(Clearwisdom.net) I practice Dafa in a rural, conservative and strongly Christian area of the western United States. Our local center's truth clarification efforts often center on teaching people to fold paper lotus flowers at craft fairs, street fairs and the like. We have found through experience that this will draw many people to our booth. The little lotuses with bookmarks are so pretty that they just draw people into the booth, then more people come in to see what is happening. Many children come to the booth with their parents. We talk about Dafa and the persecution as we teach them the folding, and we give each person a packet of information as they leave. Even when we are very busy and it is hard to talk a lot, they all go away with literature.
The children are very receptive to the story about the little girl whose father, a Dafa practitioner, was persecuted to death, and the mother's decision to turn the bad situation into something good by keeping a pure heart like a lotus flower, and sharing her story with people around the world. They ask questions about why the government would persecute people, and often can draw on what they know about the persecution of Christians when it is explained to them. They are also very receptive to the concepts of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and how it plays out in their own lives.
Some children are so strongly predestined that even as little toddlers who can barely talk, they are insistent that they be able to take part in the folding. They cling to the practitioners and try to get into their laps, run away from their parents and come back to the booth, etc. We have had very small children who stayed at the booth for over an hour, standing by the practitioners, until they are unwillingly led away by their parents. The Dafa field attracts these little ones so strongly.
Because we set up our table at multiple events throughout the year, many children come back the next year, and make lotus flowers for friends and family. Each time they take more literature to give to others, so they act as little truth-clarification messengers, to get the truth into the hands of more and more people who would not otherwise learn the facts.
We prepare literature packets before the event, and we have a packet for the children, including information about the Petals of Peace project, which tells about the father of a little girl being persecuted to death in China, general information about the persecution, a nice bookmark, and information about Dafa and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. For their parents we have a packet which explains the persecution in greater depth, as well as more information about Falun Dafa, how to learn the exercises, more resources, etc.
Sometimes when there are not many people folding lotuses at the booth, one of the practitioners can talk seriously and at length to the parents. People are so surprised to hear about the persecution and cannot believe that a government would do such a thing to its own people. We give them more literature to read that explains the organ harvesting and more about the nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We have found that many people are very interested and glad to receive the information. When the conversation turns to the poisonous and dangerous products that are made in China, it is easy to turn topic to the forced labor camps and tell them more about the persecution of good people by the CCP.
While handing out literature at parades, I have noticed that children are among those most eager for the literature, even knowing that it's not candy but printed material. Sometimes when there have been groups of children along the parade route, there is not time to give something to all of them, and the look of incredible disappointment on the faces of those who are left out has been so sorrowful that I have gone back. It's obvious that these small people have come to this parade this day to get what they came to earth to obtain, and I can't not give it to them.
As we concentrate on our events that explain the facts of the persecution to adults, we leave out the small people too often, I believe. The children who have come to earth for Dafa need to be recognized and included too. Many of them have strong predestination, many of them are the practitioners of the future, many of them help us to spread the truth about Dafa and the persecution. We, as practitioners, should never underestimate the power of these smaller people, children, and their predestination to receive our information about Dafa and the persecution.
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Category: Parades & Other Community Events
