(Clearwisdom.net) Last year, Falun Gong practitioners' parade procession attracted a great deal of attention from the people of Springfield, Missouri. This year, the parade hosts especially invited us as representatives of Chinese culture to attend the parade in Springfield. They even provided a driver and a large flatbed truck, which we decorated as our float for the parade.
Practitioners from a nearby city, Columbia and other remote areas including Tennessee came to join the parade. Some practitioners stayed up most of the night making a beautiful big lotus flower, while others arrived very early in the morning to decorate the float.
During the parade, practitioners dressed in yellow practice suits demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises on the float. Others distributed Dafa truth-clarifying materials to bystanders. Our float drew a lot of attention and was warmly welcomed along the parade route, due in part to practitioners' serene and peaceful expressions, smooth and gentle movements, the big brilliant words: "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" on the float, the graceful and moving Dafa music "Pudu" as well as the compassionate energy field surrounding us. Lots of spectators waved their hands to express their appreciation. Our truth-clarifying materials were also very well received. Some people even took the initiative to ask for flyers. Many people used both hands to take the materials to show their respect. Some citizens even said "Thank you" in Chinese while taking the leaflets.
After the parade ended, we went to a Chinese restaurant to have lunch. Because we were wearing the Dafa yellow T-shirts, as soon as we entered the restaurant, two waitresses shouted, respectively: "Falun Dafa!" "Falun Gong!". One of them thus came to chat with us. She asked a few questions, such as what exactly was the "Self-Immolation" broadcasted by CCTV, why would the Jiang regime persecute Falun Gong, and some basic facts about Falun Gong. We answered her questions one by one and gave her a copy of "Journey to return one's original true self". She said that she wanted to learn about Falun Gong for a long time, but she only had the chance to watch CCTV's programs whose reports on Falun Gong were all negative. Now she finally had the opportunity to learn about Falun Gong. She said that she would definitely carefully read the booklet. She also told us that she had no doubt of the fact that Falun Gong practitioners were beaten to death by Jiang's government. "Because the Party has always been this way," she said. Shortly after talking with her, we saw her telling her boss and other waitresses and waiters the truth about Falun Gong. We felt very happy that another group of people received the chance to learn the truth about Dafa.
In the afternoon, to display the beauty of Dafa, some practitioners performed dances and songs and also demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises on the stage. Practitioners' natural and easy performances as well as the refined contents deeply touched spectators' hearts. A mother and her daughter from Yunnan came over to say hello and accept some Dafa truth-clarifying materials. When we talked about the Jiang regime's deceiving propaganda, the mother indignantly said that those were shameless lies and they didn't believe them at all. The daughter asked us a number of questions such as: What is cultivation practice? How can we start cultivation? What experiences do we have? What kind of person is our Teacher? She talked with us for over one hour. Later she said that she would also like to practice Falun Gong. A practitioner gave her a copy of Zhuan Falun. She took it and happily read the table of contents to her mother. In the end, they said that they were very happy to meet us and promised that they would read the book.
A western practitioner went on stage to introduce Dafa's principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." When she asked the audience if they would like to learn how to say "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in Chinese, all responded with a "yes." So, in a very touching scene, she taught the audience to say the three words in Chinese.
