Puebla

Puebla
City in Mexico
Summer Projects Training Institute, Puebla, Mexico, 1972.
Location of Puebla
History: Firsts
-	Local Assembly	1942
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Puebla is the capital city of the state of Puebla in the country of Mexico. The Bahá’í community of the city was established in the 1940s.

History

A Local Spiritual Assembly of Puebla was established in 1942 due to the efforts of Pedro Espinosa, a Bahá’í from Mexico City, and by the end of the year there was a newsletter published every nineteen days advertising Bahá’í classes to invite acquaintances to. It was the second Local Spiritual Assembly formed in Mexico, however in 1943 the Assembly went defunct due to the city no longer having nine Bahá’ís to serve on the body.

In 1945 Dorothy Baker, Chairman of the Inter-America Committee, visited Puebla during a teaching tour, and Louise Baker visited the city to teach in 1946. As of early 1947 six people had become Bahá’ís through Louise Baker and Puebla was considered a goal city for establishing an Assembly, and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Puebla was re-established in 1947. In 1947 Charles Monroe Ioas of Chicago helped the Puebla Assembly study Bahá’í Administration during a visit to Mexico during his summer vacation, and late in the year Octavo Illescas of Clovis, California, visited Puebla and facilitated classes on The Reality of the Divine Manifestation to strengthen the community.

In 1948 Natalia Chavez of Honduras visited Puebla during a tour of Mexico where she found the community had ceased all activity as there was no deepened Bahá’í pioneer living in the city however she was able to stimulate activity by speaking on Bahá’í principles and emphasizing the importance of the Fund. In late 1949 the Bahá’í community of Puebla sent a representative to a Teaching Conference held in Mexico City.

The Local Spiritual Assembly of Puebla went defunct again in the late 1940s but was re-established in 1950, and that year Larry Kramer of Puebla served as an instructor at the First Latin American Institute for teachers held to train Bahá’ís to share the religion. Puebla received support from travel teachers in 1950 with Robert Gulick and Johnny Eichenauer of the Inter-America Committee visiting, and Evelyn Larson stayed in the city over the summer and established a weekly meeting expressing her hope that Puebla would not be left unsupported until a Bahá’í community was firmly established. In late 1950 Puebla received a longterm pioneer when Flora Hottes pioneered to Mexico to serve the Puebla and Coatepec communities.

In 1951 Puebla was granted one delegate to participate in the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Central America. In 1954 Auxiliary Board members Katherine McLaughlin and Esteban Canales visited Puebla shortly after the Institution was established to stimulate the community. In March 1955 Frances G. Heller pioneered to Puebla, and in mid 1956 Esteban Canales visited the city again as Board member. In December 1957 Bahá’ís from Puebla participated in the first Teaching Congress for Mexico held in Mexico City. In February 1961 a Youth Congress was held in Puebla which had a program developed by the Bahá’í youth themselves with one adult assisting. The Congress resulted in four youth declarations in Puebla.

In August 1971 a Bahá’í College Club was formed at the University of the Americas in Puebla, which was the first Bahá’í club to be formed in Latin America, and a Summer Projects Training Institute was held in Puebla for the purpose of training travel teachers to serve in Latin America. In 1972 the College Club executed a proclamation week teaching project. In 1973 the first International Youth Conference of Mexico was held in Puebla at which Counsellor Carmen de Burafato spoke. As of 1975 Bahá’í pioneer Dr. Edris Rice-Wray was working as a professor of population studies at the University of the Americas in Puebla. In 1979 the National Convention of Mexico was held in Puebla.

In June 1981 Counsellor Carmen de Burafato conducted a training institute for assistants to the Auxiliary Board in Mexico in Puebla.