The drizzle, that had lasted two days in Boston, stopped and Boston Dafa practitioners arrived at the reserved restaurant one after another to prepare for the coming "Falun Gong luncheon discussion". This is also the first time they had introduced Dafa in the Boston District, to Chinese people using this activity. A great deal of preparation work had to be done beforehand. For example, knowing that most of the Chinese people living in Chinatown speak Cantonese, we translated some audio-video materials into Cantonese and prepared some introductory materials and pictures.
Over fifty people, including principals of communities, schoolteachers, managers of department stores and restaurants, and company executives etc, attended the luncheon. In order to let people have a general idea of what Falun Gong is, we played the Falun Gong introductory videotape at the beginning of the luncheon. Next, some practitioners who have been working in Chinatown, for a number of years, shared their experiences of the great physical and spiritual changes that took place after they practiced Falun Gong. A practitioner who had just come from China talked about her own experiences in China and the facts she heard about the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. Another practitioner spoke to the attendees by telling them true facts about the maltreatment his family member (also a practitioner) received in China. Finally, we played a videotape called "The Truth of 4.25" to let people find out the real situation of the so-called "Zhongnanhai incident" that happened in Beijing. After luncheon, we answered the questions with our personal understanding.
Several attendees took the initiative to give a speech and talk about their understanding of Falun Gong. A lady said, once she was about to pay $2,000 for the upholstery. What surprised her is that the upholsterer only charged her $1,700 and would not accept the remaining $300, explaining that her husband did him a favor and he would voluntarily reduce the price. Later, she found out this upholsterer was a Falun Gong practitioner. A lively 70-year-old man talked about the miracle that happened to him. He had several stubborn diseases including cataracts, low blood pressure, and prostatitis before practicing Falun Gong. After practicing Falun Gong, all his diseases disappeared without any medical care. He had two-third of his stomach and the whole gallbladder removed before he practiced, but now he can resume a normal diet. All his diseases never recurred, and his face turned ruddy, hairs turned black and lumbar straightened up, etc.
This activity let more Chinese people know better about Falun Gong. Attendees showed their deep concern about Falun Gong practitioners in China. Many of them expressed that they would like to voice grievances for those practitioners being persecuted in China. Some Western friends happened to know that it was a Falun Gong introductory discussion when they walked by, and they also showed their concern and discontent over the current severe human violations happening in China.
With regards to the community activities concerning Chinese people, Falun Gong practitioners expressed their willingness to make more contributions to serve the community.
