F O R T H E F E A S T O F ‘ I Z Z A T / M I G H T S E P T E M B E R 7 , 2 0 1 6

V O L U M E 1 4 I S S U E 1 0

TREASURERS NOTES“Self-sacrifice means to subordinate this lower nature and its desires to the more godly and noble side of

ourselves. Ultimately, in its highest sense, self-sacrifice means to give our will and our all to God to do with as He pleases. Then he purifies and glorifies our true self until it becomes a shining and wonderful reality.”

~ From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, December 10, 1947

How do we give “our will and our all to God” with our material resources?

For Consultation

LOCAL FUND UPDATE !★ $ __________ contributed year to date/month !★ __________ people participated last month

Fund Fact - The National Fund provides for training and support of Local Spiritual Assembly members through the Office of Assembly Development, the Office of Community Administration and the Office of the Treasurer.

FUND STORY !We received the following message in response to a recent letter that mentions a story of generosity involving ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “We received your wonderful letter with the story of the Arabs wanting to repay ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for His kindness from many years before. At the end of the letter you used “love and gratitude” - one of our favorite sayings. When [my spouse] Susanna* saw that she said we should double our contribution for this month to help with the deficit. Love and gratitude has come to us via ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. When we met she was cleaning toilets and I was cleaning yards. We got married and after some years of financial struggle one day during prayers I asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá if we could possibly dispense with the necessities of life as He suggested and focus on the important things. Not long thereafter our lives began to change much for the better with extremely unusual events. Our very wealthy neighbor needed to own our property for legal reasons in order to secure his large estate. He paid us cash and insisted that we remain living there for the rest of our lives for free. After 13 years we decided to move to be near our family. We have learned to have Love and Gratitude for the gifts that are continually being provided to us by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as a result of that prayer. Our favorite saying is “Love and Gratitude” Enclosed please find our Love and Gratitude contribution.”*name changed for anonymityDo you have a story to share about giving to the Funds? Let us know at myfundstory@usbnc.org!

National Fund Fiscal Year 2017

NATIONAL FUND UPDATE !★ $7.9 million contributed as of August 31, 2016 ★ $14.7 million - 2nd quarter goal for Oct. 31, 2016

National Fund Goal

$35M

Contributed as of:

Aug 31, ‘16

$7.9M

3rd Qtr. (Nov-Jan)

$22.75 Million

2nd Qtr. (Aug-Oct)

$14.7 Million

Amount Contributed

National Fund Goal

Goals per Quarter

!May 1, 2016 to April 30, 2017

Summit 4th Qtr

(Feb - April)

uring ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last days in America, the Bahá’ís were eager to show their love and gratitude by buying Him gifts, but these He refused. ‘I am pleased with your services,’ He told them, ‘and I am grateful for all you have done for Me. . . . Now you have brought presents for the members of My family. They are accept-able, but the best of all presents is the love of God which remains preserved in the treasuries of hearts. Material presents remain for a time, but this lasts forever. These presents require chests and shelves for safe keeping, while this is preserved in the repositories of the minds and hearts and remains eternal and immortal forever in the divine worlds. I shall, therefore, convey to them your love which is the most precious of all gifts. No one uses diamond rings in our home and no one wants rubies. That house is free from all these things.‘I, however, accept your presents, but I leave them in your safe keeping with the request that you will kindly sell them and send the proceeds to the funds for the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.’

Story taken from “Vignettes: from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá” Collected and edited by Annamarie Hannold, P14.

The Gifts

Why do you think ‘Abdu’l-Bahá responded the way He did to the presents?