Introducing Falun Dafa at the Illinois Governor's Inauguration Day

On January 13, 2003, Springfield, Illinois, the Illinois state government celebrated its new governor's inauguration which takes place once every four years. With support from fellow practitioners in neighboring states, Illinois practitioners utilised this opportunity to successfully carry out activities to introduce Falun Dafa and clarify the truth to government officials as well as the public.

Master said, "Everything through the ages, has happened for the Fa." (Just a Play) On that day, we were the only group who held activities in the great hall of the state government building. Practitioners deeply felt that this was another great opportunity for us to explain the facts to government officials as well as the public.

Various posters displaying the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa were hung in the great hall of the state government building. Two huge red banners reading, "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" were set up in front of the Lincoln's sculpture in the middle of the hall. Melodious music, "Pu Du" and "Ji Shi" were played in the hall. Practitioners demonstrated the five sets of elegant exercises of Falun Gong and the scene was quite peaceful and serene.

Around noon, Dafa practitioners gave a number of performances that they composed, directed and acted themselves to express their gratitude to the Illinois government for their continual support over the past few years. Beautiful music, songs, and other instruments playing reverberated in the hall. Many staff and visitors stopped to watch the performance.

The afternoon was scheduled for the newly appointed governor and other newly elected or reelected important officials to meet with the public. Dafa practitioners separately visited different departments to express their congratulations as well as thankfulness to the government officials for their support to Falun Gong over the past few years. Meanwhile, they also handed materials regarding rescuing family members who are currently persecuted because of their practice of Falun Gong. Although meetings were short, practitioners' demeanor left good impressions on those government officials.

An assistant of the Illinois State Secretary regarding Asian matters came to our booth and expressed that she hoped we both would find more opportunities to introduce Falun Dafa and teach the exercises to the American public, so that more and more American people could benefit from Falun Dafa. She was quite interested in learning Falun Gong and asked for related materials.