Practitioners from all across Florida gathered on the campus of the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on Monday, May 13^th. The UCF Falun Dafa Cultivation Club organized the celebration, which was held at school's Student Union Building. The University of Central Florida has an enrollment of about thirty thousand students, and the Student Union Building is one of the most popular locations on campus, so practitioners were assured of having many chances to clarify the truth and offer salvation there.

Entrance of the UCF	Photo exhibition	Watch video about Falun Dafa

UCF provided a ballroom as well as a stage and space in front of the building for Falun Dafa Celebration. A large banner displaying the peaceful meditation hung over the building entrance. Practitioners set up a Falun Gong Photo Exhibit and a video display inside the building, featuring artwork by practitioners as well as photos of group practices and the persecution. Falun Gong videos were continuously played throughout the day. Outside, practitioners set up two tables with information and petitions. Practitioners decorated the stage and the area around it with large banners reading "World Falun Gong Day," "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance", and "The Whole World Knows Falun Gong is Good."

Our booth	Sending forth righteous thoughts	Sending forth righteous thoughts

The event began at 10 o'clock in the morning with practitioners sending forth righteous thoughts. They then began a non-stop exercise demonstration on the stage, with different groups of practitioners alternating between demonstrating the exercises, passing out flyers, collecting signatures on petitions, and going inside to answer questions at the photo and video exhibit. Every hour most practitioners would stop and send forth righteous thoughts, while a few would explain what was going on to passers-by.

Speech by a practitioner	Speech by a representative from AI

At noon, the celebration formally started. The President of the Falun Gong club gave a brief address explaining the significance of World Falun Dafa Day, and invited the audience to join in a moment of silence in honor of the practitioners in China, while the rest of the practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts. Then a spokesperson from Amnesty International delivered a speech asking everyone to help end the persecution.

Singing the song "Falun Dafa is in my heart forever"	Singing the song "Being saved"	Singing "Falun Dafa is good"

Later on, a practitioner sang Dafa songs, accompanied by another practitioner on the Chinese violin. Even though she is not a professional musician, the song she wrote and composed, "Falun Dafa in My Heart Forever," touched everyone's heart. She also sang "De Du" (Be Saved) in Chinese. Then everyone sang "Falun Dafa Hao" with all their hearts.

Collecting signatures	Collecting signatures

The pure music, colorful banners, and the graceful exercises attracted a constant stream of students and professors, almost all of whom took information; many also signed petitions and visited the photo and video exhibit. Practitioners were able to collect several hundred signatures throughout the course of the day. At each top of the hour, practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts.

The outdoor celebration concluded at 6 p.m. Practitioners then moved inside for group study. Practitioners also exchanged Hongfa ideas and methods. After group study, all the practitioners drove to the home of a practitioner who lived nearby to send forth righteous thoughts one more time before everyone left to return to their home towns and cities.

When planning this year's Falun Dafa Day celebration, many practitioners expressed the idea that this event should not simply be a celebration for Dafa practitioners but instead an opportunity to spread Dafa and offer salvation, and that this would be truly in the spirit of Dafa. Guided by this thought, Florida practitioners were able to leave good thoughts about Dafa in the minds of hundreds upon hundreds of people, and created a great interest in Dafa on the University of Central Florida.

Posting date: 5/17/2002
Original article date: 5/16/2002
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/5/17/30346.html

 Yearly Archive  Printer Version