(Minghui.org) I am 63 years old and have practiced Falun Dafa for 16 years. I am a caregiver for a 90-year-old paraplegic woman. My friends and relatives advised me not to take the job because it is very demanding, involves toileting and bathing the client, could potentially put me in a position of liability, and is of low status. But I still took the job and have done it for seven years.
In May 2005, I left home to avoid being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). A job agency found this job for me. At that time, the old lady was hospitalized, having had surgery. When her eldest son took me to her room, she was very pale and skinny, and was curled up like a ball. Her neck was stiff and her arms were tightly crossed in front of her chest. She was unable to take care of herself. She had severe bedsores from lying in bed for so long. One near her tailbone was the size of an egg. One could see her bone through the hole and there was pus coming out of the sore. She kept shouting, “Gosh, Gosh.” Her son asked me, “My mother is the most difficult person to take care of. Can you do the job?” “I have strong endurance,” I replied. I had a firm thought: This is my cultivation path; Dafa can rectify everything.
When my client was quiet, I showed her a copy of Zhuan Falun and said, “This book teaches people to be good people and it is extremely effective for healing illness and getting people fit. Let's read it together.” She refused, saying, “It's Falun Gong's book. I am afraid to read it. If other people see it, I will be in big trouble.” I saw that she was frightened. Actually, I knew that it was the evil in other dimensions that was scared.
She had a strong reaction the first couple of nights. She wouldn't sleep at all, and kept asking me to help her sit up and then lie down a few minutes later. She kept cursing and giving me vicious looks. I got so exhausted that I had almost no strength to carry water to her room. “This must be the evil controlling her,” I thought. Then I started sending forth righteous thoughts. Before I finished reciting the formula, she had fallen asleep. I knew that I had understood the situation correctly, so Teacher helped me clear the environment.
The woman's doctors had no confidence in treating her. Her children had also lost hope. They stopped treatment and simply took her home.
I lived in her home. I washed her and fed her every day. Following the required standards for a cultivator, I was very sincere and treated her kindly. I knew that she, too, came to the world for the Fa. She saw the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa from my behavior and accepted the truth of Dafa. I taught her to say, “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” She said it sincerely every day. We also watched Teacher's lecture video and listened to his audio recordings. I realized that her health was improving. One day, all of her children came home. She asked for instant noodles with egg and ate a whole bowl of it.
Her children were frightened. They discussed among themselves, “Is Mom about to go? How can she eat this much and have so much energy? Getting her to eat in the past was even harder than getting her to take her medicine. Is this her last hurrah before she passes on?”
A few months went by. Not only did she not die, but the hole at her tailbone healed. She was able to turn her neck. All of her bedsores healed and new skin grew, and she had enough strength to hold things.
One day she told me that she saw a big fireball fly into her home and that it eliminated many bad things. All she saw afterward were beautiful flowers, a river, and fish swimming in it. I told her, “Teacher has opened your celestial eye for you; He is encouraging you. We must cultivate diligently.” When I studied the Fa, she smiled at me, “There are flowers on your head. So beautiful! So much!” I asked her how big they were. She said as big as a soft drink bottle.
As she got better and better, her children stopped worrying about her. They became so happy. In the summer, the whole family gathered together. Her children sat around her and celebrated her improvement. The best thing is that her whole family understood the truth of Dafa and witnessed Dafa's miracle.
The wife of the eldest son said, “We should all thank the caregiver. Mom would never have gotten any better without her help.” The wife of the second son said, “You came to us at the right time. You saved our whole family. You don't know how much we suffered in the past few years. Six people took three shifts to watch Mom. There was a lot of bitterness.” The eldest daughter said, “If you came a few days later, we might have already collapsed.” Her husband said, “You are like her third daughter.” I knew that Dafa had brought this fortune to her family.
Entrusted and Respected
The old lady has five children. Counting great-grand children, she has over 20 family members. At major holidays and her birthday, all the younger generations give her money. After a few years, she accumulated over 80,000 yuan. Her whole family insisted that I manage the money despite my repeated refusal to do so.
She also told me, “You have been with me for many years. How wonderful it would be if everyone practiced Falun Gong and became a good person! How come the government does not let people practice? Look how healthy you are. No illness at all. I want to ask all my children to practice, but they can't bear the hardship. I see you spending time each day reading the book, doing the exercises, and at night you go out to pass out the books [I distribute truth-clarification materials]. Are all practitioners doing the same thing?” “Yes,” I answered.
I lived with the old lady, bought food for her every day, and managed her money. At the grocery store, I always bought inexpensive vegetables and saved her quite a bit. If there was a mistake, I would use my own money to cover the loss. I recorded every purchase in my account book and never took advantage of her. I remembered Teacher's words: “he is full of great aspirations while minding minor details” (“Sage,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Her children respected me a lot. They treated me as a member of their family. They sometimes brought food and treats for me and repeatedly told me that I should eat them before they went bad. Sometimes I pretended to be unhappy about it, “I don't want it. Please don't give them to me anymore.” But they still kept bringing things to me. Actually, it was just that I didn't have time to enjoy those treats. Also, cultivation is very serious; I should not indulge myself.
Passing a Test
During the seven years that I stayed with the old lady, we moved 14 times. In the winter we moved to apartment buildings with heat and in the summer we moved to a cooler rambler. Moving annoyed me. One day the second sister came and talked about moving again. My face got red and my hands and feet were cold. I told myself that I must mind my xinxing and not have a bad temper. I forced myself to wash a cloth as distraction. But I still couldn't hold back and complained, “Who would move like this!”
The second sister (a practitioner since 2005) said to me calmly, “Shuxian (the wife of the second son) is a non-practitioner. We are practitioners. Please be mindful about what they will think of us.” I retorted, “So what? Being a cultivator, then what? Don't say anything. Just leave and I will pack.”
Shuxian said, “I am surprised that you have such a strong reaction to moving.” Then she left.
After Shuxian left, I had a feeling of satisfaction in my subconscious and went to complain to the second sister, hoping to get her sympathy. “It is your fault,” the second sister said to me in all seriousness. “There are no accidents in cultivation. Everything that happens is related to your cultivation. First, there is a potential safety risk for you if you always clarify truth at the same place and at the same time. Second, there might be some people at the new place waiting for you to save them. Didn't Teacher tell us that we should think of others first? You need to change your temper. Wherever the old lady goes, just go with her.”
I still couldn't take it. In the next few days, Teacher kept giving me hints: a pair of scissors broke when I used them; a light bulb fell on my head and smashed; a magpie stood at the windowsill, whispering all the while. I then realized that it was indeed my fault and that I needed to fix it right away.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, I saw Shuxian and apologized to her, “I came to apologize to you today. I hurt your feelings the other day. My Teacher told me to live by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, but I didn't do it well. Please forgive me.” “Actually we never take you as an outsider,” she said. “Everyone has her bad days. We are one family, so don't worry so much. You have taken such a good care of Mom. We have only appreciation for you. How could I get angry with you?”
Because I was able to find my mistake quickly and fix it according to the standards of the Fa, I felt that my mind was much cleaner and my xinxing was enhanced.
Busy Saving People
When I first came to the town where the old lady lived, I didn't know any practitioners. To save people, I bought a few sketch books, folded each page, and cut them into two-inch strips. I wrote “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good; Heaven will eliminate the CCP; quit the CCP to save your own life” on the strips. After sending forth righteous thoughts at noon, I went out to post the strips. If it rained I would go to apartment buildings, and if it was sunny I would post them outside. In addition, I rode a train a hundred miles to another city for truth-clarification materials once a month. I brought back as much as I could carry.
In August, I brought back a large bag full of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party that weighed over 20 pounds. I hadn't eaten the whole day. I saw a street vendor selling noodles for seven yuan. But seven yuan was very precious to me. I could make more truth-clarification materials with seven yuan. So I continued walking. When I was exhausted, I sat down to take a break. I kept sweating. After a few breaks, I was afraid to take another one. If I put the bag down again, I might not have the strength to pick it up again.
Then, I saw a several residential buildings right in front of me. Why was I so narrow-minded? Saving people can be done at any place and at any time. Maybe there were predestined people here waiting to be saved. I picked up the bag and walked calmly into the building.
A few more months passed. I asked Teacher in my heart to let me meet the local practitioners. One day as I was looking for a good spot to post my strips, two people approached me. One asked, “You're wearing such light clothes. Aren't you cold?” “I am OK,” I replied. She then asked me, “Have you heard of quitting the CCP to save your life?” They were practitioners! I was so excited that I hugged them with tears in my eyes. Thank you, Teacher, for arranging this path for me.
Since the second sister practiced Dafa, we worked together to clarify the truth to everyone in her family. All of the more than 20 family members quit the CCP. Over 50 people work at the employment company that hired me. I also helped them quit the CCP. Sometimes when we took the old lady outside in her wheelchair for fresh air and sunlight, people came to say hello to her. I sent forth righteous thoughts, and the second sister clarified the truth to them. It was quite effective.
During the Chinese New Year, the older generation traditionally gives money to the younger generations. The second sister and I prepared truth-clarification money (writing truth-clarification statements on the notes). We gave out 7,000 yuan in truth-clarification money.
Truth-clarification can be done anytime. For example, when escorting guests out of the room, taking out the trash, and going to the grocery store, I take some truth-clarification pamphlets, Nine Commentaries , and Shen Yun performance DVDs with me. I give them to people with predestined relationships. The practitioner who printed the truth-clarification messages on the bills made it extremely elegant. People really liked these bills. Sometimes I counted the money in front of the vendor, and he would ask me to exchange the money with him. A fruit vendor once said that the street residential committee had a meeting and told them not to accept money with characters written on it. I told him that the truth-clarification money could bring him good fortune. From then on, I brought him 100 one-yuan bills from time to time. He thanked me profusely each time.
Righteous Actions of My Company Manager
The manager of my employment company also understood the truth. One day he told me, “Two groups of police came to our company in the past two days. They asked if there were any Falun Gong practitioners here. I told them we don't have any.”
A few days later, he told me, “I want to set up a small shrine for your Teacher's picture in my room. Please tell me the size of his picture. I will hire a carpenter to design a cabinet with two levels. I will put his picture in it and an incense burner. There will be a curtain and a door outside. In the morning and evening, I will light incense for your Teacher and honor him.” I told him, “You have done two great things. You will receive enormous virtue.”
