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Transcript

He Crossed A Border And Found Christ · Pastor Plek's Podcast

0:05
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Pastor Plex Podcast.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Pastor Plex, and with me today is Amir Cashavaras.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful to have you here.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: Amir, welcome.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: All right, Amir, you recently gave your life over to Jesus.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: Pretty exciting story.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: And we uh just had you baptized here.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: And I want to get into the story because it's such a power, like your story that was like we told in like five minutes um video was not near enough.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to take it back to like how it is that you really became a Christian and just your life from Iran to Austin to Kingdom of God.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: So let's just start with like you are from the country of Iran.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Yep, uh, not a great country to be at right now.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, like uh it there is war going on at the moment, kind of wild, a naval blockade going on.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Like, first off, being born there, raised a little bit there.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about that?
1:02
SPEAKER_00: So honestly, I feel like most people get shocked when I say this, but it's a good thing.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Because I was born there, I've seen how the government works.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, government killed way more instant people than you know the US government might accidentally kill.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's good.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's that's exciting to hear.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: So tell me about um what it was like growing up there.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: I don't do you remember like how old were you when you escaped?
1:26
SPEAKER_01: So I left Iran when I was seven.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: So talk about talk about because you told me it was not just like, hey, I'm gonna get on my airplane and just cruise out of here.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: It was a death-defying escape.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the biggest problem, and so there's some people that can can't get on a plane if they vent a lottery to go to the US.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: There's some people that can do that, but my dad wasn't a great man, and because it's Sharia law, you have to have the father's approval for the wife, the kids, for anyone to in the family to even get a passport, not just you know, exile the country.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: But you need to so when you say Sharia law, I I don't even really know if I know what that means.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: It's the Islamic law.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's religious law enforced.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm like stoning in the old testament, yeah.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Like I I read it, it's like stoning was a thing.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, like stoning is still a thing in Iran.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, okay, yeah.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh whipping is still a thing.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a I believe one family member who got whipped for he was like doing some stupid things and then got whipped for it.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: Um if like women do women's rights protest, and there's also the punishment for dad is getting whipped.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay, wow, whipped.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: So um, all right, so talk to me about like you got out of you were seven years old.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Why did your mom like how bad was your dad that he wanted to leave?
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh, pretty horrible.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Like in open court, he told my mom that she's like a camel.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: All he needs to do is take her kids away and she'll fall follow them.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: And she said this in a court in front of judge, the divorce still didn't go through.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: She didn't get divorced till I believe maybe 2017.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: And that was I I believe we were in the United States when she got like finally divorced.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: And you know, she was trying to get divorced for three years in Iran, uh if I recall correctly, and three years in Turkey, and then finally in the United States, she was able to get a divorce.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: And even like the the court system over is very manipulated, I'd like to say.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: So, like I think you told me like he threatened her with acid and all sorts of craziness.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, when you say I don't I just can't conceive of how you would threaten somebody with acid, like I will like turn you into the joker or spray acid on your face or something.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Like so, um I wasn't there, and yeah, my family tried to keep me out of it.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I'm a little kid, I'm gonna listen on the wall, you know, I don't put my ear against it.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: But he told my mom that if she like doesn't cancel the process of getting divorced, she's gonna pour acid on her.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: And my mom was in the beauty industry in Iran, and she had a beauty salon, and in front of the salon, she had like a big poster type of plastic.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: And whenever she wanted to go out, I remember her telling the story.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: She had to like move it a few times.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: So if he was out there, he would pour the acid and hopefully not land on her.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: So, like, this was not like an idle threat.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: This was like, okay, uh, I'm faking once, faking twice.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And my father, um, I believe I I don't know how graphics No, you can go's graphic.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: This is an adult audience here, they can handle it.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my father, he used to kidnap me for money from my mom and my mom's side of the family for his drug problem.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: He was addicted to, I believe the translation is opioids.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: And he used to, you know, yeah, I've probably he'll still, you know, rather buy those than see me again.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: But I I one of my sisters was able to get in contact with him, I believe, about three years ago, and he wanted nothing to do with us and wanted nothing to do with him.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: Man, that's hard.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: All right, so you're seven years old, your mom says one night, time to go.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know the day before I was like, oh, I'm gonna miss school.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: I I I miss half of the school year in Iran.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I'm sick.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so we first went to Tapriz, which is in like more close to the border.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: A city.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Tapri's is a village.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like it's a city.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying the farsi name, but um we went there first, and my mom had some friends that live there.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: We were at their home for like half a day.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: And then we and then he drove us to the like closer to the border where we were supposed to meet the people smuggling us through the Turkish border.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: And we had paid this guy um significant amount of money in you know, Iran money at the time.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Now probably it's like two bucks and and a firm handshake.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: Right.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: And then uh we paid him and we met him, he took us on a journey five days, wow, like four nights, I think.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Wow, through the mountains of Turkey.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Was it summer at least?
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Like about July.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So okay, so yeah, so so it's warm, but also it's in the colder part of Iran.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: So you can't really get too far from it.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're walking through the mountains with what sandals or what?
6:50
SPEAKER_00: No, no, shoes.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's shoes.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um, we had shoes.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: It's it it we weren't that bad, but uh we did get we had shoes, and all of our belongings were in three um like mountain climbing backpacks.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: I believe my family still has some of them.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: So good quality, at least.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all right.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: So you get in these backpacks, you're hiking through the mountains, uh it exposed to some pretty cold air, I'm assuming.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, how higher is this like what what mountains?
7:18
SPEAKER_00: I honestly don't know, like the specific mountains, but we were also going with another family.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: But that fan was a family of seven.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: And they had already tried to cross the border and like they got shot at emptying, so you they had to come back to Iran.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: All right.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: So does anybody when you go to cross, does anybody get sick?
7:35
SPEAKER_01: Is like you know, like you got sick.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: I got sick.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: So how'd you get sick?
7:39
SPEAKER_00: I started, I think it was the stress because you know I'm seven.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, give me my chicken nuggets, you know.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: I I get I start, you know, vomiting, stomach problem.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm just like and you're just like keep walking, kid.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: And then so for one night we spent at this in like it wasn't even a village, it was a single home, like probably 20 miles away from the nearest village on top of a mountain, with a shepherd.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: It was the wife, the husband, and their son.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: And my mom paid um the family some money for them to get me some chicken, because you know, it's crossing border food, you know, not the probably not the greatest.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: But for them to, you know, get some food and I get a little bit better, and then the next day, about like probably afternoon-ish, then we leave their home and you know, continue across the path.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: And when we were crossing, we crossed the border at night.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: So, and so we since we paid the guy, the guy also paid a portion of that to the um the border keeper.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: And then a border patrol, you're like, hey, hook us up.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: And then so when we were climbing the mountain, like they're not gonna drop exact coordinates, you know.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh all the to like 2013 right now, in in the story.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh what they did was they had flashlights on their phone, like every 10 seconds, they would turn it on, turn it off, turn it on, turn it off.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: And when we were climbing, we were seeing all these flashlights of like all different like border patrol agents that other families were climbing at the same time.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: And thankfully, we made it up there and he cut the gate, like the like the elect, like the wires, and he cut it open.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: We walked through.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, I don't get him in trouble.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we don't get in trouble, not very specific on who he was.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: 13 years later.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: And so you make it across to Turkey, yeah, Turkish border.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Then we walk probably for like another half mile, then a van picks us up.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: And in the process, that family that was also crossing with us, they take some of our money from our luggage.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: And we get on this van.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: After that, it's kind of a blur because I'm pretty sure I slept through it until I woke up in like a in like a house with no furniture, and like a bunch of other refugees that just crossed the border, were just like sitting on the ground.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: And then like some other processes go through.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: We go to the Turkish embassy, and on the way to Turkish embassy, we get a taxi.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: We don't know Turkish.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: And we tell the guy, yeah, we're gonna we want to go here, we use a Google trans, not Google translator, a translator book that we have.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: We we teach, and and that book was traded during the on the journey from Iran to Turkey.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: So we if we didn't trade that book, we wouldn't have a way to speak to him.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: We tell him he first takes us to the Iranian embassy.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh we told the guy we're from Iran, but I think he took the wrong message.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: But thankfully, it was a street over.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: He takes us to the Turkish embassy, and nice.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: We have the interview.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: I accidentally tell them my name was Abu al Fazd, which was a nickname.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: So about three years we're trying to also, you know, fix the paper.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so where did you live in Turkey?
11:05
SPEAKER_00: In Turkey and lived in Denizli.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh there the biggest attraction that I can say from that city or close to it is Pamukale, which is a mountain that in transition is Pamuk is cotton.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And the mountain is all white.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: So they call it a mountain of cotton.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: Like there's a snow, right?
11:25
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not snow.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: It's just a natural rock formation, it's just like white.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's cool.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: All right.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: So you saw that every that's kind of a gorgeous view.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've been there like pretty often.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I think of Turkey out, because you're not like in Istanbul, you're like in the middle of nowhere.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: No, so Denise was like, I guess it's kind of like like Austin, I guess.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's like more chill than like you know, New York, right?
11:50
SPEAKER_00: For example, yeah, yeah.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a lot more chill, but you know, it's still Turkey.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're in Turkey.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's still a Muslim country, but they're not not Sharia law.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: Not Sharia law.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: So um, what did that mean for you?
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Like uh for my family, it meant they can throw their hijabs in the trash can.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh so in Turkey, you know, not everyone's wearing hijabs, it's mostly the older ladies, like grandmas and like more of that age group that wear their hijabs and everything.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: And if you actually wear hijabs to the level of you know, Saudi countries, you know, where everything's covered, you they'll look at you weird.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: In Turkey.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: So it's like it is European, but it's also very Islamic.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: And the first week I was there, um we got we we were at a friend of a friend of a friend's house.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: We bought groceries, you know, for like two nights we stayed there.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Then we rented an apartment, and apparently the lady like upcharged us like crazy.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: And we were we were paying like twice what their rent was.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: And we lived in that apartment for about for only a month.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: And under was a restaurant, and that restaurant, I you know, kids don't see, you know, you're from different country, okay, whatever.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: So I was playing with the kids of the owner, and this one guy, I believe I told you the story.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was sitting there, and then everyone left for a sec.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: I was still, you know, doing whatever I was doing.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: And this guy leans over to me, he he brings out a lighter.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: So at the time I I bought like a really cheap shirt from like you know, the weekend markets.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it has an American flag right here.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: He does this and tells me something.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't know Turkish.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: And and then he's like, go, and then he spoke it in Turkish.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: I knew enough that he said, Go change it.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: So it was an American flag on your shirt.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: He's like, go change your shirt.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: He's like, and then I go to change it, and at the time, their family friend we had made, big guy, you know, especially you know, the average height, he's probably like maybe 5, 11, bigger guy, maybe like 200 pounds, yeah, maybe 220.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: And then I tell him, because he's upstairs with my family, they're speaking about adult, whatever adults speak about, still don't know.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: And then I tell my family what happened.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: They're like, they look at him, and then he says, Okay, let me let's walk downstairs, show me who it was.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: And then as we go downstairs, so we're on the second floor.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: This restaurant's on the first floor, you know, where the street is.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: We go down, we're walking, and the guy sees him, he's by his like motorcycle.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: He just hops on his motorcycle and rides away.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know, he got scared.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but but still, you don't.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: He was like 45, 50, maybe.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: He had some white in his beard.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what a wow.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so weird.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're you're do you speak Turkish at that this point?
14:48
SPEAKER_00: No, this was the first week I was there.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, okay.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: So did you learn Turkish?
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Evet.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Can you still speak Turkish?
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Evitas.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: I I've I've I'm forgetting some of it, but like what about Farsi?
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Farsi, yeah.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: I speak of my family, so okay.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: So you speak Farsi, Turkish, and English.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Anything else?
15:06
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're in Turkey for how three years.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Three years.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: All right.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: So how do you get to the United States?
15:13
SPEAKER_00: So because we were refugees, there was um certain processes that we had to go through, like interviews and everything like that.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: Is this with the government?
15:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: It's so the Turkish government is like, hey.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Kind of both, because it's both like the refugee thing itself, but it is controlled by a government of Turkey.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: So even though like, does Iran ha not have like a extradition treaty?
15:35
SPEAKER_01: Like if someone's caught there that's Iranian, they have to be sent back.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: If it's on the border, but the um pled refuge, I believe it's called.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: So they're like, hey, if we go back, they're gonna kill us, you know.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Nice, okay, got it.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I go back right now, they might kill me, you know.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: So they had at least the human decency to say, like, all right, we're not gonna send them back.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: But at the time, I believe there was a war going on with Iraq.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: And when we got it to the Turkish um the refugee center in Ankara, at first we looked around like everyone had hijabs on everything, and someone had told us just go to the gate and tell the officer you're from Iran, not Iraq.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: And then they let us in first.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Everyone else.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: I said the wrong name and everything like that.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: But that was the first day in Turkey that that you know, because the war with Iraq, like there was like 50 people outside of the Turkish um refugee center.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we go then, and that happens.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're in uh Turkey.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: How does your mom get you to the States?
16:36
SPEAKER_00: So after all the um processes of, you know, going to this interview in Stambul, this in Ankara, this in here, this and that, about like probably seven interviews later, it becomes our turn to come to Turkey because it was a single mom with three kids, no father, all that stuff.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: And we go to some classes they have for people from refugees in Turkey before they can go to a different country.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: So they have these classes, you know, explaining the laws, going over, you know, some popular cities, and like, you know, how how can you get a driver's license, things like that.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: And we can go through that, and a lady is trying to fight my mom.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: Fight her?
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, she was talking because my sister said, I have an instrument to bring on the airplane, and this lady said, Oh, yeah, I have my guitar.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: And then my sister goes, Oh, I have my custom-made violin.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: So, so it's like, you know, like a comparison.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: She she thinks we're trying to compete, but like I was in a different room because the kids were in a different room, right?
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: But and then I'm like, I come out of the room, I'm like, why is everyone surrounding two different groups?
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh my.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: So keep going.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: And then we get, and then you know, the it's like three days, whatever.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: We go back to uh the city we lived in, Denise Lee.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: And then we get our you know, our turn for the airport stuff to get the tickets and everything like that.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: And then we go to the airport.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: She happens to be on the same airplane, but you know, it's like we never see her again after that.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: All right, so you then so at that point, how do you get to the States?
18:22
SPEAKER_01: Or you do you go to the airport?
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're we left the flight, you know, whatever, 12-hour flight or whatever.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: We're come to US, and then the airplanes keep doing circles around the airport.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: We're like, hmm, that's weird.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: It lands, you know, everyone's going through.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: My family happens to be one of the last families to get off the airplane, and then it turns out we were one of the last people to uh go through the gate of United States in 2017 before the borders closed up.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: The borders closed up at 8 p.m.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: I believe we crossed it at 7:30 or 7:45.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: Way to go.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: God had a plan.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: So you get here, and how do you get to Austin?
19:03
SPEAKER_01: So uh did you choose Austin?
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: So um my mom, she did a bunch of research at the time.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Like Austin was like top three best city growing cities in the un in America, like some years in a row.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And and also Austin has a funny translation in my language.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: It means sleeve, like a shirt sleeve.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Like a shirt, like a shirt, sleeve.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: And and remember kind of making fun of the name because the translation is a little funny.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, well, it looks like a nice city.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: And and then we come, we first go to um Houston for the international flights.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Then um the next morning, we on a bus, we come from no on an airplane.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: We go from Houston to Austin.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: And then when we come here, you know, my mom was on the uh telegram chats with all the Iranians in Austin.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: And uh also a friend that my sister had in Iran who lives in Austin.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I think they still do.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: Um her son comes and picks us up, uh, takes us to a hotel.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: We book it for a week.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Then later, how did you have money?
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, how does that uh my uncle and aunt would send us money?
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's huge.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're they're very um, they've been very good to us.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you've you finally get uh to Austin, uh, I guess downtown.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: Um you get an apartment.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: So we got the apartment on 180.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: We there's a hotel on 183, like I don't remember the name, but yeah.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: Then we like in not not like it's like a motel, not a hotel.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: And then later we moved down to an apartment that's you know, like a street away, because you know it's close, whatever.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: And we realized we got an apartment in a bad neighborhood.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: And that we lived there for I believe two years, maybe 18 months.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: And that time, like I think six of my neighbors got shot.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Not the ideal place, you know.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but hey, I guess is better than Iran.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, better than Iran.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: All right, wow.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you you get here.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Now tell me about uh the church that kind of connected with your mom.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Presbyterian Covenant Presbyterian Church.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, we were at a refugee center, we're just like sitting down, bless you, bless you.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh we're sitting at the refugee center waiting for our turn with a little ticket in our hand, and we're talking far seeing, and there's two people in front of us an Afghani lady who was a refugee, and Miss Nushin, yeah, who um helped us a lot when we came here.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: And still a very nice lady, you know.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: I see her sometimes I go there.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and she turns around and says, Are you got are you Miss Shireen that everyone in in Austin has been talking about?
21:58
SPEAKER_00: A family with three and my mom.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, and then they start talking, and she's like, Well, you know, I'm with this church.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, we would like to help you if if you would like, and they they talk, you know, adult conversations, yeah, whatever.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm not yeah, you're just like I'm chasing butterflies or something.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: And then um, you know, we we're in the apartment, and they're like, Um, we're gonna send some furniture over.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: We're like, okay, maybe like a TV stand, so something, you know, something like that.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: They furnish our entire apartment wow from the well TV stand and TV couch, beds, uh pots and pants, cups, groceries.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: They they furnish our house and everything, and then they leave.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: And shortly after my mom that we came here, my mom got cancer.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, what kind of cancer?
22:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh breast cancer.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: I believe it was stage two.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: And she gets it, and she starts going to church more often because she's like, they they helped us a lot.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: And they when my mom got cancer, they would bring us groceries.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: And and another one of our neighbors, like in the same apartment complex, she also had cancer.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: But she was um, you know, we we had some government um helping and you know, my sisters worked and got jobs as well, but she it was only her and her son.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, my neighbor, and they didn't make much money.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: And from the groceries, we would get we would bring like some of them to them.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Like if we get two bags of groceries, we would bring them one, or like, you know, separate, you know, make sure they got fruit, whatever, and um doing our part.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: And my mom gets cancer, she starts going to church often, and Miss Nooshin, every weekend that my mom's on chemotherapy, she comes, picks me up.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: We're going around like CC's pizza, I remember very clearly.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh Chick-fil-A, I remember very clearly clearly.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it she was very nice.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, she did not have to do that at all.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, just loved you well.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: That's so great.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so they're they're thinking she's got cancer.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Does she get healed or like what happened?
24:12
SPEAKER_00: So she she um goes through chemotherapy, she starts going to church, and and then she's healed from the stage two breast cancer, and then she um still she had her hair coming back in, like maybe two inches long.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Her hair, like so very recently after she finished chemo, uh, she got baptized at Covenant.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: And then she gets cancer again.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: But this time at stage four.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: So, like, but did was she given like a clean bill of health?
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, you made it through cancer, and then came what's clean.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: Like, clean like clean bill of health means like, hey, you're completely cancer free.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: I I believe so.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: And then or fully in remission, you don't have to worry about this anymore.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, hooray, I can start my doing whatever I was meant to do.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I believe she was given like she's cancer because she didn't get cancer again until about 2019, 2020.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was right about COVID, like when the shutdown happened.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, she got cancer again, but this time it's stage four, and she already had done the surgery where you know they take out they took out a portion of her chest because that you know, because of the cancer and everything.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: She had already done that.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: And then she got it again, and this time it was way worse.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, I remember one of my my oldest sister talking to me, she's like, hey, if you hear sirens and we tell you to go in the room, go in the room.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: Because I remember once very clearly, um, EMT came in, had to come in and everything, because my mom was very sick, she was at the home at this time.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: And you know, ambulances came and everything like that.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And they took her to the hospital.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: And and then she was hospitalized because her cancer got so bad.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: I I the whole time she was in the hospital in Austin, maybe a few weeks, a month, probably more.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: I I only visited her once.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: My siblings are like, look, we're not gonna force you to go visit her because if you can't take it, we're gonna give that option to you.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: And she was in the hospital.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: I only visited her once when she was well and could speak still.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: They make you sad to go see her.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it was um uncomfortable in in a sad and uncomfortable way.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Because this woman I w looked up to my life now was so sick.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: And when she saw me, she's like, come here, give me a hug.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: Like she could still, you know, speak and everything.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Man, yeah, choked up, and that was the last time I saw my mom.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Second the last time.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: And and then she I gave her a hug maybe for like three minutes.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: I I I felt I an emotion I haven't felt before until I was about 14, maybe I believe I was 15 because I remember when I was my 15th birthday.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a man bone.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: I remember my mom trying it for me.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Um that was a and then I I saw I was 15.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: And then um her condition gets worse.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: We find like a new treatment, something like that, uh, but in Louisiana.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: And good people of Covenant also, they're so kind, they started GoFundMe for my mom.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: And my mom goes to Louisiana.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and while she's going, we had a van at the time, and they have we put like a mattress in the van, you know, everything like that.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: And while she's leaving, that that was the last time I saw my mom.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Then she goes to Louisiana for probably like two, three weeks, maybe a month.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: And while she's there, like I hear the news, it's they're like, they don't want to tell me it's getting worse, but like I can understand, you know.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: And one day I'm on the FaceTime with my uncle in Iran using WhatsApp because you know, wow.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: And then the phone uh freezes up for a second.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: He says, he says, Emir, let me take your phone call real quick.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: And then it connects back, it's a freeze frame of my uncle crying.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: And that moment I just lost it, hung up the phone.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: I was alone at the time, and just started crying.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: That that was um the first time I realized how bad it was.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Because my uncle, like, toughest guy I I've met in my life.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: That point.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: And and that's when no, that wasn't the pasting.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: That was like them telling her that she's not conscious anymore.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: And my second oldest sister, my youngest sister is still eight years older than me.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, my second my oldest sister, she goes to um Louisiana to be with my mom because she drove also there with the van.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: My oldest sister is still in Austin with me.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: And then she tells me, hey, I'm here.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: My mom is getting really bad.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: I need to go visit her.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to come with me?
29:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna force this on you, but do you want to come with me or do you want to wait till later?
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Or you don't want to come at all?
29:41
SPEAKER_00: I say, I'll come later.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I prepared snacks on the road for her, and my sister, my oldest sister goes, and my brother-in-law, Ibrahim, he comes to my home.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: And technically he worked from home, so you know, he's working from home.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm just like in my room, I don't, I don't know, doing what, probably watching YouTube videos.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: And you know, me and Ibrahim barely we talk and stuff, but I just didn't want to talk about what's going on.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Like till this day, I don't feel comfortable talking about it that much.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, because I believe at the because I don't know how to you know deal with it, but also Yeah, I mean that's lots of process.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: And my brother-in-law is over at my apartment, my family apartment, and and then my sister comes back from Louisiana.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Amir, um, this is hard for you to hear, I'm sure, but this might be your last chance to see mom.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Do you and I said no.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: I I said I don't know if I can handle it.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: And even um you ever regret it?
30:49
unknown: Yeah.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know if I I don't know if I did the right thing or not, because seeing her in person might have had more negative effects on the dark path I went down on.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Right the right thing.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Because till recently, af and then my sister came over, then she came from Louisiana and we talked.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: She was like, Amir, there's seven more days on this lease.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: If you want, we can go to a hotel if you can't handle this home.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: And we go to a hotel, like a motel, and we're staying there, and Gazelle tells me, Hey, look, we have two options right now.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: Either we basically pull a plug on her, or she lives a life full of pain, she's not gonna come back, and we just make her torture for our own what we want.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: And then I and then I said let's not make her torture feel pain anymore.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: And they were already going through the process.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: And after my after that, like that was a moment like I cried.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Cried nonsense.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: I was in my mind, I'm like, I'm the I'm the man.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: I I should not be, you know, crying, but like I just couldn't help it.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: And then I cried, I cried for who knows how long.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: And after that, um two family friends they come to our home there to the apartment, not the apartment, to the hotel to you know talk to my sister, and my sister just tells me to take the dog out, out of her we had a little chihuahua, and I take the dog out for 30 minutes.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm just sitting in the parking lot questioning what happened, and then we get another apartment, we move there, and this apartment, like I was just completely broken in it because I didn't know how to handle loss, because most of the family members I had died to that point, they were in Iran I didn't talk to for years, so um, I was like, it's very sad to hear this person died, but I just don't remember them that much.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: I remember like five minutes worth of memories, and that's it.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: And that just hit me like really bad.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: And then at the time I was still a Muslim, and I'm just like praying, I'm like, whatever you're out there, like bring my mom back to life, but you know, that's not how it works.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Um and your mom was your mom became a Christian, you were still Muslim.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and so um you're just praying, you're like, God help me.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm not saying like Allah, I'm not saying none of that.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and actually, when my mom was still alive, um, me and Pastor Thomas, we had a conversation about me possibly coming at this time.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, I'm like thinking about it, but I'm like, nah.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I'm like, I'm young, I'll figure out later.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And that conversation happened on Easter service.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: So it's a coincidence I got baptized on Easter.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: How cool is that?
34:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um, yeah, so I was I had kind of the idea of converting to Christianity, but I was like, I'm young, I don't want to make the wrong decision.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: But after my mom died, that was like just hit me in a way that no events in my life up to that point had.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: And in this new apartment we go to, I see the bedroom size, it goes from a three-bedroom to a two-bedroom.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: That that kind of also feels a little different.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm in my room, you know, and then one night I'm on the phone with my buddy, and he just asks me what happened to your mom.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking to her, I just I just lose it.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: I start like this is the point where I hang up the phone with my buddy and call my sister next room.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: Cause like in this stage, I was crying like I fainted from how much I was crying.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, whatever happens some time go by, you know, I get back to you know, the right mental space, you know, who knows how long it took.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm getting back to, I'm still like so till even that time, sometimes I accidentally was calling my mom because I didn't see her.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: So it was like still like let me call my mom.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: How how do I cook chicken?
35:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, but I'm still like accidentally, like I'm accidentally typing messages to my mom.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, just did just delete it.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: And everything like that.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I don't that's what I'm saying.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I was the it was the right choice staying in Austin, or maybe I should have gone to Louisiana to see her one more time, but then the image I have of her in my mind would have been completely changed.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: And as you know, I'm living life, you know, I got I started eighth grade.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: And some of the teachers know, I I don't know how they found out.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming like when they were going to school yet.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Canyon Vista.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Canyon Vista, nice great school.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's where my wife went to school.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: She went to Canyon Vista.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: How wild is that?
36:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great school.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: I'll say that.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh stories I've heard from other middle schools, yeah, it's a great yeah.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's one of the best ones.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: I also have a swimming pool.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it does.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: It's just wild.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, what middle school has a swimming pool?
36:49
SPEAKER_01: No bike.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: And a diving board, but anyway.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: And I started going to Can Vista.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: I started going to Can Vista at sixth grade, and my mom was very particular about me going to a good middle school because she was she said it's one of the most important grades or through middle school.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't get any bad habits.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: No bad habits.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: Hooray.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Where do you go?
37:13
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I go through school and then I make friends, you know, whatever.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: It making changing schools was a little bit tough at first.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: Because these people that have been to fourth and fifth grade with no, aren't there?
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Right.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: But you know, I'm very used to make friends from it, it's very easy.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I make my groups of friends, and in eighth grade, so some teachers knew some teachers try to talk to me about it.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, they were like, Do you want to talk about it?
37:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, I'm good.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm good.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: The the counselor tried to talk to you, I'm like, I'm good.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: She once told me I'm in the hallway.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: She was like, Emir, if there's anything I can do, please come to my office anytime.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: I said, okay, I will.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: I never been to her office.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: Of course, right.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: And that time she was like, Amir, come to my office later.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: I was like, okay, never been to her office.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, I didn't want to talk to anyone about it.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, I talked to one friend about it, and that was it.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of my friends who comes here, he's been here two, two, three times.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to get him to start coming here.
38:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: He he was also there.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: We became really good friends in like starting of eighth grade.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: We knew each other from six, but you know, he was a friend of a friend.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: And became real close.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: I told him my life story.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: He was like, that's crazy.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: I know.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I go to high school.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: What high school?
38:39
SPEAKER_00: I went to McNeil.
38:40
SPEAKER_01: McNeil, okay.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: And in McNeil, I said, Oh, okay, I see why mom put me in a good middle school.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: Because McNeil was brought.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: It still is.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: The stories I have and have heard about it, it's insane.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Like my freshman year, that's a but um, yeah.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: And then I started going there.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: Till this point, I didn't realize how crazy my life story actually was.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: Till at lunch, you know, I'm sitting with my buddy Cash and you know, a few other people, so someone and his girlfriend.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they asked me about my life.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, whatever.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, I told them.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: And I believe there were three girls, and two of them are crying.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, Dell you something wrong.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: Is my story that bad?
39:29
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
39:30
SPEAKER_00: But that was like the moment I'm like, oh, my story isn't normal.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: Because to that point, I'm like, hey, one has difficulties in their life, whatever.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, oh, that's not a normal life.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: So, like at this point, I guess you would consider yourself Muslim.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: You're not going to a mosque or anything.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: No.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh, do you encounter any Christians at this time?
39:52
SPEAKER_01: Is do you take a detour off to the darkness, or what happens?
39:56
SPEAKER_00: So I I was praying, like I had the prayer man, and like I was praying at home, but like, excuse me, I wasn't like going to a mosque or anything.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: I went to mosque only when I lived in Iran a few times.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: And in this time, I didn't really go to a church at all.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: I think my sophomore year, I've been to Covenant one time, yeah, but I sat all the way in the back and then was the first one to leave.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: Right.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: And then after my sophomore year, I didn't um go to church.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: I I had I had like thoughts of going to it, going to a church, you know, find the right group.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: And freshman year, I met Nick.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Some a week before summer started, my freshman year, I went to um Nick's um gym, Patriot.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: I went there for a month in summer.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then I stopped going.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, eh, I'm just gonna wait till wrestling high school again.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: And in my sophomore year, I I get into like a big fight with the coach.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't want your War City team or whatever, you know, because the tournament prior, um, my head was slammed into the mat, and the guy's shoulder just like sandwiched my head.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: And I I was knocked out, but you know, I can't I went back to my stomach, and then I'm seeing black divisions start coming back, my headgear sideways, and I can taste blood.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh god, but there isn't any blood coming out.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I my nose had started bleeding, but was going the wrong way for the ref to stop it.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like tasting my own blood, I'm like this.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: I I kind of fix my headgear because my one, my eyes couldn't see.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to get up for like two minutes.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: I can't.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: I can't get up, and I've had beaten this guy from top position before.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then they give us the option to choose top, bottom, or out.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: My my coach at the time picks bottom.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: Then I have beat the guy before and from top.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: And then I just look at him, I'm like, I gotta fight this guy.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: I I didn't fight him, but we wrestled one time and you know, you gave it to him.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: All right, so so give me the part where you you're meeting you're you're now being trained by Nick at the Patriot Gym.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you've you do it for a month, and then you lose touch.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: So I've been there for a month, and then I stopped going and just continued going to the high school practices, and then I get into a big fight with the wrestling coach.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm like, I I don't want it, you know, because I wrestled, I've qualified for War City, my freshman year, right?
42:44
SPEAKER_00: But then wrestled because I got injured.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: And my sophomore year, I was War City, I didn't no one could beat me in 215.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: And and then I got into a big fight after a few matches with the coach.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, whatever.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: I go back to Patriot, and I started going there.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: The first the first day going back, um there was two twins that used to wrestle there.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: They both were like amazing wrestlers, but smaller, like 126.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
43:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, like half your size.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: And then there was a girl who was like 160, 150.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: And Nick was like, wrestle her.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm Muslim.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh I can't.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: After that, that was like Nick was like, you know, he was like, I got some work to do here.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I wrestled with one of the twins.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: He was he was um cutting weight, but he still whooped me.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I started going to uh the patriot gym a lot and going, you know, to all the practices.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I would miss some.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be honest.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would miss some.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: But I would also um Saturday mornings from my where I lived to the gym, I used to like run, walk, whatever, about four miles, not that much.
43:57
SPEAKER_00: But but there's like no walkway for like a solid mile.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like walking through there.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm just looking at the cars passing by.
44:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's the video I have.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: It's I go down and there's like a sewer system going on.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: It's like the pipe, not the system.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, is Pennywise in here?
44:15
SPEAKER_00: Like I have the video still.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I go to the gym, and one day in the rain, I was like, this champion mentality.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: I walk to the gym, practice canceled.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: The rain must be bad.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, man.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: I call my are you awake yet?
44:32
SPEAKER_00: Can you come and pick me up?
44:34
SPEAKER_00: And then you know, I go back.
44:36
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I tried to do that, but you know, I'm retired from wrestling.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: So, but what was the impact that Nick had on you at that gym?
44:43
SPEAKER_01: He would bring up Christianity a lot.
44:45
SPEAKER_01: He would.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: He'd be like, So, Amir, when are you gonna give up Muslim and be Christian?
44:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, we we made some Muslim jokes together, but um yeah, um Nick was a huge impact on my life, both because I had really no male role models in my life, and all the ones I had were like, you know, my uncle far away, thousands of miles away, uh, a teacher from school who I'm surprised he hasn't gone to jail when he was young, but still great guy, you know, great guy, sure, but has some crazy stories that he used to tell us.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, you know, you not very much of male role models.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: And I meet Nick, I'm like, that's it, that's it, you know, badass guy.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: Um he's telling me, like, and before I met him, I looked him up on Wikipedia, two-time all American.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: He's a beast.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like the pull-up champion, the whole thing.
45:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, ex-navy, all that.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: He's awesome.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he is.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: And so that guy invested in you.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he just made it when I was waiting how did he invite you to church or how'd you get here?
45:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he invited me to church a few times.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: I was like, no, oh, I I got work.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I got this.
45:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I I'm gonna be sick that, you know, I'm gonna be sick that day, you know, two weeks in a week.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: And then I had my experience.
46:05
SPEAKER_00: What was the experience?
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, you're gonna make me go.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: Of course I am.
46:09
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole point of this thing, right here.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I had my troubles um sinning.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: And we're talking about like lust, lust drinking.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: I so in my life I drank only one time on accident.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: And and smoking, uh, I didn't ever smoke.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: I just got trapped in the bathroom one time with these dudes hotboxing the bathroom.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: That that's McNeil for you.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: That's McNeil, yeah, for sure.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: Freshman year.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I'm dealing with it.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm trying.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, and one day I do it and in the morning, and in the afternoon, I'm like, I feel it, I feel something.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: You feel something.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: I feel something like I just go under my blanket and you know, sleep.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm living alone.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: And then how old are you this time?
47:00
SPEAKER_01: 18.
47:00
SPEAKER_01: You're 18 living on your own.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:02
SPEAKER_01: Still in high school or out of high school?
47:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh and I did it in my high school online.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: I finished it, I've been through my junior year, and in my junior year, I was like, I'm gonna do drugs if I hang out with you.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't got the mental capacity where these people are.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: So you you you did you graduate on your own and lived alone.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: As a 17, 18-year-old.
47:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 17.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: I did you get emancipated, or how'd that work?
47:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh my sister helped me with some of the stuff.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: That's why I thought that's it.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: Because both my sisters are married.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: You're like, I'm gonna be the guy that's you know, yeah.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: All right.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: So so now you're you're going to school online and this experience.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: So you have so so no, this the experience I had was after, after school.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I work, I work full-time.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: And it's about November.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have um, and then I feel someone's watching.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's probably nothing.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, I lived alone.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: I watched some horror films alone, you know.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just sort of feel a presence.
47:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, okay.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: And I go to sleep, wake up, you know, whatever.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: The next time um I fall into temptation.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: Again, at night, I feel like a presence, but like much more stronger.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: And like amount that I can't stop crying when I'm already in bed.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: And I just hide under my like, and as I'm crying, I I fall asleep.
48:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: And the third time, the last time it happened, um, in morning, whatever, and then at night, I'm just on my phone, you know, doing any what any teenager does, going through Instagram.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: And then I see a video about uh miracles of Jesus, and they show a very specific image that I've looked for online and looked for the story online, I could not find it.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: And after I see this image, it starts flashing in front of my eyes.
48:51
SPEAKER_00: And I get my phone raised like 100 pounds, drops from my hand onto my bed, and I get pulled down to my knees.
49:01
SPEAKER_00: So I'm on my knees, I can't look up, my hands are like this on my legs, and I just start crying.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: I I feel a presence, it's it sounds crazy to say, but outside my window.
49:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I feel a presence right in front of me, like the doorway, like a spiritual battle about the ball.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: It's like and the spirits go, okay, yeah.
49:27
SPEAKER_00: It feels insane to even talk about it, but no, it's good, keep going.
49:30
SPEAKER_00: And and then I feel the presence in front of me get closer, walk through my doorway and just standing as far as you are from me, like 10 feet.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: And then I feel the presence behind me, and my bed is you know, right next to the wall of that goes to outside.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: Walk through, get not walk, get through the wall right behind me, like maybe three inches away from me.
49:57
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I'm like, what did I do?
50:01
SPEAKER_00: What have I done?
50:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm just crying.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm just crying, I can't stop.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, I try to stop crying.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm just crying with my head looking down like completely.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: I can't, like, not a single bit more I could look down, and I can't move.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: And I feel not a hand, but have you ever shine on your hand and you can kind of feel it a little bit if it's like very strong, like that, on like back base of my neck.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: I feel something like that, and I I still feel the presence in front of me, and I feel the presence behind me.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, the weird thing to explain is I knew the presence in front of me is good.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: What scares me is what was in front of me, you know.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: I've talked so that what's in front of you is good, what's behind you is bad?
50:52
SPEAKER_01: What's behind me is good.
50:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, what's behind me is good.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's behind me.
50:56
SPEAKER_01: Got it, got it.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's wild.
50:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm scared, yeah.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: Probably more scared than I've been since crossing the border.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
51:06
SPEAKER_00: And different type of scared though.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right, right, right.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what I'm thinking is, is God about to kill me because I've been bad?
51:15
SPEAKER_00: Like that, that's that thought literally went through my head as I'm living through the experience.
51:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, is it am I about to get struck down by God?
51:26
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
51:29
SPEAKER_00: And I'm in this place for like five, ten minutes.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: Then I feel the presence in front of me kind of fade away and go away.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I still feel the presence behind me, but like the feeling of touch I had on behind me, it's it's it's lifted.
51:46
SPEAKER_00: And I feel the presence behind me go out my window, like like just move like this.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
51:56
SPEAKER_00: And it's still outside.
51:58
SPEAKER_00: I feel it.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: I I feel outside my window.
52:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm still locked in this position.
52:04
SPEAKER_00: I can't look up, I can't move my hands, I can't move my legs.
52:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying for so maybe like paralysis.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what AI thought it was.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't think so.
52:16
SPEAKER_00: They're like, paralysis demon.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't maybe a demon, but like who knows?
52:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm able to get my left leg up.
52:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm still on one knee, my right knee is still on the floor, and I'm just locked in this position.
52:32
SPEAKER_00: And I feel the presence, I said it sounds weird to say, I feel like kind of fade away.
52:38
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm able to like you know, move, wow, move again.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: And I call a buddy of mine who I know has nothing better to do than answer my calls.
52:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
52:50
SPEAKER_00: And um, he's Jewish.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: So I'm talking to him about what just happened, and he's like, bro, you should convert to Christianity.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: Wait, the Jewish guy tells you to convert.
53:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the Jewish guy tells him to convert to Christianity.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: Not something many Christians can say that a Jewish guy told him to convert to Christianity.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: Unless it's Jesus, right?
53:12
SPEAKER_00: That's wild.
53:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, this is crazy.
53:13
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
53:14
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I'm talking to Nick.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: Now it's probably like late December, my third experience.
53:22
SPEAKER_00: Early, early to mid December, like 15th.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking to Nick, I'm like, hey, are you what church are you guys going to?
53:28
SPEAKER_00: Because Matt Badger also brought up the idea of me going to church with them.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Yeah, me and Matt go to the same church, Vellas Branch Community Church.
53:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, I can't come on Sunday morning.
53:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what are they doing for uh Christmas event?
53:42
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Yeah, they got this thing.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, I'll be there.
53:46
SPEAKER_00: Now I haven't been to a church in years.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm like, I'm an adult now.
53:51
SPEAKER_00: What's the what's the uh dress code?
53:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
53:53
SPEAKER_00: And you remember I shove in a suit.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm like, like, what's going on here?
53:58
SPEAKER_00: Great first impression.
54:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was great.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: I was so glad to see you.
54:03
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I come here, sit through the whole service, and I'm like, the music is awesome.
54:10
SPEAKER_00: And and then I I hear um you talking.
54:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's a cool guy.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: Because they kind of also told me that you were um ex-army.
54:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna start coming here a lot more.
54:24
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
54:25
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and so then eventually you're like, I believe this.
54:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we prayed, yeah, and then we met outside, and then um, I kind of told you the story a little bit.
54:34
SPEAKER_00: I was like, that's wild.
54:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so the Holy Spirit was working on you that whole time, and um, and then we we got you baptized, and just kind of the cool part is that your mom became a Christian, and now you're gonna join her in heaven.
54:49
SPEAKER_01: What a cool thought that that is.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, then I was Muslim.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: Start to interrupt you.
54:53
SPEAKER_00: No, no, go for it.
54:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I always had this thought.
54:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, is my mom in hell or am I gonna go to hell?
55:00
SPEAKER_00: And I was a Muslim.
55:01
SPEAKER_00: That I'm like 14 and 5 15.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm wondering this.
55:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, I feel like I'm thinking too much into this from my age.
55:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that's why I'm like, is my mom in heaven?
55:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to hell, or is my mom in, you know, the other way around?
55:18
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I was thinking about this for years, and then when I had my sister, I'm like, okay, I I I want to go to heaven, I'll enjoy my mom.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
55:27
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's one of the big reasons that like some people um don't convert is because, like, no, that means my uncle who was such a good person is in hell, right?
55:39
SPEAKER_01: No, I feel like that's what I'm Yeah, and and Jesus says, like, he's gonna he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword divides you know, mother from son and father from daughter.
55:50
SPEAKER_01: Like it there's a wild, like that division is true because the claim of Jesus is so unique and so powerful.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: It takes some, in a sense, with you, a supernatural experience for you to experience Jesus the way you did.
56:00
SPEAKER_01: It's wild.
56:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, all right.
56:02
SPEAKER_01: What would you say to somebody right now who's who's thinking about Christianity?
56:06
SPEAKER_01: Come to church.
56:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, come check it out.
56:08
SPEAKER_01: Come check it out.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
56:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh, how has your life changed really since you've become a Christian?
56:15
SPEAKER_00: Man, there's so many ways.
56:17
SPEAKER_00: And especially um after we met, we also prayed for me to get a better job.
56:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:24
SPEAKER_00: We met on Tuesday.
56:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
56:26
SPEAKER_00: On Thursday, I got a job offer about eight or nine dollars more per hour.
56:31
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
56:32
SPEAKER_00: That's wild.
56:33
SPEAKER_00: And then I I go to that, I'm like, I come to church the next I'm like, praise God.
56:39
SPEAKER_01: That is crazy.
56:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, I love that the Lord is working in your life.
56:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, and you're still living in Austin, still living alone, still doing your thing, coming to be a part of.
56:49
SPEAKER_01: Have you gotten involved more with uh other people at the church?
56:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've I try to talk to as many people as I can, you know, create um relationships, bonds, relationships good.
56:59
SPEAKER_00: And uh I such great people here, you know.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: And so far, any church I've been to, I haven't met sing one single bad person, but I love here.
57:09
SPEAKER_00: I love the wipe here that we got going.
57:11
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, hey, I'm so grateful that you share you you shared your story with us.
57:16
SPEAKER_01: And uh man, I'd love to have if anyone has any questions for Amir, man, let us know.
57:21
SPEAKER_01: Just text in at 737 231 0605.
57:23
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to hear from you.
57:24
SPEAKER_01: Amir, thanks so much for your story.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for you watching.
57:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh, from our house to yours, have an awesome week of worship.
57:30
SPEAKER_01: Have a great