension, culminated in the erection of its superstructure and the completion of its exterior ornamentation. (303:3) The war of 1914- 18, repeatedly foreshadowed by Abdu'l- Baha in the dark warnings He uttered in the course of His western travels, and which broke out eight months after His return to the Holy Land, once more cast a shadow of danger over His life, the last that was to darken the years of His agitated yet glorious ministry.
(303:4)
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