(Minghui.org) On May 7, 2023, practitioners in San Diego, California, celebrated “May 13 World Falun Dafa Day” and the birthday of their founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, by holding an event at the park in front of the San Diego Harbor County Government Building.

On May 7 practitioners celebrated World Falun Dafa Day in front of the San Diego Harbor County Government Building.

Practitioners doing the Falun Dafa exercises

Proclamation Issued for Falun Dafa Day

Joel Anderson, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, issued a proclamation for Falun Dafa day. In the proclamation, he noted that 70 million people worldwide practice Falun Dafa in 70 countries and 40 languages, which illustrates its global impact, and commended practitioners for their resilience despite being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He also wrote that Falun Gong practitioners benefit from the meditation and are more focused, wiser, and united in mind and body.

Mr. Anderson proclaimed that day “Falun Dafa Day in San Diego County.” Maggie Sleeper, Anderson’s Chief of Staff, presented the proclamation.

Chief of Staff Maggie Sleeper presented the proclamation on behalf of Supervisor Joel Anderson of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Paintings from the Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Art Exhibit were on display, which attracted many passersby who talked with practitioners.

Many passersby saw practitioners do the exercises and some stopped and read the display boards or viewed the paintings. Some commented on how Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are very much needed in this world.

Julie Brown, a physical therapist at a local naturopathic clinic, said that although this was the first time she’d heard of Falun Dafa, as soon as she saw practitioners meditating and read the messages on the display boards, she liked it. “It’s very positive and has a lot of energy.” She said she was eager to learn more about Falun Dafa and go to the practice site to learn the exercises.

Practitioners exchanged their heartfelt stories of how they began practicing Falun Dafa and said they were grateful for Master’s compassionate saving grace.

New Practitioner: Finally Found the Way Home

Ms. Zheng attended the celebration and joined other practitioners in congratulating Master Li Hongzhi on his birthday. She said she only began practicing Falun Dafa a few months ago, “I’ve been in the U.S. for so many years, and I wasted so much time. It would have been nice if I could have started earlier.”

She said that many years ago, she had a neighbor who practiced Falun Dafa and came to the U.S. because of the persecution. The neighbor told her to always recite “Falun Dafa is wonderful, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is wonderful!” She said, “I accepted it all, because I believed in God since I was a child. However, since we were all brainwashed back in China, I didn’t take it seriously.”

This year, after seeing a Shen Yun performance, Ms. Zheng decided to buy a copy of Zhuan Falun and read it.

She said, “I like dancing and have seen Shen Yun many times. This year I went back to see it again. When I watched it, for some reason, I couldn’t help but cry.”

Ms. Zheng said, “I had a bad stomach and my legs were stiff at that time. But when I went to bed that night, I felt as if my whole body was electrified from head to toe. When I woke up the next morning, I felt so much pain in my back that I couldn’t get up. I called that Falun Dafa practitioner I knew. She told me it was okay and that I should just get up slowly.

“I did, and nothing bad happened. I even went dancing that night, and my back didn’t hurt at all.” She said, “I just felt so amazing. Wow! I just thought I was going to practice and followed others to try a bit of the movements, then something so amazing just happened.”

The following weekend, she decided to join the group exercises at a local practice site in Balboa Park. But that day, she “drove around and around, but just couldn’t find the place. It took me an hour before I finally found it.

“When I found the park, I became teary, and I thought: ‘I’ve finally found my way home!’” She said that day when she tried to bend her legs, although it was painful, she managed to sit in the lotus position. “So I became more and more convinced that if it was really like what was written in the book. I have found my way home.”

Couple Begins Practicing Falun Dafa

Gary Lynn and his wife Karen Nguyen

Gary Lynn, Director of Finance and Administration at a San Diego non-profit law center, and his wife, Karen Nguyen, began practicing Falun Dafa in 2020. Looking back on the past three years, Gary said that initially he practiced Falun Dafa with his wife because she practiced and he joined her so he could spend more time with her. But now he says, “I’m inspired and motivated, and I’m now the one who wants to continue practicing.”

Nguyen Khai Rong (Karen) said she searched her whole life for something that would make her believe. She came from a large family in Vietnam that believes strongly in Buddhism. Several of her relatives became monks or nuns, and her father and grandparents built several temples in Vietnam. But she said she saw that some people who believed in Buddhism were obsessed with money, so she didn’t practice Buddhism.

After arriving in the States, she went with her husband to church and read the Bible in Vietnamese. However, she felt it wasn’t what she was looking for either, as neither Buddhism nor Christianity, “could touch my heart and answer my questions.”

When she and her husband saw the Shen Yun performance in 2017, she suddenly remembered a dream she had more than 40 years ago. She was amazed by the scenes in the Shen Yun performance that reminded her of the beautiful fairies appearing in her dream. For various reasons, however, she didn’t start practicing until three years later.

“When I read Zhuan Falun, I was shocked! My goodness, there is a book like this in this world!” She said she was very convinced by the teachings on attachments and cosmic time and space in the book.

She said, “When I first heard Master’s teachings, I immediately felt there were very high-level principles.” She felt that Falun Dafa was what she had been searching for all her life and now that she finally found it—it made her feel that she found the way in her life.

Gary noticed the change in his wife and said, “She started practicing and was very focused, and that piqued my interest. Since I wanted to spend more time with her, so I thought, I’ll just do it with her.”

Gary said he attended the Christian church all his life, but, “When I started reading Zhuan Falun, the book resonated deeply with me about the decline of morality in human society, everyone being an enemy, and humanity going in the wrong direction.”

Gary noticed a change in himself after practicing Dafa: “I see things more clearly now, and my reactions to things have changed. I have more tolerance in my dealings with others. And as it says in Zhuan Falun, being able to laugh when people treat you badly. I find that I am now starting to do that.”

Gary says, “I don’t take the little things seriously anymore. I know that what I need to focus on is my own moral cultivation and that I just need to practice according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and that’s all that matters.”