Travel experiences and reflections

NotesTranscript

Notes

Book Project: Status and Plan

• Most recordings lost when Chris’s computer died
  • About half survived on Chris’s phone; the rest are gone
  • Months of recovery attempts failed
• Grandpa had considered giving the project to a church member who loves writing
  • Held off to ask Chris first; Chris confirmed full commitment
• Plan for the week: re-record stories daily (rain forecast all week)
  • Courtney joining; goal is to capture everything again
• Grandpa’s memory for early life is remarkably precise
  • Can recall exact dates, flight times, and every house he framed
  • Recent memory is harder: “I need a new computer, a new brain”

Mennonite Colony Origins in Paraguay

• Mennonites left Canada ~1926 over government school regulations
  • Government mandated public schooling; Mennonites wanted full control of their own schools
  • Called them “stubborn Mennonites” — his own self-description too
• Paraguay offered free farmland and a 50-year autonomy agreement
  • No military service, no government interference, fully self-governing colony
  • Paraguay’s president even learned German to welcome them
• Colony was called the Chaco; settlers arrived to open fields with nothing
  • First transport: two oxen and a wagon
  • No running water, no electricity when John grew up
• Colony town Lumar Plata: ~200 people 60 years ago, now over 8,000
  • Now fully paved, police everywhere, government-controlled
  • “If you went back, you wouldn’t know where you are”
• Native Indians in the region lived in the bush before Mennonites arrived
  • Mennonites brought the gospel; now large native churches and independent farms

John’s Early Life and Arrival in Canada

• Born 1945 in Paraguay; sister born 1946
  • Both had Canadian passports: dad born in Saskatoon, mom born south of Steinbach
  • Agreement allowed Canadian-born parents to register children as citizens until 1947
• Came to Canada May 16, 1966 (age ~20)
  • Family borrowed $4,090 from MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) for the trip
  • Spent the summer picking berries at Herman Jesse’s farm in Clearbrook to repay the debt
• First jobs after berry season:
  • Helped frame a chicken barn
  • Shoveled chicken manure for a month (“an awful job”)
  • Started construction in Vancouver December 7, 1966: half snow, rain, mud to the ankles
  • “I swore I wouldn’t do it as a career — but when you can’t speak the language, you take what you can get”
• Grandma (Natty) came to Canada February 16 (following year)
  • Her parents and siblings followed in May; they were also Canadians by birth

Meeting Grandma Nettie

• First real encounter: December 27, 1964, at Rosenthal farm
  • Went with close friend Corny looking for girls on a Christmas holiday
  • Knew Natty’s brother Jake, who had often invited John to visit
• Walked with her to her uncle’s farm that evening; fell in love immediately
  • At the end of the night she asked: “Are you coming back on the weekend?”
  • “That was the word I wanted”
• Dated three weekends in a row; committed with “do you mean it? Yes, I do”
• John’s parents disapproved and intercepted letters
  • Mom went to the mailbox; a couple of letters from Natty were never delivered
  • Two years passed with no contact; both had moved on to other relationships
• August 10, 1968: woke at 5am and decided to go back
  • Borrowed $1,500 from Jack Fries (a choir friend with a carpet store) as co-signer
  • Bought a wedding dress in Clearbrook for $65 before leaving: “I think it’ll fit her”
  • Flew alone: Vancouver → Calgary → Winnipeg → Toronto → New York → Caracas → Asuncion
  • Hadn’t slept in four nights; had no idea if she was available
• Landed in Lumar Plata on Thursday; asked a mutual friend about Natty
  • Friend: “I don’t think she has a boyfriend — and she said she thinks John will come back one day”
  • “Thank you very much. It’s gone.” — arrived at her farm an hour later
• Natty had a boyfriend (Walter Keller) but had told him: “When John comes back, you’re history”
• Her parents sided with John over Walter: “John is the one you marry”
• Engaged in early September; married October 18th
  • Had to wait ~3 weeks for a letter from King Road Church confirming membership
  • Church rule: unbaptized members could not be married by the pastor
• Stayed in Paraguay until February; brought Natty to Canada on February 16

Early Married Life in Canada

• John’s parents initially made Natty feel unwelcome; moved out after two weeks
  • No money: borrowed $115 from a friend to pay first rent on a basement suite in Clearbrook
• Moved to Vancouver for work; paid $60/month rent, wages under $3/hour
  • Borrowed a work van from colleagues; used it on weekends to visit Abbotsford
• Grandma worked throughout: picked 48 flats of raspberries the day before Eric was born
  • Eric born July 8 at Burnaby Hospital, 8 lbs 10 oz
  • Saturdays: hauled sand in basements at two sites a day, made $80 (covered rent and groceries)
• First car: a brand-new Maverick, bought June before Eric’s birth — all borrowed money
  • Total debt at that point: ~$8,000 with nothing to show “except a pregnant wife”
• Natty’s brother once looked in their fridge: “You guys have no food” — went and bought groceries
• Parents eventually came around completely
  • Dad told John many times: “Natty was their best daughter-in-law”
  • “If it wasn’t for Grandma, we wouldn’t live in a house like this”
  • She negotiated bank loans directly: talked a banker down from 5.5% to 4.5% interest

Framing Career

• Started framing for others in December 1966; went out on his own ~1970-71 (age ~25)
  • Encouraged by his dad; first solo contractor was Walter Froze
  • “I didn’t know how to do stairs — he said, do you know how to put a foundation in? You’re on your way”
• Total career: 250 houses, 3 duplexes, 2 townhouses
  • Never advertised; all work came by word of mouth
  • Never had a client fail to pay
• Pre-screening method for unknown clients: phone their lumber supplier
  • If the supplier said “don’t bother if you have other work,” he declined the job
• Stayed residential deliberately:
  • Commercial required reading thick blueprints and understanding complex codes
  • Larger contracts meant larger non-payment risk: “$50,000 unpaid can break your back; $6,500 won’t”
• Had an accountant from day one; never handled government paperwork himself
  • “If the government phoned, I said wrong number and hung up”
• Last job: repaired and painted a widow’s rotting deck, just before Christmas, on his own street
• Stopped on surgeon’s orders: no lifting, no labor

Past Accidents and Miracles

• 1986 farm accident: pinned in a silage wagon between the beaters
  • Leg wrapped in machinery, hanging upside down, one foot in front of his face, jammed for nearly an hour
  • Prayed repeatedly; felt sudden strength, ripped the steel shear bar loose, freed himself
  • Leg broken in multiple places; crawled ~400-500ft to the barn on his back
  • Sister heard a voice in the kitchen telling her to go to the barn; found him helpless
  • Surgeons said they would have to amputate the leg
  • After 4.5-hour surgery: “We saved your leg — but you won’t walk for a long time, don’t think about working again”
  • Walked into the surgeon’s office 3 months later; back to work in 6 months
• 2006: fell 8ft on a job site; a large plank struck him from behind
  • Airlifted by helicopter; in a coma by 11am
  • Doctor called Grandma at 3pm: “You won’t talk to your husband anymore — he won’t make it”
  • Five groups prayed; came out of coma at 6pm
  • Doctor: “When the nurses told me you came out, I said no way — I had to come see myself”
• 2014: hit by a truck at 65km/h; vehicle crushed, two other vehicles involved
  • Walked away; still mobile and serving in church

Upcoming Heart Surgery and Faith

• Aortic aneurysm detected 6 years ago; monitored until last September
  • Now 5.5cm; surgeon at Royal Columbian said: “If you don’t have surgery, you won’t make another two years”
  • Also found a left-side heart issue to repair at the same time
  • Surgeon does 3 of these operations per day
  • Risks: heart attack, stroke, bleeding; “no room for any mistake”
• Surgery date: August 6
  • Pre-op X-ray ~July 23 (two weeks prior)
  • Eric (son, RCMP sergeant) rescheduled from July 24 to August 6 to be present; handles most communication with the surgical team
• John believes he may already be healed through elder prayer (James 5)
  • Elders laid hands, anointed with oil; two others he knows were healed this way before scheduled heart surgery
  • Describes a spiritual battle: “Satan was there for three nights saying forget it, won’t happen”
  • “I believe it’s a done deal — but if it isn’t, it isn’t. I will still be thankful”
  • Grandma initially skeptical (“you don’t trust the surgeons”); now supportive
  • Most family and friends skeptical; Courtney’s dad and Eric fully behind him
• Accepts both outcomes: “I have had 81 good years. Whatever happens, I will give thanks”
  • Outlived his father (73), grandfather (75), and uncle (70)
  • “My room in heaven isn’t ready yet — the contractor is behind on supply”

Transcript

Speaker AQuite sure.

Speaker BHe asked me in German where I was going or was where I lived. And finally he said, oh my goodness. He was. He was surprised when I said, yeah, that means yes, sir, commander.

Speaker AYeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker BAnd so. Yeah. And I said, so how come you speak German? He had been as a student four years in Germany.

Speaker AWow.

Speaker BThat's where he learned German. So now he spoke. And then a little bit later, another different custom guy. He asked me all kinds of questions and I finally said, are you familiar with German Maronites? Yes, because I am one. What? Yeah. He said, I am German Maronite. You speak German? Yes, I do. He said, my parents are fully Maronite Germans, you know, so all kinds of, you know, this is what happened when they can hear that you're. You're a foreigner.

Speaker CYeah, sure.

Speaker DYeah, yeah.

Speaker BThey questioned you right away.

Speaker DYou know, you don't go often.

Speaker BI haven't. I haven't gone now since Trump. Trump for all these regulations and you know, I haven't done.

Speaker AYour fig tree died. Did you plant?

Speaker BOh yeah, it does. Well, the old one died but wow. But just kept new branches and beautiful

Speaker Dit way down like done.

Speaker BI know the old. The old tree is still standing you in there, you just can't see it. It's hiding.

Speaker AThat's really cool.

Speaker DThere's are a few figs on but four or five that we could find. That is so hard to find.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker AWow. That's really great.

Speaker DYeah. V figure I just know nice to

Speaker Bhave and then even when it lights up, I have. It's full of lights. Oh, it looks very nice with the lights. So what, what airline did you come?

Speaker CWe're on Delta.

Speaker BOn Delta. What is it a two hour flight?

Speaker CAbout an hour and a half once you're in the air with all the taxing, about two hours. But

Speaker Bit almost seems like that's a pretty big airport there.

Speaker CSeaTac Seattle or in Salt Lake?

Speaker BSalt Lake.

Speaker CSalt Lake. And they're building. They're expanding it too. They have two sides.

Speaker BBecause I mean my flight somewhere tells me just what everything about this.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BI mean. Yes way my action with planes in Vancouver. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been there. I was there a couple of days ago. It was yesterday again.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BAnd I can't believe how many planes they're gleaming coming, you know. So like yesterday, Vancouver in general account, something like that. 1012 planes yesterday I counted in Seattle. 16 planes.

Speaker CYeah, yeah.

Speaker BAnd they're just coming and going and it just seems like I don't see that action in Vancouver. And My Vancouver picture is real, you know. Yeah, yeah, I have the real picture from Vancouver. See all the advertising and as you see there and everything. So I didn't think that Se Sale was such a very cool, busy town.

Speaker CIt's a nice airport too. They've done a lot of work on it and it's. It's quite nice.

Speaker AWhich one?

Speaker CSalt Lake.

Speaker AOh, Salt Lake is a very nice airport.

Speaker BI like. I like Sacramento. Not a busy. Not busy too.

Speaker CYeah, that is a crazy airport.

Speaker BWe got there a year ago. We went to the wedding.

Speaker COh, that's right. Yeah.

Speaker BI think our plan is how can you get somewhere?

Speaker CWhere do you even go?

Speaker BAnd like, then when you walk in, you know, like the people. How many people? But they, they have a good chat. They have everywhere people directing you, you know?

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BEven security. See, Once you're over 75, you don't have to take our shoes off or anything.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAnd we also go to a different scanner. Right. And I have my shoes just. My lady yells and she said, sir, you're over 75, aren't you? Yes. You don't have to put your. Take your shoes.

Speaker COh, nice.

Speaker DYeah, yeah.

Speaker BYou get all kinds of privileges right here. When I go to the gym, We have to be over 70. Really? Yeah. Over 75, you have to be free, but.

Speaker AAnd like. Yeah. So all the food that we look forward to there.

Speaker BSo what's the temperature in general at your place?

Speaker CThe temperature? Yeah, we've been 32, 33 for the last month or so. It gets quite warm and it'll be like that until September now. Yeah.

Speaker BThat's quite a desert, right?

Speaker CYeah, it is.

Speaker BWith all the mountains and all the big lakes there and all that. Quite something.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BI love it.

Speaker ADid you forget that there were lots of trees?

Speaker BYou don't have trees like that.

Speaker ANo.

Speaker BCome on, come on. You should plant some

Speaker Dspiky bushes.

Speaker AWe did. We did do some planting. Yeah, Planting some trees.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker AWe planted a peach tree in our backyard.

Speaker DDid you? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker BWhat?

Speaker AWe planted a peach tree in our backyard.

Speaker BPeach tree.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker AThey grow really well there.

Speaker BThey do very well. So. So it's like the Okanaga then.

Speaker AYeah, yeah, Very, very.

Speaker BHas to be like world country, warm

Speaker Alike Merit sometimes or Kelowna kind of like that.

Speaker BYeah. Okay.

Speaker AYeah, that's what it feels like. Cuz you get the mountains and they're beautiful hikes. They're big trees and rivers and streams and waterfalls.

Speaker BAnd you have two big lakes there, right?

Speaker AWe do, yeah.

Speaker BCool. Smith Forest, the solid city there.

Speaker DHuge lakes yeah.

Speaker AThe one next to us is like a five minute drive and you can't. They have a nice path. Path along the big lake.

Speaker DThere might be some ripe raspberries.

Speaker AMaybe you guys would have to hunt for them.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker ASo pretty yellow bird.

Speaker DOh, yeah. There's lot of pretty birds.

Speaker BI think. I think feet, hon. I think the feed is all gone.

Speaker DHuh?

Speaker BI think the food is all gone.

Speaker DIs it? Yeah.

Speaker BTo me it looks like it's empty. We don't have any. Those, Those birds eat a lot of food.

Speaker AThat is a cute bird.

Speaker DYeah, I know.

Speaker AI don't know what that is. Very cute. Just so fast too.

Speaker DAnd they're very fast. And then sometimes we see three and four.

Speaker AThey're obvious.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker ASo. So three, four. Hey. Wow.

Speaker DSetting all up.

Speaker BLincoln, your sock. Your socks get very dirty.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker BDon't walk but socks out there.

Speaker AYou guys need your shoes, please.

Speaker BIt looks clean, but by the time you. You don't walk with very. They're very dirty.

Speaker AYeah. We had in our last house in Walden, Calgary, where we lived, we did the stamped concrete too in our backyard. And it was the same thing. It's just you're so, so black. Your feet. I remember I was like, oh, we did the same as you guys. And yeah, it was like you get

Speaker Dblack feet from it and it does.

Speaker AAnd it's really.

Speaker BIt does with all the dust coming out. You know, you walk out there in no time. You have dirty feet.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker AThat's so weird how it's.

Speaker DI don't know why, because this year we actually.

Speaker BSo Trump hasn't told you to go back home yet?

Speaker CNot yet. A few people he has, but not us. We actually had some people working for us that left because they, they were too scared to stick around. Some people from Mexico. Yeah. So they moved back. Yeah. Just too bad.

Speaker BSomebody loves her.

Speaker DShe's still doing Shirley.

Speaker BShe does.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker AWe. It took us a little time to figure out where to. Where to send her in Utah because they have a few different.

Speaker BWhat does it attract you with him, Trump? Error. Does it have any effects about you guys as far as work?

Speaker CNothing. Nothing yet. No. So we're on a different visa that he hasn't talked about. So.

Speaker BSo how does it work when you go over the border now these days because you're working, do you have a special car to go across the line?

Speaker CNo, there's just a stamp in our passport that says we're allowed to be there until 2028. Oh, yeah. So it's just like a. Just a stamp in our passport, which is great. And then.

Speaker BYeah, yeah.

Speaker CAnd then I. I do carry some extra documentation just in case, but they've never asked for it, so. Pretty easy.

Speaker DYeah, yeah, yeah, it's good.

Speaker AIt's really fun. She loves it. There's so many pretty birds.

Speaker BSo who gives you that stem to.

Speaker CWe had to go to the Calgary airport last August, I guess. And when you go through, like, you go through security, but then there's the US Customs.

Speaker BYeah, yeah.

Speaker CWe just tell them that we're applying for the visa and then they take you to a back room and make you wait and run through all your paperwork. Like, we had a stack of paperwork like that that we handed them.

Speaker AYeah. And they told. They told us beforehand the prepared for a very intense interview. So we're sitting in that side office waiting for them to call us for our interview with these government people. And then finally they called us and we're like, okay, well, we'll go for our interview. But there wasn't one.

Speaker BThey just like said, you're approved.

Speaker AStaffed. Staffed it.

Speaker CAnd then we had to pay. And then. Yeah, it was so easy.

Speaker AYeah. We were like, what? I guess we're not getting interviewed. They just stabbed us. And they're like, you're good.

Speaker BOh, my goodness.

Speaker CHow did it work when you came to Canada? I know that was a long time ago.

Speaker BWell, when I came to Canada, I probably told you. You probably forgot. See, my parents were Canadians. Okay. They were born in Canada.

Speaker CThat's right. Yes.

Speaker BSo they. They were allowed to live in Paraguay. See, this is how it works. The minute people, when they moved to Paraguay in 1926, they had agreement, a contract agreement for the Paraguayan government for 50 years that they could live there for free. We didn't have to join the army. Nothing. We were a colony, completely owned. We have nothing to do with the government. Nothing. Okay, we could go. You know what? It was so weird, as if you were born in Paraguay, Like a native Hispanic. Once you're 16, you have to have a dedication on you to travel.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BI've been twice on the bus. The policeman came with a big gun and checked everybody except me because he saw I was a gringo.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BSee, they all knew about us being gringos, they call us, okay. What freedom we had. So. And then it was also the people the Canadian government had allowed all those kids that were born, like from our colony there, they could register right away as Canadian citizen.

Speaker COkay, because your parents were Canadian.

Speaker BYeah, that was the agreement. So till up you're 24 and also up to 1. 19, 47.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BSee, me and my older sister, we were born. I was 45 and my sister was born 46. We had a Canadian passport when we came in.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BWe were Canadians. Yeah, mom, the grandma was a different situation. She was born 47.

Speaker CShe couldn't do that because it was 46.

Speaker BYou said 19 up to 47. Yeah.

Speaker COkay. Okay.

Speaker BSo me and my older sister were born. I was born 45, 46, my sister. So we had our Korean passport and it came in, see? And then when I came for grandma, I went three times to the immigration area. I want to apply for her. They said to me, what you are trying to do is unnecessary. Lots of paperwork and very expensive.

Speaker DOkay?

Speaker BYou're a Canadian citizen. It's your home here. Why didn't you go and marry her, bring her in and she becomes a right away Canadian citizen.

Speaker COkay?

Speaker BSo that's exactly what happened. I went, married her.

Speaker CMarried her in Paraguay.

Speaker BIn Paraguay?

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BThat's why I have to marry in Paraguay.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BYou see, I could have gotten here or could have married her here, but the King and Mary said that's the easiest way to do it. So easy. So that's what I did. We got married and brought her in at the visa. We landed in Toronto and the airline had just given her somehow whoever just a visa to land. We landed in Toronto and I met the immigration guide right away. And he started asking me a few questions. Did you ever try to apply? I told him what happened three times. He grabbed his stamp and stamped her book passport, you're free to go.

Speaker CAwesome. That's cool.

Speaker BSo he gave her one month visa and then next couple of days we went here to the immigration. They gave their right away visa for the next three months. And after three months, everything was done. Cool. It was that simple because her parents are Canadians. My parents. She had a brother here already who was a Canadian. I was a Canadian. So I don't know how if it would still work that easy, you know. But see, I mean, we were, we all originally. My dad was born in Saskatoon.

Speaker CYour dad was born in Saskatoon?

Speaker BYes. And mom was born just south of Steinbeck.

Speaker CReally?

Speaker BYeah. Yeah. She was 2 years, had been 2 years old when they moved and my dad was 12 years old when they moved to Paraguay.

Speaker CAnd what, what made all of them move down to Paraguay? What was the reason here in Canada

Speaker Bup till 1919, or was it even later? 20, it was a rule that everybody was responsible for our own kids to go to school and. Lot of kids, Lot of kids Couldn't go to school because the parents didn't have the money. So the government came in and said, we'll. We'll make sure everybody go to school. But no, this had all to do with the religion. Now the government says your kid have to live in the world map and a few other things. And those Mennonites, I call them stubborn Mennonites because I am on stubborn Mennonite too. Yeah, yeah. They thought they had lost all the rights. And it was too early. The school situation. Okay, so. And then they searched for a country where they could go and have their own freedom, their own school and everything. Here's Paraguay. Paraguay had millions and millions of farmland land. And nobody was using beautiful farmland. So they found Paraguay there.

Speaker CThey.

Speaker BParaguay said, come here. You can have it all free.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BJust come on here. And so they were so desperate to have. There were no Mennonites or German people living up to that point. The president of Paraguay had even gone night school. Took Germans so that he could welcome the people in German to Paraguay. That's how the situation is. I have often thought there was something wrong that they. But then I heard. I was about 16 years old. We had those natives Indians like we have. You natives. Yeah, yeah, I heard the one. See up top. Till the Mennonite people came there, those native Indians still lived in the bush, just in tents, you know. They don't want anything. I don't. They had nothing. They didn't have roofs or houses.

Speaker DNothing.

Speaker BYeah, so. But the Paraguayan people, people in Canada, they brought the gospel in there. You know, these days, there's big native churches and everything. A lot of people, they far on their own now too, you know. So I heard one guy saying to my uncle, why didn't God send the Mennonites lot sooner to Paraguay? Because his parents died and they didn't know anything about Jesus. When I think about that, I guess there was a reason that the Mennonites, they had a very tough. Very, very tough to get there. Like my grandma, my mom said they had to take their family. Were kids around. They had dropped them off that big field, you know, nothing there. How they started was unbelievable. You know, I. Even when I grew up, we had for the first couple of years, our only transport we had. We had two oxen and a wagon transportation. When I was born, we were about three hours away from the hospital. Well, there was sort of a hospital. Hardly ever a doctor, right. So eventually it got better and better. See, we hired doctors from the Spanish part. We had even Dr. Ketler. He was From Canada. I remember he was number years a doctor. I mean, now these days it's just like here. They have every corner is a doctor, an office. When we left there, nobody had any running water, no electricity. Now everybody has electricity. Everybody has running water, toilets, just like we have. It's just like Hera. The place where I worked was called. There was a little town called Le Ma Plata, you know, was not as big as Yarrow. Yeah. But 200 people 60 years ago. It's now 60 years that I'm here. Now there's over 8,000. Really. It's a real city.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BNow the government has taken totally over. It's all controlled by the Spanish government now. Like this, where I was at that place, we had no policeman, no nothing. Now police everywhere. You know, they have big stores there. And if the. Let's say ladies want to go to the store, they have leave. They have to leave. You can't take any person to the store. That's how controlled it is there. Yeah.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BPolice everywhere with big guns over their shoulder, you know.

Speaker CThat's too bad.

Speaker BPeople ask me, don't you want to go back? No. What's up?

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BI have absolutely nobody there. Nobody knows me and I don't know anybody. I had, you know, that I had at one point 90 cousins.

Speaker C90 cousins, wow.

Speaker BAnd 32 of them dead. But I know that are dead already.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BI had four cousins that I sort of grew up. I knew them very well. They got passed away a long time already. One Cousin died of 39 years old of heart attack. Another cousin that I knew very well. They were almost our neighbors. He died of 44, heart attack. So. And one lady, my cousin, just the same age as I. She got one night a headache, I guess a. Whatever they call it. Next morning she was dead. Yeah. So from what I know now, it's about 32, could be more was already passed away already.

Speaker CDid you know most of them in Paraguay? Like, were you all born in Paraguay together?

Speaker BYeah, I knew. I think I knew most of them. I knew that I had them. You know, I meant nothing to do with them.

Speaker CSure.

Speaker BI also have Bolivia.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BOh, at one point I thought I had. Yeah. My uncle. One of my uncle moved there and they had. What did they have? Eight kids? Yeah, I know one of my cousins, she died a couple years ago in Covet.

Speaker DRight.

Speaker BShe was about my age too. And then I had one uncle, he moved there. I don't know how many kids they had, but like uncles. I have no more uncles. I have one aunt. She Lives in Steinbeck. She's five years older than I am. That's it. My sister and her grandma. We have no uncles, no aunts. There was nothing in Paraguaguay. Somebody, my second cousin who passed away just for Christmas. He told me a couple years ago, he said, john, if you would go to the place where you grew up, you would stand and look and say, where the heck I am? Am I? He said, you haven't got a clue where you are. Like the highway, our big highway that's called Tanchako. Tanchaco is what would say number one highway. Okay, okay. Well, when we came here, there was. It's about almost 400 miles long. There was no payment anywhere. It's all paved these days. Right into the Colony to the Arsenal City. It's all paved. Even main streets in the city are paved these days. It's just. People say it's just like here. Everybody has a cell phone, everybody has a television, everybody has air conditioning. Right. We had none of that. There was none. Yeah, sure. When we came here, you couldn't even phone other this country. You couldn't phone anywhere. And we live here in Abbotston. We had had a phone line with five other people together.

Speaker CThat's right, yeah.

Speaker BThis was 60 years ago.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BCan you imagine how things have changed in 60 years? Yeah.

Speaker CThat's crazy.

Speaker BIt is. It is crazy. The. The technology of it has changed since 60 years. Just. And it gets worse.

Speaker CYeah, yeah.

Speaker BNo, no, I never thought. Nothing like traffic here. 1968, if you were to Vancouver in the evening, 10 o', clock, you were the only one on the highway right now. You could go two o' clock in the morning in Vancouver and you're jammed and seems like you're in rush hour.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BGetting to Vancouver now a lot of times it takes two hours from here. We used to do it in 50 minutes. Very easy. To Vancouver. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker CNot anymore.

Speaker BI remember it was 1967.

Speaker CWas it

Speaker Bin the wintertime. Me and my brother were working in Vancouver, room and boarding with some people. And we drove out at 10 o' clock to Vancouver. So night already. We got stopped by 2 32nd by a policeman used to visit us. He said so boring. He want to talk to somebody.

Speaker CReally.

Speaker BAnd of course he found out right away that we were foreigners. Of course now he was really interested. So yeah, that was. That's now 60 years ago.

Speaker CDid he just want to talk or was he.

Speaker BYeah, he was worried. He said it.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker BSubordinates, nothing to do.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BI know when Eric started as a policeman, he started in Cloverdale and he said if you worked at night shift in Cloverdale, so quiet you could barely stay awake.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BAnd then they got, he got transferred to Surrey. He was for I don't know how long he was in Surrey already. They wanted to ask him, sent him back to you see, and once you're in Surrey, we have no time to think about sleep at night, right? He said you're busy all night. Very busy. And he had asked, do I have a choice? Yeah, you don't have to go. No, no, I'm staying right here.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BBecause he said and covered it was very boring. Yeah, he starts. Oh, when did he start? Different job, different place. See, he was up till now he was working for the Surrey RCMP detachment. Okay, okay. But the Surrey rcmp, they are leaving there. Well, Surrey has their own police, right? You probably don't know what that was. See, what happened is a couple of years ago we had the mayor there, he decided to get rid of the RCMP and get Surrey policemen in. Okay. Of course, about two years or three years ago, they have electric, different mirror that the people wanted to keep the rcmp, but then we had a dictator in Victoria said, no, we are going to have Surrey policemen. They can't get police. The RCMP are just about done now. And Eric said, well, you know what, they are constantly on the news. And then they came, the, the Surrey police came up and said that they want to take half over Cloverdale area. RCPs, you either take half or none. Of course, here they take over now they don't have the policemen. Nobody wants to. It's very tough these days to get policemen because all people, the police get credited. Nobody caresses the police. And everybody thinks when you're a policeman you're perfect, right? It's not true. They're only human. Doesn't matter what kind of job, they're still only human, just like you and me. And so he starts working now, the head as a federal head office in Surrey.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BThat's where he goes. Oh, they have been waiting there for a long time already. See, he's a crime investigator.

Speaker CRight?

Speaker BRight. He did that in Surrey for quite a while until he became a sergeant. He's a sergeant for quite a while already and. But he couldn't go there until they released him by the detachment. Okay, so finally, what was it last week? Friday was his last day there.

Speaker CHe must be excited.

Speaker BSo he had like this last week he had to go to Chillipik for training again. See, they. Every three years they have to go on for training. There. Okay. So he was in training last year and I believe. Is it Monday that he goes to. Sir. To the head office and I guess to see what's happening there. Yeah.

Speaker DCool.

Speaker BWell, he has three more years than he can retire.

Speaker CReally good for him.

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker COn a pension then, I guess.

Speaker BOh, the pensions that you have to.

Speaker CYeah, yeah.

Speaker BChris. Well, if you, if you work 32 years as an RCMP, you get 80% from what you were earning pension.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BWell, Erica's. His pay now is I think 130. Wow. Can you imagine getting 30, 80% that. But you have to work 32 years. See, you get certain pension now when you want 20 years, but every year longer your pensions increase increasing. And so I mean he probably will stop from being RCMP for like working in the rcmp. But there's always all this other job, you know, you can work in the administration office.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BI, I used to have a police officer retired people working for me. He had been for 32 years a policeman and then he retired. But for the next couple of years he was working in Chilliwack in an administration office. So there's always that you can have different jobs. There's a lot of jobs available for you. Different.

Speaker CYeah, yeah.

Speaker BThey're not policemen like, huh.

Speaker CI should have been in RCMP office, sir.

Speaker BWell, with that policeman. Eric said these days, he said it used to be very easy to become a policeman. Not anymore. It's just like, man, look, how many years have I been a framer? And I got tougher and tougher, tougher and tougher. I don't think I could be a framer anymore.

Speaker CYou don't think so?

Speaker BNo, because they the stupid laws to have these days.

Speaker COh, I see. Okay.

Speaker BOn a roof. You can't work on a roof unless you are in a harness and on a rope these days and there's. And if you have a scaffold higher than 4ft, you have to have a railing all the way around. Yeah, that's wcb.

Speaker CYou know, it wasn't like that when you started.

Speaker BOh, there was no rules like that.

Speaker CYeah. When did you start framing like, was that the first thing you did when you moved to.

Speaker BYeah, well, when we came together.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BWell, the first we came here on May 16th and we lived ended up on Brad Nar on a farm. You see, how we got here is my parents wanted to come back a long time ago. We had no money to come back to Canada you needed so my dad had a cousin here in Claybrook, Henry and, and there was a friend of ours. He had gone to him and had told him our situation that we would like to come to Ghana. We had our think family and so he had gone to Herman Jesse's, a big berry farm. They had a big accommodation house on the farm and we were nine berry pickers in those days. They didn't have machines picking berries. So then Mr. Ends went to MCC, had borrowed all the money to pay our trip. It was $4,090. I remember it was a lot of money those days.

Speaker CYeah, of course. What's mcc? The credit. Like what's. What's mcc? He said he went to mcc.

Speaker BYeah, mcc.

Speaker CIs that like a bank or.

Speaker BWell, are you not familiar with mcc? MCC is the organization that helps out all over the world.

Speaker COh, oh, oh, oh, yeah. My aunt worked for them in California. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker BYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So borrowed the money there. So we ended up coming and $4,090 he said. Yeah. And of course we had to stay there all summer till the end of August till the berries were gone. So. And then my parents bought the house at Clearbrook. Then I had.

Speaker CAfter one summer they were able to buy a house.

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker DWow.

Speaker BI think we paid $9,000. It was an old house, but all the payments. He bought it to a fellow there. And then I was. I helped a farmer framing a big chicken barn. After that I was working for chicken farmer Hall Chicken Manure for one month every day. That was an awful job. So. And then me and my brother, we found a job in Vancouver construction. We started December 7th. We started in constructor Vancouver. And first day was half snow all day and rain and mud over the ankles. And I said, oh Lord, what am I doing? I swear that I wouldn't do it as a career. But you know, when you come to this country, you can't speak the language. You take what you can get.

Speaker CDo you remember what year that was? December 7th?

Speaker B69.

Speaker C69.

Speaker BNo, 66.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BBecame in 1966. So.

Speaker CSo you're a first day. Mud cold.

Speaker BYeah, hated it. And so, so I stayed, worked for four years for somebody else. And all of a sudden my dad thought I was ready to go on my own. And he said, John, just go. There was a contractor builder here in town. He needed a framer and his name was Walter Froze. And I met him and I wasn't quite sure if I was ready. I didn't know how to do stairs and quite a few things. He said, do you know how to put a foundation in? Oh yeah. I don't know if he said, you're on your way.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BSo never look back.

Speaker CHow old were you when that. When you went on your own?

Speaker BWell, I was 22 years old when we got married.

Speaker C22.

Speaker B23.

Speaker C23.

Speaker BOkay. Yeah. When did I go on? 1970. Yeah, 1970. In spring. I went to my own.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker CSo just before you were.

Speaker BYeah. What, 25. So I. I must have been. Well, we had two kids already. Had Eric and Rona already.

Speaker CYeah,

Speaker Bit was at 70. That's probably 70. Yeah. 71.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BStarted on my own and so never looked back. Was always very busy. Yeah. I framed 250 houses, three duplexes, two townhouses.

Speaker CHow do you remember that? 250 houses. You just keep track.

Speaker BI can tell you. I can. I know exactly wherever. Each house I built.

Speaker CThat's so cool.

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BI have to think a little bit, make sure that, like in Euro, built three houses. Frame three houses in Euro. And in Sholovak, I think I framed. Area. Was it 30? 30 in Hope, two in Calgary, one in Vancouver, one in Clodale, 12 in Langley.

Speaker COkay. Okay. That's cool.

Speaker BI could go on. Yeah, Yeah, I know. Two on Lynn Avenue here.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BAnd on the other side of the freeway here, just cross, there's four, five, six frame. Six.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAll over the place. You know, in Chillow Mission, I framed, I think, 25 or something.

Speaker CIn Mission.

Speaker BIn Mission, you know.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BYeah. One in Harrison Hot Springs.

Speaker CCool. And is that just like. Did people just start knowing who you were and asking you to come do their thing?

Speaker BIf you do good job. Yeah. If you do a good job, it's. Well, even bad drops, too. Everything spreads around right away, you know? Oh, yeah. I had people phone. I never advertised nothing. So that was just very busy. I couldn't tickle those that I had a chance.

Speaker CReally?

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker CWhat did Grandma think of you going on your own?

Speaker BOh, yeah. Oh, she was all for it. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was tough. You know what was the toughest? When you don't. When you can't read and can't write. Didn't learn any math at all. I had to do all. Everything. Paperwork as far as paperwork. Other people had to do all the paperwork for me. I never did any text paper for myself. None. I had an accountant from day one. At the end of the month, brought all the bills to the column. You took care of everything.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BSo, no, I had nothing to do with the government. Government. Twice they phoned me from the government, head up from the government, and I just said, sorry, you have the Wrong number and hung up. Because my accountant said, you are not allowed to talk to Rai Ravnikana.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BBecause you don't know. You don't do the paperwork. You don't know nothing. They have to phone us if they want to know something. So.

Speaker COkay. All right.

Speaker BIt would have been lot, a lot easier. That's why. Because I didn't have schooling and all that, I never went big like commercial. When you go commercial, you have to be able to read and to understand. When you get big commercial, you got big thick blueprints, you know how many pages, and you have to be able to understand all the rules and regulation. What's their code? You know, so. No, another thing is why didn't want to go big. If you go big and all of a sudden somebody doesn't pay you $50,000, $60,000 can break your back. Okay.

Speaker CYeah, yeah.

Speaker BBut when you do a house and somebody decides not to pay you 6,500, that will not break your back.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BYou'll be able to do it. So lucky enough, everybody has paid me.

Speaker CI was gonna ask, did anyone ever.

Speaker BNo, everybody has paid me, you know, so. No. What I would do, let's say if somebody phoned me that I didn't know the first thing, I asked him, where do you buy your lumber, your material and concrete? Oh, Blackwood, Rebel brothers. I would phone and ask. And if they would say, if you have other work, don't bother, then I knew already. And I just pointed the person back and said, sorry, I'm busy. Can't do it, you know. Oh. I made very sure that I wouldn't frame for anybody. If somebody said, the rumpa brother said, or Blackwood said, if you have other jobs, don't bother. That meant, those are bad guys.

Speaker CYeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Speaker BYou. You learn very quick to protect yourself, you know?

Speaker CSure.

Speaker BSo, yeah, that's. But I made it. I did my last job just before Christmas here on the street here.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BYeah. There's a widow lady, she just lost her husband. Oh. Beginning of spring. And she had the big deck at the back of the house with two by six decking. Yeah. And lots of boards were all rotten and falling apart. And she said, I don't know who to phone about. I said, you talking to the right guy. So I fixed it all nice, painted it nice, you know. So. Yeah. No, I. I had to give up. That was a time to quit.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BFirst of all, family said, dad, that's enough. Plus the surgery that supposed to do my surgery. He said, you can't do any labor work? No lift, no lifting, no nothing. So. Yeah, that's where it said. Sometimes it's. I'm busy at home here. You probably noticed that retaining wall on there.

Speaker CI did your.

Speaker BYeah, the whole thing. I built that there 17 years ago and they posted all the rotten. So I have to replace the whole fence. I have started already building a brand new fence. So that's. I just do it a little bit at a time. A little bit of time. You know, I did two sections already before I went to Calgary and. Well, they're not finished, but I'll do about a section a day.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BI can do more if you want it.

Speaker CBut no, take your time.

Speaker BI'll take my time, you know.

Speaker CYeah, good.

Speaker BLike Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Grandma and I, we go to the gym in the morning. First thing in the morning. Spend about an hour and a half. Then I come home, it's coffee time.

Speaker CYeah, of course.

Speaker BThen it pops around a little bit. Oh, now snap time.

Speaker CYeah. Yeah.

Speaker BThen I have. Have some friends. I go a lot of time here to eight o' Clock Hill at mittance.

Speaker COh, that's right.

Speaker BA bunch of old guys there.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BThat's where you and I should go tomorrow. We should come there and hear our. A lot of BS going on and so have a good laugh, you know. Yeah. Been now with a group that are for two years already. So. Yeah, I used to have three other coffee bodies. They all passed away.

Speaker CReally?

Speaker BOne from our group, George Nichol, had guess prostate cancer and he died about a year ago. Never lived longer. Then another guy, Jake Dick, I went with him out for coffee. It was my church. And he passed away. And Another guy, David McBig, he passed away. So you know, people all passing away, you know. I guess I'm next.

Speaker CNo, you're not next. No.

Speaker BOh boy. Well, I'm in that zone.

Speaker CI guess so.

Speaker BI guess so if I want to mit it or not. I'm in that zone now. In a passing zone.

Speaker CYeah, in the passing zone.

Speaker BOh boy, that's awesome. Well, I wouldn't mind living a couple years, you know, Chris, I enjoyed my life. I. I have a lot of fun. I enjoy it. Yes, it's tough, but everything aches, you know.

Speaker CSure.

Speaker BAnd all that. So. Well, It goes. I tell people like this why the Lord doesn't tick me at this. See, Jesus said there will be many rooms in heaven, right. And the room that I am going to be in there, it's going to be all granite. The floor is going to be gold. And the contractor who's doing it. He has a hard time to get a supply. You know, he's right. Way behind. Yeah.

Speaker CJust got away.

Speaker BSo my room is not ready. So as soon as my room is ready, the Lord will take me.

Speaker CYeah, I like that.

Speaker BHe doesn't want me standing around on the street somewhere because of Revelations. It says we'll be walking golden streets there. So.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BNo, I don't know how true it is. What? Like what the Revelation says?

Speaker CYeah. Yeah.

Speaker BI don't know what. What? Jesus. Not many rooms, you know, I thought. I thought there were no rooms, but that's what it says. There'll be many, many rooms.

Speaker CSo it'll be fun to find out.

Speaker BWill be fun to find out. Yeah.

Speaker CCool.

Speaker BOkay. Now that you're just you and I here, I'm going to ask you question.

Speaker CSure.

Speaker BWhat happened with my book situation? What? Tell me the truth.

Speaker CI can tell you the truth.

Speaker BI want to know the truth.

Speaker CWe have a bunch of recordings of our conversations.

Speaker BYes.

Speaker CAnd then about half of them, my computer died, so we lost them all.

Speaker BIs that right?

Speaker CSo Courtney and I have decided this week we're just gonna sit and talk with you all week. It's gonna be raining, so all we're gonna do is get stories again.

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker CSo if you're okay with it, that is our goal for this week.

Speaker BYeah. That's what you want.

Speaker CI would love to. It's been on my mind for about four years now.

Speaker BI was really hoping for it. To get it, you know, so. Yeah. And so. Yeah. I wasn't quite sure if you had told me the truth. That's what you said that time you lost everything.

Speaker CYeah. It was devastating. I couldn't believe it when my computer died. And I couldn't. I tried for months to get it back and I couldn't. So I have about half of them. But you're gonna need to tell me some stories again because I want to know. Yeah. And we would love to write.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker BEverybody's asking. Yeah. What about? Where's your book?

Speaker CIt's happening.

Speaker BYep.

Speaker CWe will. If you're okay to tell me stories again, we can do that all week

Speaker Band we'll make it happen. Yeah. Now, why I'm talking to you about this. There's a lady in our church, she is. She loves writing. She's a real writer. And she said she would love to write a book. Well, I said, I will let you know. I figured. I want to talk to you first. If you weren't interested anymore, then I was gonna go to her.

Speaker CI am Totally interested. I've got, like I said, I've got some of the recordings that were on my phone, but most were on my computer.

Speaker BOh, yeah.

Speaker CAnd that all died. So I'm sorry about that.

Speaker BYeah, I was. You know what? What I am asking. I asked you because grandma had asked Courtney. Yeah, I think. Well, sorry, they tell you, but grandma is not always speaking the truth. Okay, okay. I know. So sure. Sometimes I'm very disappointed for what you're saying. It's not true. But that is very common in that family. Exaggerating, saying things that's not true. She said that Courtney had said that you rather would not talk about it. Oh, if that's what it is, then that makes me wondering what's going on because Courtney had said we rather not talk about it. Now. I don't know. Did Courtney say that or not? I don't think I'm questioning that. I'm questioning that she did, sir. You know, so that's made me really start to wondering what the heck is going on here. Is there anywhere interference? Has somebody interfered that. That this couldn't. Can't happen. So I just wanted to know the

Speaker Ctruth, you know, I'm sorry, Grandpa. We should have. We should have tried a long time ago, but you know, life gets busy and then you forget about it and

Speaker Bthen you remember because everybody, when they find out of my situation, where I've been, that you should write a book about it. You should write a book about it.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BYou know, so.

Speaker CWell, if you're okay to tell stories, we can do that all the time.

Speaker BOh yeah, I think I can. You know what, Chris? What is so interesting? I can tell you everything precisely what happened 60 years ago. I left the Chaco where we lived in the Chaco, in the colony.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BWas on a Monday. At 4 o' clock in the afternoon, I left from grandma's place. Said goodbye to her. Okay.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BWe traveled up till 1 o' clock at night. Then we came to the ferry and then we had to stay till in the morning before the ferry would go over the river. We had like a bigger river there, like Fraser river here. The next day we went into a central to the city, to the main city. I'd never been in the city before. We stayed there till Sunday because my siblings, my brother and sister, their passports had to be made and all that and arrangements with traveling and all that. So we left Sunday evening at 7 o' clock from Asuncion and flew into Rio de Janeiro, hour and a half flight it is. And there we left at 10 took off at 10 o', clock, flew all night, 10 hours, land at 8 o' clock in New York. Okay. It was so clear, you know, and no, no, I don't even have to think. And then from, from there we left and we came landed in Toronto. We had to flee to Flute, the flight to Toronto. And I remember we got in Toronto at 11 o'. Clock.

Speaker CAt night?

Speaker BNo, in the morning. In the morning. And I believe if I'm correct, around 4 o' clock we left Toronto and we land at 7 o' clock in Vancouver.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAt 9 o' clock we were in Abbotsford. Really? That's how. Now I can't remember what happened yesterday. Sure it is, Chris. That's sometimes very frustrating. They can't remember what did I do yesterday? What happened all yesterday. I think I need a new computer, a new brain.

Speaker CYeah. No, I love, I love your memory for the stuff that happened so early in your life.

Speaker BYou know, as I say, like, I remember every house where I framed every house. I don't know all the streets anymore. Like for instance in Mission. I don't remember the streets, but I know every street where framed house. I know where it is. I would, I would find them. And here in Abbotsford too. I know every house where I find. But again, I would have to go and look. What's the street? I know here by the college. There's Higginson street there. I did two. One on mackenzie, two on Lynn Avenue, one on King Road, and one on Hothorn and four on McKinley.

Speaker CYeah. Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker BTwo on. Two on Beaver street, one on Clibborg Road and two on Debrine. And four, three on Laburnum. Wow. You know. And one on Pierno. So lots of streets. I know where it is. And they're called the street Mo. They did three there.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BAnd one on Ashen Laburnum and one on no Ash in Old Claiborne right in the corner there. One on Laburnum. We moved there. We built a house when we lived there.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAnd one we lived right beside the airport called Wamsley Road. We built ourselves a house there. So. Yeah.

Speaker CWow, that's a lot. That's cool. Are there any stories you'd want to tell in your book specifically? Like, what do you want the book to be about?

Speaker BWell, basically I was born and raised in Paraguay, you know, and how I found Grandma.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BYeah, you know, we were. But I was. I think I was 18 years old. It was 1964. Yeah, I must have been 18 years old because I was 20 when we came here 60 years ago, see, in Paraguay, we had. Those are religion holidays. We used to have Christmas tree holidays, Easter tree holidays, and Pentecost tree holidays. Wow.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAnd if anybody worked on the second, third person day, that person would go to hell.

Speaker COkay, okay.

Speaker BThose are religious holidays.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BIt's not in the. In the Bible anywhere.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BSo this was on third day holiday on the 20, 27th at noon, me

Speaker Cand my friend who December. Like this was Christmas.

Speaker BNo, no. Yeah, yeah, Christmas.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BAnd I had a close friend there. What I knew he knew and what he knew, I knew. Right. You know, those kind of friends? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was at noon. And we always traveled together looking for girls. And I said, well, Connie, what are we going to do tonight? Where are we going to trace girls tonight? Yeah. He said, I don't know. I said, I know a place you and I haven't been. That was where Grandma lived. They lived on a farm called Rosenthal. Okay, Rosenthal, you know? Yeah. I said, and you see, I knew grandma's brother, Uncle Jake, very well, who died a long time ago already.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAnd he always bugged me. He's John. Why don't you come to Rosenthal, to our place to visit? You know, they lived on the farm there. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I figured. I said, let's go to Rosenthal. And there's a bunch of girls. I knew Grandma. I had seen her before. I don't think I had ever talked to her before, but I saw her and I know who she was.

Speaker CJust in the community. You had seen her?

Speaker BYeah. Where? I was working at a place Luma Plata called. She was a nanny there for a wealthy couple. And I saw her walk on the store. I was working the place. I could. If she would go away over there to the store, I could see her.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BOkay. So, yeah, let's do it. That's a good idea. So we go there and ended up on her farm family. This was just before dark, and. And there was her. Her and her sister and another lady. She was a couple of neighbors down the road from the farm. They were there, and they want to go about a kilometer farther that way. Her uncle lived there. They had girls. So a bunch of young people got together there, boys and girls, and so they want to go there. I said to her, may I walk with you? So I walked with her. I fell in love with her right away, and she fell in love with me. And later on the evening was over, we got packed because we left our bicycles here and we walked with the girls. And then when I was Ready to go home? She said, are you coming back on the weekend? That was the word I wanted. That was the word.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BYeah, yeah, yeah, I think so. So I unpacked that. Next week is Sunday again, same thing happening. We ended up and they want to go to her uncle's place there with a bunch of young people. So walked with her again. Again. When I left, she said, are you coming back? That was getting sweeter and sweeter. Yeah, sure. I was getting very excited and went back and I think three, three weekends in a row. Then when I left at 10 o', clock, she said, do you mean it? I said, yes, I do. Do you mean it? She said, yes, I do. So we're dating. That's that simple.

Speaker CHow's that?

Speaker BHey, then we dated till the fall, till 1966. Maiden. Okay. That's when we came here.

Speaker COkay. Your. Your family left?

Speaker BYeah, my family left you. We came here and. And I wrote. See, my problem was I could write a letter, but it was very pitiful, you know. You know how I wrote letters? I had the Bible beside me and I looked for words, how to spell words. That's how I look. The letters I wrote, they were holy. They were biblically, you know.

Speaker COkay. Okay.

Speaker BSo we wrote about letters. I think it was a letter of six letters, maybe, something like that. And she did too. And all of a sudden I didn't get letters anymore. So I never thought about anything. What happened is my parents didn't want me to marry her. Okay.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BThey were very much. That's then the reason why mom and dad convinced me to come to Canada. They figured if he kept John can get Trout account, that game was over.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BOkay. So if I found out later on that my mom was the one that would go to the mailbox, apparently a couple of letters had come and she got. She took care of them. That's why I didn't get any lettuce anymore. So I was here two years and two months and we hadn't heard each other for a long time. So I had no idea if she was available or. She had no idea about me. I had in the meantime a girlfriend. She was so stubborn. If you said the wrong word in the beginning of the evening, she wouldn't talk to you all evening.

Speaker CReally.

Speaker BOh, she was stubborn. She married Leah, my cousin in Winnipeg, and they got separated just because of that. They're divorced, you know, so grandma had a boyfriend there too. So one morning, August 10th, it was 1968, I woke up in the morning, five o' clock, and sat in my bed there I just lost. I just was out of work. They were at work and those guys quit, huh? I think I should go to Paraguay and see if my girlfriend's still available. I had no idea. So come got up, went into the kitchen and we're drinking matte me in my den. And I said, I want to go to South America. You're what? I said, dad, you heard me. They didn't want to hear that word, okay? They were not happy about it. Well, he said, you have no money. Well, I said, the bank house, you won't get any. 9 o' clock I went to the bank credit union. There was a fellow, Mr. Rempel, he spoke low German too. And I need $1,500. Well, he said, you need a co sign. Oh shit. Now I'm in trouble. There was a fellow, Jack Fries. And him and I had sung. We were singing in the choir for almost a year in Kingdom Church. And that's how I knew him. And he had a carpet store across the street. So I went over there and I said, jack, I'd like to go to sort of and get married and I need $1,500. Would you co sign for me? Sure. So he came. Cool. So by 12 o' clock I bought my ticket already. Wow. I bought the one year open ticket so I could come back whenever I want. Yeah. Now I had another problem. I have to send now my passport. Cleaning passport to San Francisco to the Paraguayan Council to get a visa. I had to wait now till the following Monday. I had my passport back and so I really couldn't fly. So I had to wait till the following Monday. And I took off in Vancouver, 20 till 1040. Took in Vancouver, near Canada, Flew across the country overnight. First the Calgary landed there and then Winnipeg. And sometimes in the morning I arrived in Toronto, from there to New York, landed in New York at 12 o' clock noon. I had to wait there until 5:30 until the plane would leave to Paraguay directly. It was Pan American airline was those days they went bankrupt all the time. I guess I didn't pay enough. So we took off there on 5:30. Then we flew and landed in Caracas around midnight. And from there we flew to Paraguay, landed at 05:00 and Asuncion, Paraguay in the morning.

Speaker CWere you by yourself or did you go with someone?

Speaker BI was all by myself, yeah. And I hadn't slept for the last four nights already and hadn't slept anything. I was very nervous because I had no idea what I would hit. But I was brave Enough. I went into a store in Clearbrook and I found a real nice wedding dress. I think I paid $65 that time. I bought it. I figured, I think it'll fit her, Fiona. It'll fit her like a snug. Really? Yeah. So what my plan was, see now I had to fly from there another hour and a half at a small plane. But the BC3, this was. This was Wednesday morning. Okay. I actually wanted to fly, but they couldn't go because in the Chaco there, where we had to land, they had just a dirt Runway. This had rained and the planes wouldn't go in there. Had to wait until Thursday. So Thursday flew. We landed in Lumar Plata around at noon. And what I had in mind if I could find out if she was still available. So lucky enough, I met a friend right away that I knew from before very well. He knew grandma very well. Pulled them aside and started asking him questions. Do you know if Natty Duoc has a boyfriend? Yeah, I don't think she has a boyfriend. I don't think so. Really. He said I had been. I was there last night where a young. Bunch of young people were there. And oh, I said, by the way, she didn't talk about me. Vanished. Yes, he said she did. She said that I think that John will come back one day. I said, thank you very much. It's gone.

Speaker CReally.

Speaker BHour later I was in her yard, farm yard there. And she stood and looked, looked. She didn't recognize. It was very close. And that was a big surprise to her that came there. So of course what I found out later on, she had a boyfriend.

Speaker CReally.

Speaker BBut she had told her boyfriend when let that John come back to your history. His name was Walter Keller. I know very well too. Yeah, so you know.

Speaker DSo there's lots of food on the table.

Speaker BYeah, lots of food there.

Speaker DYou can make yourself a sandwich.

Speaker AThanks.

Speaker BJeremy, do you eat any food at all?

Speaker DShe just.

Speaker BYou eat a lot.

Speaker AI eat a lot. But what?

Speaker BWhat's a lot to you?

Speaker CThat's a good question.

Speaker APopcorn. I would have a big bowl of popcorn to myself. No sharp.

Speaker BThat doesn't do anything for you. That doesn't give any fat.

Speaker ANachos. Nachos. I could eat a whole plate of nachos.

Speaker BYeah. If I would eat like that, I would look like you too, Grandpa. You're supposed to eat porridge and toast, bread and eggs and potatoes.

Speaker AYou eat a lot of eggs and

Speaker Dyou both have eggs. Yeah.

Speaker BAnd lots of meat. Lots of barbecue.

Speaker AI try lots of fish.

Speaker BYeah. Just trying is not good enough.

Speaker AWell, the doctor said I'm not allowed to eat all these things now, and

Speaker Dthat's the same, I think.

Speaker BWhy do you listen to the doctor?

Speaker DI think she has the same problem as Amy had.

Speaker BYeah, well, I can eat and eat and eat like a cow and look at me. I'm almost as thin as you are.

Speaker AYeah, right. You're so fit.

Speaker BHow many pounds are you? How much?

Speaker A110. But I'm strong.

Speaker B110. I'm. I'm weigh. I weigh 80 pounds or more.

Speaker DOkay.

Speaker AYou're doing great, Grandpa.

Speaker BYou're doing real good.

Speaker AThat's so funny.

Speaker DYeah. Lot of kids say you drink coffee and coffee and then some. And that's more coffee and so much coffee.

Speaker AI know. Actually, Chris is. He has so much caffeine in a day, I can't keep up.

Speaker DReally.

Speaker AYeah, I know.

Speaker DDo you want to lie down a bit yet or maybe in a little bit.

Speaker AI'm doing better now. It was the driving that made me sleep.

Speaker DYes. Yeah.

Speaker AYeah. Well.

Speaker DAnd then later you'll go and get some pot of bun, so.

Speaker ATotally sounds good. Sounds good. And then do that. And then were you thinking chopping the watermelon for dinner?

Speaker BWe could.

Speaker AOr save it for something else, too?

Speaker DWell, the oldest could pick up another one

Speaker Bfor tomorrow.

Speaker DThat's not

Speaker Cokay. So you went and surprised her.

Speaker BYeah. So the first thing I did is I told her, I'm here. Want to see if you're still interested. I'll hang around two weeks. I didn't tell her that I had open ticket for one year. I said, you can think about it. And the thing. What was happening? Her dad, Dr. King, came now from Canada. Her dad and I were very good friends. Okay. He knew. Him and I, we knew each other very well. Where I was working, he always came in and visited me. Of course, as I said, he just thought the King came.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BHe treated me like nobody was more excited than him. So we dated every night for three weeks. One night he said, I'm ready to get married. So what happened here is her mom and dad had said, john, not Walter. John is the one you marry.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BSo they made a decision for her. Okay. Okay. So, well, I said, let's do it.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BSo we got engaged. And of course, as soon as you were engaged, we had another problem. I went to a pastor to get us married. And they had the rules there. Again, another Pharisee rule. If you're not baptized in church member, we don't marry you. Okay.

Speaker DRight.

Speaker BBecause now I was a Member of the king of church here in Abbotsford. I had to write now a letter first to King Road and ask for a letter to. That I was in good standing with the. With the church. Wow. So we couldn't plan our wedding now till I got that letter back. That took about three weeks.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BAnd then of course, now I. We can go and ask a pastor. And of course, now her mom and dad could plan the wedding. Okay. So we got engaged beginning September. And we have to wait until October 18th to get married because nobody would marry us. They have such a pharisee rules there, you know. So that's what we did. And then we stayed there until this was October. We stayed until February. In February 16, I brought it into Canada. And so from there we, you know.

Speaker CWere you working while you were down there, like when you were first married?

Speaker BYeah, yeah, I was working there. That's another good interest story where I was working, but at industry complex. It was a big complex there. I went, asked for a job and the boss said no. But then there was another guy who was. He was in the office all the time. But he made a lot of decisions too. He just says, john, just come and work for you. So I went and worked there, you know, because he knew me from before. That's where I had worked for a couple years already. He said, just come, I have a job for you. There was a job, the machine that they would clean the cotton seed to make oil. Okay. And that was a very dusty machine. And nobody liked that job. And I had that and I loved it.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BNice. Very easy job.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BSo that's what I did.

Speaker CJust clean the cotton seed machine.

Speaker BThat's awesome. So then I came back and. And took a couple of weeks and I got a job here in Abbotsford. I didn't like that guy. He was like an idiot. And then all of a sudden had a phone call from Vancouver. The guy who I had worked with before, Harry Johnson's name, and he was now a framer, he phoned me and he said, john, I heard today you're back. Yeah. Can I see you tomorrow morning in Delta at a job site. He said, hold it, hold it, Harry. I have a license, but I didn't have a car.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BSo I have to make the arrangements with my dad. So took his car. Okay. And plus, I want to give a week notice where I was working him. So. And then I started working there. And we found right away in Vancouver an apartment suite. There were some people they want to move and they had the whole suite Was furnished. Everything was in there. You name it, Everything. And they want to sell it. So I bought the whole thing. We rented an apartment. We paid $60 a month rent.

Speaker C60?

Speaker BYeah. But my. My wages are not even $3 an hour. Okay.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BWhen you compare it. Okay. So then there came April 1st. We moved to Vancouver. We lived there for seven months. Then him and he was with another partner together. Frame. So they quit framing, and now I was on a job, and there was a Mr. George Freed and Jake Curling. They were framing contractors here. They asked. They needed experience. Framer. So I started working with them, and I worked for them for over a year. So I went on my own.

Speaker COkay, cool.

Speaker BThat's. That's how it is. Yeah.

Speaker CWhat did your. What did your parents think when you brought karma back?

Speaker BWell, they didn't. They didn't. They let her know very well that you're not welcome. But I live two weeks home till after two weeks, I realized that I have to move. And then, of course, I have no money, Chris. I had no money. When we landed in Vancouver airport, I went to Air Canada. Counter said, lady, to make a phone call to have it for my parents. I didn't have a diamond on me, right? Lady said, there was a phone over there. They said, ma', am, I have paid for two return tickets. And that call includes one phone call. So she grabbed the phone, phone, Yeah. I had no choice. I have to talk tough now, so I'm going to come and pick this up. And after two weeks, we found a basement suite in Clearbrook. Of course, there's no money, so I went to my friend from before, borrowed $115 to pay rent.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BIt was. It was tough.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BYou know, Chris, we got married. We had nothing. But mom, Grandma was with me from day one, working very hard. When we lived in Vancouver that time she was high, pregnant with Eric. For Saturdays, I usually had a job lined up somewhere hauling sand in all day in basements. For that, they could pour concrete. We did two places a day, made $80. That was our rent, our grocery. The money that I made went into the bank, pay off our loan.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BAnd no car. But for the guys that I worked, they had a work van. And they almost said, right away, john, let's do it this way. I'd come and pick you up. Why don't you take care of the keys? You come pick us up in the morning. When we go to work in the evening, you drop us off. And if you want to go over the weekend to Abbotsford and visit Your parents. Go ahead. So that's how we started off then we bought the first car. It was a Maverick. Was a brand new one. We bought that one in June. Yeah, we had it. We just had the added pot when Eric was born. Eric was born July 8. A couple of weeks prior to that we bought that car. So all borrowed money by that time. All the bank now $8,000. And I had nothing to show except pregnant wife. Okay. But grandma always worked very hard. She picked 48 flats of raspberries the day before Eric was born.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BHere in Abbotsford. We live in Vancouver. So we drove to Vancouver and in the morning her water broke. So had to take her to Burnaby Hospital. And 10 after 11 and evening he was born.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BWeighed 8 ounce and 10. 8 pounds and 8 ounces. 10 ounces.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BRemember all that? Cool.

Speaker CI don't even remember how much Brielle weighed. I think she was six pounds.

Speaker BI don't know the other ones how they weighed it. But that amount were outstanding. Good.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BIt was eleven. Ten after eleven in the evening there was no. I was sitting and waiting there. She had a tough time. She was screaming like an animal. So I was waiting in the waiting room. And then Dr. Came and he said well, what was your wish? Boy or girl? My wish is it's a healthy baby. That's my wish. And he said you have a very smart. So I guess he must have been smart otherwise he wouldn't be a policeman. Yeah.

Speaker CYeah. Totally cool.

Speaker BYeah. That's. You know what was tough that Chris. We didn't know all this. What money. We had no money to buy groceries. We lived here in Clearbrook on the basement suite there. And her brother came over and he looked in her fridge. In our fridge. You guys have no food. That's right. He jumped in the car and went to the grocery store. Bought us groceries. You know. Now people look at us now you know.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BWell, we weren't always off like this. We worked over the years very, very hard. When our kids were born, we had three little kids. When the raspberry seed pick. And see grandma was a pet. Six o' clock on the berry field with the kids. And I got ready and went to work. Mission family mission that time. All them. That's how grandma worked. A lot of people think I'm so smart. It's not just me. If it wasn't grandma, we wouldn't live in a house like this. You have to have a wife who's with you all the way. Almost in front. Yeah. You know. Yeah. She Made a lot of decisions. In fact, we needed $300,000 on the bank. She would phone the banker and deal with them. And what's the interest? Oh, five and a half. Grandma says, sure, you're robbing everybody else now you want the robbers too? Eh. Tell you what, you got four and a half percent. That's all you got? She got it. That's the thing. My grandma's a real business person.

Speaker CYeah? Yeah.

Speaker BHer dad was a real business person.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAnd no, but our situation, like my parents, that all changed. Dad has told me a number of times, Natty was their best daughter in law. They loved. They loved Grandma. They showed it that they loved her. It was all. It's all forgiven and forgotten. Right. But just that's how it is. That's how it was, you know, so that doesn't. That's in the past. Yeah. No, they realize that right away that I had a great wife.

Speaker CCool.

Speaker BThat's great. Other than that, Grandma, my mom and I, we used to be like this. But then when my mom and dad found out that I was dating her, that was three months after, they were very, very upset me.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BI don't want to say the words. What all happened? All I said to mom and dad, natty is my girlfriend and won't marry her. Marry her.

Speaker CThat's good.

Speaker BAnd I did.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BCool. No, after. After hours. It turned out. It turned out very good. Then there was my brother Pete. He married grandma's sister Annie. Okay. Well, when they got married, now, mom and dad thought the queen came in our family.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BBut they found out right away, not even close to the. Oh, really?

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BHis sister, see, Grandma is a workaholic. And her sister doesn't do nothing. She sits there all day and her chair doesn't do nothing.

Speaker CReally?

Speaker BThey were married 42 years. They never invited anybody for coffee or for a meal. Really?

Speaker DWow.

Speaker BBecause then she had to do some work, Right?

Speaker CThat's too bad.

Speaker BBut after 42 years, he left her. Oh, really?

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BI think. I think I would have left her after the first month.

Speaker CYeah. That's a long time for someone like that.

Speaker BYeah, About ten years ago. Eight years old, maybe. Me and grandma helped her, moved her from house to apartment. She didn't do a thing.

Speaker CJust you guys.

Speaker BThen her mom's brother, Grandma's brother, youngest one, he came one day and helped. And he said to me, is that true what I see? What did you see? Well, my sister just sits there. So that's true. Said, we have done everything ourselves so far. He couldn't believe it.

Speaker CWow. That was 10 years ago, you said?

Speaker BYeah, about eight, 10 years ago. Yeah, that was right after. Well, they weren't even divorced yet.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BI mean, I. I agree with him. I mean, it's not the right thing to do to divorce her. I. I couldn't live with her either. There's no way I could. But he lives in Medicine Hat and is remarried with another lady that is divorced too. You know, really, Both. Both smokers. So they both smoke till they can barely see, you know.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BSo that. I disagree. Okay.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BBut I. As you see, I wouldn't be able to live with her too.

Speaker CNo, you gotta get one.

Speaker BThere was a. I think her name was Annie. I think she was the worst. From the whole family. They were. Brother Carney, he's the one that never like work either. He is now what, 73, 74. And he hasn't been working for years.

Speaker DWow.

Speaker BHe's in terrible shape. He's in the hospital right now.

Speaker COh, shoot.

Speaker BYeah, he's. That's what happen when you. When you just sit in a house there or they live in the townhouse day in and day out. You sit and do nothing. Your body goes down the drain just like that.

Speaker CYeah,

Speaker Bthat's what happened with him. So the rest. I think they are pretty good too. You know. I know she has another sister, Mary. She is about like mom too.

Speaker COh, really? Yeah.

Speaker BWork, work, work.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BAnd then. Yeah, there was the. And the teen. Yeah, she worked. She was the worker. She worked. But then there's a Helen. I don't know what her. What Walter situation when she passed away already. Okay. Two of her sisters passed away already and three brothers.

Speaker CWas grandma's family all still in Paraguay when you guys came up or were some already?

Speaker BSee, her brother Jake was here already a year.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BWhen I came. And then we came back in February and her parents. Rest of the family came the following May. They were. Yeah.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BThe same thing to. They were Canadians. They were ready. They could come whenever they wanted. Yeah. Her dad died 1972, heart attack.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BWas 70, 48 years old. 48. Oh, wow,

Speaker Cthat's so.

Speaker BBut. But your dad, the illness he had, what exactly did he heal?

Speaker CIt's a good question.

Speaker BI don't.

Speaker CI don't exactly remember, but one of his heart valves was like had a little bit like a. What do they call it? It was like a bulge. On one of his heart valves. Yeah.

Speaker BSo that's what I have.

Speaker COkay. Okay.

Speaker BRight from my main artery, from the heart valve just under. Okay. So it's really bold.

Speaker COkay. So that's what he had. And then they were going to go. I think they were going to go try and repair it, but they had a lot of trouble reattaching it, and it just kept, like, falling apart. I don't think they had what you're going to have, like, where it's the fabric.

Speaker BRight.

Speaker CI think they were trying to attach my dad's real heart valve right back, and it just kept, like, shredding. And then he had a heart attack on them.

Speaker BI know it's a very. Surgery. Very serious surgery.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BThat's what my surgeon told me. He said, you can have a heart attack.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BOr you can have a stroke.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BBut this surgeon, what was mine supposed to do? Mine. He does three a day.

Speaker CThree a day.

Speaker BWow. Okay, cool. You know what a lot of people. What I have and your dad have. Yeah, lot of. Lot of people have it that they're just not aware that they have it. And they. One day. And then one day their artery burst. They die and it causes heart attack. Of course. Yeah. He said, well, nothing burst. Of course. Your heart stops and you have a heart attack.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker AYeah.

Speaker BThat's what it is.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BThey call it the silent killer. You have no pain? No. Nothing. Did you ever have pain, your dad?

Speaker CNo.

Speaker BNo pain, nothing. It's. They. They detected mine six years ago.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BThat was very small then. They watched it. Washington, and last September, all of them sit here. He said, john, your situation is very serious. It's 5.5 now. And he said, we have to do so, Mr. Surgeon, Royal Common Hospital. He said, if you don't do surgery, you won't make another two years. So I myself would have chosen go.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BBut my family wants to keep me longer.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BI don't know why.

Speaker CGrandpa, we all want you so. Okay,

Speaker Bwell, Chris will tell you the story here. James, chapter five. It says, if somebody is sick, call the Elders. That's what I did. I went and the Elders laid hands on me and prayed for me. Anointed oil. I know two other guys that had that. One, my friend, this was in the 70s. He was in a hospital already. So he called the Elders and they went and did that. They did excellent shows. There was nothing wrong. He went home and he never had the surgery.

Speaker CReally?

Speaker BAnother lady, I don't know her, but friend of mine knows her. She's older, too. She was supposed to have heart surgery. They did the same thing, and she was healed.

Speaker CReally?

Speaker BI feel that I am healed. I feel that I could be wrong. So whatever. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I did this from the minute that I got up and pastors and they did that. I felt that I'm healed but I can't do say nothing cuz I didn't feel sick before, I don't feel after. Right.

Speaker CYou don't know.

Speaker BBut they do what they go and do another x ray 2 weeks prior before the, the surgery.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BAnd I go to prayer and see what happens.

Speaker CRight?

Speaker BSee what happens. Yeah. Okay. If it doesn't happen, doesn't happen. But I know those things can happen.

Speaker CAbsolutely.

Speaker BOur counselor, senior counsel Les Bergman who's in, he knows a fellow, Henry Tricard. He was full cancer just recently

Speaker Aand

Speaker Bhe had his whole family coming over and the pastors, they prayed over and 900 and he said he's completely free from cancer.

Speaker CReally? Wow.

Speaker BYou know Chris, what the problem is, if it would be preached from the council, from the pulpit wouldn't more happen. But you'd know here preaching about it. That's why people don't believe. You know what is Chris? January I read this part a couple of weeks later I read it again. I start more, more and more reading. Came March I read a almost every day. All of a sudden I realized it's talking about me. Finally, finally could get myself falling to church. Talk to a pastor, to the elder. Okay. It was very tough because Satan is there to say don't do it. You have Chris, you have no idea the struggle I had with it. Then I found the elder and the elder set it all up. For three nights I could not sleep. Satan was there and saying forget it, won't happen. That's a battle.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BI mean Satan doesn't want that. That's against his rule, you know. And that takes a lot of faith. I tell you why I believe that this did happen. I tell you comes 1986 and I had my serious farm accident. Almost died. And if nobody had come around, I would have died There I was pinned in the silage wagon between the beaters. This leg was wrapped up, I was hanging upside down. This foot was in front of my face here. I know how my foot looks on the front. This foot was jammed under my body. I was jammed there for almost an hour, could do nothing. Then I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. All of a sudden I had power, my strength. I grabbed the bitter, ripped the big shear bar steel ripped that nozzles and everything's loose now. Now I can turn. See, I thought up to that point my knee was twisted turn out When I got this thing, all of a sudden my foot got loose and it fell right into the box. Then I realized it wasn't my knee. My leg was broken a couple of times here. Now what? I got ordered up wagon. The conveyor belt was this high. I got into the conveyor belt. I got onto the ground, fell onto the ground. Was way behind the bar, a bit near. So I crawled up from here maybe to the deck on my back. See, I had to go. This is way back to the barn and the house is way out here, but 4 or 500ft more than that.

Speaker DWow.

Speaker BThis was around 11 o' clock now. I was laying here. My clothes were ripped off, laying down my back. I couldn't do nothing. Good thing I didn't bleed. And then I prayed and I prayed. My voice was gone. I couldn't yell anymore. All of a sudden my sister had heard a voice in the kitchen. You have to go right down to the barn. She had looked around first. Who's telling there's nobody here? Little bit later again she dropped everything and she came all barn there was laying helpless. Talk about the Lord answering prayer. Instant. Twice right there. He answered instant.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BSo I have experienced miracles. Christ, Chris. Then I got into the hospital and on the right way they told me we were going to have to amputate your leg all the way. Of course, at that point I was. They had given me enough drugs already that no matter what they say to me. Yeah. After four and a half hour surgery, I remember it was 8 o' clock in the evening. Specialist came in and he said, john, I got good news for you and bad news. He said, we saved your leg. The bad news is you won't be walking for a long time and don't think about being working again. Three months later I walked into his office.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BSix months later I was pulled back to work.

Speaker CWow.

Speaker BWell, I had to pray in church. Behind church. Prayed for me constantly, you know. So right there, the miracle severance. Not in 2006 when I fell. I fell 8ft. The fall didn't bother, it didn't hit me. But a big plank came behind me and knocked over. Had nothing. I was in a coma. Instant. I don't know anything. What happened. They had picked me up with a helicopter. This happened around 11 o'. Clock. At 3 o' clock the doctor from Royal Flavonoid phoned grandma and I said, you won't talk to your husband anymore. He's not gonna make it six o'. Clock. My family, some of the family was beside my Bed. I opened my eye and first thing I said to grandma, where am I? He said, you're in hospital. Why? You had an accident. I had an accident. I had no idea what happened. But by five o', clock, five groups of people had prayed for me and the Lord answered. At six o' clock, came out. The doctor said to me later, when the nurses told me that you came out of coma, no way. He had to come look himself. He said, we just didn't believe it, that you were committed with the situation. So I look at the miracles I have received already. Okay, could I have another one? I believe I could. I believe it. 2014, when I got hit, a big truck hit me with 65km an hour and crunched my truck and two other vehicles. I'm here. I still can walk, I can do. I can still serve in the church. I can talk about miracles. And I am. Every day I wake up and I pray and I said, lord, I still believe you have healed me. I believe it. I honestly believe it. I have no thoughts in my mind now. If it isn't, then it isn't. I also have said to the Lord, whatever it is, I will be thankful. I will give thanks. We'll wait and see. A couple more weeks. We'll wait and see. I expect to be getting very excited and tell everybody just from what I know from two other people, they were supposed to have heart surgery. They did this and they're healed. But maybe the Lord doesn't want me healed. Maybe he doesn't. I will accept whatever happens. Okay, So. Well, the biggest problem is that you get hardly any support. Yeah, I talked to her siblings. Oh, no, John, it's not going to happen. Talk to another guy, good friend of mine, he just shook his head and he said no. And I thought I was very disappointed with him. He's a believer. The only people that supported me was, well, mom with the karma at the beginning. So you don't trust the surgeons. I said, honey, this has nothing to do with the doctors. That's not my point. There are a few other people the doctors can do. I know they can do great things. I have trust in them. I believe if they can do it. That's my point, Chris. My point is to receive a miracle. That's my point. If I have to go into the hospital to do it, we'll do it. I believe that the surgeon said he does three a day, obviously. Yes, obviously. He said it's a very serious operation. He said there's no room for any mistake. That's probably what happened with your dad? Yeah, something went wrong. Did they have to stop your dad's heart or did it stop from itself?

Speaker CIt stopped on its own.

Speaker BSee, mine have to stop.

Speaker CReally? Okay.

Speaker BHe said, you see, we are opening up the machine to your blood. We'll pop the blood, we're going to suck your heart. Okay. Plus they found out later that I have my left side heart. I have something there. He said we won't have to repair that too. That's what they flipping. He said it's not pumping blood the way it's supposed to be. Okay. So I don't know if I ever thought or so. And my surgeon said, you're going to have to cut your shafts with them. Oh, should I bring my chainsaw? He said, I have a chainsaw. Yeah, he said, that might be a good idea. I said, the rougher it is, the better it will heal. Yeah. He said, you gotta fight. No, he had a laugh at one. I said, should I bring my chainsaw off? Matter of fact, some people I should cut it open before I go and just take it off and go there. Oh, hey, Chris. You're here for a good time. Not for a long time.

Speaker CIt's true. Well, hopefully both.

Speaker BHopefully both, yeah. So we'll. We'll wait and see. What.

Speaker CWhen is your next X ray? When are they checking?

Speaker BYou know, two stages, Two weeks before.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BMy surgery date is almost a six. Okay.

Speaker CTwo weeks.

Speaker BYeah. So that would be. Did you bring these cherries?

Speaker CNo, Grandma had them.

Speaker BThat's right. After a long weekend.

Speaker CYeah. So the 23rd. Okay.

Speaker BAll right. It was supposed to happen July 24th.

Speaker CRight. But I heard Eric and Leanne are in Penticton that week. Right.

Speaker BIs that. Yeah, there that weekend. They're on holidays and Uncle Eric said, there's no way I'm going to be on holidays when I know that you'd have the surgery. Yeah, he wants to be around. He does most of the talk of the surgeon.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BYeah. First they answered August 6th, but then Uncle Eric had talked to a lady on there and she had said, oh, by the way, the tent. And then she had said right away, how about the six? We have an opening for the six. Oh, yeah. Eric had said, yeah, okay. Stay on the six. Cool. Well, I'll be.

Speaker CI'll be excited to hear what happens with the scan.

Speaker BI tell you, I have 81 good years, you know, so. 81 years. Hard to believe it.

Speaker CI hope you get more, grandpa.

Speaker BI hope there's more. I outlived two generations.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BMy grandpa John Walbot died of 75. Yeah. My dad died of 73.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BMom died in 78. I have an Uncle John all. He died of 70, so. Okay.

Speaker CStill kicking?

Speaker BHey, yeah, I'm still kicking.

Speaker CIt's good.

Speaker BOther than that I feel good, you know, just. Well, I have a lot of lower back problems, so. So I had it for years already. Lots of arthritis. You know, when you get my age, seems like the arthritis pops up everywhere.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BArthritis in my shoulder, the arthritis in the ankle, arthritis in my back. And there's nothing you liver. It's just some old. All the work, you know. Well, my ankle. That's from that accident.

Speaker CYeah. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker BYeah. I have. I have. I've passed a couple of accidents and hopefully I'll pass another one.

Speaker CYeah. If not, I do believe that there's still miracles.

Speaker BIt's just.

Speaker CIt's hard to believe it sometimes, right?

Speaker BIt is.

Speaker CIn a world full of so much death and pain, it's hard to believe that those things can still happen.

Speaker BYou know, that's natural that people load. You know, I had my doubts too. But you know, the more you read that part, the more you get convinced. You have no idea how many times I read that part till all of a sudden talks about my situation. I don't. I mean, I don't feel sick, but I am sick.

Speaker CRight.

Speaker BYou know, so. No. And then ph. The elders. Oh, that was a battle. Phoning the elders. That's not what Satan wanted. And then if you don't have support.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BGet Grandma. At the beginning she wasn't. She wasn't with me. I mean, finally she went for it. But I think she believed it now too. But she thought I went. I was going overboard. And then. But the rest of my family on like Courtney's dad, I mean he was 100 behind me and Eric and the rest of the family are behind me. But now I don't know how they. What they were taking over at the beginning. But. Right first thing Grandma said you don't trust the doctor surgeons. Sure I do. Three a day. They must know what they're doing.

Speaker DYeah.

Speaker BHe showed me his like a little long. Looked like a plastic pipe. That thick. That's what we're putting in.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BLooks like it was all holes from. From. Did they talk? Probably from a high hose. Yeah, I think I thought they were. That was garbage.

Speaker CYeah.

Speaker BYeah. Oh, now we can use it. Yeah. I don't know exactly what they're going to do this. This cardiologist or whatever they call it. And I have Here, he was showing me. He said, let's say if this is your main artery.

Speaker CYeah,

Speaker Bhe said they bypass it. Yeah, that's what he told me. Okay. But the one. And the surgeon, he didn't really say what exactly they were doing.

Speaker COkay.

Speaker BSo I know that they have to be. If something goes wrong here. Bleed to death. That's what your dad basically did. You bled to death. Well, he bleeds and also the heart stops. This is very simple. Well, you just have to trust.

Speaker CThat's what faith is, right?

Speaker BYeah, that's what faith is. We get tested in our life.

Speaker CYeah. Yeah.

Speaker BI mean, as I said, I still believe every day. I believe it's a done deal, but if it isn't, it isn't. I will be still happy and thankful.

Speaker CAnd I think that's what faith is, though, right?

Speaker BYeah.

Speaker CLike trusting for something and then. Yeah, trusting. Even if it's not.

Speaker BI'm just hoping that. That I. If it isn't that I won't be disappointed. You know, Grandma says, what about if it doesn't have me a bit disappointed? Yeah, I hope and pray not. Yeah. Like, basically have accepted whatever has happened, happens, you know? Just have to wait and see.