Welcome to Soul Friends!

Soul Friends is the name of a Baha'i Children's Class - focusing on a virtue every week - that we are starting at our house. We are Baha'is, and my son said to me just last week, "Mom, can't we have another children's class like the one we had at our old house?" (we used to live in North Van).

The old gang with a take-home craft...
Baha'i children's class at our old house

We offer children's classes because we believe children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children. We would like this class to be a safe place where kids can come together and learn about virtues and universal spiritual values in a safe environment, through fun activities and interaction.

Singing and acting out Five Green and Speckled Frogs
(we'll be playing instruments and learning about music as well)

We will choose a virtue for the week and focus on it, drawing on sources that illustrate the virtue being focused on. For example, in a class on "truthfulness" a great story for the kids to hear and even act out in a drama of their own is "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". However, in a class on love or forgiveness it is appropriate to use a story about something that Jesus, the Buddha or 'Abdu'l-Baha did in their lives. There is no room in a Baha'i children's class for theology or dogma - virtues are universal and as children learn about them they develop their spiritual faculties and lay the foundations of a noble and upright character.

Making colored eggs in the spring

These classes don't cost anything, they are meant to build community and bonds between children and families of all backgrounds and help strengthen the roots of Faith in society. If any parent would like to help out with the classes at any time, you are most welcome. All parents are welcome to stay for the class or drop off their child. If you don't find out what you want to know from this blog, please give me a call on the good, old-fashioned phone or talk to me if you see me at the school.

Here is a video of a Baha'i prayer called "Blessed Is the Spot" that I taught the kids (along with some actions) at a Baha'i Children's Class in Surrey.

"Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention of God hath been made
and His praise glorified." ~ Baha'u'llah