(Clearwisdom.net) A Western practitioner informed me that the President of Iceland would be delivering a speech at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire at 4 p.m. This reminded me of what we had experienced in June on our visit to Iceland to peacefully appeal. Seventy practitioners, including three teenagers, had been detained in a school building there for eighteen hours. Realizing that it would be a good opportunity to clarify the truth to the President of Iceland with our personal experiences, this practitioner, along with another western practitioner and I, decided to make the two and a half hour drive from Boston to Dartmouth.
Once we got on the highway, we were immediately caught in heavy traffic. Our car could only move slowly along in stop-and-go traffic. One of my fellow practitioners reminded us to send forth righteous thoughts. After we had raised our palms and sent forth righteous thoughts, the traffic cleared and we were quickly heading toward our destination.
As we entered the state of New Hampshire, the layer of dark clouds was so thick that we had to turn on our headlights, even though it was only around 4:00 p.m. As it started raining, we realized that the evil forces were trying to prevent us from clarifying the truth to the Icelandic President. I called some other practitioners on my cell phone and asked them to join us in sending forth righteous thoughts. At about 4:30, we were suddenly enveloped in a thick fog followed by heavy, blowing snow. As our car cruised down the icy highway, large flakes of snow rushed toward the windshield, severely reducing our visibility. We intensified sending forth righteous thoughts, and I asked Teacher to strengthen us as we sent forth our powerful righteous thoughts. Soon, it seemed as though it had turned brighter, so I opened my eyes. The heavy snow and fog were all gone. There were still a few clouds but we could see a clear, blue sky.
When we finally arrived at the auditorium, the President of Iceland had already finished his speech, and groups of people were leaving the auditorium. We thought we probably still had a chance to meet him, to let him know the truth of Falun Gong, so we walked into the auditorium. At the entrance, we met some other practitioners who had arrived earlier and learned from them that while answering questions raised by reporters, the President had refused to admit the existence of a blacklist. Seeing that he was still conversing with someone, we walked over to him.
As the President said goodbye to that person, I approached him. Shaking his hand, I introduced myself and said, "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. President." I mentioned that I had visited his country on two occasions and showed him a photo. I explained that it was from my first visit to Iceland, when I was among the team that participated in the Global SOS Walk. Our first stop had been Iceland. We later walked from Paris to Brussels and, along the way, appealed to those governments and kind-hearted people, asking for their help in stopping the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. While we were in Iceland, we won the support of the Icelandic people, as well as their media.
I then pointed to another photo and explained that I had returned to Iceland for a second visit, in June, to participate in a peaceful appeal. Because of the blacklist provided by the Jiang regime, however, we had been detained in an Icelandic school building for eighteen hours. I told him that we had hoped that the Icelandic government would have treated Falun Gong practitioners more fairly. We also emphasized that we fully understood it was the Jiang regime that had deceived the government and the people of Iceland with their lies. On my second visit to Iceland, the owner of a hotel where I had stayed on my first visit told me that the Chinese Embassy had sent people to each hotel just prior to our visit, referring to us while spreading the lie that "terrorists would soon be visiting Iceland." They attempted to deliberately deceive the Icelandic people with this and other such lies.
The President listened to me quietly. His assistant accepted the truth clarification materials I had brought, including a copy of "Compassion," a copy of the "Witness" video and a copy of an article recounting my personal experiences during my two trips to Iceland, entitled "Why Did I Go to Iceland Twice to Hold Peaceful Appeals?"
The two practitioners who accompanied me also gave their own materials to the assistant and talked with him for a while. When saying goodbye, we again expressed our sincere hope that, in the future, the Icelandic government will treat Falun Gong practitioners with justice. We believe the President will read and benefit from the materials that we gave to him.
The sky was clear and full of stars on our drive back to Boston.
November 5, 2002
