(Minghui.org) When my wife gave birth to our son in May 1998, her older sister was with her in the hospital.
The doctor who delivered the baby was a Falun Gong practitioner. My wife had asked the doctor not to use any painkillers, and the doctor readily agreed. The delivery process was very smooth, and both mother and child were healthy. Her older sister saw it all.
My wife’s family members supported our Falun Dafa practice before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. After the persecution began, however, they changed their attitude towards Dafa––especially my wife's older sister.
My wife's sister is more than ten years older than my wife. She is enthusiastic and loves to help others. She has liked to make decisions for my wife since they were very young, and basically acted the part of the older sister in everything.
When she was a child, she witnessed how people fought each other during the CCP's various political movements, and later went to the countryside as a to-be-educated youth. After experiencing the June 4th Movement in 1989, she witnessed the CCP’s massacre of students, and developed a profound fear of the CCP. She therefore avoided anything that might provoke the wicked CCP out of fear that she may be turned into a target.
After the CCP cruelly slandered and persecuted Falun Gong, our family members came to persuade us to give up Dafa cultivation practice. My wife’s elder sister directly asked us to “adapt ourself to the circumstances.”
“The CCP can ruin your family by saying just one sentence. Don’t throw an egg at a rock, don’t be stupid and cause your own undoing!” she said.
We told our family the facts of the situation, that the CCP had launched a slanderous propaganda campaign and spread lies. Everyone gradually came to understand the facts, and some even asked us to pay attention to our safety. But my wife's sister seemed to believe the lies on TV, completely denying the miracles she had witnessed due to Dafa, and seemed to harbor an inexplicable hatred towards Dafa.
She had been in poor health, with various stomach diseases and insomnia. She is very thin and has to constantly take all kinds of medicine.
After practicing Falun Gong, my wife and I have personally experienced the wonders of Falun Gong. As long as we cultivate our xinxing according to the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Master purifies our bodies so that we are free of disease. We told her about how we benefited from practicing Dafa. She didn't deny it, but shook her head, as she didn't dare to practice Dafa.
Once, when we were having dinner with her sister, my wife said that the Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation that had been broadcast on TV was directed by the CCP for deceiving people; it was completely faked, and used to incite hatred.
“The teachings taught by Master Li tell people to cherish lives, and clearly state that suicide is a sin. Practitioners are absolutely forbidden to commit suicide,” she said. “Jiang Zemin and his group are spreading rumors and slandering Falun Gong. They want to incite people who don’t know about Falun Gong to hate the practice and Falun Gong practitioners. We must not be deceived.”
Her elder sister immediately became angry and raised her voice.
“It's useless to say that! You are not deceived, but you may be arrested. And your child is so young, how will your family live then?”
On another Sunday, my wife went to visit her parents and was doing the sitting meditation on a bed at noon. Her sister happened to see my wife, scolded her, and rushed over to pull her off the bed. She was so scared that the police would break in and take us away.
One day after the Beijing Olympics, my wife handed out a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to a person and was reported. She was arrested and detained at a local women’s labor camp.
During that time, my wife’s grandmother passed away. At the funeral, the relatives asked about my wife. My mother-in-law, who was over 80 years old at the time and had been fearful for her daughter's life, couldn't help bursting into tears.
Others condemned the CCP for persecuting good people. My wife's sister saw what happened and was irritated. After the funeral, she took my son to the labor camp to see my wife. At the visitation room, there was no comforting words from her, only cursing.
“You can go home if you just sign a document saying you won't cultivate. Why don't you do it? You practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and yet you would rather be detained in a labor camp. Why can’t you back down? You make others worry about you and you suffer by yourself. Aren’t you being foolish?!”
Across the glass in the meeting room, my wife, who'd had her hair cut short and who was pallid and thin, smiled weakly at her furious sister and her tearful son.
“Whose fault is this?” she asked.
Her sister became silent.
People gradually learned about the cruel persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the labor camp. My wife was beaten, scolded, and bullied by prisoners, prodded by the officers, and her detention was extended by two months. She finally managed to return home after being illegally detained for 20 months.
She refused to sign any form guaranteeing that she would give up her beliefs. Because she was not "transformed," she continued to be tracked and monitored by the 610 Office and the local police after returning home.
Since she was monitored, stalked, and harassed all the time, she gradually got used to it and stopped being afraid. She continued to clarify the truth to those who came into contact with her. She exposed the CCP’s lies so that people would no longer be deceived by CCP propaganda.
We made use of all available resources to produce and send out a large number of materials, including Falun Dafa truth leaflets, pamphlets, CD disks, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and other literature.
My wife's sister's family didn't listen to us explain things in person, so we mailed these materials to her instead. Sometimes, we'd also hang them on her house's doorknob, or discreetly leave them around her house.
The effort paid off, and over time she and her husband read a lot of the literature we sent. The video “Legend of the Future” left an especially deep impression on her husband; he understood the truth after watching it. But my wife's sister still refused to let us say anything about cultivation.
She finally came around when my mother-in-law fell critically ill. My mother-in-law was getting older and had been in poor health. She and my father-in-law believed in an ancestral Taoist practice, where they would burn incense and ask deities for blessings.
The old couple had the opportunity to learn about Falun Dafa early-on, but after the CCP started the persecution, and coupled with the hatred towards Dafa from their older daughter, they didn't dare listen to the truth of the matter from my wife.
My mother-in-law later became seriously ill and went to the hospital. She had gallbladder cancer. After staying in the hospital for a period of time and trying all kinds of treatments, the doctor said there was no cure and sent her home.
At home, she had terrible pain, which even strong drugs could not relieve.
My wife said to her, “You are in such pain. Just listen to me and say this with me, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ Okay?”
“As long as it can stop my pain, I'll do anything you say!” said her mother.
They recited “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” together. Twenty minutes later, she fell asleep.
After waking up, my mother-in-law continued to recite the phrases over and over again. A miracle happened... Without any medication, she had no pain. She was able to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom normally. She cried.
“I didn't expect Falun Gong to be so powerful,” she said. “If I had practiced Falun Gong, it would have been great!”
One month later, my mother-in-law passed away peacefully. After watching her mother's changes and the life and death process with her own eyes, my wife's sister was very touched. The ice that had hardened around her soul for over 20 years finally melted, and the sacredness and wonder of Falun Gong finally awakened her!
At my mother-in-law's funeral, my wife's sister brought up the topic of Falun Gong and solemnly expressed her apologies to Dafa in her own way.
She now not only recites “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” by herself, but also tells others about the truth of Falun Gong when she has the opportunity.
“Don't believe what the TV and newspapers say. What Falun Gong says is true,” she says.
When she went to visit her relatives and friends, she called up my wife and said, “Hurry, tell others ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good’!”
Her change freed the whole family from the fearful and ominous atmosphere she'd created, and her own health improved. Whenever we talk about the changes in my wife’s sister, my wife and I are full of emotion.
I sincerely thank our compassionate and magnanimous Master for giving us such a great opportunity--and for giving my sister-in-law a new lease on life.