Post Conference Learning, Day 1

Dear friends,

The first thing I learned yesterday is that I miss you all desperately. I had to run errands after work and spent some quality time in my car singing our prayers and sobbing. Thank you, Baha'u'llah, for protecting all the poor innocents on the road near me from destruction. And don't worry, friends. Prayers always make you feel better eventually. I'm good now.

So on the train back home Tuesday morning I returned to thinking about how important it us for us transient student human resources to provide friendship and mutual support for the indigenous human resources of our cluster. So I shot a text out to TH. He's a 33 year old new Baha'i with deep devotion and a beautiful dream of starting a junior youth group in one of the poorer areas of St Louis city where he lives. He let me know that he was planning a kick ball game that evening that he planned as the launch of his junior youth group endeavors. He invited MM and me to join.

Learning #1: If you're thinking about one of your collaborators in service, send them a text a long with that ray of love and spiritual energy. You just might find out something thrilling!

I emailed some folks at the conference and some friends about what was going on. I got two replies and nobody was able to make it to the event.

Learning #2: If you want someone to join you for an event, especially on short notice, you need to call or text them, don't email them.

I ended up getting out of work late; almost an hour after the event was to have started. I looked at my text messages and saw that TH had notified me that no one had showed up. "I think everyone was scared away by the heat," he told me. I inquired how he had originally met the people he invited to the kickball game. Some were friends from the neighborhood, some were people he had met from a day passing out fliers about a week previously. "I think I need to get their phone numbers so I can call and remind them," he said. I asked if he had thought about knocking on doors of people whose addresses he knew so he knew to remind them. "I'm here by myself. I can't leave the park, because if someone shows up, then no one will be here to meet them." Tragic breakdown of mutual friendship and support! I felt terrible.

But last night I got a good night's sleep that must have helped me distill the learning TH had conveyed to me during that conversation so I could use it as well.

Learning #3: Flyers aren't enough when recruiting for an event. You need to collect phone numbers or addresses of those interested in participating so you can call or visit and remind them.

Learning #4: Don't launch a core activity alone if you can muster some support, whether it be from inside or outside the Faith. The only helper TH needed was a warm body to sit in a hot park while he went and knocked on doors. Easy peasy.

I think Tuesday kickball was a great idea, and if we use the learning from this week to tackle next week's roadblock to boost next week's event I feel confident we'll be able to move to a whole new vista of learning. I envision kickball next week going something like this:

On Monday evening a Baha'i friend of TH's (SD) will call around to potential collaborators, especially those with experience or interest in junior youth. Hopefully out of these one will arise to sacrificially plant him/herself in the middle of the park to greet people showing up to the event. I recommend he/she be supplied with sunscreen, a spray bottle, an umbrella, a battery-powered fan, 2 liters of water and some music and speakers. Just because we're the spiritual descendants of the dawn breakers doesn't mean we can't minimize our suffering by showing up prepared. ;-) If this person ends up being SD, she will let TH know that she can't show up till 7pm at the earliest because of work.

TH will then be free to roam the neighborhood, knocking on doors of some folks he knows and calling others. He'll be able to talk to people he meets in the street and to ask people for the phone numbers of others who might be interested. I envision that by 9pm when the heat has diminished a little we may have a rip roaring game of kickball going, and have planted the idea of junior youth group in the minds of some young people. That's what I'll be praying for.

Love,

SD