EP 52 Dad continues testimony

In this episode, we continue diving into my father’s powerful testimony, stepping into some of the most defining and difficult seasons of his life.  
We talk through the heartbreaking end of a marriage, the realities of going to war, and the unexpected blessing and responsibility of raising a young adopted Filipino child in the middle of it all. It’s a raw, honest look at pain, purpose, and the way God weaves redemption through every chapter — even the ones that feel impossible to survive. If you’re drawn to real stories of faith forged through fire, this episode will speak to you deeply.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome to Battleground Believers. We're so thankful for you being here today. I want to give a shout out to Randy Barr and the Two Bar Blues Studio. Although we're not there, he does have a studio and you can utilize that to shoot music, podcasts, and other things like that. If you're interested in finding out about the two bar blues studio, uh just email us at battlegroundbelievers.com and we'll give you all that contact information. I also want to give a shout out this morning to uh Freedom by Truth Ministries, Keith Pascalone and John Rowley. They're doing great things in Elkhart and want to continue to promote their ministry. If you're in the Elkart area or even if you're not, they're on Facebook. You can reach out to them. Great group of guys and great group great ministry. Also, Andrew Talamentez, uh Sunrise Church here in Fort Wayne. Uh next weekend is a uh Brave and Bold retreat, a men's retreat where men come together. Uh, not that men are better than women, but there's just something powerful about a group of men coming together and pray and speaking on the word of God. So we want to give a shout out to those. Those are ministries that we kind of partner with, and uh, we think thank them so much for uh being a part of the Battleground family or allowing us to be a part of their family. And um, again, uh like, share, subscribe does a lot for the channel, um, helps us out. And and uh we're trying to grow a ministry, not just an entertainment, we're not just trying to get famous, we're trying to spread the gospel, and we decided to do it through uh social media and podcasting. So again, back with my dad. He's still here. Uh, I have not annoyed him enough to make him want to go home.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

He's on the verge.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

He's on the verge, but he's they are getting ready to leave. They're going, you're going to Alaska, right? Yep. That's that's cool. Um, they're gonna take a little camper all the way, drive up to Alaska.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

So uh be a Montana, sweet, sweetgrass, Montana.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Sweetgrass, Montana. So uh they'll be on the road, so we'll be praying for them. If you guys are prayers in the audience, please pray for my dad. Uh you will be missed. Um at least the first 25 minutes after you leave, and then after that, you'll be a figment of my imagination.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Right, Molly Collie will go away.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

I'm just kidding. Uh uh But you guys stay in touch with us and and you have a website. What's your website?

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Oh, Brad. I always joke, but this is family. It's uh rickdunickphoto.com, and we post all our travel picks on our album called uh travel picks, and this one is called Alaska. What month are we? May, April, June, July, August, September. We'll be back home in September.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

But if you're really into photography, uh probably some of the best photography I've ever seen. And I'm not just biased because it's my father, he's been told by other people that his uh he's really good at photography, but something you can look into. But again, the reason we're here is we're telling his story through your story. We want to see fingerprints of God throughout your life. And and so far, the first two episodes, we saw in hindsight some fingerprints, and we kind of learned who you were and why you are the way you are, right? And so when we last left, you were married, and you guys were trying to avoid going to uh Okinawa, Japan. That's a family, as a family, but then it came to the point where you had to go, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Yeah, we were at the Camp Le June, and the Marine Corps wanted to send Kim overseas. I'd already been, and I wanted to keep the family together, and the there was a monitor tour, so we were able to uh get an independent duty in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and from Wyoming, Pennsylvania, we had two more kids, Anthony and Adam. And so we had Nicholas, Anthony, and Adam, and of course you were here in Indiana, and then when our time came up in 86, the Marine Corps had orders. I wasn't eligible to go. I mean, I wasn't forced to go, but Kim was. So again, to keep the family together, we um were able to get a company tour over at Okinawa, and uh that's how we ended up in Okinawa, and it was an attempt to keep the family together, and then down the road it's what destroyed the family.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Just side side note, uh was Okinawa kind of a neat place like as a Marine, like as a young man outside of family and all the things that took place there, was it kind of neat being in Okinawa?

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Uh absolutely with a family. Uh, I was there first in '78 and as a young Marine, and it wasn't very attractive. And then in 86 it transformed completely and it became more a family-oriented location. A lot of good training for the Marines, and I was with the artillery, um, and Ken was with Marine Corps base, and two different lifestyles. I was with a combat unit, she was with a base unit, and um I was getting up at five o'clock in the morning to run battery PT, and I getting home till six, seven o'clock at night. And it and the the separation and the stress of all that really wore on the the relationship. Well, it kind of sounded like that you kind of alluded to some facts that maybe that relationship was it was kind of breaking as it was, and this is probably the yeah, it was it was it was in danger when we were in Pennsylvania, and I didn't know it. I was at the time so in love and just blind to a lot of the signs that are there. And one thing that was really missing was we weren't minus the children, we weren't a fan of a marriage of three, man, wife with the Holy Spirit in between. Okay, that wasn't that wasn't we went to church, but we we were just doing the church, yeah. And then um I think a lot of people are like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

They think, hey, I'm going to church, I'm good. They they miss the personal relationship, which we talk a lot about on this channel, is that personal relationship. You can do all kinds of things in faith, and but unless you're reading your Bible, praying, and spending time with Jesus daily, and and have that personal relationship, it says at the end, you know, there's going to be people that are gonna come and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this? And he says, Flee from me, for I never knew you. So the idea is not that you know him, but that he knows you and that you guys have a relationship.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Right, yeah, absolutely. And that was absent. You know, looking back.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

So you so you're in uh Okinawa, your your marriage is starting to crumble. It's probably getting, is it becoming obvious to you at this point? Uh very obvious. Okay. And direct. So when I left, we I said there was a blessing that that came out of this. How did that let's talk about that? Like, what was that and how'd that take place?

SPEAKER_02 6:41

We uh we always wanted a a girl, and you know, we had Adam and Anthony, and uh then I had a vasectomy, and then Kim and Okinawa had issues, and she had a hysterectomy, so having another child was definitely out of the question. So in doing anything to save the family, I thought, hey, we'll just we'll adopt. So we um and the church we were at were adopting children from the Philippines. So we get we did that, and um that's how Danielle came into our life, and we took Danielle out of poverty and Manila and she had a hernia, she had vitamin deficiency, she had lice, she had all these things, and she was like two and a half months old. And I was with her in the Philippines for like two weeks. Just you, just me, and um I got her winged her off rice water. She had I still have the clothes that she had when I got her, which was little yellow footies, cloth diaper, and a t-shirt. And then I brought her back to Okinawa with the beautiful pink dress and all this, and then we went through the process of um going through NIS and immigrations to be able to bring her back to Okinawa or back to the states. And that was a lengthy process.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

I was gonna say that there was a lot of problems there, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Yeah, there were quite a few problems, and there were there were things I needed, and um I wrote a letter to the father that I needed certain documents and mailed it and um went to the Gulf War. And Danielle stayed with an Air Force family while I went to the Gulf War.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Okay, so let's back up here because people are gonna be confused. You're married, you got a wife and kids, and now all of a sudden Danielle has to stay somewhere else. What took place there?

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Well, Kim was applied for a uh Warren Officer Commission and got it. So she took the kids and sent them back to her parents in Ohio, and this is 89. Oh, so you're still married at this point? I'm still married at this point, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

I thought then the Gulf War, we're we're we're separated. I think after the Gulf War is when we were able to get to divorce final.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Okay, so were you separated in this moment where you guys were still married, but she's like, I don't want to be married anymore. When did that happen?

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Right after the the Oh sh shortly after we got in Okinawa, the marriage was falling apart, and I saw this as a way to salvage it. But it wasn't. Oh no, definitely. If you're ever thinking about bringing a child into a broken marriage, don't do it. However, uh, we saved Danielle's life, and Danielle saved my life. Yeah, and she she now She's almost 40 years old and has a daughter that looks just like her.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah, I know. Beautiful girl.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah, and every time we get together, it's like, why do you keep calling me Danielle? So I'm sorry, you look just like your mother.

unknown 9:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

So things are falling apart. You you you go to war, right? You're in the Gulf War. I remember Shield, Desert Storm. I remember my mom came in and said, Brad, um your dad's your dad's going to war. And I said, What? He's going to the Gulf War, you know, because that was big news, and that's all that was on the news at the time. And he said, she said, he has an opportunity to call you tonight. He's gonna call you. And you caught called me, I think, right before you shipped out or you were somewhere in transition, you know. When you go to war, you don't some some like you don't just sometimes you don't just go, you you know, you make your way there. But anyway, uh, I remember you called me and we talked, and I right because then I thought after I hung up, I you know, there's a chance he could die. You know what I mean? So I I have a vivid memory of that.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

But anyway, so you go off to war, and um how long were you in Iraq or uh we were there we got there in January and left in April, so it was real quick.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, about four months. About four months, yeah. Did you were you involved in combat operations or a support?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

No, I was in the middle of nowhere. Okay, and um I had a chance, however, we had a reserve unit with us, and uh the guy that was with them he couldn't be trusted with anything. So the battalion commander pointed on the side and said, Hey, look, Rick, you're staff I was a staff sergeant, I was a gunny select, and he says, Um, I know you want to go with us, but you're better served right here with with these Marines than going with us, because the staff sergeant from um 14th Marines and out of Philly, I think. You know, he's we can't leave him here. And I just sucked a bullet and said, Whatever you do, I I sure God left me there for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Well, yeah, who knows what would happen if you'd gone downrange. So, okay, so now uh you fly back from you come back from um the war and you get Danielle, right? You come home.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Yeah, we go back home.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

I think I saw no, didn't I see you? I don't think I saw you.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

No, I couldn't come home because of Danielle. We're still working on immigration issues to where I we can come back.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Oh, yeah, you were home back in Okinawa, but you didn't fly back to the U.S. You had to see.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

I did. I uh when I came back, I had to come back to the states to file for divorce, and and Uncle Don did the divorce.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Wait, I think I did see you.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Then I was at then I flew back to Okinawa, and Danielle stayed with an Air Force fan that lived next to us.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

I remember because I had a I had a Danny Way skateboard and had two anarchy signs on the grip tape. Yeah, and uh yeah, so yeah, okay, sorry, reminiscent here. Um, so you come back to stage, file for divorce, and then you go back. So, what kind of things to took place? Like, so now you're with this little girl, you're a single dad, you have kids in Indiana and wherever Kim took the the boys.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

They stay with their grandparents in Ohio.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Okay, and it you wanted you wanted a family so bad that had to there you had to be were you devastated inside? Like, hey, I can't believe my marriage.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

I was emanciated, I was it was terrible. I would lay on the floor and pray, prostate myself to save my marriage. So when you pray and your prayers don't get answered, they do get answered, just in a way you may not want.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Bro, I told you in the first episode I don't have enough testosterone in his body not to cry.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

So from our father, we gotta hold this down.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

We gotta hold this down, man.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Thank you. Man, that was one that was thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you. She was miserable. I wouldn't realize how miserable I was until it was gone. And uh I have a picture at home of me with my boys at the airport, and that was the last time I saw them as a family. Then I didn't I saw them when I came back to see them when I got the divorce. We got the divorce, and then that was it until I came back from Okinawa in 1993.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So, what was your life like as a single dad in the Marine Corps in Okinawa? Because you used you told me some stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Well, I depended on two things. I depended on a car and a babysitter. Because I would deploy off-island to Korea or Fuji in Japan, and I needed to have a babysitter, plus we'd go out in the field and um, you know, in the battalion, you know, we would have battery PT at five o'clock in the morning, and you know, I had X number of Marines, and you know, it wasn't there was no clock. Yeah, you got people getting in trouble, you got all kinds of things going on.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

And um well, they used to say now it was the the babysitter with a car was key. I need to be able to move. But the battalion was very and the Marine Corps was extremely gracious because I think I was in a combat unit because I I was supposed to leave Okinawa as a family in 1989, and the Marine Corps kept me there because they you know, we did request to extend my overseas tour, and with the understanding that I was trying to resolve these issues through immigration to get Danielle to bring her back to the family, back to the states legally. And uh, as I said, you know, I remember earlier I made a comment that I wrote to Father, I needed certain documents from the father. I come back in the Gulf War and I go to the mailbox, and there's a letter from the father. Terrible grammar, misspelling, but impeccable handwriting. And basically it said, I understand you need my help. And I said, This is what I need, and here's $500. And then I get a letter a few weeks later. Hey, I took the whole family to Manila. We got arrested for jaywalking, and I used all that money to get out of jail, and I need more money. I'm like, so he's extorting you for money. Yeah, yeah. I was like, I I wrote another letter back and I sent him, I think, $250. I said, if you love this child, you'll do what I'm asking you. And I'm I'm saying half what I sent you the first time because I don't really think I hope you don't think I believe the word you just told me in this letter. And I never heard from him again. So other things came, you know, more God moments came that opportunities were to where I would be able to because I had to be investigated. And when Kim and I adopted Danielle, we went through the Japanese courts, and the Japanese uh judge was educated in Harvard. And then when Dan when Kim left, I was told, I never really pursued it, I just believed that that the adoption was null and void. So I had to go and get investigated by NIS. So I was investigated by NIS, and then I had to go back through the Japanese court system to re-adopt Danielle as a single parent.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

So that they suspected that that you did something wrong?

SPEAKER_02 16:39

No. Oh no, it's just a just a was I a competent person to the child.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

You said investigate.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

I thought you meant they were like, oh, that's each time you do an adoption, there's an investigation to make sure there's no issues or things like that. Yeah. So got through that, and then like when the when the adoption process was over, the the uh it's a God moment. The guy that did the first adoption, the judge, was the same one that did it the second time. And when he didn't recognize you, he he says, I remember you. Good luck. I remember you. Because Danielle's you know this was like three years ago. I mean, from the time we first did it.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

So Danielle's three-ish.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Yeah, three or four, yeah. Yeah, and then I would always go to Naha, and I had this, but I you know, you want to talk about prejudice. Prejudice is just not limited to black and white, right? Everywhere I went, I I faced discrimination. Like, what's this white boy doing to this baby? Or white man with this baby, because I always had a thing around my neck with my ID because I was always carrying Danielle on my arms. And uh what I said about, you know, I saved Danielle from the obvious, and Danielle saved me from myself. I mean, I lost everything, everything I'd ever worked for. I my career was hanging by a thread because I didn't care. I wanted to die because I lost my kids, they are gone, but I have Danielle. And Danielle was the thing that was like you can't give up because you couldn't give up because Danielle, this this little child, I all I'm all she has, and in my mind, I'm all or she's all I have. Yeah, and if she would have stayed there, she would be dead a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Uh so then um it's in September of 1993, and uh we go to Naha and they stamp my paperwork. You mean you can't do this, man? I told you. Yeah, there's some stuff that's tough. But I had been looking at glass for so many years and being rejected and being rejected, and and you know, God help me, I I can't do this. My family was back here fighting and getting lawyers and whatnot, and everything was coming up, you know, no good, no good.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah, because you couldn't come back to the States, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Not with Danielle, right? And then they approved it, and I remember looking in the window and just seeing tears come down my eyes and turn around, everybody looking at me. Okinawans, Japanese, Americans, you know, and just I just saw, you know, I felt dirty. Like I always felt dirty, but I somewhat felt vindicated, like this part is over. And then um I think four or five days later, we were getting orders to come back to DC or back to the states. You mean Danielle.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Danielle, okay. So wow, I I didn't know some of that that stuff over there, but there was something that happened to you that you're you're glossing over, which I think is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

I gotta be very careful. There's a lot of sensitive stuff here.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Well, yeah, but during that time, you you started training and started learning uh um a martial art, correct?

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yeah, yeah. I um I got into martial arts off base, Matsumoa Shoonru. I was the only um American there. I had a sergeant in the Gulf War, uh Sergeant Barker, who was married to an Okinawan, and uh that's how I got into the dojo. And at the time he and I were the only ones, and then his first name's Rob. He wanted to get a college degree, and I was going to college off and on, trying to get my credits, and uh, but Danielle just dominated so much. Oh yeah, and then I got into the martial arts, and and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I I was always at the dojo, and Rob went on to pursue a master's degree off base to you know, the satellite campuses from the states. And uh Danielle would go with me every because Danielle and I went everywhere because she had the babysitter through the week, and then um I had her, it was just her and I. And uh so she would go upstairs at the Sensei's house because his dojo was below, and it was just like you think in Japan: the hardwood floors, no air conditioning fan, um, little drinking fountain, primitive martial art things, you know, like things to put your hands in and all these things. And uh, so when we came back, Mokinawa Danielle thought she was Japanese because she played with all the Japanese kids. Yeah, and I was like, You're not Japanese, you're Filipino. So it was three years, and the dojo had two belts, white and black, and uh I got promoted to black belt on Friday, and the following Monday I'm flying back to the States.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Well, the reason I bring this up is so you you you come back, you're now black belt and like real.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

But I'm not, I just got it, and where the the style we learned. When you receive your black belt, that's when you begin. That's when the real learning process starts. I missed that. Well, I got the foundation. So he told me, my sensei said in broken English, you know, when you get back, continue to train. So one of the first things I did once we got established in Fairfax, because I was assigned to headquarters Marine Corps, was I looked for a martial arts place. And there were like 20 colors around the walls, the carpet on the floor. I mean, and I showed up in the dojo with my white belt. And the white belt was pretty dirty, it had blood on it, and it had my name in kanji because every time somebody came into the dojo, they would say, Oh Namewanka, Nandeska. And well, what's your name? And I would say Rick Dunny desk, dojo rush onigashimas. And they was like, What? So the Sensei's wife came over and took my belt and wrote my name on it. So anytime anybody walked in the dojo and name, I go, Dozo. Ah, Rick Dunny Desk Dojo Nigashimus. I'd be like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Well, the reason I I brought this up is I remember we were down at my grandpa, your dad's house. It was me, you, and Randy. I was in the army, I'd flown in with Randy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

We were going PT, and dad told me don't hurt him. I was like, Who are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Well, we PT'd together. And my memory was grandpa said, Don't hurt him. Yeah. To you, to me, to you. Wait a minute. He said it to you? Yeah, he said it too. He said it to me as well. Yeah, he didn't want me to kill you. Anyway, you were talking about it. And the one thing I remember is there's this metal pole in the middle of the basement. We're standing on there talking, and you are at full power kicking the sh the crap out of this pole. Because that you took said that they taught you how to do that, so it makes your bones strong. Yeah. And I remember think like the whole house is shaking. And then you're like, oh, let me show you something. And I'm like, okay, this is cool. You're like, just throw a punch. I threw a punch, you caught my arm, you kicked me in the chest, my freaking rib cage unwrapped, wrapped around your leg, and then wrapped back. And uh I'm over in the corner, like, oh, I'm gonna die. And you're like, I barely touched you, Brad.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

That was that was 30 years ago. See, the that that you didn't barely touch me. The style, the style of martial arts that I was with was focused a lot on body conditioning. I mean, you know, get your bones hard, and you get a bottle and just roll it like this, and on your shins, and they had a piece of four-inch plastic pipe come out of the wall, wood, and then four-inch PVC, and you would do this and you would kick it. And and we talk about Rob, they called him Roboto San. He was extremely strong, just massive strength and power. And I've been there about two years, and I always showed up dojo early because you know, overachieving, you know. And uh, I was kicking this thing, and I was kicking it hard, man. I mean, I was really kicking it hard, and uh Sensei came down and he comes around the corner and says Roboto San. I said, Oh no, no, no, no, no. It's just Segoi, like wow, that was a compliment to me because he thought Rob was in the dojo. Oh, because the the yeah because the because the power that was coming up on this piece of pipe. So yeah, because when you know you watch these martial arts shows and people are doing this and doing that, when you do this and do that, you're it hurts. But if your arms are conditioned and your legs are conditioned, you don't feel it. I mean, I get it takes it took about two years to because I remember the first time I got hit, man. I was like, I can't do this killing me. And like they look at me like I just touched you, just like I did you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Well, I mean, so I watched like uh I watched the karate kid and I watched uh Cobra Kai. So I'm I pretty much understand karate, right? I'm just kidding, I don't understand anything about but yeah, I but I remember I as a as a kid I was impressed because I thought that's like that it was a great experience.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

It was a way for me because I'm I'm in shape, obviously, being in the Marine Corps, and now everything's behind me. We're working forward, and I'm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It I mean, it the only time they shut the dojo down was during the new year. If if Christmas fell on a Friday, they're training because they don't celebrate that. And after you're done training, it's not lights out, it's like let's train. And we have a water fountain there, and there'd be everybody's name, and my name was there, and that's how you found out when you got tested, your name they would you didn't know. It's like, you know, in six months I'm gonna test. You test when the sensei thinks you're ready. So their head is writing by my name, and I'm like looking at it, and and Hungo San, who's another speed light and um black belt, says, uh, you test on Friday, because there was broken English. I mean, I was learning Japanese, but you know, like Itai means hurt, and mo moyuku means more faster, telling me faster, faster. I'm like, I'm trying. Yeah, you know, so it was like you're testing, like, oh my goodness. So I'd show up there Friday and you test, and then the following Monday, they'd have a certificate, and you would with the sensei, you take your belt off, give it to the sensei, then he would give it back to you because there's 10 cues, and then you go through the cues, and then when you attain the black belt from testing, then um all the black belts in a dojo would buy your belt. So my belt has my name on one side and it has the dojo on the other. So again, when I came back to States, I was not worthy to wear a black belt because I I hadn't I hadn't begun to learn. I just started learning at the black belt. This was the mentality, and I and I believe that. So I showed up with a white belt and they're and they're getting dressed, and my gi is it's a really good gi. I mean, it's wore out, got bloodstains on my my belt, and it's kind of black from the dirt and three years of my name and nihonga and Japanese, and you know, I remember this kid standing there, and he's like, Who are you? And then I pull my belt, he's oh, you're a nobody. I'm like, wow, that's a terrible mentality. You have no idea about it.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Well, you well, you came from Japanese culture to back to Americans.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Commercialized martial arts, right? And um, so we go out there and I'm lost. I mean, it's totally different style, and and then the the instructor's a brown belt and all these belts there, and and what they had this thing on the wall with a pad behind it. Well, in Okinawa, you just had leather strap and you just bang this thing. Well, they had a pad behind it, like what's the purpose of this? And the floor was carpet, so you're getting flood burns and whatnot. And I remember afterwards, you know, I I trained with the instructor. Well, I I kicked him and I hurt him. I didn't kick him hard. Yeah, but I kicked him, and you know, we're we're Mashugeti, where we're going back and forth sparring, and just boom, and then that was it. And then he made a comment like I gotta go. I got another dojo to open, so it was totally commercialized. I said, This isn't for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

So you didn't stay with U.S. karate?

SPEAKER_02 28:56

No, that was it one time, and then never broken the door. I've been gone for eight years.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Okay, and I just could not believe yeah, we're actually winding down now, and so this will set us up in uh your final episode where we talk about life. Oh, I'm dead already, life in life in the US, DC, and and you really excelled while you were in DC. And so try to hopefully you can share some of that stuff and maybe a few really cool stories, and then uh how you met Kim and Kim. How you met yeah, it's so that sets us up for the the next set of your story, which is time in in um DC and your accomplishments. You're a humble guy, and so you I don't really want to talk about my accomplishments. Well, I don't I understand that, but you signed the contract. You stood on you signed a contract that said you come in here and do this interview. I'm paying you for this. Free room and board. Just kidding. But now what that's that's where our focus is, and we're gonna carry through uh maybe some some bright spots in DC to uh, and then I want to work short short time on that and then talk about um coming to faith and then spend time talking about how you go to church and how your life changed radically after it was no longer just a religion, it was a personal thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Okay, yeah, and that's something that transpired within the last three years when we moved out of Virginia.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Okay, well, slow down that slow your roll, bro. That's the next episode. Okay, that's a little teaser for you. Hey, again, Battleground believers, we appreciate you so much for being part of the audience. Please like, share, subscribe. Um the interesting conversation. I know it went a little long, but I as a son, I'm watching my dad talk about things that I never some things I never heard him talk about, and I kind of got lost in the moment. And uh so I hope you enjoyed it and uh continue to come back and uh thank you uh again so much for for for for watching and and supporting this ministry. You want it to be a ministry, right? So hey, uh all glory to God. All glory to God. That's right. So as I always say, all that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Battleground believers, out.