(Minghui.org)
Greetings to Master! Greetings to fellow practitioners!
I have practiced Falun Dafa for 28 years and am eternally grateful for Master’s compassionate salvation. As the 22nd Minghui Mainland China Fa Conference convenes, I would like to share part of my cultivation journey with Master and fellow practitioners.
Because I held firm to my belief in Falun Dafa, I was persecuted and forced to leave home. To avoid further persecution, I moved often for nine years. My first job during that time was as a nanny. I earned just 200 yuan per month, which wasn’t much, but it was enough for me—I only needed a place to stay and food to eat.
My responsibility was to care for a one-year-old child. The baby slept a great deal, so while the child slept, I helped with other household chores, such as the cooking and laundry.
The family lived in a three-story house and had a small yard. They hired the wife’s two younger brothers to help with cleaning and security. They had many visitors. I felt this was a precious opportunity for them to understand the truth about Falun Dafa, so I took every chance the clarify the facts to them so that they would have a chance to be saved.
The two brothers not only came to understand Falun Dafa but also withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. Soon after that, they both left. I believe they had come specifically to hear the truth.
Without being asked, I took over cleaning the house. Every morning, after I finished my Dafa exercises, and before the family woke up, I made sure the entire house was spotless.
One morning, I went to throw out the trash and locked the door from the outside. The husband happened to get up early for work and saw the door was locked. He thought I had locked it and run away. When I returned, he was angry and asked, “Why did you lock the door from the outside?” I explained, “You were all asleep. If I don’t lock the door and someone breaks in, what then?” (The trash bins were far away.) He said, “You’re right. You're very thoughtful. We feel very at ease with you.” I replied, “It is because I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. Master teaches us to think of others first and to be good people.”
The wife really appreciated Falun Dafa after I shared the truth with her. On a trip, she told her husband and daughter to sincerely recite “Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
My next job was washing dishes in the cafeteria of a private high school. My main responsibility was to clean up after the students finished eating. But I did much more. I helped the chef chop vegetables, assisted the pastry chef to make buns, cleaned the dining hall, and portioned the cooked dishes into individual servings. Eventually, food portioning became one of my regular duties.
All the chefs were young men, so after work I often helped them wash their clothes, sew quilts, knit sweaters, and mend their shoes. We got along like family, which naturally created a comfortable environment for clarifying the truth. They all came to understand Dafa and withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
One chef who was a Christian once told me, “You transform your environment, while I am shaped by it. You are truly cultivating.” The owner of the school had visited Hong Kong where Falun Gong is practiced openly and freely, so he understood the true situation and believed Dafa practitioners were good. He once told me that I could just wash his two children’s clothes and no longer needed to work in the cafeteria. I replied, “I can work in the cafeteria and wash their clothes after work. There is no need to hire extra help.” He was very pleased.
Another time, the school owner’s brother-in-law told me, “Please find someone else just like you.” By recognizing me, he was also recognizing Dafa.
On one occasion, the principal saw me pulling a cart loaded with dishes and bowls for hundreds of students and staff members. He asked if I was exhausted. I smiled and replied, “I am fine. You have to love what you do!” He smiled back, “You are really something.”
Because the chefs understood the truth about Falun Dafa, they protected me when the local authorities came to harass me. The head chef once told me, “Someone seemed to be looking for you this afternoon. I told them there was no such person here.” I sincerely thanked him. Over time, the original chefs left, one after another, until I was the only one left. Having spent so much time with them, I felt sad. But I knew it was a test of my attachments and I had to let them go. My mission is to help Master save people. Now that they knew the truth, it was time for another group to come. That was Master’s arrangement.
A new batch of chefs arrived. They ignored me at first, but I didn’t let it bother me. Gradually, I won them over by my words and actions, and I had a chance to talk to them about Falun Dafa and the persecution. They all understood and agreed to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. The exception was a noodle chef. He was never satisfied regardless of how much I helped him, and behind my back he complained, “Why does the boss keep her?” When others told me what he’d said, I recognized it as another test and continued to help him as usual.
After about a month, this batch of chefs was replaced because the owner said the quality of the food was poor. From my perspective, it was because they had already learned the truth, and it was time for a new group to come and be saved. Another team arrived, and I began again as before. When I learned that this group had taken over the kitchen operations, and the contractor wanted to maximize profit and cut staff, I voluntarily left.
I got a job in a nursing home as a hallway cleaner. Several people share each room, and the situation did not allow for studying the Fa or practicing the exercises. I wondered how to handle this. There was a small room designated for on-duty night staff, but since all the employees were young women, none of them wanted to work the night shift. I volunteered to work nights, and they were delighted. This also gave me a quiet place to study the Fa and do the exercises. I knew it was Master helping me. Soon after, the accountant arranged a private room for me. I am deeply grateful to Master for caring so much for his disciples!
At mealtimes, I helped serve food to the residents. I noticed one man couldn’t get up after he ate, so I went to assist him. From then on, every time he finished eating, he would look at me, and I would help him up. He said with deep emotion, “You are truly a living Buddha.” I replied, “Please thank Master Li. He teaches us to act this way.”
When I had spare time, I washed the elderly ladies’ feet and trimmed their nails. The bedding at the nursing home smelled strongly of urine and had never been properly washed, so I helped wash and dry it. They all praised me and the director was pleased. This created a positive environment for clarifying the truth. I explained the facts to one person a day. If the person had difficulty remembering, I wrote “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” on a small slip of paper and put it in his or her pocket.
One day, two men came to repair the roof. I went up to clarify the truth to them, but they reported me to the office. The next day, the director came to my room with two police officers. I remained calm and unwavering—I felt no fear. They asked many questions but eventually left empty-handed.
I later went to work at a private art school as a chef’s assistant. A month later, the chef left and the school owner asked me to take over. I had never cooked professionally before, let alone prepared meals for dozens of people. Yet there was no one else available. I reminded myself that, as a Dafa disciple, I should be a good person, capable of doing any job well, so I agreed.
After shadowing the chef for a month and learning through hands-on practice, the meals I prepared received unanimous praise from teachers, parents, and students. Later, during enrollment periods, some students even chose to attend this school because they heard the food was so good. But I know it is Master who guides them here to be saved, and Master who blesses everything. Even I find it hard to believe that I alone could prepare delicious meals for so many people. I truly feel that Master is right beside me.
I never forget my mission, which is to help Master save all people. To help the students understand the truth, I care for them wholeheartedly. They treat me like family, and confide in me. Whenever they have difficulties or worries, I guide them with the Fa principles and let them know that to have a good future, they must first be good people. That is how I clarify the truth to them and help them withdraw from all CCP-affiliated organizations.
One time, a student asked me to mend some clothes and came to drop them off with three other students. I usually speak to the students about Dafa one-on-one, but this time I spoke to all four at once. Unfortunately, they called and told their parents that I practiced Falun Gong. The next day, the parents of two of the students withdrew their children from the school. Fortunately, the school owner already understood the truth.
I realized that I had acted improperly, and that, because of my impatience, I had spoken to all four students together before they had gotten to know me.
When one of the students called his parents, they told him, “Leave her be for now. It is a matter of personal faith.” When he tore his clothes again, I mended them for him and continued to care for him. Whenever he had free time, he would come find me in the kitchen. I taught him life lessons, urging him to study hard and to understand his parent’s earnest intentions. He later told his parents that the “auntie cook” was very kind to him. His parents replied, “We told you she simply has her own faith.” Eventually, his younger brother and sister were also enrolled in the school.
I have worked in this school for six years, and many students and teachers have come to understand the truth and secured a bright future.
But there was one girl who never agreed to quit the CCP’s youth organizations, no matter how hard I tried to convince her. After she went to college, she returned to visit me. During her first visit, she still refused to quit. During the second visit, I encouraged her again, saying, “Auntie is doing this for your own good—can’t you see that?” She finally agreed.
At work, I always remind myself that I am a Dafa practitioner. In the winter, I get up early to start the boiler so the owner does not have to. Each year, when the students finish their art exams and return to their regular schools, their rooms become vacant. I clean the rooms immediately, so when the owner later asks me to clean them, I can tell him they are already done. He is delighted.
I also collect recyclable scraps and give the refund to the owner. He tells me to keep it, but I refuse because it is not mine. Every year, the owner has offered me a 5,000-yuan bonus, but I’ve never accepted it. I tell him, “Life is hard for all of you, too.” He replied that he could never find someone as good as me. I understand it as recognition of Falun Dafa.
Over the years, although I have endured hardship, I have never stopped clarifying the truth to save people, because it is my prehistoric vow. No matter how long the path of cultivation may be, I will do the three things well and return with Master. I hope everyone can discern the truth and choose a bright future.
(Selected submission for the 22nd China Fa Conference on Minghui.org)