(Clearwisdom.net) Erjie is my fellow practitioner, Rongrong's, sister. Erjie's mother has five daughters. The first child died in her thirties. Erjie is the second child. She got married and lived in a small village miles away from her mother's home. Her husband's family have been farmers for generations. They live in a mountainous district. When Falun Dafa reached this mountainous area, Erjie's mother and her four siblings all began to practice.

It was the Spring of 2007 when Rongrong and I went to Erjie's home to talk about cultivation. Erjie looks like she is 45 or 46, but is actually 60 years old.

Erjie said she first had difficulty with cultivation because she was illiterate, having only attended school for two years. Later on she forgot all that she had learned at school. She was the only one who practiced Falun Gong among the several nearby villages and had no one around to ask about it.

In the beginning, she asked her husband for help, but he did not support her practicing Falun Gong and did not want to help, so she asked her children. She would draw a picture based on the meaning of the word that she read in order to remember it. Her hard work paid off, as now she can not only read Zhuan Falun, but also Master's articles.

The second difficulty was interference from her husband. Before July 20, 1999, her husband would let things go even though he was not supportive, but after the persecution of Falun Gong started, he was very afraid. He would beat and curse at her after seeing her practicing Falun Gong.

In order to avoid trouble with her husband, she went to a cold room to practice without letting her husband know. Her fingers were frozen when doing the second exercise, but her husband still beat and cursed at her when he found out. If he saw her studying the Fa, he would turn off the lights. If she turned them back on, he would turn off the circuit breaker.

Later, Erjie found a way. She wrote down Hong Yin on her arms and memorized it while working. She finished memorizing Hong Yin just like that. When her husband turned off the lights, she would recite Hong Yin in her mind. One day she thought, "I should not do it secretly any more; I should have righteous thoughts." Therefore she recited Hong Yin in a loud voice. It was strange, as her husband could not stay there any more after hearing this, and left. Erjie knew the evil that was controlling him was afraid.

One time she asked her husband, "Why did you leave once I started reciting the Fa?" Her husband replied, "I don't know. I became very anxious when you started. I had to go. From now on I won't stop your Fa study and I won't turn off the lights. You can study the Fa and do the exercises when you want. Don't go to the cold room to do exercises any more."

The third difficulty was getting out to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. In the beginning her husband would stop her every time. Sometimes he swore at her loudly. Erjie had to coax her husband in the beginning and told him she was going out shopping.

Erjie told us, "One day I had the thought that going out to clarify the truth and saving people is the most righteous thing. I could not compromise like that. I needed to have a breakthrough. In those days I would go out more often if he tried to stop me. I went out every day continually. Finally he compromised and said, 'I won't bother you any more. You just need to be careful. Don’t let the police arrest you.' I said, 'Master and the Fa will take care of me. No one dares to arrest me!' I will come back safely every time. He believed me and did not stop me any more.”

She continued, "One time I clarified the truth about Falun Gong to my son at home and he tried to stop me. I said seriously, 'Do not stop me. It's like if someone fell into the water and I tried to pull him out. Stopping me is like pushing him in even further. It's like I am saving people and you are harming people. You are doing bad things that are not good for you.' Since then he would not stop me any more. I knew that my righteous thoughts and my pure heart for his own good made him understand."

Erjie cares about every one of the four or five thousand people in the mountain villages. She thought about how to make them understand the truth about Falun Gong and how to save them. Starting with her fourth sister, Erjie handed out truth clarification materials in 2003, and hasn't ever stopped clarifying the truth. Later she helped persuade people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

Erjie said she has been to all of the villages, some several times. There aren't many people in those villages who have not heard truth clarification from her.

One time Erjie went out to clarify the truth. She climbed the mountains and went to a small village over 9 miles away. Seeing that it was getting late and would soon rain, she thought that she could not return home that day, but didn't know where she could stay. Sometime later, Erjie entered a yard. Seeing an elderly woman sleeping in a room, she entered the room and put down a truth clarification poster on the bed and left the room. She then heard, "Please come in." Erjie said, "Ma'am, I won't come in as I do not want to disturb your sleep." The elderly lady said, "It's no problem, please come in. I want to talk to you."

Erjie entered the room and clarified the truth to the elderly lady. The lady said, "My husband read your fliers before and we all know that Falun Gong is good."

Erjie told us, "We learned that we were relatives during the conversation. She was very happy and wouldn't allow me to leave. She even cooked a meal for me, so I stayed. Since then I stay at her home when I go to the surrounding villages to clarify the truth. It solved my lodging and eating problems. The old couple not only understand the truth about Falun Gong, but also agrees with the principles of Dafa. They often listen to me when I read the Fa. Now they practice too and have become my fellow practitioners. Master has arranged everything very well for me!"

Dafa Practitioners Are the Hope of Sentient Beings

Erjie has been through many difficulties these years. Every time she encounters hardship, she advances forward no matter how hard it is, remembering Master's “Tempering the Will” from Hong Yin:

To consummate yourself, reaping Buddhahood,
Let joy be found in hardship.
Physical pains count little as suffering,
Indeed, cultivating mind is hardest.
Each and every barrier must be broken through,
And everywhere does evil lurk.
Abundant troubles rain down together,
All to see: Can you pull through?
The world’s miseries endured,
One departs the earth a Buddha.

Erjie told us, "At the beginning of clarifying the truth, it's hard to go through the xinxing tests, but physical hardship is also not easy. We live in the mountains and sometimes the bushes are as tall as a person. You do not know whether you can get out after you enter. Sometimes I cannot find the way. I am a woman and had never walked mountain roads. I was afraid in the beginning. Every time that I was afraid, I reminded myself: 'You are a Falun Dafa practitioner. What you are afraid of?' I won't be afraid when I think this way. Walking through the mountain roads also helped me build up a strong physical body. I often climb up hills and run down hills easily. From the beginning I've always handed out the truth clarification materials face to face. I do not know how to write, so people write down their own names to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. They will ask others to help if they do not know how to write and they all use their real names. Sometimes over twenty people quit per day. Sometimes three or five people quit per day. I don't remember how many people I've helped quit the CCP."

After dinner, Erjie took several pieces of paper from a small box and handed them to me. "This is the list of the people who quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations." She said. I accepted them with both hands. The papers were cigarette wrappings, pages of calendars, and various other kinds of paper. Some wrote, "I quit the CCP", some wrote, "I quit the Young Pioneers," etc. Looking at those pieces paper, tears came to my eyes. It is evidence of those people that Erjie put her heart into to save!

When the sun set, we left that unforgettable yard and said goodbye to Erjie.