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[Selected Submission] My Experiences in a Laundry Shop

June 03, 2012 |   By Yu Lian, a Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province, China

(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996. During the first Fa lecture that I attended, Master purified my body and gave me a Law Wheel. Before that, I always felt physical discomfort. After the nine Fa lectures, I felt very comfortable and relaxed; all illnesses that I had vanished. After that, I stepped onto my cultivation path.

I read the Fa every day and conducted myself according to Master's teaching in Zhuan Falun. My bad temper gradually became mild, and I did not quarrel with my husband anymore. I also started considering him first. My husband's temperament also calmed down as I changed, and my family became harmonious. Dafa changed me.

After I was laid off in 1998, I opened a laundry shop. I rented space from a government agency. My little shop became a good business, and I had a good relationship with the staff of the agency. They all had a good impression of me and my family. One day, my husband invited the electrician of the agency to a meal. The next day, the electrician turned off our electric meter, which meant that we would save about 100-200 yuan per month.

When I learned about this, I spoke to my husband based on the principles of the Fa and told him about the principle of “no loss, no gain” (Zhuan Falun). I hoped that he would talk to the electrician and tell him that we would prefer not to take advantage. My husband said he understood the principle. However, to avoid embarrassment, he did not want to talk to the electrician about this issue. I also did not know how to talk to the electrician, but when I thought about my being a Falun Dafa practitioner but not following Master's teaching, I felt very concerned.

I discussed my situation with fellow practitioners. They all encouraged me to talk to the electrician myself. When I talked to the electrician, he was deeply moved. He said, “I support you. I will fix the meter right away.”

Something else occurred in 1998. In the pockets of some clothes that a customer had brought to my shop to wash, I found 2,400 yuan. When the customer came to get her clothes two days later, she asked me, “Did you find any money in the pocket of the washed clothes?” I asked her, “How much money?” She said with a smile, “2,000 yuan.” I told her, “The number is not right, and I will not give you the money unless you tell me the right number.” She said, “I was afraid that you would not give it to me, so I purposely told you a smaller number.” I told her about the beauty of Dafa. She was moved and wanted to give me 400 yuan, but I refused. Several days later, she came to visit my shop and brought some gifts. I did not want to make her feel bad, so I accepted her gifts.

I calculated in my mind that she had probably spent about 250 yuan on these gifts. I discussed with my husband that we should give her 250 yuan. At that time, I kept in mind similar situations that Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun: One practitioner brought back to the textile factory the towels he had taken home before practicing Falun Dafa, and another practitioner donated money to his workplace after his child had won a luxury junior bike in a lottery. I put 250 yuan into a pocket of the clothes that she was going to pickup.

For validating Dafa locally and going to Beijing, I was illegally arrested four times and sent to detention centers, labor camps, and brainwashing centers. Due to the persecution, I had to give up my laundry shop.

In 2005, I opened another laundry shop. Many of my old customers returned. They told me that they had been looking for me everywhere, and some of them had gone into every dry-cleaning shop to see whether I was running the shop. They said that they trusted only me. Some told me that they had been looking for me for years. They all knew that I cultivated in Falun Dafa and strived to be a good person; they all listened to my truth clarification; and they all knew that I was persecuted.

One day, the electrician mentioned above found my new laundry shop. I started to talk to him about withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. Before I finished saying a couple of phrases, he said to me: “I already know that the CCP is corrupt. I saw the righteousness of Dafa from your conduct. Please help me to withdraw from the CCP.”

One day, a customer came to pick up five items of clothing that her husband had dropped off. However, she did not bring the claim ticket to pick up the clothes. I told her that I could only give her the clothes after I see the ticket. She yelled at me and said that I was too rigid, telling me that other cleaners never asked her for the ticket. I explained to her that it was to be responsible for her items, but she didn't seem to understand. Instead, she insisted on trying to take the clothes away. She yelled at me at the same time, saying that she would not came to my shop anymore. I kept Master's words in mind and reminded myself not to be moved by her behavior; I wanted to save her. I sent forth righteous thoughts silently. In a dozen minutes, she started to calm down. She said that if I did not believe her, she would call her husband to verify it. From the phone call, I verified her identity. I then agreed to give her the clothes. After I packaged her clothes, I took out 400 yuan that I had found in the clothes before the wash and gave it to her. She stood there unwilling to accept the money; she did not believe there had been so much money in the pocket. I put the money in her hand. She said with a blushed face, “I am really embarrassed. You are a good person. Thank you.” I said, “I am doing what my Master has taught us. I practice Falun Dafa.” She smiled and nodded. Since then, she has come to my shop a lot more often.

When I found money in the pockets of clothes to be washed, I returned the money to the customers, and I clarified the facts about Falun Dafa to them. As a result, many of them remembered that “Falun Dafa is good!” Some of them said loudly, “Dafa is good!” when they came into my shop.

Once, I gave change for payment with bills that had truth-clarification statements written on them to a customer. I told him that passing on such truths to other people would get him heavenly rewards. He happily accepted the money and said that he would write “Falun Dafa is good!” on his currency. At the end of last year, as I was placing some truth-clarifying couplets in my shop, he and several other customers took some of the couplets and said they would post them on their doors.

One day, a 70-year-old beggar came to my shop. I told him about the beauty of Dafa and the truth about the persecution. I also explained to him why people need to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. He told me that he had been a soldier and that he was a veteran CCP member. He sincerely listened to my truth clarification and then withdrew from the CCP. He kept saying “Falun Dafa is good!” He also said that he would ask his son to withdraw from the CCP as well. Before he left, I asked him to sincerely recite “Falun Dafa is good!” A short while later, he returned. I asked him whether he needed anything else. He said that he wanted to thank me again, and then he bowed to me and said, “Thank you.” I was moved to tears.

Another time, I met a young man from Guizhou who had come to the area to work. He came to my shop with his hand wrapped in gauze. I asked him,“What happened?” He said, “When I was not careful at work, the machine cut off one of my fingers. I have to go in for a second surgery tomorrow.” I gave him a charm amulet with truth-clarifying statements on it and told him, “Sincerely reading the phrases on the amulet will reduce your pain.” He took the amulet and after looking at it, he said in surprise, “Do you practice Falun Dafa? It is hard for me to believe.” I told him about the beauty of Dafa and told him about the CCP's persecution.

The young man then said, “Wow! What is on TV are all lies against you. I can tell you are a good person just by looking at you.” I explained to him why people need to withdraw from the CCP. After listening, he withdrew from the Party without any hesitation. Three to four days later, after his surgery, he brought five to six friends to my shop. I explained the facts to them and helped them to withdraw from the CCP.

In April 2008, I sold my laundry shop. When my customers saw me afterward, many of them asked me to open another laundry shop. They said that they trusted only me. When I was running the shop, I had hired eight helpers. The helpers not only understood the truth about Falun Dafa, but also asked their family members to withdraw from the CCP. Some of them also took a copy of Zhuan Falun to read at home. They all said that I treated them really well, and that regardless of what business I may go into in the future, they would come back to help.

(From the Call for Submissions to Commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of Falun Dafa’s Introduction)