Feb. 19, 2026

Shadows to Light, Part Three

Shadows to Light, Part Three

Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here. 381: A war zone will test your body, your marriage, and your faith—and sometimes all three at once. Bruno DeCanto sits down with us to unpack a wild, unfiltered journey: anti-trafficking missions on Ukraine’s front lines, a marriage unraveling under pressure, and a stage 3 cancer diagnosis he hid so he could keep rescuing kids. What follows is a raw account of near-ruin, unexpected redemption, and the strange place...

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Season 4

Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here.

381: A war zone will test your body, your marriage, and your faith—and sometimes all three at once. Bruno DeCanto sits down with us to unpack a wild, unfiltered journey: anti-trafficking missions on Ukraine’s front lines, a marriage unraveling under pressure, and a stage 3 cancer diagnosis he hid so he could keep rescuing kids. What follows is a raw account of near-ruin, unexpected redemption, and the strange places courage can take you.

If this moved you, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find these stories of faith on the front lines.

Text your questions to us at 737-231-0605 or visit pastorplek.com. We talk faith, culture, and everything in between.

Support the show: https://wbcc.churchcenter.com/giving

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00:05 - Setting The Stage: Part Three

01:16 - Ukraine Missions And Marital Strain

02:58 - Spotlight Moment And Joining The Legion

03:59 - Diagnosis: Stage Three Stomach Cancer

06:20 - Keeping Cancer Secret To Save Kids

08:08 - Separation, Trauma, And The Edge

10:30 - Getting Help: Veterans Center And EMDR

13:20 - Peptide Therapy Over Chemo

16:35 - Needles, Protocols, And Stunning Results

19:55 - A New Scare: Possible Prostate Cancer

22:47 - Brotherhood, Men’s Group, And Healing

26:10 - Parenting After War And Divorce

29:10 - Calling Back To The Field

32:00 - Training, Safe Houses, And Counted Cost

34:45 - Hope, The One Lost Sheep, And Closing

WEBVTT

00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:06.959
And welcome back to Pastor Plex Podcast.

00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:13.519
I'm your host, Pastor Plex, along with Bruno DeCanto, knowing that because we don't talk about Bruno.

00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:14.000
No.

00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:14.960
No, no, no.

00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:16.079
This is part three.

00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:16.719
I know.

00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:27.920
Part three uh of a crazy story of a missionary to those who were uh to those, I guess, anti-human trafficking missionary.

00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:28.960
But is that a good way to put that?

00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:29.600
Yeah, yeah.

00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:33.679
So we would label ourselves as an uh abolitionists or anti-human traffickers.

00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:34.240
Okay.

00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:38.799
And and specifically, we talked about how it really took a toll on your life.

00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:39.359
Yeah.

00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.240
Like you you really had to there's many ways that was awesome.

00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:53.840
Like you got to do some incredible mission, missionary work, you had to share the gospel globally, you got to change lives in a powerful way, you got to rescue people, but then it wrecked your family in many ways.

00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:54.399
It did.

00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:56.320
And so um, let's just finish up.

00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:07.280
You were in Ukraine, and when as a missionary, uh you're you're there kind of doing um what would be the wet best way to describe that work?

00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:08.959
Um missionary work.

00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:15.599
We were just telling people about Jesus in the best way we could, uh whether that was through medical missions, right, um events.

00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.519
On the front lines, yeah, yeah.

00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:22.400
Uh or like you know, back a little bit in the rear, just to kind of uh everywhere we were at, yeah.

00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:27.120
Okay, so you're doing that when and then things broke down with your wife.

00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:28.400
How did that happen?

00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:34.799
And then, you know, at what point did you go, hey, we gotta get out of here, or you know, she didn't want to leave, you didn't want to leave.

00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:40.159
Like at what point do you realize, oh no, things are falling apart and we need to get help?

00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:46.959
So I think she realized we were in trouble before we went to Ukraine and I did the classic man thing, and I was like, What are you talking about?

00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:49.280
Things are so good right now.

00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:50.400
Okay.

00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:58.159
And um, but then it was uh it was actually in the middle of uh it was in the middle of one of our missions in order to get the orphanage.

00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:10.639
Uh I stayed on the Russian side, no, on the Ukrainian side, and uh she moved over to Georgia and she started working from Georgia, and we were working with it separately like this.

00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:12.879
And is this where she did an interview at some point?

00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:13.919
She did, yeah.

00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:19.199
Where she just told everybody who she was and what she did, and it kind of was like that was after the kids came across.

00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:28.080
Um the the Georgian government came in, the president of Georgia was there, all this, and they were like, Hey, we need you on stage, and she just kind of was like, All right, let's do it.

00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:29.439
Woo-hoo, spotlight.

00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:31.680
And I was like, Whoa, that's not supposed to happen.

00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:32.159
Right.

00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:38.560
Uh, and I was dealing with a lot, and that's that's kind of like when I attached myself to the Legion, which I promised I wouldn't do.

00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:39.199
Oh.

00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:41.520
So you went to go do some real conflict fighting.

00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.199
I had a lot of steam to blow off.

00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:45.840
Yeah, like I need to go wreck shop on some fools.

00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:47.599
Yeah, that was not the right move.

00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:52.400
I, you know, sometimes Christians and missionaries, we move before God does.

00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:54.000
That's kind of what I did there.

00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.240
I started working on my own thing.

00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:56.879
Oh, yeah.

00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:57.759
So talk to me about that.

00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.039
Like, talk to me what kind of work you're doing.

00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.360
Like when you say you joined the Legion, is this the French Foreign Legion?

00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:02.879
No, it's the International Legion.

00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:08.240
The International, which is the the one obviously we know that one more readily because of movies and stuff, but yeah.

00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:12.080
The International Legion, where you go to fight alongside other internationals, yeah.

00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:15.680
Um, you're you're like, hey, put me in coach, I'm ready to go, kill the bad guys.

00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.159
Yeah, yeah, and so who were you which team were you on?

00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:18.879
Who were you fighting?

00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.520
I was with Ukraine and we were fighting against Russia.

00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.919
Um, and largely I went there as a missionary.

00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:25.039
I knew a lot of the guys.

00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:30.159
Um, I was uh you know so a long time ago, I went to be a corpsman, yeah, and I kept up with my training.

00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:36.879
I was in combat different times throughout my career, and I was like, well, this is what I'm made to do, it's what I'm good at.

00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:44.960
And I had received other news before Heather went that I didn't tell her about, and I was just uh it was a really hard time.

00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:46.400
I was dealing with a lot.

00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:50.319
Uh and I I had just received news that I was sick, and I was like, they're just saying that.

00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.879
When you say you really what kind of sick?

00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:56.800
Uh I that I had found out that I had cancer.

00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:57.919
What kind of cancer?

00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:58.800
Stomach cancer.

00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:02.479
Like tell, like, you know, for those who are not familiar with what stuff how does that work?

00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.840
And like, is it like a hole in your stomach, a lesion, or what is that?

00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:12.800
Uh so you you have these little nodes and tumors and stuff, and depending on how many tumors you have, it's serious.

00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:20.560
And I had six of them, which put me into uh uh level three so like stage three cancer, like a stage three C cancer.

00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:28.560
So tell me about like your how that affected your body, how that affected your heart, where you're at spiritually, and all that.

00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.240
Yeah, so um it affected my body in weird ways.

00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:39.439
Like I knew something was wrong, that's why I went to get tested uh because I had just a lot of blood in places it shouldn't be.

00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:39.839
Right.

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.480
Um couldn't eat right, just nerves.

00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:43.600
I was really tired.

00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.959
I was angry, but I figured it was just you know, mission.

00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:47.439
Right.

00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:55.439
Um spiritually, when I so after I heard it all, it was really hard, but I decided not to tell anybody uh because I didn't want to ruin the mission.

00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:56.000
Right.

00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:03.680
You know, uh I was really not questioning God, but I was really angry because I was like, man, I'm all alone.

00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.240
I can't tell anybody because I don't want to have to go home.

00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:11.120
We're in the middle of this operation, you know, the guys need me, my friends are out there fighting.

00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:14.560
I don't I don't want to be the guy to get sent home and make everybody stop.

00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:17.120
And that kind of blinded me to a lot of things too.

00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:18.160
So how did it progress?

00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:22.560
It was like, hey, I saw some blood work, or like, how'd you even like how do you find out you have cancer?

00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:27.040
Yeah, so um I had blood in my stool and it was just getting worse and worse.

00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:28.800
I'm like, what is going on here?

00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:34.000
Uh and then once I got sick eating and it and I threw up and there's a little bit of blood in that.

00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:35.439
I'm like, what in the world?

00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:43.279
Uh so I went to the doctors and I got uh uh like a colonoscopy, and they were like, something's wrong.

00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:46.319
And then I got an MRI and they're like, something's very wrong.

00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.639
Uh and they were like, it looks like you have stomach cancer.

00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:50.000
Is this you is this in Ukraine?

00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.160
This is in Ukraine, yeah.

00:05:52.319 --> 00:06:01.920
Uh well, okay, so some of it was in Poland, because all right, I got a colonoscopy in in Ukraine, in uh in a city called Chernobyl.

00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.319
It's just it's not far, it's a really nice city.

00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:07.279
They have really good doctors, it's where they send a lot of the Legion fighters.

00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:07.920
Wow.

00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.759
Um, and that's also where I got to go to the hospitals and preach to the guys.

00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:14.480
Everybody knew me there because I was like always, hey, you want some food?

00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:15.839
You want to let me tell you about Jesus?

00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:16.959
Let's read Bible stories.

00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:20.639
And then next thing I know, I found myself in the bed, like, you got cancer.

00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:22.240
I was like, oh man.

00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:29.199
Um but I kept it to myself and just uh I was like, all right, let me just keep going.

00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:30.319
Wow.

00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:35.279
Yeah, and then uh and then things started falling apart between my wife and I.

00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:39.839
Uh I received a letter where she was like, Does she know you have cancer?

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.240
No, you didn't tell your own wife you had cancer?

00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.720
I didn't want to stop the mission.

00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:46.399
I was like, let's go.

00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.399
Okay, so a relationship breakdown.

00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:57.199
So tell me where part, what part of your relationship, like the breakdown of relationship there where you won't tell your wife that you have cancer because you won't you want to bring her down?

00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:04.000
I didn't want us to have to leave and let down the kids, uh, because we were in the middle of saving a group of kids.

00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:12.480
Uh one of them was an American who was in the middle of You're like, if I leave now with this cancer, then it's gonna prevent us saving the lives of these people.

00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:20.959
Yeah, in my head, and I still feel this way, if I would have left, and if if I would have told Heather, chances are we would have left.

00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:29.279
And in my head, I'm like, at that point, those kids don't get found because people aren't willing to do the things that we're willing to do to find these people.

00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:35.199
And uh, so I just didn't say nothing, and we ran it and ran it and ran it, and things got worse and worse.

00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:38.160
We started arguing and fighting, and I was resentful.

00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:42.639
Um I've got cancer, and like if you drop that, you win the argument.

00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:44.720
Is that yeah, and that's a jerk move, actually.

00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:45.360
Did you do that?

00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:46.000
No, I didn't know.

00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:46.959
Oh, okay, good way to go.

00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:47.199
Wow.

00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:50.160
She didn't find out until we came back here in the US.

00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:51.360
Wow.

00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:51.759
Yeah.

00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:57.279
And so you're like bleeding out, you know, pooping blood, throwing up blood, and she has no idea.

00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:00.160
She had an idea, she knew, and she was like, What's going on?

00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:01.759
I was like, It's just stress.

00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.160
You know, she definitely knew about the blood thing.

00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:05.199
Oh gosh.

00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:05.519
Okay.

00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:07.920
So, so how do you decide to come back?

00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:13.600
Like eventually you're like, hey, so uh at this point, Heather and I had separated in Ukraine.

00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.480
Uh, we were in the house together, but we weren't together.

00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:23.279
You know, we we uh she came back from Georgia, we were um there was oof, it was bad.

00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:26.399
There was just no communication.

00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.399
Um, and she was like, Hey, you have to go, you're going crazy.

00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.120
And I said, I can't leave the family here.

00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:38.799
Um so we worked out a deal to where when she said you're going crazy, what'd she mean?

00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:48.960
Oh so I would go and I would work the front lines for a while, and then I'd come home and it just wasn't doing well at night.

00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:54.720
Um dreams, dreams, just anger, noises, smells, and just anger.

00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.639
The sirens were always going off.

00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:06.960
Uh just a lot of weird, and I wasn't doing well, and she was acting weird, and she was also really buddy buddy with this uh US Marine who was working over there, too.

00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:08.639
Was he a Legion guy too?

00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:10.000
He was, yeah, yep.

00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:20.000
And um, so uh he wasn't a Christian, he was just a fighter, and uh he ended up being like her special bodyguard and her emotional confidant, if you will.

00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.600
Uh and they had like an emotional affair going on right there in front of me.

00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:28.960
And actually, the time we went to leave was I was so all right.

00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:31.039
Was he a married dude or a single dude?

00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:31.600
Single.

00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:32.639
Oh okay, single.

00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:39.279
Um, we had this moment where I invited him out to the east, and I was like, hey man, how about you and I run out east real quick?

00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:40.559
We're gonna we're gonna do some stuff.

00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:45.039
And Heather was like, Are you going out east with you cut that out?

00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:48.000
And uh are you going out east?

00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:49.440
And he was like, Yeah, we're gonna run this.

00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:50.559
And she's like, Don't do it.

00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:52.320
He's crazy, he's gonna hurt you.

00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:54.080
And I was I was gonna shoot the dude.

00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.879
I was like, I was like, You're gonna we're gonna pull a David.

00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:59.679
Pull a Uriah back, yeah.

00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:00.879
Call him Uriah.

00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.279
I'm so glad that didn't happen.

00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:04.480
Wow, all right.

00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:05.519
So that's how dark you were.

00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:06.799
You were in a dark, dark spot.

00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:09.440
Yeah, I was very upset at the world.

00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:10.960
And so she knew that.

00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:12.399
She's like, You're gonna you're gonna kill him.

00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:14.080
Yeah, she was like, You're gonna get this guy.

00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:17.440
And I was like, Hello, do you see what's going on right now?

00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:18.399
This is wrong.

00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:30.320
Um so um we uh we ended up working out a deal that was I'll come back and get help, and uh she would stay out of Ukraine with the girls.

00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:36.799
Uh so she went to we went to Greece because Greece isn't that far and it's a beautiful place and it's restful and all that.

00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.600
Went to Greece, did a cool couple cool things.

00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:47.519
I came home and I went to the veteran center out in uh North South Carolina, uh, and I got what do you call that?

00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:53.440
When they put you in uh the home committed, and you know, I got that.

00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:54.879
Yeah, yeah, like you can't leave.

00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:55.919
Yeah, yeah.

00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:59.120
Uh and I was there for about two, three months.

00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:05.519
So you you're kind of all the rage, all the anger, all the it's just it's just flowing, even in Greece.

00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.720
I mean, when you're in Greece, was it chill or it was fairly chill.

00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:10.639
I don't remember a lot of it actually.

00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:15.200
Um, I I'll admit it, I don't remember a lot of our mission work that we do.

00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:17.679
Um it's a blessing and a curse.

00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:23.279
We can we can stop doing a lot of stuff, we can remember the ideas, but I don't remember a lot of it because it's pretty heavy stuff.

00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:24.159
Yeah, man.

00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.600
Um I do remember we did some cool stuff.

00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:34.559
We did like the walk where Jesus walked, you know, and got to walk where Paul was at, and um oh, feel like crying.

00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:40.000
But um and then I came home and I didn't want to, and they were like, Man, you're going crazy.

00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:42.799
And I was like, Well, if I can't trust these guys, then who can I trust?

00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:51.200
Because uh we have that team from that group I told you about, uh, and they came to get me and they were like, Hey, you really need to get yourself checked in here.

00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:57.120
Uh, what'd you what happened at this, like, I don't want to call it asylum, but like a place where you get committed?

00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:03.600
Um, so it's uh it's called the it's a it's a veteran center and it's largely just a bunch of combat veterans.

00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.320
Um and it was really awesome.

00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:16.799
Uh a lot of them are Christians, and they won't walked us through, walked me through just sitting down, meditating, all the stuff that I like to make fun of.

00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.759
They were like sit and do this, and it was really good.

00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.440
Um, did some EMDR.

00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:21.759
Yeah.

00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:23.919
Uh tell people who don't know what EMDR is.

00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:48.000
EMDR is this eye movement stuff that helps you unlock trauma so you can redo it, and then you can read your trauma and reorder it better so that way you can file it away with different emotions, so that way when you go through it next time, you're not experiencing the crazy, you don't get the heightened sentences, sentences, but you're able to experience it like a normal person rather than going.

00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.720
Were you able to kind of bring Jesus even into that?

00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:52.159
Like they did actually, yeah.

00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:54.559
That's how I've seen EMDR best use.

00:12:54.720 --> 00:13:00.000
It's like, hey, I want you as you go back to experiences, I want you to see Jesus right there with you, loving you through this process.

00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:00.639
100%.

00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:01.200
Yeah.

00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:08.799
So um, so the group that our our back end group is a Christian mission organization of veterans.

00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:16.559
Um, and because of that, when they were there, they were there saying, Hey, he's a Christian, we want all this stuff centered around Christ, and that's what it was.

00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:17.600
What a cool ministry.

00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:18.000
Wow.

00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.080
All right, so you still have cancer at that point.

00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:20.399
Oh, yeah.

00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:27.519
You're like cancer, cancer, cancer, poop and blood, crazy thoughts of like anger and rage and all that.

00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:29.759
You go to this place, things get better in in your head.

00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:30.639
Do you slow down?

00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:33.360
How does how does your brain unwind?

00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:34.879
Oh, I don't know.

00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:36.960
It just did.

00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.519
I just uh I just was like slowly normal.

00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.200
Um, but I wasn't normal and didn't realize that really.

00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:44.240
I thought I was normal.

00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:49.039
And so your wife was like, You are such a crazy person, I don't want to be around you.

00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:50.799
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:59.279
So she did that, and then well, so she came home and we went to this really amazing camp called Life Action in Northern Michigan.

00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:00.960
Yeah, it's a Christian camp.

00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:08.000
Um, and it was there that they counseled her to she, they were like, He's kind of crazy, you guys should probably separate.

00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:18.879
And that's when we started separating, and then after that, she found in in my opinion, she went through counselors that were less than Christian, and they all counseled divorce.

00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:23.279
Um, and so I was like, I'm trying, I'm trying, and it just didn't matter.

00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:28.559
And then uh we moved here to Texas, and that's where we ended up divorcing, unfortunately.

00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:29.600
All right.

00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:31.360
So, how is that just like with your kids?

00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:50.720
And like they've been you have you guys have such an intense relationship because the intensity of where you'd been together, I mean, it wasn't like you know, you you'd been in Central America, South America, in Europe, uh, Africa, all over the globe, running and gunning, uh, in high traumatic experiences.

00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:57.440
There's a lot of bonding that goes through trauma bonding, but then there's also like resentment and buildup and like the anger that they were overcoming.

00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.080
Like, how did how did you process that with them?

00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.799
And like, how do they take the divorce?

00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.919
So, my older two took the divorce pretty well.

00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:07.919
My oldest took it very well.

00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.080
She was like, Oh, well, this sucks a lot.

00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:12.399
Um, and we paid for counselor for her too.

00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:20.960
Uh, she was like, It sucks, but I get it, you know, um, it happens to everybody, and uh now she currently does the same work that we were doing.

00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.960
Uh her and her husband do.

00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:26.960
Um my second oldest is autistic.

00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.559
Well, she's got Asbergers, she's high functioning, extreme, you wouldn't know it.

00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:31.840
Is she like a genius?

00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.000
She's pretty smart at some things.

00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:37.200
Um, but with her, it was like it took her a little bit.

00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.320
She got very dark for a little bit, uh, very dark.

00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:46.080
Um, and she also, so she got uh counselor and they went in through EMDR with her.

00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:52.159
Uh, we put her in a whole bunch of summer camps and slowly we got her out of the dark, and it was it was rough for her.

00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:58.240
Uh, my youngest is pretty mad at me still, and then she's not, and she is, and she isn't.

00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:04.639
But you know, I I I like to read David, the life of David, over and over and over and over and over again.

00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:09.200
Uh, because sometimes I feel like it's he's the one who I really understand.

00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:25.840
I I screwed up and I made some decisions and other people made some decisions, and I know I love Jesus, and it's just you gotta you gotta live life loving Christ and understand that we do things that we gotta we gotta live through sometimes, you know what I'm saying?

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.840
Yeah, um yeah, and it's not been easy, you know.

00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.000
Well, you know this because we know each other.

00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:34.879
Um it wrecked my world, man.

00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:39.840
It took me a long time, but we you know, the men's group has always been there.

00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:51.120
It's been a big deal for me, these guys, and uh, you know, trying to learn to work out, then uh trying to beat cancer and trying to figure out how to be a single man, and do I belong in ministry and am I better?

00:16:51.279 --> 00:17:12.880
And uh I still want to, you know, all of this stuff, and all at that same time still working with my back-end group, still going and getting EMDR, still trying to become a better man, still trying to be the guy who's healthy and walk and be like, hey, and not put on a mask, but actually actually be like, this is just me.

00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:13.680
Yeah.

00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:19.119
And uh I don't know how, but just my girls are a lot better.

00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:20.799
My youngest is still angry.

00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:24.160
Uh, my ex-wife and I, we talk, we're still friends.

00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.319
Um, and how is that possible to be friends with your ex-wife?

00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:29.279
I don't know.

00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.160
Well, it's I'm I I'm not even gonna say secretly.

00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.480
I would I would love it if we could get back together.

00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:35.680
Yeah, I still love her.

00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:36.480
Well, of course.

00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:43.599
Um it's tricky because it's someone I have feelings for, but I also understand that it would never work.

00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:50.559
I would it would be great, but really, aside from Christ doing something amazing, which we all know God can do all things, right?

00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.680
Um it would definitely have to be a God thing.

00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:54.799
Why is that?

00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.440
You know, we were we were very codependent.

00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:02.799
Um, and even afterwards, we've just grown to be different people.

00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.880
Heather herself has undergone quite a transformation.

00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.519
Um, she's not the same person I married.

00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:15.200
Um, she came back and she had issues of her own, and she she kind of never was able to leave the field behind.

00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:17.200
Uh she changed her name.

00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:24.000
She started doing she her her gait is the same gate that she has when we're on when we're at missions.

00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:25.519
When you say gait, like the way she walks?

00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:29.680
The way she walks, uh the way she talks, the way she analyzed.

00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.519
Um She's on mission right now.

00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.960
She's yeah, she kind of never came home in a way.

00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:36.480
So what about your kids?

00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:37.359
Are they in homeschool?

00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.039
Yeah, we call it world schooling.

00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:40.000
World schooling.

00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:40.480
Nice.

00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:41.200
Oh, yeah.

00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:42.319
I mean, like, that's wild.

00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:48.079
I I mean, like, I can't imagine your kids going from a combat zone to like, I'm just gonna go to regular public school here.

00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:48.480
Yeah.

00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.440
Well, so a lot of their school is very specialized.

00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:57.519
Um, so my oldest daughter, her schooling was she wanted to be a high-risk missionary, so she is.

00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.640
My other, she's in sailing and photography.

00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:06.000
They all are into psychology, they all speak a few different languages, they're all into MMA.

00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:15.200
Um, but they figure out what their passions were when they were young, and we just the whole time throughout all of this, we were like, this is your passion.

00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.680
Let's encourage it, let's grow it, let's grow it.

00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:20.480
So their whole life has kind of been a vocational school.

00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:25.200
Um, so they're doing they're actually doing really well, all things considered.

00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:31.119
I it's interesting with all the hardship and everything, the girls are probably more adjusted than a lot of the people that I meet.

00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:31.759
Yeah, sure.

00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.039
I mean, they understand pain, function, trauma.

00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:40.640
Uh, and if they've gone through some good counseling, they're not just sitting like huddled in a corner, you know, holding their knees.

00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:41.279
True.

00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.240
Okay, so so you're not dead.

00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.319
No, I'm very much not dead.

00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:52.400
So, how is that possible when you have stage three cancer to not be like because how long ago did you find out you had stage three cancer?

00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:53.599
Uh 2022.

00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:55.599
So, like, we're that's like four years ago.

00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:58.160
Yeah, I was supposed to not be around past November.

00:19:58.319 --> 00:19:58.400
Right.

00:19:59.039 --> 00:19:59.359
Yeah, yeah.

00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:00.559
So like you're supposed to be dead.

00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.359
You're not dead.

00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:01.920
Why?

00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:07.200
Uh counseling in Jesus and peptides.

00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.799
Uh largely uh I I accredit most of it to Jesus.

00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:14.400
Well, you know, when I say most of it, I've everything's Jesus.

00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:22.079
But uh I will, you know, so I was they were like, Do you want chemo and radiation and do the whole cancer thing?

00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:24.160
And I was like, not really, but let's think about it.

00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:32.480
They put me in this group, it was a support group, and they were like, All right, you go to the support group before you get all of this, so that way you know what's going on and you'll feel comfortable.

00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:34.400
And everyone there was like, Don't do it.

00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:36.400
I was like, Oh.

00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:49.759
So uh I I was looking online, and you know, there's all these things like uh ivermectin and uh BPC, and I I found a doctor who was into peptides and I started What are peptides?

00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:54.960
Peptides are amino acid chains, so it's a protein amino acid chain of a strand of less than 50.

00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:55.200
Okay.

00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:56.880
Uh so people don't know it.

00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:58.720
Like what's a normal amino chain?

00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:02.720
Yeah, so I uh they're a lot, they're they're very like when you say 50.

00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:03.279
What does that mean?

00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:04.720
It's it's it's uber small.

00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:05.119
Yeah.

00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:09.519
But uh so so people some people don't know peptides, but everyone kind of does.

00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:11.359
And the best example that is insulin.

00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:11.599
Right.

00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:12.720
Insulin is a peptide.

00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:13.279
Got it.

00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:16.319
Um like so people who have diabetes or even the GLP ones.

00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:21.759
GLP1s, so Ozempic manjaro, yeah, that's some glutide for ziptide, those are peptides as well.

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:22.319
Okay.

00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:26.240
And so then you were like, but you I mean, how'd you research this?

00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:28.640
You're like, I know Ozempic for cancer.

00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:29.519
Yeah, yeah.

00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:34.240
I was like looking, I I remember I was like, alternatives to radiation.

00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:35.680
And they were like peptide therapy.

00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:36.640
I'm like, what does that mean?

00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:46.799
I don't like soda, you know, and uh uh and then I got a hold of this guy in uh Arkansas because in Arkansas they don't have a ton of laws and you can do whatever you want.

00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:47.200
Yeah.

00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:53.599
Um, and he got me into peptides and I wasn't able to I wasn't able to pay for them all.

00:21:53.920 --> 00:22:00.319
Uh and I just was able to trace down where they made them all the way back, back, back, and I kind of got connected with the Uh-huh.

00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.599
Manufacturers and started ordering my own peptides.

00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:05.759
Like manufacture in what country?

00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:08.400
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore.

00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:09.359
Oh wow.

00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:10.000
Yeah.

00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:17.359
And then uh so it sounds scary, but you know, you get them over here, you get a you get a vial and you send it to these testing companies.

00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:23.119
It's a blind vial, and they test it and they send it back to you, being like, ah, this is what's in there at this purity.

00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:32.079
So it's it's legit because you know the stuff that we were getting was 99.6 or more, and I think pharmaceuticals gotta be a b above 99.2.

00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:35.759
Um, but slowly I started taking peptides.

00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:38.160
Like what when you when okay, so again, people who don't know.

00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:39.519
So do you inject yourself?

00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:40.319
Do you take a pill?

00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.279
Do you what do you do?

00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:42.640
Uh these are injections.

00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:45.759
Okay, so you jam it into your stomach, like where you're where the cancer was?

00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:46.480
Yeah, yeah.

00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:48.160
So there are a lot of types of them.

00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:53.839
Uh the ones that I was doing, they were uh some of them were literally like an inch-long needle into my stomach.

00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:54.720
Can you feel it?

00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:55.680
I know this sounds weird.

00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.160
Can you does it go into an actual cancer thing?

00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:02.720
Like like are the cancers cancer cells, cancer lesions or cancer, whatever.

00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:03.359
You see them?

00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:04.079
I can't.

00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:05.119
Well, you can feel them.

00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:05.759
Oh, okay.

00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:08.960
Um, but that's no, you just put it in your stomach, it hurts.

00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.440
Sometimes there's like the little pop, and you're like, oh, I screwed up.

00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.839
Oh, like you pop a pop, like pop in a zit or something, like you pop a cancer thing.

00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.400
I no, you don't pop a cancer, you just something hits, and it's like, oh golly, that's bad.

00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:28.720
Um but uh then uh there's that, you know, and then you take one of them was an intermuscular, but most of them are sub Q.

00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:30.880
Um just to mean just under the skin.

00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:31.839
Just under the skin.

00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:40.000
But for the for the deep cancer stuff, uh, we were trying to harden the outside of those of those nodes, and uh them had to go pretty deep.

00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:44.160
So like a long needle, yeah, right in your stomach, into the stomach, and you're putting it on yourself, yeah.

00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:50.640
It was like grab a stick, bite down, mmm, mmm, and cry for a little bit and then be like, all right, I'm better.

00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:55.519
Okay, so like you go into this, like I don't know if this will work, but I'm just gonna jab myself with needles.

00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:56.400
What did I have to lose?

00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:05.920
Yeah, honestly, like the news is that hey, I came home from a war zone, yeah, it was good, but my men were still there, still calling me, still asking for help.

00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.119
I had some horrible phone calls where they're like, hey, what do we do?

00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:09.759
What do we do?

00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:13.839
This trench collapsed, and my wife doesn't want to be my wife.

00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.480
I've only got a couple, like a year and a half to live.

00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:18.079
My kids don't know I have cancer.

00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:19.200
No one knows I have cancer.

00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.319
I'm all alone.

00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:23.279
And the guys at the men's group didn't know I had cancer.

00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:30.880
I lived in a tent in the woods, and uh, and I'm sitting here jabbing myself with a needle, and I was like, all right, Lord, you got this.

00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.200
Let's either do or die, I guess.

00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:36.480
So you're a wild man.

00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:37.200
I thanks.

00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.519
I like that about me, actually.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.880
Like, but um no, it worked though.

00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:45.839
That's the crazy thing.

00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:53.039
Okay, so talk so yeah, so you have cancer, stage three, you start jabbing yourself with these long needles, and then you get the inject yourself with peptides.

00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:53.920
So what happened to the cancer?

00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:56.960
Uh so uh I mean how do you know it worked?

00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:04.960
Over the so we were getting tests, uh, we were getting blood tests, we're getting MRIs, I'm getting biopsies, um, getting all of that done.

00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:12.880
Uh, and I've gone from a C3 to a non-detectable, uh it's detectable, but it's almost non-detectable too.

00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:14.640
So, like almost not there.

00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:17.599
On the 28th, I have a surgery to cut out the last node.

00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:18.000
Wow.

00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:19.200
So that's what next week.

00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:22.559
Yeah, I've got a small surgery to get rid of the last stomach cancer thing.

00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.119
But the other five, you had five that just went away.

00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.440
They just dissolved and disappeared.

00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:28.640
Wow.

00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:29.119
Yeah.

00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:30.960
Like cure for cancer type stuff.

00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:32.079
Yeah, yeah.

00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:32.559
Yeah.

00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.759
And so in between that, I ended up starting a peptide company.

00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:36.559
Uh because it worked.

00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:40.720
Did you tell us what the peptide company is, or is that yeah, yeah, uh it's RPM.

00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:41.519
RPM.

00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:41.839
Yeah.

00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:45.359
RPM Research Peptide Minutes.

00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:47.839
Research peptide marketplace.

00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:49.039
Okay.com.

00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:51.200
Yeah.

00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:52.240
Not for human use.

00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:57.599
Uh but um, yeah, yeah, and it worked.

00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:59.279
It it it worked, and here I am.

00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.519
And uh I mean, this isn't like FDA proof stuff.

00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:02.960
You're just like, I don't want to die.

00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:03.759
No, it's not.

00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:08.720
Actually, it says right on there that it's all research chemicals, all of it's for research chemicals.

00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:11.680
It comes with a vial that says do not use for humans.

00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:14.480
And I was like, yes, perfect.

00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.400
This is the exact thing I want to shove in my stomach.

00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:20.960
Um so no, but it it did work.

00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:29.839
And uh I I mean, I've just recently found out, and I have um it looks like I have uh prostate cancer.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:30.640
Oh my god.

00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:32.160
I know, so we'll figure that out.

00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:33.599
But when you're so hold on, hold on.

00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:34.799
Wait, this is wild.

00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:55.519
So you've been dealing with stomach cancer, you have 18 months to live, you start injecting yourself with these crazy needles into the cancer areas, it the nodes start to go away, you're cutting out the last cancer node, and it's like you want to go ring the bell for cancer free, and then oh, just kidding, you have Yeah, my PSA levels were sky prostate cancer.

00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:01.599
Well, there's thinking is we're gonna find out for sure tomorrow at one Is that like a colonoscopy?

00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.000
Um getting another uh what do they call it?

00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:04.880
A biopsy.

00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:09.039
So they're gonna go in to cut out your well, they're just gonna test something.

00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:09.599
But hold on.

00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:12.000
When do you get your cancer cut out?

00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:12.720
Next week.

00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:20.079
And then you So this week I'm gonna check something else out, and then if everything works out, I'll be like, hey, by the way, can we also while you're in there?

00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:23.119
Yeah, hey, can we do two birds with one stone here?

00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:27.200
Oh in case you guys don't know it, I would like to laugh.

00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:28.400
Like the Lord has always been good.

00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:32.960
Like, I mean, this is like Job level craziness.

00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:34.400
Yeah, maybe.

00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.079
I feel like he had it worse somehow.

00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.160
Okay, maybe, but uh like this is intense.

00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.319
Like, I don't know very many people who beat cancer in one section to be like, hey, guess what?

00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:43.680
You have prostate cancer now.

00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:45.599
I think it's more common than we realize.

00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:46.640
Okay, yeah, yeah.

00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:47.440
All right, so there you go.

00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:53.680
So you got prostate cancer, and so is there a different peptide that you use for prostate cancer versus cancer?

00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:54.640
Yeah, there are.

00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:57.839
Um, so I've prostomax actually.

00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:00.400
Of course it'll sound like prostate.

00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.200
Um, but there there are the PNC 27.

00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.519
There's there are um, you know, NAD, it stops the NNMT.

00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:09.119
We have no idea what you just said.

00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:10.880
Yeah, 4544s.

00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.960
No, um, there are a lot of things that you could take that stop cancer growth.

00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:18.720
Um, and I just have to restart that protocol to see what's going on.

00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:24.319
But we're in a pause right now to figure out what they're gonna see tomorrow, and that'll let me know what to do from there.

00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:26.880
Wow, yeah.

00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:39.119
Until then, uh the Lord is good, and even after the Lord will be good, and Lord willing, I'll be running with everybody in the tough mudder, and we'll just have a good time.

00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:39.920
Wow.

00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:45.039
All right, so tell me about how you know you came here, you started coming to this men's group.

00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:47.119
First, how'd how'd you get to the men's group?

00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:49.279
Um my buddy White Eagle.

00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:50.400
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:52.960
So we worked at the same place, and he was he's my boss.

00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:56.000
Yeah, and he was like, Hey, I play the guitar for this men's group.

00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:57.759
And I'm like, sweet, because I was alone.

00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:00.000
Yeah, and uh, I had just came back from Ukraine.

00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:04.000
I think I was back from Ukraine for about five months total when I started coming here.

00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:04.480
Yeah, yeah.

00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:08.720
Um, and I was like, I'm alone, I need friends, and I started going to the men's group.

00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:09.599
Oh, that's awesome.

00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:11.119
Yeah, and then they were there.

00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:14.400
I mean, they the this men's group is very special.

00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:19.279
Yeah, we we help each other out, we call each other, we're really involved in one another's lives.

00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.599
Um, the breakfast is off the hook.

00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:22.000
Yeah.

00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:32.400
Well, you should know that that Bruno makes uh the breakfast every week, and we need to do a better job at uh it's awesome.

00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:33.839
Getting other people to step in.

00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:50.160
All right, anyway, so so the the men's group, how how did the men's group like, and and this is I think this is important because I feel like people, men maybe like don't know how to be vulnerable at a place without being um pathetic.

00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:51.599
I would agree with that.

00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:56.000
And so how how are you learning that?

00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:09.039
Like, how is how have you been like a man, vulnerable, strong, yet you can cry in front of dudes and be like, like how how has Jesus worked on you in that?

00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:12.000
I read a lot about Christ for sure.

00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:15.200
Um, but I try to model myself also after David.

00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:18.000
David was a man after God's own heart.

00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:21.599
He wasn't perfect, he definitely made some mistakes.

00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:28.079
But everything he did when he was like, you read the Psalms and he's like, Lord, everything's against me.

00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:29.200
Have you forgotten me?

00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:33.119
It says he danced after his after he lost his son, right?

00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:36.400
And then three days came by and it was like you're like you just lost your son.

00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:38.000
He's dancing in the glory of the Lord.

00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:42.160
Be like, yeah, but the Lord is good, we have so many promises.

00:30:42.640 --> 00:31:04.000
So what I what I really uh think men need to do, and and and I've been really lucky to know a lot of counselors, and I, you know, a lot of all this stuff is um it's not it's not weakness to open up, it's not weakness to cry, but at the same time, we have to also understand that we're called to be these mighty oak trees, yeah.

00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:06.720
And we can't be oak trees by ourselves, right?

00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:10.240
If we isolate ourselves, then we're just gonna get blown over, right?

00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:17.359
Like being with other men, and I mean men men, yeah, creates a man.

00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:21.440
If you're someone, if you're a guy who's alone, you're you're pretty weak.

00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:22.880
We you know, you get picked off.

00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:26.400
If you're a guy who's always around women, you're gonna act like a woman.

00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:34.079
If you're a guy who's around manly men and men who you say, this is the kind of group that I want to be around, you're gonna act right.

00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:34.799
It's good.

00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:39.119
And and of course, these are biblical men that are in this group.

00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:49.039
You know, uh, we have this group was like if I was a younger guy, I would want to be like some of these men.

00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.400
You know, one of them's like a blacksmith, which is cool.

00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:55.039
One of them was in the core, that's awesome.

00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:01.279
Yeah, uh, they're just really good guys, MMA fighters, yeah, uh Texas State Wrestlers.

00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:02.319
Yeah, it's wild.

00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:03.119
It's it's okay.

00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:04.000
So yeah, okay.

00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:05.039
That's that's incredible.

00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:09.359
All right, so that you're seeing just this the transformation, you're seeing the joy.

00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:14.000
Um, now, like what's the next thing for you?

00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:18.799
Yeah, so my heart I've got several things.

00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:21.359
Um, I hope to get married someday again.

00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:29.599
Um, but my heart, my big call is just I was created for I was created to save people.

00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:32.640
Um Christ made me that way.

00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:33.759
That's my call.

00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:34.240
Yeah.

00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:36.319
Um so that's my goal.

00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:38.319
Is get back out to the field in some way.

00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:39.599
I want to get back to the field.

00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:50.319
I wanna I wanna be back out there and whether it's logistics or whether it's on the field or whether it's doing I don't know what or where, but I want to be back at it.

00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:53.200
Um, it's what I'm good at, it's what I know, you know.

00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:57.119
It's I thrive and I do really well normally in that situation.

00:32:57.359 --> 00:32:57.920
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:03.279
Um yeah, so that's my goal, but we'll see what the Lord has too, you know.

00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:04.799
Maybe I don't know.

00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:16.240
So, you know, let there's a lot of young men, or just not yet, but men, men and women probably, who feel like a sense of I want to experience adventure, I want to do something for Jesus.

00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:20.640
Like, is anti-trafficking a good spot for that?

00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:23.039
Like, or is that like you need to be called?

00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:24.079
Like that's a calling.

00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:30.640
I would say it's a calling, but also it's not, it's not, it's not as fast-paced as what we made it sound to be.

00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:47.599
You know, when you start in anti-trafficking, a lot of it is just sitting there and reading and putting up bumper stickers and calling, and you know, um, it's it's a long unless you get really lucky really quick, you you it's a long time before you start working with law enforcement and all of this stuff.

00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:54.720
But if someone let's say, like, hey, you want to get back out there and someone say and someone said, Hey, Bruno, train me.

00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:56.400
Oh man, in a heartbeat.

00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:59.680
Yeah, so you're looking for a few good men.

00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:00.559
I really am.

00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:14.800
I would you're looking for some warriors who are ready to go, take on the darkness and push it back, and um through any, you know, through you know, a stronger show of force, rescue those that are trapped in trafficking.

00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:28.480
Yeah, I I would love, you know, actually something that was on my heart not long ago was uh safe houses, starting up safe houses for girls and children, and and nowadays young men too.

00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:39.679
Uh, you know, a lot of people don't know with the growing uh homosexual acceptance in the West, young men are now being sex trafficked just as bad.

00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:40.960
Like it's crazy.

00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:45.679
I think I told you about when we were in Boys Town, um, it was not cool.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:54.159
Uh, but yeah, it's just uh safe houses is a uh to answer your one question like and let where the okay, sorry, we'll get this go ahead.

00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:02.800
If there are people who are like, hey, I really want to be like in the uh, you know, um take Christianity seriously, seriously.

00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:07.280
There are opportunities for you to grow yourself and stretch yourself right here in the United States.

00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:14.960
If you stand up and if you're bold in your faith, then you will see that it's kind of it's scary in an exciting way, right?

00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:17.760
You don't have to go abroad, you just have to be intentional.

00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:18.559
Yeah.

00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:19.119
Yeah.

00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:20.559
All right, that's awesome.

00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:34.960
Um what about uh speak to those who don't know Jesus and but appreciate what you're doing, but they're like it just seems like a lost cause.

00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:45.039
Why why go risk your life for those who can't pay you back, who can't do any of that?

00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:47.039
Like how, like, why?

00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:55.039
So my first thought is uh Jesus left the 99 to go and get the one and I want to do that.

00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:57.920
Uh the other is you know, the prodigal son.

00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.480
He didn't enjoy himself when he was out there.

00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:05.519
Um Jesus left everything for someone like me.

00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:07.519
Yeah, and I am not a good person.

00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:08.079
Yeah.

00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:11.599
Uh Jesus, I mean, I'm a better person now.

00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:18.639
But um there's so much more, there's a promise to be had.

00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:20.400
Um, there's heaven.

00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:24.000
It says there's a place where there are no more tears, no more sorrows.

00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:25.599
Yeah, and I have that promise.

00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:28.719
It's the same way, it's the same thing that the Elliot said.

00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:39.440
So there was a missionary in Peru who uh was flying this little yellow plane, and there were these people that no one had seen, and he was gonna make first contact.

00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:45.679
And they and he went down to meet these guys, and they're like, take your guns, and he's like, No, let's not take the guns.

00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:47.039
They're like, What if they kill you?

00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:50.320
And he said, Well, I know Jesus, they don't.

00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:52.000
I know where I'm going.

00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:52.559
Right.

00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:56.239
And what if what if we could save one more?

00:36:56.400 --> 00:36:58.960
Like, wow, that's I know where I'm going.

00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:05.920
Yeah, like the Jim Elliott, Elizabeth Elliott, that's uh through gates of splendor is that book, which is awesome.

00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:13.599
Like, I love that book, and I love that mentality uh of like your benefit at my expense because what Jesus has done for me.

00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:15.199
That's exactly right.

00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:16.000
It's powerful.

00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:20.639
It says, While we were yet his enemies, that he died for us.

00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:30.079
That's crazy because I was definitely not a friend of God, and he gave his everything for me, for you, for George Schmo.

00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:32.400
He gave his everything.

00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:32.960
Yeah.

00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:38.639
And but you there's not much, there's nothing better you could do than to do that.

00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:39.360
Wow.

00:37:39.519 --> 00:37:41.280
All right, Bruno, we love having you on.

00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:45.280
We're gonna find out what the next adventure is, especially as you tack take on another cancer.

00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:50.960
We'll have to bring you back for another round um for prostate cancer freedom.

00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:54.880
Um, and we're all hoping and praying that things work out with the X.

00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:57.039
We just need uh God to do a miracle.

00:37:57.280 --> 00:37:59.199
Hey, thanks so much, everyone, for watching.

00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:02.400
Send your questions in to 737-231 0605.

00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:03.199
We'd love to hear from you.

00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:05.119
We talk faith, culture, everything in between.

00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:07.039
And we've been talking to Bruno DeCanto.

00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:09.519
We'll see you next time as you push back the darkness.

00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:10.559
Oh, wait, you have one more thing.

00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:11.360
Peace.

00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:12.079
We're happy.

00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:12.960
Let's see.