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To the band of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, who have forsaken their homes, who have scattered far and wide, who have willingly sacrificed their comfort, their health and even their lives for the prosecution of this Plan; to the several committees and their auxiliary agencies that have been entrusted with special and direct responsibility for its efficient and orderly development and who have discharged their high responsibilities with exemplary vigor, courage and fidelity; to the national representatives of the community itself, who have vigilantly and tirelessly supervised, directed and coordinated the unfolding processes of this vast undertaking ever since its inception; to all those who, though not in the forefront of battle, have through their financial assistance and through the instrumentality of their deputies, contributed to the expansion and consolidation of the Plan, I myself, as well as the entire Baha'i world, owe a debt of gratitude that no one can measure or describe. To the sacrifices they have made, to the courage they have so consistently shown, to the fidelity they have so remarkably displayed, to the resourcefulness, the discipline, the constancy and devotion they have so abundantly demonstrated, future generations viewing the magnitude of their labors in their proper perspective, will no doubt pay adequate tribute - a tribute no less ardent and well-deserved than the recognition extended by the present-day builders of the World Order of Baha'u'llah to the Dawn-Breakers, whose shining deeds have signalized the birth of the Heroic Age of His Faith. (70:1) To the elected representatives of all the Baha'i communities of the New World, assembled beneath the Dome of the Mother Temple of the West, on the occasion of the historic, first All-American Baha'i Convention - a Convention at which every state and province in the North American continent is represented, in which the representatives of every Republic of Latin America have been invited to participate, whose delegates have been elected, for the first time in American Baha'i history, by all local communities already possessing Assemblies, by all groups and isolated believers throughout the United States and Canada, and whose proceedings will be for ever associated with the celebration of the Centenary of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha, of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Baha'i Faith in the Western Hemisphere, and of the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the First Mashriqu'l- Adhkar of the West, to all the privileged attendants of such an epoch-making Convention, I, on my own behalf, as well as in the name of all Baha'i Communities sharing with them, at this great turning point in the history of our Faith, the joys and triumphs of this solemn hour, feel moved to convey the expression of our loving admiration, our joy and our gratitude for the brilliant conclusion of what posterity will no doubt acclaim as one of the most stirring episodes in the history of the Formative Age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken during the entire course of the first Century of the Baha'i Era.
(70:2)
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