A European Practitioner's Experiences and Impressions During Her Visit to New York

Esteemed Master, dear fellow practitioners,

I happened to be in Boston during the summer of 2004, when during one of their regular evening meetings local practitioners discussed that the evil in other dimensions is concentrating on Manhattan and Beijing. We were told that every practitioner who could afford such a visit and had the wherewithal should come to the respective areas and expose to the locals and those visiting the persecution of Falun Gong in China. I decided to go to New York, as I figured that I probably wouldn’t have another opportunity to visit America. Therefore, I took the first bus out of Boston in the morning, and reached Manhattan’s China Town after four hours.

Before entering New York, I had started to develop a headache, a scratchy throat and pressure behind my eyes. I felt as I was looking through tinted glasses all day long, it was if I saw from the corner of my eyes a black cloud, which covered everything. Unlike the past two weeks in Washington D.C. and Boston, I had a difficult time in talking to people and no one wanted to accept a informational flyer or newspaper about Falun Gong from me, let alone listening to what I wanted to tell them about Falun Gong and the persecution. I finally gave up in the afternoon and sent righteous thought every half-an-hour on the hour. I returned to Boston in the evening, though lightly frustrated and sobered up.

My stay in America, especially the time I spent in Boston was rather memorable. For fourteen days I did nothing else than tell people about the persecution, advised them to read the Falun Gong books and to practise the Falun Gong exercises. I saw for the first time our esteemed Master and was able to listen to His lecture on Falun Dafa’s principles in person. Not only was this very moving but I also met many practitioners from all over the world with whom I could share experiences about my cultivation with. As I remember, the entire stay was a precious period for me. Only, that day in New York was something else and not in the least pleasant.

After my return to Austria, I could not get this disappointing day out of my mind. I kept feeling that I had not done too well while in New York and that I somehow had let down Master Li, my fellow practitioners and those people we are to save. Somehow, the old forces were pulling my strings that day. Therefore, I developed the wish to return to Manhattan so as to do better.

At that time, my job situation deteriorated. I had a tough time earlier in the year, but now my situation worsened. The sales volume was no longer there and the profit margin was even worse. My sister-in-law told me that she needed more time for her children and that I had to take on some of her work. My cousin, who is also my partner and I had not paid ourselves any salary for three months. It was quite obvious that any vacation in the near future was out of the question including my planned trip to New York. Given all such issues, I lost the momentum I had gained during my visit to the States. I tried twice to leave for New York. First I had a chance to go with a fellow practitioner in November and the next chance came after Christmas, but before New Years Eve. Alas, I was settled at both times with important appointments that could not be cancelled. At that time I finally understood that these were roadblocks by the old forces, to prevent me from travelling to New York. They wanted to make sure that I would not come another time to New York, and just wanted to prevent my redeeming myself. It became clear to me that the old forces fear greatly every single practitioners and that they would do everything to prevent them from doing what we were born to do.

Now it became quite clear to me as to what I had to do. I had to fundamentally negate the old forces arrangement. This is easier said than done. How to you negate a slump in sales? How does one negate financial difficulties? Even as of today, I have not found the correct answer to that question. I finally decided to cancel one of the meetings and just booked my flight. I believe that my firm decision to leave for New York, no matter what, was the reason that I did not run into problems this time. Now, believe me, this didn’t mean that I did not have to face any more problems. Just the opposite! My business situation worsened drastically, and I was faced before my departure with many difficulties and tests to my heart. The most difficult problem I faced was that I had to let go two of my employees and drastically reduce the working hours of others. I still don’t know how well I dealt with this situation. Though, I tried to deal with something that is part of being a small business owner’s life as honest, compassionately and with as much tolerance as possible.

After arriving in New York I ran into a number of difficulties regarding my living quarters. No one answered the phone at the practitioner’s home I had been in contact with. Yet, I did not get discouraged. I decided not to waste time to find a ‘bargain lodging’, but began to do the things why I had come here for in the first place. It didn’t take long before I found the first group of practitioners. They were near Wall Street and had organised an anti-torture exhibition. I decided to join them. In the evening they took me to a meeting with New York practitioners. There I was informed about other activities around town. The rest of my stay I spend at different locations in Manhattan, mainly distributing informative flyers, telling the truth about Falun Dafa and exposing the persecution.

During that time I met many interesting practitioners from everywhere in the world, including Taiwan, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and Singapore. I’m mentioning only those I was in close contact with. They had all come to New York for a brief or longer period of time, to help and to explain the truth to people, saving lives and to destroy the evil in other dimensions. The power of so many pure hearts, the determination and steadfastness stuck a chord in many New Yorkers. The atmosphere was completely different from half-a-year ago. Many of the passersby came to talk to me and said, “I already had heard and/or read about it. I fully support you!” or “It is absolutely wonderful what you are doing here. I wished there would be more people like you in this world!” There was much more people said to me, but the time is too short to tell you all the things people said in support.

Naturally, there were things that were not pleasant, but not too often. Every human positions him/herself, either towards goodness or towards evil. We can only hold out our hand to people, but they have to grab it and seize the opportunity. It depends on the situation at the time when one hands out the flyer. Everyone can realise for themselves that the stronger the righteous thoughts, the stronger and purer the wish to save those facing us, the greater the willingness to accept a flyer, or listening to what we have to say.

For example, there was one situation I found very touching. I spent time with an anti-torture exhibition on 7th Avenue that was manned mainly by Japanese practitioners. I was in the middle of a conversation with a passerby when I noticed three young girls passing us. I don’t know why I just noticed these three among the large crowd. They passed by and I thought, what a pity that they did not take a flyer. I noticed them again some way off, after ending my conversation. I thought that this was not by accident! I had come from so far away to tell you about the persecution against Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Please, take at least one of my flyers. You need to hear about Falun Dafa. I walked towards them holding this thought and gave them a flyer. They returned a few minutes later and took a closer look at the anti-torture exhibition and the billboards. Then, they left again. Half an hour later they returned again. This time they approached me directly, giving me the opportunity to tell them more about the situation. They were deeply shocked and immediately signed the petition. One of them asked if she was allowed to take pictures. She filmed everything and then they interviewed us all, one after the other. They told me that they were going to show the film at school. They wanted their fellow students to hear about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China.

I gained the deepest respect towards my fellow practitioners after watching their behaviour. It is easy to stay day after day with one activity if, like me you are there for only a short period of time. It is very different if one remains there day-in and day-out on the street and mostly in the same place, for an entire month, especially if one has to work, study and take care of a family and has other responsibilities. They never stopped trying to help me, although I had come to help them.

I remember another occasion when I decided to go to the Chinese Consulate to sent forth righteous thoughts. I did not know at the time that times were differently arranged from most of the other activities. Therefore, I arrived shortly before the group was leaving for home. The next group was supposed to arrive in another two to three hours. Since I was here, I decided to bridge the time until they arrived with some activity. One elderly gentleman who spoke only Chinese offered to stay, to keep me company. I did not understand until later what really had happened. I can tell from my personal experience that the place in front of the Consulate is the coldest in Manhattan. A piercing, ice-cold wind blows up from the Hudson river towards the Consulate. It does not take long until you are chilled to the bones. Also, it began to snow within a short time. It did not take long for me to feel absolutely freezing. This steadfast elderly man had already been there for four to five hours. Then suddenly, a group of Chinese arrived who sang some song. We moved aside and showed them the exercises and sending righteous thoughts. I could not have answered any of their curious questions without his help.

There are so many more interesting stories to tell. Alas, given the time limit and length of this article, it is just impossible to recount all my experiences. Before I finish my sharing, I wish to note that I no longer feel that I did not do well this time. For me personally, the stay in New York and the subsequent activities, including the Falun Dafa Conference in London was a precious opportunity. I thank our esteemed teacher from deep within my heart, for giving me the opportunity to partake in these activities. I hold a deep feeling of hope that I will continue to improve and do better in all that a Falun Dafa practitioner of the Fa-rectification period is supposed to do.

Originally published in German at http://de.clearharmony.net/articles/200503/23067.html