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The Bruno Groening Circle of Friends in Hanoi, Vietnam

The city is enveloped in smog as the exhaust of thousands of motorbikes and cars rises up to the clouds in a city where less than ten years ago almost only bicycles were seen. People don't pay anywhere near as much attention to crosswalks as usually the case in Europe. "Just go, look straight ahead and don't even think about stopping" - that's the motto here. Here you see two children, there four teenagers with a whole tree behind them on a motorbike - something astonishing to a Central European.

Yet, although often six two-wheelers proceed side-by-side on a two-lane street, each taking advantage of the tiniest gap to get ahead, one discovers many friendly faces, and hardly anyone is angered by the other person's driving.

In April 2007, the Vietnamese woman Tran Thin Nhuan made her way through this remarkable traffic situation to a lecture on spiritual healing through the teaching of Bruno Groening. A geologist, she had studied in Dresden as a young adult. Since she had heard that the lecture was to be held by Germans, her main reason for attending was to practice her German. During the lecture she recognized that "the German Friends have only come to help us" and that "they have brought something good". For this reason she spontaneously volunteered when a new Leader for the local group in Hanoi was being sought.

Shortly thereafter, she began to translate information materials of the Circle of Friends into Vietnamese and in the process perceived a lot of Heilstrom*, as Bruno Groening called the omnipresent energy available to everyone at all times. "It is a feeling I had never before experienced in all my life," said Tran Thi Nhuan, who has in the meantime become a strong helper in her homeland. In answer to the question as to why she is involved in the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends, she answered, "This is a teaching you can't keep to yourself - you've got to pass them on so that many people will know that there is no such thing as ‘incurable!'".

Esperanto as springboard

The cornerstone for the communities in Vietnam was laid in Hanoi in August 1999. At the time the second Asian Esperanto Congress was taking place, at which the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends also had a stand.

During the congress several lectures about the teaching of Bruno Groening were held in Esperanto, and they were well received by many "Esperantists", especially by medical doctors. In October of the same year, interested persons were invited to another lecture in Hanoi, with the result that two communities could be founded there. After two further lectures in the year 2000, a community could also be established in the south, in Ho-Chi-Minh City. The Vietnamese Friends were mentored from Germany. The contact was intensified by email, telephone and annual visits that always included lectures and conferences. At that time, the Friends could only converse in a mixture of English, French and Esperanto. "It really wasn't easy at first. Especially the language barrier hampered our communication," said Manfred Fortmann, who has been travelling regularly to Vietnam since 1999 to convey the teaching of Bruno Groening to the people there. He had already convinced himself about the truth of the teaching many years before.

German-Vietnamese Friendship

In 2005, Sui Schiemann took over mentoring of the country. She says she has always felt a strong connection to this country and is now very happy to mentor the people there and provide many interested people access to the teaching of Bruno Groening.

Since then, she has been going regularly to Hanoi and Ho-Chi-Minh-City to hold information lectures and train the friends. "We have very good contact with the Germans. I perceive their love and am very moved that they are helping our country in this way," says Mrs. Nhuan happily. This good contact is based largely on the good possibilities offered by the Internet. Among many other things, for example, the working circles for helpers are offered regularly on the Internet.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Schiemann also helped out with the Vietnamese in Germany. In June 2009 she organized a lecture in Berlin which Mrs. Nhuan presented especially for the Vietnamese living there in their native language.

Following the lecture, Mrs. Nhuan and Nguyen Van Man, who is responsible for recording the healings in Hanoi, took part in a schooling week near Cologne along with 69 other friends from 34 different countries (see article on page 6). There Mrs. Nhuan reported about the 2008 schooling week, which she also attended: "when I returned to Hanoi after the schooling week my daughter was amazed and said, "You suddenly look so young!" In the time that followed, she observed me and eventually convinced herself of the truth of the teaching of Bruno Groening. Now she is already helping me with the translation and will be coming along this year to a youth week of the Circle of Friends in Brandenburg."

Mr. Man helps the healed people in Hanoi to record their healing reports. He learned about the teaching of Bruno Groening through his wife's doctor. After that, he, himself, experienced a healing in the emotional area as well as relief in his daily life and noticed that the family harmony was continually improving. Out of gratitude he then began to help out in the Hanoi community.

"Healing will take place all over the world"  Bruno Groening

In March, the leader of the Medical Scientific Group for Southeast Asia, a doctor acting as contact for all medical professionals in Southeast Asia, initiated a regular Internet online meeting for all Bruno Groening Friends in the healing professions. In addition, training is provided for all the helpers who assist healed people in writing their healing reports.

Corinna Bachmann began this work in the autumn of 2008. When asked why she is helping in Vietnam, she replied, "when Mrs. Schiemann presented photos of one of her journeys to the country I immediately felt a connection to these people. It is important to me that this teaching is passed on to all people, since I already have experienced so much goodness from it myself."

A "new generation" in Vietnam 

In 2008, Janine Bui took over mentoring of the young Bruno Groening Friends in Vietnam. Being half-Vietnamese, she had been ashamed to be associated with the country in the past and would often deny her background. Since coming to the Circle of Friends, she has experienced a complete inner transformation and has found her way back to her roots. "Earlier I was ashamed, but today I am proud to be Vietnamese. I help out of conviction, for everyone needs goodness--and this is a path to it."

Meanwhile there are a number of young people in Ho-Chi-Minh-City and Hanoi with whom Janine Bui keeps in contact. These young people attend the adult community hours and also have access to a community hour on the Internet intended for all young Bruno Groening Friends in Southeast Asia, China, Australia and New Zealand. There they can exchange information on their own experiences with the Heilstrom and the teaching of Bruno Groening. For example, Tram Phuong Nguyen reported about her healing from insomnia and assistance with her studies.

Such reports are helpful, encouraging the young people to apply the teaching themselves and then report their own successes. Out of gratitude for all this help, some young people are already helping the adults to translate the information material of the Circle of Friends. In the autumn of this year, there will also be a community hour for children on the Internet in which children from Australia and Vietnam will participate together.

In retrospect, it is clear that many good things have already come about in Vietnam in the last few years. The country is off to a good start and is looking expectantly toward what the future will bring. Mr. Man wishes that everyone in his country will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the teaching of Bruno Groening. The participating friends, too, have the same wish and are working to make it come true. (mer)

Healed from fibromyalgia (soft tissue rheumatism) after 45 years

My body was just one big pain: Success Report of Els Frederiks, 60, Sittard Community, the Netherlands)

It had begun in my hands, back then in 1960. I was 14 years old at the time. I couldn't control my hands any more, they would regularly get cramps; it was very painful. At 15 I was operated on for the first time. At 21 there was a second operation on the muscles of both hands. But the cramps and pain remained. When I visited a rheumatologist at the age of 22, the pain had spread to my arms, shoulders, neck and part of my skeleton - especially the ribs. I even felt a strong pressure on my head, up on my skull. The doctor prescribed mud baths and painkillers. However, the permanent fatigue and the permanent pain in my bones and ribs remained unchanged.

A drastic procedure

Vascular surgeons. Since several ribs were clamping off blood vessels and the pain bothered me so much, I agreed to an operation in spite of the high risk. One rib was removed on the left and on the right side. The problems remained unchanged. I took Paracetamol with codeine and went to a physiotherapist three times a week. Finally in the year 1984, that is, after 24 years of pain and hoping, my new family physician diagnosed fibromyalgia. A rheumatologist said, "That can last until your old age".
In 1989 und 1995 I spent three months in a rehab clinic. At the end of the second stay, the doctor sent me off with the following prognosis:"you cannot and must not work anymore." My ability to cope slowly dwindled.

A physical and emotional wreck

In 1996, after three years of legal proceedings, it was determined that I was 100% incapable of working due to fibromyalgia. I was not only a physical, but also an emotional wreck. Even taking care of my grandchildren required great effort, and I was always tired. After they left I would be exhausted for days and would have severe pain. I would only drive a car or walk for short distances. When I wanted to cook, I had to sit on a special chair, and I could carry out only lighter household chores. Maintaining friendships, seeing relatives or going out was virtually impossible.

Salvation from a weekly paper

In a weekly paper I learned about Bruno Groening and was introduced to his teaching on May 13, 2004. I attended the community hours regularly. From the very beginning I felt safe and secure there. Within four months I was healed from this burden which had lasted for decades. Since then I have been free from pain, can do my housework myself and take care of my grandchildren. I can drive the car for long distances with no problems. I was even able to go along to a mountain hiking week in the Dachstein area of Austria and participate in the hiking. I can do everything again without getting tired. I joyfully accompany my grandchildren to the playground.

Youth Communities in the Russian-speaking countries

So far away and yet so near

Not too long ago the Iron Curtain separated the Eastern European countries from those of the West. They didn't know much about one another. Were the young people in the East different? Only now that it has become possible to think and interact more openly do the youth of the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends, too, receive more information. A mere ten years after the Wall went down there were regular meetings. Youth from Russia made their way toward the West. Their goal: the Youth Week near Berlin. Besides getting to know one another personally, the friends learned how to set up a youth community and hold community hours. At present there are nine youth communities in the countries Russia, the Ukraine, Moldavia and Georgia, even five in Kazakhstan, which borders on China. The distances between the individual youth communities are gigantic by Central European standards. Despite the many thousands of kilometres separating them, the young friends feel a connection to one another. "The same thing connects us all - the teaching of Bruno Groening. I am very happy to have such a large circle of friends. Never in my life would I have thought that I would one day have friends in Koktschetaw, Astana, St. Petersburg or Odessa," says Irina Glebowna Mileva, who leads the youth community in Tiraspol. The youth work in the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends is of major importance for her. It is the future," she emphasizes, "therefore we should give it our complete support

Russian is a binding force

Thanks to the Internet, the young people can meet and communicate in online conferences. "When we meet on the Internet and talk about our successes and experiences, we can learn a lot from one another. It's easier to recognize one's path in life when in contact with others," Elena Leonidowa Galschowa, the youth community leader from Odessa on the Black Sea, says happily. Since Russian was the official language for decades and is still being cultivated along with their regional languages, it is easy for them to communicate with one another. What was once an annoying "must", today unites the people, which is fortunate for the team of German mentors under the direction of Nicole C. She had the opportunity to learn Russian in school and later chose it as her major subject in college. This language knowledge now serves to help her and her three friends set up the youth communities in the East "It was a special experience for me to be present at the conference in Koktschetaw," she says. "In spite of the long journey it was such a great pleasure for me to meet the friends personally."

At the border of China

Although Kazakhstan borders on China, the people there also speak Russian. A look at the atlas shows that Kazakhstan is almost as large an area as Western Europe. In the city of Koktschetaw there are several youth communities. The daughter of Elena Petrovna Maksimova, the regional leader there, is in charge of several communities. "Previously, the young friends hardly knew each other," she says, "but our common working circle connects everyone, and we can share our spiritual experiences with one another." She is happy to be able to pass on the teaching of Bruno Groening. It is the same with Natalia F. of the Koktschetaw youth community, who had been plagued by herpes since she was 12. Every two or three months she would first feel an itching on her lips, then just a few hours later many little blisters would form which would later combine into one big blister. It was not only painful, but at her young age also embarrassing. "When invited to a party," she says, "I would often just not go or would keep my lips covered with a handkerchief. Then, when she learned about the teaching of Bruno Groening from her mother, she went regularly to the youth community. Now she is happy. "I can talk without pain, I can laugh and eat," she says.

Over 1000 km from there, Anel Amandykivna Kussainova leads the youth community in Almaty, the former capital city. "My family and I have already experienced a lot of help through the teaching of Bruno Groening, and I hope that our community will get stronger and stronger," she says. In this way the youth of the Circle of Friends help to strengthen unifying factors, in order to overcome the separation of the peoples and their past. Thus, the youth are becoming the bearers of hope for the future. The youth community leader of St. Petersburg summarizes this in a one simple sentence, "In the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends there are no borders, and we learn how to understand the other person." (inb)