In 2008, my late wife and I embarked on a pilgrimage to the Baháʼí World Center in Haifa, Israel, and it became the most cherished travel experience of my life. We journeyed from Washington DC to Switzerland, then to Tel Aviv, and finally reached Haifa by Sherut, a shared minivan bus. For ten days, we immersed ourselves in the sacred sites, attended inspiring talks, and felt an overwhelming sense of peace and joy.

One remarkable moment was visiting the resting place of Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, in Akka. At midnight, surrounded by about 400 individuals, we engaged in prayers and scripture readings. The pinnacle of the observance was the solemn circumambulation around Baháʼu'lláh's shrine. The spiritual depth and reverence were unparalleled, leaving a lasting impact on us.

Throughout our journey, we encountered kind-hearted individuals who aided us along the way. In Switzerland, a compassionate airport staff member assisted us due to my wife's walking difficulty, providing us with a smooth travel experience. The entire pilgrimage, from flights to accommodations, surpassed our expectations.

The discovery of the Baháʼí Faith came through a series of fortunate events. Befriending a Baháʼí family near San Francisco introduced my parents to the faith. Years later, as a musician in the Navy, I met a fellow band member who shared the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith. Embracing this faith brought stability, purpose, and a profound vision to my life.

In summary, our pilgrimage to the Baháʼí World Center was a transformative experience. From the sacred moments at the holy sites to the kindness of others, every aspect of the journey left an indelible mark. The Baháʼí Faith has become my anchor, offering unwavering stability and a profound sense of direction.

My late wife and I are members of the Baháʼí. You've probably heard a little bit about it from Naomi's family and the world center of the beehive happens to be in Israel. So that that is the that is the center to which all Baháʼí orient themselves for certain prayers and so on and for pilgrimage. There are holy places there that are points to which we would travel and in 2008 my wife and I flew to Israel, and had a 10 day. Stay pilgrimage at the in Haifa in northern Israel, nearby World Center is there and by all means, have any other travel I've ever done. That is, that is the apex. That's my favorite travel experience.

We flew from Washington DC to New York from New York to Geneva. No, I don't think we went to New York. I think we went from Washington DC straight to Switzerland and from Switzerland from Geneva, or whatever city it was. Then we flew to Tel Aviv in Israel. And from Tel Aviv we took a Sherut, which is a bus that people share, you know, maybe up to 15 people on this minivan style bus from there from Tel Aviv up north, to Haifa, which is on the coast. Quite far up in northern Israel. And we spent the 10 days of our program pilgrimage there visiting the special places at the Baháʼí World Center and hearing inspirational talks and so on. And at the end of the 10 days, we got on the train and went back to Tel Aviv, spent the night in the airport and caught an early morning flight back to Switzerland and from Switzerland back to Washington DC. That whole 10 day experience was undoubtedly my favorite travel adventure.

Yeah, that sounds very exciting. Could you elaborate on a particular moment or interaction that was memorable for you?

Oh, the whole thing was, was quite memorable. We booked our tickets through Swiss Air at the recommendation of a friend who travels to Israel frequently for his business. And we didn't know that Swiss Air doesn't fly to Washington DC. So we were actually on United Airlines part of what they call a Star Alliance with a group of airlines that all cooperate together. And there were just many in terms of the travel itself. There were many notable experiences. One of which was how nice everybody was. My wife had a walking difficulty. So we were using a wheelchair and they saw us you know, slowly making progress. So you know, one of the people in Switzerland in the terminal there, pick us up and a little electric vehicle and took us down to the security check in and had us go through that and then we got to spend the rest of the time waiting for our flight in a very nice lounge since we had booked with business class, something like that. Basically, all of the travel was was good.

But the particular moment of the behind pilgrimage at the end of the high World Center are all very special occasions for us because they're all related to the the central figures the founder of the Baháʼí Faith and so on. Baháʼu'lláh is his name. His burial place or shrine is there in Africa, which is just north of Haifa. And so visiting those holy places, was special. Baháʼu'lláh died in what was equivalent to May of 1892. During the night and so the observance I can't say celebration, but the observance of that holy day occurs in the middle of the night. And we went on buses from our hotels in Haifa, up to Akka, which is some I don't know 15 or 20 miles north. And in the middle of the night, we are all about 400 of us sitting in the area of the hollows shrine. And there was a program of about one hour of prayers and scriptural readings and things like that. Followed by circumambulation walking around, all the way around the his resting place. And then back on the buses at five in the morning, you know, to go back to our hotels. So that particular moment being in the vicinity of the holiest spot in the world, as behind consider it, and observing one of the most solemn holy day observances that was probably the pinnacle of all that experience.

Got it? What were some emotions you felt during that observance?

Oh, just joy. Peace. You know, when I told my co workers because I was still working at a factory in the office. When I arranged for this, I didn't retire until a few years later. I told my co workers I was going to Israel and they all said, Oh, aren't you afraid? Because the there were rockets being launched from Lebanon and Syria and so on there, the the Israelis and the Lebanese and the in the other groups there has belonged all of those names that were always in the news, or launching rockets into Israel and so on. They said aren't you afraid to go there? You know, you might be killed. And my response to them was, well, what's what's the worst that could happen? You know, you get killed and you get to spend the rest of the existence rest of eternity in the Holy Land. So that's what's so bad about that. Right. So we were completely at ease and felt completely safe and protected. And we were just overwhelmed. By the beauty of all the holy places, and the loving attention that all the staff and people who work at the World Center showed us and took loads of pictures too.

Got it. Yeah, if you have any pictures you'd like to share with me and include in this link, feel free to send them over. But I'm also curious how you came to discover the Baháʼí faith.

Ah, well, there's a short story and a long story. The short story is is the real reason I feel my parents moved to a particular house near San Francisco. And they met a family of behinds, who lives nearby. And the Allen family and the Allen family befriended my family. We had a young couple with three children. I was the baby and they invited my parents to come to their home for a high gathering. And I don't even honestly know if my father went but my mother went and she learned about a lot about the behind face at that time. And Mrs. Allen had told my mother when my mother was pregnant with me. She had told my mother that if, if she my mother went into labor while my father was in the city in San Francisco because he was in the army he was stationed at the Presidio. In San Francisco. So Mrs. Allen told my mother, that if she went into labor, while my father was not there to call her because she always had a car. Her husband was a car dealer, so she always had a car and she could just drive my mother to the hospital. So she did. Mrs. Allen drove my mother to the hospital when I was being born.

And I learned all of this much later, of course, and one of Mrs. Allen's sons. I told this story too, and he said that his mother would certainly have been praying for me in his term before it was too late. In other words, after you're born then then you're in a different circumstance, but before you're born, your spirit, your soul is there and it's attracted to your body, but it isn't. It isn't having to function with your body. So, so he used the term she was praying for me before it was too late. And I think that is the the real story. The long story which I will shorten greatly is that my mother was was a musician. And she encouraged my musical interests. And she bought a particular record album that had notes on it that mentioned that the French horn players were one of the highest paid members of Symphony Orchestra. So, Tiffany players, kettle drum players were the others and I said, Well, you can't carry your kettle drums around to a party but you could carry a French horn so I decided I played French horn. And that, combined with many other factors, had me joining the Navy as a musician playing french horn, and ultimately being stationed in Boston, Massachusetts, where I met another player in the Navy band there who was behind who told me about it and it just, I was already primed, I guess by those prayers. Back in 1942.

And so I found it just the most natural thing to accept the teachings of the high faith. And the only thing that worried me was that I had never done anything consistently for the rest of my life at that point, or ever since. I was going to go to college while I went to two years of college, and I was going to join the Air Force, but then I joined the Navy and I was going to be a navy bandmaster, but then I you know took me less than a year in the Navy to discover that No, I didn't want to be a Navy Band master. And it was a Vietnam era. So I did my four year enlistment and got out. And there any number of things you know in my life that where I started off with one intention and then kind of dropped it and started doing something else. So I was worried about committing to the buy faith and you have to do it for the rest of my life.

And that's, that's the one thing that I have done. And it's provided stability and purpose and vision for my life ever since.