(Minghui.org) I developed a great wish to help when I heard that Shen Yun needed assistance in Poland this year. I had the opportunity to take the time off work, so I knew I must.
I felt honored because I believe it is a great blessing to help with Shen Yun. I feel it is the same as being next to Master.
The first city we went to help with was Toruń. Due to the COVID pandemic, there were certain restrictions and requirements in Poland. The Polish practitioners asked practitioners who were vaccinated to come, as only those who were vaccinated could be inside the theater. I had been vaccinated so even though I didn’t know English, I was assigned to help inside the venue. I purchased a suit and two blouses.
The plans changed when we arrived in Toruń. I was told that I would not be inside the venue but would instead guard the buses outside. The men were sent to work inside.
It was chilly outside, and since I prepared to help inside the theater, I hadn’t brought warm clothes. I put on everything I had and then I was warm. I complained: “I was told I would help inside as security, but I was placed outside. At the same time, men who are stronger were assigned to help inside.”
Later, I looked within and saw that my unhappiness was caused by my selfishness, vanity and envy.
Since this was my first time guarding buses, I also felt dissatisfied with the fact that the coordinators did not explain to me in detail what to pay attention to while watching them.
At my workplace, similar duties are sometimes imposed, but before I start, I am instructed in advance about it, and only when I am familiar with the requirements do I begin to work.
This time, the dissatisfaction stemmed from my need for comfort and the desire to control my situation. I’ve always tried to plan my life, and it has always been important for me to adjust myself and plan in advance, to think about everything in advance. These wrong thoughts, of course, were formed from human ideas and thinking while living in a family or working in a job. I also realized I had a desire to show off.
Only later did I realize how busy the Polish coordinators were, how many things and how much responsibility they had to bear, but they still had to deal with complaining practitioners like me. Perhaps I might have caused interference with my negative thoughts and arrogance.
Master arranged everything and I was paired with a Polish practitioner who tried very hard to help me. She offered me warm clothes, and told me what to pay attention to while guarding the buses. She also encouraged me when I complained.
The next day, I felt tired when I got up that morning. That day I reached a breaking point. I had wrong thoughts and looking at the buses, I thought: “What’s the point of guarding them, they are just metal boxes and the area is also monitored by video cameras. Nothing will happen!”
I had a thought that I would give up this duty tomorrow. My partner sensed that I was not well, and kept encouraging me. I realized that I had to get rid of my negative thoughts.
Inspired by her, while I walked around the buses I suddenly saw them as two big white angels with outstretched wings, one female - the one carrying the female dancers of the Shen Yun, and the other male, the one carrying the male dancers. The angels were very noble, and the Divine Beings – the Shen Yun artists, were seated on their wings, and the angels carried them to the various cities to perform.
From that moment on, I began to look at my duty differently and realized how important it is to fulfill it properly.
I understood that ordinary people’s security cannot protect buses, no matter how many video cameras are installed, only practitioners can do it. By walking around the buses and guarding them, we practitioners create an energy field – a protective barrier around them.
I also had the opportunity to help with Shen Yun in the city of Lublin, where I guarded the buses at night. In Lublin, they were parked outside the city.The nights were very cold, so my partner and I agreed that we would take turns while on duty - one would rest in the car, the other would patrol outside.
The area was very dark. Near the building where the buses were parked, there was a lamp that lit up only when there was movement. When it was time to change, I got out of the car and first walked around the entire area. Every time I noticed a big dog at the corner of the building as it bared its teeth and barked loudly.
I wasn’t afraid. I told him, “You do a good job. You help me guard the buses, it’s a blessed job. Thank you, but for the time being everything is fine, if I need your help I will call you.”
Each time I said that, the dog disappeared. Interestingly, when my partner was on duty, the dog never came to bark. Perhaps the old forces sent this dog to disturb and frighten me. But since I had strong righteous thoughts, the dog sided with the good forces and no longer interfered with me.
I really want Shen Yun to come to my country, but for that to happen, our practitioners need to prepare in advance. It is very good that Master gives us the opportunity to help with Shen Yun in other countries. By carrying out various responsibilities, we understand how many human resources are needed, what activities have to be done to promote the show, and what should be provided. These are also great opportunities to interact with practitioners from other countries and strengthen our overall coordination between practitioners, which in turn will help us to arrange for Shen Yun to come to our country in the future.
Looking back, I understand that nothing is a coincidence. Master had everything planned for me. When I was inside the theater and guarding a specific door, Master sent those whom I was supposed to save.
A toilet was located near the door I was assigned to guard. A young woman came to clean it and spoke to me in Russian. She said that she was from Ukraine, and that she and two other mothers and children fled from the war in Ukraine to Poland. The theater provided them with work.
I told them that I was from Latvia and had come to Poland to help with Shen Yun. She wanted to know more about Shen Yun and I told her. She said that she cleaned the big hall of this theater with her friends, where concerts and performances are held, and they dreamed of just sitting in the comfortable chairs and enjoying a beautiful performance.
I told her, “Dreams come true, do you want to see Shen Yun? She said, “Yes.” I told her, “I will give you a ticket to this performance.” She was very excited and said, “But I have one wish, I want my friends from Ukraine to watch this show with me!”
Of course she had no idea how much tickets cost. I also understood that her friends would not be able to buy tickets for themselves, because they just arrived, had many children and had little income. Any money they earned was needed to provide for their families.
I thought it would be too expensive for me to buy three tickets, but then I remembered that I previously offered tickets to my relatives from Poland to see Shen Yun. My relatives did not respond to me, so I didn’t spend the money.
I thought, maybe these women from Ukraine have a karmic relationship with me and after watching Shen Yun they will become beings in my world. In that case aren’t they my relatives? I agreed and bought tickets for all three women.
The woman told me that various troubles started after I called her that evening to pick up the Shen Yun tickets. At that time another organization started calling her and asked her to go somewhere else, also when traveling by tram to the theater there were obstacles, instead of 15 minutes the tram ride took 45 minutes. All these disturbances did not stop her - she had a very strong desire to see Shen Yun.
After watching the performance, she called me the next day and said, “I already believed that the show would be very good, but it turned out to be something even more grand! My friends also loved the show. Now, when I work at the theater and see the Shen Yun artists, I look at them with great respect!”
I had to go to work as soon as I returned from Toruń. We had a mandatory requirement to take a test before our work shift, which confirms that you have not contracted COVID.
A week after I returned from Poland, I tested positive for COVID. My first thought was to hide the result from my boss. But I realized that I was a practitioner and I shouldn’t lie, so I told the boss. I had to go into quarantine and send more tests to the laboratory. I was a little distracted and felt confused.
I felt uplifted as soon as I came back from Toruń, because I had the opportunity to see Shen Yun and it was indescribable. During the show, I felt as if I was lifted up into the sky. I also felt how Master cleansed my body throughout the performance. I thought my cultivation had improved.
I had dual feelings - on the one hand, a human thought crept in - how could this happen to me, maybe I’m a bad practitioner. On the other hand, another human thought crept in - maybe it’s not that bad, I’ll get sick and get a certificate that I had COVID and I won’t have to be vaccinated anymore.
Now I understand that these two human thoughts were put forth by the old forces to trick me into a trap and to accept their arrangements.
I still had a chance to change everything by sending righteous thoughts and looking within. But I took everything passively, thus I agreed with the old forces. And when the result came from the laboratory, it was positive for COVID. This minimized my faith.
Master said, “Genuine Dafa disciples all carry energy and are themselves beings who eliminate karma and eradicate germs.” (“Stay Rational”)
Later I understood that if you act and think like an ordinary person, then everything will happen to you like an ordinary person.
In any situation a practitioner must remain clearheaded and be ready for new challenges. The old forces are ready to test us, even in those moments when we feel we have elevated. In those cases, they can use the state of zealotry and human feelings like joy, satisfaction, etc.
And of course they use our attachments to drag us into their webs. A practitioner only needs to lose righteous thoughts for a moment and in the next moment you can feel how the old forces start to manipulate you. The deeper you are drawn into their nets, the harder it is to untangle them and get out.
Around the same time, other practitioners in my region tested positive for COVID. Their situation was similar to mine. All of them had a mandatory requirement at work - to be vaccinated.
These practitioners also developed wrong human notions and were reluctant to get vaccinated. Thus the old forces took advantage of their loopholes to create illusions of illness. I believe these practitioners were passive and therefore agreed to the old forces’ arrangements.
Master said,
“But it’s not that I am telling you whether to get vaccinated, nor how the epidemic may impact you. Don’t be extreme either way. Doing that stems from human thinking. What I want to tell you is that you are sizing yourself up with human thinking, rather than viewing things from the perspective of someone who is devoted to spiritual practice. And that is because there is a flaw in how you have developed yourself spiritually.” (“Wake Up”)
The problem in our group was that we hung onto our human notions and did not fully believe in Master. Instead of studying the Fa and strengthening our righteous thoughts, we became engrossed in reading various scientific, medical, and other similar articles about vaccines and the virus.
Of course, there were factors that contributed to the inability of local practitioners to cultivate diligently. After the COVID restrictions started in our country, there was no opportunity to study the Fa together and explain the truth to people face to face.
Although I read the Fa with other practitioners in my country every week, I did not make much effort to encourage local practitioners to join and study the Fa together online.
Also, when we resumed our local Fa study, I noticed that we spent a lot of time discussing politics and things going on in the world. Since I had this attachment myself, I didn’t particularly try to discourage practitioners from having these conversations.
Later, when we were allowed to organize truth clarifying events in our region, we lazily, and without much enthusiasm, resumed doing it. It was very difficult to speak at first. It felt like we were learning to clarify the truth all over again.
I believe that this tribulation of illness karma, which the old forces arranged for me and the other practitioners in the group, and how we took it and went through it, reflected the overall cultivation state of our group.
Although the COVID symptoms were mild for me and the other practitioners, I took it as a warning that if the next time we don’t overcome it, it could end worse or even very badly.
Although I didn’t pass this test, after some time Master gave me another opportunity to go to another city in Poland to help with Shen Yun. I seized the chance.
I will be retiring next year and will have more time and opportunities to help with Shen Yun. I want to continue helping with Shen Yun. I also want Shen Yun to come to my country Latvia and neighboring countries Lithuania and Estonia.
I will try my best to help with this project. Of course, until then, I have to do my homework - work hard to improve, and also learn new skills, like learning English at least at a conversational level.
With my experience, I want to inspire other practitioners who want to help Shen Yun, but have self-doubts or some other issues that prevent them from doing so.
Let’s fulfill the vows we made to Master. While opportunities remain, let’s help Master save sentient beings!
Thank you, Master for giving me the opportunity to help with Shen Yun!
My understanding is limited, so if you see any gaps, please point them out.
(Submitted to the 2022 European Fa Conference)