Cycle 6, Part 3

Looking up at the clock, it was 5:20pm and we still had a work meeting to attend to. Mary and I were sitting in the secure room waiting anxiously to get out so that we could meet Camilla at 6pm. I had called her the night before.

"Hello, is Camilla there?"

"And who is this?"

"O, uh, my name is Jason, I am from the Baha'i community here in Albuquerque, I was made aware that you were interested in learning more about the Baha'i Faith."

"Yes, yes, I would like to join your church"

Wow, okay, lets make sure she knows what she's getting into

"Oh, okay, well would you like to meet up sometime so that we could talk about it?"

"So how long have you been in this church?"

"For about 10 years, yeah my mom was a Baha'i and after some investigation I found it to be the truth for myself. How did you get interested in the faith?"

"I met some Baha'is who have an art shop on the plaza, I was very impressed by how helpful they were to each other. I used to be a Mormon, but now I would like to join your church."

"Okay, can we meet up and discuss this further?"

The directions she gave me to her house were incredibly descriptive, and she spoke in a slow and deliberate manner, a style very different than my own. I am not always very good at recalling details on the spot, which makes me a horrible verbal storyteller. I really, really wanted to say, 'just give me an address, I will look it up online." But I waited...

We rushed over and were greeted into her house. My initial read of her seemed to be correct. Her energy was very grounded, she was a little shy but beauty and understanding reflected from her eyes. There was opera music in the background, which complemented the many paintings that hung in her house. Silence filled in the gap as we sat down and she sat there looking back at us, waiting for us to make a pitch.

"So if you are interested we brought this presentation, maybe we can go through it and see what you think."

"Okay, whatever you like."

As I presented, I couldn't help but notice that she she was respectfully waiting for this social formality to pass over.

"Do you believe that Baha'u'llah is a manifestation of God?"

"Everybody is a manifestation of God"

"Yeah, that's true, um, though Baha'u'llah is making a big claim here, He is saying that he is the promised one of all ages, foretold in the books of the past. Do believe that he is telling the truth?"

She paused for the briefest moment before saying:

"yeah, I believe that."

Time when on, she spoke of meeting a friend for lunch. While in conversation she had told her friend about meeting with the Baha'is in the evening, to which her friend responded:

"I'm a Baha'i, I just declared two weeks ago!

Throughout the presentation her phone had been ringing off the hook. Partway through the presentation she decided to answer it. Another friend also wanted to know about the Faith. She showed up at 6:50pm.

"So what is the Baha'i Faith?"

"Well the main theme of the Baha'i Faith...you know what, do you mind if I use this presentation, it kind of helps me keep my thoughts in order."

"Okay, but in five minutes is the vice presidential debate."

I presented for five minutes while Mary started Ruhi book 1 with Camille. We made plans to visit again the following week.

Thinking partly in jest, this is an example of how politics distracts us from what is really important. I was awed by what had just taken place, but I also wanted to watch the debate.