Why Sana Came to New York City

[PureInsight.org] Sana asked me over the phone, "Jan, can you help me find a hotel that is relatively close to New York and is not that expensive? I want to come to New York City."

"How long are you preparing to stay?" I asked her.

"Maybe a week."

"Then how about staying at my house? You can always move to a hotel later if you don't like it." I suggested.

So after many phone conversations, one Sunday evening I finally saw Sana's Ford pulling up in my driveway.

With a healthy-looking body and a lovely face, Sana walked into my kitchen with many different dishes in her hands. She laid them on the table: There were spicy sun-dried fish, pickles and radishes, fish with yam, Korean style pickled vegetables, Korean style rice and more.

When she continued to pull out a small bag of rice, and fresh vegetables, I couldn't resist and finally starting laughing. "It looks like I won't need to go grocery shopping next week."

"Stu (her husband) doesn't like leftovers, so I had to bring them along. This way you can also get a taste of Korean food, and see if you like it or not."

Sana was born and raised in South Korea, but her husband is Jewish. I have known her for three years. Every time I met her before we were always happy to see each other but never got a chance to sit down and talk before we had to say goodbye. This time she stayed with me; we were always together. She gradually opened up and shared her life's stories, which moved me very much.

Losing the Cherished Daughter Gave so Much Pain that I Couldn't Enjoy Life Anymore

"Once I had everything," Sana reminisced, "a son and a daughter, both healthy and lovable. My huge house was bright and the architecture was modern and fresh. I had a devoted husband who had a prestigious position with a huge and successful company. We loved each other very much. During that time, I had whatever I wanted and asked for. I felt the world was filled with bright sunshine and laughter."

"However, it seemed the heavens were jealous. In October 1996, my nineteen-year-old daughter Angie lost her life in a terrible car accident. My world turned upside down in an instant; I drowned myself in an ocean of pain and sorrow. My beloved daughter passed away, and my heart followed her. I was washing my face every day with tears. I locked myself in a room and wouldn't see anyone. I heard that you can see your loved ones when you die. Every day I thought about committing suicide or letting someone kill me. My husband was very worried as he feared for my life. He quit his job and moved his office home to take care of me. My son begged me to go out and make some new friends. I completely ignored them."

"Once I walked to the riverside, I wanted to jump in and put an end to everything. Then I thought about my son. He had lost his sister and would lose his mother. Could he actually bear it? So I had to return home. When relatives tried to console me, I lost all reason and actually blamed them for wanting me to stay alive and not letting me commit suicide. My spirit had already collapsed. I drowned my sorrows in alcohol everyday and puffed smoke like a chimney. Living was no better than death for me. Stu was suffering more than me. Not only did he have to bear the loss of our daughter, but he had to take care of me as well."

"I searched everywhere for books and information on the spirit and ways of communicating with other dimensions in hopes of finding my daughter. Then I heard of the world famous David. David Wise, a psychologist, could use hypnosis to help people visit their dead relatives. I researched it a little, but found that his appointment calendar was filled for the next three years. Although my daughter was in my mind constantly, I still visited a psychiatrist. I felt I had had a very unique experience under hypnosis with him, yet still my wish of meeting with my daughter could not be fulfilled."

"My older sister in South Korean was very worried about my situation. She bought plane tickets for me and ordered me back to Korea to relax and [let go]. She told me that if I did not go, then she would sever our relationship, from then she would never care for me anymore. So with the company of my husband Stu, I stepped onto the plane. We also visited China [during that trip].

Dead Wood Gets a New Chance at Life

"I had read some articles about Falun Gong in the papers in 2001. I asked Stu if he knew anything about it. He told me that it [Falun Gong] wasn't good and that I should stay away from it. So I didn't look into it further. Not long afterwards, I read another flyer about Falun Gong. In it, it talked about other dimensions, which caught my eye. I asked Stu about it again. Again he advised me to stay away from it. Then I asked him how he knows that it was bad? He then replied that the newspapers all say so. When I asked if the [articles] in the papers were all truth, he couldn't answer my question."

"I called the number on the flyer. A woman picked up the phone and answered my questions. Very quickly she sent me a copy of Zhuan Falun [the main book of Falun Gong]. After finishing several chapters, I already knew that I had found the answers I had been searching for in those years of bitterness and suffering: Why are we here, why do we suffer, [what are] the relationships between past and present lives. The books, that discuss life and the reasons for life that I had spent hundreds of dollars buying in the past months were children's books compared to this one [Zhuan Falun]."

" 'Well the book itself was a great book, but how are the people who practice it in real life?' I wondered. At just that time I heard that they were having a gathering in Washington, D.C. I decided that listening to a hundred rumors could not beat seeing things for myself, so I personally went there to investigate. I drove myself to Washington DC, and quickly found them around the Washington Monument."

"During those three or four days, no one asked me where I was from, if I was a Falun Gong practitioner or not, it was like I was one of them. These Falun Gong practitioners were very honest, trustworthy, and friendly. Being with them made me feel very relaxed and safe. Someone gave me a stack of flyers, so I mimicked them and walked up and down the streets distributing them. I told the people who received the flyers to learn a bit about Falun Gong, as it can lead you to a better and healthier life. Some practitioners also welcomed me to the [Washington] Monument for a candle light vigil. So I sat with everyone and meditated with them in the lotus position, even though before this I had never crossed my legs in the lotus position before."

"During those days I completely went into a state where I forgot about myself. I had forgotten my sorrows, my fatigue, and the unpleasantries at home. In five years, this was the first time I felt that life was still beautiful, and I still had hope."

"I returned home as the new me. Stu was very much shocked when he saw me smiling and laughing. He thought that Sana was reborn, and that Falun Gong had done the impossible. My husband is a lawyer. Lawyers base their judgments on seeing the evidence. The things that happened to me made him want to understand and find out more about Falun Gong. He not only read the Falun Gong books, he also cruised the website for research. Finally he decided that Falun Gong was righteous, and that the people who practiced Falun Gong were the best people in the world."

Wishes of the Heart

This year on her daughter's birthday, Sana wrote to her local newspaper. She wrote, "Falun Gong helped me walk out of the darkness, it made the wounds on my heart slowly heal. My heart changed from being filled with hate to being filled with love and compassion, from being filled with indignation to one with much forbearance."

During the days she was in New York, every morning Sana walked out of the house carrying a big knapsack filled with Falun Gong truth-clarification materials. She went to public places near the financial district to participate in the torture demonstration there; she went to Times Square to distribute flyers; she went to Washington Square to practice… Everyday she got home around ten at night. Looking at her feet filled with blisters and wounds I asked her if it was laborious or not. She replied, "This little tiredness is nothing compared to the practitioners [suffering] in Mainland China."

Sana has two wishes at the moment: To tell everyone she sees that Falun Dafa is very righteous, that the Chinese government should stop persecuting Falun Gong. She also hopes that her relatives, especially her husband, will also be able to practice Falun Gong.

On Sunday, Sana returned home. She said she needs to go home to take care of Stu for a while, but she will return next month. When she was about to leave, she asked if I had anything else to say. I held up dishwashing rags that she used to clean my kitchen so much that they now had holes in them and grinned, "Hum, how bout next time, please bring your own dishwashing rags."

(The Chinese original first appeared on The Epoch Times)

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/8/31/28935.html