(Minghui.org) I started working as a housekeeper for an old couple in June last year. My main jobs were to cook, do laundry, clean the house, and help the wife bathe her husband. The husband had been sick for years.
I have several years of experience, so this was an easy job for me. I didn’t think I did my last job well, so I was determined to do better this time.
For example, I cleaned some corners of the house that hadn’t been touched for 30 years. I scrubbed the kitchen utensils so clean they looked new. I didn’t mind working extended hours, without charging the family, so I could do my job well. The old couple was very happy and satisfied with my work.
My mentality completely changed with this new job. Before, I always complained when I was tired. I blamed my husband for not being capable and blamed myself for not seizing the opportunities that came up. I didn’t realize that I had many attachments and I forgot to look inward. When I later realized that these were all opportunities for me to cultivate, I decided not to complain—instead I focused on improving myself no matter what happened.
When I saw the wife struggling to bathe her husband, clip his nails, shave his head, and wash his feet, I helped her even though these things were not part of my duties. They were often moved beyond words since I treated the husband like he was my father. They said that even their own children didn’t do as much for them. I always smiled and told them that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner, and Master Li told us to be kind to everyone.
The old couple treated me well. They always had a cup of hot water ready when I arrived and told me to rest for a few minutes. They knew that once I started working, I wouldn’t stop. They often reminded me to take a break. They raised my salary by 10 percent in the first month and said that I did more than what I was paid for. They were both well-educated and were supervisors in their workplaces before they retired. They said, “We are in our 80s and observed a lot of people. No one is as good as you are.” I replied, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner.”
As the Mid-autumn Festival was approaching, they insisted on giving me two bottles of expensive wine and two boxes of mooncakes, each worth more than 1,000 yuan, no matter how I refused to accept their gifts. Later, I bought them brand-name underwear that cost more than the gifts they gave me. They were surprised and didn’t know what to do. The wife opened her jewelry box and told me to pick anything I liked. I told her, “I’m not nice to you because I want something from you. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, and I’m supposed to be kind to everyone. Otherwise, I can’t call myself a practitioner.” My words touched them.
I could see that the wife wanted to thoroughly clean the kitchen. Before the New Year, I spent a week cleaning the walls and ceiling, putting up wallpaper, and repainting the cabinets. The kitchen looked brand new. The wife was very happy. She said she had wanted to re-do the kitchen years ago but couldn’t because her husband was sick for many years. When I saw that she was happy, I was happy, too.
The first day on the job, I told them I practiced Falun Dafa, and they did not question me. The wife told me that when they traveled abroad with their daughter’s family, they encountered practitioners who told them about the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of the practice. They said they knew the CCP was evil and agreed to quit their membership in its associated organizations. However, at that time, the wife was not clear about what cultivation was. Through my actions, she gained a deeper understanding of a practitioner. Her son and daughter were satisfied with my work and attitude and respected me. They felt lucky that their parents found such a good person.
However, when I talked with the daughter about quitting the CCP, she was not willing. She said that after living outside China for a long time, she was aware that there were many secret agents abroad, and she refused to further discuss the issue with me. I knew that it was not the right time to press the issue—instead I should do better and work harder.
Two months later, the daughter and her husband returned to China because her father was now critically ill. They witnessed how I worked and how I took care of the father. I went to the hospital several times a day, brought him food, fed him, and kept him company. The night before he passed away, he talked and laughed with me and said my name the loudest. He told his daughter that I had done everything she should have done as a daughter. He died peacefully because he believed that Falun Dafa is good.
The next time I mentioned quitting the CCP to the daughter, she agreed without hesitation and with a smile.
I have worked for less than a year so far. No matter how much I do and how well I do things, I do not ask for anything in return. I only hope that more people know that Falun Dafa is good.
Although the wife now lives alone and doesn’t need my help because she is healthy and can take care of herself, she and her children don’t want me to leave. My job has become easier. Besides the housework, I mainly accompany her when she goes shopping or takes a walk, and I chat with her. Her neighbors thought we were mother and daughter. I frequently buy her food and snacks, and we take a taxi home when she’s tired. She was touched and said with tears in her eyes, “All my life, I always took care of others; no one has taken care of me so well. I am really blessed.”
The couple, their children, and their friends and relatives all know I am a good person. I wrote down my story to verify how amazing Dafa is, not to prove how good I am. Thank you, Master.
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