(Minghui.org) Many people today are interested in living a healthier lifestyle, and it's no different for the people of Birmingham, Michigan, who flocked to the city's fourth annual Health & Fitness Event on June 23, 2013. The event featured a wide variety of organizations and vendors who provided attendees with information about ways to improve their health.
Falun Gong practitioners also participated in the event and handed out brochures detailing the health benefits of the practice. They also told people about the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong in China. After hearing about the situation, people were shocked and gladly signed a petition calling for an end to the persecution and especially to an end to the inhumane practice of organ harvesting of living Falun Gong practitioners.
Michigan residents sign a petition calling for an end to the CCP's organ harvesting of living Falun Gong practitioners
People learn about the benefits of practicing Falun Gong and the facts about the persecution
Practitioners teach the exercises to health fair visitors
People were very attracted to the peacefulness of the Falun Gong exercises and the melodious Dafa music. Many of them stopped and asked questions while others wanted to learn the exercises right then and there.
A woman who was following along with the practitioners' exercise movements said that she had felt a sense of serenity and peace while performing the exercises.
Practitioners talked to people about the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and why Falun Gong has such a tremendous healing effect on those who regularly practice it. Many people asked where the nearest practice sites were.
An older man signed the petition and told the practitioners to make sure to submit the signatures to the U.S. government.
One woman and her daughter came over to the Falun Gong booth, and after finding out about the Chinese regime's practice of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners, quickly signed the petition. She said that she would tell everyone she knows about the persecution and asked for more informational materials before she left.
Another lady came over to the Dafa booth with her two teenaged sons and asked where she could learn the exercises. She said that she wanted to start practicing Falun Gong. After she heard about the Chinese regime's crime of live organ harvesting, she said that if the Party tried to force her to give up her belief, she wouldn't comply. Both she and her eldest son said that they would post information about Falun Gong on their social media accounts, letting hundreds of their friends know about this atrocity.
A person in the booth opposite the Falun Gong informational table also signed the petition. He then asked everyone who stopped by his booth to walk over and sign the practitioners' petition. Some people had never heard about Falun Gong before, but after he told them a little about the practice, they went over to the Falun Gong booth to find out more about it. When they heard that Falun Gong is being persecuted in China, almost every one of them signed the petition.
Some people, after signing the petition, shook hands with the practitioners, or patted them on their shoulder, saying, “Good Luck!” They were grateful to the practitioners for telling them about the practice and the persecution.
