In just a little more than a week in Greece, Dafa practitioners from Europe, North America and Australia participated in many truth clarification activities, including a parade and a concert. People from all over the world had congregated in Greece for the Olympic games and it presented a great opportunity to let more people know about Dafa and the persecution of practitioners in China.

Falun Gong practitioners opened the activities in Greece with a parade. The solemnity and the beauty of Dafa were presented to the Greek people and the many tourists visiting Greece for the Olympics through the dancing group, waist-drum team and the banners and lotus flowers in the hands of practitioners. People were smiling with admiration as they stopped by the side of the streets to watch and on some occasions they clapped and cheered, and many said, "Bravo, bravo!"

With the Olympic competitions starting, many of the people visiting, including mainland Chinese who had been filling the squares and tourist attractions, disappeared. During one of our gatherings to study the Falun Gong principles, I asked whether there were plans to go to watch some games when Chinese teams would be competing and when many Chinese fans would be attending. I was told that we had, so I first waited to be notified of any important games taking place. As I did not hear anything, I decided to look up the information myself. I found the information about when China's men's basketball team was playing. I knew this game would be attracting many Chinese fans as Yao Ming, the NBA star and the tallest athlete in the history of the Olympics was going to play. I had heard that the Chinese people adore him as he is so tall. I asked a couple of practitioners if they wanted to join me, but no one seemed interested, so I decided to go by myself.

During the whole trip to the match location, I was surrounded by Chinese fans, all wearing white T-shirts with the Chinese flag across the chest and carrying Chinese flags and banners. I was wearing a yellow Falun Gong shirt. On the subway, I sat close to a group of three Chinese women. I smiled at them and handed a flyer and a small but multi page booklet to each of them. They took them and started going through them. One of them said something to the others, pointing at the pictures of tortured practitioners. I nodded at them and told them in English that that was going on in China now. Pointing at my Falun necklace, I tried to explain to them that I had been practicing for three years and that Falun Dafa is good. They would nod and read. A Chinese man joined the group and wanted to take a picture with them. I took their picture. After the subway ride, we were to take a special bus taking us to the stadium. I sat with three young men wearing the Spanish team colors. China was playing against Spain that day. I handed a flyer to the Chinese sitting opposite us but they refused with a look that showed they were poisoned by the lies. I gave a Spanish flyer to each of the three Spanish men and explained to them why the Chinese refused to take the flyers. I clarified the truth of the persecution to them and the fact that the Chinese people in mainland China are subjected to brainwashing propaganda against Falun Gong. Opening the Chinese booklet to the pictures of the tortured practitioners, I told the Spanish fans how practitioners are brutally persecuted in China. They were appalled. A Chinese man standing next to me and the ones sitting opposite watched silently.

After getting off the bus I walked through a long river of Chinese fans carrying my backpack in hand to allow them to read my T-shirt with the words: Zhen-Shan-Ren in Chinese and English (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance). I was hoping that my seat was close to the Chinese fans. I found out it was behind one of the baskets. As I took my seat, I watched the Chinese fans who were all in the center or on the opposite side. A Chinese man sat next to me. I said "Ni Hao". He said, "Oh, you speak Chinese?" I replied, "Only Ni Hao and Falun Dafa Hao." He took out a T-shirt the same as the one all the Chinese fans were wearing and asked me to change my Dafa shirt as his was better. I told him resolutely with a smile that mine was a great T-shirt and I would not change it under any circumstances. He tried again, only to get the same reply. I reached for the Chinese booklets but he stood up and left. I followed him and handed him the booklet. He refused to take it. I said, "Why are you afraid to read, you can read and decide for yourself." He said that Chinese don't like the color of my T-shirt, the implication being they didn't like what was written on it. I said, "This is a beautiful color, it's the color of Buddhas." Then he came up with a deal: he would take my flyer if I changed my T-shirt. I said, "This is who I am, you are asking me to give you my heart and I have given it to my Teacher." He replied, "Teacher, eh". He wanted to find out how many of us had bought tickets and were coming to the game. Obviously, the evil was afraid of the truth being shown to Chinese people that Falun Gong is freely practiced everywhere but in China. I talked to him a little more about the goodness of Dafa and my personal experience, but he seemed uncomfortable being seen talking to a person wearing a Falun Gong T-shirt. Surely, he was not there to watch the game. The game was about to begin and I left saying, "Remember, Falun Dafa Hao".

I went back to my seat thinking that it would have been great if more practitioners had come as a group of yellow T-shirts with Falun Gong on them would surely have been an eye catcher. During the game I noticed on the big screen that every time there were free shots for the team attaching on the opposite side where I was sitting, I was on TV. So I would watch the big TV screen and when I could see myself, I would stand up and wave, hoping that the Chinese people watching the match in China would see my Falun Gong shirt.

After the game I stopped at the box office to get information on other matches. I went to our afternoon reading place and shared my experiences with some other practitioners. Seven of us decided to go to the next match where we thought there would be a lot of Chinese fans - women's volleyball. China was playing in the second match for the day, so during the break we went out and practiced the exercises in front of the many people waiting for the match to start. Many took pictures or record us on video cameras.

We cheered for China and at the end when the Chinese players were saluting the public after winning against the Dominican Republic, we cheered for them and they noticed us. One of the athletes seemed in great disbelief and kept looking back as she was leaving the field.

The next male basketball game for China was against New Zealand. Four of us decided to go, two Chinese and two western practitioners. On our way to the stadium, we traveled with a group of New Zealanders. One of us approached them and started a conversation with one of them who had been practicing Taichi for some ten years and was interested in the practice.

Once inside, we noticed that many people wearing yellow T-shirts were sitting around us. It was obviously some team's color. Though our seats were very good, we decided to move behind the basket, on the side of the Chinese team, where there were only four other viewers. We could thus be seen by the many Chinese fans. We cheered for China. During the breaks, a group of Chinese fans went around the stadium above the first row of seats cheering and waving hands at the people supporting their team, giving quite a show that everyone was watching and the TV focused on several times. As they did this all the stadium was looking and laughing at them. When they came above our seats we waved and cheered with them. They stopped to cheer and wave back.

One photographer came and sat in the seat below me. She asked me whether we were there to protest. She had been to the Tattoo parade in Edinburgh, Scotland not long ago and had witnessed our practitioners' activities to protest the participation of a Chinese army band in the parade. I told her that we were there to show the mainland Chinese that Falun Gong is freely practiced in the rest of the world, contrary to what they are told in China. This way they can get some truth they cannot get from their media.

China won the match and as the players lined up to salute the public, one of the players waved back at us as he was leaving the field to respond to our cheers and claps. As we were about to leave and were picking up our bags, one of the people working for the Olympics, in their recognizable outfits, approached us. He asked what was written on our T-shirts. We told him about the practice and our principles. He mentioned that the Olympics rules did not allow advertising messages from the public. We explained that we knew of this rule and to respect it we did not wear a T-shirt with a message. To respect an agreement of the local practitioners with the Greek police, during all our group activities Greece, we had been wearing the shirt with only Falun Dafa and Truth, Compassion and Tolerance message. He mentioned they would check with the translation team to see if our shirts read what we said. After my question to the why of all this, he replied that there had been a complaint from the Chinese team. Obviously, the evil was afraid of the truth being shown to the Chinese people from China who had filled the stadium. The irony of it was that the T-shirt the Chinese fans were wearing had in big letters the name of what some of our practitioners recognized as a company in China, Mid-Point.

After this, we all tried to clarify the truth to him and the four other people sitting around us, three of whom were parents of players and one a former basketball trainer. Learning of the truth of the persecution and the complaint of the Chinese, these people were upset by it and told the man working for the Olympics that the Chinese complaint was outrageous and unjustified. Another Olympics employee came. Seeing us leaving, the man changed his approach from "We will check the message by the translators" into "You are not allowed with the same T-shirts to the games". He had said this to two of us as we were walking out in groups. Afterwards, as we shared our understandings and how we could have done better in letting these Greek people know the truth after they were just lied to by the complaining Chinese, we decided to follow-up on this incident and further clarify the truth to the Olympic Committee and send them a letter.

When I think of these encounters, I am so touched by Teacher's compassion and the opportunities to save people. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference", Teacher says:

"Also, with those people that you run into by chance, who you run into in daily life, and the people you run into at work, you should all clarify the truth to them. Even when in your daily life you pass by people so quickly that you don't have a chance to talk to them, you should still leave them with your compassion and kindness. Don't lose those who should be saved, especially those with predestined connections."

For a couple of evenings, we demonstrated the exercises in the Athen's main square. Crowds of people from all over the world stopped and learned Dafa's principles and the truth of the persecution. One night, I gave a flyer to a young woman from Mexico. We both thought we knew each other from before but could not remember if and how we had met. She was so familiar to me, and I to her. We both tried to recall but could not. We talked for a while on the benefits of the practice and she was very interested in learning the exercises.

In the afternoon of the same day I watched China's opening basketball game for men, as I was giving out flyers at Omonia Square with other practitioners, I met the same group of Chinese who I had given flyers to on the subway. They recognized me and greeted me. In a big city such as Athens and with so many people in town, what were the chances to meet the same group of Chinese on the same day? I knew Teacher was giving them an opportunity to learn the truth more in depth and that they most surely were people with "predestined connections". The Chinese practitioners with me used this opportunity to clarify the truth to them in depth. As they were looking at the pictures of the tortured practitioners and listening to our practitioners, one of the young women's eyes filled with tears. On the train she was the one who had shown these pictures to the others. One man in the group seemed to not agree and when an Israeli practitioner and I would try in simple English and Chinese to tell him that Falun Dafa is good, he would disapprove. We tried several times but language was a barrier to saying anything in depth. The Chinese practitioners with us were talking to the rest of the group, some 4-5 people. At one point, this man mentioned that they lived in Rome, and knowing Italian, that gave me the opportunity to talk to him more about Dafa and the persecution. His attitude changed and his reactions were not negative anymore. We parted pleading to them to remember that Falun Dafa is good.

The same interesting occurrence happened the day I watched China's second basketball match. We had traveled to the stadium with a group of young men from New Zealand. I was seated away from them so I did not have a chance to talk to them. One of the practitioners in our group gave them flyers and talked to some of them. I met the same group in Omonia Square that afternoon. Obviously, I had not kept my vow to one of them and Teacher was offering another opportunity to me. The spot on the Square was the same as that of the Chinese group I had encountered for a second time in the same day -- same square, same spot! I extended a flyer to them; some took it and some walked ahead. One of them stopped. He took the flyer and asked about the practice. I told him about Dafa. His friends called on him but he would not leave. We started talking about the match that they lost to China. I just knew he was someone with a predestined connection to me. He did not want to leave. He left reluctantly. I was happy he now knows about Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.

I decided to go to the airport early and check for flights to Chinese cities and practice the exercises at their gate. When I arrived I noticed that there were no flights to China. After asking at the information counter, I learned that there was no direct flight and that Chinese people would fly to another city and then to China. A little disappointed, I proceeded to my gate. I had a little more than one hour before my flight. Upon arrival, I noticed three groups of Chinese sitting at my gate. I was wearing a yellow Falun Gong shirt, with the newest message practitioners in Canada put on shirts: front -- "Falun Dafa Improves Quality of Life", and back -- "China! Stop Persecuting Falun Gong" and "Global Effort Brings Jiang To Justice". On the last day, I decided to wear this shirt with the message as I was not participating in group activities that day and I wanted the Chinese people flying to read the truth of the persecution.

It was time for sending righteous thoughts globally, so I sat and sent righteous thoughts. Afterwards, I approached the group closest to me with flyers and VCDs. A women started saying something obviously bad and refusing to take them. When I approached the other group she shouted to them, something in Chinese about Falun Gong so they did not take any either. I realized they would be afraid to take the flyers when seen by other people, so I just smiled at them saying these are some words of truth.

I went back to my place (I purposefully had chosen a place in the middle of them and by the windows) and decided to practice the exercises. I turned the music loud enough for them to hear. Some airport police passed by looking at me as I adjusted the volume to see what I was doing. I smiled and they walked away. I started practicing the standing exercises and at the same time was sending righteous thought to eliminate the evil elements and interference on these precious Chinese people to see the saving grace of Dafa.

As I continued with the exercises, I could hear a lot more talking in Chinese and many more people coming to the gate. Someone was also taking pictures of me as I could see the light of the flashes. When I opened my eyes, I could not believe what I was seeing. The place was full of Chinese all staring at me. There were more than fifty Chinese people there. I smiled to the ones close to me and they smiled back. I waved and said "Ni Hao" to some others and they did too. Encouraged by the smiles of a group, I approached them, asking whether they spoke English. They were afraid to talk. I just said then, "Remember, Falun Dafa is good." I felt a little uncomfortable, as they were all staring at me and afraid to talk. I could feel the unrighteous elements emanating from the poison inflicted in their minds.

I went to ask at the counter when my plane would be boarding to be told in a few minutes they would call out. Upon arrival, I had talked to the person at the counter and told him which flight I was waiting for so I assumed he remembered. I purposefully started walking up and down so that Chinese people could read my T-shirt. As I was walking between the two lines of chairs, a young woman walking in front of me, stopped and was brave enough to talk to me. She asked, "You learned Falun Gong?" I replied, "Yes, and it is very good. I have been practicing for three years and feel so much better". She nodded expecting to hear more. I continued, "It would take me two hours before to fall asleep; now I fall asleep right away and soundly." I asked her whether they were going to Albania, where I was going and she said they were going to Istanbul to get a connection for China. Their flight was departing from the same gate as mine nevertheless. She left before I had a chance to tell her to remember that Falun Gong practitioners are good people. Why was I so slow?

I was still waiting and walking up and down under the eyes of many Chinese when suddenly I thought I heard my name called from the speaker on a last call for boarding. I approached the counter and they told me I had just missed my flight. I could not believe what I was hearing. I had been there for more than an hour and asked them several times. They told me that this was a "silent airport" and they do not announce boarding. I had not heard of a silent airport till then. The young man I had told which flight I was waiting for realized his mistake and tried to get me on the plane but ultimately it was too late. I was upset with him at the beginning but as he accompanied me to get out and arrange for another flight, I realized that no matter what, it was not his fault and that he probably mistook my flight to be the one for Istanbul though this seemed so impossible after having told him and asked so many times. I had experienced other times how ordinary people cannot control how they are used to test or interfere with us sometimes. I felt compassion for him. Teacher said in the L.A Questions and Answers in 2003:

"When it comes to human beings you should be kind, and when it comes to the evil beings you should purge them. ... Be as kind as possible to people, but you have to seriously deal with [the beings over on] the other side."

Previously, at the counter I had the thought to complain. As I was walking, I thought about why this was happening. Could it be that I was to do the same thing the next day before another group of Chinese waiting for the truth? Could it be interference? If so, what was my omission that was creating that field for the evil to get a foothold? I suddenly realized that I would fall into a common pattern of anger and complaint every time I was unhappy with some service. Before starting practicing I had a lot of stories of complaints and fights with bus drivers, telephone companies customer services and so many others. I let go of the anger and decided to drop the idea of complaining.

Here, I have described just a few of our stories of truth clarification and people's reaction to awakening to the truth. People are waiting for the truth and Dafa.