Wrangellite celebrates third generation of Baha'i service

Sydney Reed had looked forward to the trip to Israel from the time she was a young girl.

She wasn't expecting an impromptu marriage proposal shortly after arriving.

The proposal was based in part on a miscommunication. The Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel draws

representatives of the faith's more than 5 million followers from around the world, Reed said.

"When you're working over there there's a lot of people from different cultures, and a lot of cultural rules you just don't know about," she said. "I was just like 'I think there was a miscommunication.'"

A member of the local Baha'i faith community, Reed had always expected to perform the annual pilgrimage to the religion's holiest sites and also to serve as a member of the Centre's staff. Her parents and grandparents also served at the Centre, the holiest site of the religion founded by Bha'u'llah – a Persian nobleman and prophet – in the 1860s. Reed returned in February from an almost-18-month non-obligatory term of service as a security guard at the Centre.

Baha'i youth the world over apply each year to serve at the Centre, which includes shrines to Bha'u'llah, one of his sons, and a precursor figure and prophet known as the Bab (comparable to Christianity's John the Baptist), as well as the Universal House of Justice, which is the seat of Baha'i spiritual rule. Reed was uncertain how to proceed with her studies at the University of Southeast Alaska Juneau campus, and decided to apply in part to reflect on her possible futures.

"I applied to be a mail distributor," she said. "They said we would like you to serve as a security guard for 12 months, is this something you can do?' I was like 'Uhhhh, yes?' Then I proceeded to tell everyone and everyone laughed at me."

Her close friends and family found the idea humorous in part because the idea of a security guard as a vocal authority figure clashed with Reed's personality, which is low-key and soft-spoken.

"I tend to be more on the humorous side than the serious side," she said. "I think if you think of a security guard in Israel, you have to be very

composed and serious. I was quiet, but I was just waiting to come up with the funniest joke for the occasion, typically."

The job itself involved telling the rules to visitors and pilgrims to the Centre and accompanying gardens, and then watching them to make sure they followed them, in addition to scanning visitors and inspecting their bags. While security contractors employed by the Centre were armed, volunteer guards weren't allowed weapons because a central tenet of the Baha'i faith is nonviolence, Reed said.

Reed rotated between day shifts inspecting luggage and instructing visitors in Hebrew and evening and night shifts spent patrolling the garden.

The work turned out to be perfect for introspection, Reed said.

"It's hard - when you have eight-hour shifts to yourself - not to spend the time thinking," she said. "Looking back, I'm really grateful for every experience because I learned about life and myself."

Reed and her cohort of

fellow security guards used two-day weekends to travel around Israel. When her one-year term of service expired, she was offered and accepted a six-month extension, taking time off to travel to Paris to renew her driver's license.

As a result of this introspection, Reed has decided to

capitalize on a recent

inheritance and strike out as an entrepreneur. She recently

purchased a business license and intends to carry on her grandfather's stained glass

window business, first with smaller pieces, and then gradually working up to larger pieces as demand increases.

"I'd like to try my hand at bigger pieces, but those are a lot more expensive and take a lot of support," she said. "Hopefully, as soon as I make enough smaller things and make enough money to give me time, I can start experimenting with more intricate pieces."

More information about the Baha'i faith is available at the faith's official US website: http://www.bahai.us.