(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) with my mother in 1999. I was only eight years old at the time. We regularly went to the practice site to do the exercises. My mother later gave me the book Zhuan Falun and told me to always keep it with me. Because I was so young, I didn't understand a lot of things, but I just kept reading.
I used to be a sickly child. I often had very bad headaches, and I regularly had the flu. All the medicines I took didn't help, but instead seemed to make the illness worse. Because I was often sick, I seldom went to school.
Doing Falun Dafa exercises had a great impact on my health. The more I did them, the better I felt. One day, when my mother took me to the Fa study group, I was sick and weak, and a little scared, but fellow practitioners told me not to worry, it was just the process of cleansing the body.
My mother married a Chinese practitioner, and my life dramatically changed. I had a new environment and most practitioners were Chinese. I also had a Chinese grandmother. She often took me to study the Fa with Chinese practitioners, I really liked this environment and I felt that it was one big family.
Several years later, my grandmother wasn't granted a residence visa to stay in Russia, so she was forced to go to another country where she was granted refugee status. My mom stopped practicing at that time and became depressed, and it was difficult for her to do housework and take care of my younger brother.
When I went to pick up my brother from nursery school one day I started to cry. I realized that now all of the family responsibilities would be transferred to me, and I was not ready for it. I then realized that I had come to a turning point in my cultivation. It was time to use all all the wisdom and understanding that I had learned over the past years. It was time to practice, and to rely on myself and not on others. This thought strengthened my resolve.
Another challenge for me was the fact that my mother strongly prevented me from practicing, and didn't even want to let me go to the practice site. But I firmly told her that I did not want to stop practicing, because Falun Dafa had helped me so much and I wondered how she could even say something like this. I realized that I should firmly believe in Master and the Fa, no matter what happened.
That night I had a dream in which my mother and my father pulled my hands in opposite directions, my mom discouraged me from practicing, and my dad asked me to go to church. I woke up sweating profusely, my whole body was shaking. I then decided to sit down and send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors that were interfering with me. In ten minutes everything stopped as though nothing had happened.
When my family situation improved and my mother began to feel better, I decided to reorganize my personal life. Since I had had to take responsibility for many duties in the family for a long time, I thought it was time to live independently.
I thought that it would be much easier, but later I realized that instead of being happy to accept the hardships and difficulties, I began to think that the problems could be washed away. In fact, I was deeply mistaken.
I married a practitioner from another city. I was very happy, and thought that I could begin a new life. But since my thoughts were not righteous, my life became even harder.
I had many disagreements with my husband and we often endlessly quarreled. I lacked compassion and patience. I refused to give in to my husband, I thought about him in a human way, that his actions were wrong, and I never looked inside. Due to the fact that neither of us had compassion for the other, we constantly criticized each other and said hurtful words. All these things turned into a huge mountain that seemed unmovable.
Since I no longer looked at things from the perspective of the Fa, everything in my life became chaotic. I couldn't find a job for a long time, and when I got one, the job didn't last long and the pay was low. My physical condition also severely deteriorated, and everything became very hard.
I managed to later find another job, but I was busy every weekend when we had group studies and activities. Thus, I was cut off from the group and I began feeling bitter. I had to keep my job because my family needed my income and it wasn't easy to find another job.
I used my free time to do the three things, but I still really missed our group environment. I became very jealous of my husband, because he had more time to work on projects and to study the Fa with the group. Dissatisfaction and resentment overwhelmed me so much that I couldn't think about anything, and even when I studied the Fa, I had no insights and wasn't able to raise my level.
I called a practitioner and told her about my situation, saying that I felt as if I was drifting away from Dafa but I didn't have the strength to take a step forward. She said that I needed to think about my mission and study the Fa with a calm mind, to think about my situation and look inside. She promised to help me.
I had a great desire to improve and upgrade quickly, but when I encountered a test I wasn't able to pass it. One day, when I came home, I quarreled with my husband and once again I couldn't stand it and keep silent. Instead I became even more argumentative, and insisted on my point of view. My husband was extremely angry.
When I woke up the next day I realized that things couldn't continue this way any longer. I wasn't acting like a Falun Dafa practitioner, and it was very important for me to change my heart.
I set a goal to fundamentally change myself, to control my thoughts and actions, and to develop patience and compassion. I let go of resentment and tried to understand my husband more. I decided that I would do everything possible, and use every opportunity to cultivate myself. Since it took more than two hours to get to my work place I used the time to study the Fa.
As soon as I stepped forward and began to work on myself, the situation began to immediately change. The relationship between my husband and I began to improve. My director offered me a new position at work, and I went to the office for a standard working week with two free days. My new position required many new skills that I had to learn from scratch, but I learned everything very quickly and I still work there.
My job was also a new environment that Master arranged for my improvement. When our office was reorganized the departments had to interact, and I worked with the employee no one else wanted to work with. She spent hours talking loudly on the phone about things that had nothing to do with the job, and then would leave the office leaving her job for me to finish.
Her behavior put me in a bad mood, and I expressed my displeasure to her, trying to explain that it was wrong, but she just became more indignant. I later realized that I had to be nice to her, and by treating her kindly her attitude would change. I was no longer mad at her, and when she left I took her calls without complaint and I even helped her with her work. Our relationship soon improved.
Since I grew up in a Chinese environment, I learned to speak Chinese. I clearly understand that I obtained this ability through Dafa. When I was a small child, I went out to distribute leaflets in Chinese. The situation was very tense in 2000-2001, and many Chinese believed the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) lies and did not want to take our materials. They tore up our flyers and broke the truth-clarification disks with hatred in their eyes, and then threw them on the ground. Seeing their grim faces, I was a bit scared, but I knew that I was doing the right thing, and that it just took time for them to understand.
Russian practitioners started publishing the Epoch Times newspaper in Chinese in 2002, and this became an excellent tool to tell the facts. I went out with one practitioner every weekend to distribute the paper to the major markets where many Chinese work. There were only the two of us, and we had more than 500 newspapers to distribute, so it took a lot of time to go to each of them.
I overcame a lot of things, such as fatigue, cold, heat, fear, and much more. When our human notions prevailed, the Chinese did not want to take the materials and chased us. We would stop, send righteous thoughts and move on, driving away every negative thought.
Because practitioners persisted in distributing truth clarification materials, many Chinese people in Russia changed their attitude towards Dafa.
My ability to speak Chinese also improved. I was unwilling to speak before, but I became determined and gained confidence. When I was asked where I learned to speak Chinese so well, I said that my grandmother was Chinese and she practiced Falun Dafa. Many were shocked to hear this. By our constantly talking with them and having them read the materials, their attitudes changed and they also became our friends. Over time, the number of practitioners participating in the project increased, and we were able to reach more and more Chinese people.
I once suddenly developed symptoms of chickenpox a couple of days before the next time to distribute materials. Small blisters covered my entire body and I couldn't sleep because my head was also covered with blisters. I also ran a high fever.
There was only one day left before we were to distribute materials and I didn't know what to do, whether I should go or not. I was afraid that my appearance would create a bad impression. I still decided that we should go, because nothing should prevent me from doing things to save people.
When I first started handing out materials I met a Chinese man we knew and he was always very happy to get the latest issue of the newspaper. He looked at me and said that I looked especially good today, I was shocked and thought he was joking, but he said it quite seriously. When I pointed to the red blisters on my face, he said he didn't see them. I immediately understood that he was telling me that in spite of my condition I went out to save people, and I shouldn't think about those blisters at all.
The entire time we distributed newspapers that day, no one said anything about my appearance, but they were all very happy to see me. Through this incident, I deeply understood how important it is to keep righteous thoughts at all times and deny the old forces' arrangements.
The second incident like this happened before the next issue of the newspaper was ready. When I woke up I began to get ready, but when I looked in the mirror I noticed that something was wrong with my face. Looking closer I saw that a swelling had formed like a large plum under my right eye. Unfortunately, I did not manage to distribute the newspaper that day. But since we had to go to another market the next day, I firmly decided that tomorrow I would go.
My husband and I stayed home and decided to send forth righteous thoughts every hour to eliminate the interference. I was clearly aware that there was interference trying to interfere to prevent me from going out to distribute the newspaper. In between, I also read the Fa and kept righteous thoughts. The swelling subsided by the next morning and we happily went to the market.
Over the years, we've persisted in going out to distribute newspapers and other materials to Chinese people. The situation has greatly changed. Now, many Chinese are not only happy to take our materials, but also talk to others about the persecution. Some have quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
We've met a lot of Chinese people, and no matter how they behaved before, and no matter what they've said, we realized that they're all extraordinary, and it's very important to clarify the facts to them. After reading "20th Anniversary Fa Teaching" I deeply understood how important it is.
One day my husband and I offered a newspaper to a Chinese man. He flipped through it and said, "It's not true.” I began talking to him in Chinese and continued the conversation. I told him about Falun Dafa and promised to bring a DVD of the staged self-immolation in Tiananmen Square the next time.
The next time he saw me he said, "In China I saw a lot of posters and leaflets about Falun Dafa. I found them on my door and in the basket of my bike, but I never dared to look at them. I am currently working in Russia, and here you are offering me materials." He was very surprised that even here, in Russia, people are practicing Falun Dafa. From his words I realized how the efforts of practitioners in China and around the world are so important.
We maintained friendly relations with many Chinese. We congratulated them on different occasions, gave them gifts, and helped them when they needed help. I even taught them the Russian language. Our efforts had a good impact, especially when it was difficult for them to accept the truth. I sincerely told them about the persecution in China and what benefits I received through the practice.
There was one Chinese man, who did not want to take materials, but each time he passed by me, I said hello and asked how he was doing. After a year, he came up and asked for the newspaper. We are now good friends and he regularly takes a newspaper for himself and his friends.
Some Chinese people who understood the truth are very grateful for our efforts. They gave us presents, offered us food and tea and asked to stay and talk. One winter, before distributing the materials, I lost my gloves, and it was a hard frost outside, and I was upset at first, but then I forgot about it.
After about half an hour, I met a Chinese friend and gave him a new newspaper. He saw that I was not wearing gloves, and said, "Today is so cold, where are your gloves?" I said that I had lost them, but there was no worry, and I would soon go home. He asked me to wait for him, and left. He returned with new gloves a few minutes later. I was very uncomfortable taking them, and I refused for a long time. But he did not want to listen to me, and told me to take them as a sign of gratitude.
We also distribute newspapers to builders when they finish working. As soon as they see us, some of them run over, and shake our hands. They are sincerely grateful. Some say, "Thank you, we know that it is not very easy for you." And they shout when we are leaving, "Falun Dafa - Hao!" (Falun Dafa is great)
One Chinese took the newspaper and said, "Great job! You are doing an excellent job!" But there was also a group of Chinese who didn't want to read the materials.
I enlightened that Master encourages and inspires us with the words of these people. And this second group gives a hint that we don’t have much time, and we need to seek ways to give them a chance to awaken.
Falun Dafa gave me a second, real life, showed me wisdom and gave me a lot of abilities. I will use all this to cultivate better and do the Three Things better.
Please, point out anything inappropriate with compassion.
Thank You, Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2014 European Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)