Latest / Anchored by the Sword / Next Generation Faith & Purpose (Part 3 – Final Episode): Riley Beeson on Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries!

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Next Generation Faith & Purpose (Part 3 – Final Episode): Riley Beeson on Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries! · Anchored by the Sword

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  Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Anchored by the
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  Sword podcast. I pray that today's episode will
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  leave you encouraged and also challenged in your faith.
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  And I pray that you would take the stories that are talked
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  about here today and share them with other people.
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  Thank you so much for joining me and enjoy today's episode.
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  Hey guys, welcome to this episode, the Anchor by the Store
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  podcast. I'm excited because we have
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  officially the youngest podcast guest ever on today and her name
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  is Riley Beeson and I met her on the Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries
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  movie set that I've talked about many times.
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  And she is officially the third and final interview for our
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  Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries series.
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  So, Riley, thanks for joining me today.
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  Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely.
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  So can you tell the listeners about yourself?
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  Yes. So I'm Riley Beeson.
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  I am 17 years old and I have been in the acting film industry
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  for the past four or five years. I would say my mom is an
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  actress, Niece Gossett, and when I was younger I honestly didn't
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  have real interest for acting or anything with films.
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  I was just like, that's my mom's thing.
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  I got my own stuff and she was completely fine with that.
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  She really didn't want me in the film industry just because
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  there's so much stuff that happens in the film industry.
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  But one time I went to set with her and I just loved it.
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  I fell in love with it being on set.
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  So I started auditioning for roles and I started booking.
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  Then Sugar Creek happened and I was like, Yep, this is what I'm
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  doing. Passion found.
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  This is where God has led me to be.
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  This is where I'm supposed to be.
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  And yeah, now I'm here. I've done some movies.
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  I play Esther Miller and Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries.
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  I'm also an author right now and I just released my first book a
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  few weeks ago, so that was really exciting.
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  That is awesome. Yeah, I was so excited.
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  Her book is called Letters to Heaven.
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  So what made you want to write that book and put it out now?
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  To be honest, so I went to a Film Festival last year in
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  Florida, Orlando International Christian Film Festival.
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  Me and my mom went and I saw that you could submit movies and
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  just a lot of people would be able to see them there.
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  And I was like, I would love to make a movie.
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  I would love to write a movie that is face based.
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  And I had this idea where a girl is struggling with grief from
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  losing her grandma and she's not happy with God.
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  She kind of blames it all on God.
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  And I wanted to do a story of a journey back to face through a
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  mailbox that she finds in the woods behind her grandma's house
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  titled To God. And she starts writing it back
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  and forth. And it's a whole like little
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  romance story in there too. It's young adults.
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  It's completely clean, it's wholesome.
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  But I was going to write a script for it.
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  And I started writing the script and I just couldn't get my ideas
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  down the way I wanted to. I felt like, I don't know, I
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  just, I didn't have it all there yet.
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  I need an outline. So I was like, I'll just write a
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  quickbook. So I ended up writing in the
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  book in about a month and God was just really it was all him
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  it he talked me through that whole thing.
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  I know for a fact because I would wake up and it was just,
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  it was just right, right, right. I had no problem.
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  I never had any roadblocks since then.
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  I haven't experienced that with other books.
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  I've definitely run into a few things, but it was just because
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  this book was so face driven that it just came out so easily
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  for me and it's been such a blessing having it out.
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  It's doing really well. All glory to God for that.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  Guys. It's still crazy that she's 17.
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  Like, I mean, I know when I wrote my first book, there was
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  roadblocks, there was struggle, there was all the things.
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  And it took Me 2 1/2 years to write that book.
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  And so to hear you as a 16 year old at the time, literally
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  writing that book in a month, that's amazing.
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  It, it was very able of course, editing, going through reruns of
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  it and stuff, but getting the first draft out, it was just, it
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  was so much, I don't know, it just really flowed really easily
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  for me. But for future projects, ones
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  that I've been working on recently, I've definitely been
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  like out that Nope, got to redo that.
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  Like it hasn't been flowing as naturally, but it's still been
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  going really great. I really enjoy the writing
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  process and storytelling so. That's awesome.
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  And the one thing I noticed the days I was on set, and even if
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  you were not filming, you were behind the camera learning all
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  of the things. So can you tell me about why you
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  have such a passion to learn each side of the camera and each
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  side of what people do works? I believe it's really important
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  as an actor to know all of the jobs that happened on set
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  because acting is just a tiny part of the process to make an
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  incredible film. And I feel like as an actor, I
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  should know exactly what's going on behind the camera so I know
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  what they're having to do so I can help do what I need to do
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  better for them to be able to do what they do.
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  And I just, I really enjoy the camera and everything else.
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  I've been a photographer since I've been like 10.
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  So I got my when I was 10 and I did weddings and all sorts of
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  things. I love taking pictures.
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  So while I was on set, Isaac Alanji, our incredible DP, was
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  giving me some behind the scenes knowledge and insight on how to
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  operate the camera. I got to film a few scenes which
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  was really cool to me. It was just awesome.
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  I'm so excited to see it in the actual series.
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  I'd be like good shot. But it.
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  Was so fun to learn, I learned so much.
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  He really was a great instructor to me.
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  Everyone on set was so loving and just wanted to get me to
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  understand things on set. Everyone was very open to
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  sharing what they knew. I learned how to do the focus.
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  I learned how to do that, which was really, really cool.
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  I learned how to mic people up from Mikey I.
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  I just learned so many amazing things on set and it was
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  incredible experience. This summer I feel like I have
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  learned so much on set that I wouldn't have learned if I'd
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  gone to a film school. So much more hands on.
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  I personally would love to direct or be a film
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  cinematographer at some point along with acting just cuz I
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  find it so fascinating and fun. Yeah, it was like I said, it was
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  super fun. I mean, I was there during a
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  couple of the scenes and I just remember you behind the scenes
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  like them teaching you everything and you're like
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  holding all the stuff like up and you're doing just all of the
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  things. And it was so fun to watch.
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  You know, I mean, I was and I I don't even know how many of my
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  scenes are going to be in there. I know I was there five times.
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  So I don't even know what else going to be in there.
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  But by the time this episode comes out, we will know at least
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  a little bit. So I'm I'm so.
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  Excited for the series to come out.
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  I have seen bits and pieces of it but I've been kind of lying
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  to just. I have all the episodes but I've
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  been wanting to just wait and watch them on the like my TV
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  screen and stuff and just really enjoy it when it comes out
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  instead of getting a little sneak peek beforehand.
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  I do have to admit I've watched bits and pieces and I think it's
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  beautifully done. I really love the show.
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  Yeah, absolutely. So what other projects have you
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  been involved in since discovering this true passion of
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  yours? I've done a lot of face face
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  films with my mom. There's some in Florida.
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  We did them with JC Film. So we did one film that's not
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  out yet. And then I've done a film called
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  Hope, which was written by Ellie Mae Louis Smith when she was 12
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  years old. So it was a really incredible
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  project. To bring together that one was a
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  lot of fun. That was my first project that I
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  actually did. And then I've just done little
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  things here and there. I've done a few shorts.
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  I did a dark comedy humor thing. It was very, very tame, but it
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  was so fun to film. And then Sugar Creek has been my
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  main thing. I've just, it's been such a
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  blessing to be able to be on the movie and then get it carried on
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  to ATV show and then going back for season 2.
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  It's just been an amazing ride. Yeah, absolutely.
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  And I'm so excited because I've already got the dates marked on
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  my calendar to make sure try and make sure that I can be there as
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  much as humanly possible. I've already had a boss too.
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  So I'm like, I will, I will be down there this summer just to
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  see you guys again because it was so much fun.
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  Like I said, that was my first ever project.
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  You always have dreams when you're younger.
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  Like I want to be on a movie set.
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  I want to be on a movie set. Like I'd love to do that, love
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  to do that. And then when Micah got a hold
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  of me for the movie, I was like, you've got to be kidding me,
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  Seriously. And it was just so much fun and
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  everybody was so nice and long days.
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  I'll never forget the one scene where it was 5 to 6 hours in a
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  hot barn in the middle of summer.
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  And then? I do remember that.
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  And then the other scene where it was a winter scene and it was
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  August, the night one that. One, everyone was overheating.
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  For everybody was dying, like, yeah, that was crazy.
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  It's a hot summer there in Ohio. Some of those days it up to 95.
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  I was like, my goodness, it's about as hot, hot as Florida.
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  Well, and The thing is, is that we have like that dry, humid
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  heat. And so that's the thing.
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  Yeah, it's. Very suffocating.
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  It is. It is extremely.
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  And I've lived here my whole life, so it is like I've been to
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  other places in the middle of summer and it doesn't feel like
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  this. But in Ohio, it's just the way
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  it is. So what Bible verse or verses
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  keep you anchored? That's a really great question.
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  I have a few. Let me think here.
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  I actually have so many. I feel like it's weekly right
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  now. One that I can think of.
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  A joyful heart is a good medicine.
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  I think that maybe Proverbs, I don't know the exact verse, but
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  I know that that one's in my head.
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  Incredible verse. I love it so much.
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  I believe to always be optimistic and positive.
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  Just have a good mindset when going into anything.
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  It will change your energy. It'll change the energy around
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  you. I believe that we're all
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  supposed to have joyful hearts and it's a good medicine.
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  Yeah, absolutely. And I just like I said, the joy
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  that you have watching you on the set, watching you with your
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  mom, the tik Toks you guys do. And I mean, you guys just have
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  so much fun and it's infective, like it infects everybody else
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  on set. Well, thank you.
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  It was just so fun watching you guys.
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  So what else do you have coming down the Pike that people can
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  keep their eyes out for besides now season then one of Sugar
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  Creek happening on up TV and up faith family right now.
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  Well, I have my book out Letters to Heaven.
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  That's been the decent thing. I'm doing a short film should
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  soon, I believe in Kansas with actually Isaac Alonji.
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  So I'm very excited about that. He wrote a script and he wrote a
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  rule for me. So I'm so excited to go.
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  I'll be able to see Time and Zach, I don't know if you
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  remember them, but they were Time and was Camera B and Zach
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  was one of the crew members. So I'm currently writing another
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  book. This one is a ROM com, still
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  very clean and wholesome and in summer it's kind of a ranch
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  themed country ROM com type thing.
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  So I'm very excited about that. I'm almost done with it because
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  I started it last summer when I was in Sugar Creek and then kind
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  of took a break from it to edit Letters to Heaven and now I'm
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  almost done with it. So I'm going to edit it and
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  hopefully get it published maybe before I leave or while I'm out
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  there, so I'm excited. That's awesome.
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  So where can people find you so that they can keep up with what
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  you've got going on? You can find me on Instagram
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  Riley dot under score dot Beeson and then you can find me on
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  TikTok smiling with Riley and that's two wise.
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  I love it. Is there anything that you want
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  to say to encourage young girls, young men who are around your
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  age or younger, to help them in their daily walk and to keep
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  focused? OK, that's.
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  Always look to God. Rejection is God's protection.
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  That has always hit me really hard.
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  That's the quick quote that I live by.
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  I have it plastered on multiple walls in my room.
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  I have it at my wallpaper. It's in my Instagram bio.
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  That is what I live by. Don't let people get you down.
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  God has a plan. Just follow Him.
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  Pray and you'll stay on the right path and something bad
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  happens or wrong or you feel pain.
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  Just know that there's a bigger reason that you can't see that
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  God is doing everything that He is doing.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  Absolutely, Riley. Thank you so much and I cannot
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  wait to have you on again as your journey continues and to
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  watch you as you grow in both age and faith.
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  So thank you so much for joining me today.
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  Thank you so much. It was so nice.
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  Thank you for having me. Absolutely.
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  And you guys go check out Riley on Instagram and TikTok and just
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  wait for the shoots that you're going to see starting this
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  summer for season 2 of Sugar Creek Amish Mysteries.
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  And in the meantime, go check out season one.
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  That is, like I said, up on up TV and up faith and family.
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  Have a great rest of the day and I'll talk to you next episode.
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  Thank you so much for joining me for this episode, the Anchor by
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  the Sword podcast. I pray that the story that you
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  heard today will encourage your faith, challenge your faith, and
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  also help you as you walk in your daily life.
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  If this episode has done that, please feel free to leave a five
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  star rating and review wherever you listen to this podcast so
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  that others can find it and grow as well.
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  Have a blessed week and I'll talk to you next episode.