(Minghui.org) I used to be a very crafty and competitive person and was already suffering many diseases by the time I turned 30. I suffered cholecystitis, insomnia, vertigo and heart problems, and was on medications and had transfusions all year round.
One day, I fainted in the bathroom, and after I don't know how long, came to hearing somebody crying. I struggled to open my eyes and saw my son crying, and my husband and my second eldest brother by the bedside, looking very anxious.
My husband was a kind and capable person, but he was distracted from work, worrying about my health constantly. My son worried about me so much that he would check on me as soon as he came back from school every day. I love my husband and son as well as the home we built together, but I didn't want to keep dragging them down like this.
I thought of finding my husband a new wife and becoming a nun waiting for my last breath in the nunnery. I thought of a divorced woman who was my friend. She was kindhearted and financially independent, and helped us a lot. I thought she would also be a good stepmother for my son. I told my husband my idea and he reprimanded me. He told me to forget everything, but focus on recuperation.
In early 1997, I saw a clinic and went in and bought some medicine, and from then on kept going back for transfusions. One day, I was chatting with the doctor. She found out I was in my 30s and advised me to limit transfusions for the sake of my health.
She introduced Falun Gong to me, and told me it was great for health. She added that everyone who had a predestined relationship with the practice normally recovered by merely reading the book.
I thought, “Doctors nowadays all want you to take a lot of medicine and injections so they can make more money. This doctor is doing the opposite.” I found her very kind so I followed her advice and bought a copy of Zhuan Falun immediately.
I started reading Zhuan Falun as soon as I got home. I dozed off and went into sound sleep. Having suffered insomnia for many years, sound sleep was a big deal for me. I decided to practice Falun Gong.
Since learning Falun Gong, I have not taken any medicine but my health became better and better, and so did my mood. I was so happy! Because I not only got rid of all my illnesses, but also became very energetic and could help my husband around our pig farm.
Witnessing my changes, my entire family started practicing Falun Gong.
It wasn't until practicing Dafa that I came to realize that I had done many bad deeds being a crafty person in the past, that I should become a good person in this morally-declining society, and be considerate of others.
From then on, we stopped adding the harmful additives to our pig feeds, but instead made our own additives that were harmless. We buried dead pigs instead of selling them. Our pig farm was prospering, and we could easily make a profit of 50,000 yuan (USD$786) to 60,000 yuan in a single sale.
While doing bank deposits, often times counterfeit 100 yuan bills were identified by the bank. The tellers recognized our lives were not easy, so they returned them to us instead of confiscating them. Others would use the fake money in other places, but we always tore it up without hesitation.
The buyers had taken advantage of us because they didn't know Master's teachings about being considerate of others. We understand the principle, so we cannot take advantage of others.
We conducted ourselves following Dafa's requirements and treated everyone with compassion. My second eldest brother was born with an intellectual disability. When the family property was divided up and we began living apart, my second eldest brother moved in with my eldest brother, and our father lived with our younger brother.
My second eldest brother knows some basic things despite his disability. He hates our eldest brother and his wife because they treated him badly. His eyes were like daggers looking at them. Our eldest brother and his wife were very scared and pleaded with our father for help, so he had no choice but to send my second eldest brother to stay with me.
From then on, my second eldest brother became part of my family. We treated him well and helped solve many unnecessary disputes with our relatives. Witnessing our conduct, my eldest brother and his wife became very supportive of Dafa.
Because our family practiced Falun Gong, our health and moral character improved, and our farm became a leading business in our area. Reporters interviewed us and the local Television's Business Channel covered us. We were even recognized by the provincial government. We became local celebrities and the wealthiest family in the area for a short period of time before the persecution began.
At this time, Jiang Zemin's [former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)] group started the persecution of Falun Gong.
Police tried to coerce me to give up Falun Gong. But how would it be possible for me to give it up - my life was given by Dafa, and my entire family's well-being was given by Master.
One night, police broke into our home and abducted my husband and me, sentenced my husband to five years in prison and sentenced me to seven years. Almost overnight, our home was cleaned out: nothing was left, all the pigs and dogs were gone, and our son was deprived of education twice and became homeless. (He was later taken in by kindhearted people.)
My second eldest brother became a rag-picker searching for food in the garbage all day long, and became known as the "street man covered in dirt." During holidays, while every family celebrated, my son and his uncle could only embrace each other and sob bitterly.
Five years later, my husband got out of prison and came home. All he saw was desolation. The house was almost collapsing, let alone the pig house. Nothing could be found in the house: food, water, or fuel. Our son and brother were hardly recognizable. Our brother was only skin and bones.
My husband did not become sad or depressed. He cut corn stalks from the cornfields that nobody wanted, picked up broken furniture others had ditched, and brought them back for fuel.
One day, he found a few hundred yuan in an old piece of furniture, which was much needed at the time, but he donated it after he couldn't find the owner. We needed money, but we must walk our path righteously. This was taught by Master.
My husband cleaned items in the house and exchanged them for a few thousand yuan. He bought some food and a tricycle with it and started making a living by running a tricycle taxi. He was very capable and charged his customers less, and gradually people were drawn to him for his credibility.
He worked very hard. In his 50s, he could haul a large slab of wood up to the seventh floor, and he sometimes worked till midnight. After I was released from the prison and came home, everyone in our family helped my husband do his work.
To make enough money to rebuild our home, I became an in-home caregiver to an elderly woman who was ill.
The woman's son was the Party secretary of a production brigade. She had suffered cerebral hemorrhage and therefore was having bladder and bowel incontinence. Her waste could be everywhere, be it clothes, sheets or bedding, and sometimes even on my face and clothes. Her daughter-in-law was annoyed by the odor and kept her mother-in-law's door closed, so the smell would not go to the rest of the house.
I conducted myself as a practitioner and did not complain or get upset. I treated the woman as my family, wiped her, cleaned her up, and changed her at any time. I knew Dafa could save her, so I read Dafa books for her as time allowed and told her to remember "Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good."
The old woman recuperated very well and became easier to care for. Her daughter-in-law was a Christian and wanted to convert me to Christianity. I did not agree, and she became very upset. She hired someone else and fired me without any notice. She wanted to pay me 100 yuan because of this but I did not take it.
I felt very wronged and found her very unreasonable -- I gave the best care to the woman when the most work was needed and that was why her health improved so soon. I did not expect their appreciation, but I did not deserve to be fired without any prior notice like this... tears ran down my face.
I soon found another job as a caregiver for a child. Before long, I got a phone call from the Party secretary asking me to return to care for his mother. He said his mother was very upset after I was let go and she said, "No nanny is as good as the one who practices Falun Gong. I want that one who practices Falun Gong!"
He had no choice but to call me and offered me a higher wage. I told him he needed to get my current employer to agree. After the negotiation between the two families, I returned to care for the elderly woman.
I told the Party secretary, "I want to teach your mother the Falun Gong exercises. It would be the best cure for her complete recovery." He said, "Okay, as long as she likes it." His mother began practicing Falun Gong and she recovered very well.
One day, the police came to the Party secretary's home to look for me after they couldn't find me at my house.
The Party secretary told them before they entered the house, "You cannot touch her. She's a good person. She's caring for my mother." The police ignored him and entered anyway. The mother immediately turned against them and said, "If you take her away, you will be held responsible if anything happens to me! She's such a good person. Why are you taking her?"
Seeing that they couldn't take me, the police asked to talk to me in another room. I refused. The mother also refused to let me leave her side. Knowing there was nothing they could do, the police wanted me to sign a paper. I refused, and so did the Party secretary's mother.
The police told me to bring 1,000 yuan to the police station on Monday. The woman stood up holding her walking stick, "What money does she have? Zero!" The police had to leave empty-handed.
Now the woman is in her 80s and very healthy with a rosy complexion. She studies the Fa and practices the exercises every day, and tells everyone Falun Dafa is good as soon as she sees them. Her family witnessed the wonderfulness of Dafa through her and me, and they all support Dafa.
A road near my house was full of potholes and was very difficult to walk on especially on rainy or snowy days. We were not wealthy, but as Dafa disciples, we should be considerate of others, so my husband and I paved the road with our own savings. We were very pleased to see people walking on it smoothly.
The road between our neighbor and us was very narrow. Our neighbor was in the fruit business, and their farm vehicle could not make it to their yard because of the road, so they had to park it at the entrance to the ally. Consequently they often lost fruit to theft. Some people even broke their fruit such as watermelons on purpose.
My husband and I found out about this and offered to let them move our wall in to make the road wider so their vehicle could get through and make it into their yard. The neighbor was extremely grateful.
I would have never done this if I didn't practice Dafa, because our yard was our homestead, not to mention each foot was very valuable in today's real estate market.
After several years of hard work, we were finally able to build two rows of houses in our yard, which was quite noticeable in the village. For the villagers, it was considered impossible for our family to turn around after falling into desolation from where we once were. We were lucky just to be alive. To their surprise, however, our wealth was built up again in just a few years, and in their words, "Without undergoing what you have gone through, we are unable to build something as grand as yours. And, despite having been persecuted by the CCP like that, you made up your lost fortune so quickly!"
All of this has powerfully validated the wonderfulness of practicing Dafa. Dafa disciples under Master's guidance are all good people living their lives honestly. Good people are rewarded with good returns.
There were jealous people, too. They complained to the brigade authorities that the family who practices Falun Gong has filled their yard with buildings, implying them to be "illegal constructions." The village officials responded, "It would be great if you could do what the Falun Gong practitioners do. At least they are diligent, capable, and kindhearted. What did their houses do to you?"
My husband's elder brother was a senior school teacher. Before my husband and I began practicing Falun Gong, our two families had many conflicts. When we were illegally sentenced to prison and released several years later, their family did not know the truth about Falun Gong and were cold and indifferent to us.
After we built those buildings, it just so happened that they needed storage room for their business. I offered our houses to them as storage for free and saved them a lot of money. They gradually changed their attitude toward Dafa, and the brother said wholeheartedly, "Falun Gong is so good. If I were the county leader, I would encourage everyone in the country to practice Falun Gong and become a good person."
My second eldest brother became smarter, too. He became very handy and helped me a lot. He has also changed a lot and gradually let go of his hatred of our oldest brother.
One day, our oldest brother was sick, and my second brother was so anxious that he constantly muttered, "Get well, brother." He gets along with the whole family. No longer the "street man covered in dirt,” he now looks young and healthy. In his 60s, everyone says he looks as if he's in his 40s.
After practicing cultivation for so many years, Dafa has become part of my life, and the compassion that was cultivated from Dafa is shown in every aspect of my life. If my husband and I find the suppliers gave us extra change, we would never keep it, and return every penny to them as soon as possible.
One day, a supplier gave an extra 400 yuan change to me, but I didn't know it until I got home. I called them immediately and explained the situation, and returned the money as soon as I could. The supplier was very touched and said, "I've been in business for so many years, and this is the first time someone is actually bringing back extra change. People like you are so hard to find nowadays."
One day, my husband saw a plastic bag in a court yard. He opened it and found 7,000 yuan in it. He shouted in the yard, "Who has lost money?" and found the owner. The owner thanked him repeatedly and told him the money was for making a purchase of goods. If lost, not only couldn't he have bought any goods, but he would also have had to work for a long time to earn it back.
In every occasion like this, we would tell them about Falun Dafa.
A few days ago, my husband and I were riding our motorcycle to get some business done. In the distance, we saw a young lady standing by a car in the middle of the road looking anxious. Many people, including a policeman, stopped and questioned her, but all left afterward.
We drove by, and she begged us, "Please spare me some gas. I didn't pay attention and now I'm out of gas and stuck." My husband checked our motorcycle, and there wasn't much left. He said, "Young lady, don't worry. I'll go get some for you. Wait here, I'll be right back."
My husband went to a nearby gas station and brought back some gas for her, and she was extremely grateful and wanted to pay my husband extra.
I took the opportunity to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to her. I told her to remember "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" She nodded and agreed.
Some people admire us very much. I tell them, "Do you know what is the strength that keeps us above depression and helps us make it through the tribulations? It is Falun Dafa. Dafa is deeply rooted in our hearts, and Dafa has helped us understand the meaning of life - returning to our true selves."
(Submission to “Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day” 2018 on the Minghui website)