By Chinese practitioner Hongyang, Mulan County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a farmer in Mulan County, Heilongjiang Province. In 1996, one after the other, my dad, mom, elder sister and myself all started practicing Falun Dafa. Through practicing Falun Dafa, we came to understand many principles explaining how to conduct ourselves to be upright persons, and we learned the true meaning of life. We based every aspect of our lives on the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance," as taught by our Teacher.

We raised our character and could sense tremendous positive changes in our bodies as we continued to practice Falun Gong. Dad totally got rid of his bad habits of smoking, drinking and fighting. Mom's gallbladder infection, headaches and other ailments disappeared. Most wondrously, my mom, who was illiterate, could read the entire book Zhuan Falun [the principal teachings of Falun Dafa] within a short time, and she also could memorize and recite many of Teacher's articles and poems

I used to suffer from continuous illnesses before practicing, but I am completely healthy now. Years of practicing Falun Gong brought happiness and joy to our family, and we learned to treat others with respect and kindness. The whole village praised Falun Dafa. Many people came to our house to learn Falun Gong. After my sister got married and moved to another village, she brought Falun Dafa to that village, as well.

But in 1999, Jiang's regime started the persecution of Falun Dafa. In order to tell people that "Falun Dafa is good" and "Jiang's propaganda is false," Dad and my sister went to Tiananmen Square to appeal against the persecution after they had tried elsewhere to file their grievance. After a few days my sister returned home, but my dad was detained for several months. The local thugs tried to coerce and threaten my mom and me. My dad was released only after the police extorted several thousand yuan from us [500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income for an urban worker in China].

Our whole family became even more determined to practice Falun Gong. After my dad returned home, we formed a strong family environment of cultivation. I am now writing about my family's experience because I want to tell more people and fellow practitioners that we practitioners are invincible, and our righteous thoughts are powerful.

Our family has gone through a lot of trials and hardships, but we have become more mature, and more and more people have started to realize the truth about Falun Gong. People are starting to question and condemn the slander and atrocities committed by the Jiang regime.

There was a village deputy who actively fought against the persecution by protecting us silently many times after she learned about the truth of Falun Gong. Even now she openly shows truth clarifying VCDs at her home. She encourages other villagers to come to my home to check out the VCDs for themselves so that they can learn the truth. Once, her niece came to her home and she showed several truth clarifying VCDs to her. Later her niece told me, "Now I understand that Jiang was slandering Falun Gong, and he fabricated the self-immolation incident to frame and harm Falun Gong."

The elderly head of our village had been deeply deceived by the lies and propaganda. He screamed and yelled at us every time he visited our home, and he would not allow us to practice Falun Gong. It was difficult for me to clarify the truth to him. Later on, when the village elected a new village head, he lost the election.

We continued to tell him about Falun Gong afterwards. Finally one day, the old man changed. Now he visits us often, and watches the VCDs and listens attentively every time we talk to him about the truth of Falun Gong. He says, "The stuff that the Falun Dafa announcer said was very reasonable. They are really talented." The old man no longer followed the Jiang regime's persecution after learning the truth.

After the New Year, the Yangco dance troupe came to our village to pay a New Year's call. When the troupe came to our house, we knew that they did not come here without reason. We needed to save the 40-50 dancers of the troupe so that they would not miss this rare and extraordinary opportunity.

So Dad and Mom handed out truth-clarification flyers to each and every dancer in the troupe. Some even asked my parents for more flyers. One older man happily said, "Thank you." Even though some people still were misled by the Jiang regime's slander, Dad and Mom patiently explained the facts to them with compassion. The Yangco dance troupe put on a fabulous performance in the courtyard of our home.

One day we heard very a loud voice shouting, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous! Falun Dafa saves sentient beings!" I went out to check and found a peddler shouting through a bullhorn loudspeaker.

One woman said, "Aren't you afraid to be arrested by yelling out like this?" The peddler replied, "That is just what the banner on the telephone pole said. What has that got to do with me?" He continued yelling, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa saves sentient beings!" Then he followed with, "Reinstate the reputation of your Teacher!" His vibrant voice echoed over the entire village.

There was one villager who appeared to be receptive regarding the truth of Falun Gong, yet he tore down all the truth-clarification materials after he returned home. On one occasion my dad sent him the truth-clarification materials again, but afterwards he noticed that there were little torn pieces of the materials here and there. Soon after, this man was involved in a traffic accident along with another person who assisted the police in monitoring and tracking us. A few days later, this man was injured when his motorcycle collided with a car. However, my dad did not give up on him and still went to talk to him about the truth of Falun Gong. The man now seemed to understand the cosmic principle that "Good and bad deeds will be repaid in kind," and he has asked my dad for more truth clarifying VCDs.

After practicing Falun Dafa, my dad got rid of his bad habits of smoking, drinking and fighting. Now, he takes the toughest job whenever he helps others, and his efforts moved everyone in the village. They praised him, saying, "The Falun Gong practitioners are indeed outstanding. They are most solid and down to earth."

My dad brought with him truth-clarifying materials wherever he worked. Each time he took a break at a job site, one could see many people reading the Dafa flyers. My mom's ailments disappeared after practicing Falun Gong. She even changed her bad temper completely. Mom used to be illiterate, but the wonderful story of her reading and memorizing Dafa books has spread both locally and to the neighboring villages. One child said, "I want to practice Falun Gong tomorrow. Just look at the auntie who became so healthy after practicing." People visiting us often said, "Whoever marries your children would be really blessed." They also said that those who practiced Falun Dafa were really good people.

Now the whole village admires my family. We tell each and every person who visits our home that we became better people because we practiced Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa has not only brought blessings to our own family, but also to everyone.

(To be continued)

2004-4-2

Posting date: 4/19/2004
Original article date: 4/18/2004
Category: Fa-Rectification Stories
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/4/3/71536.html