First Grain of Sand — Page 27
CHAPTER THREE Journey to the U. S. S. R. A Con fter the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's Annual Convention [Jalsa Salana] had completed at the end of December 1923, I requested a meeting with Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih at the very beginning of 1924 in order to seek his permission before returning to Jammu for my missionary assign- ment and to request his prayers for my return. Huzoor and asked me whether the central administrative office of the Community had not already relieved me from my previous assignment in Jammu. When I said no they had not, Huzoor told me he would provide further instructions the next day. The next morning, I was informed by Hazrat Maulawi Abdur Raheem Dardra, who was serving as Huzoor's Private Secretary, that Huzoor had earmarked me for missionary work in Bukhara, U. S. S. R. , and congratulated me for this distinction. Hearing this, I immediately began pre- paring for my journey [to the Soviet Union], with a heart full of gratitude to God Almighty. A few months earlier, the al-Fazl newspaper had printed one