St. Petersburg, Russia: Practitioners Learn from Each Other at Experience Sharing Conference

(Minghui.org) A Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference was held on October 29 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Fifteen practitioners spoke about how they benefited from the practice and how they applied the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their daily lives. 

Practitioners spoke about the positive impact Falun Dafa had on their lives during the Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference on October 29 in Saint Petersburg.

Overcoming Selfishness

Sergei is from Ryazan in western Russia and taught people the Falun Dafa exercises online during the pandemic. Having practiced for 15 years, he knows the importance of following Dafa’s teachings regardless of the difficulties he may encounter. 

In the beginning, he had interference from family issues. “It is not coincidental to be invited to a new project or encounter challenges,” he explained. “Every challenge is an opportunity to improve ourselves and overcome barriers. I should step out of my comfort zone and do my best to help others.”

This included good preparation before every workshop. About one and half hours before each session Sergei sets everything up. Most importantly, he reads the Falun Dafa teachings and sends forth righteous thoughts. He does not let anything distract him before the workshop. 

There are also other members in the team and sometimes they asked Sergei for help because someone was not available for the shift. At first Sergei was unhappy because of the extra work. He later realized this was not only helping another presenter—it gave more people an opportunity to learn Dafa and benefit from it. He was able to let go of his complaints and handle the situation calmly. 

Removing Communist Elements

Nadia Lai is from Irkutsk in Siberia and she talked about introducing the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to people and collecting signatures on a petition to end the persecution in China. After How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World was translated into Russian, she also found the book important to help people understand the harm of communism. 

As a project coordinator, Lai also experienced conflicts from time to time and she considered them opportunities to improve her xinxing. Once the Russian version of a website was shut down and she argued with a technical support practitioner. “That practitioner later explained that was a mistake and no one intended to close the website,” Lai explained. “This incident reminded me that we have to remain calm and compassionate, instead of allowing the communist mentality to govern our behavior.”

An Upright and Responsible Educator

Sveta began a new job about two years ago, but it was not easy. As an educator, she was responsible for a group of children with autism and intellectual disabilities. It was so difficult that nine days after she was hired, she thought about quitting. Sveta explained that it wasn’t just the children. One coworker was also unnecessarily difficult. Because of their different teaching methods, the coworker criticized her to her face and later to others during a meeting. 

Thinking it through and remembering that practitioners should take one step back, Sveta realized that she should remain compassionate and tolerant at all times. As a practitioner, these are chances to look within and identify areas where she could do better instead of complaining or blaming others. She tried her best to work hard and treat the children well. The situation then improved significantly. 

Her relationship with the other teachers also improved. One of them sometimes repeated communist slogans or cited words from former communist leaders. Sveta shared her own understandings on communism and the harm brought by the regime. That coworker was later infected with the coronavirus, also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Virus due to the regime’s cover-up and misinformation. She was so ill that she was unable to read. Again Sveta told her about tragedies caused by the communist regime including the persecution of Falun Dafa. The teacher agreed to keep in mind “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Her symptoms were then greatly reduced. 

While she taught the children, Sveta often told them about the beauty of Dafa and how to be a good person following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Occasionally she also played the music, Pudu. There was a story: “Story of the Lotus Flower,” which described how a lotus seed grew toward a being with selflessness, compassion, and purity. After Sveta gave each student a copy of the book, many parents and students said they liked it a lot. 

Despite her complicated work environment, Sveta’s dedication and hard work won the trust of school management, her coworkers, and the parents. The school principal praised her for her uprightness and responsibility. The parents also said she was kind and trustworthy. When she left two years later, most of them said they felt sad that they lost such a good teacher. 

Keeping Faith

Jenna learned a lot from incidents she encountered. Once the immigration office lost her ID documents. When she followed the procedure and resubmitted an application, however, her request was denied. 

When she was in despair, she met a concentration camp survivor from World War II. The old man said he could have died several times: gas chamber, the gallows, and slave labor. With so many painful experiences, however, he still believed in the divine. “It is very easy for the divine to take your life, or help you,” he told Jenna. “As long as we stand by the divine, we have nothing to worry about.”

Realizing it was a hint from Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa), Jenna was clear on her mission. In fact, what she experienced was almost nothing compared to the suffering this old man and other people suffered. She and her husband told the old man that they practiced Falun Dafa and what it was. Through consistent efforts to clarify the facts to government officials, especially clarifying the truth about the persecution, she was granted legal resident status in the end. 

Many conference attendees said they were touched by the speakers’ experiences—from telling people about Falun Dafa on the Internet, hosting the Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren exhibition, or interacting with government officials. “I learned a lot from them today and I hope I can remain diligent just like when I first began to practice,” said Tatiana.