(Minghui.org) I learned a very important lesson, which happened when I was handing out Minghui calendars.
When passing out the calendars I usually explain that the calendar exposes the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. I make good use of the opportunity when giving people a calendar to talk about Falun Dafa and help them quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
I recently took over 50 calendars with me, but being on my own, it was difficult to distribute all the calendars. I was able to help about 15 people withdraw their memberships from the CCP.
I later shared with another practitioner about how I did it and asked how it could be done better. She thought that it was wasteful to hand out calendars the way I did. Her idea was to talk to people about quitting the CCP before giving them the calendar.
I read an article on the Minghui website that described how one practitioner usually talks about quitting the CCP first and then gives the person a calendar. I felt that it made sense and decided to do it differently in the future.
I went out with about 20 calendars and some DVDs. I talked to people about Falun Gong and the persecution before handing them a calendar. Once they had the calendar, I got into the topic of quitting the CCP. It went well for a while.
Wrong Approach
I talked to two men one day. One man was flipping through the calendar and commented that it looked very good. At that point I suggested that he quit the Party. He said that he wanted to read the calendar first.
“What I was asking you to do is for your own benefit,” I said. “If you don't want to quit the party then I am sorry, but you cannot keep the calendar.”
He did not want to give it back, but I left him with no other choice. When he handed the calendar back there was a look of desperation mixed with resentfulness in his eyes. His look made me realize that I had just ruined his opportunity to be saved. I was stunned.
The experience made me realize that the approach I was trying to use was wrong and I had denied him his chance to know the truth and be saved. If I had allowed him to keep the calendar and read through it, he may have come to understand the truth about Dafa and been saved.
Although I thought I was doing the right thing by asking him to accept my suggestion to quit the party, it turned out to have the opposite effect. I did not give him the time he needed to think it over and eventually be saved.
I felt deep regret about the incident. I didn't treat that man the same way that Teacher has been treating me. Teacher has saved me with his boundless compassion. I felt that I had let Teacher down.
Teacher said: “Saving people is just that, saving people, and to pick and choose would not be merciful.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference IX)
Was I not being selective? Teacher saves everyone, even spies. That man wanted to read the calendar and learn the truth. I should have just let him keep the calendar.
Nowadays the people that live in China are all deeply poisoned by the evil CCP. Is it possible to save all of them after talking about Falun Gong just once? If he had learned the truth by reading the calendar when he had the chance, he might agree to quit the CCP the next time the opportunity presented itself.
I have come to realize that giving people the opportunity to learn the truth and help them feel comfortable about Dafa is what is important.
I promised Teacher that I will do better in the future and I want Teacher to rest assured I will do my best to save more people.
