(Minghui.org) My husband and I practice Falun Dafa and we began hosting a Fa study group in our home three years ago. We overcame all kinds of interference and pressure, and our group is strong and diligent. We are one whole body and strive to follow the cultivation path Master arranged for us.
During the COVID pandemic three years ago, the local Falun Dafa coordinator suggested I host a study group, so that practitioners in our area could overcome any interference and study the Fa together.
My older son was in preschool and my younger son had just begun to walk—they were well behaved and sometimes participated while we read. Everyone in our group improved in their cultivation.
However, not long after our group was established, my husband was illegally arrested for practicing Falun Dafa. The other practitioners stopped coming to Fa study. I was working full time and I had to seek legal help to get my husband released. I had to repeatedly go to the detention center, the police station, and the courthouse. My mother and mother-in-law took care of my sons.
My husband was released after a month. His employer told him to wait at home to be called back to work. He waited two years.
On the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) sensitive dates, police were stationed outside of our apartment building. With our local coordinator’s encouragement, we restarted our study group. Like us, some practitioners were watched and followed by the police, however, they were able to break through the obstacles and let go of fear.
My husband and I took turns taking one of our children to school in the morning. We were extremely busy every day. One day, I came home later than usual. There was no running water in our apartment, so my husband fetched a small pot of water from the emergency water truck outside. Our younger son had to use the bathroom and he used the pot of water to flush the toilet. My husband had to run back outside to get more water. By the time I came home, our apartment was a mess. My husband told me to feed the children while he cleaned up to prepare for the group study.
When my older son started school, we had to help him with homework at night. He had a lot of homework. We felt overwhelmed and I sometimes lost my temper. My husband encouraged me: “Cultivators don’t have a relaxed life. We endure hardships. We are merely providing a space. Our difficulties are nothing compared to what practitioners went through at the beginning of the persecution.” My xinxing gradually improved as we went through similar obstacles.
During the two years my husband stayed at home, besides taking care of the children, he quietly participated in many Dafa projects, and he sometimes stayed up well past midnight. He helps other practitioners with computer issues. He also teaches elderly practitioners how to use computers so they can get on the Minghui website and prepare materials about Falun Dafa. I work during the day, so at night, I make sure my husband has quiet time so he can focus on his projects.
A few young practitioners came to our Fa study. They heard about our study group and wanted to join. The problem was that their schedule did not match ours. To accommodate them, we formed a youth Fa study group that met on the weekend. It was a two-hour bus ride for them. After Fa study, we discussed the cultivation tests we were going through.
Young people have active minds and innovative thinking. I was overwhelmed because I did not know how to respond to their novel ideas. I knew it was time for me to look within myself, because the only way for us to improve as one body is to share our thoughts based on the Fa. Even with my husband’s support, I still had a difficult time leading the group, and eventually veteran practitioners stepped in to facilitate the discussions. Our goal was to help guide these young practitioners. They enjoyed our cultivation environment and did not miss a single weekend of our group study. We all felt our cultivation improved.
A few months after it started, due to job changes, the young practitioners’ study group is temporarily on pause. I am grateful for the young practitioners who participated and I appreciate the older practitioners’ assistance. Even though it was not long lived, this precious study group played its intended role.
For the past three years, we kept up with group study twice a week. We host experience sharing conferences on April 25, and July 20 (the date the persecution was launched in 1999) and the anniversary of the day the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published. We also submitted cultivation articles to the online Fa Sharing Conferences in China and to commemorate World Falun Dafa Day. Our study group also has a small sharing conference twice a year. The environment is solemn and powerful. My son is six years old and has hosted two small-scale conferences.
Some practitioners in our study group formed new groups in their homes. Many more previously-dissolved study groups have been restarted. Among the practitioners in these groups, there are some who stopped cultivating for a while and returned, some who used to slack off in their cultivation, and there are also new practitioners. Some practitioners are now coordinators. I feel our improvement is a result of us coming together and forming one body!