In 1968 the Universal House of Justice took action to provide for the future carrying out of the specific functions of protection and propagation vested in the Hands of the Cause, by the establishment of Continental Board of Counsellors. Each Board consists of a number of Counsellors appointed by the Universal House of Justice, and they work in close collaboration with the Hands of the Cause of God. The appointment and direction of Auxiliary Boards is now the duty of the Boards of Counsellors, and the activities of the Hands, of whom fourteen are still living, have been extended to be worldwide. In June 1973 the Universal House of Justice established in the Holy Land an International Teaching Centre and assigned it the activities of the Continental Board of Counsellors and as liaison between them and the Universal House of Justice. The Guardian had written of future global teaching plans to be carried out under the direction of the Universal House of Justice, and the first of these, a Nine Year Plan, was launched in 1964. This was followed by a Five Year Plan terminating at Ridván 1979. At the present time, 1979, the Bahá’í Faith has been established in 172 independent states. There are Bahá’ís living in over 103,000 localities throughout the world; Bahá’í literature has been translated into over 650 languages; the sixth and seventh Bahá’í Temples are being built in India and Samoa; land for 123 other Temples has been acquired; there are 125 National Spiritual Assemblies and 25,500 Local Spiritual Assemblies. Bahá’ís are now energetically pursuing a Seven Year Plan designed to further expand and consolidate the growth of the Faith throughout the world. Most encouraging of all has been the response of the masses in such places as Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where large numbers of the indigenous peoples have begun to enter the Cause, bringing about a new stage in the development of the administrative and social activities of the worldwide Bahá’í community. FOOTNOTES 1 Written shortly after the First World War. 2 There are now the incomparable translations by Shoghi Effendi from the Persian and Arabic, of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. These, together with his own considerable writings covering the history of the Faith, the statements and implications of its fundamental verities and the unfoldment of its Administrative Order, make the modern inquirer’s task infinitely easier than in Dr. Esslemont’s time. 3 The “a” pronounced as in _Sh_áh. 4 One of the two great factions—_Sh_í’ih and Sunní—into which Islám fell soon after the death of Muḥammad, was the first legitimate successor of the Prophet, and that only his descendants are the rightful caliphs. 5 First day of Muharram, 1235 A.H.