God’s Love Turns a Challenge
into Success

Combined report by the Taoyuan News Group, Formosa (Originally in Chinese)

On May 4, Golden Year 3 (2006), a team of nineteen initiates from Formosa flew to Laos to distribute the Alternative Living flyers. We took 75,000 flyers with us on our 4 day journey, one side of which was printed in French and the other in Laotian. Laos is an inland country on the Indochina Peninsula, adjacent to China on the north, Au Lac on the east, Cambodia on the south and Thailand as well as Myanmar on the west.

Before our departure, we were informed that the contact person and fellow practitioners in Laos might not be able to openly support us due to the political situation in the country. Therefore we searched the Internet for information on the major cities in Laos to plan our itinerary.

We arrived at 6 pm in the capital city of Vientiane. The hotel where we stayed was owned by a Formosan businessman Mr. Wu, who was an influential person there and a God-sent angel to assist us. Upon realizing the purpose of our trip, he gave us his earnest support and concern. After some discussion, we decided to make the largest city Vientiane, as well as Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang our main destinations for flyer distribution. Mr. Wu reminded us about our personal safety. He explained that religious issues are sensitive topics in Laos.

On May 5, we divided into two groups and started distributing flyers in Vientiane and Vang Vieng. We also managed to get in touch with the local contact person and he helped us to approach the Vientiane Daily News, the most read newspaper in Vientiane, to publish the Alternative Living message in a prominent space for four consecutive days. He also helped us to have a better understanding about the local situation.

Upon our arrival at Vang Vieng, we found a lot of foreign tourists, among them was a beautiful blond woman. After receiving the flyer she exclaimed with excitement, “God! I really can’t believe my eyes. I am a vegetarian and I came from Los Angeles. You are really great! You are wonderful! I absolutely support you. Please be very careful all the way. God is taking care of you.” Under the scorching sun, her words seemed to have turned into cooling nectar that soothed our hearts. When the local people received the flyers, they would always thank us and start reading them immediately. At a primary school, the students flocked around us asking for the flyers. Their pure and lovely faces were so inspiring. We also shared some candy and stationery with them.

During the next two days, we continued to work in two groups. One group took a domestic flight to Luang Prabang, while another group went to the densely populated towns surrounding Vientiane. The Vientiane team of eleven initiates went south and distributed flyers in villages along the route. On the way, we noticed the grave and nervous expressions of our driver and guide and only wished we could think of some words to ease their discomfort. When we stopped at a village, some provincial officials in a car came over and interrogated us. Our guide acted as the interpreter and explained our purpose to them. Understanding our objective, the attitude of the officials changed immediately and they thanked us sincerely for our compassionate help. Before leaving us, they closed their palms as a gesture of gratitude. Only then our driver and guide could finally smile and later joined us in the distribution. They even asked for some flyers for their relatives, friends and schoolmates.

The other group planned to distribute flyers in Luang Prabang for two days. When they attempted to rent a car they met another angel sent by God - a driver who spoke English. He was young and kind, and of course became their driver, guide as well as interpreter. Later he also joined in the distribution! He led them through almost all the big streets and narrow lanes in Luang Prabang, including the nearby villages, so that they could smoothly accomplish their task.

On May 6, we met a French businessman who had been living in Laos for many years. When he read the leaflet, he dashed over and grabbed the sleeve of a fellow initiate. With great excitement, he said, “God! This is truly incredible! Someone should have stood up and said these words long ago. You have come at the right time. What kind of group are you really? Where do you come from? You are too precious! This world is too cruel! Humans really should not kill animals to feed themselves. This is really against God’s will! We ought to protect this planet! Your ideal is really great! I will definitely visit your group on the Internet, I will explain the message to the local people, and also to my friends back home. We wish you all the success in promoting vegetarianism. Bravo!”

When we were about to leave Luang Prabang on May 7, the driver helped us to complete all the check-in procedures and then came over and sat down next to our team leader with red eyes. While holding back his tears, he said, “Now that you are leaving, allow me to thank you on behalf of all the inhabitants of Luang Prabang and the adjacent provinces, for your compassionate deeds. In these two days, I have witnessed you combing through each street and lane in the urban and rural areas, you would even climb hills for just one household oblivious of the effort it would take to get there. I am really touched! Also, I must apologize to you, because on the first day I was scared that it would bring me trouble, so I deliberately kept a distance from you. However, your sincerity and compassion changed me. All of you are so nice. Whether they were adults or children, regardless of their poverty, filthiness, illiteracy, you always greeted each of them cordially and let everyone feel respected. When you saw small kids, you would lovingly give them candy and stationery. When taking meals, you would generously share your food with the inhabitants nearby. When you saw monks, you bowed to them politely. I never imagined that we could treat each other so nicely. I observed your compassion with my own eyes. I saw you working so hard under the hot sun, rushing from one village to another despite that you were hungry. I am very, very touched! I have also learnt a lot.” While he was talking, the team leader translated for us. All the fellow initiates were moved by his sincere words and some of us even shed tears.

On the evening of May 7, we arranged a dinner gathering with the local fellow practitioners at the hotel. Although there was a language barrier, it did not hinder us from feeling that we were one family. From the conversation, we became aware of the fact that the local fellow initiates had never seen Master, and most of them had neither a photo of Master nor any Celestial Clothing. Therefore, we immediately gave them all of the Master’s photos and Celestial Clothes we had with us. We mentioned that we had distributed 55,000 leaflets so far, but that there were still 20,000 copies left. The local initiates immediately volunteered to finish distributing the remaining flyers. Then we realized that God had arranged this trip to help the local initiates strengthen their courage and faith in God, so that they could continue walking on the spiritual path with diligence.

The trip to Laos showed us that God had made use of us to change negative thinking, fears and suspicions into positive thoughts, courage and faith. On the first day the locals and officials were very suspicious of us, but on the day of our departure, they viewed us in a very positive way! What amazed us most was the dramatic change in the local fellow initiates who were now displaying their fearless spirit!

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