My name is Mohsen Purahmary, and I live in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
My first memories of Hoda are precisely from the city of Santa Cruz, when she came to serve for a while as part of a youth service project organized by the AEL. Among those youth, all burning with love for the Faith, was Hoda, a young woman from Argentina. The memory that stands out the most is when one day we went on an outing outside the city. There were many youth, and a lagoon where we swam. We cooked lunch together and shared a very pleasant time. Hoda was a very respectful, well-mannered, and attentive girl, honoring her service to the Faith.
The second time I saw her was in Santiago, Chile, during the community-building project that accompanied the physical construction of the South American Mother Temple. If I’m not mistaken, it was in 2011. At that time, many people had responded to the call of the Chilean community to expand the Faith and its core activities. That’s where we met Hoda again, now with her husband Marcos, who had also served at one point in the Santa Cruz community. For me, it felt like finding two siblings again in a project of the Faith.
In Santiago, we shared not only activities related to the Faith but also many personal gatherings with Hoda and Marcos. We grew closer as friends, and both of them quickly became very important to my family, as we were both far from our own families.
I have a very vivid memory of Hoda—our first time going out to a neighborhood in Santiago to visit people close to the Faith. We met an elderly woman who was a friend of the Faith, and when we arrived at her house, she received us very kindly. After a brief conversation, the lady went to bring us something to drink, and I took the opportunity to say to Hoda in Persian, “Ask her if she wants to accept the Faith.” Hoda got nervous and said, “How can I…?”
Hoda told me she had never been in such a situation, where someone so directly asked another person if they wanted to become a Bahá’í. Hoda’s face was glowing when she heard that the woman wanted to accept. Her expression is unforgettable to me.
What more can I say about Hoda? She was someone who radiated her own light, who made everyone feel at ease. She made you feel there was plenty of space for everyone in her heart, that enormous heart she carried in her hands.
People like Hoda should stay longer in this material world, because the world needs more of her warmth, humility, and greatness. She was a living example of love, a representative of the teachings of the Faith, a light that nourished and sheltered any soul without malice, and with such simplicity that no one hesitated to be near her.
I personally really enjoyed the endless conversations we had in Santiago with Hoda and Marcos, sipping tea and sharing life experiences. I miss them both deeply.
They were like two siblings to me—not by blood, but by soul and with all my heart. I hope that feeling lasts for the rest of my life.
But I also say that a soul like Hoda’s is so vast and luminous that it no longer fit in this material world—and that God surely needs her more in His realm than here. Souls like hers will continue to shine and nourish the worlds of God for all eternity.
Such a great and beautiful person, in soul and heart, will live on in us, because her footprints were so deep that they are impossible to erase.
Great Hodita… truly great.