On October 12, 1996, Master Li gave his very first North American Fa lecture in Houston, Texas . The mayor of Houston at that time declared October 12 "Li Hongzhi Day" in the city. Since then, every year around this day, Houston practitioners hold an experience sharing conference. This year the conference took place on Sunday, October 15, 2000, at the Houston Chinese Culture Institute. Some 60 practitioners from Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Arlington were in attendance.

The opening speech for the celebration began, "Today we are here together. We dearly miss our Teacher. It's he who gives us the chance to practice cultivation, who re-creates our lives in Dafa, who has mercy on us and takes care of us every moment. We are concerned about fellow practitioners in Mainland China. After more than one year of bloody suppression, they are still firm in validating Dafa with their lives. As Master Li says, "The mighty virtue is majestic and everlasting. Those disciples who have passed the comprehensive and most rigorous tests have laid a rock-solid foundation for Dafa in this world, have displayed in the human world the true manifestation of Dafa, and at the same time have consummated their own most majestic positions." Thus, we salute them. We are united as one with them. We shall more actively "validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, and use compassion to spread the Fa and offer people salvation."

Then practitioners studied the most recent scriptures published by Master Li as well as other Minghui articles, such as the news that China's president Jiang Zemin is going to escalate persecution of Falun Gong. After that, new and veteran Chinese and Western practitioners took the floor and presented their cultivation and Fa-promoting experiences.

Angelica, a new practitioner, talked about her journey in attaining the Fa (Law and Principles of the universe) and the improvements in her mind and body. At the end of her presentation, she concluded that, "Feeling connected to the other people, I went to the Chinese Consulate in Houston with other practitioners to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong. I felt extremely honored and good to be in solidarity with people across the world who practice Falun Gong. In doing the exercises it is great to know that I am not alone in doing them and that the energy that I feel running through me also runs through many other people. This is a peaceful Dafa."

Meanwhile San Antonio practitioners, who were spreading Dafa to tourists at the Alamo, sent in a report of their Fa-promoting and practicing experiences. They mentioned the mutual benefits of going to one small town after another in Texas every weekend and introducing Dafa to the nice people there. By doing Fa-spreading, they encounter opportunities to raise their own xinxing (heart and mind nature), as well as occasions to pass or fail the tests for a genuine practitioner. All the participants understood that we should cherish this rare critical moment while Fa is being rectified in the human realm. Exposing to the world the sins of Jiang Zemin and his followers' cruel persecution of Falun Gong is meaningfully assisting our Teacher in the process of Fa rectification, offering people salvation, and cherishing this special era of cultivation practice.

The last session of the conference was for group discussion. Also, some practitioners got together for rehearsal of the Falun Gong exercise show to be presented next week in the Clear Lake /NASA area. This experience sharing conference was concluded with a benevolent and harmonious atmosphere. Through this meeting, each practitioner found out his/her own shortcomings and how to improve them. We realized that stepping forward to clarify the truth to people in the world is closely united with holistic improvement and holistic upgrade of the practitioners. This is the most important task in assisting the Teacher and in cultivation practice during Fa rectification.

Falun Dafa Practitioners in Texas

Oct. 15, 2000