(Clearwisdom.net) On September 13, 2009, Monroe City, New Jersey, held its 21st Annual Town and Country Day. It was a pleasant autumn day with bright sunshine and a cool breeze. The Falun Gong booth was decorated with a row of small hanging lotus flowers. Several practitioners demonstrated the exercises under the tent. Many passersby stopped to inquire about Falun Gong.
| Exercise demonstration |
| Introducing Falun Gong to visitors |
| Candidate for City Council Mr. William Hoover had his photo taken with Falun Gong practitioners
|
Many visitors had already heard about Falun Gong and the persecution taking poace in China and expressed their support. An older Chinese gentleman came to the booth with his Western wife. He said, "We were just talking about Falun Gong and now we meet you." His wife said, "He told me that you are great!" The man raised his thumb in approval and then pointed to a practitioner doing the meditation and said, "I can sit with both legs crossed just like her." They took some fliers and said they'd learn more about the practice online.
Mr. William Hoover is running for a position on the city council. He came to the booth and talked to the practitioners. One told him what Falun Gong is, how it is now practiced in over 100 countries all over the world, and about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Mr. Hoover said it was incredibly evil of the Chinese Communist Party to persecute Falun Gong and other faith groups. He thanked them for the fliers and had his photo taken with the practitioners.
A Chinese family passed by with lotus flowers in hand and some fliers. They said they had read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and had already withdrawn from CCP and its affiliated organizations.
Many people were intrigued to see the practitioners doing the exercises and meditating in such a noisy setting. They watched from the sidelines and then asked for more information. Some said they wanted to learn the exercises at a nearby group practice site.
Participating practitioners said they also met some Chinese that had misunderstandings about Falun Gong because of the CCP's propaganda. They refused the printed materials, and some said negative things. The practitioners said they would be more compassionate in making more efforts to clarify the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong in China to those people so that they could recognize the CCP's lies.
