(Clearwisdom.net) The annual California State Fair was held at Cal Expo in the state capital of Sacramento at the end of August. There are many visitors to the State Fair each year. This year, a booth in the Free Speech Area was made available free of charge to Falun Gong practitioners. Near an entrance gate, practitioners set up a booth to promote Falun Dafa continuously for three weekends. Here are some of their experiences:
- A middle-aged gentleman had shown great interest in Falun Gong after he took our fliers and listened to our introduction. He asked if we could teach the exercises at his school. When he learned that we would not accept any fees, he was quite surprised and noted down our contact number immediately.
- A Bulgarian girl working at the fair sat close to us, smoking. When a practitioner gave her some Falun Dafa materials and told her kindly that many people had quit smoking or taking drugs after learning Falun Dafa, she put the cigarette out, threw it away at once and thanked the practitioner again and again. She said that she had noticed us for quite some time and felt that we were different than others because we looked very nice and kind. She said that she had hoped to quit smoking a long time ago; perhaps today was an opportunity.
- A gentleman passing by our booth had shown great interest and took a lot of materials. He loved the Falun Dafa book on the table as well. A practitioner told him that this book is very precious. If he would like to read it, we could give it to him as a gift. The gentleman accepted a copy and replied, nodding his head again and again, "I will be sure to read it! I will definitely read it!" And he left happily with the book.
- A young couple approached our booth. Before being greeted by a practitioner, they signed the petition to rescue American citizen Charles Li on their own initiative. The young lady told us that she had just come back from China. She taught English there. Our practitioner asked her if she had heard about Falun Gong. She said that she would like to have learned about it in China but the people around her dared not talk about it. She didn't believe what the Chinese media said there. Only after she came back to the US did she start to learn more about some of the real situation in China.
- Falun Gong practitioners have regularly attended the California State Fair for several years. Many American people have learned about the truth of Falun Gong, from a variety of sources. One morning a street vendor selling drinks saw a practitioner wearing a yellow T-shirt at a crosswalk waiting for the green light. The vendor came up to our practitioner and said, "I have seen people wearing your yellow T-shirts many times. Last year I heard that a young man from your group was jailed in China. How is he now?" After he learned that Charles Li was still in a Chinese prison, the vendor expressed sympathy and said he hoped that Charles would be free soon.
Many visitors came to our booth directly to sign our petition to rescue Charles Li. Several people who knew the truth said to us, "Good Luck!" when passing our booth. This year is our fifth time here to spread the Fa (1) at the fair. Each year, local practitioners prepared some small gifts for our visitors -- including balloons with the words, "Falun Dafa is Great," those cute small windmills, and beautiful bookmarks. The practitioners have brought the compassion of Falun Dafa to the people in California.
During the whole event, the practitioners paid attention to cultivation opportunities as well. It was quite hot, and practitioners could not help sweating, even in the shady area; but our exercise demonstration was not affected at all. Some practitioners spent their only vacation time to support this activity and brought us food. The selfless contribution of many practitioners guaranteed the success of our event at the state fair.
September 11, 2004
(1) Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.
