12,000 experts and scholars from around the world participated in the 2000 American Symposium on Nephrology held from October 10-16, 2000, in Toronto.
There was a three-day exhibition held during the conference, from the 13th to the 15th of October, in which many world-renowned medical companies and institutes showcased their products and their achievements in the field of Nephrology. Falun Dafa also took part in this display.
Upon learning that a fellow Dafa disciple, who is an expert in this field, had been invited to give a speech at the conference and that this practitioner had reserved a booth for the exhibition, Toronto practitioners were very inspired. First, this fellow practitioner had shown such a pure heart for Dafa in organizing and renting a booth, which cost a few thousand US dollars. Second, this presented a great opportunity for practitioners to spread Dafa, penetrating into the field of science and clarifying the truth to the scientific community - including 400 to 500 participants from Mainland China.
Practitioners acted immediately on only a day's notice and prepared for the exhibition. Compared to the many other larger and more extravagant booths of the big medical companies, the Falun Dafa booth was very modest. However, Dafa practitioners were full of confidence from the beginning that the conference would be a success.
During the three day event, not only were there many visitors, these visitors also took many Dafa materials with them. Some visitors left their addresses and contact information with practitioners to keep in touch. One professor from Cuba was the director of the Institute of Nephrology in Cuba. He stayed a long time at the Falun Dafa booth and seemed very interested. Practitioners gave him a set of Falun Dafa books and a video. He gave his contact info to the practitioners there and left very happily.
Another scholar was the head of an institute in the Czech Republic and he spent half an hour at the Dafa booth and was very excited. We did not know of other practitioners in his country that he could contact to learn Falun Dafa, so he said that when he returned home he would invite practitioners from other countries to come to the Czech Republic to introduce Falun Dafa. Experts and scholars from other countries such as Portugal, Belgium, and Jamaica and from some states in the U.S. also left contact information and addresses with practitioners. One common occurrence was that the interested scholars had many detailed questions after they were introduced to Falun Gong. As a result, many would spend half an hour at our booth speaking with practitioners.
The most interesting things at the exhibition occurred with the participants from Mainland China. Some, when seeing our booth would immediately walk away, afraid to come near. Some had obviously been affected by the evil propaganda of the Chinese government and would say some horrible things and try to argue with practitioners. When practitioners calmly told the truth to these people and clarified the lies, they had nothing to say. Many from China also accepted our materials and listened to the sincere and kind-hearted Falun Dafa practitioners' explanations.
By Saturday, the second day of the event, the Falun Dafa booth had become a "hot-spot" at the exhibition. While other booths had few people, the Falun Dafa booth had many people. The booth was often crowded with people listening to the practitioners' introduction. It was clear: although the other booths had all the expensive medical equipment and instruments, Falun Dafa is absolutely free and it is also the most effective for mind and body health.
We can see when looking back over the three days of the exhibition that the people who wanted us to leave on the first day were actually a form of interference. If we view the situation carefully, we can see that evil always interferes by attacking our weak points and shortcomings. At the beginning, we lacked experience and proper preparation in some areas. For example, the carpet to cover the floor of our booth was not in accordance with the requirements of exhibition. At the beginning, many practitioners dressed very casually, compared to the rest of the people who attended the conference. We also did not focus on how Falun Gong had helped people who specifically had kidney problems in the past. These points may have given others the impression that we were out of place at the conference. However, practitioners quickly realized these faults and made corrections. Some disciples found specific cases in which practitioners had recovered from kidney-related illnesses after learning Falun Gong, and they prepared some materials to hand out that included these cases. Later, the practitioners also made sure to dress more formally so as to conform to the requirements of the conference. In the end, the practitioners did a good job of giving visitors the impression that the Falun Dafa booth belonged in this exhibition. Dafa encompasses everything, and in any field Dafa is able to provide the right view.
After the successful efforts of practitioners to join in this scientific exhibition, we've learned that Dafa can be presented anywhere that there are people. Take more opportunities to Hong Fa and let Dafa shine brightly in every field of human society. Toronto Dafa Practitioners
