Tag Archives: Heart to Heart

Vietnam: Hanoi Beginnings

April 29, 2012 (Sunday) – As I have explained, the stated reason Zabine Van Ness and I are in Vietnam is that the Hanoi Baha’i community, on the 20th anniversary of its founding, wanted to honor Zabine for her role in that seminal event.

That “stated” reason is of course their reason – and a good reason it is indeed. But it isn’t Zabine’s reason for accepting the invitation. She came here with the hope that she could assist and empower the Vietnamese friends today, perhaps even more than she did in the past. “The celebration is about the last 20 years,” she says. “It’s time to be working on the next 20.”

That’s what she has done, from the moment the plane touched down. More about that later. Zabine, however, has a passion for documenting history and has put together a fabulous slideshow about the events 20 years ago that launched the Hanoi community. She and her then-husband, the late J.T. Linkins, taught and enrolled the first Hanoi believer, Dr. Dao An Son. The circumstances were harrowing: J.T. almost died, under circumstances that might easily have triggered an international incident.

But he didn’t die, and all was well that ended well. Please click the image below to read the amazing story. It is in PDF format, and you will need the free Adobe Reader software (adobe.com) to view it. If you have it installed already, you should be able to view it in your browser window. (And please be patient – it’s a large file and may take a few minutes to download.)

Cover

AT-logo

Visiting Vietnam

Good morning, April 22. I can’t believe I’m on my way to Vietnam.

The Vietnam trip has been in the works for several months, but I haven’t had the courage — till now — to write about it.

Please don’t get me wrong: I’m excited about this trip — upbeat, optimistic, incredibly happy. What I’m saying is that the whole thing has had a surreal sense of unreality. (But there’s something about looking down at the sky from above it that restores one’s sense of “this is really happening!”)

Another reason is that Continue reading

New high-def “Heart to Heart” website

Whew! It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a month since I posted my March 8 article on Heart to Heart. Sorry to be quiet for so long, but so much has happened:

SlideshowI’ve ported my new presentation of the Heart to Heart program to its own, standalone web site: Heart to Heart HD. Even though this new site remains a work-in-progress, early feedback suggests that people are finding it highly attractive, engaging, and useful. You can visit it by clicking here, or on the slideshow graphic to the right.

The actual web address is: hearttoheart.bahaiteaching.net


This site went live on March 19. Less than 24 hours later, the official web site of the US Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly featured this new site on its “multimedia resources” page, under “interactive”: www.bahai.us/news/multimedia-resources/.

A few days later, Stephen Scotti, webmaster for the Virginia Peninsula Baha’i cluster, figured out yet another way to make Heart to Heart sizzle on the web. Continue reading

Introducing Heart to Heart HD

The Astonished Tamale! is pleased to introduce a new service for its readers. We’re calling it Heart to Heart HD. You can test-drive it here. (Or simply click the “Heart to Heart HD” item on the black menu bar above.)

A bit of history:

Heart to Heart (without the HD) is an omnibus slideshow addressing more than 700 important and frequently asked questions about the Baha’i Faith. These are grouped into 18 major topics (or “tracks”), each constituting Continue reading