I am so eager to learn that your health is fully restored, for I believe your services are a most valuable asset to the Faith you serve in these troublous days. I welcome your efficient and unrelaxing cooperation, in spite of the obstacles which face you, in so many fields of Bahá’í activity. I am confident that as a result of your strenuous endeavours the administrative institutions in your land will be further consolidated and extended and the cause of teaching receive an added impetus. Your true brother, Shoghi LETTER OF 5 APRIL 1936 5 April 1936 Dear Bahá’í Friends, Your most welcome message of the first Naw-Rúz has just arrived and its perusal has brought indescribable joy to our Guardian’s heart. He is so thankful and happy that the friends in Vienna are working so unitedly and with such fervour, and he hopes that as a result the Cause will steadily develop, and your centre will become one of the leading Bahá’í communities in the West. The most vital matter on which the Guardian wishes you to fully concentrate is that of consolidating the foundations of the Administration. Not until your group learns to work efficiently through obedience to the local assembly and under its guidance can there be any hope for future expansion. The friends must all realize the necessity of internal discipline and order which only a properly elected and efficiently functioning body such as the local assembly can effectively maintain. Obedience to the decisions of the local assembly should be unqualified and whole-hearted, as by this means alone can the community work as a united body and achieve something constructive and enduring. The Guardian feels also the necessity of urging you to keep always in touch with the friends in Germany. The center in Vienna, though outside the political boundaries of Germany, forms nevertheless an integral part of the German-speaking Bahá’í community. It is therefore of a vital importance that the ties of fellowship and cooperation between you and the German believers be increasingly strengthened and consolidated so that through your united endeavours the Cause in Germany and Austria may rapidly spread and be established on firm foundations.... [From the Guardian:] Dearly beloved friends: I am deeply grateful to you for your constant services, your unswerving loyalty, your firm determination and exemplary devotion to our beloved Cause. Unity and cooperation are absolutely essential and vital at the present stage of your development. Persevere and rest assured I will continue to pray for you all from the depths of my heart. Affectionately, Shoghi LETTER OF 10 MAY 1936 10 May 1936 Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel, Your letter dated May 1st with the enclosed message from the Annual Convention of the German friends have all duly arrived and been read with deepest interest and satisfaction by our beloved Guardian.