Here is a truly inspiring account from a study circle participant, illustrating how vital the role of the tutor is in empowering participants to become active agents of their own learning, and encouraging them to discover in the "mine" of their own selves, the  "gems of inestimable value"

  "I have just finished Arising to Serve (Book 2) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I started with one study circle last year but unfortunately missed a number of sessions and so decided to do it again.  Both times I had an excellent tutor but my learning from the recent book was particularly important ...  

"The tutor was clear from the very beginning of the book that the 3rd section would not be started until everyone had completed the 3 talks that were to be presented in section 2.  During this section most people responded initially with some trepidation but wanted to be faithful to the process and were lovingly encouraged by the tutor. Here are some responses (names have been changed). 

"Jenny visited some barely active believers in a neighbouring community, one of whom is Persian and been a Bahá'í since birth to give 2 of her talks.  She was nervous being a new Bahá'í, but they really appreciated her visit.  Nabil gave one talk at the session and another at the Feast - in fact this has now become a regular feature of their feast. John decided that he would give one talk to a non-Bahá'í couple.  He and his wife invited the couple for dinner and after dinner he read his prepared talk as he was so nervous.  The non-Bahá'í said to him, "do you really believe what you have said?".  "Of course" was the response. "If that is the case" said the non-Bahá'í, "then tell me again without your notes".  He was able to speak this time for about an hour and it generated lots of questions.  His wife had painted beautiful backdrop to the talk and gave it as a gift to the couple. Inspired by this account, another western friend decided to give the talk to a work colleague which also took an hour and ended up by presenting the Message to the religious leaders.  The work colleague said they would be interested in hearing future talks. 

"One older Persian lady felt comfortable to give the talks to her daughter and son-in-law.
Another person made the point of contacting an inactive believer and giving her talks. 

"One believer, I will call her "Sue", is so shy and lacking in confidence in her own ability but is very talented and capable.  Her story was special. Sue nearly left the study circle because she did not think she could give the talks.  However, with loving encouragement from the tutor and lots of prayers and the very special trust that has developed in the study circle, she decided not to leave. Her (non-Bahá'í) mother was visiting for a couple of weeks and on the last night asked her daughter what she really believed in. This gave Sue the opportunity to give 2 of her talks in a very natural and special way and she was so pleased to be able to talk to her mother about the Faith.  She had so many opportunities in the following weeks to give several talks to other friends and felt confident and natural about sharing Bahá'í themes. That in itself was inspiring and brought great joy to the study circle. However I spoke to Sue on the last night of the study circle.  She told me so many priceless things that have happened in recent weeks.  First of all she continues to have many opportunities of sharing Bahá'í themes with friends, she is amazed that the opportunity keeps coming and she now has the confidence and the knowledge to respond.  Secondly, her creativity has been again released.  She has started painting again after years of not doing much and her young boy came up and said "mummy, I did not know that you could do that".  Sue realised that by holding back her talent and not having confidence in herself she was depriving her family and friends of her God-given talents.  She is now much happier in herself and her children have noticed and responded and her family is now so much more loving and fun to be with.  The study circle was held in her house and the children could always hear the prayers and music at the beginning of the study circle.  Her son has recently taken to getting up in the morning, going to the bookcase, selecting a Bahá'í book and pretending to read (he is 5 and as yet can not read) but he uses prayers and bits of the Writings that he knows to say out loud.

 "The study circle participants grew greatly doing this book - I am so glad I'm doing these books sequentially and seeing the impact on the believers."