(Part I)

On October 20, eight of us, including an eight-year-old practitioner, flew from Toronto to Thunder Bay, a city on the northwestern part of the Canadian province of Ontario, to hold a 9-day Falun Dafa class. A while back a Toronto practitioner heard that there were people in Thunder Bay who were interested in Falun Dafa and had already visited the Dafa website. She then got in touch with a lady in Thunder Bay, who told her that she and some of her friends were very interested in learning Falun Gong and hoped that we could hold a class there. She mailed her a few copies of Zhuan Falun and Falun Gong, along with other Falun Gong materials and newspapers, and asked her to find out if there were enough people who were interested in attending the class. To her surprise, she called back only four days later and said that more than twenty people were interested in attending the class. She wanted us to hold the class there after the Canadian Thanksgiving (celebrated on the second Monday of October), and said that she would take care of all the details such as finding a place to hold the class and setting up the schedule. We found out later that her friends did a lot of work to get enough people to attend the class. They not only passed out Falun Gong material to their friends and relatives, but also put up flyers in places such as the local community center to publicize the class. That was how we were able to hold the class in Thunder Bay. Before we left, many Toronto practitioners helped us gather Falun Gong books and other materials. One practitioner even bought us a prepaid cellular phone so we could get in touch with Toronto practitioners in case we needed anything.

We arrived at Thunder Bay after a nearly two-hour flight. None of us had been there before, but we knew that she would meet us at the gate. The moment we walked off the plane, we saw her and four other ladies standing outside of the gate in a row. One person held a sign that said "Falun Dafa," and three others held signs that read "Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance," while the fifth person held up a short introduction on Falun Gong. It is hard to describe the way we felt when we saw them. We were so touched that we almost broke into tears. We not only deeply felt the power of the Dafa, we were also moved by the purity of their hearts, their kindness, and their eagerness to obtain the Dafa. It was only until after we walked out of the airport that we realized we should have taken a picture of them greeting us.

The five of them took four cars to pick us up from the airport, and it was a beautiful day in Thunder Bay. There was not a cloud in the sky, the temperature was just right, and the air was refreshing. Thunder Bay is a charming little city right next to Lake Superior with around 100,000 residents, and Native American tribes still live on the mountains nearby. There were no tall structures and only a small number of factories. Originally, three ladies were prepared to host us in their homes, but we felt it would be better if we all stayed in one place. So one of them offered to let all eight of us stay on the second floor of her home.

In the afternoon, we discussed plans for the next ten days, and we were told that even more people had signed up for the class. We decided to start playing Master Li's videotaped lectures on the 21^st. When we attained a copy of the schedule, we found out that there were two classes, one in the morning and one in the evening at two different places. The first class was held at 7 p.m. that same evening at a local dance studio. To our surprise, more than forty people, mostly westerners, showed for the class. An introduction on Falun Gong and Master Li Hongzhi, was given, and we demonstrated the five sets of exercises. After the class was over, a lot of people stayed behind to talk to us. They were moved by the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere generated by Dafa, and some even felt the powerful energy field. Many lingered behind for a long time and did not want to leave. We told them that Dafa contained the true laws of the universe and it was something that one would not have encountered in tens of thousands of years, and the fact that they made it to the class showed that they all had pre-destined relationships to Dafa. One lady told us that before we came, she actually had a dream where one of the Toronto practitioners who came to hold the class, was driving on the road. Needless to say, she was very surprised to see her at the class in person. This was how we spent our first day in Thunder Bay.

To be continued

Canadian Practitioners

November 3, 2000