By a Western practitioner from New Zealand

(Clearwisdom.net) Looking back over two years of practicing Falun Dafa, from the many hints and miracles that I experienced before and after learning Falun Dafa, I can see how I was predestined to obtain the Fa.

Months prior to obtaining the Fa I kept getting butterflies in my stomach, the kind that arise from excitement, except there wasn't anything to be excited about. I told my husband that something good was going to happen soon. Sometimes the "butterflies" were accompanied by "hot flashes," but at 55 years old menopause was well and truly over for me.

As time went on I noticed that I was tripping over everything like I had two left feet. I had the feeling that something strange was going on! Then one day, while I was preoccupied carrying shopping bags inside our caravan, my foot caught on a rope tied to the awning. I fell onto the concrete ground and immediately felt pain. I had landed heavily on my left shoulder; I couldn't move or speak for what seemed like ages. Every nerve felt jarred. As the numbness began to wane, thousands of pins and needles worked down my torso. I managed to sit up, as tears streamed down my face.

My husband and I are seasonal workers from New Zealand. We have established a fruit picking circuit in Australia. For the past 14 years we have worked in the tomato fields of a small coastal town in North Queensland. Just two days before I fell, I had been out shopping when I noticed a banner reading "Falun Dafa" fluttering by the roadside opposite a busy shopping center.

I had never heard of Falun Dafa, let alone learned how to say the words properly; however, I returned home unable to shake the feeling that I needed to find out more. I rang a practitioner listed in the local directory, who arranged a meeting to teach me the five exercises. I could hardly wait and told practically everyone I knew, thinking they might want to come and learn, too.

Just after my phone call was when I tripped. My shoulder hurt so badly I couldn't lift my arm. I thought, "That's it...tomato-picking season is over for me." The next day, in spite of the pain, I went to work. I could still pick tomatoes but couldn't lift the buckets. With help I got through the day, but wondered if I could manage the exercises that I had been so looking forward to learning.

Six of us turned out that day. The practitioner who met us was sitting under a tree waiting with her young son in a carriage. I immediately noticed that her eyes sparkled and her face glowed with an inner beauty she was obviously totally unaware of. Instinctively, I knew that she had something special. I persevered with the pain, enjoying the gentle flowing movements and the accompanying music. The practitioner sent me home with truth-clarifying materials and a copy of Falun Gong.

That evening I read till my eyes hurt and went to sleep knowing that my 30-year search for the truth had ended. I felt that I had come home to myself.

Then, in the early hours, I was awakened by deep pain ripping through my torso. I couldn't believe it. I was experiencing the exact same pain as when I had tripped just a couple of days before. There was nothing I could do but endure the pain for what seemed like ages. But the next morning, I felt I had been touched by a miracle. I could lift my arm and even push the caravan door shut. What's more, at work that day I picked buckets quicker and covered more ground than I had in a long time, and I wasn't tired. By the end of the day, the pain in my shoulder and arm had completely disappeared. I think that if it were not for the fall, Falun Dafa may not have affected me so profoundly.

Many more miracles continue to this day.

After the tomato-picking season, my family always travels south to pick pears, working long hours, often from dark to dark. I used to light up a cigarette after each bin, which took about three-quarters of an hour to fill. Every day I would listen to Masters' lectures and ponder the chapter referring to smoking. Sitting behind the tractor, I sent out a thought, "Master, I can't quit without your help. I'm too weak, and I've tried willpower before." Just then, a puff of dirty smoke burst from the old tractor's exhaust pipe. In that instant and in slow motion, the smoke from my mouth simultaneously matched the different shades of smoke blowing out of the tractor. Years of build-up caked the inside of that pipe and I was revolted by the thought of black tar caking my insides. I threw that cigarette down and have never smoked another. This is after some 40 years of smoking 20-plus cigarettes a day. I also gave up drinking alcohol, which went hand in hand with another bad attachment I soon dumped...gambling on the poker machines.

Many more attachments keep raising their ugly heads and are equally horrifying, but I know Master is always there to help me through. I just need to have confidence in the fact that in a past life I agreed to help Master with Fa-rectification. What a grand honor!

In closing, may I take this opportunity to say thank you to Master for transforming my life.