Yakima Narrative | Summer 2018 - Bahá’ís of Yakima

A nucleus of friends

had the desire to gain the capacity of inviting people from a neighborhood into the Institute, and to be able to describe the community building process the Training Institute provides. They are learning that resilience and a constructive outlook are necessary qualities. Through Narratives from across the globe, they are learning that building vibrant communities takes time and Faith. In its reflection, it became apparent that they were operating in a more goal-oriented way without much rhythm and are learning that for growth to take place they need to be in a learning mode that embraces more of a process that lives through 90-day cycles.

Task force planning meeting

One of the priorities of this nucleus

which now consists of a cadre of tutors, was to learn how to draw youth into the Institute. After consultation between themselves, and with the support of the LSA, a task force was formed. A youth and a jr youth were also involved in the planning process. A weekend was chosen in which to host friends from other clusters to join us in study, practice, and action. A few friends took Book 7 so that they could tutor a youth Book 1. The youth involved in the planning reached out to friends in the focus neighborhood and invited them to the Expansion Phase outreach weekend. The focus neighborhood was chosen based on a few criteria. First, this is a neighborhood in close proximity to some of the families in the nucleus, also this is a neighborhood that has subsidized housing and consists of many families with younger children. The neighborhood is next to a park, a middle school, and a junior high school. Some outreach had been tried there with some success and obvious receptivity. Thus the two-pronged approach of reaching out to networks and into a population was used.

One of the teams presenting ‘to serve humanity’ poster

The invitation to join the Expansion Phase weekend was sent to many clusters

And to those hoping to learn about reaching out to youth. Friends from four clusters across the Eastern subregion were represented at the weekend-long gathering. The materials that were used included the To Serve Humanity Booklet, and flyers were made for each of the core activities in hopes that there was interest. The arts were used for some of the youth themes in the Booklet, and the friends broke out into small groups to decorate a poster with paints and glitter. Much joy, learning, and laughter accompanied this gathering of friends.

Another team presenting ‘to serve humanity’ poster

On Sunday, after the friends practiced having conversations about the vision of the Institute, the group went to the focus neighborhood and had many conversations. The nucleus continued to do home visits to the neighborhood and the park across the street for the next two weeks.

A children’s class formed and a Book 1 with 5 youth started as a result

The book 1 took place three consecutive Saturdays where 1 unit was completed on each of the days, making it an intensive so the youth could move quickly through the Book. The tutors would reflect after each day and see what could be improved and what was going well. It is noteworthy in that one of the tutors had attended a Book 1 Seminar in Lyle, WA the weekend before. The tutors were then able to use insights learned from the Seminar with the youth that drastically increase the quality of the Book 1. One of the highlights was the way in which the group was able to study and memorize the quotes on a much deeper level which then gave impetus to the youth thinking about the quotes during their everyday lives. Each session was also accompanied by music inspired by the quotes and the arts such as making bookmarks and collages. Two elderly friends in the Cluster received home visits by the youth who shared prayers with them.

One of the youth declared and now wants to be a children’s class teacher

She will be starting Book 3. The other 4 youth want to be animators and will be starting Book 5 at the beginning of August. Afterward, they will be accompanied by their tutor to start their own Jr youth group before school begins.

Children’s classes at West Valley park

The nucleus, which now includes the youth who have been engaged, plans to continue to reach out to new friends each cycle to draw in more resources and to learn how to accompany them into the arena of service.