(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong began to spread in Binzhou in 1994, benefiting people both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, soon after the Chinese Communist regime began its official campaign of persecution in July 1999, numerous practitioners were arrested and had their Falun Gong books confiscated. Local officials in Binzhou burned hundreds of Falun Gong books on August 8-9, 1999. A few days later, on August 13, 1999, Binzhou City suffered from the biggest flood in Binzhou history. Some people even wonder if the two events were connected.
The Day of the Flood
It rained that day. While studying the Fa on the second floor of my house at around 6:00 a.m. I heard loud claps of thunder and noticed the flooding. The water was already rushing inside the first floor of my house. I quickly moved a large rock to block the water from coming in, but I immediately realized that if I blocked the water from coming into my house, it would be diverted to the two houses next to ours. Being a Falun Gong practitioner I could not do such a selfish thing.
To prevent the water from flooding my neighbors' houses I didn't block it from entering my house but widened the ditch instead. Immediately after, to my surprise, the water vanished altogether.
My 82-year-old aunt lives with her six sons alongside the Binjiang River. At 9:00 a.m. that morning her first floor was completely flooded. Her sixth son carried her out of their house on a car tire. Immediately afterwards the entire three-floor house collapsed. Her fourth son was still on the second floor when it happened.
The sixth son took my aunt to our house and cried that they had not rescued the fourth son. They were sure he must have died. One hour later the fourth son knocked at our door, "Please open the door for me!" I was stunned to see him standing there and asked, "How is it possible that the collapsing house didn't crush you?" He replied, "I can't remember what happened, but by the time I regained consciousness, I was holding a tree trunk."
We were all relieved that he had escaped unharmed.
About two weeks prior to the flood, while doing the Falun Gong exercises with a group of others on July 22, 1999, someone handed me a note that said, "Falun Gong has been banned. We are surrounded." Opening my eyes I saw us being surrounded by police and video cameras. My first thought was to protect the Falun Gong books. I raced home and told the others to hide their books. I put the big bag of books and some video cassettes into a piece of luggage, carried it to my aunt's house, and put it on top of a cousin's wardrobe. I told my aunt, "These books are my life. Please protect them well, and don't tell anyone about them."
Now that my aunt's house had flooded and collapsed, I believed that the books were gone, too.
The Day After the Flood
The next morning, after the rain stopped and the water receded, helplessly I went to the site by the river where her house used to stand and found only mud. When I looked at the site from a hilly platform nearby, I was shocked. In the debris I saw a wooden club with one end in the ground, and the other poking up about a meter above the ground. The piece of luggage containing the Falun Gong books landed right on the end that poked out, sitting there, safe and sound.
Thrilled and excited, I jumped from the platform and rushed to the spot to take a better look at the luggage. It's magical, it's truly magical! If there were another piece of wood rooted into the ground like this, it would have been impossible for me to even put the heavy luggage onto it.
I wanted to shout so that everyone could come and see the miracle. But, since I definitely didn't want the communist evildoers to know this and have them take the books away, I calmed myself. It's a shame that I couldn't show the miracle to other people. Nevertheless, I did manage to show it to my friends and family who had been evacuated and were staying at our house. The scene of the luggage sitting on top of the wooden club remains deeply engraved in my mind.
Holding the books to my chest, I dashed back home, into the kitchen to dry the books. Yet, once I opened the big bag, I saw that all the books were dry, with only a few drops of water on the edges of some of the books. Staring at the books I cried, "Master!" tears streaming down my cheeks.
In the eleven years of the persecution since then, I have always had Dafa books with me, except during the one year I was in a forced labor camp. I kept books with me even during the days when I was in exile to avoid arrest. I have protected the books well to this day.
Back to the day after the flood eleven years ago, I had the books back and I was delighted. I told my aunt, "Let me go back to your house to see if I can find anything for you. If nothing's left, you can stay with us."
Walking back to the debris I found my aunt's collapsed bed. There I saw another miracle. My aunt's blanket, bed sheets, pillow and clothes were all dry and clean. There was not even a single drop of mud or water on them. Furthermore, her TV set, electric fan, pressure cooker, rice bowls and eating utensils were all together in a large plastic container and an aluminum container.
Seeing that, onlookers commented that a certain God had probably protected our family. It's true. My family was truly protected by the mightiest God of the immense universe.
With happy tears I cried out, "Thank you Master!" Taking the blanket home I called out to my aunt once I stepped in the house, "Come quickly and see that your blanket is still dry. You can use your own blanket tonight." When she saw it, my aunt knelt before Master's portrait. She cried while saying, "Master, thank you very much!"
As we began to clean the house my aunt murmured to herself, "It would be nice if we could find my wallet." I told my young niece Lanlan to go and see if she could find it. A few minutes later Lanlan returned, shouting, "Grandma, I found your wallet!" Opening the wallet I saw my aunt's 400 yuan, still clean. My aunt walked to the Dafa books with the wallet. She knelt again and kowtowed before Master's picture crying, "Master, thank you very much indeed."
The flood-stricken house was full of mud. As we began to clean we found all of our water pipes were blocked by mud. How could we clean the house without clean water? At that moment I noticed a stream of water flowing in the first floor bathroom. The water was very clean. It even tasted pure and sweet.
Once again I shouted happily, "We have water! We have water in our house!" The natural spring provided us with a week-long supply of water and disappeared once the tap water was restored.
Others Hear the Story
A while later I visited my friend Zhou at her house. Zhou is the political head of a bank. Her son told me that he worked at a detention center and was in charge of captured Falun Gong practitioners. I told her son not to participate in the persecution and also told him that he should not believe in the propaganda aired on TV. I told them further what had happened to my family when the flood hit. Zhou shook her head, "No, it's impossible. The flood even carried away the bank's metal gate and the heavy bank safe." I said to her that everything I told her was true. She said that she would not believe me unless she saw it with her own eyes.
Once at my house, seeing my aunt's belongings - her old-fashioned quilt and bed sheets - those that only the elders use, and that she knew I would not have used, left Zhou no choice but to believe what I said. She now knew that we had recovered these items from the debris and that what I told her was completely true. Giving the thumbs-up gesture she complimented, "Your Master is a real God. You work hard. I'll tell my son not to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong."
I have experienced many other miracles in the more than ten years since I first started to practice Falun Gong. Master is protecting me every second. I know that Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good, and Master is good! Not only have I benefited from the practice of Falun Gong, but so have my family and friends who are close to me.
I sincerely hope that my family and friends, including those I have not yet met, learn the truth of Falun Gong, and benefit from Falun Gong. When natural disasters strike and human tribulations come, Gods and Buddhas might also protect these people and let them survive a catastrophe unharmed.