Young European Practitioners Take to the Streets of Manhattan to Help Stop the Persecution

On the eve of the International Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference, a lot of Falun Dafa practitioners reached the U.S. several days ahead of time so as to take part in activities to reveal the facts about the persecution and also to introduce the practise on the streets of New York. I met eight practitioners from Europe who came to New York to participate. They came via their own initiatives from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Russia to participate in the conference. They were very young and only spoke broken English; however this did not deter them from taking part in the activities. They brought with them their sincere smiles and honest and merciful hearts to participate in the activities alongside other practitioners.

One of them had a very youthful appearance. His azure eyes revealed his innocence. I estimated that he was at most twenty years old. He said to me that there were a lot of people in the building of Penn Station and asked me whether he could go there to distribute some leaflets containing information about the practice and the persecution. I told him that strong and pure righteous thoughts will reduce and dispel troubles. He said with a smile, "I understand" and then turned around and left. In less than half an hour, he had finished distributing the leaflets, his face was soaked with sweat and his face beamed with joy.

Another of the practitioners had black hair and came from the Czech Republic; she is as beautiful and pure as an angel. After we greeted one another, she went on to practise the fifth Falun Dafa exercise and send forth righteous thoughts. Later, I approached a married couple of middle age who were standing in front of our exhibition boards to tell them about the truth of the persecution. Yet they did not know any English, so I asked them which country they came from in order to find a leaflet in a language they can understand. Hearing that they came from the Czech Republic, I was glad to tell them that we had a practitioner who had just come from the Czech Republic. When she introduced herself to them, the couple were both happy and yet slightly surprised. They had not expected to run into someone form their native land on the streets of New York. Their look seemed to tell me that they had experienced the beauty of Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and the enchantment of the practise. If the practice wasn’t genuine then why would she have travelled from so far away to the streets of New York and in the scorching summer sun, in defiance of hunger and thirst, to engage in a peaceful protest against the infringement of the people of China’s most basic human rights: a right denied by the Communist Party in China. They not only signed their names to show their support for a stop to the persecution but also learnt about Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.

Mike was the only guy amongst the group of Europeans who could speak fluent English. I only knew his name among the group of eight. He is a computer engineer. Besides his native tongue, he can also speak German, English and Russian. I was surprised to see him read the Czech edition of the Falun Dafa book, Zhuan Falun. He told me that although there were not a lot of people in his country who practised Falun Gong, this book was translated by him and some other practitioners who know English. I was shocked and moved when I imagined how this book can help many non English speaking Czechoslovakians to step into the door of cultivation by having this book available. He did not speak much. While he distributed materials, practised the exercises and sent forth righteous thoughts, he seldom stopped to have a rest or have lunch. One day, a woman crossed the road and told me that she had just received some Falun Dafa related material from Mike. Because she sensed his sincerity and kind-heartedness in the few words she shared with Mike she came specifically to watch the anti-torture exhibition. She hoped I could tell her how she could start to practise Falun Gong. I think that it was Mike’s compassion that touched her heart.

One look later, I spotted another woman with long brown hair talking to a couple about the practice and the persecution. Her English is limited. Although I could not hear the content of their conversation, yet through her gesture and expression I could feel that she was trying really hard to get her message across. Half an hour later, I found they were still talking and the pair was nodding. I was deeply moved by this scene and nearly shed tears. The little things done by Falun Gong practitioners seemed ordinary, yet they were sowing the seeds of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance in the hearts of the people.