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Cluster Narratives From This Month
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⋅I met for an hour with a youth about the
situation in the Middle East, elaborating the
importance of the idea in the Baha’i writings
about Justice and also about how the idea of the
unity of humanity is important to solving
problems like this. Also expressed how working
towards building new communities founded on
unity is an action we can all take in the face
of events out of our control.
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⋅Feeling grateful for a wonderful morning
yesterday deepening on guidance as it pertains
to home visits and community building. Received
wonderful cookies to pass out on visits, and
today I had a wonderful visit with a newer
neighbor family who was happy to receive the
cookies and spend time building our
friendship.
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⋅Last week I visited friend , which she is
familiar with the faith and we had all kind of
conversations, including the faith again.
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⋅This morning, a friend and I met one of
the seekers who attended a fireside at my
friend's place. We met for breakfast at his
residence. We had a good conversation covering
many topics about the Faith. He expressed
interest in participating in a study circle for
Reflections on the Life of the Spirit.
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⋅Last Thursday, I met a man for coffee at a
local restaurant. He had requested information
on the Seeker Response System. He attended
October's fireside at the Movaghs. At our get
together, we talked of many things but always
came back to the spiritual principles. He is
interested in having a group at his retirement
home to discuss the Faith and spiritual
principles. He will be attending tonight's
fireside.
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⋅I visited my coworker at her cubicle and we had
a lengthy conversation about how seeing "Killers
of the Flower Moon" opened her eyes and deepened
her understanding of the importance of hearing
others' stories, because even if you know the
history of an event, you don't know the entire
history. And she highly recommends the film even
though it's 3 1/2 hours long.
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⋅Expansion phase, day 12: 2+ lovely hours spent
in conversation and fellowship with women of
four faiths focused on gratitude. 💞 Too many
conversations to count.
And more
conversations at the OneCommunity annual
Friendship Dinner held at St. Mark's Episcopal
Church in Glen Ellyn last night, where I was
able to strengthen connections with people from
several agencies and organizations including
Village Trustees, among others. Count me
grateful for the opportunities 💖
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⋅Last week, my wife and I visited a wonderful
couple and one of their mothers. The hospitality
they showed us as they invited us into their
home was full of love. Among many topics, some
that stood out were conversing about increasing
the devotional characteristic of our community,
the spiritual education of children and some of
the more advanced content in book 3, the
importance of junior youth being spiritually
empowered. We were there for about 4 hrs and we
covered just about every topic focused on
building a vibrant community life.
10 out of
10, would do again!
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⋅Two home visits. Visit A: This was an outreach
home visit to one of the Baha’is in our cluster
who was not able to attend a recent Reflection
Gathering. Accompanied by two friends, armed
with cookies and left over Trick or Treat candy,
we prayed, reviewed the Jenabe Caldwell story,
studied the excerpt from the UHJ Dec 30, 2021
letter, and worked on our Home Visit Planning
Guides. And we delivered a love letter! We all
left better equipped to home visit during this
Expansion Phase. Visit B: This was a home visit
to a couple in their 80s to help them pay their
rent. Their landlord prefers an electronic
online payment and they were having problems
accessing their online account. It took a few
hours to sort out but they were able to go to
bed knowing that the rent was paid on time.
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⋅There was a fireside this evening at Mark &
Mahshad Movagh's home. There were seven people
present, including two people from the community
of interest. One is the gentleman I met with
last week. The other is one of our contacts from
TheosoFEST. Philip spoke on progressive
revelation and the subsequent conversation
delved into a lot of related topics and
concepts. Both of our friends expressed interest
in coming again in December, and in further
study, possibly in a Ruhi Reflections on the
Life of the Spirit. We will definitely be
following up with them.
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⋅I was visited yesterday by 2 beautiful souls.
Shared prayers and inspirational teaching
stories. Enjoyed meaningful conversation.
Feeling uplifted 🥰🤗
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⋅ ComeUnity
Thursday Dec 14 at 7pm
Second Thursday of every month.
First Church of Lombard 220 S Main Street
Lombard, IL 60148
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⋅ Monthly Devotions
Saturday Dec 9 6-8 pm
Held at the Shahrokh residence. Please
text (630)
805-1397 for the address.
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⋅ Service Project
Saturday, December 2nd 9am-noon
Springbrook Prairie in Naperville
Please join us as we help restore the native prairie land!
This service project is for volunteers 8 and older. With the
help of a guide we will be using clippers and bow saws to
remove nonnative, invasive species from the prairie. Gloves
and tools will be provided, but if you have your own gloves
feel free to bring them. This work day will still occur if
there's light snow, but would be canceled if there is rain,
or colder and windy conditions.
If you are able to join
us please sign up at the link below:
https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/fpddc/activity/search/detail/19020?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true.
Please reach our if you have register so we can
get a head count for the group. Feel free to text, email, or
call for questions at slpollack5@gmail.com
or (630)-399-3266
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⋅Meaningful Discussions
Join in on studying sections from the Baha'i
writings to provide a spiritual perspective on
challenges that are relevant to the community
today.
Held Sunday mornings at 11AM at the Oak
Park Baha'i Faith Community Center
124 Madison, Oak Park IL
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⋅ Hour of Prayer
Held every Sunday at 10AM at the Baha'i
Faith Community Center
124 Madison, Oak Park and over Zoom. Go to this
website for details and links for Zoom. https://opbahai.org/activities
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⋅Men's Breakfast
Come and enjoy some flapjacks & Mancakes,
wash it down with a gallon of hot steaming java,
and top that off with an ice cold cup of OJ. Now
that's a breakfast!
Saturday October 11th
2nd Saturday @ 8am
Uptown Cafe 24 E Miner St,Arlington Heights, IL
60004
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⋅First Friday Conversations
Friday, Dec. 1, 6:30pm-8:30pm at the McKee
residence. For the address
contact NancyMcKee
at:
Nancy@nibahai.org
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/326557993
⋅First Tuesday Conversations
Tuesday, Dec. 5, 6:30pm – 8:30pm at Peoples
Community Church, 650 Lambert Rd. Glen Ellyn, IL
60137
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/664704223
⋅Third Monday Conversations
Monday, Dec 18 6:30-8:30
1st
Congregational Church
535 Forest, Pilgrim
Hall
Glen Ellyn, IL.
Zoom Link https://zoom.us/j/168998487.
Meeting
ID 168
998 487
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If you feel ready to engage in meaningful
conversations about racism, what it looks like
in the world and in ourselves, and what we must
do to begin rooting it out, this is the place to
come.
We will be serving pizza, followed
by discussion on a topic related to
Racism/Social Justice.
The doors open at 6:30
with the meeting starting at 7:00 pm. Zoom will
be active at 6:45 for those who wish to stay
home or are to far away to join us in
person.
Our goal is building a stronger
community through sharing and
conversation.
Pizza Served at 6:30 pm
Meeting Start time: 7:00 pm
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Please send in any events, narratives, pictures, or arts
that you would like shared! You can reach us at Newsletter
Submissions
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Northern Illinois Baha'is
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2N500 Bernice Ave.
Glen Ellyn, IL
60137
United States of America
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