Because we had never heard of Hongfa activities being held in Trenton or of Falun Dafa practitioners living there, our group from central New Jersey decided to spend a weekend there. We chose to promote the Fa in Catwalk Park in West Trenton.
We arrived on a Sunday afternoon to find that the parking lot was unusually full on account of a concert playing in the park. We quickly set up the poster boards and banners, and started the exercises. The energy field attracted people almost instantly. While some of us practiced, others distributed flyers with sincere hearts of compassion.
A young African-American man named Michael expressed deep interest in our practice. Dana, a young Western practitioner, greeted him warmly. Dana is a college student who obtained Dafa only four months ago but has experienced major changes in his mind and body. He often shares that his "whole life changed in these few months." He attends group practice and reading every morning and ever since he obtained Dafa has been promoting it to his relatives and friends with great enthusiasm. Regardless of where he might be, whether at a restaurant, the beach, in school, or at work, with a bright and cheerful disposition, he tells almost anyone he meets how good Falun Dafa is!
When Michael learned about Dana's experiences, he wanted to learn more about Falun Dafa. He told Dana that it gave him a great feeling. He said that he had always been enthusiastic about doing community work, especially work that involved juvenile delinquents. He felt lucky to have found such a good practice and thought it would be the perfect thing to help the kids he worked with change their negative behavior. Michael also shared how his meeting with us was a real coincidence. He laughed because although he lives nearby and should know the area, he had lost his way en route to some other business. It appeared that he had come upon our group by accident.
Michael stayed with us for two hours and learned the five exercises from Dana. He also wanted to start reading the books. Moved by his sincerity, Dana decided to continue assisting Michael. They agreed that during the following one to two weeks Dana would go to the park at 6:30 a.m. everyday to teach the exercises and try to establish a new practice site with Michael. The rest of us were deeply moved by these two Americans. We presented Michael with a copy of China Falun Gong and a copy of Zhuan Falun. Xiao Wu, another practitioner, volunteered to join their new group.
Starting the next Monday, Dana and Xiao Wu taught the exercises at 6:30 a.m. in the park, rain or shine. To accommodate Michael's work schedule, they adjusted the time to 6:00 a.m. After the change, three others joined the group.
Xiao Wu is a visiting student from another state studying for a doctorate in Physics. She's in the last stages of her graduation dissertation at Princeton University. We can hardly imagine how busy and intellectually demanding her schedule must be. But we never sense any stress from this gentle and quiet girl. She's always calm and relaxed with a peaceful smile. She religiously attends group reading three times a week and never misses 9-day lecture sessions and other Dafa-promoting activities. Usually she joins the other central New Jersey practitioners at 5:45am for two hours of practice but during those two weeks, she drove for a half-hour each way to join the new group in Trenton. Remarkably, her research did not suffer. She finished her work and won praise from her professor. People cannot fathom how she can do all that she does. She only gets 5 hours of sleep a night and, sometimes, in order to ensure that she'll have enough time for academic work, studying the Fa and practice, she eats her meals on the run. Despite these hardships, she is always very energetic. We witness the extraordinary power of Dafa through her.
With these efforts, Michael and his friends have started studying the Fa and practicing the exercises every morning. We are very happy that they are able to develop their predestined relationship with Dafa. We believe that they are showered with the divine power of Dafa, and hope that they will make steady progress in their cultivation.
