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a Compassionate and Vegetarian Global Village |
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Recorded by sister-initiate
Wenjuan Cai
Compiled by Taoyuan News Group, Formosa (Originally in Chinese)
Located between China and Russia, Mongolia has a population of over two million. With a vast territory but a sparse population, its population density is low. Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is the largest city in the country. At midnight on June 12, Golden Year 3 (2006), a group of 17 Formosa initiates arrived in Ulaanbaartar. As soon as we walked out of the customs, we were greeted by more than ten Mongolian initiates who had been waiting for us, which touched our hearts greatly. By the time we reached the local Center and had a meal, it was already past two o’clock in the morning, so we decided to meditate together till dawn.
Television Broadcast - A Heartfelt Welcome
In the morning of June 13, we divided into five groups to be guided by five local initiates assigned by sister Baasandamba, one of Mongolia’s contact persons. We went on foot to different places in the city to distribute the flyers. The Mongolians are hospitable and pure and were very receptive to the Alternative Living message. Some people happily said to us after receiving the flyer, “Oh, I know your group, I saw you guys on TV...” We were surprised at the beginning, and then later learned that one of the local initiates, whose name is Nominjin, is a very famous singing star. Her songs currently rank number one among the golden hits in Mongolia. Journalists followed her to the airport last night when she came to greet us. Therefore, the news on our flyer distribution activity was immediately broadcasted on the television.
Since we had to fly to Russia that night, we returned to the Center at about four o’clock in the afternoon. Altogether, we distributed about 10,000 flyers in less than one day. We were moved by the Mongolian initiates for their wholehearted enthusiasm in promoting Master’s teachings and in distributing the flyers. They told us that they had previously written a letter to the President of Mongolia and also paid a visit to him to introduce vegetarianism. And the president showed his strong support for this ideal.
In order to promote the vegetarian diet, one sister-initiate worked very hard to research and develop vegetarian meat substitutes. She explained that because meat was becoming more and more expensive, the Mongolians were very excited and full of anticipation when they knew of the vegetarian meat substitutes, which were healthier and cheaper. To our knowledge, due to the great efforts of the local initiates, there are already many initiates in Mongolia and about 700 Convenient Method practitioners, among which 150 are now waiting for initiation. Seeing all this, we decided to put the emphasis of this trip on Russia and go there one day earlier than scheduled.
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Visiting Siberia’s Paris
Leaving Ulaanbaatar, we arrived in Irkutst in the early morning of June 14. Irkutsk, a southern Russian city, is known as “Siberia’s Paris” and is now the economic center of eastern Siberia having a population of 800,000. We divided ourselves into three groups and a Mongolian initiate who understood Russian accompanied us.
Later that morning, we distributed about 2,000 flyers in Russian along the Angara River near our hotel. In the evening when we sat down together to review our work during the day, we felt the need to improve our efficiency. Therefore, we decided to have a good meditation that night to be fully recharged, hoping that the next day each flyer would find its rightful owner.
Turning Inward, Problems Are Easily Solved
On June 15, we mapped out three routes and set off immediately after breakfast. We walked the streets, giving out flyers along the way. In parks, at bus stops or in markets we lingered a little longer time. We were very happy that none of our three groups encountered any questioning from police. On the contrary, some local people approached us for further information and listened to our explanation earnestly. An old lady who was selling snacks in a park even allowed us to place flyers in her stall. When we arrived at the largest local market, it was fully packed with vendors and countless people. Soon, all the flyers we had were given out. At noon when we returned to the hotel for a lunch break, everyone was beaming with big smiles. The team leader had also negotiated an agreement with the two major newspapers to insert 12,000 flyers into the local papers.
On June 16, we went to Lake Baikal, the world’s largest lake. Along the road was a beautiful coniferous forest. Our tour guide felt very happy and comfortable with us. She told us that she was once a vegetarian, but due to her busy work schedule, she was unable to keep it up. However tomorrow, she would like to switch back to a vegetarian diet. We responded immediately, “Oh! You can start right away” and handed her a vegetarian cheese rice roll. On the way to the lake, we visited Taltsy Wooden Architecture Museum and a local village called Listvyanka to get to know the life of the people. We passed out flyers to those we met along the way and inserted them into the mailboxes in the residential areas. Most of the Russian people received the message in a friendly manner and read it carefully.
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The farewell party at
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On June 17 before dawn, we returned to Mongolia. The local initiates had arranged a tour for us to enjoy sight-seeing the national nomad life. Up to now, the people living in the prairies still make up 70% of the total population. They lead a relatively poor life and it is not so easy for them to change to a vegetarian diet. Therefore, it was also more challenging to promote vegetarianism among them. However, we believe that with the enthusiasm and sincerity of the Mongolian initiates, as well as God’s blessing, any problem can certainly be solved. Because we had to fly back to Formosa that night, the Mongolian initiates arranged a farewell party for us at the local Center. There were many performances including singing. The Mongolian initiates are very spiritual and creative in that many of them composed songs and wrote poems for Master. We were very much touched by listening to them.
Conclusion
Thanks to Master everything went smoothly, without any obstacles,
during the flyer distribution. In a short week, we learned a lot and gained
many experiences. We trust that with the great love and blessing from
God, the consciousness of the people in these two countries will be elevated
higher and higher.
