Year 2000 Falun Dafa Promotion Activities in Washington DC

Only one week ago, we got to know that there would be a big Millennium celebration in Washington DC. The Fist Family and other important figures were going to attend the celebration. Many practitioners therefore, thought it would be a valuable opportunity to promote Falun Dafa during that time. Now when we look back, we realize we have achieved unexpected success on the two-day Dafa promotion activities though we had very little time to prepare in advance. We also realize that our success was achieved under the guide of philosophy "Great law contains no form", which our teacher Li taught us. Below are some small stories occurred during the activities that we would like to share with you.

Story No. 1 "Mr. mayor, you promised to look at my gift for you!" "Yes, I promise."

Before, when we had Dafa promotion activities in DC, our targets were mainly tourists. However, because of the coincidence with the Millennium celebration this time, our targets were naturally switched to government officials and local residents. A Caucasian practitioner accidentally came across the Mayor of Washington DC twice. In the first time, he told the Mayor that he was born in DC. Eight years ago, he had a car accident during which his head was injured; he was not able to read or write for 6 years; then he met Falun Dafa and was then given anew life by the Dafa. Not only did he quit smoking and drinking, but also he was able to write his Falun Dafa Practice Experience on his own. He gave the Mayor his experience-sharing article as a gift to thank him for helping promote Falun Dafa and being a good mayor too. The Mayor was very interested in his story and asked for his name. Before they said good buy to each other, this practitioner gave the mayor some Dafa introduction materials. The mayor promised he would read them. Interestingly, after a few minutes, they met again. He said to the mayor smilingly, "Mr. Mayor, you promised to read my present! "The mayor recognized him and replied: "I promise."

Afterwards, when we talked about this story, we realized that nothing was accidental. Not long ago, a Mainland newspaper "People's Daily" falsely reported that the Washington DC government rescinded the honor they gave to teacher Li as Honor Citizen of Washington DC. We felt this pleasant meeting between this practitioner and the mayor of DC was an ingenious arrangement.

Story No. 2 "I saw your banner on TV so I followed you here!"

We attended the opening ceremony of the New Year's celebration. Some practitioners held a banner that read "Falun Gong practitioners celebrate the Year 2000". The banner was filmed by ABC, NBC and some other TV stations as part of the celebration activity and was broadcast. Quite a few American people saw us on TV and then came here the next day. They said, "We have been looking for Falun Gong for quite some time; yesterday I saw your banner on TV so I came here today." One practitioner handed a copy of the brochure "Falun Gong, the true story" randomly to a journalist. In fact, however, he was a reporter reporting life for ABC. When he saw Falun Gong practitioners, he asked to do alife interview with us. We felt this was a perfect example of "obtaining what you deserve without pursuit." On January 1, a reporter from Washington Post came to interview us. Many American people came to talk to us, inquire information and ask for introduction materials. Some even bought Dafa books. In this season, the day starts to get dark at 5:00pm, but we were kept busy till after 6:00pm; then we could finally wrap up the activity for that day.

Story No. 3: "You are indeed great!"

Because it was the Millennium celebration, the whole street was overwhelmed with music and dancing. The traditional Chinese dragon and lion dancing shows was part of it too. The whole street was very crowded. In contrast to the loud music, our Dafa music seemed very peaceful. Practitioners were repeatedly showing the 5 sets of movements. They seemed to be in a different world. When seeing this scene, many American people felt we were incredible. Some people took pictures of us or filmed us; others even sat among us and let their friends to take pictures of them with us. Some American tourist said, "You are truly great!"

Story No. 4: "We do not want to leave. "During the entire day of December 31st, people kept coming to inquire information. A practitioner was busy introducing the Dafa to tourists when someone knocked at her shoulder gently. She looked back and saw an American person. He said to her, "can you give me a flyer?" In contrast to previous activities during which we would go talk to people, we felt today, most times people came to us to ask for information. A little over 6 O' clock on 31st evening, when the activities for that day ware about to end, there came a young American couple who told us they wanted to learn Dafa and the movements. On hearing this, a practitioner from Alabama started to teach them patiently. The young girl was able to do the lotus position sitting right way; the guy could also put up one leg. All the practitioners waited for them patiently till they learned all the movements. When they realized that we were about to leave, they started to appear anxious: they did not want us to leave. A practitioner from Virginia came up to talk to them and got to know that the girl was from Ohio and the boy was from Pennsylvania.

Story No. 5: An American person who spoke fluent Chinese and a Lawyer who supported Falun Gong On 31st, when one practitioner was picking up some Dafa materials, she heard someone speak to her in perfect Chinese, "Can you give me a copy of the introduction material?" She thought it was a Chinese person. However, when she looked up, she saw a white couple holding a baby cart in which two lovely baby girls were sitting. This practitioner was very surprised and asked them, "Do you speak Chinese?" The sir who talked to her replied modestly, "Just a little". However, after a short conversation with him, she found it was not "just a little" at all. His Chinese was excellent. He said that he had some understanding of Falun Gong and he strongly supported the practitioners in China to pursue their belief. When he left, he said he hoped all Falun Gong practitioners inside and outside of China could persist in their practice.

During the two-day activity, we met a great number of American people from different walks of life. An American person asked for Dafa materials from a practitioner. After a short conversation, he told the practitioner, "I am a lawyer,... I support you."

Story No. 6: Brochures are not enough! Nobody expected that we ran out of 3000 copies of brochures in two days. On December 31, the last evening of 1999, more than ten practitioners gathered in a Virginia practitioner's home. They did not watch the revelry in the Time Square, nor did they see the firework in front of the White House. One of the practitioners went out to make1000 copies of Dafa introduction materials. Then they folded the 1000 copies to brochures to meet the needs of the next day. While they were folding the brochures, one of the practitioners read Teacher Li's "Lecture in Changchun" for them. They greeted the new Millennium in a special way.

Interestingly, the weather was very nice during our two-day activity. It was warm and sunny. Even President Clinton said in his speech of congratulation that God bestowed us good weather. During the two-day activity, from important government officials to civilians, hundreds of people came to learn about Falun Dafa. We could hardly meet the needs of so many people. We felt deeply that the effect of our activity was the best when we followed the principle of the universe, when we broke the human concepts, and when we promoted the great Law to people with a clean heart. We also saw the optimistic future of promoting the great law in the US. Provided by Falun Dafa practitioners from Washington DC. January 2, 2000