Meeting with a State Representative Outside a Museum in Washington DC

By a Dafa Practitioner in Washington, DC

I once wrote to a state representative in Virginia. She was moved by the Dafa truth-clarifying materials I sent to her and replied that she would like to meet me. She implied that I could choose a meeting place and she would arrive at 4:30 p.m. on November 24. My first thought was to show her our truth-clarification site outside the museum where our fellow practitioners spend seven days a week clarifying the truth to Chinese tourists who can clearly see our banner reading, "Falun Dafa is good," and a ten-meter-long truth-clarification display board. The representative said, "Great!" in her reply to my invitation.

Dafa practitioners in Washington DC learnt the news and came to offer their help. That morning, the weather was not good, and there was a drizzle. We sent forth righteous thoughts as soon as we arrived at the museum, and the drizzle stopped. After finishing four sets of the exercises, the weather became fine. After 4:00 p.m., two students passed by and came to learn the exercises from us. Before the practise, they said they had thought it was a normal Qigong, but after the practise, they felt the difference. The energy was very strong. I encouraged them to continue practising and at the same time, I invited their friends to have a try. Some parents also encouraged their children to come to learn. Later on, their teacher brought a group of students to come to learn. What a wonderful scene! Over 40 students and their teacher stood in front of our display board and began to learn the exercises. One of them was only 3-4 years old. Groups of Chinese tourists kept looking back and showing surprise at the popularity of Falun Gong abroad. Some of them came over to look at our display board.

How I hoped the state representative could see this, but I immediately realised that I couldn't be attached to this. The children stopped practising before the arrival of the state representative. They had conversations and had their photos taken with the practitioners.

The representative arrived ten minutes after the appointed time of 4:30 p.m. She obviously came in haste. I showed her our display board. She said it was the first time that she had seen such a display board, and she was very moved. She asked who made these laminated display boards, and I told her we had made them ourselves. She said we might consider displaying these boards at the State government, which would allow more representatives to look at them. She agreed to help us hold a photo exhibition at the state government.

There is a small store near the museum. A practitioner from her precinct and I invited the representative to sit outside the store and have a conversation while watching practitioners doing the exercises. We told her about Falun Gong's wide spread in China and the benefits it has brought to China and the world's people. We also talked about the spirit of great compassion and tolerance displayed by practitioners during the last three years of brutal persecution. We told her that practitioners have held peaceful appeals daily in front of the Chinese Embassy over the past three years. At present we have decided to come to this place daily to clarify the truth to Chinese tourists and the world's people. She listened to us attentively and then she smiled, saying, "I finally know why you invited me to come here. If my colleagues want to learn about Falun Gong, this is the best place." She expressed her appreciation for our actions, and she expressed confidence that a resolution condemning the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong would be passed at the state legislature.

After 5:00 p.m., other practitioners also came to join in our conversation. A Western practitioner talked about his miraculous physical improvement after practising cultivation, how he got rid of his unhealthy habits in a very short period of time, and the mistreatment and abuse he suffered when he went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong.

Our meeting concluded in a pleasant atmosphere. We hugged each other and said goodbye.