(Clearwisdom.net) With the completion of the annual Slovakian nationwide summer tour to introduce Falun Dafa and expose the persecution of the practice in China, I have returned to my home sunburned. Many episodes from the tour still vividly linger in my mind.
This year the team members were primarily local practitioners, as opposed to the situation in the past several years in which many practitioners from Czech joined us, since Slovak practitioners were so few. But we had a big local team this year.
Setting out from Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, situated on the southwest border, our team crossed the territory of Slovakia and traveled over 300 kilometers (186 miles). Over eight days we introduced Falun Dafa in seven cities, and we finally arrived at a city adjacent to the northeast border with Poland.
It was the first time for some practitioners from colleges and high schools to participate in the tour. The youngest was a new practitioner, Lukas, 16, in his first year of senior high school. Although he has been practicing Falun Gong for only a few months, he seems like a veteran practitioner. Amazed by the fact that he is so young and yet has a very deep understanding of Falun Gong, I asked him how he found out about the practice. He replied that he learned Falun Gong from the Internet. I agreed that there is a tremendous amount of information on the Internet. He said that he was interested in practicing qigong and had learned other kinds of qigong in the past. He then read some articles relating to the introduction of Falun Gong. I continued, "So you thought that Falun Gong was very good." He said, "Falun Gong is the best. Changing people’s character is what is most difficult to achieve, and only a righteous practice can really change people’s character. Nowadays, ordinary human society is in chaos, so I think practicing Falun Dafa is the only righteous way to deal with the problems." He also introduced Falun Gong to his mother. During our tour, his mother also attended a free teaching seminar, and learned all of the five sets of exercises.
Dr. Sonia is a manager in a legal department of a Slovakian government agency. She came across our touring team in her hometown. She said that she already knew about Falun Gong and had read the main text of Falun Dafa, Zhuan Falun. Because she thought Falun Gong was very good, she wanted to be a Falun Gong practitioner, and she participated in our activities right away. Regardless of the blazing sun and scorching hot ground, she joined us in distributing fliers during the entire day. She also used her own money to buy materials to make many folded paper flowers and distributed them to passersby.
In a small city adjacent to the border with Poland, I bumped into a Chinese lady. As soon as I started to talk to her, I found that she had been deeply deceived by the propaganda fabricated by the Chinese Communist regime. She firmly believed the lies of the Chinese Communist regime. When talking about Falun Gong and Master Li, she used the same slanted terminology as the Chinese regime, and didn’t want to listen to my explanation whatsoever. When we saw her walk past us with three boxes of various medicines she had just bought, I realized that this was an ideal opportunity. I talked to her again. I first talked about healing and fitness and it did arouse her interest to talk to me. She shared something about her poor health, "I don’t wish for good health, but I just wish I had fewer sicknesses." She also mentioned to me something about her miserable life, "I have had many ideals and dreams in my life, but none of them have been realized." She also complained to me that her interpersonal relationships in society were difficult to deal with, "My mind is always filled with all kinds of absurd illusions and nuisances." Moreover, she mentioned many other problems and worries. Our conversation naturally returned to the topic of Falun Gong, Master Li, the lies fabricated by the Chinese Communist regime, and the persecution. This time she didn’t reject them. Instead, she accepted all the truth clarification materials and repeatedly said, "Let me read these first. I’ll read them, and I’ll visit the websites." Eventually she agreed to give up her prejudiced views and expressed a desire to understand Falun Gong from the beginning. When she was about to leave, she said that she hoped to have the opportunity to meet again.
On one occasion I handed a flier regarding the Chinese Communist regime’s atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners to an older Slovakian man who hastily passed us. He repeatedly said, "I know about this incident." I asked, "Do you believe it?" He replied, "Of course. I know that the Chinese Communist regime has been harvesting organs from criminals on death row for many years." He folded the flyer, and it into his pocket, and said, "I’ll read it with my glasses after getting home."
At a tourist attraction, we happened to meet an elderly lady who had come from Western Europe to sightsee. After I introduced Falun Gong to her with my awkward English, she said, "I know everything about Falun Gong. I once wrote a letter to the head of China to call on him to stop the persecution. I am a Catholic. In China Catholics are also persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime.
Our tour this year attracted the media’s attention. Almost all the local media covered our activities, and they were much more enthusiastic than ever before.
On July 14, 2006, when we practitioners held activities in Bratislava, Slovakia’s largest television station, Slovak Television (STV), reported on the Chinese Communist regime’s harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in China. In its news program, a host quoted the three witnesses who stepped forward last March to expose the atrocity as saying, "There have been at least thirty six concentration camps established by the Chinese Communist regime, and the organs of Falun Gong practitioners and dissidents there were harvested for transplant purposes without their consent." The report also quoted the comments made by Vice President of the European Parliament Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott, "According to Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, this act (persecution of Falun Gong) is genocide."
On August 10, 2006, Lubovna News also reported on the series of activities held in various cities in Slovakia other than the capital during the Falun Gong tour. It also reported on the ongoing cruel persecution against practitioners in China.
During the tour, every one of us gained a lot of experience and learned a great deal. These are only a few of the stories from experiences during the tour. Through these episodes I hope to show how people came to understand the truth during the process of our tour, how the Slovakian people and the Chinese people living there changed their mentalities, and how the lies fabricated by the Chinese Communist regime were exposed. The tour also helped us realize the importance of clarifying the facts about Falun Gong to people.
Source http://clearharmony.net/articles/200609/35224.html