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A Happy Family Through Thick and Thin

August 05, 2017 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Shangdong Province, China

(Minghui.org) I am 70 years old and have practiced Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, for 20 years. Even Though the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes Falun Dafa, my family members continue to encourage and support me.

I am very proud of them and also bless them. Here, I would like to share their stories.

Getting through Hard Times with Husband’s Support

After the CCP began to persecute Falun Dafa in 1999, practitioners’ homes were searched and Dafa books were taken away.

I told my husband, “Dafa books are my life. I just cannot hand them over to them.” My husband didn’t practice Falun Dafa, but he was aware that Dafa was good.

One day, several village staff members came to my house and tried to force me to hand over my Dafa books. My husband stood up and said calmly, “The books have been burned.”

He pointed to a bunch of ashes in the kitchen stove and said, “Come and take a look. Here are the ashes.”

They looked and saw the ashes. They couldn't say anything and had to leave.

As soon as they left, I couldn’t help arguing with my husband, “How could you burn my books!”

My husband smiled, “Don’t you worry. I just burned something else. Your Dafa books are safe!”

I was deeply touched—I never expected such an honest man would play such a clever trick to protect my books. I owed him a debt of gratitude from the bottom of my heart.

During the past 18 years, I was detained 9 times, and my husband was under intense pressure. He often felt lonely and frightened.

Every time I was detained, he worried about whether I was being tortured or had been sentenced to prison or sent to a forced labor camp.

At the end of 1999 when I went to Beijing to appeal for justice of Falun Dafa to the higher authorities, I was illegally detained in the local police station and detention center for a total of 100 days.

During this time, my husband looked after our granddaughter on his own. He didn't even know how to cook, let alone how to look after a baby.

He and the baby both suffered a lot during that time. They both lost weight.

Under such difficult circumstances, however, he still thought about me and often brought me meals. He even brought meals for some practitioners who did not have anyone to bring them food.

During the festival season, my husband bought me a large roasted chicken. He wrote a note and put it in the chicken.

The note said a few words to encourage and comfort me. He wanted me to come home as soon as possible.

The note made me feel very sad, and I tried hard not to cry.

In 2001, a practitioner I knew was detained at the local police station. Her family opposed her practice of Falun Dafa and refused to bring her any food.

When I heard about this, I had already been released from the police station. But I still planned to deliver food to her.

My husband thought it would be dangerous for me to do that, so he brought her food three times a day for a week.

At the station, the police officers intimidated my husband and didn’t let him give the food to that practitioner. But my husband didn’t mention it to me, nor did he complain.

It was not until after the practitioner was released from the police station that she told me what had happened.

Since I was illegally detained several times for practicing Falun Dafa, my husband was under tremendous pressure. But he didn’t complain or have any bad thoughts about me.

Sometimes when we came across his acquaintances and friends, I encouraged them to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

My husband now always helps me to persuade people, saying, “Quit, just quit. It will be in your best interest!”

Since they all knew that my husband was a decent and trustworthy man, they agreed to quit the CCP. My husband also persuaded his nephews to quit.

Whenever he saw truth clarification materials I brought home, he would often take some with him to give out.

In 2016, our village built an estate and announced a new rule: If there were two daughters in a household, the village would offer one of them a new flat at a concessional rate so she could look after her parents.

In addition, that daughter would be able to enjoy the benefits offered by the village, such as allocations of flour, cooking oil, and gas.

I had two daughters. The eldest was willing to come home to the village to look after me. We went through most of the procedures; the last one was to get approval from our development zone.

But when the Development Zone officials noticed that I practiced Falun Dafa, the consent to be entitled to the benefit was not granted.

My husband approached the village Party secretary who’d made the promise. This secretary said, “We agreed to offer you an apartment at a concessional rate. It is the government at a higher level who refused your application. I will speak to them.”

My husband was very worried, but he didn’t blame me. Instead, he said, “It has nothing to do with you. It is not your fault. I blame the CCP. Aren’t people who practice Falun Gong entitled to enjoy retirement, too? How nasty the CCP is!”

My husband benefited from his support of Falun Dafa. He used to have very serious hemorrhoids. During the three months I was detained locally, he often came to see me and offered me food without complaint.

From then on, his hemorrhoids were spontaneously healed and never returned.

Busy Saving People with Daughter's Help

Both my daughters and their husbands are aware that Falun Dafa is good, and they have helped me hand out informational materials many times.

Once before New Year’s Eve, I brought home a lot of informational materials. My elder son-in-law said, “Mum, give me some, please. I will hand them out when I visit friends for the holidays.”

My eldest daughter often talked to her colleagues about Dafa, helped them quit the Party, and handed me their names.

Whenever she saw me quarrel with my husband or did anything not in line with Dafa, she would remind me, “You cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Can you reach consummation if you behave like that?”

I was aware that my daughter was helping me, which I appreciated very much.

My younger daughter and her husband were both teachers and very supportive of Dafa. Once, my daughter offered me a ride to my hometown.

I asked her to stop on the way, so I could put up some informational posters. She said, “It is too cold and too slippery outside for you. Let me do it.”

My younger daughter would also stop anyone from removing the Falun Dafa posters at her school whenever she could.

A few years ago, she worked in a village school, and I babysat for her. Whenever I wanted to distribute informational materials during the evening, she insisted on going out with me.

Once, we came across two men patrolling an alley. My daughter managed to get me out of trouble!

The Education Bureau often made the school pressure the students and teachers to sign pledge cards against Dafa. They even asked the students’ parents to sign their names.

My daughter, being a teacher, always kept those things from the students. Whenever the school directed classroom teachers to tell the students to do anything against Dafa, she would never bring it up.

Support Dafa, Receive Blessings

Both my daughters’ families support Dafa, which has brought them blessings in recent years. Nine Udumbara flowers bloomed on my elder daughter’s car, with another large cloud of Udumbara flowers on my younger daughter’s window screen.

I taught the daughter of my elder daughter to meditate at a very young age. As soon as she could talk, I taught her to say, “Falun Dafa is good.”

I also gave her an amulet, which she cherished and never allowed it to be taken off.

From primary school to high school, she has always been one of the top students in her class, recognized by both students and teachers as someone with good character.

The daughter of my younger daughter is in her 5th year of primary school. She is clever and sensible and recognized in her school as a child prodigy.

Her grades are always the highest, and her music and painting are outstanding, always coming in first in competitions.

Last year she entered the provincial robotics competition and won first place. Later, in the national competition, she came in first again!

Both girls are healthy, smart, and attractive. They are growing up full of joy in the sunshine of Falun Dafa.

I am sincerely grateful for our great Master’s kindness, something I will never forget!