The Baháʼí Faith in Costa Rica begins when ʻAbdu'l-Bahá mentions it as one of the places Baháʼís should take the religion to in 1919. However the first pioneers began to settle in Coast Rica in 1940 followed quickly by the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly being elected in San José in April 1941. The National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1961. As of 2009 Baháʼís sources indicate the national community includes various peoples and tribes and over 4,000 members organized groups in over 30 locations throughout the country. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying mostly on the World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 13000 Baháʼís in 2005. Pre-history ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan. The sixth of the tablets was the first to mention Latin American regions and was written on April 8, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. The sixth tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. After mentioning the need for the message of the religion to visit the Latin American countries ʻAbdu'l-Bahá continues: ... becoming severed from rest and composure of the world, [they] may arise and travel throughout Alaska, the republic of Mexico, and south of Mexico in the Central American republics, such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize... Following the Tablets and about the time of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's passing in 1921, a few other Baháʼís began moving to, or at least visiting, Latin America. Seven Year Plan and succeeding decades Shoghi Effendi, who was named ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's successor, wrote a cable on May 1, 1936 to the Baháʼí Annual Convention of the United States and Canada, and asked for the systematic implementation of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's vision to begin. In his cable he wrote: "Appeal to assembled delegates ponder historic appeal voiced by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in Tablets of the Divine Plan. Urge earnest deliberation with incoming National Assembly to insure its complete fulfillment. First century of Baháʼí Era drawing to a close. Humanity entering outer fringes most