Birth of the Bab Celebration

This year we had a very special commemoration of the anniversary of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, the Bab. All around the world this date is being celebrated, and our home was filled with Baha'is and neighboring friends interested in learning more about the Faith. The first photo below is of our guest violinist, Melisa, who is the next-door neighbor of Jose Angel and Lourdes (our pilgrimage companions mentioned early in the blog). We were delighted when her parents and younger brother showed up as well. They all showed interest in the Faith and we hope they will continue to join us.
Here's our famous resident musician, Mike Robles, who's delighted to have some accompaniment by David McKinney, our resident son! The small fellow in the background is an amazing young man for his steadfastness, "Nachillo". He's been a Baha'i since he was a much littler boy and independently shows up for almost everything Baha'i. (Costa Rican males are notoriously unwilling to help out in the kitchen, but this little fellow surprised us all by doing up all the evening's dishes, unasked!) The other young man on the right is Heydar, who came down from the Carribean side of the country to join us.
Below is Gerald, the oldest of the Morales family boys, speaking with Alan Pringle, and the lady on the right is Shida Arfai next to her husband, Parviz. They are Baha'is visiting CR from Houston with their two children for a week or so.
Julie having an animated conversation with Jose Angel:
Egitan Robles having an animated conversation with Melisa:
Some of the crowd after a wonderful presentation of one of Tahireh's lovely poems written in praise of the Bab. Tahireh was the first women suffragette-martyr who's statement to her executioner (who strangled her with her own handkerchief) was: "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women."
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 75)
Julie and Gianni put together this Power Point presentation with the poem set to music and including emotionally charged pictures. I think everyone was transfixed by it.
Gianni and Naseem Arfai chatting in the kitchen:
Shida, Parviz and Naisohn Arfai speaking with Julie:
This is Jorge & Edith--parents of the violinist, Melisa-- with her little brother, Sebastian: