Nashville had the first week of their expansion phase in November focused on reaching out to youth in their focus neighborhood. Their efforts were bolstered by two friends visiting from the Triangle NC Cluster, who helped contribute to the unity of vision and joy of the cluster. Over four days the teams had 50 conversations and talked to 25 people who were interested in serving as animators. They held an animator information session that was attended by 25 people, including 3 high-schoolers, 6 young adults, and 1 junior youth from the neighborhood. Ten existing animators who were in Nashville for an animator gathering also attended along with other Baha’is. Nine out of 25 people that the teams met came in the pouring rain to the information session. The information session was joyful, with people staying for close to three hours. Two hours of the time were spent in a more formal presentation/guided group discussions. Six people signed up for an intensive Book 1 the weekend of Dec 5-7 and they planned to visit another 15 households over the following week to register more people. These victories were won largely due to the focus, intensity and unity of vision the friends showed when planning for and carrying out the project. The friends in the cluster are joyous and there is a buzz among the Baha’is about the weekend. It was also wonderful to have two Baha’is interested in starting Junior Youth Groups come to the information session, adding to the potential resources in the cluster.
