(Minghui.org) Many people around the world have found that Falun Gong benefits their health and improves their character. Falun Gong practitioners often participate in local events to introduce Falun Gong to the public and raise awareness of the fact that it is being persecuted by the communist regime in China.
This report covers recent events held in Dallas, U.S.A.; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Helsinki, Finland.
Dallas, Texas: ‘Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Drew My Attention’
Texas practitioners participated in the Home & Garden Show in Fort Worth on February 16-18, 2018, and in Dallas on March 2-4.
Falun Gong practitioners at the Home & Garden Show in Fort Worth
This was the second time Amanda has met Falun Gong practitioners at community events. This time, she learned in more detail about Falun Gong and the abuses practitioners in China face. She supported the practitioners' efforts to raise awareness of the persecution.
Amanda agreed that the practitioners’ peaceful efforts validated Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and contrasted them with the violence perpetrated by the CCP.
She also brought her friend over to learn about Falun Gong and sign the petition condemning the persecution in China. She said she was interested in learning the practice and asked for details for local group exercise sites.
Amanda and her friend
Nick and Meghan from Plano, Texas, brought their four-month-old baby to the event. Nick said he had learned about the CCP's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners online. He was shocked and indignant.
He and his wife signed the petition. Meghan said she had wanted to learn meditation for a long time and that Falun Gong was what she was looking for.
Wes, who worked with an exhibition company, had an in-depth conversation with a practitioner. He said he had a mission in life and had sought the answer for a long time. The three words printed on the Falun Gong booth--“Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance”--drew his attention.
Saint Petersburg, Russia: Practitioners Participate in Healthy Life Styles Expo
The annual Healthy Lifestyles Expo was held in Saint Petersburg March 1-4, 2018. Local Falun Gong practitioners were invited to participate.
Falun Gong practitioners at the expo
Practitioners tell people about Falun Gong.
One woman told a practitioner that she somehow walked straight to the Falun Gong booth even though she had received invitations from many other exhibitors. When she saw the Falun Gong booth, she suddenly realized that Falun Gong was what she had long sought.
Another woman said that she felt extraordinary energy from practitioners. She said that their kindness made people feel good.
A university professor said that he'd learned about Falun Gong at the expo three years ago. He read the book Falun Gong and it changed his view of life. He started practicing Falun Gong after that.
A woman said that she learned about Falun Gong at last year's expo and was impressed by the words Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She said, “I suddenly understood and would stop when I was doing something wrong. This had never happened to me before. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is a great principle.”
Demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises
The practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises twice. Many Expo attendees watched carefully. Some registered for a free introductory session.
Helsinki, Finland: Practitioners Participate in Sixth Yoga Festival
Falun Gong practitioners in Finland participated in the 6th Yoga Festival Helsinki on March 3-4, 2018. There were many exhibitors, including those promoting healthy food, sports, and yoga.
Many visitors paused to learn about Falun Gong. Some had learned about it at previous expos and came over to sign the petition condemning the persecution.
An elderly woman who had practiced yoga before watched the Falun Gong meditation exercise and said she had always wondered how to achieve tranquility. She asked for the location of a local group practice site and said she would go to learn the exercises.
People sign the petition to protest the persecution
Another woman said that she had lived in China for ten years. She knew about a lot of things happening in China and had seen Falun Gong practitioners collecting signatures around the world to stop the persecution.
Many people were touched by the exercise demonstration. They were appalled when they learned that practitioners in China were being persecuted for not renouncing Falun Gong.
Learning the Falun Gong exercises at the expo
Background
Falun Gong was first taught to the public in 1992. Nearly 100 million people across China were soon practicing it after experiencing improvements in their health and character. Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline's growing popularity as a threat to the CCP's atheistic ideology and issued an order to ban Falun Gong on July 20, 1999.
Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in the persecution over the past 18 years; the actual number is suspected to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith. Evidence shows that the CCP harvests organs from detained practitioners, who are killed in the process, to supply the organ transplantation industry.
Under Jiang's personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Gong.
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