(Minghui.org) I’m 72 years old this year, an ordinary woman in rural China. I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 25 years. It has not only changed my own life but also ended my family’s miseries, enabling us to be happier than we could ever have thought possible. All 65 of my relatives witnessed the miracles that happened to us, and they all believe in and support Falun Dafa. Those who once joined Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations have all withdrawn from them. Some of them have also clarified the truth to other people and helped them quit the CCP organizations. I would like to share some of our stories.
After I got married, I had a massive hemorrhage when my first child was born, which messed up my body. I became very ill with all kinds of health issues, such as gastrointestinal problems, abnormal liver function, heart problems, and so on.
Two years later, my younger son was born, and my health became even worse. The nurses had to struggle to find a suitable vein for the needle when I needed an IV. I spent most of the year traveling between home and the hospital. I had to have exams, injections, and infusions, and then go home to prepare and take several medications. I was too weak to do any farmwork or cook for the family, and was almost bedridden all year round.
Having to take care of me and the family, my husband could not go out of town to do odd jobs to earn more money like many others did, and we had to live on our meager income from growing crops and my husband’s unskilled labor. Even so, most of what we made was spent on my medical treatment. Life was hard.
In addition to looking after me, my husband had to take care of our two sons. He had to do all the farmwork and household chores—he had to provide for and care for all of us. I felt very sad and miserable when I saw my husband so exhausted all the time, but I could not do anything to help.
Fortunately, we have two good boys. They started doing farmwork when they were very young. The younger boy learned to cook when he was only six. They were very scared that they might lose me at any time, and they always gave me the best food we had. We had a few chickens at the time, and I always told my sons to sell the eggs so they could have some pocket money, but they never did, and insisted that I eat the eggs. Sadly, my health did not improve.
I was sick for about ten years, and we lost track of how much money we spent on my treatment or the number of doctors I visited. I was in pain every day and felt weak and hopeless—as if I could die at any moment. I tried my best to hold on because I did not want my sons to grow up without a mother. Life was very hard and I did not know how much longer I could keep going.
In April 1999, I saw some people doing exercises on my way to hospital. They told me they were practicing Falun Gong, a practice that teaches people to be good by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and that it had miraculous healing power.
I was very keen to learn it. One of them told me that a lady in my village was a practitioner, and I could learn the exercises from her.
I contacted the lady and got Master Li’s Fa teaching recordings from her. I listened to them every day, and a few days later, before I even learned the exercises, I felt like I had changed into a new person. The health problems I had suffered for years disappeared! I felt as if I had literally come back to life and was full of energy. It was such a wonderful feeling, something I had dreamed of for a long time. I was so happy and deeply grateful to Falun Gong’s Master.
All of a sudden, I was even able to carry a big bag of grain to sell at the street market. It was beyond belief that an invalid like me could regain her health in such a short time! My miraculous recovery amazed everyone in the village, and they all applauded the power of Falun Dafa. My neighbors said to me, “You must keep practicing Falun Gong and never forget what you were like in the past.”
My husband and our sons were overjoyed at my recovery and the fact that our family was now free from the pain and misery we had suffered all those years. My boys no longer had to worry that they might lose me. My husband also felt grateful that I could now be his helper. We suddenly felt that we could at last hope for a bright future.
One day, I went to a fellow practitioner’s house to listen to a recording of Master’s lectures. When my husband came to pick me up, he listened with us and felt that what Master was saying was very good. He decided to practice Falun Gong, too, and gave up smoking a few days later. Both our sons were very supportive of our practice.
Just as my whole family was enjoying the happiness Dafa had brought us, the CCP, headed by Jiang Zemin, started persecuting Falun Gong and its practitioners in July 1999, out of jealousy of the popularity of the practice. All the media outlets in China slandered Falun Gong, and many practitioners were illegally arrested, detained, sent to forced labor camps, sentenced to jail, and suffered all kinds of brutal torture.
My husband and I continued to practice Falun Gong. When village officials ordered us to give up the practice, my husband said, “Falun Gong teaches us to be good people. What’s wrong with that? You all know how sick my wife was in the past and how healthy she has become by practicing Falun Gong. We’ll never give it up. If you force us to and my wife suffers a relapse, I will take her to your place so you can take care of her.” The village officials were speechless and left quietly.
I heard in May 2000 that some practitioners had gone to appeal for Falun Gong in Beijing. I thought, “I am a Dafa practitioner, and Master gave me a new life. Now that Dafa and Master are being slandered, I must go to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong.”
I had no fear at that time, and my husband also supported my idea and said he would take care of everything at home. Because I had never traveled that far in the past, I went with a young fellow practitioner.
The police stopped us as soon as we got to Tiananmen Square and asked if we practiced Falun Gong. “Yes,” I said. “I was very sick in the past, but I was completely cured only a few days after I started to practice Falun Gong. Master Li is innocent.”
“We know that you are good people, but you’d better go home,” one of them said. We were escorted home by officers from our local police station and held in a detention center for a month.
While I was detained, I told the guards and other detainees how wonderful Falun Dafa was. I told them that we were all innocent people who tried to live according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
My husband came to see me frequently regardless of the potential danger he might encounter. I was greatly encouraged by his integrity.
After I was released, I kept up with Fa study every day and went out to distribute truth-clarification materials with my husband and our younger son. We talked to our relatives and neighbors about the wonderful benefits of Falun Dafa, by referring to our own experiences. They all believed and supported us, and my two elder sisters also took up the practice.
I took truth-clarification materials and Dafa amulets to every family get-together to share with them. I had ten siblings, and all of them and their family members learned the truth about Falun Gong, quit the CCP organizations, and were also duly blessed.
My older son was driving through an intersection when a heavily-loaded truck came flying down a slope and hit him. At the critical moment, my son shouted “Falun Dafa is good!” before his car flipped upside down and crashed.
The car was a complete wreck, and the onlookers assumed my son was dead. To their great surprise, he was fine. Although his face was covered with tiny pieces of broken glass, he did not have even a scratch.
My five-year-old granddaughter also escaped a dangerous situation. A man on a motorcycle knocked her down and ran over her calf, leaving a deep mark on her pants. Miraculously, she was unharmed.
My younger son has believed in Dafa since he was child, and often went with us to distribute truth-clarification materials when he was young. He landed a good job after he grew up, and his company sent him to work abroad as a technical adviser. He made use of the opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to his co-workers and foreign colleagues. When the contract expired, all the employees were laid off—except for him. His friends were all rather envious of him because the salary abroad was several times higher than in China.
When he came home on vacation, he often listened to Master’s Fa teachings, and was strict with himself about following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When he came home from the supermarket one day, he noticed that he’d been given more change than was due him. He went straight back to the supermarket and returned the extra amount.
My niece and her husband were driving a small truck when it slid off a steep slope. The truck was smashed beyond repair, but they were unharmed. My niece’s husband held the amulet I gave him and said, “Thank heavens we had this with us! The Master of Falun Dafa saved our lives! Thank you, Master!”
They told everyone about their miraculous survival. My niece’s husband, who was running a small company at the time, told his employees about the divine power of Dafa and helped them withdraw from the CCP organizations.
When my elder brother was almost 90 years old, he suddenly got sick. He could not eat for more than three weeks, and IVs were all that was keeping him alive. When I heard about it, I rushed over with truth-clarification materials and told him to sincerely recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
I assured him quietly, “Just sincerely recite the phrases and you will be fine when I come to see you next time.”
A few days later when I went to see him again, he said, “It really worked! After you left, I started reciting the phrases, and the next day I was able to eat. Now I feel completely fine!”
He is still very healthy and often tells others, “Master Li is so good! Dafa is so magical! They are completely different from what the government has falsely accused them of.”
After the CCP began to persecute Falun Dafa, I thought, “Falun Dafa is so good, we cannot allow the Party to spread rumors and slander it. I must tell people the truth.
There were no printed materials available at that time, and all the printing shops were told not to print anything related to Falun Gong. So I wrote down the miracles that had happened to me on pieces of paper and gave them out to people I came across. I don’t know how many pages I wrote. Later, the situation was much better when printed materials became available thanks to the materials sites set up by practitioners.
Later, I thought I should clarify the facts to people face to face. I’d been introverted since I was a child, and talking to strangers was never my cup of tea. I would blush before I even opened my mouth. I really didn’t know how to start. Very often, I went out for a while but still found it hard to talk to people.
I felt so ashamed and kept asking myself, “Are you a Falun Dafa disciple? Do you listen to Master’s words? Do you do what Master asks us to do to save people?” After I gained a better understanding, I made up my mind that I would get over the hurdle and clarify the truth to people face to face, and I would do it well.
The next day I went out again to try to clarify the truth. With my face blushing red, I told a woman who was selling vegetables how wonderful Dafa was and how I’d benefited from it. “There are so many natural and man-made disasters nowadays,” I said to her. “But if you remember the phrases ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good’ you will stay safe.” She was very receptive to what I was saying, and nodded. I also encouraged her to withdraw from the CCP organizations to erase the mark of the beast. She told me she had joined the Young Pioneers when she was young and agreed to withdraw from it right away. I breathed a sigh of relief because I never expected it to go so well. I knew that Master was encouraging me.
A woman who was selling pieces of white cake from a cart called out to me, “Buy some white cake. It’s almost noon and I haven’t sold any yet.” I thought she must be a predestined person who Master had arranged for me to meet, so I had to do my best to let her know the truth about Dafa. I said, “All right, cut some for me then.”
She cut a piece and weighed it. Just then, a group of people came and bought up the rest of her cake. She was very happy and called her family to deliver more. I smiled and said to her, “I think I know why your cakes didn’t sell well earlier, but became very popular after I bought a piece. It’s because I practice Falun Dafa and it has brought you blessings.”
I then told her how wonderful Dafa is and how I had benefited personally. I told her that Heaven would punish the CCP for persecuting innocent Falun Gong practitioners, and that she should quit the CCP organizations to stay safe.
I also told her about the “Hidden Character Stone” in Guizhou Province, where the naturally-formed inscription on the stone says “The Chinese Communist Party Will Perish.”
When her daughter arrived with more cakes, I told her to look up the “Hidden Character Stone” on her cell phone. She did and found a photo of it. She and her parents all quit the CCP organizations.
I could tell many such stories about vegetable sellers, grain sellers, grocery store clerks, and so on. They were all blessed in one way or another after quitting the CCP organizations.
It was very windy and pouring rain one day, and I thought there wouldn’t be many people out on such a day, so I didn’t need to go out. Then I thought, “Should I stop trying to save people simply because it rains?” I changed my mind and went out, thinking that even if I could save just one person, it would be worth the effort. In two or three hours, I helped eleven people quit the CCP organizations. I knew in my heart that Master had brought them to me.
Another time I went to a township street market. It was a hot day and I saw several ladies sitting in the shade by the side of the road. I went over and said, “Enjoying some cool breeze? It is a bit hot today. It must be fate that we meet today.”
“Yes, it’s a very hot day. Why don’t you join us and take a rest?” one of them said.
“Why not.” I joined them and said, “There are so many natural and man-made disasters nowadays. I will tell you a secret to stay safe. It’s very simple and it doesn’t cost a cent. You just need to sincerely recite, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’”
They looked at me doubtfully. Just then, another woman came over and said to them, “That’s a really good idea and it really works. I do it, too.” She then took out a Dafa amulet from her bag and read the phrases on it.
Almost instantly, all the ladies asked me for an amulet and started reciting the phrases. They also quit the CCP organizations using their real names, and thanked me for helping them.
“You should thank Master Li. He has encouraged us to tell people to do this,” I said, and told them to tell their family members to recite the phrases when they got home. I also told them how to quit the CCP organizations. It was a such a pleasant experience.
On another occasion, I went into a shoe shop and asked the lady owner, “How’s business?” “Not too good,” she told me with a sigh.
“Well, let me tell you some good news. If you quit the CCP organizations, you will stay safe and be blessed.”
“Why do I have to do that?” she asked with some confusion.
“Let me put it this way,” I said. “The CCP is like a tree. When you joined its organizations, you became a leaf on that tree. If its roots are rotten, won’t the leaves die? Once you quit them, you will be safe and gods will take care of you.”
“That makes sense,” she said and agreed to quit the CCP. She kept thanking me and invited me to stay for lunch. “You don’t need to thank me. It’s Master Li who has told us to do this,” I said.
“Then I thank the Master of Falun Gong!” she said with gratitude.
On my way home, I ran into a middle-aged woman and said, “You look very good in that outfit.” She was pleased and thanked me for the compliment.
“It’s fate that we met today, so I want to tell you something good. If you sincerely recite ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good, you will stay safe and things will go well for you.”
“Is that true?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are the universal principles. Falun Gong teaches people to be good, and it has spread to more than 100 countries and places around the world. Only the evil CCP persecutes kindhearted people here in China.
“The so-called ‘self-immolation on Tiananmen Square’ was a hoax. Falun Dafa makes it very clear that practitioners must not kill, and suicide is a sin. How could any genuine practitioner go to Tiananmen Square to commit suicide by self-immolation? There were so many flaws in that hoax. The man sitting on the ground was supposed to be ‘severely burned,’ but his hair was not even singed, and the plastic bottle containing petrol on his lap was intact. Do you believe such a hoax?”
“You’re right,” the lady said. “The CCP is so wicked. I want to quit it.”
After that, she was so happy every time she saw me, and said she felt we were family. For days afterward she said she would feel very comfortable. She also brought her relatives and friends to me to help them quit the CCP organizations.
I still go out to clarify the truth every day. Over the past ten-odd years, I have helped at least 15,000 people quit the CCP organizations. I still have a long way to go to catch up with diligent fellow practitioners and to meet Master’s requirements. I will continue to do the three things better and return to my true home with Master as a genuine Dafa disciple.
All the 65 members of my family asked me to send their best regards to Master to thank him for his compassionate salvation. They hope that he will be able to return to China soon!
(Selected submission in celebration of World Falun Dafa Day on Minghui.org)