(Minghui.org) Nearly 10,000 practitioners attended the recent New York Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference. Thirteen practitioners spoke at the conference and explained how they applied Falun Dafa principles, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, at work and in daily life to improve themselves as well raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Practitioners from 53 countries attended the 2016 New York Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference.

Cultivate Oneself Well and Become a Good Coordinator

Ms. Chen, a member of Falun Dafa Association in Seattle, spoke at the conference and talked about the importance of the role of coordinator. More specifically, a coordinator needs to lead the group to do well in cultivation, so that practitioners can all improve and remain diligent.

“Dafa disciples may come from different places and each has his or her mission,” she said. She said a coordinator should always help practitioners. She also realized Master has helped her a lot and that she should not do things with human notions.

Another conference speaker, Dean Tsaggari from California, said he began to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. Soon afterward, he became a practice site assistant and then a member of the local Falun Dafa Association. Although he tried to improve himself and coordinate well, one major physical tribulation in 2000 made him almost lose confidence. After joining others to send forth righteous thoughts at the Chinese Consulate, he regained his health. Through this experience, he realized that cultivation is serious and that one must be diligent in the practice and in one's faith.

After working in the news media for nearly 8 years, Dean was once again appointed as a coordinator. By letting go of selfishness, he put lots of effort into improving the cultivation environment in Northern California such as locating a good place for practitioners to study in a large group. “As a coordinator, I know I have to help other practitioners to fulfill their prehistoric vows and save more people.”

Thirteen practitioners presented experience-sharing papers at the conference.

Working in News Media

Three practitioners working in New Tang Dynasty (NTD) and Sound of Hope (SOH) presented their experience sharing articles. Ms. Huang from NTD in New York said she began to practice in 2005 and joined television media in the same year. Her role changed several times in the past 11 years, which brought many challenges. As she ran into financial difficulty, she realized she had been focusing too much on making money instead of saving people.

After changing her mindset, Ms. Huang made quick progress in her cultivation as well as collaborative work with others. She had hosted numerous events in New York that attracted up to 700 people.

Ms. Shen from SOH in San Francisco learned to look within upon experiencing conflicts with others. “I know this opportunity did not come easy, so I always try to make the best use of it.” Despite her busy schedule in the news media, she also participated in the Divine Land Marching Band. In spite of physical fatigue after driving home late at night, she met a client the next morning and managed to close a deal of a large amount that had not seemed possible before.

Seizing Opportunities to Raise Awareness

Ms. Chen in Los Angeles shared how she reached out to organizations in the community to introduce them to Shen Yun, traditional Chinese culture, and Falun Dafa. She gave 42 speeches in the past year and the audience included Canadian MPs, billionaires, political organizations, and journalists. After placing Fa-study, exercises, and assimilating to the Fa as the highest priority, Ms. Chen encountered many opportunities to improve her skills and wisdom. Many people learned about Falun Dafa and the persecution from her presentations.

Ms. Pan from Switzerland has been going to tourist sites since 2005, both debunking hate propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and helping Chinese people to quit their memberships in the Party. During this process, some Chinese swore at her and spies damaged her materials cart, but she remained undisturbed. She looked inward to improve herself and talked with Chinese people with compassion so that they could be saved. In the beginning dozens of Chinese people quit the Party each year with her help. This number increased to hundreds or thousands later on, and it was more than 14,000 last year.

Ms. Xi in New York shared some stories about her family relationships. Seeing that her father was against Falun Dafa because of propaganda from the CCP, she looked inside for her own attachments and consistently made progress in her cultivation. In the end, her father changed and also became a practitioner.

Walking the Path Well

John Perry, a Western practitioner who first heard about Falun Dafa about one year ago, finished reading Zhuan Falun in four days. He then read through all of the teachings by Master Li in two months. After sharing his experience of overcoming lust and fear, as well as how he helped with Shen Yun promotion, he realized that, “Only by studying the Fa well could we walk on the cultivation path better.”

Ghazal Tavanaei from Dubai works on marketing for a news corporation. Knowing every chance of interacting with clients is not accidental, she did her best to help them to learn about Falun Dafa. At the same time, her good relationship with them and trustworthy character led to many successful business contracts.

With a heart for saving Chinese people who have been misled by the CCP's propaganda, Ghazal spent some time learning Chinese. Eventually she was able to communicate in Chinese and shared a story of how she helped three Chinese in Chinatown to renounce their membership in CCP organizations.