(Clearwisdom.net) On December 4, 2004, the capital city of Missouri, Jefferson City, had a grand Christmas parade. The weather was nice and the winter sunshine brought warmth to the people. Thousands of Jefferson City residents waited along the streets excitedly to watch the parade, composed of over one hundred entries.
Falun Gong procession
The Falun Gong procession was led by a large banner with the golden characters, "Falun Dafa," on a blue background. Following the banner was the elegantly decorated float. On the float, practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises. The Falun Gong procession won a lot of cheers and applause from the spectators. The message of "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance" touched so many hearts, that seven practitioners had to practically run along the streets to hand out printed materials to the eager hands of the spectators. Before the end of the parade, all the prepared materials, including newspapers, flyers, and bookmarks, were all gone. Afterwards, the practitioners felt regret that they didn't bring enough materials.
Distributing truth-clarification materials
This was the third time Falun Gong participated in the Jefferson City Christmas parade. Over the years, the practitioners made a good impression on the organizers, so even though the practitioners applied only four days before the parade, they still happily accepted the application.
Exercise demonstration |
Spectators follow the exercise demonstration movements |
The practitioners participating in the parade were from the states of Missouri and Kansas. They participate in many community events throughout the area, with the same purpose as other practitioners throughout the world. One is to let more people know the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Falun Gong has always been very welcome in these community activities, and has also won high praise in various parades. From this we can see that the people of the world support Falun Dafa and the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Many people have learned the truth about Falun Gong through these events.
A few of the awards that Missouri Falun Gong practitioners have received over the years
After the parade, a little girl of about three years old walked over to the practitioners and spoke the only Chinese words she knew, "Xie Xie"(Thank you). So the practitioners taught her to say "Falun Dafa Hao" (Falun Dafa is good). The little girl could master the words in a short time. Her mother smiled and said, "She will be good at it next time."
For sure, next year there will be more people saying, "Falun Dafa is good."