We had our first Experience Sharing Conference in Minnesota on September 22, 2007. It was wonderful to see. Everyone had been planning and working hard here to make it happen. We received a lot of advice from Chicago as they have successfully held conferences and parades for years. Practitioners came from many places to help us reach our goals. Over the years we have experienced great opposition in reaching people in the Twin Cities area. Our goal was for the field in Minnesota to feel the presence of righteous practitioners and create a strong field in which to clarify the truth. Numerous factors came into play, which affected plans for the conference.
You saw in the news all over the U.S about the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis near downtown and the University of Minnesota campus. Fortunately, most of those involved survived. Some were lost and mourned by many. It brought the nation's attention to Minnesota. We needed to speak about the organ harvesting in China, but wanted to do it in a way that was sensitive to the people still struggling with the horror of the collapse and loss of life so recently.
It also became a factor in our process of planning the Experience Sharing Conference. The bridge collapse created major transportation difficulties here in the cities. We had to reroute our parade. Getting people to the conference on the university campus and to and from the airport became a problem to be solved. Getting permits for the parade were in jeopardy until just the week before the parade. The police have been spread very thin with the I-35W issues and traffic reroutes. Two weeks before the parade, the union clerical staff at the university suddenly went on strike. They remained on strike through our event. I was inspired by my fellow practitioners' actions and determination through all of this. They not only continued with all the usual projects each is committed to, but we all put forth great energy and righteous thoughts to carry out these plans. We spent many hours over the last few months sharing our thoughts and understanding. We were not in harmony at the beginning. There were practitioners on both sides of this decision who felt very strongly about the outcome. Each had marshalled their understandings of Teacher's words that supported their decision. Many attachments surfaced and were dealt with and discarded quickly. I noted phenomenal growth in cultivation and maturity among my fellow practitioners, as within myself.
In the past our group has struggled with progress and harmony. Practitioners have always put great effort into overcoming difficulties within the group and this area. Factors here in Minnesota have been strong. I was born and raised here and have always kept a mentality that Minnesota is just a large Mid-western town. We are not after all, a major metropolis and things happen more slowly here. New thoughts and ideas are slow to be accepted. I am here an example of that. Many events and other practitioners have helped me understand that Minnesota is a major hub in the United States. The University of Minnesota has one of the largest populations of Chinese Students in the U.S. Our thoughts have always been to break through the environment here.
The last few years there has been a major push for trade with China. Minnesota's Governor and business executives have worked very hard to make this happen. A China Center for consultation is being built in Minneapolis. China has been busy here, while we put forth great effort for small successes.
We have found supporters among our politicians, but doors have remained closed or cool to our presence. They, too, have been overwhelmed by propaganda, information and pressure from China, in doing business.
The choice to have an Experience Sharing Conference in Minnesota set off a chain of events that carried us into and past many obstacles. There continued to be many difficulties until we came together as one body to make this happen. We committed ourselves to overcoming every obstacle and not allowing negativity to stop us. We have a fair number of active practitioners here in Minnesota with many skills and talents. Many things came together the last few weeks, practitioners were steadfast and determined it would happen. The week of the conference, major storms came through just a day or so before. I heard on the news, that on a street near our parade route, 5 huge ancient trees were pulled out of the ground. Their huge root systems pulled the concrete sidewalks apart as well. One of the trees fell on a house--not the trunk, just the upper branches and nobody was hurt. The others fell across the street. I hoped it would not stop our parade at the last minute.
These are some actions, events and interference encountered during this process. A female practitioner in our group has worked long and hard on VIP work with government and agency officials. In the past, we have never gotten by Governor Pawlenty's secretary for an appointment. This female practitioner and a male practitioner were on the plane to the Washington Fa Conference when they noticed our Governor just a few seats from them. They kept righteous thoughts and approached his party when they landed. They were able to speak with him and give him some literature. After a discussion with friends later, they sent a message about the goodness of the practice of Falun Gong to our governor. I heard the reading of welcome and good wishes from our governor at the conference with pleasure and surprise. Also read were good wishes from Senator Klobuchar and others.
Friday morning I received a call asking me to drive my van. This female practitioner's husband, a non-practitioner, fell riding his bike and broke his wrist bad enough for surgery. The University of Minnesota Law School had invited David Matas from Canada to speak on organ harvesting at 12:15 p.m. His plane was due in around 9 a.m. with an appointment at Sen. Klobuchar's office at 9:30 a.m. I needed to pick up 3 other practitioners at other locations around town and head for the airport. We made the airport, but the flight was delayed in Canada. We kept our thoughts righteous and just took care of business. We contacted the law school. They told us they would cancel the event if he could not arrive in time. They gave us a deadline of 11 a.m. to confirm he would arrive in time. We raced to the Senator's office to find that someone had already rescheduled the appointment for 2:30 p.m., but we had to cancel later in the day. We returned to the airport to wait. The board of arrivals showed arrival at 11:45 and we knew he must come in sooner to make the event. This too, was a first across the United States, for this organ harvesting lecture to be hosted by parties other than practitioners. We decided it was important to keep righteous thoughts and I said that his plane might find a slipstream and get here in time. When we looked at the boards 10 minutes later, we were surprised that his plane would now come in at 11:25 a.m. The law school was called at 11 a.m. to confirm that David Matas would arrive in time. We started circling the arrival lane at 11:30 and it was 11:40 by the time they came running out of the airport and we were off. He made it to the lecture right at 12:15 p.m.
We were concerned that the change of parade route from Nicollet where the businesses were to a residential street a few blocks over would keep people away. We were gratified to see so many come out of their homes and apartments to watch the parade. We gave out a lot of literature and there were no problems.
Practitioners came from many places to support our conference and they really made the parade. I thanked those who came, but they told me, they came because they should come to support us. Indeed this is so, but at first I attended a lot of conferences and in recent years I have not. I thought there would be plenty of practitioners there for the events. Therefore, I justified staying home to continue my projects and save money, which was tight. One practitioner told me she works 3 jobs to keep her house, do her projects and attend all the conferences, because they are very important. I remember, Teacher has always told us about their importance. They are for us to share and enlighten through contact with each other. It is a special environment for us. I have not attended many conferences in the last few years. I will attend more in the future. We should not leave the support of events to just those who always attend. We should attend ourselves and experience these tremendous opportunities for improving ourselves as a whole.
A weekend of firsts happened in Minnesota. Organ harvesting and quit the CCP events were held on the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses of the University of Minnesota. A large parade was held on the streets of Minneapolis to clarify the truth. David Matas gave a lecture at the invitation of the UOM law school.
The First Experience Sharing Conference was successfully held in Minnesota. Greetings were received from our Revered Master. Many difficulties were overcome, and practitioners have matured.