Germany: The First Celebration of Falun Dafa Day in a Small Town

Falun Gong practitioners celebrated the 5th World Falun Dafa Day on May the 13th this year. In Chamer, a small town in Germany, however, it was the first celebration of World Falun Dafa Day because our Dafa practice site has only been in this city for one year. We held a series of activities, including a Falun Dafa information evening and some photo exhibitions. Due to reports by local newspapers and radio stations, more and more people in Chamer learned about Falun Gong.

The activity was held in a large supermarket in the city. As we just had the photo exhibition, I also chose a couple of photos to exhibit. I gave out leaflets, showed information clips on a TV and screened the exercise demonstration video by our Master on a laptop. Some interested people stopped by to watch; some standing in the distance looked attentively at the videos. What made me most impressed was a little boy who was very excited and rushed to the stage to concentrate on Master’s exercise teaching. He seemed to have something in mind and tears welled up in his eyes. I asked what he was thinking. He didn’t answer but ran away. I am sure that he must have been clear about whom he saw in his heart.

During almost a year of clarifying the facts in this city, many people used to ask what Falun Gong is. Now, many people say things like, "I heard about Falun Gong and I want to know more." They support Dafa and are against a dictator who persecutes innocent people. Some of them told us that they visited the photo exhibition, so they have a comprehensive understanding of Falun Gong. A student told me that their teacher recommended them to attend the photo exhibition. One lady walked over to the stage and immediately signed a petition to support the legal actions against Jiang Zemin. I asked her about the reason and she said that her mother-in-law once learned Falun Gong at school and told her family about the truth of the cruel persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. She then said she would definitely sign to appeal to stop such a persecution. At this time, she met a friend and told her the truth about Falun Gong. As a result, the friend and her children all wanted to help stop such persecution and also signed their names.

As there were announcements about the activity published in two newspapers, some people made a special effort to come and said that they really wanted to learn Falun Gong. When they came, I happened to be practising the exercises. When they saw Falun Gong as a graceful and peaceful practice, they expressed regret at not having learned it earlier but instead choosing to learn some other Qigong. In the afternoon, I met someone with an extraordinary ability. He told me that he sensed a peaceful energy when I practise the exercises. He was attracted right away and wanted to find out more about this energy. I told him that it is an energy field, which can correct any abnormality. He said that people would come voluntarily to take materials when I practised the exercises. It was his first time he'd heard about Falun Gong; he said he’d like to read Falun Gong books and learn the exercises. Before the end of the activity, some girl stared at me. I think that she may have wanted to have some Dafa materials, so I gave her a flyer. As expected, she liked it very much and started to read. I remembered that we had some more VCDs so I gave one to her. Pleasantly surprised, she said thanks many times to me. Not being a practitioner, my husband did not understand why the girl would be so excited. As a matter of fact, she has found something that she had been searching for. I was gratified and hoped that all those with predestined relationship would cherish Dafa. Of course, there are still people who do not understand Dafa. It is necessary for me to tell the facts by touching people's hearts more deeply.

In the end, what I’d like to mention is that I rarely meet Chinese people here. We have no universities in this small town, so there are very few Chinese people. Since I started to practise Dafa, however, I have happened to meet many Chinese people coming to our town, either for training or as refugees. Sometimes they stay in the hotels near my uncles’ house. In the past, I always found opportunities to tell them the truth about Dafa. The day before I went shopping, I felt unconcerned and the Chinese people said hello to me voluntarily. I felt regretful to miss an opportunity to tell people the facts and I hoped to meet them again. Unexpectedly, they came shopping and saw our stand. The Chinese know nothing about Falun Gong. I gave my own experiences and demonstrated to them that Falun Dafa is good, I also gave them details of the Chinese Government’s cover-up of SARS as the best example to demonstrate the importance of truth to the Chinese people. When I prepared the materials for this activity, I also took the Video-CDs explaining the facts about the self-immolation as well as some booklets. At that time I did not think it possible to meet Chinese people in such a short time. The Chinese person I met took the information and said that he would read it carefully. He also gave me his contact so that we could keep in touch from now on.