Ushta te, everyone, and good morning.

Remember the post toward the end of last month entitled “A Gift to my Mentor“? At the conclusion of each month, my World Religions instructor asks me to present a summary of the faith I explored to her class. Last month (February) I presented the Baha’i Faith. For forty minutes I spoke about the history, the tenets, social issues, and fielded questions. At the end, I showed everyone the “get more information” card Baha’is typically share with folks interested in the faith. I didn’t present this to try and win converts, but as an educational tool.

Well, someone came up to me after class that evening. She was interested. And I found out last weekend from my Baha’i Mentor that my classmate, Susan, had declared the Baha’i Faith as her own.

I was shocked. I’m not an official Baha’i, yet someone came to the Faith because of what I’ve done through Project Conversion? How do I process this? My goal isn’t to “convert” anyone despite the name of the website. Again, more of the unexpected.

I was lucky enough to share a Nouruz lunch with Susan and my Mentor on Monday and hearing Susan talk about her new faith was such an awesome experience. Looking back, it was interesting that when she talked about the struggles of adjusting to new prayers and tenets that I fell right in with giving advice on making the transition easier; what methods helped me, etc. The whole discussion was as easy as slipping on an old, favorite t-shirt.

My hope is that every month will be this easy to slip into after I’ve moved on. Susan’s acceptance of the Baha’i Faith is rewarding because it is a confirmation that what I am doing isn’t just some interesting trip or attempt at popularity. Project Conversion is changing lives. It’s changing my life…