Ep 563 ｜ 'I Took the Vaccine For Her'： Samuel & Annie’s Love Story
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 8 minutes
Words per Minute
177.67416
Summary
Samuel and Annie talk about how they made it through all the hurdles in their relationship to finally get married. They also talk about the trucker convoy and the protests that are still going on in Canada against the vaccine mandates and COID restrictions.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday and happy Valentine's Day. This episode is brought to
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you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Kraft beef, better than organic chicken, shipped right to
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your front door. Super affordable. Just go to goodranchers.com slash Allie. All right, so today
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is Valentine's Day and guys, I have an amazing Valentine's Day themed episode for you. We are
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also going to talk about a little bit of news in the interview that I am about to play for you.
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But the first part of this interview between our friend Samuel Say, whom we've had on I think
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twice before, and his fiance Annie, is about their love story from 2017 to today. He is Canadian,
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she's American. They have had to jump through so many hoops to finally be together and get married
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in a couple of months. You guys are going to be so encouraged listening to their story. I can almost
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guarantee you're going to cry some happy tears a couple of times and also just their proclamation
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of the Lord's goodness and faithfulness, even through all of the struggles that they've had
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over the past few years. Politics also play into their story and the difficulty that they've had
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finally coming together, being together. And so you're just going to love their story. And then
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after we hear all of that, we're going to transition into talking about the trucker convoy and the
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protests that are still happening in Canada against the vaccine mandates and the COVID restrictions.
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Like I said, Samuel is Canadian. And so his heart in a lot of ways is tied to Canada and the freedom
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of the Canadian people. He's going to set the record straight because we keep hearing, again,
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that this is some kind of fascist white supremacist movement. If you know who Samuel Say is,
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I think it's pretty clear that he's not a white supremacist. He's going to correct the record and give
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us a very heartfelt understanding, a heartfelt, genuine, sincere picture of what is actually
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going on there and the real motivations of average people who are pushing for liberty in Canada. So
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you're just going to love this episode. I just know for a fact, this is a great Valentine's Day
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episode, and I'm so excited for you to hear it. So without further ado, here are our friends,
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Sam and Annie. Samuel, Annie, thank you both so much for joining me. Samuel, obviously I have had
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you on the podcast before. Annie, welcome to Relatable for the very first time. We are going
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to start by talking about, well, actually, you know what? Let's, I was going to say, we want to talk
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about, you know, the hurdles that you guys have gone through to get to this point of actually being
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together in the United States. But let's back up a little bit because some of you don't, some of you
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out there don't even know how this couple met, how this all came about. And then we'll kind of
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transition into all of the craziness that stood between you guys and actually being together to
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the point to where you can get married in a couple months. So let's start there. Whoever wants to answer
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how you guys met and what their relationship has been like over the past couple of years.
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Yeah. I can start a little bit first. So a few years ago, I wrote an article on, it was called
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I Am Afraid. And it was me detailing my, all my fears, but especially, ironically enough now,
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my fear of marriage. And at the time when I was writing about that, I thought that I'm being
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vulnerable and sharing a lot of my, my fears. So if I had any chance of a woman having an interest
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in me, after this article, that would end right there. But somehow God had other plans. Essentially
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in the article, I explained that I grew up without a father and, and that had an impact on how I,
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I saw marriage and all my fears were really coming out of that. But then Annie ended up finding that
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article and she commented on it. And there was something about just what she said about how
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she deals with her own fears. And then I couldn't see her face. I could only, um, yeah, I couldn't
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make out her face, but I really wanted to see what she looked like. Not knowing anything would come out
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of that. I just, I became a creep on her social media page. Okay. So let me pause. Let me ask some
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clarifying questions. So Annie first, how did you find his article? And did you comment on a lot of
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articles or like, what stood out to you about that? And what provoked you to actually comment on it?
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So, um, I would read Tim Challey's blog, uh, when I was at work and, you know, I didn't have anything
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really else to do. And he linked to Sam's blog that day. And so I just, I read it and I thought,
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man, I, I tend to be a fearful person as well. And I loved how transparent he was about his fear
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because I tend to just keep it to myself. And so I just said, I love how transparent you are. Like
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you're using your gifts for the kingdom. And at the time I didn't really think anything of it. I
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didn't, I wasn't in the habit of, of, um, commenting on people's blogs. So this was a new
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thing for me. And I don't really know exactly what it is about it that was like, oh, I have to comment
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on it. So really it's just the Lord because it was out of character for me. Yeah. And Samuel,
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what was it about her particular comment that you were like, okay, I want to get to know this person
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a little bit more. Yeah. So I guess it was two parts to that, which is, um, she mentioned how,
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when she is, uh, fearful, she reads hymns and I love hymns. And I would do that, uh, myself in some
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ways, uh, listening to hymns, reading hymns was very big on me. So I was like, oh, wow, that's pretty
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good. But then I just couldn't see her face and I really wanted to see her face. I, there was, yeah,
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I, yeah, I just had an interest. So I went on her Facebook page, Googled her name,
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and I looked at many of her pictures and I was like, oh, wow. And then, um, I think I messaged
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you saying, Hey, not to be a creeper or anything, but I'm the guy, you know, who wrote our article
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you commented on and, uh, you didn't block me right away. So yeah, I appreciate that. Um, yeah,
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that's how we ended up becoming friends. And eventually we started dating.
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So y'all just kind of went back and forth messaging on social media. Obviously she didn't
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think that you were just a stalker. So that's a, that's a good first step. Um, and y'all
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actually did have a pretty profound foundation because you knew that you shared the most important
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thing and that is the love of Christ. Now, when, when did that actually happen?
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That was, uh, in 2017, actually. Okay. So it's been a while. So tell me what happened after
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that, Annie, like, did you guys, um, stay friends for a while? When did you realize that this was
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So at the time I was, I was turning 30 that year and I just assumed, like I had gone through
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a couple of months of like, all right, the Lord wants me to be single. Yeah. And that's
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okay. Right. I took a few months of like mourning the idea of having my own family and what it
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meant to be single. Like, how was I going to use my singleness to glorify God and serve
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in the church? Yeah. And sorry to interrupt you just to expound upon that. Um, is that because
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you had been single for a long time or is that because you had turned 30 that you were kind of
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mourning and accepting the fact that you might be single for a long time? What kind of caused you
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to be sad about that and start praying in that way? Sure. Um, I'd never had a boyfriend before.
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He's my first boyfriend and, um, and all of my siblings, I have five other siblings. I have one
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younger sister who's not married, but all of them are married. They all have children. All of my
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friends have children. And then they're just like me. And so I was just, you know, I was like, okay,
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well, it's I've in my mind, I'm like, it should have happened by now. And it hasn't. And so there
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wasn't that pressure of, or that expectation that he would, he would be a boyfriend or a romantic
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interest. And so we just, we just had a great time talking and it was probably about a month
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after we started talking that, um, he told me he was, there was somebody in his church who was
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trying to set him up with somebody else in his church. And he was like, I wasn't, you know,
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I'm just not very interested. And I was like, I got on my high horse like that. I was like, why
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do you like, what is it about her? Are you, did you even talk to her? Did you even give her a chance?
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Right? Like I'm getting on my high horse and he's just like, well, you know, not really. And
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kind of hedged around it. And I was talking to my dad the next day and he was like, Annie,
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he doesn't want to talk to somebody else because he likes you. And I thought, hold up. I need to like
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rethink all of this. And I thought, well, if he is going out with somebody else, he won't talk to me.
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And I would really, really miss that. And so we just had like this moment and we just started,
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I was like, okay, do you like me? Cause I think I like you. And he's like, yeah,
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but in the back of my mind, I'm still thinking about that article of him being afraid.
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And so I thought, okay, I need to be very aware of that and not push him and allow him to,
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to lead where this relationship is going to go. So he knows that, that I like him and I know that
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he likes me and I need to just be patient and go at his pace. So yeah, that's how it all started.
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So that was 2017. Now Samuel, tell me your perspective of that. Obviously you knew that
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you liked her as soon as you saw her picture and you're like, okay, she's not only smart. She's not
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only godly. She's also beautiful. So obviously you were interested right from the start, right?
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Yeah. Oh, for sure. I was, but knowing that it was long distance.
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Yeah. Cause you're in Canada. So some people don't know you're in Canada, she's in the United States.
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So, and had you guys talked on the phone at this point or was this strictly on social media?
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Yeah. So I think for maybe a month or two, it was over the phone, but then we transitioned to
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speaking, sorry, it was over text. I mean, then we transitioned and speaking over the phone,
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which was a bit of a hurdle for her a little bit. She was not as comfortable immediately. I had to
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kind of convince her. But, but yeah, once, but I was interested, but I, I didn't know what to,
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what to do with it because I was in Toronto or near Toronto and she is in, uh, she's near Columbus
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in Ohio. So I was like, man, that's that long distance, that international dating thing that
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it would be difficult. So I really, I really wasn't quite sure, but it wasn't until I realized that I
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looked forward to talking to her every day that I thought, you know what? Um, I really like her and,
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um, you know, I, I want to try to make this happen. So that's how it all, it all started.
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And tell me what it was. And I'm sure there are many other things you could say now
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that, um, attract you to her or just make you love her and want to marry her. But what was it
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in the beginning that made you just, you know, want to continue talking to her and say, okay,
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even though this is long distance and it's going to be hard, this is worth it. What were those parts
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of her personality or y'all's conversations that made you decide that this commitment was something
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that you wanted to do? Hmm. Yeah. Well, I, I am, um, I, I don't, I'm not someone who likes spending
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too much time. I didn't even have a phone at that time. Really? Yeah. I don't like, I'm a weird
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millennial, uh, I, I don't like phones. So I, but I look forward to talking to her. I, you know,
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I was a hard, I've been for a long time hard to get ahold of, but I wanted her to get ahold of me.
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I wanted her to be, you know, I wanted to talk to her. Um, and that surprised me because I don't
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usually like, you know, spending time on the phone and talking to people about, about life. So I like
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that she was a good, she became a good friend of mine. Um, and also just knowing, you know, how
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different I'm Ghanaian, you know, I'm, I'm in a big city and she is not. And I was fascinated that
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though we are so different, um, we were able to, uh, have a lot of common interests and that really
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surprised me. Um, and I was learning things about her, just even things that she would say,
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she would say things like heavens to Betsy. I'm like, who says that? Who says these things? Um,
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so little things I was just learning that I, I, I really appreciated that. Um, so, and she was able
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to take me out of my comfort zone as well too. And, um, you know, I just felt comfortable with her
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that I, in a way that I have not felt that comfortable with people that I grew up with. And that,
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that really, uh, made a big impression on me. And Annie, when did you guys meet for the first
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time in person? This is a great story. So, um, he did not have the paperwork, um, that would allow
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him to cross the border, but he wanted to meet in person. And so he's like, it was probably,
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uh, three, three or four months after we started talking that he was like, I'd really like to meet
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you in person. And I said, you're going to have to talk to my dad about that. And he was like,
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what? Like you're, you're 30. Like, do you, do we need to do this? And I said, yeah, my dad is my,
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my protector. He's also my pastor. And so he, you know, he, it's his job to protect me. So
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I said, you're going to have to talk to my dad. And my dad said, yeah, she can come meet you
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if her mom and I come with her. Wow. And he said, nah, really Samuel. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So,
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so just remember, Allie, we met because I wrote an article about, I am afraid of marriage. Yeah.
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And now the very first time I'm going to have to meet her is with her parents. Yeah. So I'm thinking
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like, is, are we going to be getting, are we going to get married in like three months? Is that what's
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happening here? So it just was too much for me. So it took me some convincing. I, but I ended up
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realizing that, wait a minute, what am I doing here? Um, I remember I was, I said to you or maybe
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to your dad, like, is this, is this a, I believe in courtship, but I was like, this is an arranged
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marriage. Like, well, what's happening here? I'm, um, you know, it's, it's too much for me. So I ended up
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changing my mind and I said, wait a minute, I'm, I'm being stupid. I'm being foolish. Uh, this is an
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amazing woman. And, uh, let me just meet her parents. And, and when I did, it was, it was great.
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I love, I love her parents and I see God's wisdom in that happening, considering all the issues we had
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later. Um, it was God's providence. So I'm very glad that happened. And what was that first, um,
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what, what, what was that first interaction like? And then where did it go from there? And either of
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you can answer that. Uh, it was kind of like the movies. Uh, he said, let's meet at this, um,
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Thai restaurant. And so, um, my parents were so sweet. They dropped me off so that I could like
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meet him, meet him in person for the first time by myself. So they went and parked the car. And I
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remember I walked around the corner and he had chosen this restaurant that had all windows. And I
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saw him sitting in a seat with all these windows and we make eye contact through the window.
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He gets up, he walks through the door that I kid you not is framed by like these ivory or, um,
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this Ivy, uh, plant. And he has this huge smile on his face. He grabs me in this huge hug. And he said,
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oh, and more beautiful in person. And I was just like, I'm going to remember this forever.
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Yeah. Oh my goodness. That's so sweet. Samuel, were you so excited?
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I was very excited, but I'll also be, I was also very terrified to be honest with you
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because I didn't, so I knew she was coming with her parents. So when I saw just her,
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I'm thinking that her parents are right behind her. And it was very, so I was very excited,
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but I was also like, okay, I want to hold you, but you know, like your dad is going to be
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in the corner. So I was like hugging her and then kind of pushing her away.
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But no, it was, it was, it was surreal. It was, uh, it was, yeah. But yeah, she, I,
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I couldn't have imagined, you know, her being even, you were even more beautiful than I thought you
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would be. And that's just, yeah, that I was, yeah. Okay. So that was, that was 2017 or 18.
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That was 2017. Yeah. That was still 2017. Okay. And then tell me how the relationship
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went from there. Did you see each other several times in person after that or no?
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Yeah, we did. We saw each other several times till 2019. Um, I was still having paperwork issues
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mostly because I lost all my IDs, which made it very difficult for me to get them back. Um,
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so I, yeah, I've given her all my IDs since, since I, uh, I've been here, um, because of that. So
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we started several times in 2019. And then when we were in the process of me, um, getting the, the,
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the visa to come here, that's when COVID happened and changed everything. So from 2017, 2019, we saw
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each other a few times, but then in 20, but then from, from that year, 2019 till 2021, we didn't see
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each other for two years until I saw her in August for the first time since 2019. And then I proposed to
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her. What were those two years like with all the COVID restrictions, making it impossible for you
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guys to see each other? I'm sure it was just so difficult. It was painful. It was, uh, it was very
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painful. Um, yeah, I, it was hard because everything was difficult, right? Just, and, you know, I know we'll
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talk about what's been happening in Canada, but things were difficult for the average person, but
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then doing long distance or international dating, even though we're only separated by seven hours,
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um, it is, it was very difficult. Um, I, it made it, you know, so Skype really saved us. Um, we,
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we did as much as we could to watch movies together through Skype, share screen and, um, talk as much
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as possible, but he would door dash me, uh, food on Saturdays so that we can just like,
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it was so adorable. So we could like eat together and watch movies together and just have a virtual
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date. Now, when he came to visit you in August, did you have a pretty good feeling that he was
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going to propose or were you totally surprised? Well, so I had to go to Canada. Oh, okay. Gotcha.
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Right. So, and that in itself was so nerve wracking. We had to get special permission
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from the government. We had to sign out, we had to sign a paper or fill out a paper that was signed
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by a lawyer that showed we'd been in a relationship for over a year. Wow. Is this Canada's restrictions
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requirements? This is Canada's. Okay. This is Canada's restrictions. So I had to have a negative COVID
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test. Um, in order to get across the border, I had to go through three border patrol agents. Wow. Um,
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I had to, they had to download their health, AKA tracking app that showed on my phone where I was
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the whole time I was in Canada. They called me every other day to make sure I was complying. I had to take
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two COVID tests while I was there. And if I was found to not be complying, what is complying,
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complying with what exactly? So one, yeah. So one thing that, um, we have to mention is she had to
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quarantine mandatory for, uh, 12 or 14 days, which meant that she couldn't leave, um, where she was
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staying. She couldn't leave. So when she got to Canada, she had to quarantine for 12 to 14 days,
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even though I'm guessing you got a negative test, right? Yes. Okay. And so away from you?
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Um, well, I think the rules were that I could come to you, but she couldn't leave the premise,
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uh, um, or she couldn't leave the premises. So now was it like a hotel or was it somewhere that
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they told you that you had to go Annie? No, no. So I stayed at his house with his mom and he stayed
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with friends of his, but they called me every other day to make sure I was complying.
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And, and they, they had the freedom to do random checks, um, throughout the time she was staying.
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And if, if they found out that she was not at my mother's home, they would take her, um, into, um,
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I'm forgetting what they called it, but basically.
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Yeah, that is insane. Okay. So you had to do that for 12 to 14 days. And then what was it like after
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By that time I had to go home cause I had work.
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Right. That's what I was wondering. I was like, wow, how long were you there?
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Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, what we did was I just left my phone. We, we would go out after like eight
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o'clock when we were hoping the government would not be checking up on us. And I would just leave
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the phone at the house and just, we just had to pray a lot that they wouldn't come to check on me.
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Yeah. That is insane. And so tell me about, um, the proposal, Samuel, how you planned for that,
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how you talk to her dad. This is, I'm realizing this is a perfect Valentine's episode. Um, yeah,
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it is. And so tell me just a little bit about that process and then what the proposal was like. And
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then Annie, I would love to hear from you, just your reaction.
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Yeah. So I talked to her dad, um, and I, I got his approval. Um, and, um, I, I, so I knew Annie
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had said to me a long time ago that she always wanted to get proposed to, or was it married under
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an Oak tree. So then I, I, uh, knowing that I did some research into Oak trees, um, around the area.
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And I learned that, well, by research, she's laughing at me because I had no ideas what Oak
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trees really were. So I had to talk to Paul, all my female friends say, look guys, help me out here,
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help her brother out. So they gave me some good advice. And then I got all of our, our friends,
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um, that, that, you know, that know her and we, um, they were all hiding in the bushes,
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uh, like literally hiding in the bushes. And then, um, so since I knew we had to quarantine the very
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first day, I had to propose to her that very day. I didn't want to be proposing to her. And then the
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cops show up and then they stop us or something. So, um, so, um, the very first day we, we, I met her at
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the, at the Niagara border and then we drove to near where we first met. The entire restaurant is
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near a nice park. So we, we got, we, we, um, we parked near the, uh, uh, the area and then we walked
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to the park where I had a friend of mine was a photographer hiding behind the bushes again. And then
00:25:03.220
I just, um, did a walk with her. And then I, as we were coming back around, I just stopped in front of
00:25:10.980
her. I went on one knee and I said that, um, I am not afraid anymore. Um, and, uh, that is so sweet.
00:25:22.560
And then I, um, I, yeah, I just proposed to her and then she started crying and all our friends
00:25:28.040
joined us and we were all, uh, full of tears and, uh, very happy. And, uh, that's how it happened.
00:25:35.180
So Annie, what did you, what did you think? I mean, were you surprised? What was that moment like?
00:25:41.500
So I, you know, I had been so anxious leading up to getting to Canada. Like I, I drove there. Right.
00:25:49.660
And so I didn't know what to expect. I mean, the whole time that they approved each step for me to
00:25:56.900
come, they kept saying, this is no guarantee we'll let you across the border. So when I finally got
00:26:04.780
through the three border patrol agents, I was so relieved. Yeah. I was just like, I was just a
00:26:11.740
bucket of, of tears because I'm like, okay, we finally are together. We hadn't seen each other
00:26:16.700
in two years. You know, I, I was just so incredibly relieved that I wasn't thinking about it too much
00:26:24.980
much earlier. I thought Niagara is a perfect place for him to propose. And when we had stopped to like
00:26:32.760
get some water or whatever, I thought like, wait, he didn't propose at Niagara. And I thought, wait a
00:26:38.900
minute, if he's not going to propose at all, I just might as well turn around and go home because
00:26:43.500
I don't, you know, I was just like, and then I thought he's way more romantic than I am. He
00:26:48.120
probably has something planned. Yeah. Um, so when we drove to, uh, the Toronto area and I started to
00:26:57.240
dawn on me, I was like, wait, I recognize these places. Like, isn't that the place where we had our
00:27:02.100
first date? And then we're walking around the park and I thought, isn't that where we sat on our first
00:27:07.840
date? Like things were starting to click. And then, um, when he stopped me and he said, Annie,
00:27:15.780
I have something to ask you. Then that's when I was like, oh my word, are you for real? And I'd always
00:27:22.040
told myself I wasn't going to be one of those girls who just like started crying and would like, you
00:27:26.820
know, put their hands over their face. I didn't want to be typical. And I was totally typical. Yeah.
00:27:31.900
It's just how it goes. Yeah. Oh my goodness. That's so fun. And when, how quickly did you
00:27:37.280
then have to, um, have to go home after that? Like when did that fall within the trip?
00:27:44.020
Uh, you mean back to Ohio? Yes. Yeah. So, um, I actually left a couple of days earlier than I had
00:27:52.180
planned for, for lots of reasons. A lot of it had to do with, I was, it was, I was very anxious.
00:27:59.480
You know, I was like, they're going to show up at some point because, you know, the Lord had put so
00:28:05.420
many hurdles in front of us that I was just like, it will help me to grow, but I'd rather not go to
00:28:11.320
a state mandated facility. Yeah. You know, it was, it, it was, and I tried not to, to, um, let him know
00:28:19.280
how fearful I was at the time, how anxious I was. Um, and my family was pretty anxious too. And, and so
00:28:26.260
I think it was probably nine or 10 days that I left after getting there. Um, so it was, yeah, it was,
00:28:34.560
it was a good trip, but it was also, you know, it was bittersweet, you know, there's lots of
00:28:39.840
emotions, lots of emotions. Yes. And at that point, you guys probably hadn't necessarily picked a date
00:28:45.800
for the wedding because you just didn't know, right. What it was going to take. And so speaking
00:28:51.960
of hurdles, let's talk about some of the hurdles, Samuel, that you had to jump over in order to get
00:28:57.760
to Annie in the States, because I know even up until like a couple weeks ago, things were kind of
00:29:04.500
up in the air, right? Yeah, man. Um, about the wedding day, people kept asking me when I said, I don't
00:29:11.960
know. Um, we have dates in mind, but it depends on what happens with the visa. So essentially, um, so even
00:29:21.660
to get my, so what's happening is in the visa process right now in Canada is this, um, it's very
00:29:30.500
hard to get an appointment for, for the visa because of COVID restrictions and everything.
00:29:35.620
And, um, as you know, with the vaccine mandates to leave the country, I had to get COVID. I did not
00:29:43.420
want to get COVID. I was really, sorry, I had to get the vaccine. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I had to
00:29:49.660
really wrestle with myself and my conscience and my theology and everything. Um, you know,
00:29:57.200
and at the end of the day, I had to, you know, make the choice that while I absolutely despise,
00:30:03.300
um, being forced and being in that position, Annie is worth it. I love Annie and I will get,
00:30:09.320
um, the, uh, the vaccine for her. And you really didn't want it. Like you really didn't
00:30:14.140
because you had had COVID and, you know, you had talked to a lot about being unvaccinated
00:30:19.300
and so I'm sure even though as much as you love Annie, it was probably a tough decision.
00:30:24.480
I mean, it was just tough to actually follow through with. Right. Absolutely. I actually
00:30:29.740
got the vaccine the day after, uh, I had, um, after I, I had COVID or I had gotten over
00:30:37.380
COVID, which made me even more concerned about the potential health issues. Um, so I, I got
00:30:43.320
it and then finally I, I had the, um, I, I had the, the appointment, which was all the
00:30:50.500
way in Calgary, the other side of the country. The reason why is because the Toronto embassy,
00:30:55.520
uh, the U S embassy in Toronto was essentially closed, has been essentially closed for the
00:30:59.620
last two years, which is one of the reasons why I couldn't come over the last couple of
00:31:03.100
years. So I go to, uh, Calgary, they approve me. Um, they approve the visa. I get back then
00:31:11.280
the next day or two, they send me an email saying, um, there is a snag essentially. That's
00:31:19.340
because 22 years ago, uh, my mom and I, we were in a very difficult position. We were
00:31:24.420
in a shelter for abused women. My, my stepfather, uh, had abused my mom. And for that reason, we
00:31:30.840
were, uh, forced into a shelter, uh, for our protection. And then while I was there 22 years
00:31:37.480
ago, when I was a little boy, um, I had a special trip from the shelter to go to Disney
00:31:43.980
world. And, um, when I went to, so that was 22 years ago, the embassy in Calgary told me
00:31:53.180
that they couldn't go forward with the visa until I would show them proof of my trip to
00:31:59.760
Did they explain why they said, because I didn't have a visa at the time, um, when I
00:32:06.920
went to Disney world, which makes no sense because I was legally approved by the border
00:32:12.140
agents. I mean, I was a kid. I don't remember everything, but I couldn't have gone, gotten
00:32:15.440
yet. Um, and then I tried to get ahold of them after that, but it was hard for me to get
00:32:19.280
ahold of them. So that really, that was terrifying. Cause now I'm like, Oh man, like, what do we
00:32:24.380
do? So, and how, how did they expect you to provide proof? Annie reached out to me, um,
00:32:30.140
you know, when this was happening, um, telling me about this and it just sounded completely
00:32:36.300
illogical. I mean, 22 years ago, what were you supposed to save? Like the paper plane ticket
00:32:46.740
Yeah. They said either my flight ticket, um, or yeah, from 22 years ago or, uh, the Disney
00:32:54.840
world ticket, um, or a letter from the organization, a letter from the organizers of the trip. But
00:33:01.560
the problem is, well, shelters are rightly very secretive and private, right? Cause they're
00:33:07.660
meant to protect the women. So for me to even get ahold of them after all this time seemed
00:33:12.000
impossible. So that really scared me. Cause I was like, I don't think I can ever really
00:33:16.340
find evidence of this trip. So, um, that made it very difficult knowing we were finally so close
00:33:22.920
and then now we seem so far away. So, um, we made them calls to, I think it's okay with us saying
00:33:30.460
this, we made calls to a Jim Jordan's office because that's Annie's Congressman. And, um, they,
00:33:37.980
man, they've been so good to us. Uh, I'm just, uh, yeah. Annie and I wept, um, just knowing how much
00:33:45.920
they were so, they were so kind of staffers. I've worked with them multiple times in different
00:33:49.860
ways and he's great, but, um, his staff has always just been so kind. And so I'm so glad
00:33:55.160
to hear that they were that way to you guys too. Yeah. Basically all she did, uh, all the,
00:34:02.260
the staffer did was call the embassy to say, wait a minute, there's a, there's a statute of
00:34:07.680
limitations of 10 years for these kinds of things. And just by saying that, saying, look,
00:34:12.580
you're not being fair to Sam, you're not being fair to him. They said, you know what? We have
00:34:16.540
everything we need. We will go forward with the process. So I wonder what the motivation was. I
00:34:21.400
mean, it's hard for me not to think that it's a little political. You're very outspoken about your
00:34:27.160
views that they would consider, you know, conservative views. And so it's kind of hard for me
00:34:32.940
not to think that that could have been part of it. I don't know. Yeah. Annie and I both considered
00:34:38.820
that. It was very difficult. There are certain things that I would sometimes wonder, should I
00:34:43.220
say this publicly knowing that we were in the process of getting this visa? Um, and it seems,
00:34:49.720
it seems very possible that that could have played a role in all of the troubles that we've had.
00:34:55.140
Yeah. Because before that he was working with the pro-life organization, CCVR. And, um, you know,
00:35:03.720
even, even before all of this, they kept putting off the visa process on their website, it says you
00:35:12.720
can have your visa within 90 days. And he had applied in October of 2018. And it was just,
00:35:20.940
he would call them and it was like, well, it's still in process. It's still in process. I mean,
00:35:27.680
it was just a constant, it's still in process. Wow. And there were, there was more than one time
00:35:34.280
that I thought, well, you know, I, I wonder, I wonder if it's because of his views. I wonder if
00:35:43.780
it's, you know, because they don't like what they, what he is saying. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't put
00:35:49.720
anything, I wouldn't put anything past them, unfortunately, but I mean, thank the Lord,
00:35:55.220
praise the Lord that everything ended up working out and that now you're there in the United States
00:36:01.080
together. Um, what is the, like, are you here for good? What's the process from here on out? And I
00:36:06.900
know you guys are planning on getting married in a couple months. Um, what does it look like for you
00:36:11.460
though, staying together in the States? Yeah. The, the, uh, plan is that I'll be staying in Ohio,
00:36:17.560
uh, for good. Um, and, um, you know, where, when we get married, we'll, we'll be, um, yeah, just,
00:36:25.120
you know, finally being able to stay together, live together, uh, after all these, all this time,
00:36:29.980
it's very exciting. Um, you know, all of our dreams have come true. So yeah, that's, that's the plan.
00:36:35.500
We're getting married on, on, uh, we're getting married in, uh, April, uh, April 23rd. And, um,
00:36:41.900
yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's surreal to me in many ways. Just this morning I saw her and I was
00:36:47.540
just, just kind of dancing and being silly. She's like, what's going on with you? I'm just happy
00:36:51.940
that I can wake up in the morning and, and then, um, you know, I'm staying somewhere else and she's
00:36:56.780
staying elsewhere, but then I just see her and then we, uh, we can just, you know, be a couple.
00:37:01.400
We're going to have our, we're going to have our first Valentine's day, um, you know, time together.
00:37:06.740
We've always had to celebrate it, you know, apart, but now we can finally celebrate it together.
00:37:12.660
Oh, that's amazing. Well, I am so happy for you guys and I've loved just seeing your relationship
00:37:17.860
and also just how you guys have remained so joyful and so steadfast, um, amidst what has
00:37:26.620
been probably the happiest and the hardest. I mean, I can't say the hardest time of your
00:37:30.700
lives, but maybe one of the most difficult times of your lives. I mean, waiting is difficult
00:37:35.680
and I'm sure it, at some points the waiting seemed indefinite and it was probably difficult
00:37:41.760
to understand why the Lord was doing what he was doing. Can both of you individually just kind of
00:37:47.420
give some advice to people who may be there in a similar position as you guys, or maybe they're
00:37:53.280
just in a period of waiting and not understanding why the Lord seems to be putting obstacles in front
00:37:59.880
of what is a good thing. Marriage, you guys being together is a good thing. And yet it was not an
00:38:05.140
easy road. And in a lot of different ways, people find themselves in a similar position and maybe
00:38:10.280
they're even questioning the Lord's goodness or faithfulness to them. Can you both just give kind
00:38:14.640
of a word of encouragement to people who might be feeling the same way in a similar position?
00:38:19.340
Yeah, it's, it was very, very difficult. The first couple of years, especially where it was like,
00:38:26.740
is this the right thing to do? Is the Lord telling me that I, that we shouldn't be together or I
00:38:32.680
shouldn't be waiting. Um, and I, you know, something that he helped me with a lot is, are you waiting for
00:38:43.160
Jesus the way that you're waiting for me? Are you waiting for the Lord coming back the way,
00:38:49.340
that you're waiting for me? That was a huge, like game changer for me because it put things into
00:38:57.080
perspective. I need to be waiting for the Lord the way that I'm waiting for him. And one of the big
00:39:05.180
things that we learned is to think about God's promises, how God has kept his promises throughout
00:39:13.760
this whole time. Um, when he got here, he got a series of letters that I think it's like a,
00:39:21.620
over 120 pages of, of me just writing to him over the last few years about, remember when this
00:39:30.040
happened, this is why you're not here yet. This is why you're not here for him. And also why you're
00:39:36.940
not here for me. I was able to open my home to a girl who needed a place to live. Um, she's 18 and
00:39:45.440
in a hard, hard home. And it wouldn't have been possible if he had been here. Right. So things like
00:39:51.420
that, they could have been big things. Some of them were little things that kept us remembering why we
00:39:58.420
were apart and that it was God's, it was for God's glory and our good. And it was, that is what made
00:40:06.960
us joyful. And that is what made us, um, you know, be together for as long as we were because we do not
00:40:14.560
recommend five years of dating. Yeah. In general, if you can avoid it, um, not your first recommendation
00:40:22.040
under said, well, thank you so much. And Samuel, what would you say? Yeah, I would say one of the
00:40:27.940
things that I'm so grateful for, and it sounds weird. Uh, we it's, it's shocking. It's weird for
00:40:34.240
us that it's been five years. Um, but yet we are gratefully thankful for them because it's built our
00:40:40.560
character. And I know for a fact that said this to Annie, that given my fears of marriage, um,
00:40:48.180
I think God used those five years to, to kill that fear because if seen those five years,
00:40:58.700
seeing the adversity we've had to overcome, I have, cause I was very afraid because, you know,
00:41:04.340
my father, um, left before I was born because of adversity. Uh, he left my mother and me, uh,
00:41:10.460
before I was born. And I've always been afraid that what if I do that too, when I get married,
00:41:15.380
but you know, over the last five years, we've had so much adversity, but, uh, we've not left each
00:41:20.300
other. Uh, we've had some very, very difficult moments, um, individually together, but yet we've
00:41:28.140
stuck together and, you know, leaving, I'm, I'm about to, uh, I'm, you know, leaving my, my, my mom,
00:41:34.740
who I'm very, very close to. Um, and that's hard. She's a single mother and she's, you know,
00:41:40.320
struggling accepting that I'm leaving and that was hard, but you know what, if I had left a year or
00:41:45.320
two before, um, I mean, during our relationship, it would have been even harder for me to cleave to
00:41:51.320
you knowing how close I am to my mom. So over the last five years, God has used the difficulty to
00:41:57.080
really, um, kill a lot of the, um, the sins and the, um, the insecurities and fears that I had to
00:42:05.300
help me to become a better man and hopefully a better husband, uh, for Annie. Yeah. And you know,
00:42:11.100
we probably don't even know everything that God is going to use this difficult waiting period for,
00:42:18.800
who knows what you're going to endure throughout your lives and throughout your marriage together,
00:42:22.740
that you'll still be able to look back at the time that you guys were dating and everything you went
00:42:27.800
through together and say, wow, God started teaching us the lesson that is helping us now way back in
00:42:33.640
2018 or 2019 or whenever it was. And so, I mean, the Lord's glory seems to just kind of work like
00:42:40.900
that. It doesn't necessarily reveal itself all at once. And he doesn't always promise to give us
00:42:45.560
the answers for our whys, but very often he shows us that kind of shimmer of light that gives us
00:42:51.160
clarity on something that was just confounding us at the time. And then maybe it's 20 years later,
00:42:56.500
we look back and say, wow, I really am seeing how the Lord is using this, as you said, Annie,
00:43:01.440
for his glory and our good. So I'm excited for just the testimony that you guys already have,
00:43:07.460
but will continue to have for the rest of your lives. Really the story that has already been
00:43:12.760
written between you guys is, um, is going to last, like its impact is going to last. And then
00:43:21.140
who knows the wonderful things that the Lord is going to do through you guys as you guys are married.
00:43:26.320
So I'm really excited about that. This is like such a strange way to shift gears and we won't
00:43:35.860
spend quite as much time on this second part of the interview, but I did want to talk to you,
00:43:41.240
Samuel. And of course, Annie, you can always step in and give your opinion on this, but since you are
00:43:45.840
Canadian, Samuel, I want to talk about, um, some of the things that are going on in Canada right now,
00:43:52.980
in particular with this, um, freedom convoy. And actually, before I get your take,
00:43:59.080
I'm going to play a montage of how the media is portraying what's going on in Canada with this
00:44:06.800
truckers convoy. And you can tell me if you think the media is correct in their assessment.
00:44:14.680
Sedition, insurrection, a threat to democracy. This city is under siege. They are now calling it an
00:44:20.200
occupation. Alarming situation there in Ottawa. The police chief is calling it a nationwide
00:44:24.320
insurrection driven by madness. This is kind of our insurrection by air horn moment. I think it's
00:44:32.020
part of the globalization of Trumpism. Canadians know where I stand. There hasn't been as much
00:44:36.080
violence as some had perhaps projected, but that does not necessarily mean that it has been peaceful.
00:44:40.900
Reports of severe vandalism and criminal behavior. Streets are clogged. The honking is incessant and
00:44:46.740
deafening. This pandemic has sucked for all Canadians. Residents that I have spoken to who
00:44:52.840
say they feel terrorized, intimidated. Residents say they feel like hostages. Residents in that area
00:44:59.120
say that they are being held hostage, that this freedom has essentially, this freedom convoy,
00:45:04.000
as they call it, has essentially imposed a lockdown on them. Oh my goodness. So there's a lot. And there's
00:45:09.900
obviously, um, you know, Trudeau has said in the past that these people hold unacceptable views.
00:45:15.320
He said that they are misogynist, they're racist, they're white supremacists. And so I would just
00:45:21.420
love to hear your response to that, Samuel, as someone who is on the side of freedom and who is
00:45:26.300
a Canadian. It's, it's absurd. Um, so much so that, uh, most Canadians now are at least maybe at least
00:45:35.740
half of Canadians are on the side of the, uh, the truckers because they know it's all lies. This is
00:45:41.700
nowhere near violent. It's, that is the most bold faced lie out there. In fact, it's been shockingly
00:45:47.500
nonviolent. Um, many of us were expecting that you'd have a small group of people out there who
00:45:53.120
might cause trouble. There's been none of that. There've been, I think, seven total arrests, um,
00:45:58.000
over the last two weeks. And they've not been for any kind of violence. They've been for, um,
00:46:02.900
things like, uh, licenses being suspended or honking horns, uh, which is now, uh, illegal in
00:46:09.760
Ottawa. It's been for very minor things that really is just a way for the, for the police to
00:46:15.580
just try to trouble, um, the, the, uh, protesters. But there's been no violence whatsoever. And the
00:46:21.700
white supremacy aspect is all lies. It's actually quite offensive because I have friends there. Many
00:46:26.920
of them are not white who are there. I have white friends there and they are not white supremacists.
00:46:32.200
Um, this whole thing is just, you know, part of their playbook to try to paint anybody that they
00:46:37.040
don't agree with as a white supremacist because they know Canadians or Americans or everyone around
00:46:41.680
the world hates white supremacy. So if they say that they think frankly, uh, to be, to be very blunt,
00:46:47.400
they think black Canadians and black people are stupid enough that if they say that this thing is
00:46:52.180
white supremacy, they will say, Oh, that's that. Then it has to be true. Then they don't think
00:46:56.340
that we can think for ourselves. Um, and the thing is this, not only are half of Canadians
00:47:00.940
supporting the VAX, um, supporting the truckers, the, the majority of black Canadians are supporting
00:47:07.040
the truckers because they have been the most, we have been the most affected with, um, the vaccine
00:47:12.400
mandates out there. So the media of course is lying and they're, uh, but unfortunately it's not
00:47:18.100
surprising. This is according to the Ottawa citizen saying police had had so far made 23 arrests,
00:47:24.700
issued more than 1300 tickets were conducting 79 criminal investigations in connection with
00:47:29.100
the demonstrations. That's what the Ottawa police have said. They had also seized fuel and cut off
00:47:34.320
material, financial, and logistical support to the occupation. And so they, they got GoFundMe,
00:47:40.180
they pressured GoFundMe, they admitted this on Twitter, um, to ensure that the donations that,
00:47:46.640
you know, average citizens, people in the United States, people in Canada, probably worldwide had
00:47:51.300
donated. I think the average donation amount was like $70. So we're not talking about like these
00:47:57.200
huge billionaires, these political activists or organizations that are funding this. These are just
00:48:02.660
average people also tired of the mandates, vaccinated, unvaccinated, liberal, Republican,
00:48:07.980
doesn't matter. Um, who just wanted to support these truckers and the peaceful protesters there.
00:48:13.960
Ottawa police said, no, GoFundMe said, okay. And now they're saying this other funding
00:48:18.480
organization, GiveSendGo, which has said they're a Christian organization. They've said, yeah,
00:48:23.260
yeah, we're on the side of, of Liberty. Uh, they are now saying the Ottawa police and the Canadian
00:48:29.260
government is saying that they are going to try to somehow stifle the attempts of people who donated
00:48:35.420
through GiveSendGo to be able to support these protesters. Uh, this article also says police have
00:48:41.620
warned of arrests and charges for anyone transporting diesel and other fuels to demonstrators
00:48:46.860
downtown who are idling their trucks to keep warm, but protesters are finding ways to bring it in.
00:48:52.880
They have begun filling gas cans with water, distracting officers or otherwise attempting to
00:48:58.700
subvert our efforts. I mean, this is a stunning use of police power to try to thwart people's right to
00:49:06.580
protest. Yeah, it is. It's, I'll be honest with you before this interview, um, I was in tears, um,
00:49:13.940
because I'm, I'm very sad about what's happening in my country. Um, Canada has been authority, you know,
00:49:20.100
authoritarian for a while, especially with the last couple of years, but in response to these
00:49:25.280
truckers, it's been shocking what's happening. Um, including some of the supposedly conservative
00:49:31.180
politicians in Canada. Um, it's, it's, it's difficult. Um, what's encouraging though is, um,
00:49:38.060
a growing majority, not, not the fringe, um, but a growing majority of Canadians are finally fed up.
00:49:44.860
And that's in part because people are praying. I have, man, the stories I could share with you
00:49:49.740
about what's happening there. I have friends there who are sharing the gospel, uh, to people and
00:49:54.260
they're listening. People are praying. You have Bible studies going on there. You have, you have wives
00:50:00.080
and children who've not seen their husbands or fathers for the last two weeks, driving across the
00:50:06.460
country to go see their husbands and to encourage them to stay there because they're protecting their,
00:50:12.360
their wives and their children. Uh, sorry, I don't mean to get emotional, but you know, um, you know,
00:50:18.120
people, so, so I can imagine how hard it is for a family, for them to not see the, you know, the leader
00:50:23.340
of the home for so long. And yet they know they're trying to just protect their families and to protect
00:50:28.060
Canada because it is shocking what's happening. The misrepresentation of the people who are there has
00:50:33.640
really been painful to watch because like you said, I mean, of course you're going to have bad
00:50:39.360
actors and you're going to have people who unfortunately don't represent the true mission
00:50:43.780
of any movement that, that can just happen. But the attempt of the media, which, you know,
00:50:50.260
we're so used to in the United States to take a few people or to take one or two kind of rogue
00:50:56.400
actors in actions and say that this is representative of the tens of thousands of people,
00:51:01.060
maybe hundreds of thousands of people who are peacefully demonstrating and protesting for good
00:51:06.540
means. Um, it's really hurtful. It's really painful. I mean, I've seen several interviews,
00:51:10.920
you're talking pastors, you're talking just, you know, your average working class person, fathers,
00:51:17.580
children, mothers, um, really just so genuine and sincere in their effort to push back against
00:51:25.920
mandates that have really hurt people's lives and livelihoods. That's what it's about.
00:51:30.900
What's been stunning to me. I say stunning. No, it hasn't been stunning. It's been very
00:51:36.160
predictable. Um, seeing people here in the left in the United States who they call themselves pro
00:51:42.800
worker. And actually when the BLM and Antifa riots were happening and the looting was happening,
00:51:47.980
which I would argue was totally disconnected from anything that happened with the police,
00:51:51.500
they were just taking the opportunity to do so. You had them saying, well, riots are the voice of the
00:51:56.440
unheard. And even the violence, the assaults, the murders, um, the arson that was happening here in
00:52:02.280
the United States were excused by many people on the left saying this is a pro worker, anti-capitalist,
00:52:08.340
anti-police state revolution. Well, now you have peaceful demonstrators who are using, uh,
00:52:14.700
peaceful means to push back actual, uh, against actual tyranny. And you're not hearing, well,
00:52:21.640
protests are the voice of the unheard of her, uh, of the unheard. You're actually hearing that that's
00:52:26.140
a form of fascism. The protests for Liberty are a form of fascism. So the pro worker socialists here
00:52:34.120
in the United States who think that there needs to be a proletariat revolution against capitalism,
00:52:39.020
they're watching this pro worker revolution and protests happen in Canada. And they're saying,
00:52:44.800
no, that's fascism. That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. That's because the socialists,
00:52:50.740
they don't love protest or freedom of speech or Liberty, right? They want statism. They want,
00:52:57.720
they want authoritarianism. They want communism, which is why they support Antifa or black lives matter.
00:53:03.260
But even if a proletariat, even if, uh, the, um, um, even if the working class is getting harmed
00:53:11.860
significantly by these mandates and they're fed up and they're peacefully protesting because they are
00:53:17.480
not status, because they are not, um, um, protesting for authoritarianism, because they are protesting for
00:53:23.260
freedom and Liberty, which goes against socialism and communism, then they stand against them. And
00:53:28.580
one of the things that's been very encouraging is this is an anti-elitist movement. These truckers,
00:53:34.760
they're not the intellectuals. They're not the experts, right? They are just people who are trying
00:53:40.200
to protect their families and their country. And that is why the media in part hates them so much
00:53:47.520
because they're not one of their own, right? They're not the, the, the guys in the media or the,
00:53:54.480
or big pharma pushing a lot of these mandates is just people, the average person who can speak for
00:54:01.080
the average person saying, no, enough is enough. And that's why so many Canadians are standing,
00:54:07.020
uh, signing up for them as well too. Yep. And there, I just saw a report that there are farmers
00:54:13.180
actually who are now taking part of the protest. They've got their tractors. They're doing the same
00:54:18.180
thing. The big story of course, is that the ambassador bridge, which is a key trading link
00:54:23.940
between the United States and Canada is temporarily closed because of these protests, um, against these
00:54:32.040
vaccine mandates and other restrictions. And so now you've got Americans, um, who are kind of upset
00:54:37.440
about this, angry about this. But again, I just go back to so much of the hypocrisy. I mean, we have
00:54:43.680
seen much, I mean, violent protests here in the United States for causes that I don't agree with
00:54:49.760
that are doing more than inconveniencing, doing more than stopping supplies, but actually ruining
00:54:54.840
whole communities. And the very same people that are angry about the, you know, this bridge being
00:55:00.580
congested or in a gridlock were defending. I mean, the absolute decimation of cities here in the United
00:55:07.060
States. It's, it's not hard for me to understand because Samuel goes back to what you said. They're
00:55:11.940
for one cause. They're not for the cause of liberty. And so they're okay when it's violence and
00:55:16.580
inconvenience and all of that stuff on the other side, but not on the side of liberty. Now, are you
00:55:22.620
hopeful? Because we have seen some provinces, we've, we've seen them roll back some restrictions,
00:55:27.880
or at least say that they're going to. Now, Saskatchewan, I've heard is more rural,
00:55:32.060
they're more conservative. So it was kind of expected for that to happen there. But then
00:55:35.080
you've got Alberta and you've got some other places in Canada saying that they're going to
00:55:39.060
lift these restrictions. Are you optimistic that the change is going to happen? Or are you a little
00:55:45.040
bit cynical that these politicians are being sincere? I'm cynical yet optimistic. I'm cynical because
00:55:52.660
they're only not doing this because they really believe that the mandates are wrong. They're doing
00:55:57.060
this because there are elections coming up and they're seeing that. See, Ali, this, this whole
00:56:02.540
thing has been shocking to me in terms of the, um, the protests because Canadians are, this is the
00:56:07.820
biggest protest in Canadian history. We are very compliant nation. I mean, remember we are, we are
00:56:13.200
the loyalists, right? We said, no, not like those Americans. We will stay loyal to you, Britain. In fact,
00:56:18.680
Britain had to tell us, guys, please go make your own country. That's how we became an independent
00:56:23.120
nation. So for this to be happening is so encouraging. That's funny. I haven't thought
00:56:27.080
about that. I mean, I know that, you know, Canadian attitude is more compliant, but I hadn't
00:56:31.440
thought about, you know, that historical aspect. Yeah. So this is encouraging knowing that Canadians
00:56:37.780
are finally fed up and that just goes to show how bad things are for Canadians to say, no way,
00:56:42.920
no more. Um, so it's encouraging. And even in Saskatchewan, that's very encouraging. That is a,
00:56:48.300
the, the, the premier there is very sincere. Alberta, Jason Kenney, I don't, I don't think he's
00:56:56.500
sincere. Um, cause he's, he's still going to keep a form of the mandates around. He's just, um,
00:57:04.160
seemingly just kind of virtue signaling right now because he knows as a conservative, uh, premier
00:57:08.640
that his job might be in trouble because Canadians are finally fed up. At least conservatives are
00:57:13.540
finally fed up in Ontario. Um, I'm hearing that today, the premier will be announcing an anti-vaccine
00:57:20.780
mandates as well too. The problem is at the same time, he's announced that he's going to make the
00:57:26.960
emergency powers that they've received for the last two years, more permanent. So, which is pretty
00:57:32.080
scary. They've been able to destroy our civil liberties because of the emergency powers. And he's
00:57:39.660
just said now they're going to try to implement it into law. So it's, it's bittersweet that it's
00:57:45.940
encouraging knowing that there's, that they, they know that there's pressure against them now,
00:57:49.900
but yet it's hard to believe they will simply let go of their power that easily.
00:57:55.220
People will remember because we interviewed Aaron Coates when her husband was in jail
00:57:59.780
for preaching. We also interviewed James Coates when he, um, got out of jail. And I mean,
00:58:05.960
some of these conservative, uh, and I use scare quotes for people that are listening to this,
00:58:12.140
uh, leaders in Canada, they were silent about it. They had the power to do something and they
00:58:17.720
really didn't. Again, it took so much pushback, not just from people in Canada, but also from people
00:58:24.120
in the United States saying, you can't do that. Um, and now it seems like the same kind of thing is
00:58:30.480
happening. Not that it was America that motivated the trucker convoy. Maybe some Canadians
00:58:35.540
think that, um, but it is, it seems like it takes the combined voices of Americans and Canadians
00:58:43.080
to kind of really push back against what's happening in Canada. And I wonder Samuel, if you think
00:58:49.420
that at some point, Justin Trudeau and all of his crazy cowardice is going to budge on this.
00:58:58.960
Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, quickly about the American influence. I think America has
00:59:05.120
influenced this in a brief way, you know, so when Annie came to visit, uh, Canada just six months
00:59:10.580
ago, she, she was in shock about what was happening because in a sense, at least in Ohio, you guys kind
00:59:15.960
of moved on from the, you know, the COVID really in a summer of 2020. Yeah. We are, Ontario right now
00:59:23.960
is still under lockdown still. And so we've had four lockdowns already. So I think when Canadians
00:59:30.060
see what's happening in America, that you guys have mostly moved on. Some democratic states are still,
00:59:37.040
you know, hanging onto it. And I think this week they're trying to move away from that now, but still
00:59:41.280
when we see that stadiums are full and everything, it's like, wait a minute, why are we still doing
00:59:46.240
this? So I think that's been the real influence from America in that way. I also think, uh, what,
00:59:51.700
what happened with James Coates really galvanized a lot of Christians start praying. Uh, we don't
00:59:58.020
know what, we don't know God's province. We don't know everything, but I think in heaven,
01:00:01.480
I would not be surprised if we see all the prayers that the church has been doing is one
01:00:08.900
of the reasons why this started. I know Aaron, Aaron Coates has mentioned this. And I think even
01:00:12.700
the non-violence nature of this, people are praying. And I think that's a big part of this
01:00:16.980
in terms of Justin Trudeau. Well, he, so far three of, uh, three of the members of the liberal
01:00:23.040
party have, are now dissenting saying that he's being divisive and that he needs to come up with
01:00:28.620
a plan to end the vaccine mandates. That's pretty big. Yeah. So I think that pressure from Canadians,
01:00:35.700
the conservative party, and then, um, now the three liberals who are dissenting against his own
01:00:41.080
policies is putting pressure on him that I think eventually, I don't know when, but I think it
01:00:46.260
will get worse before it gets better. I'm no, I have, I'm very comfortable about that, but I think
01:00:50.260
eventually he will relent and he will end the vaccine mandates, except he will blame, he will say it's
01:00:56.820
science that's making him do so instead of, um, the, the convoy, um, um, being the reason why
01:01:03.420
he is vaccine mandates. You know, it's so interesting how liberals in Canada and liberals in the United
01:01:09.620
States and really just liberals abroad, they seem to be like in lockstep. I don't know if they have
01:01:14.900
like the same email of talking points that comes out every morning, but we're saying we're seeing
01:01:19.820
the same thing here in the States, obviously that all of a sudden they're saying, Oh yeah,
01:01:23.140
we don't need to do mask mandates anymore. Maybe no vaccine mandates either because the science has
01:01:27.940
changed. Of course, just like they've done over the past two years, they never tell us the science
01:01:32.640
that has actually motivated their change in policy. And on Thursday we interviewed someone who was a part of
01:01:38.260
the Trump white house and the COVID task force. And he was talking about how Anthony Fauci, Deborah
01:01:43.100
Birx and the rest of them, they actually never brought any scientific literature to any meetings
01:01:48.720
whatsoever to say, Hey, this is why we think we should be masking children. The same thing happens
01:01:54.100
with the CDC. There have been journalists here who have tried to reach out to the CDC and say, Hey,
01:01:58.780
can you show us the data behind why we are masking two-year-olds when the WHO doesn't even recommend
01:02:04.020
that when countries around the world aren't doing that? The CDC has never responded with any kind of
01:02:09.020
science. And yet you have an entire political party here who thinks they have a monopoly on science.
01:02:14.020
It's not scientific at all, but the playbook, it's just seems universal. Democrats here are doing the
01:02:19.860
same thing. They're going to say, Oh yeah, it was the science. Please vote for us in the midterms.
01:02:23.860
Same kind of thing happening. Yeah, absolutely. And in fact, uh, so the catalyst for the freedom,
01:02:30.020
uh, convoy was really that it was the latest update to the vaccine mandates here. We've had
01:02:35.480
the vaccine mandates since the fall here, but what started the whole thing was, um, they, they forced
01:02:41.980
Canadian truckers to have to be vaccinated before they could cross the border. And that's what really
01:02:46.460
changed things. Now I mentioned that because when they introduced that update, um, conservative
01:02:52.860
asked them, what's the science behind this, how are truckers going to be, you know, going to be,
01:02:59.100
uh, uh, infecting other people. And they could not, they truly did not have an answer. They didn't.
01:03:05.320
So the science is clearly on, it's not on their side, but yet they will, they'll point to that.
01:03:11.760
I'm guessing that as it gets warmer and then, um, you have more COVID cases going down, then they will,
01:03:17.940
they will point to the lower cases to say, well, here's why we should end the vaccine mandates.
01:03:21.620
Although that's been, that's been true for the last two years anyway, but they've been maintaining
01:03:26.580
them. Yeah. And there's really no data showing if you show the most vaccinated countries around the
01:03:32.660
world or countries that have had mask mandates, there's really no significant difference in, um,
01:03:40.360
case counts, uh, in countries that didn't have any vaccine mandates. So yeah, it's really interesting.
01:03:47.620
I don't know if we'll ever know really what's going on behind the scenes. I think that there's
01:03:52.100
a lot that we could get into and speculate about that. Um, but I appreciate you guys so much. I
01:03:58.220
appreciate your voice, Samuel. I appreciate everything you do, Annie, and for taking the time to come on and
01:04:05.100
tell us your story. I know people are going to love this and also just pushing for liberty and basic
01:04:11.160
human rights. Uh, we've seen that it actually takes us beating the same drum for years in order for the
01:04:20.120
government to catch up and say, Oh yeah. Okay. People are pushing back against this. Maybe we
01:04:24.820
should finally listen to them. And it takes compliant Canadians to wake up and say, Oh, freedom is a good
01:04:30.660
thing and push back against that. And I'm thankful for that. Yeah. I am too. I just this morning,
01:04:36.400
I saw pictures of, uh, the convoy in Australia, um, you know, and that was very encouraging to think
01:04:44.520
that Canadians could be the catalyst, um, for, um, you know, for making the movement to protest
01:04:51.000
against vaccine mandates even bigger is very encouraging. Uh, very, very encouraging because
01:04:56.460
who would have thought we Canadians, uh, might play a big role in supporting freedom.
01:05:00.920
Leading the world in freedom. Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, God bless you both. And, um,
01:05:08.420
congratulations on marriage. Just a couple more months. Marriage is awesome. I know that you guys
01:05:13.120
already know that, but it truly is. I mean, it's just wonderful and I'm so excited for you guys. So
01:05:19.220
thank you so much for taking the time to come on. Thank you so much. We love you. We're very grateful for
01:05:30.920
Okay, guys. I know you loved that conversation. I did too. All right. You guys may know my birthday
01:05:38.000
is on Friday. We're going to have a bonus birthday episode. I'm turning 30. There is,
01:05:43.800
there are a couple of things that I want to remind you of that I talked about on Instagram. I am
01:05:50.800
partnering with the pregnancy center down in Texas. I've partnered with them before and they really
01:05:55.520
need donations. They need big donations. They're, they need cribs. They need pack and plays. They
01:06:01.280
need, um, they need car seats, but they also need the normal stuff like diapers and onesies and
01:06:07.360
pacifiers and things like that. They serve women in crisis, women in need who are choosing life
01:06:13.380
for their babies. I've met a lot of these women. They are wonderful. They come to this center. They get
01:06:18.840
free ultrasound, uh, pregnancy tests, parenting classes, education courses, all that stuff. This
01:06:25.340
center is truly doing the Lord's work and disproving the myth that pro-lifers are just pro-birth. And I
01:06:33.260
love this center and everything that they are doing. We have, uh, sent them a lot of things in the past,
01:06:39.520
thousands and thousands of items. So they've got an Amazon registry that is available for you guys to
01:06:46.700
click on. I'll put it in the description of this episode. I'll post it on Instagram again,
01:06:50.200
and you can go and you can just donate an item. You can also donate money toward a big item like a
01:06:57.540
crib. So if you don't want to pay the 300 or whatever dollars for a crib, you can just donate
01:07:01.720
$50 towards that. And that really does help. And so this is just kind of something that I do for my
01:07:07.460
birthdays. And I think I've also done it both pregnancies too. And it's an easy way to put your money
01:07:13.580
where your mouth is and really make a significant difference for this. All right. I've got one more
01:07:19.160
thing to say, and that is I want your voicemails for Friday too, for our bonus episode, which is
01:07:24.340
going to be a really fun episode. So I'm going to be talking about life things and turning 30 and all
01:07:30.920
of that. There'll be something for everyone. Uh, but I want, I want, if you are 30 plus, send me
01:07:38.660
your advice, not just for me, but for the audience, just life advice that you've gotten,
01:07:44.820
that you've really appreciated, um, or something that you learned in your twenties advice that you
01:07:50.720
have either for me going into my thirties or life advice for people in their twenties, I'll be doing
01:07:56.560
a lot of that too. Um, call 682-503-1369 leave a voicemail. I can't play all of them. I would love to,
01:08:02.960
I appreciate every single voicemail, but I'll just play a few of them on Friday. That's 682-503-1369,
01:08:09.740
682-503-1369. All right. That's all we've got for today. I will see you guys back here tomorrow.