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The Concourse on High will continue to applaud the highly meritorious services rendered by future volunteers arising to reinforce the historic work so nobly initiated by the Knights of Baha'u'llah in the far-flung, newly opened territories. Posterity will likewise record with admiration and gratitude the initial victories destined to be won in the course of the spiritual conquest of the continents and islands of the globe. (69:2) A Succession of Victories- The opening months of the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan have witnessed, on the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian fronts, a succession of victories rivalling, in their variety, rapidity and significance, the prodigious efforts exerted, and the superb exploits achieved, during the first twelve months of the Global Crusade, by the mighty company of the stalwart Knights of Baha'u'llah in well nigh a hundred virgin territories scattered over the face of the planet. (69:3) Seven virgin territories have been opened to the Faith since the announcement on the morrow of the Ridvan Festival, raising the total number of the Sovereign States and Dependencies enlisted under the banner of the Cause of God to two hundred and thirty-five. The number of the unopened territories outside of the Soviet Orbit has now shrunk to eight, namely: Spitzbergen, Anticosti Island, St. Thomas Island, Nicobar Islands, Cocos Island, Socotra Island, Loyalty Islands, and the Chagos Archipelago. The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since my last sixth periodic announcement: Elizabeth Stamp, St. Helena; Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fitzner, Portuguese Timor; Elise Schreiber, Spanish Guinea; Violet Hoehnke, Admiralty Islands; Shahpoor Rowhani and Ardeshir Faroodi, Bhutan; Mehraben Sohaili, Comoro Islands; Marcia Atwater, Marshall Islands. (69:4) The number of Baha'i centers scattered over the continents and islands of the globe has now passed the three thousand mark. A contract has been signed for the purchase of a three-acre plot as the site of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of Europe, situated on a plateau near the Taunus Hills in the vicinity of the City of Frankfurt. A thirty thousand square meter property located on the banks of the Tigris has been acquired as the site of the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Holy City of Baghdad. A plot lying in the outskirts of New Delhi has been secured at the price of a hundred thousand rupees as the site of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Indian sub-continent. A twelve thousand dollar plot has been bought in Johannesburg as the site of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of South Africa. A five-year Plan has been initiated in Baha'u'llah's native land designed to raise twelve million tumans for the projected construction of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the cradle of the Faith. A six thousand dollar plot has been purchased in the vicinity of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf and registered in the name of the newly established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles. A property has been acquired opposite the Mother Temple of the West to serve as a possible site for the first Dependency of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of Wilmette. A contract has been signed, pending registration of a house valued a ten thousand dollars and situated in the immediate neighborhood of the Bab's Sepulcher, in the name of the recently established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada. Preliminary steps have been taken for the acquisition of two plots, the one situated on the ridge of Mt. Carmel, the other to the west of the Bab's resting-place and for their subsequent registration in the name of the Israel Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of Persia and of Australia and New Zealand, respectively. A national Harziratu'l-Quds has been purchased in Kabul and one in Johannesburg. Arrangements will soon be completed for the purchase of the a building costing over eighteen thousand dollars for a national Haziratu'l-Quds in Tunis. Funds totalling over one hundred thousand dollars have been initiated for the purchase of similar institutions in Anchorage, Asuncion, Auckland, Bahrayn, Beirut, Bern, Bogota, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Ciudad Trujillo, Colombo, Copenhagen, Guatemala, Havana, Helsingfors, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, La Paz, Lima, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Managua, Mexico City, Montevideo, Oslo, Panama City, Port-au-Prince, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San Jose, Santiago, San Salvador, Stockholm, Suva, Tegucigalpa, The Hague, Tokyo, and Vienna, as well as for the acquisition of the Garden of Ridvan in Baghdad, the transfer of the remains of the wife of the Bab in Shiraz and for the purchase of the sites associated with Baha'u'llah's exile in Istanbul and in Adrianople. The initiation of these Funds has been made possible to a notable extent as a result of the successive contributions made by the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, outstanding benefactress of the Faith, for the furtherance of some of the most vital objectives of the Ten-Year Plan. Negotiations are now afoot aiming at the acquisition of the fortress of Chihriq including its precincts involving the expenditure of a sum of over two hundred thousand tumans. Preliminary documents have been signed in connection with the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel of five house, situated at the foot of Mt. Carmel and adjoining the last terrace of the Bab's Shrine, for a sum of approximately sixty thousand dollars.
(69:5)
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