Pastor Plek's Podcast
Pastor Plek's Podcast
Shadows to Light, Part Two
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380: What does it take to move toward the world’s darkest places and bring people back alive? Covert missionary Bruno DeCanto is back to continue sharing a wild, human story that runs from South Sudan’s conflict zones to Ethiopia’s Tigray region and into the heart of Ukraine’s war. The mission is simple and brutal: extract the vulnerable, outmaneuver traffickers, and keep preaching hope even when the air is thick with dust and gunpowder.
If you care about anti-trafficking, faith under fire, and the real cost of rescue, this story will stay with you. Listen, share with a friend who needs courage today, and if it helps you see hope more clearly, subscribe and leave a review so others can find it.
Welcome back to Pastor Plex Podcast. I'm your host, Pastor Plex, and joining me is none other than Bruno DeCanto.
SPEAKER_01:Howdy.
SPEAKER_00:Obviously not his real name, but that's okay. He is a covert missionary, uh, engaged in the world of freeing um people that have been sex trafficked and uh pushing back darkness. And last time we were here, you sort we we sort of stopped the story in uh was it the Sudan? I think it was Sudan. Yeah. So let's let's talk about. I think you took on a little girl. Yeah. Uh adopt is adopted the right word.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it it is and it isn't. Um so international law and war zones being what it is, you can't actually adopt some of these children.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Because you don't know if their parents are alive or gosh or what's going on. And there's this whole registry thing. So um, so there it was a group of people, and we just really connected with this one, and um, we ended up just taking her on as our own. And she's not able because of because of the situation being what it is, she was never able to leave Sudan, South Sudan. No, she's never able to leave South Sudan, but we we take care of her, we're still in contact with her, and we do all that stuff, and we're actually she's uh part of a mission group out there. She's a missionary herself. Wow. And we we still are in full contact with her, she's real cool.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so so you you're married? No. I was no, meaning at this point. Oh yes. So you're in South Sudan.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You are uh you've taken on a little girl. What what kind of work were you doing there again, just to kind of keep us up again?
SPEAKER_01:Uh so what we were actually doing, it's um we were doing refugee, what's that? It's another resettlement. Um so it's oh the word is like when you're helping people. Uh so we were working with the UN. You have to get your little sphere cards and all that. Um, and you help with refugees passing through the border and help with that. Um, but what we were doing was a lot of extraction work.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So a lot of extraction work. Tell me about like when you say extraction work, what exactly does that mean? Like, what are you doing when you extract? Can you tell me like a story of one time? I was extracting this person, and this is what it looked like.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I so I thought about it, right? Because this is all right, so all right, so um extraction work takes a long time. It's it's it's it's work with you're working with a lot of different organizations, right? Uh, government organizations, law enforcement, a lot of different mission orgs, uh, other nonprofits, bush pilots. Right. Um so what happens is there are people who are on the ground and they're aware of movement of different groups, whether it's a rebel group, the SPLA, the Dinka, the newer, all these people, and they're like, hey, there's this village over here where we've got contact, and there's some people that are gonna come in there. Here's the we can get there in this in this fashion.
SPEAKER_00:Um and how did you get there usually? Were you on on foot? Were you jumping in?
SPEAKER_01:So normally, so normally it's caravans. Okay. Uh caravanning is the most popular way to go. Um, but sometimes there are like bush pilots, you know, that that'll get you out to the city. Did you ever do any airborne ops? I never did. I mean, I'd I've done like yeah practice, but I've never known.
SPEAKER_00:Oh that because that would have been next level. Like I'm not that cool. Or maybe helicasting or uh fast rope, you know, something like that. Okay. So you you you come in, you you come into country, you you you get there by by you know most like caravan, you you come in and like, are you armed?
SPEAKER_01:So it just depends. Again, everything is situational. Uh, we're normally working with the local military that's in control of the area, which isn't always the national force. Um, uh, for instance, uh, once we had to work with a group that I'm not a big fan of, but we had to work with them anyhow. Yeah. And they were the ones that were spreading out and laying lines down so that way when they came into contact, we were able to get the children and we weren't armed in that specific one. Um, now there was another time when we were in Nuba where we went in armed. Okay. Um and it just depends on the situation.
SPEAKER_00:And and like how, I mean, how can you walk around with guns when you know you're an I mean, is that like a normal thing? Like, does everyone have guns? Or like actually okay, because it's just that dangerous. Like, if you don't have a gun, you're an idiot.
SPEAKER_01:Like, well, in that specific uh again, it's circumstantial. Uh there, so there are a lot of places where in order to get into it, you've got you've got permits that you need to go to get through checkpoints. Right. So as you guys are driving through, you're driving through checkpoint and checkpoint, and they're checking your stuff, they're checking your van. Yes. Do you have what it says you have? And this, and as you go through, it's more and more likely that okay, where you're going, we understand. Everyone already knows that we're on our way. Okay. Except for the people who are coming. So who was not thrilled about your presence? Oh, normally it's the people who are trying to get the kids or right.
SPEAKER_00:Like, so the government's like, are they is the government on the team or not? Not always.
SPEAKER_01:Um, well, so not always. Um, we worked with a group. Okay, I'll just throw one out there. So we worked with the SPLA. Not a big fan of the SPLA. All right, you have to for those who are us who don't know what the SPLA is, uh Sudan Sudanese pe Sudan, the Sudan Peoples of the Migration Army, yeah. Okay. Uh, I'm not a big fan of those guys, but where we were getting into, they were in control of that area. And so the best way to get this group, there's a little village, and they were like, hey, we're gonna lose this battle, we can't hold the line. Well, you get these kids out of here, right? Um, so the we had to we had to have the okay with those people to go in there and get it. South Sudan is not a fan of those guys. So uh if South Sudan would have saw that we had those stamps, so if South Sudan would have saw we had those stamps, then the government of Sudan would never let us in there, South Sudan would never let us in there, right? We would be labeled, you know, bad guys. Bad guys, right? Um, but the goal isn't to be okay with them, the goal is to save as many children and women and men as possible and to preach the gospel while we're doing it.
SPEAKER_00:All right, how do you preach preach the gospel while you do it?
SPEAKER_01:Like say, repent like No Yeah, ha ha no, that's so OT. But um no, um a lot of the times what we do is we go in and it just again, it's all very circumstantial. Uh sometimes what we do is speaking to the guy on your side, right? Right? Because the the guy that you're working with isn't always a Christian.
SPEAKER_00:Um but they're believing, hey, we want to do the right thing. They're yeah, well, maybe they're just getting paid.
SPEAKER_01:They're just mercenaries.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, how many mercenaries are just out there, like, hey, I'm a gun for hire. What do you want done?
SPEAKER_01:A lot more than we realize, probably. Yeah. Just but it's all labeled like private security. They're just helping security or search and rescue.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, sure, sure.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and so when you're sitting there and you're going, you're telling the story, you're talking about the Lord, you're showing that you're willing to put yourself out there. At the same time, these children, when they come in, you're like, Hey, I'm a missionary, I love you so much. Everyone get in here. I want you to know Jesus loves you. We're here for you. This is like the most tangible. The Bible says, you know, there's no greater love than this than someone would lay down their life for another, and I'm willing to do that for you. Here we are. These guys are laying down their life for you, they're laying down your life from you. Everyone in the van, let's go. And uh, and the kids are like, What? And normally they're aware, you know, and there's it's it's controlled chaos, but it's controlled, and and the message gets out there right away, like, hey, we love Jesus and let's let's let this happen. And in perfect world, and and in most times, there's not a point. We're able to get in there before there's contact.
SPEAKER_00:All right, so tell me about like how do you what does contact look like? And whenever I say contact, that's usually a firefight. Uh so contact with the enemy looked like contact with the enemy looked like because are you sneaking in stealing the girl's back? No, or you're like, it's a full assault. It's like lay down, suppress a fire. Hey, you know, cover me while I move.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so it's similar to that. Uh, contact looks like we show up, everyone's moving out, everyone's moving out. We have someone who's got drones, so their eyes, hey, there's movement over here, there's this over there. We're already set down, and then we have different perimeter lines let up, and then you hear, and then they let us know, hey, there's something over here, we got eyes on them over here, okay. Layback fire there. So who's command and control in all this? It depends on who you're with. It it it so if it's with the SPLA, normally the SPLA is gonna have SPLA soldiers.
SPEAKER_00:But like, are they caring about children? Like, you're going there with a mission to get children, and they're like, Oh, we're on board with that. Come join us. I mean, like, how do you how does that like, you know, when in in the military we had like liaison officers, you had like your, you know, uh we had an Air Force guy in our battalion talk that he would come and he'd coordinate fires with the Air Force because it's a different unit.
SPEAKER_01:Like, you guys are like a a missionary group that has a do you have a liaison there at the Yes, and so okay, so the way we find out about this is there are mission organizations. Um uh you can blank this out if I shouldn't say it. MAF is one, right? And and MAF, the way that they go about it is they put chaplains in with all of these groups. And it's funny because you'll have these two groups who are fighting with each other, and they have missionaries, this Joe Joe over here and Joe George over there, and they're with each group, aware of the movement of you preaching the gospel to both of them as they're fighting with each other.
SPEAKER_00:Right, kind of like chaplains-ish. Yes, village. And they'll say, like, and then so you coordinate with those guys.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and they're like, hey, we got this group, uh, there's this, there's this village, this fight's about to happen, we're coordinating with these sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:Because you were in the middle of a Sudan Sudan was going still is civil war.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, South Sudan. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, South South, you're a South Sudan going through civil war, yeah, and you're in the middle of that just chaos.
SPEAKER_01:It was chaotic sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:Because in a sense, like, and I think right now that they're trying to get all the different of South Sudan, they're trying to get all the armies to kind of, you know, they're having chaplains go to kind of minister to kind of consolidate one one big so that's wild. Uh would they would you say the South Sudanese were Christian? Not all of them.
SPEAKER_01:Or or like had a So that was a that's a that's a good point. So that's actually uh that's a miss it's a misassumption. Yeah. We hear that South Sudan broke up, it was the Muslim North and the Christian South. Maybe that was kind of a thing, but South Sudan is And a lot of people listening don't even know where Sudan is. So like you know, yeah, it's in Africa, yeah. Um, so uh there are a lot more Christians because it's legal to be a Christian in South Sudan, but it's animism, it's it's it's all the things, it's all the things but they're generally for what you're doing. Generally, generally, it's it's hard. It's hard because a lot of people don't see anything wrong with taking little boys and making them slaves. That's not an issue. Um, and they don't see anything wrong with kidnapping girls. Uh, some people do. It's it really is a toss-up. So a lot of these guys they'll they'll throw money around. They'll be like, hey, you know, let's uh we're here in the city, we can do this. I'll I'll let's if I'll pay you to let me bring some people in and we'll get these kids out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, I have missionary in East Africa, and uh well, he he would have to bribe the police all the time to kind of get through to kind of like talking about that, but it's it's true. Yeah, it's like uh you it it was like a cost of doing business. For me to be able to do missionary work here. I have to pay off this guy, or else I'm going to have to whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so you kind of had to do it to rescue these kids. There's a cost involved, they're worth whatever that money is. Yes. And and so, like, that got me a gate open so that I can go in and pull out these kids.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and another thing, people, so when you're tithing, you never know what it's going for. Your tithe might be going to save some kids somewhere who would have a horrific life, but thank God there are Christians out there who are willing to do something that most people wouldn't in order to save somebody.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so let's let's get back to this. So you, your family are all hanging out in South Sudan.
SPEAKER_01:Uh and so the girls never went into the hot zones. They were always in by Lake Victoria. Uh so no, they were in northern Uganda.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh so on the just a couple hours south of South Sudan.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay. Um your wife, though, was she there? Yeah. She was with you in South Sudan. Yes. Okay, and so she is she's got her M4 strapped to her chest. She's no not her. Okay. She so she was just kind of being the counselor person for yeah.
SPEAKER_01:She she's also she's also a medical professional. So um she checks the w the girls and the boys and makes sure.
SPEAKER_00:Did she carry a sidearm though? Yeah. Okay, so she had just uh one on her hip or on her on her thigh. All right, so you're you're going in battle with your wife, you guys are getting firefights, you know. Did she ever get hit? No. Did you ever get hit?
SPEAKER_01:Uh well by like fly rock and stuff, but nothing crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. And so then um you're taking out these guys, because it it I mean, this is like deadly work to pull out free people. Did you ever have like any PTSD or any sort of anger? Like, like the thing. You know, like the anger comes of like because you get kind of when you it's weird in combat, you don't necessarily feel a feel of fear, but you do feel like an aggression of like, yeah, um, I'm here to do business.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, so I struggle. I think sadness is something that I struggle with. I don't get I I struggle for a long time. I struggled with not being sad because I didn't normally get sad, I got pissed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh if someone gets hurt or someone's like, oh, I hurt my foot, it's anger. Yeah. Oh, if my daughter cries, I'm mad at the world. If something sad happens, I'm like, oh, anger. Um, and then there are other things too, you know, smells, noises that just kind of mess with you. But um, thank goodness, you know, there they're there's the Lord who helps you, and we've got science and counseling. Um but yeah, I mean, there's there's a lot of holdover that people don't realize. Like, for instance, no, we're talking about we're talking about combat, but there are other situations when you go into a place where there's a brothel and you know about kids, and you've hired people to watch these kids, and you've got someone who goes in and they like are reading stories and talking about buying somebody, right? And then you see these children and you're like, all right, we're gonna we're gonna do this. This is this long, long, long thing where you're investing and investing and investing time. You've never met the child. Oh my goodness, I feel like I'm gonna cry. And then someone buys the kid before you can, and you're like, crap, we lost her. Um, like, so that also plays, and then again, anger, yeah, right? Because you're mad. Because you're like, whoa, why couldn't we do this faster? Yeah, and why you know, there's so much paperwork, and there's so oh, that's frustrating.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay. So, how long were you in South Sudan?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, sheesh. So we were there two times, uh, probably about seven months and four months.
SPEAKER_00:So seven month stint, come back down to Uganda, four-month stint.
SPEAKER_01:No, so uh we're we go in, we do the work, then we come out. We're based out of Uganda. Um we have we're here, uh we spent more time in Nuba, actually, uh which is technically Sudan Sudan. Yeah, yeah. Um and and it just depends on it just depends on where we need to be. And we we're very mobile to get where you need to be.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So you're you're in this area, you're you're doing all this work. It's wild to kind of hear about um all this. You finally get done, if if done is the right word. Um and and then what's the plan? Like, what was your like exit strategy or what made you leave South Sudan?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, so this is funny. We always say that it was a happy problem. Um, we ran into uh a really good problem, which is at first no one cared about South Sudan. Right. So no one was there, right? And then all of a sudden people started hearing about it, and then there was a flood of missionaries, and there were a bunch of people who were willing to go and help, and and we just weren't needed there anymore. There were a lot of people who would do that. And our prayer was always if there's somewhere that somebody doesn't, if there's somewhere if someone doesn't want to go, Lord, send us. And um there and then people started wanting to go there again.
SPEAKER_00:And so was there there wasn't an issue with freeing sex lives or you know, humanly human trafficked people anymore, or there still is.
SPEAKER_01:There still is. It's just now they have a lot more people who are trained, equipped, they have the teams on the ground, they're trained, they're ready, they're doing it. They're doing it. So from South Sudan, where'd you go? Let's see. From South Sudan, we went. So this is interesting. So from South Sudan, uh the girls went. Well, one of the girls stayed with me. Um, the girls went back to the US for a couple months, and we started scoping out uh Adis, because that's when the whole Tegrir thing happened with uh Eritrea, the Tigrir people, and then the Amhar in Ethiopia.
SPEAKER_00:We don't know that story. Ah, well uh so there was And just in case every people don't know, Ethiopia borders South Sudan. And Somalia. And Somalia. So so on one side is Somalia, on the other side is Sudan, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, which is a really funny country name.
SPEAKER_01:But um, yeah, so uh we were so as we were leaving, the whole Ethiopia thing happened, and we were like, oh and people were talking to us, like, hey, you know, there's there's a lot of anti-trafficking that's needing to go on over here because the the Ethiopians were taking and moving into Jib. Nope, nope, into Eritrea. And then Eritrea was Eritrea's where? Eritrea is right next door to Ethiopia.
SPEAKER_00:So on the east side, north east, northeast side, kind of towards Djibouti.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yep, not far from uh Saudi. Okay. Just whoop right over there. Nice. Um, and so we went over there and we started getting ourselves settled up and uh meeting teams and finding out was there, and we were there for about six months as well. But it was just me and my oldest daughter, who at this time she was like 16 or 17, but she's very mature.
SPEAKER_00:And she took on the role of uh she took on the role of counselor, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because uh so a lot of what we work with is just trafficking in general. Um, but trafficking in general with women, unfortunately, always goes one way. It's always sex slavery, you know what I mean? They they're not it's not fair for them.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So all right, you're you you're then in Djibouti for a season. Your wife and other daughters go to the US? Uh we were in uh Ethiopia. So you're in Ethiopia, which is really close to Djibouti. It is. Uh, and then you uh your your wife and other daughters went home? Yep. To the United States? Yes. To Austin?
SPEAKER_01:No, uh to Wyoming.
SPEAKER_00:To Wyoming? Yep. Have they been there before?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yep. That's where uh my youngest was born. That's right.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. All right. So you're they're in Wyoming. How long are you guys separated for?
SPEAKER_01:Uh maybe two months. Okay. And uh we went there for, then we came back. Uh, then we united again and started working again as a family. Where? Uh in the northern part, just outside of the Tegrier region.
SPEAKER_00:And so when you say Tegrier, you gotta remind me again. Sorry. That's up in the northeast part of Ethiopia. Okay, so uh is it like Eritrea? Is that like that country? Very, very close to there. All right, so you're then you're working again, still doing that. Is this a war-torn area or just a sex slave area?
SPEAKER_01:That's war. A lot of what we do happens in war. Um, the sex, so uh war makes people money, but uh there's a very, very, very real thing that happens in war, and that's that people get bought, sold, and stolen a lot in war zones because the law breaks down and people recognize, hey, we can take people here and we can sell them and we could force them and we could whatever. There's just not a lot of law.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So then you're you're so how when you save them, how do you how do you know they're not going back in in in especially in these war-torn areas?
SPEAKER_01:So, in a sense, that you don't always know that.
SPEAKER_00:Right, but you might as well try, right?
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, um, but there so there are organizations in almost every country, um, and we work with those guys who they they know how it works, and we sit and we talk with law enforcement, we talk with these orgs, and they have houses set up, they have programs set up, you know, schools for girls, counseling. You know, a lot of the times when a when a woman is stolen from her uh family or her community, she's actually not normally accepted back into our community. If we were to save her and send her home, she'd be an outcast. She wouldn't be able to have a husband or a life of any way because they would assume that she'd been raped, which means no one wants her as a wife in it. Um, so these these programs, they have these other places where they set up a new life for them. And and that's kind of like we get them and then we put them in the system where the system starts working and teaching about the Lord. We're working on reconciliation, re uh, you know, just re so there's a what is it that says it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Galatians 220.
SPEAKER_01:And and I believe that that is also restoring. And and you they so they're working on restoration and fixing them and then getting them a new home, new life, new hope, and planting them with a church and helping them grow from what happened.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's wild. Okay, so you're you you're in Djibouti, you're uh up north near the um Eritrea. Uh then you head back where?
SPEAKER_01:We came back to the US. Okay, where to that was Austin. We were actually in Austin.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So you're you get back to Austin, and what year was that?
SPEAKER_01:Sheesh. I don't know. I think it was like I want to say it was during COVID.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Yeah. And then you're like, life is awful. Let's get back to a war zone.
SPEAKER_01:We actually didn't acknowledge COVID. Oh, nice. You showed up and people were like, oh, the mess. I was like, I'm I've got my vaccination. What are you talking about? Like the Ebola? There wasn't, but there's not even Ebola where I'm at. And they're like, no, it's COVID. I'm like, no, it's Ebola, I promise. And they're like, no, COVID. I'm like, what are you even talking about? Like, it didn't exist where we were.
SPEAKER_00:Yo, that's wild. Okay. So then you're you're hanging out here in during COVID. And then are you like, we got to get out of here? What was the thought?
SPEAKER_01:Um, then we were getting counseling.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Marriage counseling.
SPEAKER_01:All sorts of counseling.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, like, hey, uh PTSD counseling.
SPEAKER_01:Um uh PTSD counseling, marriage counseling, trying to get the kids. Where'd you go for that? Like, uh, so I'm really lucky. Uh I get to go to the uh I actually go out in North Carolina to the veterans' the veteran center. Oh nice in uh North Carolina up there, out by Greer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, that's where I get to go.
SPEAKER_00:They do EMDR, they do all sorts of So you were in okay, so but your wife, does she go to the same place? She does. Okay. Yeah. So she went same place, you guys are, you know. Like, do you have a job at this time? I mean, like, yeah. I mean, like, did you I mean I don't it's sound like if you were a mercenary, like, oh, that's a tons of money. If you're like if people were paying you to rescue their kids, I'm sure there's tons of money there. But this is missionary work. And so I feel like you paid it very much for it. Right. Yeah. So how are you surviving?
SPEAKER_01:So when we come, so generally when we're on the mission field, you you pull salary from the church. Uh, when we come home, they drop it like top.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But um, so I've got a CDL and I'm able to drive truck. I am always able to go and work in the oil field. I mean, the oil field work is always there. Uh, so we come home. I work either in the oil field or driving truck. Uh, this time actually, I started out driving like these weird cable things and dropping them in cement, uh, helping out building these houses out in uh Georgetown, like Santa Rita, I think the name of the place is. Yeah, Santa Rita Ranch. Yeah. And I was like, just they're like. And uh, we were there, and then they were they were so nice, they let us go, and I was like, hey man, I gotta go to do this counseling. I'll be back in a few weeks. They're like, sure, cool.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so you do the counseling. How's the marriage at that point?
SPEAKER_01:I thought it was good. I never realized it was bad.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, right, right. Uh okay. Okay, so then, but you're not done. It's not like you're like, hey, you know, it's time to retire from the mission field.
SPEAKER_01:It's like no, you know, so uh my wife had mentioned that. She's like, maybe we need to slow down. And then uh I was like, yeah, okay, let's slow down. Let's get in a let's do this whole group, yeah. Um and then I think it was, I want to say maybe February 24th when Russia invaded. And uh two weeks later we were in Ukraine.
SPEAKER_00:Two weeks later from the start of the war with Russia and Ukraine, you're in where?
SPEAKER_01:Uh so we started out in what's the name of that little place? It's this little city in Romania. They have a missionary base there. It's a really, really cool city. It's not far from the south border of Ukraine.
SPEAKER_00:Like Bucharest or?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, it's north of Bucharest.
SPEAKER_00:Uh like Bakauer or Lassie or Geez, I don't I don't even know the name of the city.
SPEAKER_01:Like north of Bucharest. I'm like, where can you? It's definitely north of Bucharest. It's it's a big city too. Like, oh, Kluj. Kluge. Kluj-Napoka. Kluj Nipolitavi.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, Kluj-Napoca. Okay, so you go to Cluj-Napoca, big city, that's toward the north central. And then, you know, you're just west of Moldova. And and so then you go from Romania, or you did you headquartered out of Cluj?
SPEAKER_01:Uh for the first few, like so. For two months we were in Cluj, and uh again.
SPEAKER_00:With how tell me of the ages of your kids at this point.
SPEAKER_01:Uh oh, let me see. That was when was that?
SPEAKER_00:So 22?
SPEAKER_01:22, and today's 23, so 14, 15, and 17. No. Because right now they're 14.
SPEAKER_00:And you have all daughters. All daughters. And your girls were like, let's go to war.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Except for my youngest. She was kind of like, hey, I kind of like it here. Yeah. I screwed up there. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01:But uh the other two are so gung-ho. My oldest daughter still to this day works in that field. That's wild.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So you go to Clues, you hang out there for how long? Uh, maybe two months. And is this where you're you're back in action, you're you're you're on support.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. So yep, we're we're missionaries, we're being supported, we're trying to figure out because it was a it was a cluster. So we have to figure out how can we get in there? Who do we need to know in the service? Where's what, who's working, what are the operations, what are the issues they're having, trying to figure all that out. How can we move a family in there? What's the strike zone? How quick is the encroachment coming? Are they pushing back? What's Russia got? Are these nukes? Are there you know, because they were remembering tactical nukes. Yeah, they were like, oh, we're gonna nuke the place, and like, is this a real threat? Is it not? Right. Trying to work together and figure out who is what because there were so many NGOs out there, yeah, and trying to sift through that. And then once we were able to go through all of that, which took took a few months, then we slowly made our way into Ukraine.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so what city in Ukraine did you get to?
SPEAKER_01:I can't say.
SPEAKER_00:All right, what okay? So you get into the Ukraine. Yeah. Uh are you on are you on the front lines?
SPEAKER_01:Not instantly, no. Um, so we started out. Oh, well, actually, here's a really, really I'll tell you this story. So this is interesting, and this I think if you pull up news stuff, then you'll see this story. Um, so there was a friend of ours we hadn't seen since Wyoming, and um they had they'd adopted a Ukrainian girl, and they heard we were going to Ukraine, and they got a hold of us. It was like, hey, we wanted to adopt this girl, and she wasn't they stopped the adoption. Can you find her? We lost contact, so we're like, yeah, we'll do our best. Um, and she was in a place called Mik Alive, was the orphanage, and so she's an American. This girl is because she was fully adopted, has this fully adopted, and we went over there and the whole orphanage had disappeared when Russia had that quick advance. And we were asking around and calling and getting a hold of these people, those people, and the other. Um, and finally we did end up tracking them down through the whole. This is this is a nut story, man. This is probably the coolest story of my life. All right, go tell me the story. So we went in there and we're like, hey, can you guys give us some? We have a pin and we're looking down, we're like, where is this? And they're like, it's in Mikkelive. So we look down, they're like, that's Russian control. Like, oh, well, there's this orphanage there. Like, yeah, the orphanage got moved before they came. So then we got a hold of the secretary of something. They have so many secretaries in Ukraine. Right. And um of ministerial orphanages. And um, so they were like, Yeah, they're over here. We got a hold. They said, No, they never made it. And one thing led to another, and it turns out um that they were taken by Russians? By the Russians, oh yeah. And um, so we're like, Well, there's an American there, and you know, all this has got to be really quiet because if they find out they have an American, we don't know what's gonna happen. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so they we ended up trying to go out there several times, and we were like when you say go out there, are you on patrol, on by foot, on the caravan? What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:So there's a there are a lot of lines in order to get to the front line, right? You know, and you need paperwork to get there. And so we're hey, can we go out there? We we have this from this such and such general or so-and-so commander says we can go out there. We're just gonna look to see what it what can we see with our eyes. Can is this possible for us to get into and sneak into? Um, can we sneak into this place and get these kids out? And everyone's like, no, no, no. And then they finally let us in, and sure enough, we definitely couldn't. Um and then we heard that they were gonna start fighting. Uh that they were like the counteroffensive was coming. Like, sweet, cool. Um, we're gonna just be with you guys, and we want to be a quick response team. Watch out when you guys are using artillery. Right here is an orphanage, and it's got kids in it, we believe. And um, I don't know if Russia ever got that news because we called and we were like, leave the kids out of this. You know, we didn't call Russians specifically, but there are ways to do that, to be like, there are kids here, check it, clear this area. And the Ukrainians are like, Okay, we won't, we're we're gonna steer clear of that area. And we ended up pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. Um, and then when we were close enough, we had hired a different group who just some crazy knuckleheads that were like, we'll go in right now and go and get these kids. And um, they went in. Uh one guy got injured pretty bad, like shot up, yeah. Well, no, um, so it was just landmines. Landmines, yeah. Yeah, Russians are crazy with landmines, and uh, so this got hit.
SPEAKER_00:And they've had years and years and years and years of putting landmines out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and people don't understand. Like, landmines aren't like what you see in the World War II movies. It's not like, oh, I could put my foot there. I mean, there's sonar, it's radio waves, it's tricky nowadays. Um, but uh, so that didn't work, and we tried, we tried, and then eventually they fought back there. We got to the place and they were gone. And we were able to try to.
SPEAKER_00:You fought back to the orphanage, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, so the Ukrainians fought back to the orphanage. We were there just uh we were preaching the gospel, getting water, helping with medicine, uh, you know, healing where we could, helping out, giving the the the combat medics a break, be like, hey, you take a break, I'll be here and just preaching the gospel, just doing in Ukrainian, um, in English, but that said, Yatro Hoslov Yatro Heros will Ukraine's dobre.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:My Ukrainian is not bad anymore. Okay. Um, but no, this is so there are translators. I mean, it's there's so you know, there I I I want to say that there were probably in the beginning of the war, like one third of their their military was not Ukrainian. You know what I mean? Yeah, we were all there were so many people over there, and they that's who they like got about the well, there's this name of this group, and it was a bunch of foreigners, and another one, they were a bunch of foreigners like the French Foreign Legion kind of thing, yeah, yeah. It's like the International Legion and the Foreign Legion, and yeah, okay. So uh, but we got there to the orphanage, to the orphanage, and the kids were gone. Um, and uh so this if you if you if you Google um orphanage, I don't know, orphanage and mikeleyve Ukrainian war taken by you Russians or something, you'll see that they have videos of this whole thing. And uh one thing led to another, we chased them all the way to Kherson, and then they moved them into this re-education camp in Russia. Um and from there we uh just the whole thing got really crazy and really amazing. We got a chance to work with some of the most amazing people, uh, some people who work inside of Russia. Um and we were able to get out the entire orphanage out of Russia and open up a corridor into a neighboring country, and we got them out of Russia into a different country, uh, chilled out in Tbilisi for a little bit, and then it was just amazing. And so the Ukrainian girl, we got her back home in the United States, which is pretty cool. That's wild. Like, what is the chance of finding one specific person?
SPEAKER_00:It's like saving Prior Ryan. All right, so like how many firefights and stuff did you kind of have to engage in that, or people you had to save or pull out, or any of that?
SPEAKER_01:So I during that whole time, I wasn't the firefighter guy, I was just helping out medically as much as I could. And I I don't count. You just you wake up and you go and you help as much as you can. And it's like, hey, this guy's bleeding. All right, let's do this, let's get him food, let's get bandages. Hey, I need someone to run out to Kluj, get more supplies, let's do this, and then the whole time you're like run out to Kluge, like Romania.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, there's always how far is that? That's like Romania, Moldova, Ukraine. I mean, like that's that's that's all within the size of Texas. Oh, okay. So it's like a four-hour drive or something? Yeah. Okay, like I just, yeah, when you don't know, it's just like countries you think that's far, but yeah, it's like we had to drive to Houston. Yeah, okay. Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. Okay. All right. So you're you're you're you're rescuing this girl, rescuing girls, you're you're your servant. How did you feel about the Russians at the time?
SPEAKER_01:I love Russians.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I felt it's hard. It was really difficult. So it's difficult to maintain the Christian mindset idea that you're there and these people are made in God's image. Right. And then you come across in certain houses and stuff when you're running sweeps and trying to find people, and you see just nasty, horrible things that have happened to people, and you're like, err. Um, but you have to remember like this is you know, these these aren't my enemies. Right. These people specifically are right now because of what's going on. But it's it's I love Russians, but it's I can't explain it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's it's not makes sense. It makes sense. I mean, the the were you like, you know, the things and you may not have known this on the ground, like several echelons down from like leadership, but like you have um, you know, a lot of you had a lot of Ukrainian corruption, you've got Russian like oligarchy and craziness. And like, did you ever get to like did you see any of that? Or was it just like bullets flying, rescuing people? We don't have time to think about that.
SPEAKER_01:So, yeah, again, um, it's not all action-packed story. It's a lot of chill, it's a lot of extremely tired, it's a lot of preaching the gospel to kids, it's Sundays and worships, and you know, it's really interesting how you can be in a combat zone and then you go just far enough. Yeah, I totally understand. And people are like, Oh, yeah, it's cool. We're just having a Sunday service here, and you're like, all right, cool. And then you're like, remember, if you hear these noises, here's the protocol of what we do. Um, and so there was a lot of that as well. Um it's it's it's not all chaos, it's it's really just showing the like I'm here because I love Jesus and I'm willing to do anything I can to tell you about Christ, to show you Christ. I want to show you that I love Jesus so much that I'm willing to do some crazy, crazy stuff to tell you about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, where where is the Ukrainian-Russian war now?
SPEAKER_01:They're pretty much at a stalemate. Well, the last I heard is uh Ukraine has been pushing more and more drones into Russia lately. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And what do you think? Um do you see any end insight, or is that just something you came and say because it's I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, I I have no idea. It's it's you know, that's not my country. I would hate to be in their in their shoes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. All right. So you're tell me about like when things went way south with your marriage when you guys are all in Ukraine. You're doing great stuff, but it goes weird.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Uh gee shall it was actually this operation when we were getting uh the orphanage. Um, we split up as a team, and this is something we don't normally do a ton. We try to stay together as long as we can. Um, and we split together. We split up. She ended up taking one half. I ended up going home and supporting the service members because that's kind of what I'm comfortable with of teaching medicine, uh, being like a medic on the ground. Um, and one thing led to another. I think I told you like uh maybe I I think I alluded to this, but maybe not. At one point, I was walking down the street and in the middle of Ukraine, just chilling because it was like our our off time, right? So, and we were we were based in a safe part of Ukraine. So just walking down the street and I heard Spanish, and I'm like, what in the world is this? So I turn around and look, and there are all these Latinos, and um crazy enough, so and this is like I don't know, 10 or 15 years later. It's I'm like, hola, como estás? I actually speak really good Spanish, so but um, and they're like, yo, what's up? And I find out that Ukraine was flying in a lot of fighters from Latin America, and these were Colombian fighters from like the FARC, and the same guys FARC, uh, it's it's uh a bad guy group in Colombia.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and these are the same guys that you had sort of battled against to get the well that we weren't able to cross the you remember I was talking about yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They were the ones that screwed you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we couldn't cross the dairy and gap because of these guys. They're the ones that we were looking in the jungle being like, man, I would love to speak to them about Christ someday. And here we are, I don't know how many years later, uh-huh, and they're at our footstep being like, hey, well, uh, and at this point we had like this medical training down. We were doing some training, and I was like, hey, you should come through. We'll speak to these guys, they'll give you your paperwork. You can come through our training, we can get you all of your your IFACs and all of this, uh, to first aid kit. Um, and you can well we'll but you have to listen to the gospel. Our whole everything is we will we will save your body. We care about your body, but I'm doing this because I I want you to save your, I want to save your soul, you know. And they're like, Yeah, sure, we'll do this. And uh crazy story, so many years later, they're coming to us to hear the gospel. Wow, and we're like, so here's how you do a tourniquet. I was like, if it doesn't hurt, it ain't working. I was like, now let me tell you about Jesus. Oh wow, and um, like eight of them ended up becoming Christian and they left the group and they went back home, and it was so crazy cool. Uh, they did not fare well because it's a different type of warfare than they're used to, but um but the Christian dudes lived, yeah. They lived, but the dudes who went actually to the fighting didn't do so hot.
SPEAKER_00:That's why okay. Wow. All right, I want to pause it right there. We're gonna have to come back for a part three. Sorry. Um, because this is so good. At the same time, I feel like if we get into this next one, I don't want us to like have to get cut off midway. So we're gonna uh pause here and we're gonna come back next time uh to fight follow up the story with Bruno DeCanto. Covert missionary. Yeah, we black ops missionary. We don't talk about Bruno. No, no, no. All right. Hey guys, thanks so much for watching. We talk faith, culture, everything in between. We'll see you next time. Um have an awesome week of worship.