(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master. Greetings, fellow practitioners,

I am a 31-year-old practitioner from London, United Kingdom, and have been practicing Falun Dafa since 2008.

I would like to share some of my recent experiences in helping to coordinate the UK Falun Dafa team’s effort to support the newly written declaration on stopping forced organ harvesting to the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Around the time work began on the written declaration, there were many different truth clarification projects connected to organ harvesting being organized around the UK. There were conferences and film screenings being arranged, and the new organ harvesting report was to be presented inside the UK parliament.

There were many practitioners working very hard, and I realized I needed to try and support them. Although I had not been to the European parliament for several years, I felt I could help support the activities for the written declaration. At the beginning of my involvement this year, and just before we went on our first trip to see MEPs inside parliament, I was encouraged to help coordinate the UK team.

Actually, when first asked to do this I was reluctant as I thought another practitioner was going to be coordinating the team. As I had not been directly involved with this project for a while, I felt it was better if I just helped as a team member. On the first night we arrived in Strasbourg, even though we arrived a little late, the team going into parliament was expecting a sharing and meeting to organize and prepare ourselves.

I approached the practitioner who I thought was going to organize activities to find out what was happening, and they told me to go away. Actually, this practitioner was busy online with another project, but I felt this was not helpful and a lot of notions crept into my head that Chinese and Western practitioners always have problems working together. For me, this was a test whether or not I lose heart. I called a practitioner from the UK who then asked me again to help coordinate the team. I found myself in the corridor of our hotel repeating to myself what matters most is our heart and our wish to save sentient beings – it is actually Master that makes things possible.

I got the parliament team together and we shared briefly about what the situation was and what we needed to do. I also got in contact with the main European coordinator to ask for materials so we could be fully prepared for the next day. We discussed everything, organized ourselves into teams and delegated the work that needed to be done that night. I then went to see the main coordinator - when I left the hotel it was already past midnight.

By the time I had met them, had an opportunity to be briefed, collected the materials needed and got back to my hotel it was nearly 2:00 a.m. When I came back I was surprised to find all the practitioners were still working together and everything needed for the next day was prepared. I was really touched that the practitioners had been working so hard and now felt very positive about the days to come.

Looking back, and after trying to look inside, I could actually see that I was tested because Master had initially encouraged me to step forward and help organize things and I resisted the process. During our first trip, although some things felt a bit last minute and we could have been more organized, the team was able to either arrange appointments with or see 17 MEPs, and either see or have appointments with a further 16 MEP assistants from 3 countries.

This experience really galvanized me and made me realize I needed to step up and focus much more on my cultivation if I was to continue to help coordinate the activities. I remembered Master saying at a Fa Conference, “As complicated as things are, [you should figure out] how to be a good coordinator of Dafa disciples.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)

I realized my responsibility was to focus on my cultivation, try to help create a good cultivation environment and offer as much practical support to the team as possible. When we went to parliament for the second time I shared with the team and we agreed to do the exercises, send forth righteous thoughts and study the Fa together before going to parliament each morning. This, along with continuous sharing and all the effort from practitioners around the UK, was laying a strong foundation for the team going to see the MEPs.

On the first night of our second trip, I could feel the team was positive and enthusiastic. Actually though while on the surface I felt we were prepared and organized I realized I had a slight doubt about the situation as we still needed nearly half of the signatures. It seemed like a daunting task. I realized I needed to eliminate this thought and ask Master for help. That night when I was in bed, I found myself asking Master for help and guidance.

I asked Master to help the MEPs sign the written declaration and was surprised that something inside of me felt blocked. I tried to look inside and realized I was focusing too much on the form of getting MEPs to sign rather than trying to open my heart to just save MEPs and their assistants with this process. As soon as I had this thought I experienced a rush of energy through my body and saw Master’s fashen.

I recalled a passage Master taught,

“Only when your xinxing is upgraded can you assimilate to the characteristic of the universe and remove different human desires, attachments, and other bad things. Only then will you be able to abandon the bad things in yourself and ascend so that you will not be restricted by the characteristic of the universe.” (Zhuan Falun)

I realized while I was thinking about the total number of signatures needed, although trying not to, I was, in fact, developing an attachment to this. Hence my sense of fear or doubt. I knew Master was encouraging me, and I sensed an opportunity for me to step forward and simply trust Master’s arrangement. Although simple to say, at times for me, this has not always been simple to do.

The next day we were meant to be inside parliament at 10:00, and I had arranged my first meeting at 10:30 with a senior MEP. There were some delays with the team going inside and I realized time was becoming pressing - I remembered my experience from last night, so I encouraged the team to send righteous thoughts and we waited patiently. As it turned out the person coming to let us in came just before 10:30 and the process seemed very quick. While walking to our meeting location I saw the MEP we had arranged to see just in front of us and we all arrived for the meeting at exactly the same time. Again I took this as encouragement to trust Master.

At the beginning of our meeting, the MEP explained that he was aware of human rights in China, but he could not support the written declaration due to his party’s policy. On the surface I felt like this might be a tough meeting, but in my heart, I really wanted to connect with him. After a few minutes of me and another practitioner clarifying the truth a second MEP from the same party saw us and came to join the meeting. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to encourage both MEPs to sign.

As the conversation opened up I found myself talking one on one with the MEP we had originally come to see. I felt I needed to make a personal, direct plea to him and asked him to really consider supporting the declaration as an exception. At one stage the MEP paused for a moment looked at me and then said, “OK I will sign!” The other MEP had also stated they were going to sign. I thanked Master in my heart for helping us. Now we had 2 supportive MEPs from the same party. So I asked them if there is any way they could help encourage their fellow party MEPs to support the declaration. In my head, I was hoping they would send an email or perhaps do a warm introduction.

They both looked at each other and then invited us to join them in the members only bar to see if any of their MEP colleagues were there and said they would try to introduce us. We thanked them for their help and went to the bar. As soon as we arrived, another MEP from the same party was sitting on a table right at the front of the bar. The original MEP took us over, then introduced us and the written declaration. He explained that he was going to make an exception and sign, and he encouraged them to listen to what we had to say.

Almost as soon as we started to talk, one more MEP came into the bar, came over to our table and the process repeated itself. This kept happening until at one stage I think there were 9 or 10 of us sitting around the table. I actually started to apologize to the MEPs who kept having this process repeating itself. They were really encouraging and saying not to worry. When we were finally able to present the facts and situation to everyone sitting there I was really touched. They were all saying they were supportive and would sign, even though all the MEPs came from a party that has a policy of not signing declarations. We had gone from a meeting with 1 MEP to suddenly being with 7-8 MEPs all saying they will sign. I could really feel Master’s help and guidance, and again I thanked Master in my heart.

I again realized this was a wonderful opportunity to really help get more MEPs from this party to sign so I said, “In the last 2 days I have had less than 6 hours sleep and driven from London to Strasbourg to come and see you. I believe this declaration is really important, especially as America has just passed a similar resolution and the facts arising from the new report. Is there any way you could help encourage more of your fellow party MEPs to sign?”

One of the MEPs looked around and then asked,“What about the meeting tonight?” It turns out that their party had an inner-party group meeting that day at 7:00. At this point, the MEPs discussed this among themselves and then asked whether I would be able to come and do a short presentation on organ harvesting this evening? Of course, I said yes, and thanked them for the opportunity. Before I knew it, I realized our meeting had been over 1.5 hours, and as I left the bar I could not help but have a tear in my eye. I could feel and see Master’s arrangement in everything and was very grateful for the opportunity to talk to more MEPs about organ harvesting that evening.

I was told initially that there would only be about 30 to 40 people at the meeting, as it turned out one senior MEP had arranged an event directly after the meeting so there were in fact about 80 to 90 MEPs and assistants in the meeting. I was introduced by an MEP saying he felt everyone should sign the declaration, and immediately after my presentation a senior MEP from an Italian party stood up and also encouraged everyone to sign.

After the presentation, one of the MEPs who we had met in the morning came up to me and offered me some advice. He said, "Everyone inside parliament is very busy and gets distracted easily. You need to be able to present this situation well in under 30 seconds." He said, "You should tell people something like, 'It's been estimated that 900,000 to 1.5 million transplants in 15 years led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners as a result of forced organ harvesting.' You need to emphasize this was done against their will and that there have even been reports of this happening without anesthesia.” I could see they were moved and thanked them for the advice.

I found out later that more than 70% of this inner-parliamentary group signed the written declaration.

At times while helping with the European parliament project this year, it appears that the UK team has made some progress. However, from my understanding, when practitioners come together and either make breakthroughs or experience blockages, this is a result and reflection of our combined heart and diligence.

While writing this sharing I have again felt honored and privileged to have been able to help support the EU project. I truly believe that when events like the one I just described occur, it really is a result of practitioners coming together and trying to let go of ourselves while trusting and believing in Master.

At times it has really felt that Master pulled me up to a new level while presenting forced organ harvesting to MEPs in parliament. One particular event happened on the final day of our second visit to parliament, the day before 2 practitioners happened to meet an MEP they were trying to contact in the elevator and were able to arrange an appointment for the next day. Unfortunately one of the practitioners was not able to go to the meeting and I was asked to attend the appointment.

We arrived on schedule. However, as soon as the MEP saw us he said he was too busy to see us as he had no time. We apologized for disturbing him, highlighting we knew everyone was very busy and asked whether he had any time at all. He looked at his watch and said: you have 2 minutes.

I started to explain how I had met many MEPs from their party recently and before I could say anything else he looked at me over his glasses and said, “Do not think I will sign just because you have met my colleagues.” The tone and demeanor were very direct, I realized I needed to remain calm and reminded myself in my heart I was here to try and save them. I remembered the advice I had been given after the presentation, took a breath and said I am here to talk to you about human rights in China. Currently, an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million people have been killed, against their will while having their organs forcibly taken, the worst part is there are even reports of this happening without anesthetic.

The MEP paused and looked at me and said OK, but what about my colleagues in China – what would happen if I sign? I asked what he meant and he explained they do a lot of business in China. I said Chinese people have a philosophy that if you stand up for yourself you will be respected more. I gave two examples of how when Hong Kong was governed by the UK and the pro-democracy group in Taiwan publicly stood up to China on human rights, trade actually went up. So I said you see nothing bad will happen.

The MEP looked at me and said OK I will sign, and the whole process took less than 2 minutes.

As we left the office I remembered Master saying, “...sometimes when your righteous thoughts are strong one sentence is all it takes and a person can be saved”. (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching”)

This process reminded me when clarifying the truth we need to focus on staying calm and having an open heart. Then we are able to receive and use the wisdom needed to connect to and save people. Once again, in my heart I thanked Master. I looked back on the advice I had been given after the presentation and could see again Master was arranging everything.

I helped to support the events in parliament for about 2 months, and so many different processes have given me an opportunity to look inside and realize I must try to do better in my personal cultivation. I have felt really fortunate to be able to work and learn from so many practitioners from the UK and Europe. I hope I can do better in the future.

I would like to thank all practitioners I have had the opportunity to work alongside recently and end with a quote from Master:

“It is necessary for a Dafa disciple to ensure his cultivation on a daily basis, and it is the mission of a Dafa disciple to clarify the facts and save people. You cannot go without either of these as you journey toward consummation. How well you do is a reflection of whether you are diligent in your cultivation. The current state of affairs in society may change, but never will the requirements for cultivation, as they are the standards of the cosmos and the standards of Dafa.” (“A Reminder”)

Thank you, Master, thank you, fellow practitioners.

(Presented at the 2016 UK Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)