On Sunday morning, June 18 in Chicago, about 75 practitioners gathered for an English-language-only meeting. Practitioners originally from at least four continents (Asia, Europe, North and South America) gathered around tables in a restaurant in Chinatown. The purpose was to help build the community of Western practitioners and to discuss and exchange ideas on sharing Dafa with Westerners, particularly Americans.
More than half of the participants were Westerners, and everyone spoke only English. Two American practitioners coordinated the activities, which proceeded in a lively and genuine American cultural style.
Each table, with about nine practitioners each, held its own discussion on the topic of "How can we, as practitioners, help bridge the cultural gap between this practice, which originated in China, and people in our local communities?"
Following the small-group discussions, the larger group reconvened, and one person from each table stood up to read his or her group's list of suggestions and ideas. They were written on a whiteboard for all to see. Several suggestions and ideas were mentioned independently by multiple groups. The top suggestion: "Cultivate ourselves at all times."
All too soon, the large group ran out of time to discuss this issue and others, but by general acclaim, the format and the information were agreed to be useful. So that the discussion results will not be lost, a summary of the points on the whiteboard is being e-mailed to all participants.
Participants hope to have more, bigger, longer, and livelier such meetings in the future!
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