Touching the Hearts of New Yorkers During the 59th United Nations General Assembly

While the 59th United Nations General Assembly convened in New York from the 20th until the 24th of September, Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world gathered to demonstrate the peace and beauty of Falun Dafa and to raise awareness of the persecution against those who practise Falun Gong.

Practitioners' activities included press conferences, anti-torture exhibitions, participating in local fairs, showing truth-clarification videos, informational poster displays, distributing flyers, and forming a "Great Wall of Courage". Practitioners from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and many European countries as well as practitioners from across the U.S. participated in these activities. Many of the practitioners, including young mothers and their babies, came a long way to clarify the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution to the people of New York.

Anti-torture exhibition		Sending righteous thoughts
Demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises		Using various ways to inform people about Falun Gong and whats happening in China
	Onlookers signing a petition calling for the end of the persecution of Falun Gong	Distributing Falun Gong materials

Two Stories from 7th Avenue

Practitioners from Australia and Taiwan were clarifying the truth at the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway as well as on 7th Avenue. They related two stories about their experiences there:

A couple from Sydney, Australia told the practitioners, "We have seen you in Sydney." The practitioners from Sydney then told them: "To end Jiang's and his followers' persecution of Falun Gong as soon as possible, we have come here to tell people about the persecution." After listening to practitioners' explanation, the couple was very touched. They thanked us repeatedly and wished us success.

One day, when the truth-clarifying activities were about to adjourn, a person came to the intersection of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue where the Taiwanese practitioners were. He said that he came to learn the Falun Gong exercises. He told the practitioners that he obtained a Falun Gong flyer two weeks ago from a Los Angeles practitioner. He then started to learn Falun Gong by simply following the pictures on the flier. He thus only knew two of the movements from Exercise One. Nevertheless, he felt the strong energy flow when he did the two movements. Therefore, he had been practising them for two weeks.

As the Taiwanese practitioners didn't know how to teach him in English, I went forward to teach him and thus got the opportunity to chat with him. He was very dedicated while learning, and carefully drew every move of the exercises in his notebook. He was a little embarrassed and told me that those were just drafts and he would draw them again more carefully at home.

I gave him a flyer with New York contact information and told him where he could learn the Falun Gong exercises. I also asked for his phone number as I wanted to know his progress. I can tell that he is a very honest and kind man who really wants to learn Falun Gong. I wish him well.

We also encountered many other people who wanted to learn and we told them one by one where they could find practice sites. It is just as Master told us, the next generation of practitioners is now coming to Dafa.

A New Yorker is Touched by "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance"

In the afternoon of September 19, a practitioner was drawing the Chinese characters, "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance is Good" with a Chinese brush pen at the anti-torture exhibition site on 5th Avenue. A middle-aged gentleman was completely absorbed by his calligraphy. Later, I found out that he lived nearby and just happened to pass by the exhibition site. He was attracted by the three Chinese characters for "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and asked if he could get those three characters. It happened that one of our practitioners was a calligrapher and was present at the site. The man, a Westerner, then went home and soon came back with rice paper and a brush pen. He sincerely asked the practitioner to write down the three characters for him. When we asked his name, he pointed to our petition book and said: "My name is there, I already signed. He told us his name and that he had fallen in love with calligraphy 6 years ago. He now can read more than 150 Chinese characters. He said that he would learn the three characters for "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" once he got home. The gentleman was very grateful for our practitioner's selfless help and wanted to give him $10 as appreciation. The practitioner said: "We like to make friends with people who respect the principle of 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.' Falun Gong practitioners don't charge for anything, we always help people voluntarily." The man was deeply moved and shook hands with our practitioner repeatedly.

	A New Yorker learning the Falun Gong exercises