Barbara Brown and Helen Ens

[00:04] BARBARA: Hello, my name is Barbara I'm 79 years old. Today is August 18, 2021. I'm talking from Fresno, California and I am talking to Helen My relationship to Helen is we are one small step partners today.

[00:29] HELEN: Hi, my name is Helen I'm 77 years old. Today is August 18, 2021. I live in Fresno, California. I'm in my home today. Barbara is my conversation partner and she is new friend. I don't know yet.

[01:00] BARBARA: We're going to get to know each other. Helen what made you want to do this interview today?

[01:08] HELEN: Well, I wanted to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. And I know that there's a lot of division and I, I really would love to be part of the solution. Barbara what made you want to do this interview today?

[01:31] BARBARA: Much the same kind of thing. I have some very good conversations with my sister. Actually we are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but I thought it would be really fun to get to know somebody that was brand new and just show myself and show you and show whoever winds up listening to this that people can talk even when they don't agree on things.

[02:05] HELEN: Absolutely.

[02:09] SPEAKER C: All right, so I just put both your bios in the chat. So Barbara if you could read Helen's bio and then if you've got a follow up question, you can ask that. And Helen same for you. Read Barbara's bio and ask and you could just read the bios as they're written.

[02:27] BARBARA: Okay, Helen she says I am a Jesus follower. Grew up in Kansas in a Christian home. After college, taught elementary school in Calicolombia, then married and taught in Kinshasa, Congo, where our first two children were born. Third child came during a year at seminary here in Fresno. Moved to Panama to work with indigenous people for eight years. Did social work and teaching in Fresno while my husband headed up our mission. Awesome Children now grown, retired, now with 10 wonderful grandchildren, Barbara says I am.

[03:06] HELEN: A 79 year old woman born and raised in New Jersey, retired and living near my son and my siblings in Fresno, California. Big positive events would include going away to college, getting married, having a son, becoming a Christian and serving 21 years as a missionary in Bogota, Colombia. Big negative events include being divorced, losing my mom early on to cancer and having my dad die unexpectedly of a heart attack. I'm distressed by the anger and division that are poisoning America. So Barbara can I ask you a question? Were you a single missionary or were you together with your husband in Colombia?

[04:08] BARBARA: No, my husband had left years earlier and so I went down there after My son was grown, so I was on my own down there with another missionary down there, a lady. But, no, my family did not go with me. And you?

[04:27] HELEN: Yeah, we. We were together. Yeah. Well, I went down to Columbia to teach in an American school with a program from our church, and so did Harold, because I was from Kansas and he was from California. So, yeah, we both. We met down there and fell in love, and then we came back to the States so that we would be here, and six months later, we were on our way to Congo. So. And then we. We came back again to stay in the States, and then three years later, we were on our way back to Costa Rica because God was tickling our toes again. So. Yeah.

[05:22] BARBARA: Did you go to Fresno Pacific? I noticed you.

[05:26] HELEN: Oh, no, my children did okay. But I went to a little private college in Kansas in my hometown.

[05:37] BARBARA: You just mentioned a year of seminary here in Fresno.

[05:40] HELEN: Yes, yes, that was at fpu. Yeah, the seminary. Yeah.

[05:48] BARBARA: Okay. So, yeah, We've got a lot in common, don't we?

[05:55] HELEN: Yeah. So you were in Bogota for all of those 21 years?

[06:03] BARBARA: All of those 21 years, I went down for a year. But, you know, time takes a long time to pass.

[06:12] HELEN: Wow.

[06:15] BARBARA: Oh, dear.

[06:16] HELEN: So you saw the Salt Cathedral and. And all the beautiful monasteries.

[06:25] BARBARA: Didn't do a lot of sightseeing, but spent a lot of time at the Botanical garden with just us. A quiet, safe place. The gal I lived with is quite a photographer. So I walked around and looked the flowers, and she walked around and took pictures of the flowers. She used to laugh because I'd take my camera and I'd take pictures of the planes going overhead because we were so close to the airport there and get some really good shots of planes.

[06:52] HELEN: Oh, fun.

[06:53] BARBARA: Oh, yeah.

[06:54] HELEN: What was your role as missionary?

[06:59] BARBARA: Well, the two of us, she came from England, I came from the States. We arrived to help a Colombian pastor who was working in this little invasion or squatter settlement on the mountains overlooking Bogota. And then he left, and all of a sudden, the two of us were holding the baby. It was a new church with very poor people. The other gal from England really had the preaching gift. I had the administrative gift. So I wound up cutting red tape for 21 years. Played the keyboard in the church and did a lot of work with the kids. A lot of work with the kids.

[07:41] HELEN: All right.

[07:43] BARBARA: And you.

[07:44] HELEN: What a precious thing. Yeah. My music came into play in Panama as well, because. Yeah, I do key. I play piano. And when I was in Colombia, I didn't have a piano, so I learned to play guitar. So when we went to Panama, the men in the village wanted to learn to play guitar. So I had guitar lessons. We sang a labare. A labare so many times.

[08:25] BARBARA: Yes, yes.

[08:28] HELEN: Because that only takes two chords on the guitar for the. So. Yeah, so it was so cool when we went into the jungles to spend, you know, a couple of days or whatever. And late at night, there was no light, no electricity at all, and you could hear these guitars playing in the. In the houses around, and it was just so. So meaningful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow.

[09:05] SPEAKER C: So I just put another question in the chat. Just want to call your attention to that.

[09:10] BARBARA: Keep us moving along. We'll reminisce the rest of the time.

[09:16] HELEN: We can maybe get together. Who have been the most influential people?

[09:24] BARBARA: Oh, you want to go first?

[09:28] HELEN: Sure.

[09:30] SPEAKER C: Oh, well, could you ask it to each other, actually? So it's on tape.

[09:35] HELEN: Who have been the most influential? Okay. Who have been the most influential people in your life and what did they teach you? And you asked me to go first. Yeah, I think probably my father. He was my. Yeah, he was my go to person and I loved to. We were on a farm in Kansas and I loved to go and sit with him while he milked the cows and just have a good conversation because that was the one time that I had him ultimately, myself. So I think my father. And then after we're. We were married, I think my husband probably influenced me. We. I. I just admire his. His godliness and his humility and I. Yeah, and so I'm learning from him as well. So who have been the most influential people in your life and what did they teach you?

[10:46] BARBARA: First of all, my mom. I think she taught me more by example than by words. By the time I was an early teenager, she was crippled with arthritis, and yet she was active in the community. And I can remember her struggling her way out to the car. It was her knees that were bad. Knees and hands. And I went with her a couple times and she was going out to, I think, help a little kid to learn how to read. And, you know, the fact that it was painful and difficult didn't stop her. She kept going and doing stuff. And she was a word person, and I am a word person. And so we had a lot of fun with that. So that was key. And I picked up a lot of my values from her. I can remember one time I cheated in a test in grade school, which I had never done before. And I went home and I was telling my mom about it because I always Told her everything when I got home from school. And she looked at me and she said, Barbara don't ever do that again. And that was more effective than an hour's lecture. I never cheated on a test again. That was. That was key. Wow. And then.

[12:09] HELEN: Yeah, you said that she. She died at an.

[12:13] BARBARA: Well, she was. She was 57. So I was my early 30s. I was married and out of the house. But no, that was. I was just getting to a stage where I was starting to get to know her as an adult. And she was gone. So that was kind of rough. Although my dad remarried and I loved my stepmother dearly, it was early time to lose my mom. And then I had wonderful influence from Miguel that I shared with the work with in Colombia. She was the pastor, my pastora. We lived together and although we had our differences, she is a wonderful woman of God. And I learned and grew under her. Amazing. Because all of her teaching was done to people who were semi literate. So her teaching was done at a very basic, good level. But she was getting across absolutely rock bottom truths in unforgettable ways that impacted me as much as any sermons I'd heard anywhere else. So that was good.

[13:21] HELEN: Oh, cool. I think I didn't explain what my dad taught me, that he was a peacemaker. There was. There was nothing he wouldn't do in order to keep peace with everyone else around, with his siblings, with his. With his. Yeah, with the people in the church. And yeah, he was just a peacemaker. And I loved that about him. And I learned that.

[13:59] BARBARA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[14:03] HELEN: Okay. So, Barbara could you briefly describe in your own words your personal political values? All right, here we go.

[14:15] BARBARA: Well, I looked at that and I thought. I think of political as meaning political party values or whatever. And I would say these are my values. I don't know if they're my political values or not, but they're certainly the things that are being talked about these days. So I am pro life. I am in favor of relatively small government. I think there are things that are the genuine responsibility of national government and the state government. But I think a lot of things should be handled at a local level and a lot of things should be handled by churches and non governmental organizations and neighbors that maybe aren't being handled and families that aren't being handled these days. And I don't know if you can legislate that or not. This is trouble. Gun ownership. I am in favor of people owning guns, but I don't own them myself. I think that anybody who has a gun should Be very carefully checked to make sure that they know how to use it and that they are owning them for the right reasons. Of course that's tricky. Who's going to decide what the right reasons are? But that's a whole other story. I'd like to see more equitable taxation and I am definitely in favor of voter id, but not something to prevent people from voting, but to just make sure that people are who they say they are. Just the way it's required to get on a plane or buy liquor or drive a car or any other of a lot of important things that we do. So if that's what they mean by personal political beliefs, that's sort of somewhat. I am. How about you?

[16:02] HELEN: Okay. Yeah, I guess I took it as stating our party. So I used to be a Republican because I came from Kansas and that's what my people were. But it, it seemed to me that during the past years they have gotten very, very militaristic and capitalistic. Like saying that the US is the only nation to be concerned about. And I really differ on that. I think we are global people and we have a responsibility to the global network. I believe that the Democrats maybe have more of a social conscience to help those around us. So I, that's probably the main reason I, I usually vote Democratic. They want a smaller military. The immigration whole saga is hard, but we need to recognize the people that are coming to our US for help. And yeah, I don't know what the system should be, but we need to do something for them and with them. My ancestors came from Europe and so I feel like I'm an immigrant as well. And when they ask me to put on a paper, are you what nationality or what race are you? And they say white or something else, I usually put something else. I don't believe my skin is not white and, and I, I have a Brown interior, I think. And with my all my age spots, I think maybe I'm just missing the, the coloring in between the spots. I don't know. But yeah, so I usually try to put European American or something like that on those forms. So I am also pro life. That is very strong, but on both ends of the spectrum, like pro life as a baby in the womb and pro life as not killing others. So I would think that there would be another way to go about negotiation other than having a big military war.

[19:49] BARBARA: Yeah, we agree on a lot. I think I should call myself a republicrat. I am, I'm registered as a Republican, but I am deeply troubled by a lot of stuff that they're saying. And I'm troubled by some stuff the Democrats are saying. So maybe I'll just start my own party.

[20:09] HELEN: Right. Because if you. If you register independent, then you're part of the independent party, and they. And they, you know, it's not really independent, so.

[20:20] BARBARA: And you can't. You can't vote. I'm not quite sure what happens during the primaries when you're.

[20:29] HELEN: Yeah, yeah.

[20:30] BARBARA: Registered as a party or something like that. So I don't know.

[20:33] SPEAKER C: Barbara could you expand a bit on those. You said that you're troubled by ideas in both parties. Could you expand on what those ideas are that you're troubled by?

[20:47] BARBARA: Well, I am really, really troubled by the Democratic Party. Strong support of abortion, and I speak as a former member of Planned Parenthood. My mother was in Planned Parenthood, and I was involved. I was even on the board of Planned Parenthood in San Diego. And then I became a Christian, and we moved away from San Diego. My husband was shipped out to the east coast, and it wasn't convenient to still be involved with Planned Parenthood, and that was pre abortion days. But I cannot go along with that. I am very concerned about the LGBTQ emphasis with the Democratic Party because I am not in favor of that. I believe. I do not believe the people are evil. I believe that what they are doing is wrong, which is different. Republicans, this whole sort of Republican right or wrong. I am a Republican. No, I don't go for that. I don't like some of their attitude toward what's going on in the immigration area, and I'm not real strong on any of this. So I'm not a Trump fan. I don't understand where the Republicans are coming from, because the party is changing from what it used to be, I think. And I don't want to switch to Democrat. I don't know what to do.

[22:42] HELEN: Yeah, I think we are on a lot of the same page because the LGBTQ whole thing. I don't believe that God programmed us that way, and that is the wrong way to move. However, our society, which is not Christian on the whole, is moving so hard towards that and. And pushing us. And. Yeah, I do not believe that that's the best route. I believe those people are. Are God's people, and. And he's saddened by what they're doing. I would. I welcome those people into my church, but I cannot welcome their. I cannot affirm their lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. So we have a lot of the same values.

[23:52] SPEAKER C: Helen could you talk a bit about your registered Democrat? But you mentioned that you're pro life on both ends. Could you talk a bit about your views on abortion and how those sit with your party affiliation?

[24:08] HELEN: Yeah, I don't believe that the government can legislate moral activities, moral behavior. So I tend to put that as a personal choice instead of. Yeah. And I don't like it when the Democrats legislate for pro. Yeah. Pro homosexual or pro. Yeah. But I agree that people need to be valued as people. So that's kind of a gray area in my mind, like having. I know that marriage is a stable thing, and so if. If two people want to live together and love each other, I don't. Yeah, it's a gray area. Like I said, I. I don't really know. The Bible definitely talks against those kind of relationships, and. But it also talks against greed, and it talks against not honoring your parents. And so, you know, I just don't think that the government can legislate those kind of things. Does that answer that?

[25:48] SPEAKER C: Yeah. Barbara could. Could you talk a bit about how that. How that makes you feel?

[25:56] BARBARA: Well, your question was about abortion. Helen answered about lgbtq.

[26:02] HELEN: Okay.

[26:03] BARBARA: Yeah, I. With lgbtq, I do believe that God knew what he was doing when he said homosexuality is wrong. It rather interferes with his plan for people to be fruitful and multiply. And I don't know what all his thinking was, but I do believe that if he said it was wrong, it's wrong again. I do not hate people who are doing it. I believe they've been sold a bill of goods and they're being told that something is okay that is not okay, And I worry about them. One of the dearest people I met in Colombia was a guy, a gay guy, who was in my English class. And he was easily the kindest, sweetest person in the class, and I remember him that way. But I am sad when I think of him, because he's definitely doing something God has said do not do, and I worry about him. I don't happen to have any gay people in my neighborhood, so far as I know, but I would certainly try to be a good neighbor to them if they were to come here. And I wouldn't be knocking on their door with tracts trying to convince them otherwise, but I sure would love to love them into the kingdom of God, which is pretty much my way of doing things anyway. It's a very painful, painful subject.

[27:39] HELEN: Right. Yeah. I think I said with the abortion, that I didn't think a government could legislate that kind of thing. And I also then included the lgbtq.

[28:04] SPEAKER C: Barbara what's your opinion about the government legislating on those types of issues?

[28:13] BARBARA: On the pro life issues?

[28:15] SPEAKER C: Pro life, lgbtq. Yeah, the moral issues.

[28:20] BARBARA: Okay. Well, I think because it's the United States, we probably cannot legislate against homosexual activity. But when we start legislating against people who promote traditional biblical values and when they become the targets of lawsuits and that kind of thing, something's gone wrong. I think the government is stepping too far the other way for pro life. Again, I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe that sex belongs in marriage. I don't think we should criminalize extramarital sex. Half the country would be in jail at this point, I'm afraid. But again, I don't believe that we should be bringing legal action against people who maybe aren't even trying to convince somebody else of their position for pro life or whatever. But if they're asked, what do you believe? They say what they believe and then they're condemned because they're pro life. And at all levels of society, I mean, there are churches that are struggling with this, there are universities that are struggling with this, and individuals of all kinds. And I think the government is overstepping its bounds that way.

[30:00] HELEN: I would. I would agree with that because I don't think the government should legislate either way. So it would leave us. Yeah. Like universities, like you were saying, fpu, the. Yeah, the Fresno Pacific University is definitely struggling with that. With laws like they were. They were going to lose their federal grants at one point if they didn't include all kinds of people in their. In their faculty, even. Yeah. So that's. Yeah. But I wanted to ask if you had some examples of people who are getting shut down because of their beliefs.

[31:06] BARBARA: I don't think I can give you specific examples. I've just picked up that sense. And I'm not just talking from Facebook. Other literature that I read some of, and I tend to read conservative, not wildly right wing, but fairly conservative Christian stuff. I get a lot of my news from there. And there are universities and there are churches that are really being slammed because of their hiring practices or what they're teaching. And that's worrying. If freedom of speech is only applicable to whoever is in power at the moment, that's dangerous for the United States.

[31:56] HELEN: Was that better during the Republican presidency?

[32:02] BARBARA: Not the recent one, I don't think, but I don't know.

[32:07] HELEN: Yeah, I kind of think it's a trend for both parties. Yeah. Because, yeah, like Trump said, he was a Christian and he Believed those. The things that made him popular with the Christian community or some Christian communities. But I don't believe that was his heart.

[32:42] BARBARA: Yeah. I think some stuff he was genuine about. Some stuff I'm not so sure about. Very troubling.

[32:51] HELEN: Yeah. And I shouldn't be judging someone's heart because I can't.

[32:58] BARBARA: We're not really qualified, are we?

[33:02] HELEN: Only God could do that.

[33:05] SPEAKER C: I just put another question in the chat.

[33:08] HELEN: Oh.

[33:11] BARBARA: All right. Helen Is there something about my beliefs you don't agree with, but still respect?

[33:17] HELEN: Oh, I respect all of your beliefs. I. Yeah, I guess you talk about the right to own a gun. That part I don't really agree with because I don't think guns are the answer to anything. And if you own a gun, there's so much more chance of someone using it in the wrong way in your even having it hidden in your house, you know, so. But. But I don't know where to go from here because there's. You can't just say we're going to take everybody's guns away because they're not going to submit them.

[34:17] BARBARA: And.

[34:18] HELEN: Yeah. And people get a hold of guns or whether or not they're legal. Right. So. Yes, I respect your. Your thinking on that. Yeah. Is there something that. Of my beliefs that you don't agree with but you respect.

[34:53] BARBARA: You mentioned immigration and I wondered. You didn't elaborate on that and they'd be curious because pretty much I feel we are on the same wavelength. I'm getting that sense, which is kind of nice. But what do you think about your immigration? What's your gut feeling about what's going on at the border?

[35:14] HELEN: That we need to put way less money into military and policing and way more money into counselors and helper at the border. So that, I mean, we don't need a wall. We need a. We need people to know, to decide what to do for. For these immigrants and. Yeah. And negotiate together with Mexico and the Central American countries and see if we can help them get the. Get on the right track so people don't have to leave. Yeah. That's. Is that enough?

[36:09] BARBARA: I know. I am concerned myself when I. I don't like the idea of the wall and all this stuff, but at the same time, I feel for the people, the North Americans who live on the border and they don't feel safe in their own homes anymore because they never know who's going to be out in the yard when they go out there in the morning because of illegal people coming through. And some of them are just Struggling families trying to get through, and some of them aren't. And I suppose if they would make the crossing easier, the legal crossing easier, maybe there would be less illegal crossing, I don't know. But then what do you do with all these folks when you get them in here? People talk about the whole employment issue, but right now we've got people in the United States who are unemployed because they don't want to work. And we've got these new people coming in who probably do want to work. And, you know, I'm glad I'm not in government.

[37:13] HELEN: Right. And, and Barbara I, I resonate with that. Yes. Because why are they not asking people to clean up the trash in the streets to earn their money? You know, don't just throw money out at people and expect them then to go to work and make their own living and save that money or something, you know?

[37:49] BARBARA: Yeah, whatever happened to. What was the ccc, Civilian Conservation Corps back in the Depression area?

[37:58] HELEN: Yeah.

[38:02] BARBARA: Something like that. But of course, I know some people can't work for one reason or other, and single mothers, it's pretty hard for them to go out in the woods and clear trails at Yosemite or something like that. But yeah, I think there needs to be more, not just throwing money at people, but more creative solutions to get people back.

[38:27] HELEN: But that, and that employs, that itself employs more people, you know, to get helpers, to help others, to become employed and to work at things. It's a whole infrastructure that we haven't put into place.

[38:50] BARBARA: Yeah, get that in the infrastructure bill.

[38:54] HELEN: Right.

[38:56] BARBARA: Along with a lot of other things. Oh, Mercy, mercy.

[39:00] SPEAKER C: Barbara I just put a question in the chat for you to ask. Helen

[39:05] BARBARA: Helen was there a moment or experience in your life that helped shape your beliefs?

[39:12] HELEN: Oh, definitely. Yeah. When I was in my. Okay. After my high school graduation, I begged my parents and they let me go for a summer stint with our church with an organization called mcc. Don't know if you've heard of that, Mennonite Central Committee that works out of Akron, Pennsylvania, where my aunt worked. And they, they employ young people for the summer to help with disadvantaged children. So I went to Washington D.C. and lived there for the summer to help in a daycare situation and a camp that we sent children to. What a life changing experience it was for me. I was, I lived in the. Oh, now I can't think in a, in a house that was a block long. And that was our daycare center as well. Oh, it belonged to Francis Scott Key. Is that the right one? Anyway, it belonged to One of our founding people. And so there were African men who stayed in that house at the same time as we did. And I don't know how anybody let that happen, but it was. We were young, innocent girls and it was beautiful. It was not a sticky situation at all. And I learned so much. And when I came home from then, from there to my little town in Kansas where we did not let black people stay for night, and, and I had worked with blacks all summer and it was just a life changing thing. And I said at that point, I said, okay, if I need to marry a black in order to unite people, I'll do it. And so that was one of the reasons I went to collect Columbia. I was thinking I was going to go there to find a black husband. Then I realized not all husbands are black. No, I found a white, tall, white, blonde guy. God knew better than I did what I needed.

[42:14] BARBARA: Oh my.

[42:17] HELEN: Yeah. So that was probably my. How about you? What was your life moment or experience in your life that helped shape your beliefs?

[42:28] BARBARA: Well, of course, becoming a Christian was major. That's kind of fundamental. But I was in my mid-20s when that happened. A couple of years later, as I said, I had been involved with Planned Parenthood in the pre abortion days and then abortion began to come on the scene. But I was no longer working with him and we were on the west coast, moved back to the east coast with the Navy and I was in my family doctor's office and he was obviously a pro lifer and he had a lot of pro life literature around which caught my attention and I read some of it. And then shortly thereafter I read an article in Reader's Digest and it was one of these things where it was written from the point of view of a pre born baby little girl. And she was writing to her mom and she was telling her mom about the things she was so excited about doing with her after she was born and looking forward to seeing her face and getting to know her. And it, it was beautifully written. And then all of a sudden it changed and it said, mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, what are they doing to me? Mommy, that hurts. Mommy.

[43:58] HELEN: Mom.

[44:02] BARBARA: And that. I think I became a pro lifer at that moment. And I have been so ever since that. Really?

[44:13] HELEN: Wow, that's powerful. That's powerful. Yeah.

[44:22] BARBARA: And.

[44:22] HELEN: And when, when mothers of fetuses are killed, they allow the murderer to be judged for two lives.

[44:40] BARBARA: Exactly.

[44:41] HELEN: But when. Yeah, but you can take that life away without any recompense.

[44:49] BARBARA: You know something? A while ago I was looking at my dad's will for some reason or other. And that was written in 1985. 86 maybe in Florida. And he included as a stipulation in his will to include any pre born yet to be born child, a child who had been conceived at the time of his death was considered to be one of his heirs. And that apparently held water in Florida law at that point. I was glad to see that. And it might have been standard wording for wills in those days. I don't know.

[45:31] HELEN: Right.

[45:34] SPEAKER C: So we've got five more minutes. I'm going to put a closing question. This question is for both of you to ask one another. So.

[45:43] BARBARA: Yeah.

[45:44] HELEN: Is there anything else you wanted to ask me today but didn't get the chance?

[45:51] BARBARA: Oh, my. I'm trying to think. I feel as if I know you so well already. I know. I really, I'm enjoying this so much.

[46:07] HELEN: Yeah.

[46:10] BARBARA: But asking you something else.

[46:13] HELEN: Okay, let me ask you something.

[46:15] BARBARA: Yes, ma'am. That maybe it'll prompt.

[46:16] HELEN: Yeah. How would you like to be remembered? Like, I sometimes think about what I would like on my tombstone and how would you like to be remembered, Barbara

[46:34] BARBARA: I would like to be remembered as somebody who loved God, a woman after God's own heart, like King David in the Bible. And I worry a lot about what people think about me and I know I shouldn't and I struggle with that all the time, but way down deep I love it was Rick Warren who said, you know, my goal in life is to make God smile. And yeah, I want to be remembered as somebody who made God smile, who loved God. How about you?

[47:11] HELEN: That's, that's awesome. Yeah. And, and when you, when you say that, it reminds me of this Zephaniah passage. God.

[47:30] BARBARA: Sings over you, he rejoices over you with yes, yes.

[47:36] HELEN: Yeah. And I know that makes him happy to think that, yeah, I would like to be known. I would like to be remembered for being a loving grandma and one that and a person who loved the Lord and served him all my days. I remember when I was, I think, as young as 11 years old, I went forward in a, in a service in our church saying when the pastor asked, who wants to live for Christ every day, all day, 24, seven. And I went forward thinking that the whole church would be going forward and I was the only one. And I said, no, it's got to be everybody's desire. And they were all thinking, okay, we're so glad you're going to be a missionary. And I said, that wasn't what I was thinking. But I guess God used that and.

[49:02] BARBARA: He has his ways.

[49:04] HELEN: Yeah. What a. What a special time this has been. So.

[49:09] BARBARA: This has been wonderful, Sonia.

[49:12] HELEN: This is. This has been so super. I. I want to get to know you better, Barbara Is that possibilities on.

[49:21] BARBARA: Yes, I want to.

[49:22] SPEAKER C: Yes, yes. I can connect you both. I can connect you both via email and then you can go from there. Yeah, I'm happy to do that, please. Yeah. Yeah. That is the best outcome. Any conversation that ends with that, I'm just like, I've done my job. So I'm very, very happy to hear that you both. Yeah. Enjoyed this experience. Did you find that you had things like, not in common as well?

[49:56] BARBARA: Just slightly. Very slightly. So, I mean, I'm sure we'll find something else. Like. She really doesn't like strawberries or something.

[50:06] SPEAKER C: Oh, gosh. That is a polarizing belief.

[50:09] BARBARA: I know, I know. Or coffee.

[50:13] SPEAKER C: Oh, no. Oh, my gosh. Well, yeah, that's. You know, what I've been finding with so many interviews is it's really hard to find people who don't have much in common, even people who seem wildly different. I put them together in the same room and they've shared some sort of life experience or. Yeah. So I've been trying to make my matches a little more nuanced to, like, also. With the intent of also connecting people for, you know, future friendships or whatever it may be.