(Clearwisdom.net) On September 12-14, 2003, Michigan Falun Gong practitioners participated for the third time in "Troy Festival Day" that has more than 30 years of history in Michigan. In this year's celebration, the practitioners not only demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises and taught people to practice at our booth, we also organized a Falun Gong float led by the Ribbon Dance group to participate in the celebration. It is estimated that more than 100 thousand people was at the festival. From the feedback of this year, we learned that people are gradually awakening to the truth, and gaining righteous thoughts towards Falun Dafa. Predestined people also naturally entered Falun Dafa.
When we decorated the float, some passersby saw the banner reading "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," they came up to the practitioners and said, " í Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,' I like it a lot!"
A woman asked what Falun Gong was and patiently listened. She then returned to her booth and told her colleagues about Falun Gong. She also insisted that they come to our booth to get to know Falun Gong.
A woman had seen an English TV program introducing Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Cuiying's paintings on a local public TV station. She remarked that she liked her paintings very much. She also felt angry after learning that the painter had been detained, tortured and abused for eight months because she practices Falun Gong. She could not understand why there was such an absurd thing happening. She then told her friends about the plight of Zhang Cuiying and helped them learn about facts about Falun Gong.
Many more American friends were puzzled at the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and frequently asked the same question: Why would a government persecute such a belief that promotes peaceful and good human nature and morality. After practitioners told them about the fact, they saw the absurdity and inhumanness of the persecution.
Some Chinese people came to our booth to ask for Dafa truth-clarifying materials or to inquire about Falun Gong. Some Chinese people had seen practitioners that they knew before became healthier, so they asked, "Is it because you practice Falun Gong?"
During the three-day activity, many people and children wanted to learn to practice the Falun Dafa exercises on the spot, and many people asked about the practice sites and practice times, and expressed that they wanted to go and practice. An American friend felt our strong energy field when our procession passed by and stayed at our booth for a long time. He first learned about Falun Gong from three practitioners, and finally spent almost one hour to learn the fifth exercise. He said he could feel that the energy was quite strong.
A young girl learned the fifth exercise, and immediately she could sit in the full lotus position for about ten minutes. After she got up, she told her mother, "I felt so good, very peaceful, very comfortable." The mother asked her something and said, " I've taken some materials about Falun Gong, we'll return home and practice it together, how is that?" The girl was so happy and said, "Great, let's go back and practice together!"
