(Clearwisdom.net) The Filipino Center of Toronto in Canada held a celebration activity to observe the Philippine Independence Day at 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on June 9, 2007 at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Over 20 local Filipino groups attended. The Lotus Art Troupe and the Divine Land Marching Band composed of Falun Gong practitioners were invited to perform at the celebration. The organizers praised them and the audience gave them a warm welcome.

The Organizers Praise Falun Gong

Chairman of the Filipino Center of Toronto Rosalina said at the opening speech that they were honored to invite Falun Gong's Divine Land Marching Band and the Lotus Art Troupe from the Chinese community. Falun Gong values Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and the practitioners came to support their activity, they appreciated such a dedication.

Rosalina later told the reporter that there were 23 groups attending the celebration activity, the number of people who came in succession to attend to the celebration reached over 4,000. The performances of the Divine Land Marching Band and the Lotus Art Troupe were excellent.

General manager of the Filipino Center of Toronto Victoria Santiago told the reporter that they started inviting the Divine Land Marching Band since the year before, and the band's performance was marvelous. He hoped to be able to invite them to come next year.

People Learn to Practice Falun Gong on the Spot

Falun Gong practitioners set up a stand to provide information about Falun Gong and a voluntary teaching site at the scene. A Filipino mother and son came to the stand to learn the exercises. Practitioner Jenny taught them to practice the five Falun Gong exercises. Just after finishing learning the first exercise, the lady said that she felt very comfortable. After learning all five exercises, she repeatedly said "I'm really very comfortable!"

Jenny told her, "Practicing Falun Gong is conducive to one's physical and mental wellbeing. I'm 72 years old, and I become so energetic because I practice Falun Gong. The lady was very surprised, "You are 72 years old? You look like you're in your 40s." Then she took down all the information about the Falun Gong website and practice site. Before leaving, she said, "This practice is so good, I will definitely go on practicing it."

Then a Filipino mother and daughter came, after listening to the introduction of Falun Gong on the stage, they decided to come to learn Falun Gong. They learned the five sets of the exercises on the spot and said to the practitioners, "Thank you for bringing us such a good practice. I'll find you at practice site."

A group of tourists from France came to the practice site to take photos of the practitioners doing the exercises. A practitioner speaking French introduced to them the widespread of Falun Gong around the world. The tourists showed great interest. A man immediate sat down to learn the fifth exercise.

People Expect to Learn about the Truth

Practitioner Ms. Zhang, who was distributing Falun Gong truth clarification materials, told the reporter that there were many people who took materials, and many of them gave them a thumbs-up gesture and said "Falun Dafa is Good!" while taking the materials.

Ms. Zhang met five middle-aged people who were sitting together. She gave the only two truth clarification VCDs at hand to two of them, three others also asked for the VCD. Ms. Zhang then went to find two more VCDs for two persons, but the fifth person insisted on getting one as well.

Ms. Zhang said, "I went to information site and eventually found one VCD for him, then they asked me how much they should pay for the VCD. When I told them the VCDs are free of charge, they were very pleased and thanked me. I then taught them to read in Chinese 'Falun Dafa is Good' and 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is Good.' They read it out loud and others also read out loud after them."