(Minghui.org) Since the onset of the pandemic, a group of practitioners in my area have been tirelessly talking to people about the persecution of Falun Dafa to awaken their conscience. We know we have very limited time to accomplish this goal. Every morning, we make phone calls, and other times we distribute informational materials.
We’ve had many extraordinary experiences. Last June, the forecast predicted rain every day. Yet, it never rained between 8 and 11 a.m., which was our time for making phone calls, usually outdoors. For safety reasons, we have to change locations and phone cards frequently when making the calls.
One morning, when we found a safe location where we could sit down to make phone calls, dark rain clouds covered the sky. It looked as if it was going to rain right away. Nevertheless, none of us was disturbed. None of us thought we should seek cover. Many times, the rain would start as soon as we returned home. We knew Master was protecting us.
The Pandemic Does Not Slow Us Down
The coronavirus outbreak started around the Chinese New Year in 2020. Usually we took a break from truth-clarification projects around Chinese New Year so we could spend some time with family. When we heard that many people died from the virus, however, we knew we had to hurry to awaken people’s conscience.
Starting on the day after Chinese New Year, we made a lot of handouts and distributed them at night. A local practitioner ran a supermarket. His employees refused to come to work, fearing the virus. The practitioner was extremely busy during the day. He got up at 3 a.m. to distribute the Dafa materials before working in his store.
Practitioners in my team worked as one body. During the day, we made phone calls, and other times we distributed bags containing three cards: one card told people how to break through internet censorship to find real news, another card had a QR code that led people to the book the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and one was an amulet with the message “Falun Dafa is good.”
One practitioner was in charge of printing the cards. The rest of us cut, packaged, and distributed them. To make the amulet look pretty, we decided to make all four corners round. Two practitioners often cut round corners on up to a thousand cards at one time. They repeatedly pushed the cutter. When one hand got numb, they would switch to their other hand.
We formed groups of two to distribute the materials every night. One group could distribute 400 copies in one night. Some districts were locked down, and we were unable to enter through the front gate. We then looked around to find side gates or sometime a hole in the fence to enter. We did not want to miss a single place.
We kept sending righteous thoughts while distributing materials. We asked Master to strengthen us and have every card awaken the conscience of as many people as possible. When we kept calm and held strong righteous thoughts, Master gave us abilities: sometimes, as soon as we took out a bag of cards, a card would fly out of our hands and land at an eye-catching place by itself.
In a two-hour time window, we usually distributed 600 to 800 copies. An elderly practitioner often asked for a thousand cards with information on how to circumvent internet censorship and distributed them on his own. Another practitioner distributed cards not only in the evening but also during the day, and even to the local police station. With everyone's cooperation, we basically covered every corner of our area.
No matter if it was a cold winter or hot summer, we continued to clarify the truth to people. For safety, sometimes we hid inside haystacks to make phone calls. Sometimes we did it in graveyards. On some winter days, it was so cold that it was hard to hold the phones.
During some summer days, as soon as we sat down, mosquitoes swarmed around us. Practitioners' arms and legs were often covered in mosquitoes bites, even if they wore long sleeves. Sometimes we were bitten by ants.
In the springtime, we often pretended to dig for wild vegetables. In the summer, we pretended we were picking wild mushrooms. In the wintertime, people thought we were collecting fallen branches to make a fire.
During the pandemic lockdown, my fellow practitioners did not stop our efforts and overcame various difficulties, including misunderstandings from family members and the inconvenience of clarifying the truth on the streets. We knew that when a person understood the truth, he or she chose a bright future for themselves.
Cultivating Ourselves
For a period of time, the lockdown was loosened. We faced a new challenge: the local government urged citizens to report phone numbers that talk about Falun Dafa. This caused our phone cards to be canceled. We reminded each other not to be disturbed. We sent righteous thoughts to dissolve all the evil elements that interfered with our calls. We believed Master would help us as long as we did things in a righteous way. While our phone cards kept getting canceled, new phone cards were available.
A practitioner said he was disappointed because our efforts to clarify the truth was not as effective as before. Other practitioners reminded him to look within and not be attached to the exact number of people who quit the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) during his calls. He said he tried to look inward, but he did not find his problem.
Another practitioner then shared her own experience of holding onto too many human notions. Once when she was making a phone call, the receiver's ring tone was a song that she disliked. She felt whoever liked this song was dishonest. The call went through, and it was answered by a woman. After a short conversation, she agreed to withdraw from the CCP. The practitioner concluded that we have a lot of human notions that are not aligned with the Fa and should be eliminated. The first practitioner immediately agreed and found a lot of his own notions too.
We often reminded each other to look inward and correct ourselves by using Dafa’s standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Occasionally a practitioner is not in his or her best cultivation state. We would encourage the practitioner to keep calm. He or she always caught up quickly.
We followed what Master told us: “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating,” (“Solid Cultivation”, Hong Yin)
A practitioner recited Hong Yin V whenever he had time, even when waiting for people to answer the phone.
Often, I could feel compassion in fellow practitioners’ voices when they made the phone calls. I saw the distance between me and other practitioners. I reminded myself to cultivate compassion more.
Since the lockdown, we have not been able to read Dafa books together. Yet none of us slacked off in Fa study. Some practitioners read two lectures of Zhuan Falun every day. We know only by studying the Fa well can we fulfill our duty in saving people.
Making phone calls also has the elements of cultivation. When we encounter verbal abuse, taunts, and misunderstandings, we considered them as good opportunities to improve our character. When we hear people who thank us or even recite “Falun Dafa is good” after coming to understand the truth, we were so happy for them!
Nothing Can Disturb Us from Awakening People’s Conscience
At the beginning of April 2020, a number of local practitioners were arrested. Some practitioners suggested pausing our truth-clarification projects. None of the practitioners in our phone call team was disturbed. The evil wanted to scare us into stopping our efforts. When the pandemic was intensifying and sentient beings were in grave danger, we could not stop since we are their only hope.
A practitioner in our team was hit by a car. It was painful for her even to move her arms. Despite the pain, she did not skip clarifying the truth for a single day. Her pain disappeared in two weeks. Several times she noticed someone inside a car watching her when she distributed Dafa materials. She was not scared. She simply went elsewhere.
One day in July 2020, a mass arrest of practitioners took place in our area. Some practitioners' homes were raided. Some of us were followed. During this tense period, our team continued to go out to clarify the truth while paying attention to safety. A practitioner successfully helped six people quit the CCP within 30 minutes. We understood that we were safe as long as we were aligned with the Fa and cultivated well. We intensified sending righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil.
Soon after the mass arrest, the virus outbreak became more serious. We were not disturbed. Our area was not locked down this time. We continued our efforts to awaken people’s conscience.
Master has always encouraged and protected us. When we did well, Master showed us the power of Dafa. When we faced an obstacle, Master hinted that we needed to maintain righteous thoughts. All of us in the phone team treasure the opportunity to awaken people’s conscience.
