The First English Group Study and Experience Sharing Meeting in Missouri

Early in the morning of April 16th, Sunday, more than 20 Dafa practitioners got together in Columbia to join the first meeting of English group study and experience sharing in Missouri.

Different from before, American practitioners were the majority this time and official language was English instead of Chinese. Some of them have learned Falun Dafa for two years, while some only for days. Among them, there were college student, company clerk, Christians, and people who had practiced many other ways in the past. It is noteworthy that four of them were from Jamestown, which is a small town of less than 300 people. We have just finished a 9-day class there and all the 8 attendees have made up their mind to begin their cultivation in Falun Dafa. They have even formed a group for book reading.

Starting from 9 O'clock in the morning, we watched the video tape of some American practitioners' speeches in last year's New York Experience Sharing Conference. Then we did the exercises together. The meeting was at a practitioner's house. When doing the exercises, the whole house, upstairs and downstairs, living room and kitchen, was fully occupied. After the practice, we sat down in a circle and began to read Teacher Li's "Lecture in Sydney". Beginning with David from Kansas City, everyone listened attentively. When he read Teacher Li's words, " I do not want anything from you, nor will I ask for a penny from you. I am only teaching you to turn to goodness. Someone asked me, 'Teacher, you have taught us so many things and have given us so much. What do you want?' I said, 'I do not want anything. I have just come to save you. I just want your heart to be good and want you to be able to move up.'" he was already in tears and could not move on any further. At that moment, it was in such a silence and serenity, and everybody was moved.

After a short lunch break, we began the afternoon session. We introduced ourselves and talked about our experiences in turn. Marcia, from Fulton, became an Interfaith minister. Deep inside there was a nagging feeling that she had no place to lead other people. When she studied the healing arts, she felt great resistance to put her hand on others to heal them. Now she understands better Falun Dafa's teachings that have explained why she had those thoughts. She also mentioned how she cultivated Xinxing in the work place. She is the supervisor of a department. Two employees used to make troubles and they were very difficult to deal with. As she stayed focused on improving Xinxing, the conflicts were settled down without any effort.

It seemed that most of the people had been searching hard before they stumbled into Falun Dafa. Barbara, from Kansas City, had some health problems. However, she never took them that seriously. She believes that it is just natural and for one's good to have some illnesses. Otherwise one could have died already. Thus, after she learned Falun Dafa, she even did not think about her illness at all but she felt better and better in a very short period of time. She has been looking for the answers of her questions about life, matter and the universe. Eventually, she has got them all in Falun Dafa.

With the predestined relationship, sometimes one may forget what he should do but sooner or later he would be reminded. David got a flyer from a Chinese practitioner, in their last day of common work. Then he put it up on the refrigerator for half a year without paying much attention to it. One day, like all in a sudden, he decided to check it out. He looked up Falun Dafa on the Internet and read one of Teacher Li's books, downloaded the exercise videos and then went to the practice site and became a dedicated practitioner. Now, he joined the group practice from 5:45 to 7:45 every morning in the park. They also practice in the evenings of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to let more people know about Falun Dafa. He said the effect had been quite good and there had been lots of people passing by their site and asking questions. They also have book-reading sessions on Wednesday and Friday.

Andy, from St. Louis, practiced Yoga for a while and did some meditation. He has been searching for years but was not able to find a genuine teaching. He even changed his job from a higher-salary one to a lower-salary one in order to have more free time for his spiritual pursuit. One day he went to the local library for something. When passing by the shelf of new books, Zhuan Falun caught his sight and he felt that the blue cover with gold letters was just looking at him. He checked out the book, finished the reading and realized this is just what had been looking for. Now he reads the books and does the exercises very diligently. Each time when reading the book, he got more and deeper understanding. He also experienced many changes in his body. For example, a problem with his skin, which had bothered him for years, did not bother him any more this year.

Randy, from Jamestown, practicing Chinese medicine, felt very good after the 9-day class, so he bought several copies of China Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun for his friends in other cities. His daughter, Sara, also studies Chinese medicine and has been in China twice. She was much encouraged by the meeting and decided to drive with other practitioners to the upcoming New York Conference.

Nathan was from Moberly, and he attained Falun Dafa very occasionally. His wife wanted to find something for stress relief and looked up in the library. She picked up many books, including China Falun Gong, and brought them home. Nathan singled out China Falun Gong and was attracted by the teachings, especially the part about the De and karma as well as their actual material existences in other dimension. Though he could not agree with all the things in the book at the beginning, fortunately he had never put it down, either. Gradually, he came to understand that what Teacher Li teaches is a truly immense truth. He used to once in while drive for about 45 minutes to Columbia to join their morning practice. Now as a college student in MU, he practices the exercises everyday and reads Zhuan Falun one chapter a day.

As said in the book Zhuan Falun, "Good or evil comes from that instant thought." Bonnie, from St. Louis, told one of her recent experiences to illustrate this point. Days ago, she was standing in the line waiting to get her breakfast. Suddenly, something fell down from the roof of the building, directly onto one of her knees. It was from so high a place and the object was quite heavy. She just felt that her knee swollen instantly and she was about to collapse to the ground. Then a thought came to her mind, "I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I should be OK". Immediately after this very thought of hers, she felt that the pain and swollen disappeared amazingly and her knee was back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. Moreover, a man who worked in the cafeteria used to treat the customer unfriendly. However, this time when he saw what happened to Bonnie, to her surprise, he even came over to check and ask her if she needed any help.

After the experience sharing, we read the book "Essentials for Further Advance" in turn. No matter whether veteran practitioners or those who just began, no matter whether Americans or Chinese, we all benefited a lot from this meeting. Around 7 O'Clock, we began to hit the road back home. Since everyone feels that such activities should be held as often as it should be, we decided to have it once in a month in the future.

(Note: Most of the American practitioners in the meeting attended last weekend's New York Conference, they all felt it's very helpful in their cultivation).