(Minghui.org) Greetings, Revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I would first like to respectfully thank our Benevolent Master. I have had the honor to be a person who cultivates Dafa during the Fa-rectification period, and I know that I have not done so well at all times. Yet our Benevolent Master has always protected me.
I am from Iran and currently living in Dubai. I obtained the Fa when I was 18 years old. Before that I knew my father thought that Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) was the Truth that he had been looking for all his life, however, because I was a young girl, I did not take those things seriously. Then in the summer of 2011 when I had just finished high school, I started reading Zhuan Falun. Once I started I thought, “Why didn’t I start reading this earlier?!”
I am very thankful to Master for having me as a disciple. For me, being able to practice Dafa is the most precious gift in my entire life. I now understand the meaning of life, and I feel true happiness from deep down in my heart, and this is all because I have Dafa. Thanks to Master’s grace I started to participate in different Dafa projects soon after I became a practitioner. I was previously working for NTDTV and the Epoch Times, writing articles and editing videos, and now my dad and I have been working with Epoch Media Group since the beginning of 2016.
Working with Epoch Media Group
Our role in Epoch Media Group is to approach different businesses and encourage them to do advertising, specifically digital advertising, with NTDTV and the Epoch Times. These few months of working for Epoch Media Group have been a great learning process for me.
We were recently trying to close a deal with our first client, one of the largest local property development companies in the country, and were very excited because we thought that if we got this well-known company to sign the contract it would for sure pave the way for us to attract more companies. We wanted to basically give them everything they wanted to close the deal. We then decided to share with one of our U.S. team members, who shared her understanding that we may be placing too much hope in this everyday company, and that we should always stick to our principles. I looked inside and realized that she was correct, that we are saving them, and it is also their honor to be a part of our company. I learned to be confident in our product and not to be afraid to negotiate. Most importantly I realized that we must remember not to place hopes on one person or company, as the effects can be just the opposite, because the old forces will take advantage of our gaps as Master has taught us in the past when practitioners placed hope on some high-level government officials or some powerful country to change the environment, and the effects were just the opposite.
So we sent the contract to the company and kept in our hearts that we were saving them, and it is their honor to support a Dafa project. In the end we closed the deal. When people work with our media, it's because they learn the truth and choose to stand with the truth. And we came to the understanding that the success of our work depends on how much of our hearts have been put into the project, how deeply we clarify the truth to each company, how we cooperate and share with each other on the team, and of course how strong our righteous thoughts are. Thanks to Master we have been progressing well since we started working with Epoch Media Group, and we are keen and motivated to achieve more.
Raising Awareness to Chinese People
In Dubai we also have a place like Chinatown where there are approximately 150 thousand Chinese residents. However, I never made the effort to clarify the truth to them because I actually never thought to do so! I believe the reason was that I had hidden attachments and subconsciously used the excuse that we don’t have the freedom here that exists in the West to raise awareness to people.
Then at the 2013 New York Fa conference I met a Chinese practitioner from France who used to live in my city many years back. We invited her to come and stay with us in Dubai for a couple of weeks to help out with Dafa projects. I realized then that Master had arranged for us to meet to motivate me and to help clarify the truth to the Chinese in Dubai.
To prepare I tried to learn some truth clarification sentences in Chinese, and we searched on the Minghui website for some truth clarification materials to print out. We did not have the right printer at home so my dad purchased a new printer for us and we started printing materials at home.
We then visited Chinatown and handed out the materials to people. Some days the weather was quite hot and we were staying out for many hours. But I used to feel very happy and energetic the whole time. Although I could not speak much, I just followed along with the Chinese practitioner and handed out flyers to the Chinese people. I smileed at them and sometimes said the few phrases I learned in Chinese like “Falun Dafa is good,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” and “The Tiananmen Square self-immolation was a hoax.”
The Chinese people were very fascinated to see me. Many of them could not believe that Falun Gong was being practiced outside of China, and even practiced by non-Chinese people! They were also shocked to see a young foreigner girl practicing Dafa and speaking Chinese. Most of them smiled and laughed, and accepted the materials. Over all the results were good and we managed to cover many areas together.
I also learned more about helping the Chinese people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I carried a list of Chinese nicknames for men and women, along with quitting the CCP flyers in my bag. However, I never thought I could actually get a Chinese person to quit the CCP because I had human notions, such as, “Who would listen to a young foreigner girl! They would think to themselves I am being political or trying to interfere with their personal life.”
Then one day when I was with another practitioner we went to an old market and I got a strange feeling that I should enter a certain shop. Surprisingly there were three young Chinese men in the shop. I greeted them. I told them little about myself and how I loved traditional Chinese culture, and how I was practicing an ancient and upright practice from China. I then gave them information material. When they saw that it was Falun Gong they started laughing. I started to send forth righteous thoughts, and asked Master to strengthen me and help me talk to these young Chinese men. I then asked them if they had heard about quitting the Party and how it is good for them to do so.
They were shocked to hear me say that, and again started laughing. I then took out the flyer about quitting the CCP and gave it to them. Two of them started reading it while the other one was still looking at the other materials. I then took out the paper with the nicknames and told them, “Come on! Take a look at this paper and chose your favorite name! You can choose any! And please tell me if you are a member of the Young Pioneers, the Youth League, or the Party, which are the three affiliate organizations of the CCP. The two men who were reading the flyer took the paper and while giggling, they chose two names, and they said they were the members of the Young Pioneers.
After that they pointed to the other man and said, “Hey how about him? He is actually a Party member! You should ask him to quit too!” That man was still looking at the other materials. After hearing those two men, he took the flyer and looked at it for a while, then smiled and said, “OK, I’ll quit too.” I then passed the paper with the names to him, and he chose a name. I could not believe what had just happened! I had actually managed to help these men to quit the Party. I thanked Master from deep down my heart for assisting and strengthening me.
When I looked inward I saw that I had many attachments that had stopped me from stepping forward sooner. I then realized that many of our false human notions and attachments rise from selfishness initially, and when I just stepped forward and gave it a try, it all worked! We just have to step forward and make the move here in the human world. The rest is all taken care of by Master.
I now always carry English and Chinese truth clarification materials with me because I believe I should always be prepared to save people who are predestined to be saved, in order to fulfill my vow.
Apart from the local Chinese, approximately 350 thousand Chinese tourists visit Dubai every year.
Master said,
“There is an increasing number of tourist groups from Mainland China nowadays. This is an arrangement for people to hear the truth in a different setting. Our truth-clarification sites are, in fact, the front line—the front line for clarifying the truth. But some areas have dropped this, as they’re busy with other projects. Those too have an effect, of course, and should be done; I affirm all Dafa disciple projects, as all of them can have an effect in clarifying the truth and saving people. But, now there are so many tourist groups, and many of the tourists from Mainland China, in particular, have not managed to hear the truth.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Western U.S. Fa Conference”)
Therefore I decided to pay more attention to Chinese tourists who visit my city. I sometimes feel anxious because I can’t clarify the truth to all the Chinese tourists or even the locals because there are very few of us here. I just feel I have a great responsibility. I believe I have many sentient beings to save, and I have a great mission to accomplish, so I ask Master to give me the strength and wisdom to do things well, and always guide me to follow the path that He has arranged for me.
My Ride to Freedom Journey
During the summer of 2015, 25 young practitioners from 15 different countries biked across the U.S. in the Ride To Freedom project. We started on June 1, Children’s Day, in Los Angeles, and ended on July 16 in Washington DC. Our mission was to raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China, and also help some orphan children who had lost their parents due to the persecution.
During the ride we got great media attention and support from lots of everyday people, politicians, and businesses. I also had many physical hardships, as I am not an athletic person. So going up hills was very difficult for me during the ride. Also, when the whole team was biking together to an event or press conference and everyone was biking so fast, I could not catch up and I always fell behind. However, my teammates always encouraged me and told me, “You can do it. Just recite, 'Falun Dafa is good', 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good'. It will give you strength and you can pedal and catch up!” I did so, and it really gave me strength. I was very moved by the cooperation, encouragement, and teamwork.
This was a one-of-a-kind experience for us all. It provided us with great opportunities to clarify the truth to a wide range of people, from east to west, from government officials to street beggars; we clarified the truth to anybody and everybody. We did not care about the position or the social status of the person.
For instance in one of our public events we got the chance to give flyers and take selfies with our supporters. Near the end of the event, the youngest rider on the team approached me, and said, “I came across a beggar and I gave her some food, but I forgot to tell her about the Ride To Freedom.” We shared that every sentient being is precious, and we should not judge anyone based on his or her look or status, so we should go find her. Then both she and I went to look for the lady. We found her and talked to her. She listened to us carefully and understood everything we told her. At the end we asked her if she would like to take a selfie with us to show her support, and she was happy to do so!
I really thank Master for giving me this great opportunity to clarify the truth to so many people, and help me fulfill my vows. I hope I will strive to do even better in the future, and make Master happy and proud. As Dafa practitioners we must use this last chance and clarify the truth to as many people as we can, and never let any attachment stop us. Dafa is boundless and its miraculous effect can guide all of us. We just have to cultivate whole-heartedly and have full faith in Master and Dafa.
I would like to end my sharing with Master’s teaching at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference:
“Everything here in human society was established for Fa-rectification, and all that exists today exists for the sake of my Dafa disciples validating the Fa. Remember: you are the stars of today's world, you are the lives that sentient beings are watching the most intently, and you are beings who are determining the future of every person in the human world! (Applause) So, saving all beings and cultivating yourselves well are of the utmost importance for you, the Dafa disciples. It's not done just for the Consummation of your own being--it is also about fulfilling the hopes that have been placed in you by sentient beings, by more beings!”
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2016 New York Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
