Respectful greetings to Master.

Hello fellow practitioners,

I am Nguyễn Thị An, I am 57 years old. I obtained the Fa during Christmas of 2012. Currently, my husband and I cultivate and live in a small village in the Pardubice province of the Czech Republic.

1. The predestined opportunity to become a member of the Tian Guo Marching Band

In October 2018, the European Fa Conference was held in Prague. At that time, I was a member of the waist drum team. After the Fa conference, the Tian Guo Marching Band had a 10-day tour through three countries: Vienna in Austria, Munich in Germany, and Zurich in Switzerland. The band needed 10 practitioners to accompany and support the tour. I registered to join them. During that time, I deeply admired and respected the members. Watching them march was truly majestic and powerful. During breaks, they were cheerful, kind, and very friendly. Their work intensity—from early morning until late at night—was extremely demanding, yet they were always full of energy. When studying the Fa and doing the exercises, they were very serious and solemn.

At that time, I was already 50 years old and never imagined that one day I would become a member of that blue-uniformed band! Even after returning home, I still felt nostalgic about those beautiful days. At the end of January 2019, the band held its first training session of the year. My husband registered me to participate. I went there with five other fellow practitioners. Instrument number 12, the baritone, chose me. I was very happy and excited. But when I met and spoke with the practitioner who was currently using that instrument, I felt truly overwhelmed. I spoke with my husband and said, “I think I’ll stop learning music—after all, I’m already 50 years old. I don’t know the language, and when I go to school, I can’t understand what the teacher is saying. Plus, it takes time and money, and our family is struggling right now,” and so on and so forth. My husband simply replied with one sentence: “It’s just a matter of whether you want to or not. You don’t need to worry about anything else. If you’re determined to learn, Master will arrange everything!”

I thought: he is right—I have to try. I can’t give up before testing my own limits.

While I was waiting for the band to send me an instrument I can borrow, I went online and followed the advice of a fellow practitioner who was also learning. I visited a music learning website, which had 32 basic music theory lessons. They were very detailed, specific, and easy to understand for someone like me who knew nothing about musical instruments. After finishing the 32 basic lessons, I moved on to another site to learn how to get familiar with and use the instrument.

To help me remember the musical notes more easily, I photocopied each sheet of music twice. I made two booklets—one clean copy to bring to band practice, and one for daily study at home where I would write symbols below the notes. For example, for the notes C and G, I wrote “0,” meaning no keys need to be pressed. For D1, I wrote “one-third,” for D2 I wrote “1,” for E and F sometimes “½,” for F “1,” and for B “2,” and so on…

After receiving the instrument, I went to the music school to enroll. The teacher said there was only one month left before summer break, so I should try learning with him first. If it goes well, I could register for the new school year. One month with eight lessons passed quickly. I felt like I hadn’t learned anything. The notes Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol all sounded nearly the same when I played them, and my heart felt heavy. I sat with my instrument in front of Master’s picture and said: “Dear Master, in my heart I truly want to learn music to become a musician in the Tian Guo Marching Band. I’ve tried learning for a month but still don’t understand anything. The teacher says I don’t grasp it, and I don’t know what to do. I humbly ask Master to show me where I should begin.”

After that, a fellow practitioner gave me the phone number of a music teacher in Vietnam. He is a trombone player, well-known in the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra. Feeling very excited, I bought a plane ticket—flying first and paying later. I could only arrange to stay in Vietnam for one week. He prepared a very concise curriculum for me, just one page of A4 paper. I understood the music theory clearly. He taught me the basics of playing the instrument: breathing, inhaling, breath control, lip vibration, lip grip, how to blow each note—short notes, long notes, high notes, low notes—all the basic techniques that the Western teacher here couldn’t teach me.

The most notable thing was that I didn’t know solfège. I told him, “Just teach me how to play the instrument. I’ll learn solfège slowly when I return to the Czech Republic.” After one week, I could play short musical passages. On the final afternoon before I left, he said to me, “In my 40 years of teaching and performing music, I’ve never met a student who didn’t know solfège but could still play like you.” I told him, “I practice Falun Gong. I know nothing about music. It was my Master who chose and guided me.” He nodded and said he believed that. He gave me the piece “Awakening from a Dream” and advised me to play music with ease. “Whenever you feel pressure from the Tian Guo Marching Band’s pieces, try practicing this one.”

Back in Czech Republic, I practiced daily using his curriculum. I arranged my schedule accordingly. Every morning I woke up at 4:30 to practice the 5th exercise. After sending forth righteous thoughts in the morning, I prepared for a day of work at the shop. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, I went to music school. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I studied online via phone with the teacher in Vietnam. On days without lessons, I self-studied for two hours. In the evening, we sat down to study the Fa, then practiced the first four exercises, and only went to sleep after sending forth righteous thoughts at night.

The band’s rule is that after two years, if you haven’t passed the test, you should voluntarily withdraw. And out of the 10 training and parade sessions, you must not miss more than two. I set a goal for myself: I would take the entrance exam within one year. After eight months, I could play seven pieces fluently—but only with the sheet music. Without it, I kept mixing up sections. Around that time, we moved to our current residence. The shop was bigger, with more customers, which meant I had to work more. Every day, aside from Fa study, exercises, music practice, selling and restocking goods, I had no quiet time to memorize the music.

Not knowing what to do, I again asked Master. The requirement was to memorize five pieces to qualify for the test. I could already play seven. “Master, please enlighten me, open my wisdom, so I can memorize the music and submit my audition.” And that skill came to me in a way I couldn’t explain. I vaguely remember Master’s teaching:

 “While doing the exercises, if you can’t think of good things, then don’t think of bad things either. It’s best not to think of anything at all.” <Zhuan Falun> the fifth talk, (Practicing Evil Cultivation)

For me, it was different: when I was meditating, each piece of music gradually appeared, each line, each note was so clear. It felt like my eyes were open. It was so strange, there was not a single thought other than the music and the melodies that rang in my head. I don't know how to describe it properly. And I memorized all the music in that state. I recorded and sent it to the brass coordinator so he could listen and see what I needed to fix so I could re-record it, but he texted me saying, "Send me 2 lines of the scale on page 42." I recorded it and sent it back, and the next day I received a message saying, "Congratulations, you passed the test and your score is 75 points." I was so moved that I hugged my baritone and cried with happiness, and was grateful to Master for the arrangement. After so many hardships my one-year goal had come true.

“We hold that anything is possible through Dafa, so anyone can practice if they have the heart for it. As it’s been said: a master can teach the trade, but it is up to the apprentice to do the actual work entailed for progress. Anyone who is willing to patiently endure, put in what it takes, and suffer a little will find that spiritual practice is doable. There will be nothing you can’t overcome if you are deeply committed, and I can say that your karma will not be an issue.” (<Zhuan Falun>, the fourth talk, (Reworking your karma)

With that spirit, I continued to study, learning new lessons and reviewing old ones, and in less than 2 years I had learned 11 marching songs of the Tian Guo Marching Band.

2. Let go of worries and fears that should not be present when marching

The third parade since I joined the band was in Hamburg, Germany. When lining up for the parade, in our baritone team, there was only me and a young girl who was participating for the first time. And so the anxiety of having only two people made me panic and unable to calm down. When the parade started, because of my unstable mentality, I stumbled, and when I turned right, because my eyes were on the mace, I didn't notice that there was a road divider under my left foot, so my left foot slipped. I should have fallen down there. I thought clearly that I had fallen down and it was very painful, like a dislocated joint or even worse. But in that split second, I felt a force or someone lifting me up in the air so that I couldn’t fall down. So I stood up straight and continued walking forward. I continued like a different person, full of inner strength and no longer afraid. My left foot seemed to glide and there was no feeling of pain. I realized that Master had caught me and pushed me forward, preventing me from falling. I could only silently thank Master and have righteous thoughts throughout the parade. When the parade ended at the gathering point, I took off my shoes and socks to check my feet. Only then did I feel the pain in my feet and saw my ankles were red and swollen. I rubbed my feet and said, “It’s over, thank you Master.”

“I’ll say one more thing: Every moment in your life is part of your spiritual journey, and at every moment I am looking after you. Don’t bring any disruptions to yourself. Instead, do well with what little of the journey remains.” (Another Stern Warning)

This is a stern warning for me.

3. Giving up fame and fortune to devote myself to supporting Shen Yun full time

“While in this world, a Dafa disciple is to do well in spiritually developing himself and fulfilling his historic mission of helping me to save people.” (A Strong and Urgent Warning)

There are two of us in my family. Because we still have to do business, my husband helps Shen Yun as a member of the logistics team in winter and I go to the parades of the Tian Guo Marching Band in summer. One person goes and the other stays home to run the business. In the spring of 2022, Shen Yun returned to Europe for a tour. I left the business to my son. We bought a large car, specifically used to transport all the kitchen supplies from one city to another. For three years, from 2022 to 2024, we had devoted all our time to Shen Yun, from the beginning of January until Shen Yun ended. There were times when we would help for more than two months, come home for a few days, and then go again. We knew that doing this job would be hard work, with a lot of traveling and no time to learn music. I had to record all the marching songs and listen to them every day so that I wouldn't forget them.

As a logistics worker, we had to arrive early to prepare food before Shen Yun arrived, and we had to pack up and leave after the group left. From one city to another in Germany, from the Czech Republic to Austria, from Switzerland to France, across France, from the South to the North of Spain, from Sweden back to Germany. We traveled day and night, rain or shine, and often slept only 3-4 hours a day. When I had a chance to go home, I had to practice recording music so that I could submit it on time for the new season's examination. I understood that without Master's blessing, how could we have done such extraordinary things? In seven years, I was absent only once, on May 11th of last year when the parade was in Munich. At that time, we were still supporting Shen Yun in Graz, Austria.

For me, wearing the uniform of the Tian Guo Marching Band, holding the Fa instruments and playing heavenly music is truly sacred. I am truly touched and appreciative. Now, many of the old members have left, but there are also many new members. They are young, dynamic, very educated and also very good at music. I am a member who is no longer young, so I am always aware that I must try to learn more so as not to fall behind, and so as not to disappoint Master's compassionate arrangement  for me.

The above are some of my experiences in my cultivation and learning process. If there is anything that is not in accordance with the Fa, I sincerely hope that fellow practitioners will compassionately point it out to me so that I can improve.

Thank you, Master.

Thank you, fellow practitioners.