(Minghui.org) I became a Falun Dafa practitioner in the fall of 1997. I played the recordings of Master's nine days of lectures for my wife. She listened with her eyes closed. Master's words touched her heart, and she asked me to take her to the group exercise site the next day. I was very happy for her.
She became a Dafa practitioner just like that. From then on, we went to do the exercises every morning.
My Wife's Unyielding Will to Live
Before my wife became a Falun Dafa practitioner, she suffered from chronic insomnia. There were times she couldn’t sleep for two or even three weeks at a time. No matter what we tried to help her sleep, she could not.
When she tried sleeping pills, she started with one or two pills and worked up to five or six at a time. It was of no use. Sometimes, we took her to the hospital to get a sedative injection. It numbed her mind and her expression went blank.
She would lay in bed trying to sleep. I guarded the door so nobody would come in and disturb her. I so wished she could fall asleep for even just a short while. When I would finally creep in to check on her, she would be laying there wide awake.
Being a Christian, she prayed for sleep, but nothing she tried helped. But after my wife started to practice Falun Dafa, everything changed for the better. Her insomnia went away and she was able to get a full night's sleep. It seemed like a miracle, and we were joyous beyond words. Not only did her insomnia disappear, she could even see into other dimensions.
Before I became a cultivator of Dafa, I was a picky eater. I am not anymore. People I know comment that I look much younger than others my age. I am very healthy now. I am grateful to Master and Dafa.
The Persecution
As the number of Falun Dafa practitioners increased in the early days, our practice site reached its capacity and we had to create more sites. Falun Dafa had a very positive impact in our area. We were very orderly as we gathered together at a sports complex for our morning exercises.
Passersby would stop and watch the magnificent sight and ask about Falun Dafa. Our hearts were filled with happiness and we eagerly shared Dafa with family, friends, and whomever we met. People from other townships and even remote areas came to our practice site to do the exercises and learn.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was on the move. Undercover police officers pretending to be Dafa practitioners insinuated themselves among us. They gathered practitioners' personal information and took pictures and videos.
The persecution came on like a hurricane. Propaganda slandered Dafa nonstop in every type of media. The pressure was tremendous; it was like we were being suffocated. Some practitioners were frightened. Others wanted justice for Dafa and came out to clarify the truth of the persecution.
My wife and I were arrested for handing out pamphlets that revealed the truth behind the persecution. Our arrests were like the end of the world for our families. Our elderly parents silently wept. Each day was like an eternity to them.
The Flame Cannot Be Extinguished
Conditions in the detention center were deplorable. Sometimes all you could hear was the sound of shackles, chains, and locks behind the iron doors. It was cold, damp, and gloomy, and there was no reprieve. I was crammed into a small cell with a dozen criminals. At night, ice formed in the cell and melted during the day. Water dripped from the ceiling and seeped into my thin mattress, soaking it. My world was turned upside down. One can go mad in such a place.
One time I saw my wife during an interrogation. She told me she couldn't sleep again and that her chest pain was unbearable. My heart jumped. Later when I heard an ambulance siren, my heart beat rapidly. I sent a thought to her: “Wife, many people are watching us, so we cannot give up. Falun Dafa is good—we must endure this!”
Even in that setting, my wife did not yield to threats. She did the exercises and sent forth righteous thoughts every day. But she could not sleep and her chest pain worsened. She was barely able to sleep for two months straight, and her life was dangling by a thread. At that point, if anyone even had the thought of giving up, they could easily leave this world.
A person that has not slept is like an oil lamp without oil. If no oil is added, eventually the flame will die.
On the verge of death, my wife called out in her heart, “Master, save me. I want to go home with Master!” That heartfelt plea echoed throughout her body.
Suddenly, a scene appeared in front of her. A creature wearing body armor stood next to her, his blazing eyes aimed at her and shooting out fire. She felt intense heat and struggled in pain.
She then fell asleep for over an hour. When she woke up, she felt refreshed, as though her life's lamp had been refilled with oil. But after that encounter, she did not sleep again for two more months. Not being able to sleep or eat brought her to near death.
My wife's situation distracted me, but Master enlightened me: “If you do not care and do not put them on your mind, with the master and the Fa here what is there to fear?” (Lecture in Sydney)
I found that Master was with us all the time, and there was nothing to be afraid of! I let go of my attachments to my wife.
My wife eventually had a refreshing nap again. This cycle repeated itself many times during our several years of imprisonment. Yet Master protected us and kept our “life lamps” going strong.
Back at Home
My wife and I were released, and we filled each other in on what had happened to us during our imprisonment. I was moved by what she had gone through and shared her story on the Minghui website. I am forever grateful to Dafa's miraculous power.
Soon after we were released, my wife started suffering sickness karma. One day I heard a conversation in another dimension: One voice asked the other when to take my wife away. The other voice replied, “Tomorrow.”
I understood that Master allowed me to hear the evil forces' conversation so that the outcome could depend on us practitioners. Without hesitation, I asked three other practitioners over to our house to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil that conspired to take my wife. One of the fellow practitioners said, “She's suffered so much already. We cannot let the evil forces take her.”
After a period of strong, frequent righteous thoughts, the evil forces were eliminated and my wife quickly recovered.
