(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997, and have since conducted myself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I strive to put others before myself, and in turn I have been healthy and gained peace of mind. Even my coworker, Xiaoli, has benefited from the practice.
Xiaoli and I worked at a government-owned hotel in the Northeast region of China. She was a housekeeping team leader, and I was cashier at the front desk. She did not know anything about Falun Dafa at first, but after learning about the practice and seeing my interactions with others, she became supportive and often spoke up for Dafa. As a result, she has received many blessings.
Honest Money
Since we were in the service industry, we hosted all types of guests. I worked hard and did not complain no matter what my tasks were. So the managers trusted me and let me handle the cashier's job.
There were times when some guests did not request receipts. What's more, if I did not write a receipt, it would not show up in the accounts received column in the finances book. One could potentially keep the money for himself instead. Because I practice Falun Dafa, I knew that it was wrong to keep that money, so when a guest did not want a receipt, I still wrote one anyway, just for record keeping.
After the persecution of Falun Dafa started in July 1999, I wanted to prove with my actions that Dafa was an upright practice. So I collected together six weeks of unclaimed receipts, which totaled 5,500 yuan, to prove that Dafa practitioners are truly honest. That was a large sum of money even for a salaried worker. Xiaoli and my other coworkers saw that.
Setting the Precedent
Xiaoli said that if one day she owned her business, she wanted me to manage the money. She said that she would not even trust her own sisters as much as me, and that Falun Dafa practitioners had good moral values. In fact, her own values and moral character gradually changed after working with me for a period of time.
For example, Xiaoli bought a pair of socks from a street vendor and stuffed the change in her pocket. Upon returning home, she found that the vendor had given her five yuan too much in change. So Xiaoli went back to look for the vendor, but she was already gone. She later went back three times to find the vendor before she finally saw her. When the vendor found out that Xiaoli had looked for her three times to return the money, she asked if Xiaoli practiced Falun Dafa. Xiaoli said she did not practice, but that her coworker did, and that the coworker taught her to be considerate of others.
Amid Persecution
In response to the persecution, I traveled to Beijing to speak up for Dafa. There were plainclothes police everywhere, and they illegally arrested and detained practitioners who stood up for Dafa. Xiaoli was very sad when she found out I had been detained for 15 days.
We saw each other after I returned home, and she gave me a hug. “The government has banned the practice,” she said. “I think it was a dumb idea to go to Beijing to appeal.”
I told her Dafa was wronged. “I became healthy because of the practice, and you know about my work ethic.”
“We are good friends,” I added. “Say you helped me when I had trouble. What kind of person would I be if I did not help you when you were in trouble? Would you still consider me a friend?” Xiaoli understood the analogy, but thought it was too big of a sacrifice on my part. I have since often talked to Xiaoli about Falun Dafa. She soon recognized more clearly that it was a good practice, and helped me on many occasions.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled the media has broadcast false reports about Falun Dafa. To clear up the false accusations, many practitioners and I distributed truth-clarification materials about Dafa and the persecution in our area. Practitioners risked their lives to bring me truth-clarification materials from another city.
Xiaoli's heart was good during this time. She pretended not to see the materials and even let me take time off to distribute them.
Xiaoli told me one day to be careful because I was being watched. She said she could help me deliver the materials to the practitioner I needed to see. I was very touched by her kindness, and I told her that her good deeds would one day bring her rewards. Very soon, in fact, she was promoted to assistant manager of housekeeping.
At another time, personnel from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) called and ordered my department to take me to the brainwashing center. Xiaoli told the people from PLAC that I did not practice at work, and if I practiced at home, there was nothing the department could do. The committee personnel threatened to charge the department a down payment of 5,000 yuan if they did not send me to the brainwashing center.
My department ignored their order. A few days later, PLAC personnel came to the hotel restaurant, ordered dishes of food, and left without paying. Xiaoli then took the receipt and went to the the PLAC to collect the money.
The committee personnel said that the hotel owed them money, not the other way around, claiming that the hotel had not paid the down payment for employing a Falun Dafa practitioner. Xiaoli countered that the department was not responsible for an employee's behavior outside of work. She added, “Our department is a unit of the government. So why don't you get the money from the government?”
In this way, Xiaoli protected a practitioner and prevented her department from being extorted.
When the CCP broadcast the staged “ Self-immolation on Tiananmen Square,” Xiaoli thought it was factual, and did not understand why practitioners would set fire to themselves. I told her the incident had been staged by the CCP to defame Falun Dafa. She did not believe me at first, so I highlighted some questionable points about the incident, “How could the the little girl, Liu Siying, sing after her trachea had been cut open? Standard medical procedure requires that patients with large burns be placed in an isolated sterile room, but the 'self-immolators' were placed in an open room. The reporters arrived at the scene unusually quickly. Moreover, the surveillance camera at Tiananmen Square covers a fixed area, but on this day the camera followed the police to the scene and zoomed in to focus on the incident. The police patrolling the area were carrying a large number of fire-fighting devices with them. Were they expecting to put out a fire that day?”
Xiaoli remained silent for a while. After some moments, she said it was terrible of CCTV, the government's media, to report a fake story like that. I added that the CCP would go to any extent to deceive kind-hearted people. If Falun Dafa was like what they reported, then I would not practice it.
The Blessings of Staying the Course
Our hotel is a county government establishment. It was restructured in 2004, and everyone was laid-off. The department that took over the hotel sent representatives to inventory the equipment and supplies. Many county officials were present. Xiaoli pointed at a pile of washbowls and said, “See these washbowls—they were used by an employee who practices Falun Dafa. She is the only one who left them here; everyone else took them home.” No one said a word.
Xiaoli knew what Falun Dafa was about, and she said good things about the practice. Consequently, she and her family obtained many blessings.
After everyone was laid-off, Xiaoli and another person were hired back by the new department that took over.
One time Xiaoli was pouring hot water from a thermos. It inadvertently exploded, and the hot water went all over her feet. She quickly took off her socks, and part of her skin was stuck to the socks. Yet, by noon, the skin was healed, as if nothing had happened. She kept saying that it was an amazing occurrence.
One day thieves broke into her building and robbed her neighbors' homes, but her home was spared. She said that ever since she met me, her life had become smooth and nice.
Xiaoli and her husband are both salaried workers, and they have a son. She let her son attend art classes since he was young. The tuition and the art supplies were very expensive, but she was frugal and spent the savings on her son's art classes. Her husband did not think they could afford such expenses, so they often argued about the issue. Xiaoli borrowed money from others behind her husband's back. She thus accrued debts as the years went by.
Their son did well and got into an arts college. They were happy for him, but worried about the tuition at the same time. Xiaoli then borrowed money from others for the first semester. A few days after school started, her son was hired by the school as an apprentice teacher because of his good grades. The job allowed her son to pay for his tuition, and it even covered some of the expenses at home.
Xiaoli was very happy. She said that ever since she believed in the goodness of Falun Dafa, things had gone well in her life, as if someone had helped her in times of need.
There are many more wonderful stories about Xiaoli. I hope more people in our area will recognize the wonders of Falun Dafa, protect Dafa, and obtain blessings.
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