(Clearwisdom.net) Ursula and Ingeborg, two ladies from Switzerland, have never dreamed of talking about their own stories in front of nearly a thousand people. They were nervous just at the thought of making a speech. However, at the European Falun Gong Experience Sharing Conference in April 2006, they happily opened their hearts and shared their six years of experience cultivating Falun Gong with nearly a thousand people.
Ursula and Ingeborg in Lucerne, Switzerland
The story of their car tour to deliver Falun Gong information in the Berne plateau and Wohlen mountainous region moved many people. How did they start their cultivation in Falun Gong? What motivated them to cover such a large area delivering Falun Gong information? With much curiosity I interviewed them and found more stories.
I finally found itThey started practicing Falun Gong in 2000. Fifty-seven year old Ursula and sixty-five year old Ingeborg both suffered greatly with various illnesses. Ursula's enteritis was serious. Her doctor told her that she must undergo surgery to remove part of her intestinal canal because the situation was really bad. She tried many ways, including Taichi, Yoga and various qigongs from Asia, but with little effect. Before her cultivation, Ingeborg was once hospitalized for seven years. The constant sufferings from illnesses and looking after her paralysed daughter all the time made Ingeborg very depressed and anxious.
In 1999, Ingeborg learned from her colleague that the teachings of Falun Gong could be freely downloaded from the Internet, but she had no access to the Internet and she didn't know how to download. In 2000, her nephew helped her print out book Falun Gong. In the course of reading the book, Ingeborg suddenly realized this was exactly what she had been looking for.
Ursula lives in the same village as Ingeborg. They started to practice Falun Gong together. After a short time, their illnesses were cured. They regained their physical health and experienced significant changes in their spiritual well being. Ursula realized that before Falun Gong she always looked at others in an unfriendly way. After she started practising Falun Gong, the situation became better every day. Ingeborg sensed that her appearance also changed, feeling younger and younger. The most noticeable change was that she got rid of her anxiety and depression; the atmosphere at her home became very peaceful and happy. They have no doubt that they will continue to practice Falun Gong.
Must let more people know the truth about the persecution of Falun GongNot long after they started practicing Falun Gong, they attended the one-day long Swiss Falun Gong experience sharing conference in Geneva. The film "The Real Story of Falun Gong" screened at the end of the conference gave Ursula a very deep impression. The movie had scenes of some Falun Gong practitioners being beaten up by the Chinese police while holding banners on Tiananmen Square, as well as photos of Falun Gong practitioners taken after being tortured by the Chinese Communist regime.
Ursula and Ingeborg decided to tell people around them the truth of the brutal persecution suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in China. Later, the area they covered to spread the truth became wider and wider. From the village they live to the whole Berne plateau, to the mountainous Wohlen area 2,000 meters above sea level.
Ursula works in a restaurant, so her days off are not fixed. On Ursula's day off, the two ladies drive Ursula's car loaded with materials about Falun Gong across the mountainous region to deliver them to people. Their journey stretches further and further each week. Sometimes they have to drive a long time to see a household. Sometimes because of the high mountain and the narrow road, their car loaded with more than 2000 copies of Falun Gong newspapers was unable to move forward. In order to move forward, they had to unload the newspapers and put them somewhere. But regardless the difficulties, they have never stopped because they know that for the people living in the remote mountainous area, this may be their only chance to learn about the persecution in China and to help make it stop. They want to do something to help their fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China who just want to practice Falun Gong like them, but are being tortured. Letting more people know the truth about Falun Gong and collecting signatures to support the counter-persecution efforts is what they can do outside China.
Getting ready to clarify the truthAside from delivering Falun Gong newspapers and telling the truth of Falun Gong to people, they also held Falun Gong information days in many places. Every time they organize an information day, their car is loaded fully with various materials. They prepare many display boards, with some in Chinese. They make them all themselves.
Ursula remembered the first time she used a computer. She never used computer before. But for the convenience of communicating with other practitioners, she asked a practitioner to help her buy a computer and set it up. The day after the computer was delivered to her home, she was very nervous and didn't want to go home because the computer to her was like a big monster. However she is now very good at operating the computer. She also bought two printers and other facilities. When I expressed my surprise at her skilled operation of two printers, she told me in smiles: "I have the whole information database here." All information they used in their display boards are printed out from these printers, including the photos and explanation of the Chinese Communist regime's self-directed act of "the Tiananmen self-immolation incident", the demonstration chart of the torture methods used by the regime against Falun Gong practitioners in China and the introduction to the booklet the Nine Commentaries on Communist Party which helps people to learn the evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party, and many other materials in various languages.
The cloth bags in different sizes that protect the display boards are also made by Ursula and Ingeborg. They also made many eye-catching banners and designed and made many supporting frames that are easily disassembled, assembled and carried around. Every small part has symbols so that it can be quickly assembled next time. Leaflets in various languages are arranged in alphabetical order in a box so it is very quick and easy to search for information.
Each time I help to set up an information table with them or to put back materials at the end of the activity, I felt this is a well-organised project. The materials are sorted in different groups and stored in travel bags of various sizes. Display boards and supporting frames are stored in cloth bags. The tent and small components are stored in cloth sacks. The table is loaded into the car first, followed by such and such things. When the loading is finished, the entire car is filled aside from the driver seat and the passenger seat beside the driving seat. Ingeborg told me that she is used to sit in the crowded seat for a few hours with a few small bags in the leg space. They are very used to the situation.
Helping to save precious Chinese peopleNobody tells them to do these things. From their hearts they want to do something to help Falun Gong practitioners in China who are being persecuted and to help people to see through the Chinese Communist regime's lies.
After starting practicing Falun Gong, they wanted to meet Chinese people and hoped to give them some truth-clarification material, letting them know the facts that are hard to know in China. They felt that they formed a closer connect with China.
Ingeborg's grandmother has a Chinese friend. Every year this Chinese friend would come to visit them. To Ingeborg, China is not so strange. "But that is only private contact." Ingeborg told me: "After practicing Falun Gong, we made more contacts with Chinese people. This is not private contact. It is concern from our heart."
Since 2002, every year Ursula visits Hong Kong during her three-week vacation. She practices the exercises at Falun Gong sites set up at Hong Kong tourist sites. Many people are surprised to see Western people practising Falun Gong. Ursula hopes that through her Western face she can tell the tourists from Mainland China that Falun Gong has spread to over eighty countries and regions. There are many Western practitioners like her. She told me: "When I see these Chinese tourists, I have a feeling that I seem to know them."
She has witnessed changes in many Chinese people. "The first time I went to Hong Kong, I often practiced Falun Gong at one Falun Gong information site. Many Chinese tourists spit and yelled at me. Some people even tried to kick me and were quite violent. But since then, the Chinese tourists are changing. They have never again treated me violently. It can be seen that in China more and more people learned the truth about Falun Gong. The Chinese tourists start to take more materials from us, though sometimes the tour guide would rush them away. An old lady told me: "I don't need your truth materials any more. I have eyes, and I already see everything and understood the situation in my ten minutes stay here." Some tourists, after getting off the bus, told me arrogantly: "Your information is not real." But after I talked with them, and after seeing all the photos and display information and the movies exposing the persecution as well as the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, some of them started to change, even with tears in their eyes."
There are many such examples. The Falun Gong exercise demonstration, telling people the truth and sending forth righteous thought truly changed Chinese people who have been poisoned by the lies and fabrications of Chinese Communist regime. Ingeborg also had similar encounters. One experience gave her a very deep impression. There was a Chinese couple from Mainland China. The wife wanted to accept the truth material given by Ingeborg. The husband got very angry and ripped up the material. The gentleman was very upset all the times. Ingeborg called Ursula and she started to practice the exercises while Ingeborg started to send forth righteous thoughts. The gentleman suddenly became calm. When they returned to the bus, the gentleman accepted our materials. "I cannot use words to describe my emotion from this experience. But the changes in Chinese people are very obvious." Ingeborg said.
Harmony in the homeIngeborg told me that her home environment became very harmonious since she started practicing Falun Gong. Her paralyzed daughter needs attention all the time. When she and Ursula go out for various activities or deliver materials to mountainous regions, and if they cannot return home the same day, her husband would look after their daughter. Her husband never complained. He is very supportive to Ingeborg. Her husband also helps her to prepare Falun Gong materials. Ingeborg once showed me her special multi-function shoes and told me that her husband specially purchased this for her so that she could walk easily in the snow and would not fall down when climbing the mountain.
Soon after Ursula started practicing Falun Gong, she started to work in a restaurant. For some unknown reason, her boss always became short tempered at the sight of her and became very picky. Working conditions were poor. Ursula thought of changing work. But she also realized that to her this may be a better cultivation environment and she could find more of her attachments and shortcomings. In the course of cultivation Ursula found that she gradually changed her arrogant and unfriendly attitude. Colleagues around her also started to change. The working environment became more and more harmonious.
Listening to Ursula's pure laughter and looking at Ingeborg's innocent smiling face, I could not believe that they are about sixty years old. Just like Ingeborg said, they become younger and younger. This is all because they practice Falun Gong. Not only do they have physical health, their minds are greatly relieved and liberated. Being considerate to others not only brings peace and happiness to their own life, it moves many people.
There are more stories about Ursula and Ingeborg. In fact, similar stories happen for all Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners around the world follow the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" in their lives. In the conflicts, they try to see their own shortcomings. They also use various ways to tell people the truth about Falun Gong and appeal to people to help end the persecution in China.
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