Nov. 13, 2025

What Does Freedom Feel Like?

What Does Freedom Feel Like?

Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here. 374: A 15-minute walk into a Venezuelan church changed everything. Manny grew up in Iran with loving, educated parents, a strict culture, and a head full of questions no one would answer. Kickboxing and Muay Thai gave him structure; wrestling shaped his base; but joy in worship—clapping, singing, smiling—gave him a first taste of freedom. That brief encounter set him on a path through Damascus, deep into Costa Rica...

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Season 4

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

374: A 15-minute walk into a Venezuelan church changed everything. Manny grew up in Iran with loving, educated parents, a strict culture, and a head full of questions no one would answer. Kickboxing and Muay Thai gave him structure; wrestling shaped his base; but joy in worship—clapping, singing, smiling—gave him a first taste of freedom. That brief encounter set him on a path through Damascus, deep into Costa Rica, and eventually into a life built around language, resilience, and the mats. His perspective on freedom isn’t theoretical; it’s earned, layered, and fiercely protective.

If you crave a story that blends courage, immigration, entrepreneurship, and the quiet miracles that show up when you’re almost out of options, this one will stay with you. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review telling us: what does freedom feel like to you?

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

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00:00 - Meet Manny And MACA Martial Arts

02:38 - From Iran To Kickboxing And Jiu-Jitsu

09:20 - Questioning Religion And Life Under The Regime

17:48 - First Tastes Of Freedom In Syria And Venezuela

24:04 - Costa Rica Years And Learning Spanish

31:06 - The Call: Special Immigrant Visa To America

40:08 - Landing In The U.S. And Building A Career

46:05 - Becoming American And What It Means

54:08 - Freedom, Gratitude, And Perspective

01:00:42 - Teaching Resilience Through Jiu-Jitsu

01:05:56 - Caitlin’s Role And Shared Backstories

WEBVTT

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And welcome back to Pastor Plex podcast.

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I'm your host, Pastor Plex, and I've got a special guest for us today.

00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:13.919
Manny, why don't you introduce yourself?

00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:19.120
Tell us where uh the operation that you own and uh talk to us about it.

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Give us a brief background.

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Uh my name, my full name is Manny Alonso Gassemi.

00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:30.640
I am the founder, owner, and head instructor of at Matkar Martial Arts down the street here in Wells Branch.

00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:36.880
We uh provide jiu-jitsu classes, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, grappling-based, and kickboxing.

00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.039
And uh, we just moved here about a year ago.

00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:40.079
Where'd you move from?

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Uh from Florida, but I was traveling all over the place.

00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.759
The nature of the gym was primarily in Costa Rica.

00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:52.880
Yes, in Costa Rica about three years ago, and then we moved back to state.

00:00:53.039 --> 00:01:00.560
We wanted to be by the water, but because I used to live in California and I love California, it's weather and all that, but I know it wasn't really business friendly.

00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:03.759
So we decided to not move back to California with my girlfriend.

00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.599
So we moved to Florida, okay, but then we found that there's too many competition.

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I thought California is oversaturated for this industry, like grappling in and uh jiu-jitsu, but Florida, South Florida, Miami was more saturated.

00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:25.599
So, and also we found out that we're just two miles away from one of the best gyms in South Florida, so we're like, we might as well just train there and don't touch our remaining of savings.

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So just figure it out if we want to do this.

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So I in Florida, I just rented part of uh U of C gym and uh teach there.

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After two years, we decided to drive towards California, see see what God wants for us.

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And then someone told us, hey, why don't you give it a shot in in Austin?

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Uh and I was like, I never leave in Austin.

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I used to live in Houston as well.

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But okay, let's let's let's see what's gonna happen.

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So we stopped at uh in Texas, and uh after two months searching, we were very close to saying, you know what, let's let's move it.

00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:01.599
Like we can't find any location, everything is expensive here as far as locations.

00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:03.519
And uh, but it was very business friendly.

00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:16.159
So we got our LLC, we got all the document, and then we find a good landlord right down the street, and we're right, you know what, let's sign a contract, let's just stay here, let's start our business with no base clientele, which is very risky.

00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:16.879
That's wild.

00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:18.879
But thank him.

00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.560
Yeah, so what's what's really wild is that your landlord is actually our landlord.

00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.719
Uh our landlord owns this property.

00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:25.280
Really?

00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:31.039
You know, the one that over at what's in Bratton Square, he owns three properties, and it's a it's a brother-sister combo.

00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:33.199
Anyway, yeah, not a big deal, but it's like it's kind of wild.

00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.759
Yeah, so we have the same property owner.

00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.639
Uh okay, so tell me about the origin story.

00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:42.719
Like, where'd you grow up and like how did you get into jujitsu of all things?

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Well, I was born in Iran.

00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:44.960
Okay.

00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:48.560
When you say Iran, that like blows my mind.

00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:52.639
Because I think Manny Alonzo, I don't think Iran.

00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:57.840
So, all right, what very good question.

00:02:57.919 --> 00:02:59.280
So, I was born in Iran.

00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:06.319
I uh I don't want to go deep into it, but I I'm I'm almost four years old.

00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.400
I was born in Iran, right after right in the middle of the war between Iran and Iraq.

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Wow.

00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:18.719
And then after the revolution in 1979, a few years after the revolution, so the Iran turned to become Islamic Republic of Iran.

00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:19.039
Okay.

00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:24.879
And then uh I was just a normal kid in a very educated family.

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My parents both are university professors.

00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:31.680
My dad is a very successful physician, uh, infection disease specialist.

00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:31.840
Wow.

00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.800
And my mom is a university university professor as a Persian grammar uh professor, teaching like Farsi.

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Farsi, yes.

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And then uh I grew up uh tricking lock normal kids.

00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:55.919
I always loved I was very active, almost hyperactive, and uh almost at the age of 15, I started realizing I want to go start doing weightlifting.

00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.400
And then Rocky IV was the movie that inspired me, everybody else.

00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:12.000
Rocky IV, and I was a big uh fan of soccer or football, so I was starting doing boxing, and I was like, I want to start using my legs too, because I play soccer in a very, very serious manner.

00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:16.720
So uh by the time I This is all in Iran, you know, this is all in Iran, yes.

00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:24.079
And uh after watching Rocky IV and then uh the movie Kickboxer, Jean-Claude Van Dom, Frankie.

00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.959
Yeah, oh yeah, I was like, okay, that's the sport that I want to do.

00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.120
So I started with kickboxing basically.

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By the time I was 18, I had my first uh amateur fight, which was a province championship, and I got a second place.

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But my first fight ever, I knocked the guys out in 20 seconds because I was so stressed.

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I just bombarded with the punches.

00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:49.279
So my background was is kickboxing in Muay Thai all the way when I left Iran and I started traveling the world.

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But because of a grappling and basically wrestling is a national sport, so I had that idea, and also in higher school, we practice uh wrestling.

00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:04.160
So jiu-jitsu for me starts about 18, nine, 18 years ago, 17, 17 years ago, I would say.

00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:07.759
Uh not even in Iran, in in Costa Rica.

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Pura Vida.

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Pura Vida.

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I have it here in my respect.

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I love it.

00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:20.639
So jujitsu is about 17 years, but before that, kickboxing, boxing, and I had over 100 fights, amateur fights, until I hit the pro level.

00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:27.839
Uh but jiu-jitsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappling, because of my wrestling background, uh, it wasn't that hard for me.

00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:34.160
However, the f especially during the white belt era, I got smashed by most of my training partner as a white, as a white belt.

00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:35.040
They were all black belt.

00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:35.519
Nice.

00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:41.759
But now it's not now, it's become my career, even though I have a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering.

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Of course you do.

00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.680
And uh yeah, but I I hold on, hold on.

00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:48.240
So when did what what age did you leave Iran?

00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:49.040
22.

00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:49.839
22.

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Did you speak English at that point?

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Very little bit, just a little.

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I mean, your English is amazing.

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Thank you.

00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:56.480
Uh that's that's why okay.

00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:09.120
Uh and I know that I'm now I'm talking about Iran, and you may not want to go into it, but like what was life like in really, you know, from 1979 when everything because Iran used to be like a really prosperous, really great, and the revolution happened, it went dark, right?

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Is that what happened?

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Like, what was it like growing up?

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Did you see the crumbling of the culture or society, or was that a gradual thing, or was it immediate, or is that something you didn't even notice?

00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:20.000
Very good question.

00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:26.720
I uh growing up in a uh, I would say above average middle class family, yeah.

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Uh going to a school, coming back, having the freedom of uh doing whatever I want as long as it's uh approved by my parents, especially my dad, very strict forward dad, very uh and and uh not really paying attention to politics and the stuff out there, but just because my dad like was God to me, like whatever he said, I will do it.

00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:52.720
Yeah, and then I was doing it, but I I think I was 13, 14 years old dad.

00:06:52.959 --> 00:07:02.240
I uh my dad asked me, hey, I want you to start praying this way, like uh five times a day, praying in Arabic, uh Islamic, like so.

00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:08.079
I was raised until 14, 15, 16 Muslim without any question.

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Whatever I see, I ask.

00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:14.560
But around 16, that that was the time that I started asking, Hey, what is why we do this?

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Why women have hijabs?

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Why they cover their head?

00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:19.519
Was that so before 79?

00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.439
I don't think the women had to wear hijabs everywhere, right?

00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:22.480
They didn't have to.

00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:23.040
They didn't have to.

00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.240
Okay, so then after 79, everyone's wearing hijab.

00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:27.839
Was that still sort of a new thing?

00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:34.800
Was that a weird thing for some ladies to go like, oh, I gotta get I've gotta remember to put this on or else the what do they have police to police that?

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These are the questions that I was asking people around me, including parents.

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They don't answer me.

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This is it.

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Before that was bad, the king was bad, everything was bad.

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Okay, explain me.

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And then all the propaganda, all the TV media.

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We had only two channels.

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So there's not internet, there's no, there's no internet, there's nobody wants to talk about it.

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And uh, so I start doing whatever I was told that there's a good good thing going out, like one month of the year, I have to start fasting for like I think I fast for like uh six or seven years straight every year, every Ramadan.

00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.279
Yeah, Ramadan, 30 days, and then I just feel good.

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This is good, this is gonna take me to the heaven, and then uh start praying, and then uh once I start questioning things, just like what she said, yeah, no answer.

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No one, no one had any clue.

00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:21.920
No answer.

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And were they afraid to answer anything?

00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:25.439
Or was it just they didn't know?

00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.800
No, they they truly believe that that's the right path.

00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.960
Oh, god, and a young kid want to ask this kind of questions.

00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:41.519
Uh, how do you how do you gonna explain that wearing hijab will take that woman to heaven, the other woman doesn't have hijab, will go to hell?

00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:42.559
How do you explain it to me?

00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:44.879
So it is what it is, that's a good thing.

00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:50.240
So I don't want to call the name, but some of the closest people in my life before revolution, they didn't have hijab.

00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:52.159
After the revolution, they put hijab.

00:08:53.279 --> 00:09:03.840
The amount of brainwashed to the roof that I don't want to make it too political, but who that person that did the revolution and everybody listened to him, which is right now is dead and all that.

00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:14.240
I mean, this is I I'm sorry, now we're going taking this to about I don't want to make it political too much, but man, what a shock to a culture to go that okay.

00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.919
Now I don't want to can am I allowed to talk about New York City and Mondani.

00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:18.480
Is that okay?

00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:19.759
Yes, okay, all right.

00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:26.720
So when you see Zoran Mondani, I mean tomorrow, but we're we're recording this on the day before the Tuesday.

00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.799
So tomorrow he is probably gonna be elected mayor of New York City.

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Like, does that freak you out?

00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:32.960
Yes.

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Like, tell me why.

00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:41.840
Because I come from that background, because I know what that religion, quote unquote, I'm not gonna call the name, yeah.

00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:43.440
That religion can do to a society.

00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:54.559
I come from a country with 25,000, probably more, but registered like uh authentic 25,000 of kingdom and being free in religion.

00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:56.639
I come from a Cyrus King background.

00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:57.840
Oh wow brag about it.

00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:06.000
I know I'm like a lot of typical Persians that oh, I'm from now I'm an American, I love it, I pr I I I I I'm proud of it, but King Cyrus, that's a big deal.

00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:07.919
We're big fans of King Cyrus.

00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.080
47 years of that religion.

00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.039
You can look at look at the result of the country crumbling.

00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:13.600
Crumbling.

00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:20.639
Yes, and now Mamnani wants to be a we want to be that plus Marxist and communist and socialist.

00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:22.799
Free boss, give me a break.

00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:29.600
Yeah, free boss will bring everybody to the bus, and then all those people that they they take advantage of free stuff.

00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:37.440
This was exactly the chan for the supreme leader who the first one that when they did the revolution, we're gonna give you free water, free electricity, free everything.

00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:39.039
What is where is where's the free things?

00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.559
And now this is the country with looking at Mamdani in New York.

00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:48.320
I literally I'm thinking, I was thinking my girlfriend, let's go to New York one of these days before it before it crumbles.

00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:49.120
Yeah.

00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:50.080
Wow.

00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:51.440
Man, many.

00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.679
I'm I'm so grateful that I'm getting this perspective.

00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:54.559
This is wild.

00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:55.600
Um, okay.

00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:01.279
So you leave, so like, does there are there elections though in Iran?

00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:02.559
Like, are there fake elections?

00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:03.519
How's that work?

00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.080
Uh I I don't know really about it.

00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:19.600
So I here is here is the here is the one of the main reasons that I start thinking things not things are not authentic.

00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:20.720
I don't see any clarity.

00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.759
I don't see any, I can't understand what is this going on.

00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.600
I need to travel, I need to go out.

00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:26.000
Yeah.

00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:32.399
So, and I'm like the closest people to me who are very educated, who are very good people, but I can't even get the answer.

00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:33.600
Like, why do you do this?

00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:34.320
Why do you do that?

00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.480
So I start thinking about traveling outside of Iran.

00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.840
Hold on, was it like a normal thing to travel outside of Iran?

00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:41.440
So, how did you get out?

00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:42.480
It's interesting.

00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:58.559
So I I uh I graduated, I got my bachelor's degree, uh, four years college, I got my uh bachelor's degree, and I was like, okay, you have to go to the military service or you have to uh get a get a whatchamacallit, uh go continue your education.

00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:03.759
So I uh did not go to military service.

00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:18.720
I uh I mean it was like it was like uh you could buy it, you could, you could, you know, if you uh I'm not gonna say privilege, but if you it was a law, and so you you can have passport, but with the Iranian passport, not so many places you can go.

00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:21.039
Yeah, period.

00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:27.840
So, but it's very typical that people uh travel to the uh surrounding countries, like to go to Dubai, to Turkey.

00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.679
I was like, uh the first country I want to go, I want to go far, very far.

00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:32.559
Where can I go?

00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.519
I put the lease, and I was like, oh, Venezuela is one of those countries.

00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.879
And back in the days, Hukwich always had a good relationship with the Iranian government.

00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:42.879
It's still their government with our government, which is interesting.

00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:45.840
The communist, Islamists, like, you know, how does it go?

00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:52.000
Islam is well, and and also Russia really was big in backing Iran, huge, still, yeah, big time.

00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.679
And um, so I just planned.

00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:03.440
I just planned to go to Venezuela, got my passport, and had some saved up because I started working since I was 18.

00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.000
Uh, and I just saved up.

00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:12.320
And this is the uh this is a story that I was gonna actually tell to the audience today.

00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.759
So I got my everything ready, and I was like, you know what?

00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.879
I'm gonna pack a backpack, travel to Venezuela, see, see how things work.

00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:27.120
We didn't need a visa, it was just a visa and the entry upon the entry, but I got a visa for one year.

00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:30.399
So I was like, I'm gonna stay maybe one year maximum, see what's going on.

00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:34.639
It then it turned up I stayed there two months and I came back, but that changed my life.

00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:42.320
So I moved to I traveled to Venezuela and I went to uh uh Margarita Island in the city called Porlamar.

00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:43.279
Beautiful city.

00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:45.919
This is I think this is 06, 05.

00:13:46.159 --> 00:14:01.279
Yeah, and uh the very moment that I realized, oh my god, for the past 20 years, which I was the kid going to a school, going to the gym, weightlifting, fighting, training martial arts, come back home.

00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:07.360
And then with my parents that we travel a lot to the different countries, different cities in Iran.

00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.679
So I had a good childhood.

00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:10.240
Right.

00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:21.120
And uh but I was always because I raised very educated by two parents that they also they also practice Islam, right?

00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:22.159
Normal Muslim.

00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:22.480
Right, right.

00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:25.360
They're normal Muslims, they don't force me to do anything.

00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.799
Even if I was a girl, I don't believe my parents will force me to put hijab.

00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:30.720
Hey, we think this is a good way, do it.

00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:31.600
But I was not a girl.

00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:32.720
Maybe that was a good thing.

00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:40.399
So in Venezuela, maybe the second day I got out of the hotel in that very city, Port Lamar, Islam Margarita.

00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:43.840
I went to walk into downtown, and it was a church.

00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:48.240
I'd never seen a church in Iran just one time in a city called Isfahan.

00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:53.039
There was a traditional building, traditional like location, and it was a kind of not really active church.

00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:54.240
So that was my first time.

00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:06.320
I'm going to a place, church with a cross on it, and see people worshiping, clapping, dancing, looking up and down, happy, happy.

00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:10.559
And I was literally walking and I would just hear the song.

00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.559
I thought maybe there's a concert going on in there.

00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:12.879
Yeah, yeah.

00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:14.080
So I went inside.

00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:23.519
Nobody told me to, you know, you don't, you're not allowed to come here because over there, the other religions, a lot of them because they're also Shias, they're Sony, a lot of different branches.

00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.840
You don't easily can get to them on score.

00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:29.759
Yeah, if I mean if you're a woman, you have to have scarf or hijab.

00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:34.879
Anyway, I went in, somebody was underdog in his Spanish, por favor, por favor, Pasa Delante.

00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:35.919
Come on in, come on in.

00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:46.480
And then I was like, I didn't know Spanish, which right now I speak fluent Spanish, but I went in and I was like, I just sit right there, and there was a guy, I'd never forget that.

00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.200
He's like, he he looked at me and says, gringo, gringo.

00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:54.080
I didn't know what gringo means, but because maybe I didn't really look like Hispanic, but I I'm not looking like you either.

00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.879
Like I'm not, but uh maybe I would look like a tourist.

00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:57.840
This is 20 years ago.

00:15:57.919 --> 00:15:58.799
I didn't even have shorts.

00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.519
It was like a it was a warm country pants and some tiny shoes.

00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:06.480
Try to be like look as much as I can to look like a tourist.

00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.120
You know, I'm first time getting out of Iran.

00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:10.159
What?

00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:12.720
And then I was like, look at look look at these people.

00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:14.240
They're they're they're clapping.

00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:16.240
They're enjoying, they're enjoying it.

00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:29.039
And I was like, okay, uh what I was told you have to be serious towards him, you have to smile is not allowed, and there's no celebration when you're worshiping.

00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:34.720
You have to be very serious, you have to say all the things in Arabic, uh, put your fore to the ground.

00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:36.559
He's up there, he's watching you.

00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:38.080
He's watching you.

00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.720
If you do anything wrong, he's mad at you.

00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:47.759
I basically was never experienced being happy talking to him or whatever, he's up there.

00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:53.440
I was like, okay, and I just stayed there probably for like 15 minutes.

00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:07.200
That was probably the purest time that I felt in a religious place communicating by just standing and watching with some overpower, some, some, some, uh, some superpower up there.

00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:10.240
And I'm not really religious, but I'm enjoying seeing this.

00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:11.759
That basically changed my life.

00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.119
And I was like, oh my god.

00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.599
That moment, that 15 minutes changed your life.

00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:24.240
Changed my life in this, as as term of as terms of uh as terms of uh, okay, you can also talk to God like this, right?

00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:25.039
Happy.

00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.119
Some people are crying, but happily.

00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:27.519
Yes.

00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:29.599
Uh, and there is someone up there talking to them.

00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:30.400
It's all Spanish.

00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:34.160
I have no clue what they are saying, but they're happy and they're dancing.

00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:40.079
And it and it was beautiful, it was beautiful when I was like, okay, all right, I'm done with that thing.

00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:41.440
I'm gonna go back to Iran.

00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:46.079
Uh, probably I'm gonna pack it up, and this time I'm gonna move permanently.

00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:51.680
That that 15 minutes also brought me like that, and this is I I was 20 years old.

00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.519
I didn't even have any clear idea what is dictatorship, what is democracy?

00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:56.880
I mean you're 20, you don't know anything, right?

00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:57.920
What is democracy?

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.359
You know, I just and I was in a peak of my training.

00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:08.960
I was getting ready to uh fight for qualification for the national team of Muay Thai, kickboxing, but I could actually that was another path.

00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:14.400
If I want to pick that path, I would fight for Iranian national team as a kickboxing uh fighter.

00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:20.880
Uh when you go for a national team, you have to go through a lot of uh oh, training, I'm sure.

00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:21.759
Training, not only that.

00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:22.880
Political training, right?

00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:23.759
Yes, yes, yeah.

00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:25.200
Indoctrination.

00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:25.680
Yes.

00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:27.440
So I was like, no, no, no, no.

00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:28.880
Freedom is more important for me.

00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:34.559
And and also, and also the the movie uh the the The Brave Heart, Mel Gibson.

00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:37.440
That was another couple movies changed my life a lot.

00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:42.400
I mean, I so these you're you're you're sparking up some movies that are really powerful for me as well.

00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:50.720
So it's exciting to kind of hear like globally, movies like have impact in people's lives on a personal level.

00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:51.839
That's so wild.

00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.920
And and what so can you talk to me?

00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.960
I know that again, I'm going back to this, but we here in the United States, we take freedom for granted.

00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.400
Like we don't even know what it means not to be free.

00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:03.359
We're so free.

00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:10.480
And so we say all sorts of ridiculous things about government uh because we have no idea what it's like to live without that freedom.

00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:19.200
So talk to me about like when you came, maybe it was in Venezuela at that church, or maybe it was when you hit the United States or Costa Rica or something.

00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:24.000
Tell me about like when you realized there was no like the difference, or that was it an oppressive feeling?

00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:29.599
Give me the give me the freedom feeling of what it's like to go from no freedom to freedom.

00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:33.920
I never talk about these things anywhere.

00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:36.720
Just very close people in my life, they know this.

00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:48.240
But it's interesting to tell you before you in Venezuela, the first place I felt freedom was shockingly, shockingly another Muslim country, very close with Iran.

00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:55.440
My flight has three days from Tehran to Damascus, three days layover in Damascus.

00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:55.759
Yeah.

00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:00.720
This is uh again about a two decade ago to Syria.

00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:05.839
Another Muslim country, very close with Iran, very close, but that's a Muslim country.

00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:07.359
That's a Shi uh Muslim country.

00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:07.599
Right.

00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:08.960
Women are free.

00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:15.279
You see girls with bikini, not bikini, like very uh, I don't know the term, the very, very free.

00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.240
Yeah, but Muslim swimsuits like stuff like that.

00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.240
But nightlife, you know.

00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:22.000
I was like, wait a minute.

00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:29.839
So I spent this three days, I don't count it as I leave there, but in Venezuela, I spent quite a quite a few months there after it's like especially a second time.

00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:32.880
Before even this, it was dead.

00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:44.400
However, because they're you're still you're still in a Muslim country and you're still here praying in a speaker six times a day, five times a day, out loud, they encouraging you, hey, go to the mosque, pray, pray, pray.

00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:47.680
And those three three days, I was not really paying clothes.

00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:51.200
I was not feeling free.

00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:59.119
I was just in a layover and three days, and I was like, because it was a cheaper flight, so I stayed three nights in Damascus, but they had a good night life, and I went out.

00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:04.240
There are bars, there are clubs, there are women without a scarf and hijabs.

00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.319
And I was like, is this also a Muslim country?

00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:10.799
And we are a Muslim country, and they have more history to be Muslims fully.

00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:11.119
Right.

00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:13.599
Before 1979, we were not fully Muslim, right?

00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:15.680
We had Islam since four or five hundred years ago.

00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:21.200
I don't know, I'm not a uh historian, but since 1979, it became an official religion.

00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:36.160
So in in Syria, I was like, wow, the you can have Muslim people with this woman with this scarf and hijabs, and then you can have uh normal girls, normal guys, you can wear shorts, you can wear a t-shirt that has US flag on it.

00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.240
This is this is not cool in Iran.

00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.160
Especially now, right?

00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.480
But it wouldn't be illegal though, right?

00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.400
Illegal, no, but you get in trouble.

00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:49.519
The relationship cops or the courtesy political police, they will pull you over.

00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:50.000
What is this?

00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:50.480
What is this?

00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:52.079
Are you supporting this and that?

00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.799
Anyway, so that was in Syria, but in in in Venezuela, I felt it.

00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:03.200
I felt it as long as as soon as the the the the second time, the first time, because I back to Venezuela again.

00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:04.400
The the flight landed.

00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:10.480
I'm I'm outside in a transit uh hall in an airport, and I was like, this is cool, this is free.

00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:14.640
I can wear short in a tropical, I can wear a short, I can wear tank top.

00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.759
You can't wear tank top back in the days in Iran as a guy.

00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:18.079
Of course.

00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:19.440
Now, now you can.

00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:21.519
I can see some videos here and there sometimes.

00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:28.799
But you still have to have you can have expectation to see some cops come, okay, change it to a t-shirt with no nothing on it.

00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:33.279
So, first time feeling the freedom was in Venezuela, which I still did not know.

00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.039
This is actually a communist country.

00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.519
Yeah, it's just degrees of freedom, I guess.

00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:44.480
But after that, when I came back to Iran and I planned as a longer story, I wrapped it up six more months after that.

00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:45.359
I wrapped it up.

00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:51.279
I go back, I went back to Venezuela, and then I started traveling like a backpacker around Venezuela.

00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:54.720
And long story short, eventually I made it to Costa Rica.

00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:56.480
Costa Rica is great.

00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:57.680
That's a freedom.

00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.440
I felt that, oh my god.

00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:07.920
Even though it's a Catholic country, you see beautiful church all every corner, but they just it is no, they they don't officially uh there's not an official religion.

00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:11.759
It's it's it's they call it Switzerland of South America or Latin America.

00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.640
No army, all the money goes to education and healthcare.

00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:16.960
And that's the first time.

00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.039
But and I was like, you know what, this is it.

00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:34.079
I would like to make it up north, maybe to Canada, maybe to Coast, maybe to the U State, but uh I wanted to do it in a legal way, so I'm gonna wait, maybe find a way, maybe get a visa, maybe because now I'm in third country, so I can find a solution to come to a state which is exactly.

00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:35.920
How long did it take you to learn Spanish?

00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:41.599
I would say about six months, but six, but but you're a Mer 400% immersed.

00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:42.079
Yes.

00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:48.079
In in Venezuela, I was talking mostly in English, just oh, you do English when you were so you learned English in Iran.

00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:49.759
So in in school, you learn here.

00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:50.319
Oh, okay.

00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:50.799
Got it, got it.

00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.400
All the way to 12th grade, you have one two one hours, two hours a week English.

00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:57.119
But it was mostly like British fundamentals and all that.

00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:03.759
In Costa Rica, in Venezuela, it was all English until I make it to I went to Nicaragua, Panama, yeah, and then ended up to Costa Rica.

00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:05.440
In Costa Rica, I was like, okay, this is it.

00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:05.920
I love it.

00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:06.720
I love this.

00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:08.079
This is beautiful, this is gorgeous.

00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:10.079
This is people are very nice.

00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:14.079
There's no you there, there's no you're in an embassy here, not so many Persians live there.

00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:19.920
Most of maybe 99% of the Persians were from America, like Persian American move here, move there.

00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:22.640
So I was like, I'm gonna stay here and I'm gonna leave here.

00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:27.359
If I find a way to go up north, especially Canada, because I have my cousins, bunch of my cousins live in Canada.

00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:28.400
Yeah, but no rush.

00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:29.599
This is this is freedom.

00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.319
Then I started practicing Spanish.

00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:36.640
I told myself no English, there's no farce, you know, nobody is here.

00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:39.440
And you know, I'm just gonna practice the Spanish.

00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:41.359
I can't go to the class or university.

00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:46.640
I need to work and I start working and I start fighting underground, and then uh just the Spanish.

00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:48.640
What city were you in in Costa Rica?

00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:52.880
I was all over, I was in La Juela, I was in Heredia, mostly in San Jose.

00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:58.720
I live in North Pacific side, Guanacaste, and uh, but primarily I was in Heredia.

00:24:58.880 --> 00:24:59.279
Oh wow.

00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:00.880
Yeah, my wife learned Spanish.

00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:10.480
She she went just for four months, uh, summer of 2000 gosh, must have been like 2000, gosh, no.

00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:13.359
2008, 2007, 2006.

00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:15.200
Like, she was there learning Spanish, which is wild.

00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:16.880
That's a beautiful, yeah, beautiful country.

00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:19.680
So uh, okay, so you you learn Spanish.

00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:21.440
How do you get to the US?

00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:23.680
And how like tell me that process?

00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:33.519
Because one of the things, you know, we we have the immigration thing is such a big deal here, especially in Texas, like uh, you know, with people coming in that were undocumented and all that.

00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.440
Like, what did you do and how did you do it?

00:25:35.519 --> 00:26:02.319
And I tell you the last part, this is one of those parts that uh I'm actually working on a book, yeah, and maybe in the future I add this part, but I'm just gonna compact and make it like a small version of what happened to me in Costa Rica.

00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:52.160
Yeah, because in Costa Rica uh I got my I basically I I very simply I request uh job applic job permission because I get to Costa Rica with a little bit of difficulty, but uh I I got a hire a lawyer, I paid the lawyer all of my all of my savings to hey get me papers here, and I don't want to get any any I don't want to take the detour, I don't want to do anything illegal, I don't want to get married with a 90 years old grandma to get my no I want to become I want to become a resident of this country and I give them all of my background that I um I'm an engineer, I'm a fighter, uh I fight in a higher level in amateur, kickboxing and muay thai in this country, but the country, the name of that country was a problem for me.

00:26:52.319 --> 00:27:02.559
So yeah, basically, Costa Rican government had to investigate me up and down to my DNA if I'm if I'm a good guy or I'm a bad guy.

00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:08.880
Eventually, it took a few months for them, I would say about a year to find that out.

00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:10.799
And it was it was hard.

00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:12.240
I didn't have job permission.

00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:14.880
I was doing uh black market jobs.

00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:15.200
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.640
Basically, not black market, no, let me let me rephrase it, like a dishwasher.

00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:25.359
Yeah, and uh I still keep up with my with my training, and then I started doing jujitsu in Costa Rica.

00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:32.559
Um they have a pretty good program in Costa Rica because a lot of Americans move there or have a it has a very good influence in Costa Rica.

00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.160
Totally, like um, yeah, it's a huge vacation spot for Americans.

00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.640
Uh it's a they're very friendly towards America.

00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:44.480
Yeah, it's number one, I believe in is number one uh uh industry for them, like tourism.

00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:47.839
So they they they they have to welcome and they're very nice people.

00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:50.240
I mean I'm I'm Costa Rican in heart.

00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:50.559
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:51.759
American in heart too.

00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:52.160
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:52.319 --> 00:28:00.720
Uh so anyway, once I got my papers in Costa Rica, I was so happy I got my papers and I started having opening bank account and this and that.

00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:09.039
Uh honestly, I could I could have stayed in Costa Rica a year and a half, a little less, a little more than a year to get citizenship in Costa Rica because I stayed there about six years.

00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:09.440
Yeah.

00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:22.000
I received a recommendation from a friend who was also uh kind of a student of mine, like as I was teaching privately, kickboxing and muay thai.

00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:34.000
I had friends from UN, United Nations, U US Embassy, Costa Rican immigration, a lot of law enforcement, a lot of cops and law enforcement because of the nature of what I was teaching them.

00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:41.440
So I got a recommendation one day that, hey, after like living there for quite a few years, would you like to go to a state?

00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:48.400
Just like that, in a day, we're having uh dinner or lunch with with some of them.

00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:50.799
And I was like, I thought he was joking.

00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:52.960
And I was like, What?

00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:54.640
Do you want to go to a state?

00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:55.440
United States.

00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:57.680
I said, uh what what uh come on, man.

00:28:58.000 --> 00:28:58.960
You're joking with me.

00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:00.400
I don't know, no.

00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:01.359
What?

00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:02.480
No, why?

00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:04.559
I mean, yeah, I mean, uh what?

00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:10.480
So and they they didn't continue, didn't follow up.

00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:13.759
They let me maybe psychologically let me to sink it in.

00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:14.799
Let's think about it.

00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:23.920
A few weeks later, we hang out with friends with friends after the class, and then I was told again, hey, would you like to go to the United States of America?

00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:25.519
I said, What are you talking about?

00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:26.480
I mean, no.

00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:28.480
Uh, you want to send me somewhere else?

00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:29.119
Send me to Canada.

00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:32.160
I have I have I have family in Canada, I have my cousins over there.

00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:34.559
Uh, and it's a peaceful country.

00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:36.799
I don't want to go to a country that they don't like me.

00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:38.400
No, who said that, many?

00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:39.759
They they love you.

00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:41.279
That's a country based on immigration.

00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:42.799
I said, I don't know.

00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:44.000
Are you serious?

00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:44.480
Yes.

00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:47.119
This time they were explaining more.

00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:47.920
Don't worry about it.

00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:51.599
We would you just tell us yes, and then we give you all the details.

00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:52.960
Let me think about it.

00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:54.720
And I was so shocked.

00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:59.839
Tell me what would tell me when you say, when you hear as a non American, you hear.

00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:01.759
Do you want to go to the United States of America?

00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:08.240
What does that mean to a person that came from Iran that was kind of naturalized in Costa Rica?

00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:11.920
And then the opportunity to go to the United States comes, and you think, like, what's the thought?

00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:13.680
Too good to be true, or like, I don't know.

00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:16.079
Absolute impossible.

00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:16.640
Why?

00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:17.759
Too good to be true.

00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:21.519
Because I'm coming from a country on a paper is the number one enemy of America.

00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:30.720
I was grew, I grew up in a country that every hour there is a chanting in the street, in the propaganda and in the TV, death to America, death to Israel.

00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:37.359
I come from a country, I have to prove it to the to the graveyard that I'm good guy if I want to go to America.

00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:42.400
Because the whole thing about Iran is you guys say death to America.

00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:43.039
Right.

00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:45.839
And as a kid, I was not agree with that.

00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:47.599
That was one of my very first questions.

00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:48.720
I'm probably 10 years old.

00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:51.599
I'm asking that, I said it, Dad.

00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:53.440
Why do we say death to America?

00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:57.119
Don't say it, but I kind of it's it's it's good.

00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:01.519
I said, Mom, auntie, teacher, coach, why do we say that why death?

00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:24.559
Why we go every once once a year in a muhar and we go out when is Imam Hussein's death, and then uh back in the days, one of the most brutal things I remember as a religious uh ceremony with the Mashadi, they hit to their head to just sympathize with what happened, whatever thousand years ago to that leader of that religion got killed.

00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:32.640
So I grew up with blood, with with with negativity towards y'all, towards Western culture and everything.

00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:36.960
So when I when I couldn't confronted that, hey, you want to go to America?

00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:39.039
I was like, that's too good to be true.

00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:40.640
And we're having lunch, we're having dinner.

00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:41.519
These are my friends.

00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:43.440
I trained them here and they're boxing multi.

00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:44.720
Now we become friends.

00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:48.880
Maybe I'm a cool dude that they want to hang out with me, but I have nobody in Costa Rica.

00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:51.200
I just love the and they knew that I loved their country.

00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:52.480
I truly love Costa Rica.

00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:53.119
Oh, yeah.

00:31:53.359 --> 00:32:02.799
So I went and I asked one of the very old uh Iranian friends, I would not say friend that I know over there, and he also moved to Costa Rica right after the revolution.

00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:04.160
Probably he's dead right now.

00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:05.279
I think he's dead.

00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:06.559
And I said, hey, Mr.

00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:07.839
Blah blah blah.

00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:09.839
I got some some offer like this.

00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:10.640
What should I do?

00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:15.119
And he immediately told me, Manny, you're smart.

00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:19.039
Now you speak three, four languages, far six Spanish, and English.

00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:23.440
And you you you're you're an athlete, you're you're a strong man, this and that.

00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:25.119
You they want to use you as a spy.

00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:25.759
Be careful.

00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:26.559
Say no.

00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:30.240
They will, they, yes, of course they want to.

00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:34.400
Nowadays, uh, they use people that they speak their enemy's language.

00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:35.920
So maybe they send you back to the region.

00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:37.039
Maybe they you become a spy.

00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:38.480
I said, oh yeah, you're right, you're right.

00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:39.680
Thank you, sir, thank you, sir.

00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:40.240
Okay, okay.

00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:46.160
So I was confident to say no to probably the greatest offer I've ever received in my life.

00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:47.599
Oh man.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:49.440
So I I just leave it right there.

00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:49.839
Yeah.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:52.240
I don't follow up with them, but they call me.

00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:53.359
They call me.

00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:56.720
And this time from their phone number was like a bunch of zero.

00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:06.480
And I and I I picked my phone, because Suri can cell phone, and then it was a lady and one of them, I think her name was Lupita.

00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:12.160
Like I was not, it was not my she was not my friend, my friend, but she was one of that group.

00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:14.559
She said, Hey, did you think about what I told what we told you?

00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:15.920
I said, Yes, come on, man.

00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:16.960
Why are you so insisting?

00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:18.240
This is too good to be true.

00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:18.799
You know what?

00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:19.200
No.

00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:20.559
And she was like, Why?

00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:21.440
Why no?

00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:22.799
What is your reason?

00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:25.119
I said, What is your reason to why me?

00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:26.400
There's so many people who want to go to America.

00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:28.160
I know there's so many people who want to go to America.

00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:28.960
I know that for a fact.

00:33:29.119 --> 00:33:30.160
Everybody wants to come here.

00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:31.039
Why me?

00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:33.599
I mean, I I never show interest.

00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:36.480
Maybe you guys hear me to talk about my cousins in Canada.

00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:38.799
But it's it's so weird.

00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:40.960
And I think you're gonna use me as a spy.

00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:44.720
I think you want to use me, I don't know, for CIA, for FBI, send me back to the region.

00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:48.480
She she laughed and she was like, okay, here we go.

00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:50.160
I know, Manny.

00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:53.839
This day, this time, let's sit down and let's talk about it.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:00.000
I'm gonna give you a schedule, an appointment, come to the US Embassy in Pavos, Costa Rica.

00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:05.119
Beautiful, beautiful building, very, very high-profile building.

00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:06.559
So I was like, okay, cool.

00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:06.880
What?

00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:13.920
I'm going to US Embassy or it was a is it was it was not a whole US Embassy, it was a branch of them in this location.

00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.000
So I was like, okay, cool, no problem.

00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:20.320
Then I wake back to talk to that guy, and he was like, be careful, you might kidnap you.

00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:21.679
I said, couldn't mean kidnap me.

00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:22.400
Well for what?

00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:23.440
Who am I?

00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:24.960
I mean, who am I?

00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:30.239
I barely got my document in Costa Rica, and Costa Rican government are basically under coast under US government.

00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:33.199
Anything happened in Costa Rica, the US government knows about it.

00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.039
So they probably that's actually probably they that they know about me.

00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:41.280
So I was like, okay, you're maybe you're too old.

00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:42.880
I'm thinking listening to you too much.

00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:47.119
But I'm always looking for words of wisdom from people that they know more than me.

00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:48.159
So I was like, you know what?

00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:48.639
I'm gonna go.

00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:51.519
This is just an appointment, and they're gonna explain me why they want to do that.

00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:59.920
So I went to that appointment, and it was a lady, a white lady who speaks farsi as good as myself.

00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:00.400
Wow.

00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:03.039
I was like, oh my god, this is like movie.

00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:05.599
This is like this is like movie.

00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:06.480
Yeah.

00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:10.559
And he she starts, salam, uh, hi, how are you?

00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:11.599
My name is blah, blah, blah.

00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:13.920
And I was like, are you Persian?

00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:14.559
No, you cannot.

00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:18.880
I mean, we have some white people with the green eyes north of Iran, but you you look American.

00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:22.400
No, I'm uh I'm an American, but I was like, okay, this is in my head, I was like, this is it.

00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:22.800
This is it.

00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:23.599
Here's here, I'm a spy.

00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:24.000
Here we go.

00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:27.920
Officially, and then it immediately reminded me of black hole.

00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:34.239
Yeah, it reminded me of movie uh spy game, yeah, Robert Redford and uh Brad Pitt.

00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:34.639
Yeah, yeah.

00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:36.079
I was like, oh my god, it's gonna be cool.

00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:36.960
It's one time life.

00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:38.960
Wait, listen, you could be a spy.

00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:40.559
I mean, anyway, go on.

00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:42.800
Oh man, this is good.

00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:47.920
And then she explained to me, hey, my my colleague told me that this is your concern.

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:48.880
Let me explain to you.

00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:53.519
There is a program called SIV, special immigrant visa.

00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:00.000
Yes, we are looking for special immigrants, we're looking for special people that they are smart.

00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:04.559
The two words that I never forget, she said, and I felt proud of that.

00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:06.320
She said, We're looking for brain.

00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:11.760
You're a brain, you can help the country, you can help, you can we want you to in America.

00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:16.559
You speak three languages, you know, and you're a good guy.

00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:23.039
And long story short, she said, trust me, we checked your entire life basically.

00:36:23.199 --> 00:36:29.840
We know what elementary school your grandpa was attending in Iran 300 years ago, for example.

00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.079
And my grandpa was only sixth grade.

00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:32.480
That's it.

00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:34.320
She he didn't continue more than that.

00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:47.920
So she explained me more stuff that they know about me, and they said, So we know that, we even know that this is amazing about you as government, and then we know that you love this part to be like this.

00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:51.280
We know that you you left for freedom.

00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:56.320
You left for freedom, you left for having a good life, uh, pursue freedom.

00:36:56.559 --> 00:37:04.000
Your desire to even be in Costa Rica is what we have in in our constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of uh everything.

00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:05.599
You you you all for that.

00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:08.880
And also you speak three languages, and we have a job for you.

00:37:09.039 --> 00:37:09.840
We have job for you.

00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:12.320
I said, I don't have anybody in America, I don't have a job.

00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:13.199
What am I gonna do?

00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:13.679
I don't have any.

00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:16.960
We have a job for you, we will protect you for quite a few months.

00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:19.760
Once you get your social security number, you on your own.

00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:21.440
But for before that, we help you.

00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:23.519
This this program called SIV.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:25.280
I was like, okay, a special immigrant.

00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:27.519
So I'm gonna be a special uh immigrant.

00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:29.440
Yes, you become an you go to America, uh-huh.

00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:34.159
And the good part is you're moving to America with your green card in your pocket.

00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:36.079
I was like, you give me my green card?

00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:38.400
So no, you get to that and we give it to you there.

00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:41.679
But you you don't have to apply for a green card once you're there.

00:37:41.760 --> 00:37:46.719
You you you you're you're gonna get it because with this program you're gonna make it there, and then we take care of that.

00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:53.360
But you're going to have a job and as kind of interpretation, but it's going to be uh office work, you know.

00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:58.239
And then, but you still need to go through a process of applying for that job.

00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:00.079
But you're not gonna be helpless.

00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:01.119
We will help you.

00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:03.119
And uh what do you do here?

00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:05.119
I said, I'm I'm I'm training at that moment.

00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:10.559
I was working full-time as a kickboxing instructor in a gym and also uh call center.

00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:18.000
I said, You can you can't just work, you can work for$400,$500 a month in Costa Rica forever, but over there there's more opportunity.

00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:19.280
This is the reason.

00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:24.320
And and uh you still have 100% right to say no.

00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:27.760
And I was like, so you don't expect me to say yes right now.

00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:29.840
I said no, go home and think about it.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:37.360
But she basically clarified everything and she explained me everything, and I was like, okay, so no CIA, no FBI said, no, no, no, no, no.

00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:41.360
For that, you you for that you have to be citizen, first of all.

00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:43.920
You can't be just a green card holder, you have to be citizen.

00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:47.360
But the thing is, you're going with our own invitation, like this.

00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:48.800
And I was like, huh.

00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:52.320
So you picking me up, said yes, we picked you.

00:38:52.400 --> 00:39:03.199
You resolved this is a very selective program, which I'm not sure if it's still going on or not, but uh uh basically after maybe one or two days thinking, I said yes.

00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:07.679
Pastor, after I said yes, six more months I was in America.

00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:13.840
All the medical tests, everything was quickly passed, and then I got escorted to the airplane.

00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:23.280
I never forget that day that in Costa Rican, in Juan Santa Maria airport of San Jose, it was a line for that very flight that went to us to stay to Miami.

00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:34.960
I got escorted and I passed through the whole line, and then people looking at me, and I was two uh Costa Rican off one Costa Rican, one American, both lady very officially dressed up.

00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:37.599
They said, Hey, let us go.

00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:39.280
And then I was like, good, good.

00:39:40.559 --> 00:39:40.960
Wow.

00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:43.360
Yes, and then I escorted and said that's it.

00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:50.639
And then I moved to they I fly to Florida, and then I they flow me to I was yeah, I was in Florida and then Houston and then California.

00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:54.239
And then it was all true.

00:39:54.400 --> 00:39:55.280
It was all true.

00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:00.400
I got my citizenship after this was I think it was 2012.

00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:07.199
This was all over after I got my I mean, not over, it's all very quick.

00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:13.440
And I yes, I got I had to wait for my social security number because before that you can't get received money from government or anything.

00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:26.079
And then green card, and then citizenship, and then uh to the point that I think uh I was I was not committed, I didn't have any promise to the government to work for them, but it was better than nothing.

00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:35.760
I was working as an uh interpreter and also a case manager for some nonprofit, half government, half uh nonprofit agencies.

00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:41.599
But eventually I decided, you know what, uh I want to be full-time fighter, I want to be a full-time coach.

00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:44.320
And I think 2016 I made that made happen.

00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:51.360
I did pro level, but I was older, so I had a couple MMA fights, and then I was like, let's just switch to just jujitsu.

00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:54.400
I focus on jujitsu, and till now.

00:40:54.960 --> 00:41:00.079
I got my citizenship in 20, I think, 18.

00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:02.000
What was that like?

00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:04.559
What was the emotion of that?

00:41:05.119 --> 00:41:06.079
Very good question.

00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:08.400
I'm I'm getting glissed on right now.

00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:12.800
I don't know anybody more proud to be American than myself.

00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:16.400
I slept with my US passport the first two nights in my bed.

00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:24.880
I slept with my passport, and I was like, and every time I have this conversation with anybody asking me this question, I getting emotional.

00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:39.039
I come from a country on a paper that it's absolutely impossible with the way that I came to America, not investing, not getting married with an American girl outside of America, this 90-day fiance stuff.

00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:39.679
Right, right, right.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:46.000
I got picked up by US government, but the greatest nation, greatest country on the history of the world.

00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:52.480
You know, every nation has the greatest part, from the Cyrus, the King, the Great, Iran, China, Rome, Aztecs.

00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:53.840
We have nations here and there.

00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:55.360
We have empires all the time.

00:41:55.599 --> 00:42:01.599
But this, even though I believe maybe US government, maybe US did something bad before.

00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:04.800
But as long as I remember, we've been doing better.

00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:08.880
Like, yes, Vietnam War was not maybe far fair, whatever.

00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:16.559
Now I know because I work for US government, I work for uh nonprofit, ton of schools that we're building in Vietnam.

00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:18.320
A lot of other things.

00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:23.679
Every, regardless of conservative or democrat or liberal, every government comes, we're helping the world.

00:42:24.159 --> 00:42:25.280
We're helping the world.

00:42:25.519 --> 00:42:30.000
Iran, the place that I was born, Persians, Persia attacks India.

00:42:30.320 --> 00:42:33.199
If if Indian wants to be mad at us, they have a right.

00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:33.519
Right.

00:42:33.760 --> 00:42:44.880
Mongolians attack Iran, they kill everybody, Persians, Arabs attacks Persians, like every part of the history, somebody attacks somebody and tried to take over the Rome's, Alexander, this and that.

00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:49.199
At this very moment, regardless of the history, US doing good.

00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:49.760
Yeah.

00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:52.000
Generally doing good.

00:42:52.159 --> 00:42:57.599
And now this country picked me from Costa Rica that I was living happily with freedom.

00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:00.320
And yes, I was not making too much money, but I was happy.

00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:04.800
But they said, Hey, you can do this, but you can do the same things here with much more opportunity.

00:43:04.880 --> 00:43:05.599
Do you want to go there?

00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:07.519
And I turned them down twice.

00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:11.039
I turned them down twice.

00:43:11.199 --> 00:43:12.400
And you were chosen.

00:43:12.639 --> 00:43:14.480
I I think that's the coolest part of the whole story.

00:43:15.199 --> 00:43:16.320
You're a chosen, man.

00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:20.239
I and I turned them down to who's who would do that?

00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:20.960
Like, no.

00:43:21.280 --> 00:43:23.440
Hey, America, we're American, come over here.

00:43:23.599 --> 00:43:25.360
No, I'm being a stock up.

00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:25.760
No.

00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:27.280
And then I was like, you know what?

00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:27.679
Yes.

00:43:27.920 --> 00:43:29.039
Now you want to take me there?

00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:29.679
Let's do it.

00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:30.559
What?

00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:32.480
Six more months, I'm over here.

00:43:32.719 --> 00:43:34.400
I got my citizenship.

00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:40.000
And I pay for expedition for my passport.

00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:42.159
Like, I was like, I'm gonna, I want my passport.

00:43:42.320 --> 00:43:43.599
I want my passport.

00:43:43.840 --> 00:43:45.440
And then I change.

00:43:47.360 --> 00:43:51.599
Uh I I I picked uh not change, I picked uh Alonso.

00:43:51.679 --> 00:43:53.440
Let's be back to your first question.

00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:54.960
I pick Alonso as my middle name.

00:43:55.119 --> 00:43:55.679
Oh fun.

00:43:55.760 --> 00:43:57.199
Because you got to choose whatever name you wanted.

00:43:57.360 --> 00:43:58.000
Yes.

00:43:58.400 --> 00:44:06.880
I pick Alonso because in heart I felt Costa Rica is my home country in my back, but that was then now.

00:44:07.039 --> 00:44:08.239
This is my home country.

00:44:08.400 --> 00:44:10.239
I just equally love these two countries.

00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:20.480
And um even my Instagram, even my social media, I don't even mention my last name, which I didn't really change it for the respect for my father.

00:44:20.639 --> 00:44:21.119
Right, right, right.

00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:23.199
And but I picked Alonso as my middle name.

00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:24.559
So I am Manny Alonso.

00:44:24.639 --> 00:44:28.159
I am Manny Alonso, and uh I had to go to Rica.

00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:29.920
I go to Surica many times a year.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:33.519
I actually opened a business there, then I just wrapped it up, bring it back over here.

00:44:33.840 --> 00:44:37.119
Uh I slept with my passport two days.

00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:40.239
It's funny, maybe people laugh at me, but yeah, I was like, It's the coolest story.

00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:42.239
Like, that's my passport, and I wake up in the morning.

00:44:42.320 --> 00:44:43.199
Is that let me see?

00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:43.840
Still there.

00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:46.480
Nationality American.

00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:47.679
Am I an American?

00:44:47.840 --> 00:44:50.159
I was just watching movies like Rocky 4, other movies.

00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:51.039
It's like there's me.

00:44:51.199 --> 00:44:52.320
That's that they're American.

00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:53.039
And I was a kid.

00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:55.519
I was like, oh, look at those blue eyes, green eyes people.

00:44:55.679 --> 00:44:56.800
Like, cool, cool.

00:44:56.880 --> 00:44:58.320
You know, I don't even speak English.

00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:01.280
I that's cool to be one of them one day, and I'm one of them.

00:45:01.360 --> 00:45:02.880
I'm an I'm an American.

00:45:03.119 --> 00:45:14.639
And uh when when because it was a big ceremony when that person was making all the audience of people that getting their citizenship in that very uh big arena, making us to read the oath.

00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:16.159
Oh, where did you do that?

00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:19.679
Uh it was, I think it was in Houston, yeah, Houston, Houston, Houston.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:30.960
And I uh I was just pouring, uh pouring like and I was like, yeah, whatever it says in the in that oath, yeah, I'm I'm gonna do it.

00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:33.119
I'm gonna I'm gonna protect this freedom.

00:45:33.280 --> 00:45:41.199
And until this day, uh anybody, anybody into my face wants to disrespect America, wants to tell me that we're bad.

00:45:41.280 --> 00:45:42.800
I said, you unhappy?

00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:45.440
I will pay for your travel.

00:45:45.599 --> 00:45:50.880
Go, not even, not even Yemen or Nigeria or Somalia, Iran is a safe country.

00:45:51.039 --> 00:45:53.039
Go there, I pay for you, leave there for one day.

00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:55.280
Yeah, just please leave there, I'll pay for you.

00:45:55.440 --> 00:46:00.239
And then you realize you guys not only take it for granted, you have no idea what you're talking about.

00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:00.480
Right.

00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:01.280
You have no idea.

00:46:01.519 --> 00:46:09.760
You cannot convince me that this is not, this is a bad country, this is a not great country, and then you want socialism, Marxism, and all that.

00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:16.159
And I am for no at no what bit by no means I'm not a politician or religious.

00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:18.159
I I can't even talk about it properly.

00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:19.440
But I have an idea.

00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:34.800
If you provoke me, especially in Farsi, I can I can lecture you in Farsi, tell you what happened to me, what happened to my my my people, what happened to our our money like being sent to other countries for their for to help them.

00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:42.719
And this government over there, they don't even care about their own Persians, and then they they support other groups and countries.

00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:43.760
I don't want to talk about it right now.

00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:45.199
It's gonna be make it too political.

00:46:45.440 --> 00:46:54.960
What I did, I was like, okay, I don't want to go that path, you know, I don't want to talk about this to hold word until maybe this is the moment that I'm actually uh releasing some information about my life.

00:46:55.119 --> 00:46:57.280
But I want to be inspirational.

00:46:57.599 --> 00:47:04.800
I actually I am to my brother, to my uh cousins, and some of them, a lot of them after me, they moved out, they've pursued freedom.

00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:10.079
Uh, whether they were so liberal or democrat or conservative, republic, whatever, whatever.

00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:11.599
Hey, just be out.

00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:26.320
What I'm doing right now through sports or martial arts, just three things that Persian culture from the Cyrus the Great was basically teaching us, and it's not even religion.

00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:28.320
Do good, act good.

00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:33.840
I mean, uh good uh good thoughts, good actions, good deeds.

00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:35.039
These three things.

00:47:35.199 --> 00:47:41.280
These three things is a Persian, uh the Zoroasterian uh the symbol comes from this thing.

00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:42.719
I'm not even expert on that.

00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:43.840
I can talk about it a lot.

00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:53.760
But what I'm what I'm trying to say is just I'm trying to teach my students, kids, and adults, just do good, act good, have good thoughts, and then martial arts will help you with that.

00:47:53.840 --> 00:47:54.000
Wow.

00:47:54.159 --> 00:47:59.199
Jiu Jitsu will help you with that because especially jujitsu is a martial arts that it comes with resilience.

00:47:59.440 --> 00:48:03.039
You cannot face away, turn away from the problem, which is another person.

00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:05.199
If I turn away from the other person, I gotta get choked.

00:48:05.599 --> 00:48:12.559
So I have to face the problem, frame, yeah, scooch out, and then find a way to counter or maybe choke him or something.

00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:15.039
So jujitsu, it's absolute great martial arts.

00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:36.480
And what I'm doing right now, after years being here, implementing on that absolutely not in a religious or politic, politic ways, to make people understand life is too short, be good, do good, do no harm, just take care of your freedom, take care of your happiness, and try to do good.

00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:46.880
And uh if if we get to the close of the conversation, I can explain to them that where I come from, none of this easily happens.

00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:50.159
So be thankful for what you have here.

00:48:50.639 --> 00:48:54.320
Be thankful what we what America is and where you're living.

00:48:54.559 --> 00:49:01.519
Because a lot of a lot of times, because you're taking things for granted, you're just bored, you get in the street and you start uprising for this and that.

00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:02.960
You have no idea.

00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:04.480
You can't even do that over there.

00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:05.119
Right, right.

00:49:05.440 --> 00:49:06.960
That's you that's shut down.

00:49:07.199 --> 00:49:07.920
Okay, wow.

00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:10.800
I I feel like I've just been so blown away by your story.

00:49:10.960 --> 00:49:13.199
Uh okay, talk to me about your gym.

00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:21.039
Talk to me about like kind of like who you train, you know, age levels, all that kind of thing, and how you instill grit into their lives.

00:49:21.280 --> 00:49:24.239
Uh, we start from five years old and up.

00:49:24.400 --> 00:49:28.400
We just recently started opening a four years old class, but that's for evaluation.

00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:38.480
So we'll be four years will come for a class because jujitsu is a very detailed sport, even though four, five, six years old, we teach them a lot of games-related jujitsu, jujitsu-related game.

00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:38.800
Yeah.

00:49:38.960 --> 00:49:44.960
Uh so we can take four years old after one or two sessions of free session, free child of evaluation.

00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:45.360
Yeah.

00:49:45.519 --> 00:49:48.320
But uh, we start from five years old and up.

00:49:49.280 --> 00:49:55.119
Uh every day we have two kids' classes, and then at after the kids' classes are adult classes are six fifteen.

00:49:55.199 --> 00:50:02.000
The kids' classes are 4.30 and then 5.15, and then adult classes are 6.15 and then 7 uh 15.

00:50:02.159 --> 00:50:04.880
Uh, these are jujitsu first and then kickboxing.

00:50:05.039 --> 00:50:10.239
And Tuesday, Thursdays is purely jiu-jitsu, entirely jujitsu for adults, 6 to 8.

00:50:10.400 --> 00:50:16.480
Uh, and then we have Saturdays family MMA, which is for people that they have two family members in our gym.

00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:20.559
Uh, whether it's two kids or one kid or an adult, they can be on the mat at the same time.

00:50:20.639 --> 00:50:21.119
Oh, nice.

00:50:21.280 --> 00:50:31.119
Because of my striking background, which I am very proud of, a lot of jujitsu coaches, jiu-jitsu practitioners, yes, they might have a little bit of a striking background, but not a lot.

00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:37.039
Uh, as a former uh kickboxer and amateur fighter, because my MMA career was just MMA, right?

00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:43.199
But uh I highly uh uh encourage my students to take my striking class as well.

00:50:43.599 --> 00:50:51.840
And my girlfriend, who actually let me open a parent parenthesis, I believe she would be a great just herself.

00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:52.800
I'm gonna I'm gonna be out.

00:50:52.880 --> 00:50:53.679
I'm gonna see over there.

00:50:53.840 --> 00:51:02.159
She will be great next guest for you because where she's coming from, she's defin definitely I don't know if I can say this.

00:51:02.320 --> 00:51:02.559
Sure.

00:51:04.960 --> 00:51:14.639
Uh maybe so I got hurt by religion to the point that forced me to leave out of that country.

00:51:14.800 --> 00:51:14.880
Right.

00:51:15.119 --> 00:51:26.880
And then I realized, okay, there are good religion, there are bad religion, there are good ways to uh talk about religion, there are bad ways, there are proper way, but I am strongly believe in God.

00:51:27.440 --> 00:51:28.000
Strongly.

00:51:28.559 --> 00:51:30.960
I think God is a non-religion topic.

00:51:31.679 --> 00:51:39.039
You can call it God, karma, energy, superpower, something.

00:51:39.440 --> 00:51:46.960
There is somebody up there, like any any color, any anything in the world, any group, any things that needs an organizer.

00:51:47.039 --> 00:51:50.719
This place has an organizer, a family has an organizer, a gym.

00:51:50.880 --> 00:51:55.119
Without that organizer, that that that society cannot flourish.

00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:57.840
Flourish and then keep the shape and form and everything.

00:51:57.920 --> 00:51:59.599
So there's somebody up there.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:03.840
She got definitely uh hurt by religion.

00:52:04.559 --> 00:52:11.039
And who she is right now, which is an extremely successful young lady, extremely successful woman.

00:52:11.360 --> 00:52:20.239
And and uh I thought I'm gonna end up single because I didn't really want to have any serious relationship with my life.

00:52:20.880 --> 00:52:28.079
And when because we were co-workers, and then we we uh we worked together, and basically I left.

00:52:28.239 --> 00:52:34.719
I left where I was working, and then I traveled, I started traveling, and then basically she joined me just as a co-worker.

00:52:34.960 --> 00:52:36.079
So, hey, you want to open your gym?

00:52:36.159 --> 00:52:37.519
Can I be your partner to steal?

00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:39.039
I said, You sure?

00:52:39.199 --> 00:52:58.639
Yeah, but anyway, uh the way that she got involved or forced to practice a certain little religion, and then the way that she got out of that situation, basically she escaped that situation from very, very it's like the her story of her life.

00:52:58.800 --> 00:52:59.599
I'm not gonna say anything.

00:52:59.760 --> 00:53:02.079
Yeah, if you decided to invite her, she will be here.

00:53:02.239 --> 00:53:05.280
Yeah, uh we have a very similar background.

00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:13.679
But the problem for me was outside of my family, which is gently encouraged me to practice Islam, right?

00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:16.159
In her family, it wasn't a gentleness.

00:53:16.320 --> 00:53:18.000
It was like oh yeah.

00:53:21.280 --> 00:53:24.239
Um like David Kirsch situation.

00:53:24.400 --> 00:53:26.400
Oh wow, wow.

00:53:26.639 --> 00:53:28.800
Oh, I we definitely didn't talk to her about that.

00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:38.639
Like she she's the smartest, the most brilliant person in so like a command somewhere just doing wild stuff, yeah.

00:53:38.800 --> 00:53:45.199
How she basically left that situation and then coming to me, and we were just co-workers, right?

00:53:45.440 --> 00:53:49.519
And then after that, after a few months, it's still because in Costa Rica, we were just co-workers.

00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:50.880
Hey, I'm gonna open a gym.

00:53:50.960 --> 00:53:51.679
You want to be in Costa Rica?

00:53:51.840 --> 00:53:53.519
Yeah, password, yes, let's go, let's go.

00:53:53.679 --> 00:53:55.199
I mean, I love you as a co-worker.

00:53:55.599 --> 00:53:59.760
And then after being six, seven months together, we decided, okay, she loves me, I love you.

00:53:59.840 --> 00:54:00.400
Okay, you know what?

00:54:00.480 --> 00:54:01.039
I love you too.

00:54:01.119 --> 00:54:01.519
You know what?

00:54:01.599 --> 00:54:02.559
I you know what?

00:54:02.639 --> 00:54:04.000
Yeah, and then she told me some of the stories.

00:54:04.079 --> 00:54:11.199
I was like, oh, whoa, whoa, I saw some stuff, but whoa, whoa, whoa, oh my god, you need to write your book, and she's working on it too.

00:54:11.440 --> 00:54:12.960
Or yes, she's tired.

00:54:13.199 --> 00:54:14.320
She needs to, yes, absolutely.

00:54:14.480 --> 00:54:20.960
But I was like, okay, I, at least my family was at my dad helped me to leave Iran.

00:54:21.039 --> 00:54:23.920
I said, hey, and the second time, for the second time, I have very limited money.

00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:25.599
I said, Dad, I want to go back to Venezuela.

00:54:25.760 --> 00:54:26.320
I don't have money.

00:54:26.400 --> 00:54:27.119
It's okay.

00:54:27.280 --> 00:54:29.599
Follow your dream, follow your dream.

00:54:29.679 --> 00:54:32.800
I said, Dad, you're still a very conservative person, you know.

00:54:32.960 --> 00:54:38.000
Somehow you're your generation were frontliners for revolution.

00:54:38.320 --> 00:54:41.679
So this crap is what you your generation brought you.

00:54:41.840 --> 00:54:42.079
I'm sorry.

00:54:42.320 --> 00:54:43.440
You brought it on yourself, right?

00:54:43.760 --> 00:54:48.880
Uh but no, you know, she never he never he never admitted that he's regrettable.

00:54:49.039 --> 00:54:49.840
I said, I help you.

00:54:49.920 --> 00:54:50.000
Yeah.

00:54:50.159 --> 00:54:51.760
And also he helped all my other brothers.

00:54:52.239 --> 00:54:54.960
Three brothers, one here, one in Ireland, one in Canada.

00:54:55.199 --> 00:54:59.920
The Canadian, the Ali, my younger brother, he's pursuing his PhD in philosophy and in anthropology.

00:55:00.079 --> 00:55:00.320
Wow, wow.

00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:04.960
The other one is in Ireland, almost about to be citizen of Ireland after like almost a decade.

00:55:05.119 --> 00:55:07.039
He is a electric engineer.

00:55:07.119 --> 00:55:09.840
I'm a dumbest one, I'm just an agricultural engineer.

00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:11.679
But I also pursue fight.

00:55:11.920 --> 00:55:17.280
My dad was always encouraged me to do basketball because he's an academic sport and he's a high IQ people.

00:55:17.360 --> 00:55:19.519
I said, Well, that I like to fight.

00:55:20.800 --> 00:55:26.960
But yeah, I love my dad, and he raised me very straightforward, but he never forced me to do anything.

00:55:27.039 --> 00:55:28.639
He encouraged me, and I was like, okay.

00:55:28.800 --> 00:55:33.039
And once I start asking questions and he couldn't answer me, he knew the answer.

00:55:33.840 --> 00:55:35.599
But whatever.

00:55:35.840 --> 00:55:38.800
Do you think there's freedom in you that he's experiencing through you?

00:55:39.119 --> 00:55:39.360
Very good.

00:55:39.679 --> 00:55:41.119
Like it's we call it vicarious.

00:55:41.280 --> 00:55:43.519
Like when I live my freedom through you.

00:55:43.679 --> 00:55:48.480
I can't experience it myself, but I I get to experience it through you.

00:55:49.519 --> 00:55:51.519
That's a very good that's a very good thing.

00:55:51.599 --> 00:55:52.639
I never thought about it.

00:55:53.199 --> 00:55:54.800
And it can go positively.

00:55:54.960 --> 00:56:02.159
Like I think your dad, like he culturally, that's where he is, and he gets to enjoy the freedom you do, you get through you.

00:56:02.639 --> 00:56:09.599
Sometimes it can be negative, where like all your hopes and dreams rest on your son and his success, and you better be successful.

00:56:09.760 --> 00:56:13.039
And so that doesn't sound like how your dad is, but a lot of dads do that.

00:56:13.119 --> 00:56:20.159
They'll put all this pressure on their son to be something because their um who they are is seen in who their kid is.

00:56:20.480 --> 00:56:22.639
I think that's that's a very good analogy.

00:56:23.599 --> 00:56:28.719
Because he's not, I maybe saw him two times crying in his life.

00:56:29.039 --> 00:56:30.800
Once was when I left.

00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:35.920
He was just pouring in, hey, sorry if I was a bad, bad father.

00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:37.599
I said, No, you never was a bad father.

00:56:37.679 --> 00:56:41.280
And the second time was the last time I met him in Turkey, 2019.

00:56:41.440 --> 00:56:43.519
My first travel with my US passport.

00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:47.199
And I met them after 10 years.

00:56:47.440 --> 00:56:50.079
Uh and he he again cried and says, Hey, I'm sorry.

00:56:50.159 --> 00:56:52.159
I said, Daddy, stop being saying that.

00:56:52.320 --> 00:56:53.119
I love you.

00:56:53.760 --> 00:56:55.440
Who I am is what you raised me.

00:56:55.599 --> 00:56:57.599
And you never forced me to do none of those things.

00:56:57.679 --> 00:57:00.320
And in fact, you helped me financially, emotionally.

00:57:00.719 --> 00:57:04.239
And uh, I don't have a kid, but if I ever have a kid, I don't think it's gonna happen.

00:57:04.320 --> 00:57:09.679
I don't want kids, but I I I I I I think I'm gonna do them, do what you did.

00:57:09.760 --> 00:57:13.280
I'm gonna be straightforward, I'm gonna raise men, not just kids.

00:57:13.440 --> 00:57:13.840
Right.

00:57:14.079 --> 00:57:17.360
Uh but I what she said is making me thinking, right?

00:57:17.519 --> 00:57:27.199
He enjoys seeing, enjoying freedom and what I'm doing through me, because that generation has still had freedom before revolution and they messed it up.

00:57:27.280 --> 00:57:29.519
Yep, they messed it up for whatever reason.

00:57:29.599 --> 00:57:31.440
They wanted Islam, this is Islam now.

00:57:32.079 --> 00:57:33.119
You wanted this, this is it.

00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:37.840
And nothing against there are there are good and bad people everywhere, they're religious people.

00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:46.239
I don't say Muslims are bad, I'm just saying what governments of Iran did is not it wasn't right because we have look at look at Saudi Arabia.

00:57:46.320 --> 00:57:49.360
It's a source of Islam country, it's free, it's good.

00:57:49.440 --> 00:57:52.639
I mean, Jennifer Lewis can put a concert there, right?

00:57:52.880 --> 00:57:54.159
You can't do it in Iran, right?

00:57:54.239 --> 00:57:56.559
And do they have rules and yes, Sharia Allah?

00:57:56.719 --> 00:57:59.920
Yes, yes, but at least they're they're letting people to leave.

00:58:00.239 --> 00:58:11.039
When I say the largest dictatorship is you can't even have your girlfriend's hands in your hands when you walk in the street because the relationship comes, pull you over, ask you, is she your daughter, your wife?

00:58:11.280 --> 00:58:13.039
And if it is, what is the document?

00:58:13.199 --> 00:58:14.639
If not, you're in trouble.

00:58:14.960 --> 00:58:16.880
At least in Saudi Arabia, you can do that.

00:58:16.960 --> 00:58:23.920
Maybe not in a couple cities like Mecca and Medina, but so that's that like it's it's crazy.

00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:25.840
It's it's it's country like Iran.

00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:28.480
So my dad didn't force me.

00:58:28.719 --> 00:58:32.079
But what hurts me the most was the society, the whole country.

00:58:33.039 --> 00:58:36.960
Versus over here, the whole country is basically free, basically.

00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:42.719
Okay, but the family can force you, like that person that I mentioned name.

00:58:42.880 --> 00:58:46.960
So my girlfriend who speaks better than English than me because she's American.

00:58:47.360 --> 00:58:48.960
Uh, she can she can bring it.

00:58:49.039 --> 00:58:50.880
Oh, I can't wait to hear, I can't wait to hear her story.

00:58:50.960 --> 00:58:54.800
But I want to give you a perspective also on the fact that you were chosen.

00:58:55.039 --> 00:59:02.639
I just like I'm I'm stuck on that idea that the United States chose you, which is just the coolest idea, and then how much you treasure your passport.

00:59:02.719 --> 00:59:03.840
That really moves me.

00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:07.920
Uh, as a Christian, so there now I'm gonna get into like Christian theology for a second.

00:59:08.159 --> 00:59:16.159
What we believe is that that God is in heaven and then he looks throughout the world and he chooses people whom he will reveal himself to.

00:59:16.320 --> 00:59:33.360
So, like he came to me when I was in my uh 20s, and it was like life went from black and white to color in a second, and I felt chosen, and then all of a sudden, I you know, I didn't really grow up.

00:59:33.679 --> 00:59:38.079
I I went to church growing up somewhat, probably about as much as you probably went to the mosque.

00:59:38.239 --> 00:59:40.559
Uh, and you know, I go.

00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:46.480
But then when I got hit, I was at a church that they were singing, and people really were into the music.

00:59:46.639 --> 00:59:53.440
People were really into God, there was joy on their face, and I was like, what is going on here?

00:59:53.679 --> 00:59:59.760
And then when it felt like the pastor spoke, it was like he was talking right to me, and my heart was exploding that Jesus died.

01:00:00.159 --> 01:00:06.639
On the cross for my sin, and he rose from the dead and he wanted me.

01:00:07.039 --> 01:00:12.880
And that that reality hit me in all of life.

01:00:13.039 --> 01:00:16.239
There was like no going back.

01:00:17.039 --> 01:00:23.920
And so since I went, you know, I went and jumped out of airplanes, I was arrangered, I was in the army, I got to go to war and combat and all that.

01:00:24.079 --> 01:00:28.400
And all throughout that time, there was just this deep sense that, although I'm American, I'm super proud of that.

01:00:28.559 --> 01:00:35.840
Like I'm a part of the kingdom of God, and ultimately that is my home, whom I'm representing everywhere I go, which now I get to be a pastor and preach and do all that.

01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:39.519
Um, it has been the most remarkable and beautiful experience.

01:00:39.599 --> 01:00:43.519
And I can't help but think, you know, like our interaction isn't coincidental.

01:00:43.760 --> 01:00:58.960
And my prayer, if you don't mind me praying this, is for you and your girlfriend, is that God would reveal himself so fully to you that you would see how good he is and how much this thing of being chosen isn't just to be an American, it's to be a son of God, which I'm I'm excited for you.

01:00:59.119 --> 01:01:00.559
So anyway, I wanted to share that with you.

01:01:00.639 --> 01:01:04.079
And man, I hope we have get to have way more conversations of this because you are fascinating.

01:01:04.159 --> 01:01:06.320
Man, I'm like, I need more Manny in my life.

01:01:06.400 --> 01:01:07.920
You guys probably need more Manny in your life.

01:01:08.159 --> 01:01:09.679
Manny, how can people find you?

01:01:09.760 --> 01:01:12.400
How could they how could they get a hold of you if they want to like come train?

01:01:12.719 --> 01:01:17.039
So the name of our gym is the first two letters of my name and her name.

01:01:17.280 --> 01:01:18.320
Her name is Kaylin.

01:01:18.480 --> 01:01:18.960
Okay, good.

01:01:19.199 --> 01:01:21.840
With a very unique spelling Irish name.

01:01:21.920 --> 01:01:22.079
Yeah.

01:01:22.239 --> 01:01:31.679
So it's C-A for her name and Manny, which I uh picked my first the first first letter of my second name, which is Alonso.

01:01:31.760 --> 01:01:32.000
Yeah.

01:01:32.079 --> 01:01:33.519
So it's M-A-C-A.

01:01:33.760 --> 01:01:34.159
Oh, good.

01:01:34.400 --> 01:01:35.679
Macha Martial Arts.

01:01:35.840 --> 01:01:36.239
Love it.

01:01:36.480 --> 01:01:37.840
Maka Martial Arts.

01:01:37.920 --> 01:01:43.599
And uh just just type maca martial arts at uh uh marcomartial arts.com.

01:01:43.679 --> 01:01:44.480
You can see my website.

01:01:44.639 --> 01:01:48.480
Or just head down Wells Branch Parkway to in the make a right and you're off of Maryltown, right?

01:01:48.639 --> 01:01:49.679
Yes, Maryltown Plaza.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:51.440
Man, Manny.

01:01:51.760 --> 01:01:53.840
I hope we get to more interactions like this.

01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:56.159
I I honestly think that this was really powerful.

01:01:56.239 --> 01:01:58.400
Do you mind if I pray for you and for Caitlin?

01:01:58.880 --> 01:01:59.599
Absolutely.

01:01:59.760 --> 01:02:07.760
Uh I want to say one more thing because the uh, like I said, as a person that I'm truly believing in God and his support.

01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:07.920
Yeah.

01:02:08.079 --> 01:02:08.880
So we pray every night.

01:02:08.960 --> 01:02:09.360
Yeah, yeah.

01:02:09.599 --> 01:02:11.280
Caitlin and I almost every night.

01:02:11.440 --> 01:02:14.239
When we sign up new people, we pray double.

01:02:14.559 --> 01:02:17.840
We when we lose, sorry, when we sign people, we pray a lot.

01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:21.840
When we lose people, like people cancel their membership, we pray triple.

01:02:22.079 --> 01:02:24.960
Nice God, you close one door, you open another door.

01:02:25.119 --> 01:02:27.199
Sometimes you close one door, you open five doors.

01:02:27.440 --> 01:02:28.239
Absolutely.

01:02:29.119 --> 01:02:40.000
We we opened this gym in uh last year's September with absolute no-base clientele, and we did uh a few online marketing, and then we'll start doing in-person marketing.

01:02:40.559 --> 01:02:43.280
We had no rent for the first month.

01:02:43.599 --> 01:02:48.000
This is the story, nobody knows, only that family, and I just told them recently.

01:02:48.239 --> 01:02:55.599
We had no rent for the first month, and we already I wrote a big check out of my savings for first month deposit and last month.

01:02:55.679 --> 01:02:56.480
That's like 10 grand.

01:02:56.800 --> 01:03:05.679
Oh so, and then we moved to Austin, we have to go to a new place and buy all the we were we were moved back to from Costa Rica to Florida and from Florida to here.

01:03:05.760 --> 01:03:06.800
I was like a backpacker.

01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:12.159
We put everything in in my car, which is SUV, and then in my truck, and then just so we have to buy everything.

01:03:12.320 --> 01:03:20.800
So for the October, we had no money to pay the rent unless we spent another four grand for the rent to pay my rent.

01:03:21.440 --> 01:03:24.400
So the whole September, I was shaking.

01:03:24.480 --> 01:03:25.679
I was like, babe, what are we gonna do?

01:03:25.840 --> 01:03:28.000
So I mean, God is great, this and that.

01:03:28.400 --> 01:03:37.920
One night we we one day we pray so hard, and we had very low price for pre-sale, very cheap membership, nobody showed up.

01:03:39.119 --> 01:03:43.840
And it's close to the end of the end of the September, beginning of October.

01:03:43.920 --> 01:03:44.800
I have to pay the rent.

01:03:45.280 --> 01:03:50.320
We pray and we have a membership of six months, 12 months, or pay in full.

01:03:50.559 --> 01:03:56.400
The pay in full is a family, it's you pay for the full four-year, and you get maybe uh a month free.

01:03:56.880 --> 01:04:03.360
And then uh this day, this moment we pray this night.

01:04:03.519 --> 01:04:10.960
The next day, we have a family that came from a uh marketing event we had in uh Harriman Festival in Cat Hollow Park.

01:04:11.039 --> 01:04:11.360
Yeah, yeah.

01:04:11.519 --> 01:04:23.039
This whole family, a gentleman, uh former uh Marine, Purple Heart, military guy, God bless military, God bless America, God bless all those parents that I mean he has familiarity.

01:04:23.199 --> 01:04:25.760
I said, Hey, I want my boys to G G so this and that.

01:04:25.920 --> 01:04:31.760
And then we had a free trial, two sessions in class, and then uh they came back the third time.

01:04:31.840 --> 01:04:33.440
I was like, okay, they're probably gonna sign up.

01:04:33.519 --> 01:04:34.000
That would be good.

01:04:34.400 --> 01:04:35.840
Like, that's that's like that.

01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:38.159
And that was in pre-sale, that was a real real price.

01:04:38.239 --> 01:04:41.679
And he was like, it is like$200 a month.

01:04:41.920 --> 01:04:48.239
And uh they left, and I had to uh they they second they finished the kids' class, and then they left.

01:04:48.320 --> 01:04:54.320
My girlfriend does all them signing up, and I had to start the adult class, which was only one guy or two guys.

01:04:54.400 --> 01:04:58.880
I was just teaching them, and then she finished uh she was talking and I was like, Oh, probably they're signing up.

01:04:58.960 --> 01:04:59.199
Good, good.

01:04:59.280 --> 01:05:01.599
I said, Two guys, let's go do, let's do warm-ups and all that.

01:05:01.679 --> 01:05:03.519
So, anyway, the adult class got over.

01:05:03.760 --> 01:05:11.280
We closed the gym, and and I walked towards her and and nobody was in the gym, and I was like, Hey, did they sign up?

01:05:11.360 --> 01:05:14.320
This this guy, and she was like, She just started crying.

01:05:14.400 --> 01:05:14.639
Uh-huh.

01:05:14.719 --> 01:05:16.639
And I was like, What what tell me?

01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:17.679
He said, Take a guess.

01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:18.960
I said, Tell me, tell me.

01:05:19.440 --> 01:05:20.239
Did they sign up?

01:05:20.320 --> 01:05:21.519
Because we have no money.

01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:23.679
And she started crying and said, You got a guess.

01:05:23.840 --> 01:05:24.800
I said, Okay, six months.

01:05:25.760 --> 01:05:26.639
Six months, no.

01:05:27.599 --> 01:05:28.239
12 months?

01:05:28.320 --> 01:05:31.920
They sign up for 12 months, and then they pay at least for the first month.

01:05:32.000 --> 01:05:34.000
So we have a couple hundred dollars for the for this month.

01:05:34.079 --> 01:05:36.000
I said, They pay in full.

01:05:37.519 --> 01:05:38.159
I said, What?

01:05:38.239 --> 01:05:39.199
He said, They pay in full.

01:05:39.360 --> 01:05:46.079
I said, You're telling me that that gentleman with his wife and two kids, they pay$4,500,$40,$4,200.

01:05:46.639 --> 01:05:48.639
He said, Yes, they swap the car.

01:05:48.800 --> 01:05:53.679
So not only we have rent for the October, we have a thousand dollars for ourselves.

01:05:53.920 --> 01:05:56.239
No business can pay you profit the first month.

01:05:56.320 --> 01:05:58.480
And I was like, No, you you you're kidding with me.

01:05:58.639 --> 01:06:01.039
He said, she's to come over here and she's crying.

01:06:01.199 --> 01:06:06.800
And I was like, So that$4,500 is on our bank account in our first month.

01:06:06.960 --> 01:06:15.039
Wow, someone trusts me as a coach, you as a coach to teach their kids and then pay in full for the whole we're nobody here.

01:06:15.280 --> 01:06:16.639
There's this is this is Austin.

01:06:16.800 --> 01:06:20.320
This is uh jiu-jitsu hub of the world, the big names.

01:06:20.480 --> 01:06:25.519
We have like war champions surrounding us in Stater Park, in in Flugerville that have gyms.

01:06:25.760 --> 01:06:26.639
I'm not famous.

01:06:26.800 --> 01:06:31.440
I in Houston, California, I have some base clients there, but I didn't open a gym over there in Florida, even in Florida.

01:06:31.519 --> 01:06:33.119
But here, I'm nobody, nobody knows me.

01:06:33.360 --> 01:06:43.840
But these people come, that person knows jiu-jitsu a little bit, but he trusted me to pay me$4,500 right now to teach his kids, and they're still our students.

01:06:44.000 --> 01:06:45.679
So and then we have money.

01:06:45.840 --> 01:06:52.159
And then I felt that I literally felt, hey, I got you.

01:06:52.719 --> 01:06:53.920
I got you, keep going.

01:06:54.079 --> 01:07:04.639
And from that moment, not only for our gyms, we double our prayers, we pray, we talk, and me myself personally, when I'm when I just talk.

01:07:04.719 --> 01:07:09.440
I talk in farci, I talk sometimes in Spanish, I joke with him, he's up there.

01:07:09.679 --> 01:07:11.280
I feel his hand sometimes.

01:07:11.440 --> 01:07:15.679
Every time anything bad happened, every time, every time anything bad happened, he's like, I feel it.

01:07:15.760 --> 01:07:21.599
Like and this some people, some non-religious people like myself, uh you blah blah blah blah.

01:07:21.760 --> 01:07:22.960
Bro, I'm not religious.

01:07:23.199 --> 01:07:23.920
He's up there.

01:07:24.159 --> 01:07:27.599
You can believe in Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, whatever, whoever.

01:07:27.760 --> 01:07:34.400
Honestly, in this case, I'm not saying this for you to like me more, yeah, but I think Jesus is the best one as well.

01:07:34.559 --> 01:07:37.039
Okay, well, I'm gonna pray for you in Jesus' name if you don't mind.

01:07:37.119 --> 01:07:37.599
Yes, sir.

01:07:37.760 --> 01:07:40.159
Father, thank you for Manny and for Caitlin.

01:07:40.400 --> 01:07:42.079
I am so excited for them.

01:07:42.239 --> 01:07:46.239
Lord, you have shown up in their lives over and over.

01:07:50.079 --> 01:08:01.360
From that church in Venezuela, where for 15 minutes he got to see just the joy of the Lord uh to that moment where he was chosen to come to the United States.

01:08:02.239 --> 01:08:13.840
Just even now, our interaction, I can see your hand on Manny's life, and to that point where you got that first month's rent paid for um supernaturally.

01:08:14.159 --> 01:08:18.399
And so, God, you've been hearing every one of their prayers, and so I pray you would continue to do so.

01:08:18.479 --> 01:08:32.079
And I pray, Jesus, you'd reveal yourself so completely that they would know that how loved they are, how cherished they are, that the love that he received from his dad, it's like that times a bazillion of how much you love Manny and how much you love Caitlin.

01:08:32.319 --> 01:08:35.359
And I'm praying for your favor to fall on their life and on their business.

01:08:35.439 --> 01:08:37.119
And you would bless them and keep them.

01:08:37.359 --> 01:08:40.960
You'd make your you cause your face to shine upon them, be gracious to them.

01:08:41.039 --> 01:08:46.239
Lord, would you reveal yourself fully so it wouldn't be a mystery of who is answering all these prayers?

01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:47.359
We love you, God.

01:08:47.520 --> 01:08:48.560
In Jesus' name we pray.

01:08:48.640 --> 01:08:48.960
Amen.

01:08:49.119 --> 01:08:49.439
Amen.

01:08:49.520 --> 01:08:50.159
Thanks, Manny.

01:08:50.239 --> 01:08:50.960
Yes, sir.

01:08:51.199 --> 01:08:52.560
Hey, thanks so much for watching.

01:08:52.640 --> 01:08:57.119
If you got any questions, you can text us at 737 231 0605.

01:08:57.279 --> 01:08:58.560
We'd love to hear from you from you.

01:08:58.720 --> 01:08:59.680
From our house to yours.

01:08:59.760 --> 01:09:02.479
Have an awesome week of worship.