The Community of the German and Austrian believers, the recipient of such signal honours from the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant in the past; born and nurtured in its infancy under His fostering care in the course of the concluding decades of the Apostolic Age of the Faith; eminently successful in laying the foundations of its Administrative Order in the years immediately following His Ascension; emerging, purified and strengthened, from the fire of a severe and prolonged ordeal after the conclusion of the second world war; demonstrating its capacity and resilience through the initiation and prosecution of a carefully designed Plan, despite the exhaustion of a terrible and harrowing conflict that endangered its life and shook it to its foundations,—such a community has now risen to assume its rightful place in the world-encompassing Crusade launched by the followers of Bahá’u’lláh; has splendidly initiated its Ten-Year Plan through the inauguration of its glorious Mission in foreign fields, and is now forging ahead, with magnificent courage, resolution, thoroughness, and fidelity, in its endeavour to win fresh laurels in the course of this second and newly opened stage in the unfoldment of the Plan to which it stands committed. May the vision of its members remain undimmed, their resolution never flag, their steps never falter. May they, as the years go by, demonstrate afresh the solidity of their faith, the nobility of their motives, the sublimity of their devotion, the tenacity of their resolution, in the service of a Faith they have served so devotedly in the past and which they will, undoubtedly, promote with unabated zeal, in the future, Your true brother, Shoghi LETTER OF 28 JUNE 1954 28 June 1954 Dear Bahá’í Friends: Your loving letter of June 9th has come to hand, telling of the activities of the friends in connection with the development of the teaching work in Germany and Austria, as well as in the pioneering fields. So far as the questions you ask are concerned, the following will answer question Number 1, as this is a matter which the Guardian has elucidated. The direction of the pioneers is entirely in the hands of the National Assemblies under whom they are serving. The Guardian simply enunciates the principle, and then it is up to the National Assemblies to apply that principle. The principle is that pioneers entering the pioneer field should realize that they are going there to represent the Cause, in fact, to be the Cause. Their minds and their hearts should be centered in their new tasks and in their new environment. They should not be thinking of when they can return home, or when they can go somewhere else. Only when the Faith is firmly established should they give any thought to moving, and then, only in consultation with the National Assembly.