(Minghui.org) I am a Falun Dafa practitioner from Finland and I began to cultivate more than ten years ago. There were not so many practitioners when I started the practice, so right from the start it was only natural for practitioners to participate in multiple projects, each according to their capabilities.
There was always something I could do, but at first I needed to surpass the obstacles in my mind. For example I felt that I was too old to learn to use a computer, and I also felt that the language problems are too big an obstacle for me to be able to search for information on the Internet. But over the years I learned many new things that I have utilized in projects for clarifying the truth about the persecution of Falun Dafa. There is something that has amazed me over and over again: I do have an ability to quickly find relevant contact information from the Internet, including the English language pages, although I barely speak English. I understand that if we do things with righteous thoughts and believe in our Master, we will get the assistance of divine beings and accomplish whatever we are supposed to accomplish.
The informational materials that practitioners design together require persistent cooperation and different arrangements – sometimes things need to get done in a very short time. During the cooperation we must also face our own xinxing trials and look inside over and over again, because our own views on things are not necessarily those that will be used. I've had to – over and over again – adjust my understanding of other practitioners’ ideas. I’ve noticed how a tranquil mind will help me to look at things in a different light.
My participation in a wide range of Dafa projects has helped me to cultivate and to see myself as a disciple of Master. Although I still have a way to go before reaching Consummation, the direction is now clearer and the length of the journey is shorter. But still we have to do what we can to save sentient beings. To help clarify the truth to the world’s people, I again saw another chance when practitioners in Finland decided to organize Free China: The Courage to Believe documentary screenings in different parts of the country.
I was ready to assist with the arrangements of a screening in a city in northern Finland. As practitioners participated in different projects at the same time, there were not many practitioners who had time to help with this project. I felt I could take on more responsibility, and I began to arrange a venue for the screening and to help search for the contact information of our guests. Now that we had the Free China movie as our truth-clarification tool, we only needed an invitation letter. I contacted various people and organizations by phone. The response I received from them was positive and it encouraged me on my mission.
As only a few practitioners participated in this project and we lived in different parts of Finland, I kept in touch with them using the computer. Fa-study and discussions helped us to make progress. In the beginning I wondered why only such a few practitioners participated in this project. Didn’t they understand the importance the project had for practitioners’ cooperation? However, I quickly realized that I shouldn’t focus on the number of practitioners who can help. Maybe the arrangements were for my cultivation. As I changed my thoughts, I felt we would again get help from Master and divine beings, and I believed that we would succeed in what we are doing.
However it was not always easy to find time to study and discuss together with the other practitioners involved in the project, and it also wasn’t always easy to understand the other practitioners’ actions. Sometimes I felt that one practitioner didn’t respond to emails quickly enough or that another practitioner didn’t take care of her own task well enough. At that point, when problems arose, I started thinking about how I could do better. First of all, I removed the bad thoughts about other practitioners and I looked inward when I couldn’t get an email reply from a practitioner or when things didn’t progress. As soon as my mind was clear and I had compassionate thoughts about others, things began to succeed.
On one occasion, when I was about to make a phone call to a practitioner who was supposed to call me, he called and he apologized that he hadn’t been able to call me earlier. Since I changed my notions of other practitioners and considered first that they must be busy, things started to change – even to the extent that there was no more interference or things got arranged without much effort. I understood the importance of my cultivation state in the success of our joint project, and how important it is that I trust in Master and in divine beings’ assistance.
The screening was small-scale, but the people who attended were touched by the movie, and they thanked the organizers. One woman was surprised, as she didn’t really know why she was invited, but she was very grateful that she had got the invitation. Many of my relatives came to see the screening, and they found it absurd that the Chinese Communist Party has brutally persecuted a peaceful group like Falun Gong for so long. Live organ harvesting was something that moved many of them to tears.
Later, I was asked me to help with the arrangements for an event exposing organ harvesting in front of the Finnish Parliament. I was interested and I took the task to contact Members of Parliament and inform them about our activity.
At first, it was difficult to reach certain parliament members. I was just about to give up making calls, when my phone call was answered by the assistant of one parliament member. The assistant thanked me for getting in touch and he explained that MPs have lost some e-mails, because they got so much spam and their e-mail accounts were blocked. This had happened the day before I started to send them emails about our event. The gratitude of the assistant was like a message from a divine being to encourage me to continue making phone calls to all of the other MPs’ group offices. I reached all the people whom I had put on my list and they gave me encouraging feedback. Many of them agreed to visit our event in front of the Parliament. Later, I got feedback the event had been a great success.
Dear fellow practitioners, each person we encounter in different walks of life, is an important being for practitioners, and each of them is waiting for us to tell them the truth about Falun Gong, about the persecution. Let us fulfill this historical responsibility and do well to the very end.
As practitioners we need to study the Fa. We are Falun Dafa disciples and are on our way to Consummation, so we cannot neglect Fa study. We are like participants in a marathon, and just before the finish line we cannot let go even for a moment, but instead we need to pick up the pace and reach the finish line.
All the divine beings are watching us. They’re looking at each and every thought and action we have in saving sentient beings with different Dafa projects, whether we will make it to the end, or give up and stay resting on the side.
Fellow practitioners, let us walk on our own paths until we succeed in our cultivation, without slowing down!
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2013 European Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Copenhagen)