January 2013
by Carolyn - 15:58 on 31 January 2013
17th January, 2013
Have just realised that it's 31st January already!
The long-awaited January 2013 has been and gone, marking the end of the Centenary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to the British Isles and to Surrey in particular...
We've been back in Cyprus for a week now, happy to escape the aftermath of the snow in England but still finding it rather chilly here with rain and thunder interspersed with blue skies, and two of our old lemon trees have succumbed to high winds this week.
The year started well, with a Bahá'í Conference in Brighton on the first weekend, seeing a few hundred friends from Surrey and Sussex and several visiting from further afield. A lovely time, followed by an animated meeting of the Surrey Bahá'ís the following weekend, and then the event we'd all beeen awaiting, the 100th Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to Woking for the re-opening of the Mosque on 17th January 1913.
Woking Bahá'ís organised an excellent meeting in the town centre, whilst in the morning some of us took part in an Interfaith Conference arranged by the Bishop of Guildford, Woking Mosque, Surrey Faith Links and Woking People of Faith ahead of the UN Interfaith Harmony Week (which we're arranging a programme for here in Cyprus on 2nd February) In the afternoon we were able to spend time inside the Mosque and reflect on the historical importance of the day.
Two days later we returned to Woking for the first of a series of debates. Bruce Kent, who we knew very well in our U.N.A. days, led the debate 'War :Is it necessary, does it work?', which was very well attended despite the heavy snowfalls overnight, and it was good to find several old friends as well as several we'd shared the 'Abdu'l-Bahá Centenary event with.
Then it was time pack and line up our activities for Cyprus :) So many people pass through Cyprus regularly like us that's easy to miss people if we don't plan ahead a little, though it's also lovely just bumping into friends in this small half-island community <3 On our first day back friends about to leave for Ireland brought two lovely young Egyptian Bahá'í students, twins, to meet us, then we went to the Saturday 'Prayer Breakfast' where another Irish friend who used to live in the next village to us here but is now working in mainland Turkey, and some others from Istanbul joined us, afterwards moving to the Buyuk Khan and the newly-restored undercover market, gathering up friends as we went along. A lovely day out, then paying our respects to departed friends in the big Municipal Cemetary - then once again being towed home when the gasket apparently blew on the 'new' Renault 19 which had a new engine last time we were here.
Such is life in Cyprus...
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