Decision to pioneer brings joyful surprises - Part 2
One of the current international pioneering goals for Aotearoa is to send a small team of pioneers to French Polynesia. Yvonne Williamson and Michael Vaughan responded in October 2022 to the call for pioneers.
Michael Vaughan writes: Part Two - Will they ever get to Tahiti? The story continues…
Having received many confirmations during a visit to French Polynesia in late 2022, and with our offer to pioneer accepted by the Aotearoa Pioneer Taskforce, we set about the many preparations.
We responded to an invitation from one branch of our family in the north, who are descendants of an ancestor Manaia who journeyed here on an ancient twin hulled waka more than forty generations ago. Our whanau took us to the sacred mountain Manaia at Whangarei Heads where we had prayers in Māori and English. Māori and Polynesion history, including various waka migrations, were shared showing the integral connections to Tahiti and Raiatea. The heart of the stories was the significant role of Manaia, the ancestor who genealogically and historically connects us back to the Polynesian and Pacific peoples. We felt deeply moved by the Māori spiritual and cultural connections, essential realities of our pioneering journey.
The visit to Manaia, Whangarei Heads
Back in Opotiki, an increasing connection with the Divine Plan developed as we studied for two to three hours a day the seminal messages of the House of Justice from the past twelve years.
Other preparations included a trip from Opotiki to the French Embassy in Wellington to apply for visas; selling our worldly possessions online and through a garage sale; purchasing air tickets and medical insurance; studying and building capacity to serve within a neighbourhood or village; learning new languages; giving notice to our landlord; saying goodbye to friends and family.
The excitement was building. Everything was falling into place for us to arrive in Tahiti on 19th April, before the first day of Ridvan. With six days til departure our passports arrived in the letter box. We were overjoyed. Yvonne admired our visas. They were the wrong ones. Six-month visas instead of twelve-month ones. This meant if we went to Tahiti for six months, we would have to then return to New Zealand for three months and reapply.
Frantic communications to the Bahá'í Counsellor for French Polynesia, to the Bahá'í institutional contact in Tahiti, to the French Embassy in Wellington! We needed the Embassy to change the visa within five days.
Don’t panic! The French Embassy, (only contactable by email) said sorry for the mistake but they could not change the visa, we would have to reapply. This new application could take three months. With three days til we were due to fly out of Auckland, we cancelled the visas.
We had ten days to vacate our now empty rental house and nowhere to stay. The only things left were our bed and a fridge. Could things get any worse? You bet they could! A day later Yvonne was struck by extreme pain in her right hip. Lying on her back in the bed, if she moved slightly, level 10 pain would bring her to tears. Michael had to carry her on his back to the toilet as she moaned in agony.
Would Yvonne give up? No! Seven days later, with the condition still undiagnosed and excruciating pain continuing, Yvonne insisted on travelling to Wellington for the special appointment the Embassy had generously given us. This saved a 2 month wait for a normal appointment. With Yvonne travelling to Wellington in a wheelchair, local Opotiki Bahá'ís joked about ‘mouldering bones’ in reference to Ella Bailey, a pioneer in the Ten-Year Crusade in 1950’s.
During 32 days of extreme pain, Yvonne reached the point of despair with no fight left in her. With no diagnosis or way forward, she appeared ready for the next world. Eventually she was diagnosed with acute septic arthritis needing immediate surgery to be followed in six months by a hip replacement. The streptococcal B bacteria had spread throughout the right hip and the thigh muscles.
This situation and many other tests became all consuming. We wondered if we would ever get to Tahiti. Widespread support and prayers from individuals and institutions in New Zealand and abroad strengthened our hope. Many confirmations reassured us that we were still destined to part these shores.
After two weeks in hospital, Yvonne returned to Opotiki to join Michael in the backpackers’ hostel which would be our home for the next eight weeks. A local Bahá'í had generously provided us with our own room in his backpackers’ hostel, as well the use of a car.
Eventually the new visas arrived, so, with two bags each, we headed for Auckland to catch the plane. Some of our family gathered in Auckland for a farewell dinner. Amongst those attending, eight are home-front pioneers and two have been international pioneers.
Family gathering in Auckland
The singing of the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “O that I could travel in the utmost poverty, to these regions …” permeated the room and stirred the hearts. We all felt a part of this great venture, that Yvonne and Michael were travelling for all of us and our nation, to contribute to the spread of the Divine teachings along the ancient paths of the peoples of Polynesia and the Pacific.
Farewell at Auckland airport
The following day at Auckland airport there was a touching farewell from Zarrin (our daughter), Nick Moss (a representative member of the National Spiritual Assembly), and Lyndsey Ula (a member of the Aotearoa Pioneering Taskforce).
Nothing was certain until the plane touched down and we finally set foot on the island of Tahiti.
Touchdown!
On arrival we messaged local and Aotearoa institutions. The message included ‘The Eagle has landed. Severe tests finally overcome.’
The Counsellor for French Polynesia responded by sending us a story of an Egyptian believer who in the time of Bahá’u’lláh went through many tests for five years in preparation for pilgrimage but that his greatest test was awaiting him in the Holy Land. What crises and victories lie ahead for Ma’ohi nui, the heart and ancestral homeland of Polynesia?
Author: Michael Vaughan; Editor: Yvonne Williamson
Part 1 of this story was published in ‘Bahá'í Aotearoa’ on 31 March 2023
A call to action from the Aotearoa Pioneer Taskforce
An excerpt of a letter from the Universal House of Justice dated 24th May 2022 is shared below and beneath this beautiful message, the Aotearoa Pioneer Taskforce offers some details about one of the three current international pioneering goals for New Zealand.
“Rest assured of the prayers of the House of Justice in the Holy Shrines that the wondrous favours and boundless grace of the Almighty may reinforce your devoted efforts to raise up and support all those who, both at home and in foreign fields, “with hearts afire with the love of God, forsake their all for the sake of spreading and establishing His Faith.”
24th May 2022 - Letter from the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of New Zealand.
A pdf of the full letter can be downloaded using the button below.
The third International pioneer goal for New Zealand is the city of Brno in the Czech Republic.
It has been requested that this goal is to be filled by a young couple or family or by two youth who are experienced in establishing and sustaining core activities particularly the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Programme and the Programme for the Spiritual Education of Children.
The town of Brno was first established in the 11th century and is now the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Lying in the southeast, Brno has a total population of 380,000, including large Vietnamese, Filipino and Gypsy communities. The diversity is now steadily increasing with the arrival of Ukrainian refugees. While most young people speak good English, other spoken languages apart from Czechia, include Russian, German and Austrian.
Brno has a Local Spiritual Assembly and activities are mostly instigated by three close families with a combined total of 10 children and one youth. The entire Bahá'í population of the Czech Republic is 200 people, of which approximately 70 are currently involved in the life of the community. The Faith cannot be recognised as an official religion within the Czech Republic until it reaches a membership of 300 Bahá'ís. The only way that a core activity can eventuate is by registering it as an NGO. For example, there is a children's class registered as an NGO entitled, " For the Betterment of the World."
To express your interest in this path of service, or discuss building your capacities to fill this goal, please write to the Pioneering taskforce <pioneering@bahai.org.nz> or please call one of its members:
Lyndsey Ula 0211876216, Pryanka Nassiry 0220792137, or Adel Salmanzadeh 0212589800
