(Minghui.org) Master said in “Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,”
“When I was born, many Gods came down with me. From then on, this happened every year and Gods have been coming down. By the time I started to teach the Fa, those Gods came down like snowflakes—it was just that many. I calculated their ages now, and from when I started to spread the Fa till now, they would be young people around twenty-five years old, many of whom really have not been saved. They were all Gods, coming down to Earth, and they scattered to all areas of the world.”
I am a 25-year-old girl. Looking around, I noticed that most people my age that I know do not know what Falun Gong really is. Master's words made me realize that I haven't done my job well. I made up my mind to overcome all the difficulties and fears and talk to young people around about Falun Gong.
I believe that my coworkers, many of whom are young people, have predestined relationships with me, and that they are waiting for me to tell them the facts about Falun Gong. I should not miss any opportunities. If I do, I will regret it forever.
Our company has a monthly gathering, and all the employees have to attend. The organizers invite a certain number of employees to speak each time. I told myself that it would be a great chance for me to tell my coworkers about the beauty of Falun Gong and how brutally it is being persecuted in China.
When I decided to give such a speech, I had fears. But I said to myself, “Compared to my fears, sentient beings’ lives are more important.”
I wrote out what I was going to say and asked my mother, who is also a practitioner, to revise it and to send forth righteous thoughts for me.
Before the convention started, I got cold feet. Due to my fear, I thought about canceling, but I knew that it was not me who was afraid. It was an illusion. Master must have already cleaned the field in the other dimension for me, and divine beings must be spreading flower petals all over where we would gather. Every divine being was waiting for me to make the first step.
I stopped my fears, purified my thoughts, went through my speech calmly, and walked towards the podium to the applause of my co-workers.
I picked up the microphone, recalling the stories I had read about how older practitioners talked to strangers on the street about Falun Gong. During the whole speech, I told myself that I should not have any fear. Instead, I should be strong and powerful; I should convincingly tell everyone that “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
I started by telling them about my trip to attend the Fa conference in New York this year. I talked about the magnificent Falun Gong parade as if I were a tourist.
I told them that the first section of the parade focused on the fact that people practice Falun Gong in more than a hundred countries, yet in China, it is persecuted. The second part of the parade was to “Stop the Persecution.” I covered the basic facts of the persecution, including the millions of practitioners who have been imprisoned and the state-sanctioned killing of practitioners for their organs. I also told them that the Communist Party had spread hate propaganda slandering Falun Gong.
Everybody in the audience was quiet and listened carefully. Usually, at these conventions, many people check messages or play games on their cell phones, but today I was happy to see that everybody was watching me.
The third part of the parade featured banners and posters about the lawsuits being filed against Jiang Zemin. I told the audience that more than 200,000 Falun Gong practitioners have filed lawsuits against Jiang, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party who launched and directed the persecution of Falun Gong. Everybody laughed when I called Jiang Zemin “the Jiang guy.”
At the end of my speech, I said, “The Communist Party has wronged many people in history, and some of them have been given compensation. When I looked at the practitioners in the parade, I hoped that their day will come as soon as possible. The peacefulness and compassion on their faces were not superficial but radiated from the bottom of their hearts. I believe that this day will come in the near future.”
I left the podium to warm applause. The host of the convention said, “I thank Xiaojie for her excellent talk. It is really different in other countries. I hope every colleague gets a chance to see what it's like overseas. I've been to Taiwan before, and I saw Falun Gong practitioners everywhere in Taiwan.” I was touched by his words and happy for him.
After the convention, my coworkers were really happy for me. Looking back, my nervousness and fear were so unnecessary.
This experience of overcoming my fear gave me confidence. I decided to talk to strangers who were around 25 years old.
Since there is usually not much time to talk to a stranger, I always get straight to the point. My opening line is always: “Hello, have you heard about Falun Gong?” This usually makes young people curious, because most of them have heard about Falun Gong, but they think it is something only old people practice. When a young girl brings this up, they are interested.
One day, a young guy was surprised when I asked him this. He said, “You're so young. Why do you practice Falun Gong?” I smiled and replied, “I've been practicing with my parents since I was very little. Falun Gong has healed many of my family members of their illnesses. Everybody in my family has been really healthy over the last ten years.”
I told him that the Communist Party's propaganda is all false. He smiled, too, and asked if Falun Gong practitioners hate the government. I answered, “No. In the past 17 years, all we have tried to do is to tell people that Falun Gong is good and tell people not to be deceived by the Party's lies. Many practitioners are still imprisoned, so we want to bring them home as soon as possible. We want a peaceful environment to practice, like what we had before the persecution started in 1999.”
He said he understood. He asked me how much time practitioners spend on doing the exercises.
I said: “The key to cultivating in Falun Gong is to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When we have time, we will do the exercises, but it is okay to do them less when we are really busy. We have jobs, and we try to be decent citizens.”
He was supportive: “A man really should have a spiritual belief.”
Before we parted, I told him to remember “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” He smiled and said, “I'm really lucky today. A young girl told me so much about Falun Gong. I'll remember what you said because I can tell you're a good person. You're all good people.”
This experience made me realize that it will help young people to see the greatness of Dafa if a young practitioner around the same age talks to them. They will see that, even in this messy world, there are young people who have a spiritual belief and are trying to stop the persecution. Seeing this would be a wake-up call for them.
Since this experience, I've become more active and courageous when talking to young people.
Once, I talked to a girl a few years older than me. After I told her the basic facts of Dafa and the persecution, I asked her, “Have you heard that you will have a bright future if you quit the Communist Party?” She said she had not.
So, I said, “The Party has committed so many crimes...” Before I finished my sentence, she said, “So heaven will punish it?” I replied, “Exactly! Heaven will punish the Party. But if you quit it and distance yourself from this evil party, you will be safe. Do you want me to help you to quit?” She smiled and agreed.
It took only two minutes. I realized that there are people everywhere who are waiting for us to tell them the truth. As a practitioner, we should not be hindered by our fear and miss the chance to save people. It would be a sin.
All the young practitioners have been protected by Master. Master has never criticized us. But this year I heard Master say, “... they would be young people around twenty-five years old, many of whom really have not been saved.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”) I realized that Master was ringing the warning bell for us.
I want to share my experiences and understandings with young practitioners. I hope young practitioners will get rid of their fears and other notions, cherish the opportunities and time Master has given us, save as many people as possible during the final period of the Fa-Rectification, and fulfill the vows we have made.
Please correct me if there is anything wrong in my sharing due to my limited understanding.