(Minghui.org) My family and I experienced police harassment because I practiced Falun Gong. The harassment started after I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on July 20, 1999.
I was detained for three days until my family paid 200 yuan for my release.
Over 20 police officers and officials in charge of persecuting Falun Gong then ransacked my home, and they detained me at the local police station for more than 40 days. They extorted 5,000 yuan from my wife before I was released.
We gave up our practice of Falun Gong because of the pressure by officials, police, relatives, and friends. My wife and I would sometimes look at each other, and regret in our hearts what we had lost. We remembered very well how we benefited from the practice.
However, we started to take steps toward going back to practicing. My wife soon recovered from her many ailments, and I returned to good health.
I did the Falun Gong exercises in a hidden tunnel at night. This made my heart even heavier, because I knew that Falun Gong was what my heart desired.
A fellow practitioner came to visit us in 2001 and asked us not to give up. These simple words awakened us and we cultivated again in Falun Gong.
The First Step, the Hardest
I still remember the first time I went out to distribute Falun Gong materials. In the silver moonlight, I posted my first sticker on a pole and left my first flier at someone's doorstep. My heart beat violently and I worried that I might be caught.
The more I studied Master's newer lectures, the better I understood my mission: I had to tell more people about the persecution of Falun Gong and distribute more informational materials.
Our Fa -study group improved our cultivation state and we went out to distribute more materials. I took fellow practitioners on my motorcycle to many villages, regardless of the weather. We were involved in something Master asked us to do:
“This is especially so for the Dafa disciples in Mainland China: each must come out and clarify the truth, bringing it to every field and valley, mountain and hill, not omitting a single area where there are people.” (“Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People,” September 1, 2004)
Fear Is Our Enemy
My home is located close to a highway and I recycle metal. Therefore, I have many opportunities to talk to people about Falun Gong.
Although we have held fear, it has become easier to deal with since we first handed out our Falun Gong materials. We could even tell people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
Once the head of our village worked near our home, I gave him a Shen Yun performance DVD. Several days later, I gave him another DVD with Falun Gong information and promised to give him a third DVD. He stopped for a visit at our home a few days later.
We were not sure if he wanted to quit the CCP and its affiliates. Why did we not seize the opportunity and ask? We were worried that he would report us to the police. Once we realized the fear, we decided to let it go.
He stopped again at our home after a few days. I asked him, “Why don't you quit the CCP organizations?” He replied, “Alright, I want to withdraw.” This incident gave us the courage to tell more people to quit.
The Villagers Are Lucky: Village Official Knows the Facts
We also found the courage to help another village head and a CCP secretary of the village committee withdraw from the CCP's organizations.
We were responsible for distributing Falun Gong materials to five remote villages. We had already done so in four villages, but we had not gone to the fifth village because of work
One day two people dropped by my home. They were the village head and the party secretary of the village that we had not visited. This was like a wake-up call—out of the entire village population, these two people came to my home. I said to Master in my heart that although I did not do well in the past, I would catch up.
We told them about Falun Gong, and in the end, both officials decided to quit the CCP.
We went to the village with lots of Falun Gong materials the very next day.
When my wife and I put up posters of the Shen Yun 2014 performance, we ran into the village head. He said: “When you have the Shen Yun DVDs, let me know. I will announce the news on the village radio and ask people to come and get one. Then, you won't have to deliver it to all the families individually.”
The villagers are lucky to have such a village official.
