Franco & Patria... blissful life

Farewell Our Home

2009-12-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Music Mosaic... A Concert Presented by the Baha'i World Centre Choir

2009-07-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts from the audience...

"It was truly an enjoyable and entertaining evening coupled with the humor of the expert!!!"

"THANK YOU for an amazing evening, it was truly enjoyable!"

"...the quality of the choir (WOW)... "

"Excellent performance, as always, as expected"

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU"

"I am sooo glad I did not miss tonight's performance or I would have not forgiven myself forever!"

And how the choir members felt...

"THE BEST PERFORMANCE I HAVE EVER WITNESSED IN MY WHOLE BWC SERVICE. Those were real claps…real cheers…not just bwc audience being nice cheers…THEY WERE EXPLOOOSSIIIVE"

"I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE of you, Franco in first place, for this amazing journey we walked together. It has been and will remain in the years to come an UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE"

"I too want to thank Franco and all of you beloved choir members!!! Whenever it was a Sunday afternoon, I would think…oooo nooo I need to wait another 2 days until choir practice. I enjoyed it so much and now my Tuesday’s will be empty without them :(

All of you will be in my heart, thought and prayers!!"

Leandro Costino Leaves Baha'i World Centre

2009-06-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

Time has come for us Leandro's friends to bid him farewell as his term of voluntary service at the Bahá'í World Centre is coming to a close, actually ending on 09 June 2009. He goes back home to Philippines to continue in his service to the Cause in different facet, after being here for more than five years. His brother, Tinny, who has been here for also around five years, will still be here for another year.

All the best of luck Leandro!

Happy Lunch

2009-05-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

Today we have had luncheon with special friends, thanks to the organization of the Philippine Study Group that we have had this special day.

One of the highlights of this gathering is meeting our beloved Counsellor, Mr. Foad Reyhani. We have heard a lot of beautiful stories about him in the past and how he sets a high standard of being a Bahá'í in the teaching field.

We are looking forward to meeting him again.

Camping camping camping camping

2009-05-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and so is camping opportunities! In this photo one will not be able to tell the heat of the summer but those people in this photo got fried as it was really HOT, though the smiles from our faces is a testimony of how much fun we had. There is only one complaint though, the flies! There were million flies! We have been going to Luvnun to camp but we never had this problem in the past and we don't know why we had so many flies this time! Couldn't really blame it on the banana plantation behind us as it's always been there long time ago so we don't know what invited these little visitors.

We are scouting for a new camping site to try. Let's see where the next camping will be.

The Most Exalted Leaf... Navvab

2009-05-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

To this same burial-ground, and on the same day the remains of the Purest Branch were interred, was transferred the body of his mother, the saintly Navvab, she to whose dire afflictions, as attested by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in a Tablet, the Book of Isaiah has, in its entirety, borne witness, whose "Husband," in the words of that Prophet, is "the Lord of Hosts," whose "seed shall inherit the Gentiles," and whom Bahá'u'lláh in His Tablet, has destined to be "His consort in every one of His worlds."

(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 348)

Navvab, honoured by Bahá'u'lláh with the designation 'the Most Exalted Leaf', was the embodiment of true nobility. She was utterly detached from the things of the world and was faithful to the Cause of God. Her deep attachment to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh was one of her great distinguishing features. She had a compassionate and loving nature, was patient, humble and utterly resigned to the will of Bahá'u'lláh. Navvab suffered a great deal at the hands of those in the family who later broke the Covenant. Her faith in Bahá'u'lláh, whom she knew as the Supreme Manifestation of God, was resolute and unshakable. She served her Lord with exemplary devotion and complete self-effacement. Her daughter, the Greatest Holy Leaf, has described her in these words:

I wish you could have seen her as I first remember her, tall, slender,graceful, eyes of a dark blue -- a pearl, a flower amongstwomen. I have been told that even when very young, her wisdom and intelligence went remarkable. I always think of her in those earliest days of my memory as queenly in her dignity and loveliness, full ofconsideration for everybody, gentle, of a marvellous unselfishness, no action of hers ever failed to show the loving-kindness of herpure heart; her very presence seemed to make an atmosphere of love and happiness whenever she came, enfolding all comers in the fragrance of gentle courtesy. [35 Blomfield, Chosen Highway, pp. 39-40.]

In one of His Tablets Bahá'u'lláh bestows upon Navvab the unique distinction of being His perpetual consort in all the worlds of God. 'Abdu'l-Bahá in a Tablet states that the 54th chapter of Isaiah refers to Navvab, the Most Exalted Leaf, whose 'seed shall inherit the Gentiles' and whose husband is the 'Lord of Hosts'. 'Abdu'l-Bahá also refers to the verse, 'for more [are] the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife' and states that this refers to Navvab.

The three members of the family of Navvab occupy the highest rank in the Faith. 'Abdu'l-Bahá is, of course, the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, the Perfect Exemplar and the embodiment of all divine virtues. His sister, the Greatest Holy Leaf, is regarded as the noblest woman of this Dispensation and its outstanding heroine. Her life was laden with unbearable sufferings in the path of Bahá'u'lláh and dedicated to the service of His Cause. The third child of Navvab was her noble and long-suffering son, the Purest Branch. He was the one who, in the prime of youth, offered up his life in the path of his Lord when he fell through a skylight in the prison of 'Akká onto the floor below. In a prayer revealed after the martyrdom of the Purest Branch, Bahá'u'lláh makes the following statement, which Shoghi Effendi describes as astounding:

I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, thatThy servants may be quickened, and all that dwell on earth beunited. [36 Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 188.]

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Child of the Covenant, p. 22)

Patria Adding Another Year

2009-05-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Time indeed flies so fast at the Bahá'í World Centre. Of course, it is the same somewhere else but it feels more here than anywhere for some reason. We couldn't believe it that we are celebrating our birthdays already, it seemed we have just celebrated it yesterday. Where did the year go?

Well, it was one year of beautiful things - - limitless visits to the Holy Shrines, been to the Holy Places with family, classes, choir, cafés with friends, met new friends, saw familiar old faces who were on pilgrimage, Filipino gatherings and outings, tons of photos, learned new things like playing tennis, earned new experiences, grew wiser and exercised and enhanced virtues (we hope), deepened friendships for another year, enjoyed God's bounties, getting better at living healthily... what else can we ask for?! Another year for Patria (7th of May), for us (Franco's 17 March), and we intend to continue spending our years that way... maybe a little different this year but it will be as good as the last.

Celebrating 12th Day of Ridvan with the Javaheris

2009-05-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

All in the shade of pink, Mrs. Vida Javaheri, Mrs. Zeny Ramirez, and Dr. Javaheri are all smiles in this photo, a good sign especially this was taken shortly after dinner :o). It was such a happy occasion we had tonight with them - - friends from the Pacific, Australia, Holland, Canada, Japan, and Philippines shared laughter together as we enjoyed the excellent food prepared by everyone. We should also mention the well prepared programme for the evening! The beautifully done traditional New Zealand Haka (Maori) dance by friends from New Zealand, albeit the limited space as the room was filled with people in every corner, the very gentle Samoan dance performed by a Samoan friend like leaves being swayed gently by the cool summer breeze, the playing of Indian string musical instrument we believe is called veena by a friend from Australia - - ok there must be some confusion here but Charadaluxmy Perananthasivam (known as Sara to all of us) lived in Sri Lanka thus learned how to play this instrument before she and her family moved to Australia, the expected Filipino choir singing Garden of Ridvan, male Pacific friends strumming guitar for some Bahá'í community singing songs where we all joined in singing, piano duet by Bahia and Nabil Burias and by cousins, Alex and Nabil Burias, the short talk by Dr. Javaheri on how happy they were to see these people from different places in the world have come together in unity to celebrate the last day of Ridvan.

Our thanks to the Philippine Study Group for the excellent organization of this event.

Mrs. Iran Muhajir

2009-04-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

Twice in one year that we had the bounty of having Mrs. Iran Muhajir's presence with us. In June last year she came to visit the Bahá'í World Centre for less than two weeks and vouchsafed us an evening with her (read about the article here). At that time we thought that would be the last time we will get to see her but to God's generosity He had given us another chance to be with Mrs. Muhajir! The Philippine Study Group has managed to invite her for a simple dinner gathering - - held at the Buriases' flat at 58 Hillel 13th floor - - with the Filipino friends and tonight we had this memorable time with her. Like last year, she had shared some stories about her experiences in the Philippines and encouraged those who are leaving the Bahá'í World Centre to go back to the Philippines and help in teaching the Faith there, with some glances towards where Franco was seated, *hint*?

Mrs. Muhajir will be visiting for ten days this time.

Philippine Study Group

2009-04-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

Due to a large number of Filipinos serving at the Bahá'í World Centre the existence of a group that would spearhead activities for the Filipinos was formed, hence the Philippine Study Group. This group had been there even before we came to the World Centre in 2000 and since our arrival PSG has been very active and engaged in action in organizing events for the Filipinos and a lot of times these gatherings have been extended to our nonFilipino friends, which made the occasion even happier and more meaningful for all of us.

The past and present members of the Philippine Study Group have done a really good job in putting together an orderly and structured functions for the Filipinos, for which, we are sure, we all will be forever grateful for. The commitment, devotion, diligence, and unity among the members and the ever supportive Filipino friends have resulted in excellent succesful activities.

All of us who are here serving at the Bahá'í World Centre will leave this very special place and these gatherings we have had will remind us how lucky we were to have had such a group that organized and enabled for us to have these activities in our lifetime here in the Holy Land.

A Dinner Treat for Having Mrs. Violette Nakhjavani With Us

2009-04-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Violette Nakhjavani is at the Baha'í World Centre for business for three weeks and as expected all her evenings are booked with invitations from different groups of people here, of course everybody wants to take advantage of her company while she's around, which is not that often so one can just imagine why all of us want her all at the same time. Last night, she had graciously given us her time to be with the Filipino friends just over a simple dinner at our place. Mrs. Ramirez had also kindly accepted the Philippine Study Group's invitation for this occasion. What was special about this evening, apart from the presence of Mrs. Nakhjavani & Mrs. Ramirez are the stories shared by them. Mrs. Ramirez shared about her trip to the US and Costa Rica with her family. While she talked about the fun with the whole family, with the exception of her daughter and her husband and kids in Singapore, outside the Philippines, she would also interject activities in the clusters she's been to during this trip. We were delighted she had this special trip. Mrs. Nakhjavani spoke about Amatul-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum having a soft spot in her heart for the Filipinos who have arisen to serve the Cause and her close affiliation with some Filipino friends, including our mom, Marcelina, who had the pleasure of serving her for years before her passing in 1999. Mrs. Nakhjavani also fondly remembered jolly experiences Khanum had in some countries in the Pacific.

It maybe is the last time we will have Mrs. Nakhjavani with us but we have all these treasures from the gatherings we have had with them in the Holy Land. What a precious gift we received to have known her and Mr. Ali Nakhjavani.

Dor Beach This Summer

2009-04-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

Summer has come upon us, it is favorable to some but the mere thought of it is dreadful to others. We love it though but sometimes when it gets too hot... we are talking of 35 Celsius and above, how we wish it were still spring with cool breeze!

Today with Noly's (Parocha) talented organization a group of around fifteen friends went to Dor Beach for the day. It was a beautiful day at a very quiet Dor Beach, there were just a few groups there maybe around eight as oppose to one hundred in the summer. Israelis love the water and spending quality time with family picnicking. For us, it was still a little chilly to go in the water and being out of the water after swimming can be too cold unless people are playing ball games like the youths in our group who had so much fun playing in the sand and water while the others watched, enjoyed the food, and slept covered with a towel - that's Patria.

We like Dor Beach because of it's shallow water where friends who don't know how to swim can still enjoy the water without the fear of getting drowned. Not to mention the very fine light brown sand and the small island that separates deep water from the shallow part of the ocean that we all love, we can actually walk to the island with our cameras to take photos of the blue ocean or the big waves being broken by the island that serves as breakwater. Dor Beach also has igloos at its Dor Beach Holiday Village and camping sites though we have not really tried them as we think of Dead Sea and Eilat for staying in hotels and Galilee area for camping. Dor Beach is too close to our place for us to stay there overnight in a hotel or cottage and we find their camp site entrance fee more expensive than the normal entrace fees to camp sites we have been to. Nevertheless, we like going there to enjoy the company of our friends and the beach.

Happy Ridvan!

2009-04-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

21 April - 02 May

Acclaiming that historic occasion as the "Most Great Festival," the "King of Festivals," the "Festival of God," He has, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, characterized it as the Day whereon "all created things were immersed in the sea of purification," whilst in one of His specific Tablets, He has referred to it as the Day whereon "the breezes of forgiveness were wafted over the entire creation."

(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 153)

Carmel Forest

2009-04-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today, with our friends we set on a trip to go to Haifa Museum, which is in the Haifa University, for an educational tour. We have been in Haifa for more than nine years and have not been to it even once so today we have decided to pay it a visit. With us we brought food so after the visit, we reckon, we can go to the Carmel Forest, a national park across the street from the university, for picnic. Little that we know that on Fridays Haifa Museum closes at 2o'clock in the afternoon so when we got there at 1:30 they were already getting ready to close it. We were late! We thought like any other day it closes at 4o'clock. Oh well! So we crossed the street and went to the Carmel Forest and devour on the food that we brought for picnic! We sat there and watched the beautiful scenery of our mother nature. Took some photos to record the happy moment we had. It was a very nice day spent with our friends albeit the museum closed on us. We thought we will get to see it before we leave this place.

Masina Pomale Has Gone Back to Samoa

2009-04-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Masina is from Samoa who served at the Bahá'í World Centre for more than five years, a very dedicated and hard working lady. Tonight, Remegia (Cabute) has prepared dinner and invited us over so we could say goodbye to her. She's returning to Samoa on the 20th of April and will be enjoying the shadow of the Bahá'í Temple there and help out in the teaching activities of the communities in Samoa. We hope to see Masina again someday. Samoa is closer to Philippines than Israel so we are hopeful.

Good luck Masina, looking forward to hearing your beautiful stories about your Bahá'í teaching experiences back in the field.

Friendship from a Café

2009-04-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

This is an Israeli friend from Israel, Natalie. She works in one of our favorite cafés in Haifa in Mercaz with some other youths who have also become our friends but Natalie would always chat and joke with us whenever we are there so we developed a closer friendship with her. After a long time of not going to this café in Mercaz, we ran into one of the youths who were working at the café and heard from her that Natalie has moved to a different branch as a manager so we went and saw her in her new store. One time we were there we found her on a break and so we took the chance to take some photos with her. Now when we want to get coffee we consider going to Natalie's store, if we have time, we drive and get coffee from there so we would also see her. She's a really very nice, sweet, outgoing person.

Mansion of Mazra'ih

2009-04-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

Bahá'u'lláh loved the beauty and verdure of the country. One day He passed the remark: 'I have not gazed onverdure for nine years. The country is the world of the soul, the city is the world of bodies.' When I heard indirectly of this saying I realized that He was longing for the country, and I was sure that whatever I could do towards the carryingout of His wish would be successful. There was in 'Akká atthat time a man called Muhammad Pasha Safwat, who wasvery much opposed to us. He had a palace called Mazra'ih, about four miles north of the city, a lovely place, surrounded by gardens and with a stream of running water. I went and called on this Pasha at his home. I said: 'Pasha, you have left the palace empty, and are living in 'Akká.' Hereplied: 'I am an invalid and cannot leave the city. If I go there it is lonely and I am cut off from my friends.' I said: 'While you are not living there and the place is empty, let it to us.' He was amazed at the proposal, but soon consented. I got the house at a very low rent, about five pounds per annum, paid him for five years and made a contract. I sent labourers to repair the place and put the garden in order and had a bath built. I also had a carriage prepared for the use of the Blessed Beauty. One day I determined to go and see the place for myself. Notwithstanding the repeated injunctions given in successive firmans that we were on no account topass the limits of the city walls, I walked out through the city gate. Gendarmes were on guard, but they made no objection, so I proceeded straight to the palace. The nextday I again went out, with some friends and officials, unmolested and unopposed, although the guards and sentinels stood on both sides of the City Gates. Another dayI arranged a banquet, spread a table under the pine trees ofBahji, and gathered round it the notables and officials of the town. In the evening we all returned to the town together.

One day I went to the Holy Presence of the BlessedBeauty and said: 'The palace at Mazra'ih is ready for you, and a carriage to drive you there.' (At that time there wereno carriages in 'Akká or Haifa.) He refused to go, saying: 'Iam a prisoner. ' Later I requested Him again, but got the same answer. I went so far as to ask Him a third time, but he still said 'No!' and I did not dare to insist further. There was, however, in 'Akká a certain Muhammadan Shaykh, a well-known man with considerable influence, who loved Bahá'u'lláh and was greatly favoured by Him. I called this Shaykh and explained the position to him. I said, 'You are daring. Go tonight to His Holy Presence, fall on your knees before Him, take hold of His hands and do not let go until He promises to leave the city!' He was an Arab... He went directly to Bahá'u'lláh and sat close to His knees. He took hold of the hands of the Blessed Beauty and kissed them and asked: 'Why do you not leave the city?' He said: 'I am aprisoner.' The Shaykh replied: 'God forbid! Who has the power to make you a prisoner? You have kept yourself in prison. It was your own will to be imprisoned, and now I beg you to come out and go to the palace. It is beautiful and verdant. The trees are lovely, and the oranges like balls of fire!' As often as the Blessed Beauty said: 'I am a prisoner, it cannot be,' the Shaykh took His hands and kissed them. For a whole hour he kept on pleading. At last Bahá'u'lláh said, 'Khayli khub (very good)' and the Shaykh's patience and persistence were rewarded. He came to me with great joy togive the glad news of His Holiness's consent. In spite of the strict firman of 'Abdu'l-'Aziz which prohibited my meeting or having any intercourse with the Blessed Perfection, I took the carriage the next day and drove with Him to the palace. No one made any objection

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 3, p. 417)

Marcelina Celebrating Another Birthday

2009-04-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

As our mom, Marcelina, has requested, a small and simple, yet one of the most memorable birthday celebrations she had, was hosted for her in our home. She has specifically requested the presence of her friends to be with her on celebrating the special occasion of her birthday. For those friends who were unable to make it tonight, please know that she has certainly missed your presence and was wishing you were there too.

To all her friends who graced this occasion and showered her with so much love, she would like to thank you all for the sincere friendship and love you have continuously showered and still continuing to shower her with.

It was a very nice evening spent with you all.

Mom's birthday was on the 26th of March but due to a very busy schedule of all of us the celebration was pushed until tonight. And from the both of us, we would like to thank the friends for making our mom happy by coming and being with her on her birthday celebration.

Adieu Swati Shevate

2009-03-31T23:12:00.000-07:00

The MA section has today said goodbye to a very free spirited, smart, & hard working Swati who had been a great help to the section. Swati is going back to India to help out in a community there before heading to the US to get married!

We wish you all the best and happiness Swati! Looking forward to seeing your wedding photos. Please do keep in touch.

After Fourteen Years at the Baha'i World Centre

2009-03-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

When we first heard from kuya Willi that he is leaving the Bahá'í World Centre we felt happy for him but also felt worried as to how he will live in the Philippines again after living at the Bahá'í World Centre for fourteen years. Guess what?! News flash! Everybody leaves this place and life outside of it is a real world where real things happen. With kuya Willi's professional background, dedication with work, perseverance, knowledge, and positive attitude in life he will be fine and survive anything. He is a very simple man with a big heart that is open to everyone.

Willi Remollo left the Bahá'í World Centre tonight and boarded ElAl to Hong Kong, then to Philippines. He looks forward to joining the community of Los Baños, Laguna.

Willi is with his officemates in this photo. We all will sorely miss him.

Welcome Back Christine!

2009-03-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

We were frantically awaiting the day Christine Lee, we fondly call her auntie Christine, is back at the Bahá'í World Centre to see and be with her again AND the dried pork meat that she was bringing for us! She is very lucky we still have "blachang" (shrimp paste) else all her clothes during her pilgrimage will smell like that. She is back as a pilgrim, see her pilgrim badge? She came with her daughter, Jessica, and granddaughter Elsie with other five Singaporean friends.

Auntie Christine and we used to run to the bomb shelter together when the siren goes off in August 2006. Since there was war at the time we couldn't go anywhere so the three of us would be cooking smelly, ok not really that bad but could be a little unpleasant to those who are not used to it, but yummy hot Singaporean food and enjoyed it so much. We had breaks in between as we ran to the bomb shelter for 20-30 minutes for safety. Forever we will reminisce this experience with smile on our faces.

Can't believe they are not gone and enjoying time in Turkey. We will hopefully see her in Singapore August this year.

Farah and Bruce Thomson

2009-03-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Farah Moshirian is a friend from Australia who is married to Bruce Thomson from Canada. She was here November last year for a three day visit, that was a very short time to come to the Holy Land from Australia but to be in the Shrines for three days is all worth it.

We have heard about Bruce from Farah from the time they were getting to know each other, and in November 2007 they got married. Bruce wasn't a Bahá'í then yet. He declared he's a Bahá'í few months ago before coming to the Holy Land for his pilgrimage with Farah. Finally we met him in person although we felt we already knew him as Farah speak highly of him every conversation we have had.

So long our dear friends. We will see you again someday.

One Hundreth Year on Naw-Ruz

2009-03-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

In the Kitáb-i-Panj-Sha'n, one of His last works, He had alluded to the fact that the sixth Naw-Ruz after the declaration of His mission would be the last He was destined to celebrate on earth.

(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 49)

Pilgrims and visitors were here for the celebration of this year's Naw Ruz, the atmosphere of excitement for another beautiful year of having more victories for the Faith is in everyone. The occasion has even become more special as the chairman of the program read the letter from the Universal House of Justice addressed to the Bahá'ís of the world regarding this Naw Ruz marking the centenary of the interment by 'Abdu'l-Baha of the sacred remains of the Báb in their permanent resting place on God's holy mountain.

Bahá'í World Centre Choir at Naw Ruz 2009

2009-03-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Bahá'í World Centre Choir group who rendered Glory Be and oh Thou By Whose Name at the Reception Concourse of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice at the Naw Ruz celebration on 21 March. The next program it will sing at will be at the next Birth of the Bab celebration. It is most likely that it will be directed by a new choir director.

The members of this group representing more than 10 countries are: Abel Nkouaga, Adele Dodds, Alexander Burias, Bhojraj Parmar, Chloe Jasmin Filson, Dave Twaddell, Emelda Mafue Forchu, Fae Allums, Florence La Rose, Glenn Loe, Janis Vanden Dool, Jordan Lyle Smith, Lua Hemmati, Monib Kouchek-Zadeh, Nachidah Ngaleu, Nell Golden, Nicole Aburi, Nigel Howard Lea, Omid Aminian, Patrycja Koncita-Chrzascik, Paul Clark, Rewa Worley, Samim Lambrecht, Samira Ciotti, Sanjukta Basu, Shireen Louise Sasani, Sudeshna Basu, Valentina Bhargava, Leila Ehsani, Patria Aquino, Franco Aquino, and Anis Parsa.

Happy Naw Ruz To All Our Friends

2009-03-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw-Ruz as a festival unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee and abstained from all that is abhorrent unto thee. Grant, O my Lord, that the fire of Thy love and the heat produced by the fast enjoined by Thee may inflame them in Thy Cause, and make them to be occupied with Thy praise and with remembrance of Thee.

(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers, p. 259)

Franco's Last Birthday Celebration in the Holy Land

2009-03-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

Franco's wish is to celebrate his birthday quietly this year, which would maybe the last birthday celebration he will have in the Holy Land. Every year his birthday was celebrated with a lot of friends around but this year his request was to have a small number of friends representing the different groups he is in... Filipino friends, the Bahá'í World Centre Choir, pilgrim friends he used to work with, friends visiting the Bahá'í World Centre, and workmates. As much as he would like to have all his friends over it was impossible to do so due to the timing of the celebration. Franco, though not as small as he wanted it, appreciated the presence of the friends who joined him in celebrating his special day with him.

Happy birthday to Oxana as well who was also celebrating her birthday at the same time as Franco. Being born on the same date and year they would refer to each other as twins.

Next year at about the same time we wonder where we would be writing our article about Franco's birthday celebration.

Passing of a Kind, Gentle, and Kindhearted Man

2009-03-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

Vicente Lualhati Samaniego... a kind father, generous, very thoughtful, considerate, spiritual, sincere in his actions, loving, and just, who had touched a lot of lives, passed on to the realm of his Beloved on 7th of March 2009 at around two o'clock in the morning. As his wish, his body was laid to rest at two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day at Heaven’s Garden in Los Banos, Laguna.

O my God! O my God! Verily, thy servant, humble before the majesty of Thy divine supremacy, lowly at the door of Thy oneness, hath believed in Thee and in Thy verses, hath testified Thy word, hath been enkinled by the fire of Thy love, hath been immersed in the depths of the ocean of Thy knowledge, hath been attracted by Thy breezes, hath relied upon Thee, hath turned his face to Thee, hath offerred his supplications to Thee, hath been assured of Thy pardon and forgiveness. He hath abandoned this mortal life and hath flown to the kingdom of mmortality, yearning for the favor of meeting Thee.

O Lord, glorify his station, shelter him under the pavilion of Thy supreme mercy, cause him to
enter Thy glorious paradise, and perpetuate his existence in Thine exalted rose garden, that he
may plunge into the sea of light in the world of mysteries.

Verily, Thou art the Generous, the Powerful, the Forgiver and the all Bestorwer.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Fasting and Prayer

2009-03-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

Verily I say, there is a great station before God for fasting and prayer, but the favour therein exists when in health; when in feebleness, this action is not allowed. This is the Commandment of the True One (Whose Glory is Exalted) both in the past and in the future. Blessed are the hearers and doers, both men and women. Praise be unto God, The Revealer of the Scriptures!

(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers 9, p. 15)

A Gift

2009-02-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

On October 20, 2008, the Bahá'ís of the world received a letter from the Universal House of Justice regarding the forty-one regional conferences to thank Bahá'u'lláh for the favours and confirmations He showered upon those who worked hard in the propagation of our Faith and reflect the achievements thus far. Since we could not go to Philippines to attend the conference that was held in Manila in November last year, we just contented ourselves with the touching news and photos shared by Filipino friends to us. We looked at the photos and hardly we recognized people in them. It just shows how much the Philippine Bahá'í community have grown. With the generosity of the Universal House of Justice, it arranged for an event at the Bahá'í World Centre staffs to have the opportunity to be part of the excitements & celebrations held in forty-one cities around the world in February 2008. This was held at the Reception Concourse of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice on the 27th and 28th of February. Like the forty-one conferences, we also had two days of learning the achievements and evolution of the Five Year Plan all over the world and celebrated the victories received throughout the world. We had a devotional program on the first day to offer thanksgiving and to pray for the continuing undertakings of the friends for the Faith to succeed.

Martha

2009-02-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

"The advent of the prophets and the revelation of the Holy Books is intended to create love between souls and friendship between the inhabitants of the earth. Real love is impossible unless one turn his face towards God and be attracted to His Beauty.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 364)

For months Patria has looked forward to seeing her good friend Martha Estafanos and she was very happy when finally they met. A friend she's connected so well and would be looking forward to seeing her again. Patria regards Martha as a very lucky person whose blessings are pouring because of all the good deeds she's done in the past and will be doing in the future. A good person will always be a good person. They think they will see each other in New York City, where Martha resides, in the future and tThey both are hopeful this wish will someday come true.

With Martha coming to visit the Bahá'í World Centre again as a pilgrim, we also had the chance to meet her mom, Hoda, as well and meet her brother Shoghie in person. We missed meeting her sister Lua. Maybe in another meeting.

Snow and On Mt. Hermon For The First Time

2009-02-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

We have never thought we will ever experience snow in our lifetime, let alone on Mt. Hermon. We don't think we will survive in this weather condition. It was funny how we were so excited to see snow on the grounds for the first time. We took hundreds of photos of the unattractive road with a little bit of snow on the sides on our way to Mt. Hermon of course these photos were deleted after we got home as we had nicer photos of snow from the topof the mountain. We think most of the excitement came from the fact that we were on Mt. Hermon and the snow. When we finally got to the mountain, up we rode the cable car, we did not know what to do first, take photos or play with the snow! Of course Patria took photos first but the rest went and play right away. Normally in Filipino trips like this eating is the number one agenda, not at this time though. Everyone was just very excited! Some had fun with snow boarding and snowman making. Up on the moutain we couldn't explain how cold it was. It goes to the bone!!! Either we did not have enough warm clothing, but we thought we did, or it was just really very cold! After an hour we got tired of the snow and went in the cafeteria to have a cup of coffee and enjoy the warm breeze from the heater in the room. Down we rode the cable car again but we felt it was a lot colder than when we were on our way up! Did the excitement fade and made us feel the cold weather more than the experience of being on the snow? We had so much fun though.

White and Red Hotel

2009-01-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

Hillside Su Hotel is a classy modern 5 star hotel in Antalya, Turkey, with a motif of white and red colours. Among the five star hotels that our travel agency in Haifa recommended to us, this is the personal choice of the agents when we asked them... after seeing and being in this hotel, we would highly recommend it to you too.

We were welcomed by very high atrium and six giant mirror balls where couches were placed for people to sit on while waiting. Check in was easy, fast and efficient. Staffs were helpful and courteous. Our room was on the 8th floor and in every room is a balcony that has a huge and double day bed where one can stay for fresh air.
Because of its colour and lay out this hotel could be described as unique, we don't think there is another hotel that would look like this. It's not a typical hotel like the usual hotels elsewhere. It's whiteness made us feel we are in a very clean place. Not to mention it's really clean and well kept. At first it felt like we were in a huge laboratory and that is not a bad thing, it was just that it was so different from the hotels that we were used to.

Red dining... whoa! A lot of friends expressed it must hurt to be inside this dining. It actually did not, it actually became another wonder experience! We don't know how many other places that have a red dining but definitely this will be one of the first and last red dining we'll ever see. It's absolutely different, in a nice way. The food was excellent in this hotel too. Breakfast is typical egg and different bread with salad but the attentive, polite, and friendly staffs there made it special. Dinner was superb! For four nights that we had been eating dinner there we had different choices each night. Great food!

Union of Love

2009-01-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Today we have witnessed the union of Eamon Vaughan and Zyra Balaba in a very simple and solemn ceremony, witnessed by Mr. Hooper Dunbar and Mrs. Zenaida Ramirez. The program which was held at the Pilgrim Reception Centre ran for more or less 30 minutes followed by dinner. The bride had his parents who were coming from Papua New Guinea where they are pioneering attending the wedding while the bride had her father and sister to share this momentous event of her life.

Eamon Vaughan is from New Zealand and Zyra is from Philippines, both are serving at the Haifa Gardens.

And for us, maybe it will be the last wedding we will witness before we leave the Bahá'í World Centre.

Arnel Lejano Visits Bahá'í World Centre After Six Years

2008-11-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

This is Arnel Lejano, a good friend from Philippines. We have come to know him in 2000 upon arrival to Israel to serve in the center of administration of our religion, Bahá'í Faith. He was serving at the Finance Department for quite a while before he left in 2002 to go to China and lived there for few years before he finally went home to Philippines for good. Right now he very involved in the Bahá'í activities in the community where he is from.

Arnel was invited to come as a consultant for Office of Social and Economic Development (OSED) for three days, but was allowed to stay longer than that, which he spent going to the Holy Shrines and meeting friends and have more consultations on OSED related endeavors.

He will be returning to Philippines carrying the knowledge he gained from his meetings in him that he can use in the propagation of the Faith in the country. We are very confident this he can do with his love to Bahá'u'lláh. Arnel excels in both his business and in his service to the Cause. No wonder he is a succesful person and blessings continue to pour upon him.

Farah Moshirian Visits the Bahá'í World Centre

2008-11-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

After 8 years, finally Farah Moshirian, a friend who used to serve at the Bahá'í World Centre, after leaving in November 2000 visits the Bahá'í World Centre for 3 days. She was very happy, couldn't describe how she felt upon setting foot at the Ben Gurion International Airport, having been gone for that long, she just did not know how she will feel again. Eventually, she realized she was not dreaming and the rush of feeling at home is felt.

Menchie, Enna Marie and Maarten Schoot were very kind to host a dinner for her tonight so we, Farah's friends who are STILL here, could meet and catch up with her. It is very nice to listen to how one felt after leaving this place and got a chance to be once again.

We have been in regular communication with Farah so this meeting with her is, for us, just like seeing her after a week that she had been away from Haifa. It felt like she did not leave at all. She did not even change, still as slim as ever, her face is as vibrant as it used to be, still makes us want to laugh too when she laughs, still talks the same, still very friendly, and so on :). She is leaving for Australia on Nov 4 BUT will be back in March with her husband Bruce for pilgrimage.

See you again in March Farah and we are looking forward to meeting Bruce in person.

Zaira Koishinova-Pastores Leaves Tonight For Kazakhstan

2008-11-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

It seemed Zaira was just here a week ago for the 10th International Convention, it seemed it was only a week ago when she and her parents arrived for her wedding, it seemed it was only two days ago when we witnessed her lovely wedding with Ben, and it seemed it was only today when we came to visit them at their place after she became Mrs. Pastores but it had been more than three weeks that had passed us all by and realize it is time to say farewell to Zaira. It had been fun, really, to be with her. She is a very jolly person and genuinely sweet and loving to all, we are sure those friends who met her will testify to that. Let's not ask Ben as we already know he would say she is the most beautiful, kindest and pure spirited person, though no one can deny te truth in that, we still would think this head over heels madly in love guy will be overly biased.

Zaira leaves tonight at 7pm to go back to her community to start getting busy with her Bahá'í and other activities. Three weeks of holiday is fairly long to be gone from work for one busy person like Zaira.

Ben, hopefully, is leaving two or three weeks after today to reunite with Zaira. Not that we want Ben to leave us yet but he now have Zaira and by her side is where he belongs.

Artist Village Ein Hod

2008-10-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

We have been looking for Ein Hod for a long time but with our luck we never found it until today! We wanted to visit it with the Hollys before they left in August but alas we never got to it. Before Zaira leaves we wanted to take her somewhere nice for a day trip and Ein Hod was a perfect choice.

Ein Hod is very different from the other artist villages we have been to here in Israel. There are more varieties of arts and crafts here, more stores, and museums to visit. All the items in all these places are very expensive whew so one can just imagine how careful we were while inside the stores. We spent four hours roaming around and checking the arts stores but we needed more time to really leisurely go around and enjoy items closely. There are just too many beautiful crafts to see that we spent more time examining the items than usual.

Patria found a lot of subjects for her photography, just outside these stores are walls full of interesting things already. Most of the items she has photographed were from there. She did not have enough time to visit the stores as she got stuck taking photos of the walls and other interesting things on them. We may have another trip to Ein Hod for Patria.

We recommend this place to our friends who are in Israel. Don't miss it, it's a great place for artists and collectors. See it for yourself. Enjoy these photos, these are just few from the many items you will find in the village of Ein Hod.

Bernard's Turn To Leave the Baha'i World Centre

2008-10-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

After seventeen years and two months Bernard de Vera has completed his term of service in the Baha'i World Centre where he served in the Mount Carmel Project, Haifa Gardens Department, Northen Gardens Department, and Northen Development Project. He is heading to Perth, Australia after a week break in Hong Kong with some of his relatives and a little exploration in Shenzhen, China. He promised to let us know whether we should also see Shenzhen, specifically the Window of the World. We are looking forward to seeing photos he will be posting in Facebook. Bernard loves traveling, in fact he has been to all the continents except Australia. Well that is where he is going to now so a few days from now he would have been gone to all of them! Bernard is also looking forward to the conference that will be held in Sydney... what a lucky guy to have left when all these exciting things out there in the Baha'i communities are happening. High expectations are set for Bernard in relation to Baha'i activities basing on his past performance as a good dedicated Baha'i teacher.

All the best to Bernard! See you maybe in six months... hopefully.

Camping in October

2008-10-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

How wonderful to camp with kids! We have greatly enjoyed Enna Marie's Tag-lish (Filipino and English) speaking and Elfida's own vocabularies and actions while she was talking like a grown up woman that made us all laugh. We don't think we will ever find out what she was trying to tell us. Indeed it was fun to have kids around. They fill our days with laughters, crying and new things they have learned from us or from other people. They are such sources of joy!

It was quiet, compared to our previous campings at Luvnun (Galilee area) and the camping ground was empty, it was just us in that big area we usually pitch our tents so it was really beautiful we had the place to ourselves. Food was just perfect, coffee was always available thank's to Ben's diligence in boiling water. We played games till 1Am and stayed together as one group. We had fun playing "sets" and Horse Trade and some played Canasta. Patria enjoyed taking photos of her models... Enna Marie and Elfida. Some enjoyed the water in the Sea of Galilee and some just enjoyed picking seashells on the shore. The weather was also perfect, it was gloomy when we got to the camping site but it did not rain. The next day was a clearer day than the previous one but it was not too warm for us. We dropped by to say some prayers at the En Gev cemetery where Mirza Muhammad Quli, Bahá'u'lláh's faithful half-brother and companion in exile, and his family were buried. Our last stop before heading home to Haifa was at Aroma Cafe. How can one miss to go there!

We welcome Menchie and Maarten in the world of camping as this was their first time to be out of their home to sleep in a tent. We know they did have a great time and will be buying their own tent for the next camping trips.

Enjoy some of the photos from this trip.

At The Pilgrims Farewell With Elahe and Nadja

2008-10-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Normally we would not go to the pilgrims' farewell as there are too many people there already. Besides it is for pilgrims and not for Bahá'í World Centre staffs like us. But tonight is an exeption, which is most probably the other staffs say, as we wanted to say goodbye to Elahe Schmeil, Nadja and Sebastian Nekoui-Schmeil our pilgrim friends. We could have met them in their hotel after this gathering but it would have been very late for baby Sebastian and they are set to leave early the next day. We met with them in the Pilgrim House where some of the pilgrims were as well bidding farewell to each other. Having been pilgrims ourselves we could relate to how they feel about completing their pilgrimage and, after nine glorious days, having to leave these beautiful place and friends they shared the most life-changing experience the next day to go back to their respective communities.

Elahe returns to New Jersey while Nadja and Sebastian go back to Canada.

Elahe Schmeil and Nadja and Sebastian Nekoui-Schmeil on Pilgrimage

2008-10-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

Once again, we had the great privilege to have the company of Elahe and her daughter Nadja and grandson Sebastian. They are here for pilgrimage and were very kind to accept our dinner invitation before tonight's pilgrim talk.

Elahe Schmeil is the eldest daughter of three of our late Hand of the Cause of God, Dr. Varqa. At the time we would see more of Elahe when she would come to visit her father. She and her two other siblings, Nadie and Fafar, and their other family members who we got to know have showed us nothing but pure kindness and friendliness and love. After their pilgrimage who knows if we will ever get to see them again but a promise to them has been made right after the passing of Dr. Varqa that someday, God willing, we would come to visit them in New Jersey and Canada (for Nadja), and Pari (Elahe's aunt) in Pennsylvania. A year ago we went to London and stayed with Fafar (Elahe's youngest sister) and Ramin Khadem. Ramin is also coming to the Bahá'í World Centre as a consultant on the 21st Oct, hopefully we will get to see him as well.

In the dinner as well were good friends of ours. Back row, L-R are Laleh Ghorbanpour, Patrina Koay, Remegia Cabute, Franco, Maxwell Vloebhergs, our mom Marcelina, and Kelvin. In the front row are Nadja and Sebastian Nekoui-Schmeil, Bayan and his dad Shapour Ghorbanpour, and Elahe Schmeil.

We are hoping that everyone had a good time.

Benjamin Pastores and Zaira Koishinova Get Married

2008-10-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

At 4o'clock this afternoon Benjamin Pastores and Zaira Koishinova joined in matrimony to live their lives with each other forever. The beautiful wedding ceremony took place at the Pilgrim Reception Centre in Haifa, Israel.

Ben, as we Filipinos call him met Zaira briefly last April and got mesmerized by this Kazakh beauty that with his millions of things to do he made sure he got her telephone number in Kazakhstan. Very smart move as he knew his assignments and Zaira's schedule will not give him time to get to know Zaira at that time. After nine days Zaira went back to Kazakhstan and continued with her normal life until a phone call from Ben followed up by another phone call, that became a regular nightly phone calls that resulted in this beautiful union.

Alone, Ben went to meet Zaira's family in her hometown in Kazakhstan in June. He spent time with Zaira's three brothers and one sister. On that occassion Ben asked Zaira's parents for her hands for marriage. They felt and witnessed the sincerity and love Ben has for their daughter so they happily gave their consent for these couple to marry.

At a Filipino gathering in September where Ben shared the good news to all the Filipino friends, he showed us the video to his and Zaira's engagement party in Kazakhstan. It was very evident how much Ben was welcomed and loved in Kazakhstan by Zaira's family.

All of Ben's friends expressed extreme happiness that he has finally found the love of his life. The smooth and happy wedding ceremony and reception was a proof what kind of relationship Ben has with his friends. Everyone wished to do something for Ben on his wedding day. As one of the organizers Patria was very impressed on how beautiful, stress-free, and happy wedding it was.

Ben and Zaira will be settling to live in Kazakhstan, Zaira leaves Haifa on Nov 1 and Ben a week or two later. Maybe three years from now we can go and visit them there.

To Ben and Zaira, our warmest congratulations and best wishes to both of you.

For the friends who would like to see some of their wedding photos, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/franco_patria/sets/72157608008605722/.

Filipino Family Welcomes Karshiga, Kulzaira, and Zaira Koishinova

2008-10-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

Filipino friends hosted a dinner gathering for Ben Pastores' new family, Zaira (his fiance), Zaira's parents Mr. Karshiga and Mrs. Kulzaira Koishinova, thus the Filipinos' new family too. They arrived this morning from Kazakhstan. Ben and Zaira are getting married on Oct 11 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Everyone who knows Ben is very delighted about this new development in his life. We waited for this for the whole 8.5 years that we have been here ;o). We first met Zaira when she came to the 10th International Convention as a delegate and that was also when Ben has first met her. Ben and Zaira will be the second Kazakh-Filipino family we know, Amir and Takhmina being the first, and we are hoping there will be more.

Filipinos who came to meet the Koishinovas

Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana

2008-10-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana

It has clusters of red-orange flowers that appear in winter or whenever there are short days. Because of its sturdiness, it is often used as a holiday gift plant.

I have always been fascinated with cactus. Aside from easiness in taking care of it (that's what I thought untill I have killed all the cacti in our flat), it gives beautiful and colorful flowers. Since we lived in an apartment in Manila that has no garden and was always empty as both Franco and I worked all day long, it was not conducive to have plants in the apartment so I really never had any experience in gardening.

When we got to Israel all the flats we moved in to had good ventilation and sunlight so we had some plants but none of them survived, even the poor cacti. Over the years and the many plant killing I have somehow learned how to take care of easy-to-manage plants. Now we have five healthy plants at home and three at my workplace (with occassional rehabilitation help from Noly) but Kalanchoe is not one of them.

We went to visit Dr. Varqa's gravesite yesterday. Some friends who visited it had brought yellow and orange Kalanchoes. They are indeed very beautiful and can live without water for a considerable amount of time.

Last night, we wanted so much to have these photos taken from the cemetery uploaded to our flickr album but could not because we are missing the names of these flowers as we wanted to have the name for the viewers. I spent hours searching the internet using different key words to find the name of these flowers to no avail. So today I sent out an email to all my friends asking if they know the name of these flowers and Noly (Parocha) searched and found the name for me without any problem... while I stayed up till 1Am trying to find it and had to give up or I would be up till 5 and be like a zombie at work.

Social Event In Our Department

2008-10-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

L-R Back Row:Patrycja Koncita-Chrzascik (Polish), Ladan and Anthony Vance (U.S.A.), & Patria Aquino(Philippines)

Front Row: Jacki Silver (U.K.), Layli Roth (U.S.A.), Joy Sabour (U.K.), and Jean Ferrell (U.S.A.)

Tonight we had a small group of friends from Patria's department for dinner, an activity organized by their department. We listened to beautiful stories from Joy and Patrycja on how they became Bahá'ís. It's always been fascinating for us to hear stories on how one found and accepted the Faith. One of the things we will never experience as we were raised and brought up by our parents as Bahá'ís. Franco is 4th generation and Patria is 2nd. What made tonight's dinner gathering special is the intimate conversation we had with everybody, we were all seated facing one another and talked as one group. In the Bahá'í World Centre we are used to big dinners that the whole group could be divided into two or more groups of people talking to each other in that group only.

We hope to have more of these fellowship gathering with people we work with.

Becoming a Paparazzi

2008-09-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we got our new toy, Canon EOS D40, that will occupy a big chunk of our time learning how to use it and learning new things on photography. Patria has always been in love with photography but never had the chance to explore it seriously. She has taken some photos in the Monument Gardens and Terrace 11 of some garden ornaments, flowers, and the Shrine of the Báb already and are posted in our flickr. For a while our friends who visit our flickr will be seeing maybe same photos of the same subject with different camera settings to get the correct exposure. She is having a hard time choosing which one has the correct exposure so she posts all of them there. Right now she is concentrating on learning about the camera and familiarizing herself with its different buttons, just with that so much has to be learned already. Slowly-slowly, one step a time. For now we are just happy to have real beautiful photos of the Shrines, of the Holy Places, the buildings on the Arc, the Terraces, of anything that has meaning to our life here in the Bahá'í World Centre.

Our sincere gratitude to Heather Chung, a Bahá'í friend from Hawaiian Islands who came to visit her daughter, Sarah Thiesse, for bringing the camera from the U.S. for us. We hope we can see her in Hawaii if ever we visit it for a holiday someday.

First Year Death Anniversary of Dr. Varqa

2008-09-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

O friend! Be set aglow with the fire of the love of God, so that the hearts of the people will become enlightened by the light of thy love.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 358)

Today marks the first year anniversary of Dr. Varqa's passing. Laleh and Shahpour Ghorbanpour hosted a small beautiful gathering at their home for this occassion. We couldn't believe it has been a year already, it seems it was only yesterday when we went for his Naw-Ruz open house, which he hosted every year when he was still alive.

This quotation above reminds us so much of Dr. Varqa because that is exactly how he was.

Camping at Luvnun, Galilee Area

2008-09-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

It was a very nice weekend we had with our wonderful Filipino friends here. Luvnun is a camping site in the Galilee area where we would come every year for camping. It's just nicer than the other camp sites as this is closer to the water and has more shady part. Winter is coming soon, we are hoping to have another outing with these friends before cold weather settles in.

Patentero had been introduced to our non-Filipino friends who have enjoyed every minute of it. Reminded all of us how we enjoyed our childhood playing patentero and other outdoor games like luksong tinik, chinese garter, taguan pong, tumbang lata, etc. Too bad Filipino kids now do not know what games these are anymore.

Tahereh and Reza Khanlari Leave For Australia

2008-09-16T22:44:00.000-07:00

Tahereh and Reza Khanlari left the Bahá'í World Centre on the 22nd of September to go back to their home country, Australia. Tahereh worked with Franco in the Health Services for two and a half years while Reza worked in the Department of Holy Places and Works Department. Both of them left with a very happy heart and looked forward to joining their Bahá'í community again and be a part of the Five Year Plan.

Tonight we said goodbye to Tahereh and Reza. The Health Services kindly organized a dinner for them in our favorite restaurant Japanika.

We will miss them but we know we will see them again in the future.

Welcome Back Romina and Pari

2008-09-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Finally Pari and Romina are now back with us in the office, huge relief. We welcomed them with widely opened arms over the MA traditional breakfast at Aroma's. Pari was away for three weeks and had a very good holiday with her family in Canada. Romina was away for less than two weeks and joined her family in Argentina. The rest of the team worked very very hard to cover for the absence of these two... hehe, ok, just trying to make them feel guilty. Patrycja and Katherine did a great job being efficient with what they do and worked hard and proved that nothing is hard to a person whose aim is to serve. One thing learned from my co-workers....

For the friends who are reading our blog, Pari and Romina are co-workers of Patria's for roughly four years now.

Farewell Our Dear Friends John and Judy Holly

2008-08-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

Our first association with John began in 2000 when Patria joined the Properties Office where John also worked for five years until he was transferred to be the host of the Bahji Visitor's Centre in 2003. Patria moved to the Department of Secretariat, Mail Analysis Section in 2004. Even then we kept our friendship with John and Judy. And now that they have left the Bahá'í World Centre our friendship with them will remain the same as ever.

At Japanika Restaurant in Mercaz, last dinner in Haifa together

At the Mercaz train station on our way to Ben Gurion Airport At a common eating place at Ben Gurion Intl Airport while waiting for 4:30AM, their flight was at 5:30AM
Last photo together before they left and went in the pre-departure area

John and Judy at Junayn Garden... for the last time

2008-08-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

After four years of living in Junayn Gardens, John and Judy will be leaving this beautiful place with the most beautiful memories they have had spent with their friends in it. Twice they had the bounty of having the company of the Hand of the Cause of God, Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa in their home, which happened to be at Junayn Garden. As friends of John and Judy, it was also a bounty for us that we were with them on those two very special and momentous occassions.

Today we all set foot in this Holy Place for the last time not expecting we will again have the same bounties we have had in the past. The memories will continue to be alive in our hearts even after we have already left Bahá'í World Centre.

Us and John and Judy in front of the windows of the Holy Room

John and us showing the fence of Junayn Garden in the background

John and Judy locking the gate to Junayn Garden for the last time

last few moments with John and Judy Holly

2008-08-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

We have not spent as much time with anybody else as with our dear friend John Holly. Once in a while Judy will come and spend time with us too but she would usually get exhausted by our endless chitchattings, eating, and walking and driving around as in the normal days she gets up very early in the morning when everyone else is still deeply sleeping to go to work until the week before their departure from BWC. We did several trips together, hit the restaurants to pig out like there is no more tomorrow, visited historical places in Israel, spent more time together just to talk.... We had fun and just enjoyed each other's company, which we know will be very seldom to have in the future.

Here are some photos taken from today...

At a Singaporean restaurant in Nahariyya

At Penguin restaurant

In the flat of John and Judy

Outside the big blue entrance door to Junayn Garden

John and Judy seeing us leave

Tel Meggido

2008-08-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

In the early third millenium B.C.E., Megiddo was already a city fortified by enormous walls; a thousand years later Megiddo was one of the centers of the Egyptian rule in Canaan. Megiddo was strategically invaluable: It overlooked the Eiron River in the heart of the ancient Via Maris, which led from Egypt and Damascus. Egyptian monarch Thutmosis III traveled to Canaan in 1486 B.C.E. as a means of entrenching Egyptian rule in the area; Thutmosis III captured Megiddo and the city was put under Egyptian sovereignty. Because Canaanite Megiddo was so powerful, the Tribes of Israel were unable to capture the city during the settlement period. The scholarly consensus is Megiddo fell into Jewish hands only at the time of King David. During King Solomon's reign, the city grew significantly. The city was subject to the same vicissitudes of fate as was Eretz Israel in general. In 924 Pharaoh Shishak captured Megiddo, and the city was forced to rebuild its fortifications. Later, King Ahab turned the city into an important chariot city. In 732 B.C.E., Tiglath Pileser III, King of Assyria, captured Megiddo. In Megiddo, Josiah of Judah led his troops to war against Pharaoh Necoh, and himself fell in this battle. This was the beginning of the end for Megiddo, which was abandoned after the Persian period. Megiddo is identified with Armageddon, mentioned in the New Testament as the battleground of the end of days (Revelation 16:14-21). A film about Tel Megiddo (which we did not see as it was already almost closing when we arrived) is also screened at the museum. Visitors will want to admire the Canaanite gate from the late Bronze age (1550-1200 B.C.E.), the remains of the castle, and the Bronze-age Solomonic gate. The northern observation point has a majestic view of the Jezre'el Valley, the Nazareth mountains, and Mount Gilboa; the southern observation point looks out on the pilgrim prayer booth, the stable complex, and the remarkable waterworks. Historians believe that the waterworks were begun during King Solomon's time. Initially a troth between two parallel walls led to the spring which flowed under the wall in the western part of the tell. Later - apparently during King Ahab's reign - a far more complex water system was created, designed to disguise the spring and to enable the residents to draw water without their having to exit the city walls.The waterworks include a 25-meter-deep shaft, which reached bedrock. A 70-meter long, three-meter-high tunnel was excavated at the bottom of the shaft, and the inhabitants of Tel Megiddo could draw water using a ropes and buckets without actually entering the tunnel. A wall built near the spring kept it from view. The Megiddo waterworks are evidence of impressive engineering skill and equally creditable industriousness.

~Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority

To go back to the entrance where the cars are parked, it is either we exit at the end of the tunnel and walk 600Km on a dirt road back to the gate or simply turn around and climb up what we have climbed down which seemed like a thousand steps. We chose to walk back through the dirt road at least we are not climbing those steps.

Sunset

2008-07-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

There is a spiritual atmosphere manifest here particularly at sunset.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 261)

Where is the best place to watch the sunset but in the vicinity of the Holiest Spot on earth, the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh?

Tonight, we watched the sunset at Bahji on the terraces close to the Mansion. We took some photos while the sun is setting and one of them is posted here. The sun was very beautiful, shows the greatness of God's creation. And how lucky are we to have had this chance to watch the sun go down in the presence of the Shrine?! Undescribable gratitude we feel for this bounty we have received from God.

The Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh

Farewell Dinner for John and Judy

2008-07-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

We were invited to friends from Akko's farewell gathering for John and Judy, on a buffet dinner at the Palm Beach Hotel in Akko. It is one of the very few times we get to be with our Akko friends. Akko is 30-45 minute drive from Haifa so to other people driving that long for a gathering is too much... not to us though. It was great to see them and actually be with them tonight. Photos are marvelous! Through them we will get to see this beautiful gathering again after 10 years and the memory will be as fresh as when it just happened.

We liked the food tonight and as we heard, we got a real good deal for it because we were a big group.

John and Judy look very happy. We think they are very ready to leave the beautiful world of the Bahá'í World Center and join in the real world. It's exciting and we are very excited for them. We will truly miss them but we will see them again so we are looking forward to that. We just know that these two are happy and looking forward to seeing their family again... children and grandchildren. Little Kal is waiting for them.

Beit She'arim

2008-07-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

It was our first visit to Beit She'arim after more than eight years. We do not know why we waited that long to see one of the most beautiful historical sites, one of the best we have ever been to, in Israel. This place is amazingly beautiful.

Beit She'arim is the most important burial place in the Jewish world during the ancient times. It is what we call cemetery these days but it is a lot more than that. The history of it is one of a kind.

Beit She'arim is "an ornate necropolis deep into the ground. Courtyards, corridors, and staircases lead to the catacombs with their burial chambers and stone sarcophagi. The chambers and sarcophagi are decorated with bas-reliefs, epitaphs, and frescoes. The mouths of some of the caves were closed with hewn stone doors, shaped to resemble wooden doors. The bas-reliefs and drawings are representative of Roman-period Jewish folk art. The artwork in all the caves contains Jewish elements, such as the seven-branched candelabrum, the Holy Ark, a ram?s horn (shofar), and a palm branch and citron (lulav and etrog). Secular themes, including boats, animals, human figures, and geometrical designs, also appear. Although most of the epitaphs are in Greek, the lingua franca of Eretz Israel at the time, there are some in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Tadmoerite. Not infrequently, the epitaph states the name and occupation of the deceased and on occasion his or her place of origin as well.

The settlement of Beit She'arim was known as an important center of Torah study, thanks to Rabbi Judah Hanasi (also known simply as Rabbi), the leading figure in the Jewish world in the third century C.E. Rabbi Judah Hanasi was considered the spiritual authority of the Jewish people during his time. He had strong ties to the Roman authorities, who in turn supported his position in the community. He benefited materially from the Romans, and their gifts to him included property in Beit She'arim. Rabbi Judah Hanasi took up residence in Beit She'arim, making it the seat of the Sanhedrin (assembly of 71 ordained scholars, which served as both as legislature and as supreme court) and moving his own study hall there. He later moved both to Sepphoris (Zippori). When Rabbi Judah Hanasi died circa 220, he was buried in Beit She?arim. From this time on, the Beit She'arim burial grounds were considered holy and became the most important in the Jewish world during the mishnaic and talmudic periods. One of the caves in Beit She'arim is considered to be the burial place of Rabbi Judah Hanasi."

~article from Israel Nature and National Parks Authority

Wanted

2008-07-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Wanted the movie starring Angelina Jolie was nice. We just thought the actions were really too detailed... bloody and all. But it was good, Angelina did well.

One of the past times we do aside from coffee and eating is watching movies. Once in a great while we go to the movie theatres and watch movies. Recently, two big malls have constructed new movie houses with big screens with very comfortable chairs. We still have bigger screens in our movie theatres in the Philippines though but the chair is much more comfortable here. AND they are brand new! Oh and the lobby is really very nice... there are benches where one can wait for his friends, the walls are nice for photos... just really beautiful.

Our next target movie is Dark Knight which is coming SOON.
Dinner at Cafecafe was very nice. Good food!

Friendships At Work

2008-07-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things I am very thankful for is the friendship I have with my friends who I closely work with in that section of our department. This morning, among one of the mornings we went to Aroma at the mercaz for breakfast, we got up really very early to be able to have breakfast again. At our favorite place Aroma. I just wanted to write how much I appreciate working around these four girls in this photo with me and how much I enjoyed all the mornings I had breakfast with them. It is a fact that, except for Pari, to all of us getting up an extra hour from our normal hour to get up in the morning is not easy... we would still get together and eat breakfast together anyway... more than how many times one can think of ;o). (Patria)

Around The Mount Carmel

2008-07-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day today. Breakfast at Zichron Yaacov Aroma then John and we went to Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve on the western part of the Mount Carmel. There were three caves here that have evidences that these caves were inhabited by prehistoric human beings from 200 thousand years ago. It is very interesting that this place is used to witness how people at that time used to live and how simple their ways are. Outside of one of the caves 80 skeletons of human beings were found burried so it is believed that there was actually a permanent settlement there. It is not a big place to visit but if you like history this place would be interesting to you. There was also a short film inside the cave that everyone can go and visit showing how life may have been 200 thousand years ago. This nature reserve is on Road 4, very close to Dor Beach where we went afterwards.

Dor Beach is our favorite beach because it's the only beach Franco can comfortably swim at. Since it is farther than the Camel Beach people go to the Camel Beach instead and only few special trips friends come to Dor Beach. It's worth all the special arrangements to get to this beach though. Water is not too deep but, for those who want to swim in deep water, there is deep part too and it is enclosed by an island few meters away from the shore. People can walk or swim to that island and enjoy the beautiful view of the ocean from the other side. The only problem nowadays, not only at Dor Beach but in every beaches here in Haifa, is the visit of jellyfish. Every summer they come and visit the warm water of the Mediterranean Sea and we got stung. Really hurts like crazy! Only small jellyfishes though maybe because this beach is enclosed by an island that big ones cannot come to the shallow water.

After enjoying the water and getting stung a number of times, we went to the marina in Herzliyya for dinner at our favorite place Oshi oshi. We loved the chicken balls dish and the shrimp sushi. And had time for coffee at Coffee Bean and an ice cream while walking back to the parking.

At the Coffee Bean and Eating Ice Cream

At Junayn Garden On Our Anniversary

2008-07-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

A week ago we received an invitation from John to come for a bbq at their place as all the gardeners will be there to say goodbye to some gardeners who are leaving the Bahá'í World Centre and we can come join them. At first we thought we will not have time as we will be on the road somewhere else but since we did not go far out of Haifa to celebrate our anniversary we were able to join them. We were happy we came to the gathering that we were able to see happy faces, saw friends we have not seen for ages, got some phoots with friends at Junayn, and sang happy birthday for Judy. The two goodbye cakes and one birthday cake was so good that Patria had three big slices, which she regretted afterwards as usual. She almost walked home to Haifa with Oxana, who also had too much cake, to burn off the calories from the cakes. Instead of that we went to Aroma in Nahariyya for coffee. A tradition we have with the Hollys for many years that every time we go to Akko we drop by Nahariyya for coffee. A beautiful gift for our anniversary that we were able to be in one of the Holy Places today.

Nine Beautiful Years

2008-07-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated our ninth year wedding anniversay and counted the blessings we have received from Bahá'u'lláh from the past nine years. A precious gift of letting the Bahá'í World Centre be our first home is the greatest. Nine beautiful years of serving the Universal House of Justice as close as this, meeting friends from all over the world, being with our mom Marcelina during our entire service here, to have had the opportunity to be in the Shrines with our parents Inanama & Francisco, and sister Sheila and her son Vafa, and soon with our sister Chiqui who will be visiting us in August with her husband Nicholas, the many places we have been able to visit, in and out of Israel, the lessons in life we both have acquired from our life here in BWC... there are just too many blessings and we are still counting. We have been truly blessed and for that we are very thankful and will always be thankful.

To celebrate our anniversary we had a good meal at Giraffe's, our favorite Asian restaurant, in the mercaz. Franco had a tummy flu for more than a week and is not yet too well so we were very careful with what he eats and make sure he will not get an upset stomach again. For that we chose a restaurant we are familiar to and had simple food that is light on the tummy. We sat in one corner and chitchatted and just enjoyed time leisurely. We went to car wash as our car was not presentable anymore and just drove around the city. We found on Road 4 an artist village. We wonder how come we have never seen it before! As expected, it was already closed when we got there. It looked like a kibbutz to us and it was a very nice quiet place. Houses are very orderly and surroundings are clean. They have in their greenhouses plenty of banana trees, and they have a huge corn and sunflower plantation. They have watermelons too. We enjoyed being in the place even though the artists's shops were already closed, we assumre due to Shabbath, still just being there felt nice. You could guess that we will one day go back to this place on a normal business day.

We headed home to rest for our next appointment for the day... for now enjoy these photos.

The Herb Farm On Mount Gilboa

2008-07-03T00:18:00.000-07:00

After work today, we headed north for a dual celebration of our ninth year wedding anniversary and Judy's (Holly) birthday, which is actually on the 7th, for a dinner at the famous Herb Farm restaurant on the mountain of Gilboa. Very simple but pleasant place for dinner. It gave us a homy feeling maybe because the restaurant is made of wood and the waitresses are nice and friendly. Too bad it was very windy tonight we could have eaten our dinner outside on the terraces to enjoy the exquisite view of Mount Gilboa and the surrounding countryside. We still did but from a glass window. Food serving is not as big as the restaurants in Haifa, which we prefer and are acustomed to, but tasty, good food. Price is little higher than Haifa restaurants but once in a great while, we think it should be to spend more on good food. The chocolate cakes/mousse should not be missed. Very fine and the chocolate taste was just perfect. The Herb Farm restaurant is open Monday - Saturday 13:00 - 23:00, and for reservation call 04-6531093, its address is located on route 667 Mount Gilboa road and website: www.herb-farm.co.il.

Good friends, food, and a good place... perfect for an anniversary and birthday celebration.

John and Judy Holly and Franco and Patria Aquino

An Evening with Fafar & Ramin Khadem and Friends

2008-06-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Our friends Fafar and Ramin Khadem arrived to the Bahá'í World Centre on the 22nd of June and have graciously agreed to be with us tonight. Since we just arrived the previous day from our trip to the South of Israel, the dinner invitation to the other friends were short noticed, but they all have kindly accepted the invite to which we are truly very grateful for. The evening was filled with stories, laughters, and reminiscing of the time when Dr. Varqa was still alive as all of the friends gathered tonight had a close interaction with him. Stories were enjoyed and the company will be treasured forever. There were photos taken that will remind us of the memorable dinner tonight. Fafar and Ramin leave on the 29th of June to go back to London.

David Samadani-McQuirk, Franco Aquino, Ramin Khadem, & John Holly

Jila Samadani-McQuirk, Marcelina Duldulao, Fafar Khadem, Patria Aquino, & Judy Holly

Till We Meet Kurt Again

2008-06-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight, for the second time, we said goodbye to kuya (big brother) Mike, to other friends, Kurt. Yaps, he is still here! He was supposed to leave two weeks ago but due to an unexpected circumstance his flight had to be cancelled and rescheduled on the 26th June 2008. Our thanks to our hosts, the Laroya family, for a lovely dinner and the opportunity they gave us to say a more personal goodbye to Mike. Our good luck and best wishes to Mike for a safe journey to Central America.

Kurt Austria with our hosts,

Canan & Arnold Laroya

L-R Back Row: Franco Aquino, Leandro Costino, Marcelina Duldulao, Zeny Ramirez, Kurt Austria, Maarten Schoot, & Patria Aquino

L-R: Front Row: Arnold & Canan Laroya, Mildred dela Cruz, Alexander Burias, Christine Luis, & Jamal Daumar

Exploring the South One More Time

2008-06-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's summer in Israel again! We reckon it's time to go out and experience the heat of Dead Sea, Masada, and Eilat again. It is not that hot in Haifa yet so we thought it will not be that hot in those place yet as well but lo and behold! It was VERY HOT! It's very easy to forget these places can get very hot so before we can remember that fact it is too late as we are in the middle of the heat again. The trip was absolutely fun and memorable, we explored Dead Sea, Masada, and Eilat with our friends John & Judy Holly who are leaving the Baha'i World Centre soon after more than nine years, and Oxana Shulga. It was VERY HOT! Hot and dry though and it makes a huge difference. All the heat was worth the fun.

Dead Sea water was not cold but not hot either so it was just perfect. As soon as we got there, we dipped in the swimming pool with normal water before it closed for the day and went to the Dead Sea and stayed there for awhile. We had dinner in the hotel... then we went to guess what, there is Aroma in Dead Sea now! We learned it just opened four months ago... we thought that was really nice. One of the problems we think in Dead Sea is the lack of restaurants, there are not many choices of restaurants to eat from. There are few but they are quite expensive and food is just okay. With Aroma there we don't need to cook for dinner for Dead Sea trips anymore! We would bring homemade dinner whenever we go to Dead Sea before... additional baggage.

The next day, after breakfast, we checked out and headed to Masada. Of course, it was VERY HOT up there. The sun was intense and the air was very warm. We were prepared though we brought water bottles with us so no chance of dehydration and headache from that. We spent standing in the shades as we have been there many times, we just went there again so we could be with our friends. Then we went back to Aroma for lunch and continued our journey to Eilat.

We stayed in Eilat for two days. Checked the Underwater Observatory Marine Park and Oceanarium and was very unfortunate to have missed Kings City as it closes for Shabbat. The next time we go there, we should be able to go to Kings City!!! We have already missed it twice. We went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was a nice movie, we liked it. It's time to read the book version.

We left Eilat after eating breakfast at, of course, Aroma. Aroma has found a new fancy place in Eilat. We like its new location... it's a lot better, it's bigger, has more light, and more space. On the way home, we stopped at McDees for a snack and sped away to Oishi Restaurant in Herzliyya for dinner.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at Kiryat Bialik Mall

2008-06-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Saw Indiana Jones at Kiryat Bialik mall tonight and we liked it. We thought it was fun. We are the kind of viewers who would see movies just for entertainment with no expectation. Although some of our friends have discouraged us to see it, as they said it is really bad, we still went and saw the movie. We were glad that we did as we actually liked it. John and Judy (Holly) felt the same way as we did about the movie. Harrison Ford is a great actor.

Wow, Kiryat Bialik mall is soooo different from five years ago! Yaps, that was the last time we were there. This mall is about 15-20 minute drive from where we live and it was not a great mall then. For movies, we would normally go to Lev Ha Mifrats or Grand Canyon malls. But with Kiryat Bialik mall's look now, we think we will be in this mall more often than any other mall. Big movie theatre, it has IMax 3D, very clean lobby and inside the theatres, new cafes, and new clothing stores. We were also happy with Milka (cafe), very good desserts- we had chocolate souffle and a mousse cake with rosemary, and another chocolate dessert all of which were deadly good, the waiters were friendly and so was the manager. Or maybe it was just the espresso on the house - first espresso for Patria.

We would notice a lot of contruction work on this mall on our way to Bahji but we never stopped and looked around so to our surprised when we saw it tonight, it was so different from how we've known it. Well we've only been in this mall once or twice in our 8 years here and it was during the time when Stephen Ramo and his family were still here, and they left in 2002, so that is really a long time ago.

We are looking for new movies to see SOON and we bet, we will be back at Kiryat Bialik mall for that.

Lobster For The Weekend

2008-06-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Fresh lobster cooked in boiling water, cooked again in coconut milk, tomatoes, and onions... mmmmmmmm, the best lunch ever. That's what we had for lunch today! Of course we all smelled like it after the cooking is done, which we did not mind at all. It was very good. Cooking is courtesy of our chef, Bernard De Vera. A very good cook. We definitely will have another lobster-luncheon soon!!!

New Found Love In Tennis

2008-06-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a month now since we have started playing tennis, ok... when we say "play" we really meant trying to play. We have never played tennis before. We never tried, we never thought about it, or simply because we did not know how so we did not bother to try. How did it begin?! We have just decided we want to learn tennis so we spoke to some of our friends and found some who also never played tennis and are interested to learn so we set up a date and just went to Haifa Tennis Center, rented a court for an hour, and played. We started off playing in one court with four of us just to see how we will do for a start. In July, a friend of ours who knows how to play tennis will be joining us so he may give us some helpful pointers... we also have our own pointers but they are not very helpful :D :D :D. Our friend Oxana (Shulga) has forwarded some information on tennis off from the internet and we were doing exactly what it's saying not to do. Hard to believe, isn't it ;o)?!!! We remember the balls were flying out and over the fence into the bushes the first time we played. More than ten minutes were wasted in the bushes to find them as we only had 3 balls to play with so no choice. We liked it though as we found more balls... freebies. Oh not to mention the balls that got stuck on the fence. If you look at how tall the fence is you would be asking yourself how the heck we managed to fly the ball that high. Nothing is impossible ;o). The next games were a little better than the first one. And with a friend who knows what he is doing, we will do a lot better... at least we think. But we are serious about tennis, we want to learn and be able to play a real tennis game. We try to go once a week on Tuesdays.

Another Visit to Soreq Cave (Stalactite Cave)

2008-06-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

We were in this place almost three months ago only and we have also written an article about it here. In that visit, we thought it was going to be our last visit to this place, apparently we were wrong. We first came to see this cave in October 2006 with our nanay (mom), Marcelina, and fell in love with it. We just thought how amazing it is that there are many living things out there that are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay older than we are and will exist long after we were gone. One of the things with our visits in this particular place is that we were always with the friends dear to our hearts, the first time was with our mom and the last visit before today was with Jamal Daumar and Quddus Toledo. Today, we were with John and Judy Holly. It was first visit for John and second for Judy but her first visit to this cave was in 2000 or 2001, that was seven years ago. Some of the photos taken captured the color and even the texture of the stalactites and stalagmites. We recommend to visit this place to our friends. It's worth the driving and the 23NIS entrance fee to see one of the wonders of God's creation, up close and personal.

Maybe and maybe not, this will be our last visit to this cave.

Inside the cave with John & Judy Holly

On our way to go inside the cave and Outside the cave after our visit

All Mini in Mini-Israel

2008-06-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

John and Judy, and we went to Mini-Israel today. It was a very hot and a dehydrating experience. It is June, what were we thinking?!!! We don't know about John & Judy, but we were frustrated that from 2003 this place did not improve at all, it was even a lot better then than how it is is now. We were in the zoo yesterday and we only paid NIS49 to enter the zoo and we paid NIS69 for Mini-Israel, we thought it was too much for the present condition of this place. Anyway, spending time with the company of our friends is what matters. We had a great time with them. And we were still able to get great photos as remembrance.

Some photos from Mini-Israel:

Mini-Eilat and Mini-Haifa International Convention Center

Mini-Dan Panorama Hotel in Eilat and Mini-Houses

Mini-Massada and Mini-Mt. Hermon

Ramat Gan Safari

2008-06-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

John & Judy Holly and we had a great time at the zoo today. This zoo is known as Zoological Center Tel Aviv -Ramat Gan Safari. This place is huge! It has large animals like elephants, gorillas, hippos, pumas, tigers, lions, bears, zebras, giraffes, etc. There were lots of different species of birds too. We have noticed though that they don't have many varieties of snakes and the crocodiles were very few. But this zoo is really big and well taken care of.

Our day started off by accidentally finding a newly opened, two days ago, Aroma on Road 4, which we learned it has just opened when our order did not come after the people who were behind us in the queue have had their food for a long time already and we still did not get ours. Took us four hungry stomachs before we realized our food were not coming so we took our receipt back to the counter and found out they did not get the order at all so they used our receipt to assemble our food. Sometimes it's better to go to stores with people who already know what they are doing. AND always ask for your receipt when you bought something as you do not know what adventure you will be experiencing without that receipt. We enjoyed the food, as always, and headed straight to the safari where we walked for miles and hours and hours and hours. We think that the animals were happy in there although John kept on saying he would do the management of the animals differently if he was the owner of the zoo. He did not like that the elephants were in a very dry place. We did not know John loves elephants until then:D.

It was dinner time when we left the zoo so we four went to the marina in Herzliyya and hit Oishi Japanese Restaurant again. Again because the three of us were just there a few days back.... Then drove to Haifa for coffee and dessert at the usual place, Aroma.

Then Judy was happy that they were finally heading back home as John was hinting we could get to the movie theatre at 10 and see the new Indiana Jones movie. Oh, we would still go but we love Judy so we let them go home to rest for our adventure the following day...

Filipino Gathering With Mrs. Iran Muhajir

2008-06-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the Filipino friends serving at the Bahá'í World Centre had the great privilege to have had the company of Mrs. Iran Muhajir. Mrs. Iran Muhajir is one of the two daughters of the Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Furutan and the wife of the Hand of the Cause of God Dr. Muhajir. She left the Bahá'í World Centre shortly after Mr. Furutan's passing in 2003 and moved to Maryland (USA). We have a close association with her as she and her late husband lived in the Philippines for five years in the late 60's to early 70's and met the early believers there one of them was Franco's greatgrandfather, Mr. Felix Maddela. We were introduced to her by Mrs. Ramirez by our ancestors as they are the ones Mrs. Muhajir knew. Dr. Muhajir, her husband, opened a lot of Bahá'í communities in the Philippines, including some tribes in the mountains of Mindoro.

The Filipinos were very grateful to her that while she is visiting BWC we had this one night of her busy schedule and be with her over dinner, had the chance to render her some songs and heard some stories from Mrs. Ramirez about the early days with her in the Philippines and the projects she had done for that country. The gathering was concluded by singing the Prayer For The Hands of The Cause.

Frank Arthur Aquino-Grospe

2008-06-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today, we received some photos of our newly born nephew, Frank Arthur Aquino-Grospe, from his mom, Frances. In these two photos with him, you will see his deliriously happy grandparents... we are looking forward to meeting this cutie little guy, hopefully soon.

Francisco Aquino (our dad) with Frank - now can you guess why his name is Frank???

Mama & daddy with peacefully asleep Frank

The Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh

2008-05-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

The ascension of Bahá'u'lláh on 29 May 1892 brought to a close the outpouring of a most momentous and transcendental Revelation, pre-eminent among all the Revelations of the past. For well-nigh forty years this earth had been made the 'footstool' of its God, and 'been chosen as the seat of His mighty throne'. The day of God, whose advent 'all the Prophets and Chosen Ones and the holy ones' had 'wished to witness', had been ushered in. The 'everlasting Father', the 'mighty God', who was to appear in the form of a human temple, as prophesied by Isaiah and other Prophets, had manifested Himself. 'The purpose underlying all creation' which as testified by Bahá'u'lláh was 'the revelation of this most sublime, this most holy Day', had been realized. In the course of four decades this earth had been immersed in an ocean of Revelation, releasing thereby enormous spiritual energies for the regeneration of mankind, energies that are sufficient to bring about in the fullness of time the birth of the Bahá'í civilization which is itself destined to usher in an age when the human race will have achieved such a nobility of character as to make this world appear as a reflection of the Kingdom.

[1 The term 'ascension' as commonly used by Bahá'ís signifies the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, the ascension of His Spirit to the worlds beyond.]

With the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh the revelation of the verses of God came to an end and the bounty of the release of spiritual energies ceased, never to reappear before the lapse of at least a full millennium. The truth of these words revealed by Him in Baghdad were fully realized after His ascension:

O Son of Spirit! The time cometh, when the nightingale of holiness
will no longer unfold the inner mysteries and ye will all be bereft of
the celestial melody and of the voice from on high.(1)

The ascension of Bahá'u'lláh took place in the Mansion of Bahji, and it caused indescribable consternation among His followers. Nabil-i-A'zam, a true lover of the Blessed Beauty and one of His devoted Apostles, has left to posterity a moving description of this calamitous event. The following is a summary translation of his account:

As attested by the Most Great Branch,[1] nine months before this most grievous event -- His ascension -- Bahá'u'lláh had voiced His desire to depart from this world. During these nine months, from the tone of His exhortations and remarks to those friends who attained His presence it became increasingly apparent that the end of His earthly life was approaching. He seemed to be arranging the affairs with a sense of urgency. But He never spoke openly about the approaching end of His life.

[1 During Bahá'u'lláh's Ministry 'Abdu'l-Bahá was known by several titles including Aqa (Master) and the Most Great Branch. The designation 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Servant of Baha) was adopted by Himself after the ascension of His Father. (A. T.)]

On the eve of Sunday, the eleventh of the month of Shavval 1309 AH (8 May 1892), fifty days after Naw-Ruz, He contracted a fever, though He did not mention it to anyone. The following morning a number of the friends attained His presence. Late in the afternoon the fever was intensified. In the evening only one of the companions who had an urgent demand was admitted to His presence. On Monday (the second day of His illness) only one of the friends was admitted. On Tuesday this helpless servant was given the honour of an audience with His blessed Person. At noon He summoned me to His presence alone and spoke to me for about half an hour sometimes seated and sometimes pacing up and down. He vouchsafed unto me His infinite bounties and His exalted utterances reached the acme of perfection.

I wish I had known that this was going to be my last audience with Him, so that I could have clung to the hem of His holy vesture and begged Him to accept me as a sacrifice in His path, to
relieve me from the vanity of this world and admit me into the realm of everlasting joy. Alas! Alas! what had been pre-ordained did come to pass.

In the afternoon of that day Haji Niyaz [a well-known believer] arrived from Egypt and, along with some others, was permitted to attain the presence of Bahá'u'lláh. Till sunset a number of the friends were admitted into His presence in groups. The following day the door of union with Him was closed to the face of the believers, no one was able to attain His presence, and an atmosphere of gloom and sorrow descended upon the hearts of His forlorn lovers. This situation remained unchanged for a few days, until Monday (the ninth day) which proved to be the day of grief for the friends. On that day the Most Great Branch left the presence of Bahá'u'lláh and went to the Pilgrim House. He conveyed Bahá'u'lláh's greetings to all, and said that the Ancient Beauty had stated: 'All the friends must remain patient and steadfast, and arise for the promotion of the Cause of God. They should not become perturbed, because I shall always be with them, and
will remember and care for them.' On hearing these piercing words the hearts of the believers were crying out with grief, for the tone of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's remarks indicated that the end of the earthly life of the One who was the Lord of all creation was fast approaching. The friends were thrown into such turmoil and dismay that they were about to expire.

This being so, the bounties of the Incomparable Beloved were vouchsafed unto all, and the following day, Tuesday (the tenth day), was turned into a joyful day. The day-star of delight and blissfulness shone forth and the Most Great Branch conveyed at the hour of dawn the joyful news of the well-being of His blessed Person. Happy and smiling, He arrived at the Pilgrim House, and like unto a musk-laden breeze which had wafted from the abode of the Beloved, or as the holy Spirit of the Mercy of the Lord, He awoke the friends one by one, bade them arise, drink their morning tea with the utmost joy, and offer thanksgiving to God, for, Praise be to His Most Exalted and Glorious Being, perfect health had returned to His blessed 416 Person, and the signs of the most great favours were manifested in His countenance. Truly, on that day the joy and happiness of the friends, those who circled around the throne of the Beauty of their Lord, were such that all the inhabitants of 'Akká and indeed the people of Syria were influenced and affected by their condition. All the people both low and high were congratulating each other as in a day of festival.

The reason for this was that on the same day that Bahá'u'lláh contracted the fever, the government rounded up about one thousand farmers and poor people, clad them in military uniforms and held them against their will as conscripts. They were receiving military training to be dispatched to far-off lands in a few days' time. The tents of these oppressed people were near the grounds of the Mansion of Bahji,, and the cries of their weeping and lamenting and those of
their families could be heard by day and by night. However, in the morning of the 'day of joy', a royal telegram was unexpectedly received ordering the release of the conscripts. This news was
rapturously received by the people who were filled with delight. The Most Great Branch on that day distributed food among the conscripts, the poor, the inmates of prison and the orphans. Consequently the people of 'Akká and outside were heartily offering thanks to Bahá'u'lláh for His loving favours and gifts. No one among the inhabitants of Syria could remember having seen a day as blissful as that day.

That same day the Most Great Branch went to 'Akká visited every Bahá'í household and conveyed to every single believer, man and woman alike, loving greetings from the Blessed Beauty. On Sunday (the fifteenth day) afternoon, all the friends who were present at the Mansion, together with pilgrims and resident Bahá'ís, were summoned to Bahá'u'lláh's presence. The entire body of the friends, weeping and grief-stricken, attained His presence as He lay in bed leaning against the Most Great Branch (may my life be a sacrifice for Him). The Tongue of Grandeur gently and affectionately addressed them all saying: 'I am well pleased with you all, you have rendered many services, and been very assiduous in your labours. You have come here every morning and evening. May God assist you to remain united. May He aid you to exalt
the Cause of the Lord of being.' This was the last audience with Him. The birds of the hearts of His lovers were addressed from on high: 'Verily the door of union is closed to all who are in heaven and on earth . . .'

On the eve of Saturday (twenty-first day after contracting fever), the 2nd of Dhi'l-Qa'dih 1309 AH (29 May 1892) . . . 13th of the month of 'Azamat 49, Bahá'í Era . . . seventy days after Naw-Ruz, while there was no sign of fever, the will of the King of Eternity to leave the prison of 'Akká and to ascend to His 'other dominions whereon the eyes of the people of names have never fallen', mentioned in the Tablet of Ru'ya revealed . . . nineteen years previously, was at
long last realized. Methinks, the spiritual commotion set up in the world of dust had caused all the worlds of God to tremble. Eight hours after sunset on that darksome night when the heavens wept over the earth, what had been revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas was finally
realized. My inner and outer tongue are powerless to portray the condition we were in . . . In the midst of the prevailing confusion, a multitude of the inhabitants of 'Akká and of the neighbouring
villages, that had thronged the fields surrounding the Mansion, could be seen weeping, beating upon their heads, and crying aloud their grief . . .'

For a full week after that great calamity, a great number of mourners, the rich, the poor, the orphans and the oppressed partook of the food that was generously dispensed by the bereaved family . . . From the second day of the ascension of the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistent Lord to His Most Holy and exalted Dominions on high, men of learning and poets, both Muslim and Christian, began to send telegrams of condolence to the presence of the Most Great Branch. They sent poems eloquently extolling the virtues and lamenting the loss of the Beloved . . .'

Shoghi Effendi describes some of the events after the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh in these words:

The news of His ascension was instantly communicated to Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid in a telegram which began with the words 'the Sun of Baha has set' and in which the monarch was advised of the intention of interring the sacred remains within the precincts of the Mansion, an arrangement to which he readily assented. Bahá'u'lláh was accordingly laid to rest in the northernmost room of the house which served as a dwelling-place for His son-in-law, the most northerly of the three houses lying to the west of, and adjacent to, the Mansion. His interment took place shortly after sunset, on the very day of His ascension . . . Notables, among whom were numbered Shí'ahs, Sunnis, Christians, Jews and Druzes, as well as poets, 'ulamas and government officials, all joined in lamenting the loss, and in magnifying the virtues and greatness of Bahá'u'lláh, many of them paying to Him their written tributes, in verse and in prose, in both Arabic and Turkish. From cities as far afield as Damascus, Aleppo, Beirut and Cairo similar tributes were received. These glowing testimonials were, without exception, submitted to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Who now represented the Cause of the departed Leader, and Whose praises were often mingled in these eulogies with the homage paid to His Father.

And yet these effusive manifestations of sorrow and expressions of praise and of admiration, which the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh had spontaneously evoked among the unbelievers in the Holy Land and the adjoining countries, were but a drop when compared with the ocean of grief and the innumerable evidences of unbounded devotion which, at the hour of the setting of the Sun of Truth, poured forth from the hearts of the countless thousands who had espoused His Cause, and were determined to carry aloft its banner in Persia, India, Russia, 'Iraq, Turkey, Palestine, Egypt and Syria.

Nabil, his heart burning with the fire of bereavement, paid this last tribute to His Lord and wrote these lines as a supplication to Him:

O Thou the King of creation and the Ruler of this world and the world to come! Both in Thy presence and in Thy absence Thou hast been the cause of the tranquillity of the hearts of men and the advancement of the nations. From the moment Thou didst mount Thy throne at the hour of dawn on the 2nd on Muharram 1233 (12 November 1817) until Thy ascension to the Realms of Eternity, eight hours after sunset on the 2nd of Dhi'l-Qa'dih 1309 (29 May 1892) a period of seventy-seven years less two months according to the lunar calendar . . . Thou wert at all times, at day and at night, each month and each year, the cause of the exaltation of mankind. No needy suppliant who had set his heart toward Thee was turned back from the door of Thy generosity without vouchsafing unto him supreme felicity and goodly gifts, and no sorrowful destitute was sent out of Thy All-glorious presence except that Thou didst bestow upon him blissful joy and ample hope. And now far be it from Thee not to relieve me from my dreadful woes and lead me to the abode of a never-ending felicity. Thou art God and there is no God save Thee.

Nabil, who was asked by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to select from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh those passages which constitute the text of the Tablet of Visitation, which nowadays is usually recited in the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb, was inconsolable after the ascension of his Lord. To the ordeal of separation from his Beloved was added soon afterwards a far more grievous blow -- the violation of the Covenant by 'Abdu'l-Bahá's brothers; which although it had not been made public at that time was clearly discernible to those who were close to the Holy Family. Nabil could no longer bear the agony of those cruel and tempestuous days. He took his own life by drowning himself in the sea a few months after the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh.

During His illness Bahá'u'lláh summoned the members of His family to His bedside, bade His last farewell to them and assured them that in a special document entrusted to 'Abdu'l-Bahá He had clearly directed their steps in the service of the Cause. The document referred to was His Will and Testament, designated by Himself 'Kitáb-i-'Ahdi" (The Book of My Covenant). On the morning of the ninth day after the ascension, in the presence of nine witnesses chosen from amongst members of His family and friends, this document in Bahá'u'lláh's own handwriting was read aloud by Aqa Riday-i-Qannad, and in the afternoon of the same day it was read again by Majdu'd-Din in the Holy Tomb in the presence of a large number of friends. There was now no shadow of doubt as who the Centre of the Covenant was. But alas, the fire of jealousy which had been smouldering in the hearts of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's unfaithful brothers over a long period of time now burst into flame. This, coupled with the lust for leadership of Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, the Arch-breaker of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, created a severe crisis in the fortunes of the Faith.

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 4, p. 419)

Farewell Jo & Lucas

2008-05-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Two of our dear friends, Joanna Portillo from El Salvador, and Lucas Saeed, are leaving the Bahá'í World Center on June 1st & 2nd to return to their home countries. Joanna is from El Salvador and will be returning there after visiting her family and friends in the US. Lucas is from Argentina and will be traveling to Spain and the US first before going back to Argentina. Joanna was serving with Patria in the Department of Secretariat and worked closely together for more than three years. Aside from the friendship they both developed with each other, Patria has found Joanna to be a very dedicated and hard working person. Lucas was serving at the Conservation Office as a Digital Imaging and Restoration Specialist and has tremendously helped his office.

Lucas Saeed and Joanna Portillo Lucas and Joanna on the elliptical machine

Lucas amused with Thomas who was on the elliptical machine for over 20 minutes while the rest of the friends were chitchatting Thomas Hueck on the elliptical machine

L-R: Bill & Aimee Pfieper, Negeen Sobhani, Jamak & Thomas Hueck, Franco & Patria Aquino, Joanna Portillo, & Lucas Saeed

56 Friends At Aldiyar

2008-05-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

Aldiyar is a restaurant that offers Mediterranean food. It is one of our favorite restaurants when we want to eat kebab or chicken shislik, they have a lot of varieties of very good salad too. Tonight, 56 friends went there to celebrate Reza's 52nd's birthday. My my good business for Aldiyar, isn't it? This was organized by his lovely wife, Tahereh, who did a great job! Getting 56 people together is not an easy job and she did very well. 56 people is a lot of friends, is not it? Well, if all the invited friends made it, we will be around 80, we think. It was a lovely mix of people and we were very happy to have been able to see them and be with them tonight.

Reza Khanlari - the birthday celebrant

Guests

Nell Golden

2008-05-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Have you ever met a person with a golden heart? A person who is always bubbly and happy? A person who can play pingpong and tennis at 80? A person who has the most beautiful and precious experiences in life and has a lot of amazing stories to tell? A person who has a very sharp memory who remembers even the smallest detail of an event? A person who befriends anybody she meets and is never concern who you are or where you came from? A person who values friendship sincerely? We have and her name is Nell Golden.

Tonight we celebrated her 80th birthday... and yes, she still can play pingpong and tennis.

With Nell Golden

L-R: Franco & Patria Aquino, Claudia Madzoub, Marcelina Duldulao, Nell Golden, Martha Otto, Parvan Saadati, Arlette Matheus, Christa Madzoub, and Tahmineh Nowrouzi

Camping at Jordan River Park

2008-05-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

An activitiy to unwind after the recent international convention was so badly needed and thus this camping at Jordan River Park at the Sea of Galilee area was scheduled. Some friends in two sheruts arrived at the camping site a lot earlier than we did so when we have finally arrived they have already played some fun games and started the bbq... mmmm camping without bbq is boring. We did some singing, someone had geniusly printed several copies of all the songs so we all could sing together. John Holly was also able to join us some part of the evening due to a very odd circumstances... we have accidentally locked his car (we exchanged our car with his for this trip for bigger compartment) with the key in the ignition and the engine running. How it happened, we have no idea! So John had to drive an hour with a spare key to his car to rescue us. Well it turned out he enjoyed our company even just for a few minutes. The next day was spent in napping and hiking. The view in this area is just magnificent. Vast land with the most beautiful landscaped mountain with a part of the Jordan River rushing down the mountain. All our exhaustion from the heat of the sun and hiking up the mountain is worth the beautiful scenery around us.

Marina Herzliyya

2008-05-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

Finally we got to do another trip to Herzliyya and this time to the famous Herzliyya Marina. Our friend Martha Estafanos, when she was still here in the Bahá'í World Center, would always recommend this place to us and every time we don't go there she would ask why for all the times we went to Herzliyya we never tried to go to the marina and instead would always go to either the Tandoori Indian Restaurant or the Thai Restaurant (which we think has closed business permanently). She just couldn't fathom why, which we have always understood because to drive for two hours just to have dinner is a long ways to go to the same restaurants over and over again. Where is our sense of adventure!!! As we have always reasoned we want to be sure we are eating good food so that an hour of driving to Herzliyya and another hour of driving back to Haifa is worth it. Oh and plus the fact that we could never find this place as there is really no sign where it is OR we just really did not care to find it otherwise we would have not found it tonight either.

We, with our friend John Holly had great fun! Loved the boats and the beautiful yacths docked at the port! Gracious, they are gorgeous and very expensive for sure. We walked and explored the whole place, checking the menus of the restaurants there. We have finally decided to eat dinner at the Japanese Restaurant where we had the view of the boats and the ocean. We would recomment this restaurant, food is yummy and price is affordable. Of course there are dishes that are very expensive but we would say go for the more affordable ones as they are really good.

Of course, we went to Coffe Bean for coffee and dessert.

At the Marina

At the Coffee Bean

The Tenth International Convention For Franco & Patria

2008-05-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

We did not plan to write anything about the Tenth International Baha'i Convention as there are many articles written about it already until we received an email from one of our dear friends asking how did the international convention go for the both of us. It's true none of those articles can describe how we felt during this momentous event. This is our second international convention here in the Baha'i World Centre, not as members of any of the National Spiritual Assemblies but only as staff members, but the first one did not have a program as this one.

Our excitement for this convention had been from months way before it was even here. Excitement about a lot of things... to witness the whole procedure of the election; casting of the ballots by the delegates, the consultation between the delegates, and the announcement of the new members of the Universal House of Justice, to see the members of the NSA from the Philippines or the other Filipino friends who have been elected to the NSA in other countries, to experience serving in the different tasks for the convention, the long hours that the Shrines of Baha'u'llah & the Bab were open, the buildings on the Arc and the Terraces were lit till midnight, to work at some tasks till midnight and have the feeling of fulfilment of being useful, etc.... To have also the experience of service to the Universal House of Justice, the International Teaching Center, the members of the Continental Board of Cousellors, all at the same time is one of the highlights of this event for us. Only in this place and that one time period we can experience this. Franco was a full time nurse for the delegates and Patria was assigned to different tasks, one of them was a helper at Bahji Visitors Centre which she enjoyed very much. Almost everyday, we had sandwich and vegetable salad for lunch, what we enjoyed about lunches was the company of the delegates. Looking at the beautiful different races and colour just made us think how nice it would be to have this unity amongst the humankind.

Some of the delegates...

Declaration of the Báb 2008

2008-05-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the Declaration of the Báb at 9 o'clock in the evening of 10 May 2008 in the courtyard of the Haifa Pilgrim House. Dr. Payman Mohajer was the chairman of the program, Dr. Farzam Arbab chanted the Tablet of Visitation of Bahá'u'lláh in Arabic, and Mr. Paul Lample read the Table of Visitation of Abdu'l-Báha in English. The occassion was witnessed by the staff members at the Bahá'í World Centre, members of the Universal House of Justice and International Teaching Centre and the members of the Continental Board of Counsellors who were here for the Counsellor's Conference.

Thank You

2008-05-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Another Year For Patria

2008-05-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

A beautiful year had passed and another one is coming. Having celebrated eight birthdays here in the Holy Land, what else could I ask for? The blessings we have been receiving are far better than that of what we have wished for.

The celebration of my birthday this year was very simple. Simple and yet very meaningful. I had breakfast with my precious friends in my section, the three women I will always remember all my life, Kathita, Pari, & Romina. I had a special lunch date with my hubby at one of our favorite places to eat at, Arcaffe, of course. I pigged out at Girraffe's for dinner with some of my ever-loving friends, John & Judy, Bernard, my dearest nanay, and Franco. John baked two cakes for my birthday, a mocha cake and the other one is the miniature version of my birthday cake last year so after dinner we went to our flat to have coffee and dessert. Then, we went out to see the laser beam exhibition & fire works on Ben Gurion Avenue for Israel's 60th Year of Independence, which I took a lot of photos of.

Below is a collage of the messages I received from some of my friends who remembered. Enjoy the photo below.

Tonight On Ben Gurion Avenue

2008-05-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

The Arc, The Terraces, and The Shrine of the Báb During The Tenth International Bahá'í Convention At Night

2008-05-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Twelfth Day of Ridvan 2008

2008-05-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

Of the twelve days that Bahá'u'lláh stayed in the Garden of Ridvan, three are regarded as Holy Days: the first day on which He declared Himself, the ninth day when all His family joined Him and rejoiced at His Declaration, and the twelfth day when He left that garden.

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 1, p. 280)

Of the eight years we have been here in the Bahá'í World Centre this is our first time to have attended a program for the Twelfth Day of Ridvan. For the past seven years that there was no program to commemmorate it we have always gone to Sahkne (an Israel nNature reserve man-made lake) with friends to celebrate it. This year due to the International Convention a program was made for its celebration and some of the delegates read the Holy Writings and prayers for the program.

Delegates while waiting for the program to start

Result of the Election of the Universal House of Justice

2008-04-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

The new members of the Universal House of Justice are (L-R) Dr. Farzam Arbab, Mr. Kiser Barnes, Dr. Peter Khan, Mr. Hooper Dunbar, Dr. Firaydoun Javaheri, Mr. Paul Lample, Dr. Payman Mohajer, Mr. Shahriar Razavi, and Mr. Gustavo Correa.

Dr. Farzam Arbab addressing the delegates Thanking Mr. Hartmut Grossmann & Mr. Glenford Mitchell (former members of the Universal House of Justice)

Ninth Day of Ridvan 2008

2008-04-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Forty-four gilded tiles out of a total of twelve thousand, designed to cover two hundred fifty square meter surface of the dome, were placed in permanent position on the eve of the ninth day of the ninetieth anniversary of the Ridvan Festival. On the afternoon of the same day, during the course of a moving ceremony in the presence of pilgrims and resident believers of 'Akká and Haifa, I have placed reverently a fragment of the plaster ceiling of the Báb's prison cell in the castle of Mah-Ku beneath the gilded tiles of the crowning unit of the majestic edifice, circumambulated the base of the dome, paid homage to His memory, recalled His afflictive imprisonment and offered prayers on behalf of the friends of East and West on a subsequent visit to the interior of His Shrine.

(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Baha'i World - 1950-1957, p. 140)

Election of the Universal House of Justice

2008-04-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today we witnessed a one time chance of a lifetime for some of us the election of the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, by the delegates from around 150 countries all over the world to the Tenth International Convention held at the International Convention Center in Haifa. Delegates arrived to the Holy Land on the 26th of April and will be leaving for their respective countries on the 3rd of May. The program started with some prayers in different languages and was presided by Dr. Penny Walker, a member of the International Teaching Centre. She explained the mechanics of the election and presented the names of the tellers. Three prayers were again said to start the election process and the floor was handed over to the chief teller to preside the election. The program ended with some prayers.

Dr. Penny Walker

A delegate from Indonesia casting his vote

Welcome Frank Arthur Aquino-Grospe

2008-04-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

'Abdu'l-Bahá holding a little child close to him said, the true Bahá'í loves the children, because Jesus says they are of the Kingdom of heaven. A simple pure heart is near to God; a child has no worldly ambitions.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 59)

We just received a very good news from our family back home that our sister Frances has given birth to a healthy baby boy, Frank Arthur Aquino-Grospe, today. We are guessing Frank came from our father's name Francisco and Arthur from Zaldy's father's name Arturo. Seems very obvious but we have to ask and confirm with the parents. The new proud parents, Frances & Zaldy Grospe, and baby Frank are all well and are presently staying with Zaldy's parents in San Jose City. The new proud tita Patria and tito Franco are eagerly and patiently waiting for some photos of the new adition to the family. The photos will be posted here as soon as we received them.

Happy Birthday Voltaire

2008-04-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

Today our baby brother, Voltaire Aquino, is celebrating his 19th birthday. Voltaire is the youngest brother of four and the youngest sibling of eight. He is now in his last year of Hotel And Restaurant Management course and is soon going out of Philippines to another country for his on the job training, a requirement before he graduates his course. To our dear brother: we send you our warmest greetings on your birthday!

First Day of Ridvan 2008

2008-04-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Ridvan to all our friends!!! Today, we have celebrated Ridvan at the Haram-i-Aqdas of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We got used to seeing a lot of people in Holy Day celebrations when the pilgrims and three day visitors are here so it was different to see only the staffs in this celebration. Of course that will change for the 9th Day of Ridvan celebration as the delegates to the 10th International Convention are here. Then few weeks after that the pilgrims will start to come.

It was extra hot this afternoon!!! There was no shade where we were sitting and even if we remembered to bring the umbrella to the program it would have been impossible for us to use it as we were sitting very close to the House members and their wives and they were not using any umbrella so we would feel awkward to use it when they don't have any problem sitting in the sun without the umbrella. The sun was okay though, it kept us awake the whole time.

One of the advantages of going to the venue of the program early is that we get to see our friends who came to the program early as well. This afternoon, we had the chance to get some photos with Mr. Hartmut and Mrs. Urusula Grossmann, and mom with Mr. Glenford and Dr. Bahia Mitchell. We are guessing these photos will be the last ones we will get with them. We were very lucky to have been able to have them.

The 10th International Convention is coming up soon and we are sooo looking forward to it. We are sure it will come by so fast that before we know it we are already saying goodbye to the delegates we know. We surely will have a great time with our volunteering posts during the convention.

Someone asked what this blue chess-pawn-like in this photo below is so we thought we'd say something about it. This photo was taken at the Ridvan Garden and that chess-pawn-like blue object is the corner ornaments of the blue benches at the Ridvan Garden.

At Hai Park in Kiryat Motzkin

2008-04-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

It has been few years back since we have discovered this zoo in Kiryat Motzkin. This is located between Haifa and Akka, and between the sea road and the main road to Akka. Our first visit was with some friends, among them were Christine Lee, Vanesa Train, and Melonna Montalban, who have already left the Bahá'í World Centre. The visit must have been pre-blog otherwise it will be in our previous posts.

Very inquisitive parrots, and trying to use their charms to beg for food too. We had to be firm not to give them anything although their tactic was working. They are sooo cute!

The blue parrot was stopping the red one from getting inside the cage, which at the end managed to get inside. There were three big parrots in the cage.

In the background is one of the twenty small monkeys that are on lose in this one huge cage where visitors can go in and be with them. These monkeys move so fast that it's hard to get a photo of them jumping from one branch to another or when they hold on at the end of a branch and swing themselves back and forth. They let them be fed but runs fast after they have taken the food from your hands. They are harmless.

L-R: Judy Holly, Franco Aquino, John Holly, & Marcelina Duldulao
Camels behind them. Well, we have decided to take this shot because they all came close to us when we just got there but before we could gather in front of them, they all left!!! Camera shy camels.

Marcelina with a bunch of sleeping flamingos. It's amazing how they stand on one leg and be asleep.

Very persistent giraffe. It was stretching the fence so much that we were afraid it'll break by this long-necked animal. After it got something from that bald tree, it would look at us and chew. Got some nice close up shots while it was chewing in our flickr online album.

Cute girl feeding a huge goat. John Holly also fed this goat and tried to feed the others but this one took advantage of its size that the others couldn't get close to us to be fed. Every time one small get lucky to get close to us, this big goat would bleat like a dolhphin's sound. He got all the feeds.

This is the lucky one!

Very charming, isn't he?! He was perched on the roof of the goat's cage watching the world go by.

Meercat digging to get to the other side of the fence where the other meercats were asleep.

An accident shot! Patria was zooming to get a sleeping pig-like animal and when she realeased the shutter there was this head of an ostritch, hence this nice photo.

Franco trying to pet this turtle that seemed like it was trying to escape

Marcelina, Judy, and Franco took the advantage to get a pose next to this deer with a beautiful antler. We had another pose next to it and wondered why it was not leaving!!! We found out it was doing some naturely business.

We have no idea what this cutie is but some said it's from the family of raccoon. This fellow was busy climbing up the roof of its house and down and up and down.

L-R: Judy & John Holly, Franco & Patria Aquino, Marcelina Duldulao

Farewell to the Grossmanns and the Mitchells

2008-04-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Office of Personnel and the Health Services bid farewell to Mr. Hartmut & Mrs. Ursula Grossmann and Mr. Glenford & Dr. Bahia Mitchell by hosting a tea/coffee gathering for them at the dining at the International Teaching Centre Building this afternoon at 4 o'clock. Mr. Paul Lample and his wife, Marcia, have kindly graced the gathering as well. So much beautiful emotions were present at this gathering but everything has come down to one, happiness. Everyone was very happy for the Grossmanns and the Mitchells for we all know life awaiting them outside the Bahá'í World Centre is full of beautiful things and new experiences for them. We also know, based on our observations from the previous members of the House of Justice who retired, that they will be very busy attending giving talks and attending one summer/winter school after another. We wish them good health so they could enjoy these activities awaiting them.

Office of Personnel & Health Services Staffs with Mr. Glenford Mitchell, Mr. Hartmut & Mrs. Urusla Grossmann, and Mr. Paul and Mrs. Marcia Lample

Fred Badiyan at the Baha'i World Center Gardens

2008-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Fred Badiyan is the founder and president of Badiyan Productions, a leading film company in the US. He visited Baha'i World Center to take some footage of the gardens for a project he is working on. We had the privilege to have met him, and Patria to be able to join him one Friday that he was at the Monument Garden.

Fred Badiyan in action:

Small dinner at our place:

One of the Hardest Goodbyes

2008-04-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

We all leave this place, be it after 2.5 years, 25 years, or even 40 years, but we all do, and in our case it will be after 9 years. Mr. Hartmut & Mrs. Ursula Grossmann will be joining the Finland Bahá'í community after they leave the Baha'i World Center after the International Convention of Ridvan 2008. As much as we are happy and excited for their new path of service they will be embarking on and new beautiful experiences, we are truly saddened that they will not be with us anymore. It has been truly a very memorable 8 years of our lives to be in this sacred place at this point of the Faith. Our love and best wishes to both of them.

L-R Back Row: Mace Rosen, Franco Aquino, Mathijah & Ubaidullah Davids, Negar Tsehaye, Gitty Chermoss, Kiyoko Nanni, & Patria Aquino

L-R Middle Row: Bernard de Vera's hands, Vida & Zane Rosen, Aziz Sarooshi, Hartmut & Ursula Grossmann, Pari Sarooshi, & Leili Rosen

L-R Front Row: Laurel Borga, Zekre Tsehaye, Milan Rosen, Lee Nah Teo, & Sisay Borga

Things You May Not Easily Notice At Junayn Garden

2008-04-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

Zichron Ya'acov

2008-04-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Zichron Yaacov is a small town half an hour from Haifa (where we live) and 15 minutes from Ceasariyya. Its main street, Rehov Hameyasdim is like the Ben Gurion Street in Haifa but Rehov Hameyasdim is paved with cobblestones and assortment of small shops, featuring the works of local artists, and café’s and restaurants are lined on this small street. According to the internet this street used to be inhabited by farmers in the past and was originally called Farmer’s Street. It's a cute small town.

This time Jamal Daumar & Bernard De Vera joined us in our excursion. We wanted to visit the Rothschild Garden, which was highly recommended by Quddus Toledo but unfortunately it just closed when we got there. It is close to Haifa so it will be easy to pay another visit.

On our way back to Haifa we went to Camel Beach for a walk. It was a lovely afternoon, the weather was not too cold and not too hot, it was just perfect!

On Rehov Hameyasdim Street / Outside one of the shops with Jamal Daumar

At the Camel Beach

Maybe Our Last Visit To The Soreq Cave (Stalactite Cave)

2008-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

In October of 2006, we went to see this very interesting place called the Soreq Cave. We just adore how beautiful this natural creation is made. This place is just one of the 61 national parks & nature reserves in Israel that we want to go and visit. We don't think we will ever get to a lot of them though. Some of them are too far away from Haifa and some are just unreachable for us due to one reason or another. Soreq Cave or Stalactite Cave is located on the slopes of the Judean mountains. It was accidentally discovered in May 1968 from the echoes from nearby quarry activities. The place was studied for years and was not open to the public until 10 years after its discovery to make sure its development and natural growth will not be hampered by human's presence in the cave.
Interestingly, we got lost and could not find the place whereas we did not have any problem finding this place the first time we went there. We were also stopped twice by random check by police officers which has never happened to us before. What was with today?! But the company was really good, it has contributed to how much we have enjoyed this place.

To all our dear friends who are in Israel or who will be coming to this country and have not been to this place we strongly recommend for you to visit it. It's worth every penny of the NIS23 you will pay to enter the cave.

On the way to Soreq Cave. Stopped at one of the gasoline stations on Road 6 for a tuna sandwich snack prepared by Jamal, oh and coffee by Patria!

Lunch prepared by Franco and dessert prepared by Patria and drinks provided by Quddus and more coffee Going down the steps to the cave In the entrance's waiting room. Patria spoiling the drama of seriously reading the brochure for the picture The three muskeeters with a wall (combination of stalactites & stalagmites) Franco & Patria with another wall Franco & Patria with Quddus with a thick wall of stalactites & stalagmites in the background Romeo & Juliet: Will they ever meet Elephant ears stalactites & stalagmites Maybe same type On the way home, stopped at one of the parks nearby Soreq Cave for more snacks & coffee
Sunset that evening. It was dusty that day but not that hot. We did not have that much beautiful view of the nearby mountains because of the dust. Photo taken by Jamal. Good job Jamz!