(Clearwisdom.net) This is true story of an older Falun Gong practitioner, Li Xuezhen (alias). Fellow practitioners asked me to publish it to encourage more practitioners to step forward, to be more diligent during the final period of assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification, and to save more people.
On the morning of January 25, 2008, the weather was cloudy, with misty fog, strong winds and heavy snow. On a rugged mountain road of Dabie Mountain, an older lady walked, her shoes tied with grass strings, step by step in ankle-deep snow. Her healthy and round face showed a firm and resolute look. She is Li Xuezhen.
On that day, she walked dozens of miles to visit a veteran practitioner who has not stepped forward to clarify the truth, and to advise the practitioner to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations (this is known as the "three withdrawals" -- withdrawing from the CCP, the Communist Youth League, and the Young Pioneers). Before the new year, she accidentally bumped into this practitioner's son's fiancée, who planned to get married on January 25, 2008. The persecution in their area was severe, so several practitioners did not dare to come out, like her. Consequently, no one did the "three withdrawals" in her area. Li Xuezhen realized that this was a good opportunity to clarify the truth and save people, so she said, "I will certainly come to attend the wedding ceremony." That day, she sent forth righteous thoughts at 6:00 a.m., took fifty yuan with her as a gift, walked in the snow for a dozen miles on a mountain road and arrived at the practitioner's home where the marriage ceremony was to be performed.
She arrived there after 9:00 a.m. Three rooms and the living room were already occupied by several guests, and more people chatted next to the stove in the corner of the living room. Li Xuezhen exchanged greetings with the host and handed her the gift. Then, she went around to give every guest a small, red envelope with "truth-clarifying" materials inside. The guests read the materials with curiosity as she sat down next to the stove. While she was thinking about how to start the topic, a big, tall young man came in from outside, saw that people were reading the truth-clarification material, and viciously asked, "You are all reading Falun Gong stuff. Who gave this to you?" Li Xuezhen stood up and calmly answered, "It is I. We are together today because we have a predestined relationship. I come here for you," and offered her seat to him. The man immediately smiled and said, "You Falun Gong people are so kind. But I just do not get it. Why did you have ten thousand people go to Beijing on April 25, 1999 and cause trouble, and burn yourself on Tiananmen Square?" Li Xuezhen realized that this was her opportunity, so she took over the topic, and began to explain the truth of Falun Dafa. She started with He Zuoxiu, brother-in-law of Luo Gan, head of the Politics and Judiciary Committee, who slandered Dafa in a Tianjin magazine. The Tianjin City Public Security Bureau arrested Falun Gong practitioners who went to the magazine publisher to explain the truth. She went on to explain the reason why ten thousand practitioners went to Beijing on April 25, and then explained the many inconsistencies of the "Tiananmen self-immolation incident," staged by the CCP. She explained how the CCP has relied on lies and atrocity to rule China for several decades and caused the deaths of 80 million Chinese people in successive political campaigns, bringing disaster to the nation and the people of China. Then she said, "Now the CCP is doomed to be destroyed, and one can maintain one's life only by withdrawing from the party." Li Xuezhen made it very easy for people to understand her message, which resonated with all those who listened to her.
After she finished talking in the living room, she went to other rooms and continued clarifying the truth and registering people who wanted to do the "three withdrawals." At around noon time, before the banquet started, a tall young man (brother-in-law of the groom) who was responsible for the fireworks, suddenly put down the fireworks, ran inside, excitedly and tightly held Li Xuezhen's hands, and said with a shaky voice, "I truly admire you from my heart. You have been talking for half a day. I heard everything outside the door. You spoke so well. We have some Falun Gong practitioners here, but nobody dared to speak like you do. You are so great!" Li Xuezhen knew that Teacher was encouraging her through this man so she humbly said, "Our Teacher is great, Falun Dafa is great. It is Teacher and Dafa that give me wisdom. Otherwise how can an older, barely literate lady like me talk about so many principles?" These few simple words caused the excited young man and many guests to show deep respect to Teacher and Falun Dafa.
After the banquet, Li Xuezhen answered some questions from people and continued helping people with the "three withdrawals" until 5:00 p.m. She was busy for most of the day and helped over twenty guests do the "three withdrawals," including the first young man who questioned her and the other young man who worked with the fireworks.
The next morning, she stopped to talk with the owner of a meat shop on her way back. The shop owner invited Li Xuezhen to come in and buy meat. Li Xuezhen thought that maybe the meat vendor has a predestined relationship and wanted to be saved, so she took the opportunity and began to clarify the truth to the couple who owned the shop, and helped them withdraw from the CCP. As she was in a hurry, she forgot her handbag with the list of people who had done the "three withdrawals." She remembered only after she was at the bus station. When she turned around to get the handbag, the shop owner's daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren happened to be at the shop at that time. Li Xuezhen took her handbag, and suddenly enlightened that this was another good opportunity Teacher had given her to save people! Teacher really put a lot of thought into saving people! There, she explained the truth to the shop owner's children and relatives, and a total of ten people withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. When she returned to the city, it was already nighttime.
After arriving home, Li Xuezhen recalled the feeling of these years, just like in the song, "Nine Pairs of Shoes," "Feet have blisters and hungry, icy snow and rain wet clothes...... go through grove and alley, the world is dark but the stars are bright." However, she felt warmth in her heart. She thought, "In order to assist Teacher in Fa-rectification, to save people, I am willing to do it, no matter how tiring and painstaking it is."
Li Xuezhen perseveres in both relaxing and stressful environments. Since the second half of 2007, especially as it's getting close to the Olympics, the CCP issued secret orders to step up the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, intensifying the atmosphere. Facing such tribulations, some practitioners have hidden in their homes and not come out, some have moved to other cities and sought refuge with relatives and friends. Yet Ms. Li still firmly remembers Teacher's guidance, "Weathering the Storm,"
"Born into a sphere of suffering
Man struggles just to survive
One day, behold, the Great Law gained
Cease not your steps on the path of return"
She diligently goes out every day to clarify the truth and to encourage people to do the "three withdrawals." She often sets out early and returns late, listening to the Fa or sending forth righteous thoughts while walking. She studies the Fa at home in the evening and reads practitioners' sharings on "Minghui Weekly". Some practitioners asked why she was not afraid. Ms. Li replied that in her experience, she holds only the thought of assisting Teacher in Fa-rectification and saving people, maintains righteous thoughts and acts righteously in the face of ordeals. In this way, one's righteous thoughts will be strong, and one is able to walk through the tribulations. She was truly enlightened to the profound connotation in "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)": "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist."
One day in November 2007, Li Xuezhen and another older practitioner sent forth righteous thoughts at 6:00 a.m., walked along the road going north, and posted truth-clarification information. They spoke to cotton pickers about the truth and advised them to do the "three withdrawals," and helped 17 people to withdraw from the CCP. At 11:00 a.m., she heard the sirens of a police car nearby. She knew that Teacher was reminding her and looked down the road to see six police cars quickly speeding towards them. She sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate evil elements and rotten ghosts that controlled the police to persecute Dafa practitioners for clarifying the truth, and hoped that the police cars would keep moving forward past them, and whe asked Teacher for strength. At the same time, she dragged the fellow practitioner and jumped into cotton field by the road. They stayed together with the cotton pickers, helped them to pick cotton, and explained the truth to them. Six police cars stopped in front of her. The leader jumped out of his car and spoke to the five police cars behind him with a loudspeaker, "Just keep going, they are ahead." Then, the six cars kept going, and the two practitioners returned home safely.
Recently, Li Xuezhen went to an open-air theater in the countryside, clarified the truth and advised people to do the "three withdrawals" for over ten days. Every day she helped more than ten people to withdraw from the CCP. In the afternoon of the last day, after helping several people do the "three withdrawals," she felt that she was being followed by someone. After stepping into an alley, she saw four police cars headed directly to the theater. She returned home safely through the alleyway.
To date, Li Xuezhen has covered virtually every street and surrounding village within dozens of miles of her home. Public places like supermarkets, stores, rural gathering places, theaters, bus stops, and residential buildings are all good venues for clarifying the truth and advising people to do the "three withdrawals." Among those who have withdrawn from the CCP there are current and retired communist party cadres in political departments, police officers, current and discharged members of the army, teachers, students, workers, farmers, and businessmen. According to Ms. Li, she has helped over 5,000 people withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations so far.
Falun Dafa practitioner Li Xuezhen truly has stepped out of the fear of being persecuted and out of the conventional ways of thinking instilled by the old forces, and the human mindset.
One morning not long ago, while she walked along a street, the director of her workplace came towards her, patted her on the shoulder, gave her a thumbs-up, and said to her with a smile, "You are a great Dafa practitioner! You are a Fa-rectification practitioner!" She knew this was Teacher's encouragement for her. This director lives in the same block she does, so he sees that she often goes out early and comes back late, all for saving people. Thus he has heartfelt admiration for her.
One wonders, in order to assist Teacher in Fa-rectification and to save sentient beings, who knows how many difficulties and tribulations she has experienced!