In April 1993, Ethel and Lacey Crawford returned to South Carolina. Ethel shares, “I met Trudy in 1982 when she came to the Holy Land after Betsy had a massive heart attack. We spent the day together packing Betsy's belongings from her flat in Haifa. And that famous family laugh came into play once again. That is when and where our friendship began. We returned to South Carolina after retiring from the Baha'i World Center because we felt we had not fulfilled our commitment to teach the Faith as participants in the Deep South Teaching Project as it had been described to us by the Hands of the Cause of God and the ABM members at that time. We had only been at our post a few months when called to the World Center. It seemed like the right …show more content…
I think I was around 18 and was at the Institute finishing up my year of service. There was a teaching/consolidation series that was going on and, of course, Grandma Trudy was at the forefront of the initiative. I was put on her team and four of us set out in one of the white vans owned by the Institute at that time. I had no idea what to expect and was so nervous I thought my heart was going to bust out of my chest. Meanwhile Grandma Trudy and company were just chatting it up and laughing. I was thinking what was so funny and had the look of a bug eyed person full of fear. I couldn't tell you to this day where we were. The asphalt turned into gravel that turned into dirt that turned into dust clouds. We pulled up to this house and Grandma Trudy hopped out, and said ‘Oh! This is such and such’s house. I remember her during the Army of Light Project’! There was this vicious psycho dog with foam all around his mouth that stood about 6 foot tall barking at us (ok I may be exaggerating but the dog was mean). I froze in place and Grandma Trudy said come on girl, just say Allah’u’Abha and keep walking. I was thinking to myself she is crazy! Needless to say the dog didn't bother her but bit me on the ankle. That is the day I learned to believe in my belief and be fearless under all circumstances ‘cuz that dang dog bit me and not Grandma Trudy. It is the day I learned courage from my lil’ giggling adopted Grandma Trudy and one of my favorite songs that she taught me on the way back to the Institute ... ‘if religion was a thing that you could buy, down by the river ... the rich would live and the poor would die, down by the riverside!’” What is our deepest fear: that we are inadequate or that we are powerful beyond