While on pilgrimage in Haifa in 1909, Alice Breed asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

While on pilgrimage in Haifa in 1909, Alice Breed asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: if we build the Temple (the American House of Worship) quickly and send a ship for You, will You come to America? Qbdul-Bahá responded: I will come of my own volition to America if they build the Mashriqu'l Adhkar quickly. But (sadly, and very gently) they will not build it quickly.

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Then in April of 1911, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote the American Bahá’ís: if the friends and the maid-servants of the Merciful long for the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, they must immediately remove from their midst differences of opinion and be engaged in the practice of infinite love and unity...if ye are yearning for my meeting, and if in reality ye are seeking my visit, ye must close the doors of differences, and open the gates of affection, love and friendship . . .

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, were it not for this difference among you, the inhabitants of America . . . would have, by now, been attracted to the Kingdom of God . . . Is it meet that you sacrifice this most glorious bounty for worthless imaginations?

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