(Clearwisdom.net) Several months ago, we accepted the invitation of Dafa practitioners in Richmond, Virginia to participate in a local Chinese Festival celebration activity sponsored by Richmond Children's Museum on the weekend before Thanksgiving Day. We took the opportunity to let more people learn about Falun Dafa through giving performances, demonstrating traditional crafts and making Chinese dumplings together with teachers and students from two other Chinese Schools, and through young Dafa practitioners' demonstration of the five sets of Falun Dafa exercises.
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| Young Dafa practitioners demonstrate the five sets of exercises | Dennis, together with other "experienced" young practitioners, perform the sitting meditation exercise |
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| An elderly American is teaching his granddaughter to say, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" | Young Dafa practitioners watch dance performances given by children from other Chinese schools |
Young practitioners really like to participate in activities that promote Falun Dafa to the public. Some of them did the exercises so skillfully that they often had an opportunity to demonstrate the exercises on the stage. They could often give wonderful performances without need for rehearsals beforehand. This time, they were all eager to go to participate in the activity in Richmond. Unfortunately, some children were still learning to do the exercises correctly and were not yet ready to perform on stage. With the cooperation of their parents, and with our encouragement, some of the children tried especially hard to do the exercises well and hoped to be selected to give performances on the stage. Four-year-old Dennis was one of such children.
Dennis began doing the exercises under his parents' supervision and encouragement, but he could not stay quiet for a long period of time and did not want to keep his eyes closed while doing the exercises. Several weeks before this activity, he knew that there would be an opportunity to go on the stage and demonstrate the exercises but not everyone could go. He was eager to go this time, so he began to do the exercises earnestly. Once, while he was doing the movement of "Holding the wheel above the head," he asked his teacher, "Am I doing it well?" What he meant was: "Am I good enough to go to demonstrate the exercises?" He eventually got the chance to participate in the on stage demonstration.
The gentle exercise music was played. With the instructions of Teacher playing in the background, Dennis and seven other children began to demonstrate the five sets of Falun Dafa exercises to parents and their children of different ethnic origins. Dennis tried very hard to keep his eyes shut, and earnestly did the exercises. He looked mature and experienced, and no one would think it was the first time for him to give such a performance. He managed to participate in all four demonstrations in the afternoon, and he performed very well, winning everyone's encouragement. Children from other Chinese Schools all looked for him to teach them to do the exercises.
Sixteen-year-old Zhao Liang is skilled at a traditional art called the "Shaking Diabolo [a hollow bamboo]." His excellent performance attracted many people to watch. Accompanied by music, the diabolo flew up and down under his skillful handling. After the performance, he immediately joined other young practitioners to demonstrate the exercises. His wonderful performance gave the audience such a deep impression that one Indian family eagerly asked where they could let their children learn Falun Gong.
Before the May 13th World Falun Dafa Day, the Minghui School printed "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" in over 30 languages and made a one-page flyer. At the bottom of the page, a space was left for writing down American children's names in Chinese. This idea was very well received. This time, when we brought up this with the sponsor, they were very pleased and immediately announced the activity through the loudspeaker. They also helped make many copies of the flyer. After parents and children happily accepted the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" flyers with their Chinese names written on them, a Chinese girl would smile at them and pass them one more greeting card or a bookmark with "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" written on it. An elderly American accepted the greeting card and taught his granddaughter to say, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" word by word. Later, we learned that the Chinese girl was not a Falun Gong practitioner. She was 17-years-old and had come to America to study for only one month. Before she left, she said she would make a phone call back to her family in China to tell them the truth about Falun Gong.
During the activity, we also took the opportunity to exchange with teachers from other Chinese schools about teaching Chinese and introduce Falun Dafa to them. We also discussed holding free Falun Gong exercise seminars in their schools. The sponsor thanked the teachers and students from Minghui School for coming so far to participate in their activity and bring them such wonderful performances.
Enclosed: Flyer with "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" written in over 30 languages
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Category: April 25 Events
