(Minghui.org) One of my family members is a Falun Gong practitioner. In the past year I was honored to help practitioners in their efforts to send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil.
Falun Gong practitioners' selflessness in their efforts to rescue the detained practitioners has moved me deeply. I thought I should do something to help them.
One day I said to the lawyers retained by practitioners for their legal defense, “Please let me know what I can do for you. It would be my honor to help. It gives us Falun Gong family members a great sense of hope to see more and more lawyers like you are stepping up to help.”
One of them said, “If there were more family members like you, China's human rights situation would definitely change.”
When my relative was arrested and detained for practicing Falun Gong, other practitioners accompanied me to the authorities to demand the release of my family member. One of them said to me, “In the future you will understand what an honorable thing you are doing today. It is your own virtue.” At the time, I said to myself, “What are you talking about! Don't try to fool me by saying that!”
Today I can say he was right, because whenever I talk to people about my experience at that time, I cannot help feeling proud and honored.
At some point, I decided to help by driving practitioners to different cities to send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil and rescue detained practitioners. We usually set out really early in the morning. After lunch I typically felt very tired and sleepy, so I took a short nap in the car. To save money, I did not keep the engine running to stay warm inside. One day it was around -4 o F outside, so I could not fall asleep. I found a small restaurant and sat down for a warm rest. I was so tired that I kept nodding off. But I told myself not to fall asleep because I had to wait for the practitioners' phone call in case they needed my car.
On every trip, the hardest part was that I got so sleepy. I always got prepared an hour prior to departure, checking to make sure there was enough water in the car, checking whether there was any problem with the car, and wiping the outside clean. I usually returned home around midnight.
In addition to driving, keeping my eyes on the road, and picking the best route, I also had to watch for any suspicious vehicles that might be following us. Whenever I reached a rest area, I would ask everyone on board if they needed to use the restroom. Only after taking everyone home could I feel relieved. When I got home myself, I wouldn't even bother to wash up before going to bed.
Last New Year's eve, it started to snow. I kept looking out the window to see how deep it was, because heavy snow would shut down the highway. I decided to set out at night, before the snow got worse. It continued snowing lightly all the way. The snow and wind made it really hard to see the road. It was already past midnight when I arrived. I went to bed to get a little sleep before getting up and starting the second day of busy activities driving practitioners to various places.
The third day I was scheduled to drive (to a place not too far away) with another car coming from another city. I was supposed to meet the other car first at a preplanned location. As I was driving around waiting for the other car to arrive, I got a phone call telling me that the other car was right behind me and that I should lead the way. I headed to our destination. Half an hour later, I got another phone call from someone at the destination asking when I would arrive and urging me to drive faster.
Although I was worried and irritated, I talked patiently on the phone to the other car that had fallen behind and gave them directions to catch up. As they finally caught up and we both arrived at our destination, I ran up to the other car and said to the driver, “I am so sorry I was driving too fast.” At that moment, I had a great feeling that, although we had never met before, we were united in an invincible force for our common goal.
After finishing all the activities that were planned for that day, everyone sat down to have dinner together. Many practitioners whom I did not know came over to greet me and said, “You are the hardest worker, you overcame the most difficulties. Be alert and safe travels on your way back.” Their simple but heartfelt greetings warmed my heart and made me feel that I had played a meaningful part. At that moment, all my fatigue disappeared. I knew all my efforts were well worth it.
On my way home, I heard that another car had a problem. They told me to go, but I decided to stay with them until the problem was fixed, even though I was looking forward to a really good sleep when I got home after several days on the road.
After finding out more about the car, I realized how great these practitioners were and how much hardship they had to endure. It was a very old, seven-seat minivan that usually carried nine practitioners. Besides the driver and passenger, three were seated in the middle and last rows, and one last practitioner had to squeeze in the small space between the last row and the back door.
As I learned these details, my eyes teared up. It was a feeling of sadness and admiration at the same time. I wanted to do whatever I could to help them. I felt what I had done was nothing compared to their tremendous effort.
An elderly practitioner came over to me and said, “You're a good man. Thank you.” I could not hold back my tears any longer.
On my way home, I witnessed a miracle. After I had driven for four hours, I noticed my gas indicator still showed a full tank. Everyone on board said it was because I did well that day, and Master was giving me a hint.
The winter of 2012 was one of the coldest in Northeast China. I drove a car full of practitioners to a forced labor camp to send righteous thoughts. The hot air vent was turned up to the maximum, but it was still freezing cold in the car. As I stepped out of the car at a rest area, I almost fell to my knees because my feet had become numb due to the cold.
To rescue the practitioner detained in the forced labor camp, practitioners and I spent almost a year driving back and forth.
These are only a few of the many experiences I have had over the years. I recall the laughter, endearing memories, and practitioners' commendations, as well as official surveillance and pressure.
I wanted to share this so that more Falun Gong practitioners' relatives and people with a sense of justice will step up to help, because practitioners are members of our families. Even just a word of warm greeting can offer encouragement and comfort.
