Juan De La Cruz
Episode 133

Narrator: Welcome, friends, to another episode of The Story & Experience podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome, friends, to another episode of Story & Experience Podcast. I'm here at Adventist Health White Memorial in East LA with none other than... Well, I'm going to introduce in a second. You'll see why I had to do a little drum roll for this particular person. They are interesting, interesting fellow, and it's a good thing. It's a good thing. So I'm delighted to be able to speak to them. If you are brand new to the podcast, we have 100 questions. They progressively become more vulnerable about stories and experiences that shape this person into the leader that they are today. I didn't offer you any water. Do you want some water?

Juan De La Cruz: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: You've heard their voice. But you can open that up and have that anytime you want. Well, I'm going to begin with the first one. So could you tell us your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it, sir?

Juan De La Cruz: So my name is Juan De La Cruz. Full name is Juan Carlos De La Cruz. I think my mom, he was watching a soap opera when she decided to name me in Spanish, but, yes-

Japhet De Oliveira: Juan Carlos.

Juan De La Cruz: Juan Carlos De La Cruz. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Juan De La Cruz: Roll your Rs. There you go.

Japhet De Oliveira: I don't know, man.

Juan De La Cruz: That's good. So they have several people, especially in elementary. Juan, I would get called Jose.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: No.

Juan De La Cruz: That's common. That's common.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's crazy.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah, I know, right? It's a different name, by the way.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I know. Exactly. I'm like, "Wow. Okay."

Juan De La Cruz: Or Juan.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Oh, Juan. Oh, no, no. Well, okay. All right. Well, that's good. Good for you. Good for you. So, Juan, what do you do for work?

Juan De La Cruz: I am the president of the charitable foundation here at Adventist Health White Memorial LA and Montebello now, and also the government relations executive. So I have a dual role here at the hospital.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. Now you've got to unpack this. So what does this foundation do and what's government relations actually mean?

Juan De La Cruz: Sure. Our foundation is built to support the needs of the hospital. But it extends just from capital improvement projects to purchasing equipment. It extends into the community. And so for 110 years, as you know, this is the only hospital in Adventist Health that's named after a person, Ellen White. It's because of the history Ellen White brings to White Memorial. And so we focus a lot in our community and the support. And in our community, there are a lot of barriers and we focus on those barriers outside of your traditional service lines here. Some of them are food insecurity programs. We have a issue here in LA with homelessness and the unhoused. So we create opportunities through the charitable foundation, through foundations or individual donors or government contracts where we leverage that to provide services here at Adventist Health White Memorial LA, and now Montebello.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. When they give resources and funds and stuff, do people give to a project or do they give generally, what do you find?

Juan De La Cruz: Every market is very different. Our market is very different. Our payer mix, 88% are Medi-Cal, Medicare. So the individual gifts are far from few, but when they do give individually, it's sizable and it's meaningful. We tend to receive more support from foundations or corporate partners that have their pillars of support that they want in the community. For example, we have a lot of banking institutions that provide resources so we can create a healthcare pathway for at-risk youth through our workforce development program. Fully funded.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Juan De La Cruz: Fully funded from corporate partnerships. And that creates opportunities for youth in our community, ages 15 to 26 to think about healthcare as part of their work or moving forward or a career.

Japhet De Oliveira: As their career. Yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. In California, I'm sure you know, 40% are Latino. Yet in the healthcare sector, we only have 6% of physicians that are Latino. And so through our work here, we try to support and elevate healthcare as an opportunity for our youth to be part of our work.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now, I've heard this statistic about Adventist Health White Memorial, that we actually have quite a high percentage of people who live locally actually ended up working-

Juan De La Cruz: Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's very true.

Japhet De Oliveira: That it's an investment back in the community to keep people local.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. Adventist Health White Memorial's an economic engine here in terms of providing jobs for our community. A lot of our community members have either been here, born here, worked here, and they've been part of the DNA for 110 years through a lot of these programs that I'm talking about. And then we have another one at TELACU nursing program where the nurses from TELACU, we provide internship opportunities here and most of them stay. One of our highest ranking nurses here at the hospital, she went through the TELACU program. And these are programs, again, that are led by charitable donations so we can leverage other opportunities. So every hospital, every market is very different from how they raise money. We are looking at health equity as a model for raising money here.

And so I thrive on it and it's a lived experience, right? I grew up in Boyle Heights until about 10, and then I moved out to the southeast part of LA County, South Gate. I grew up in South Gate till I was a teen. And then my boys, my oldest had their physician here until he was 18. He just turned 18 in February. So he's not going to have a pediatric physician anymore, but he's still going to have someone here. And then my youngest was born here at Adventist Health White Memorial. But they grew up in Montebello. So for me, being in this capacity, I'm serving the two communities that I know.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're serving your home, you know the people. Yeah. How long have you been in this role?

Juan De La Cruz: I've been here in this role since November of 2021.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And then you worked for Adventist Health since then, or you've worked longer than that or-

Juan De La Cruz: No, it's my first stint in Adventist Health anywhere.

Japhet De Oliveira: Anywhere? Okay. Hey, well, welcome to the company 2021.

Juan De La Cruz: Thank you. Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: In the midst of COVID.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah, right? That was interesting.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, [inaudible 00:06:58] could say that. Okay. So I've also got to ask about the governed relations role. So what's that?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah, so that's interesting. So I'm the only executive in philanthropy or executive in the system that has a dual role in this way. And so that comes with the territory. Here in LA, a lot of the work that we do is a cross sector of government. Government contracts, government relations that we need to create for other services when we advocate and things of that nature. So my career and the trajectory, it's been threefold to be quite honest. It's community development, government relations, building relationships with the government sector and the elected officials to understand the work and whatever career I've had. And so here, it's been a benefit because I've come with the network and I would say the trust with some of this government elected officials that know the work that I've done and they trust the work. And not only that, they already have an affinity for White Memorial. So it's a twofold opportunity for us to leverage that.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Juan De La Cruz: So when we talk about markets and how we leverage resources for our community, one of the resources that we heavily rely on here is government opportunities. We have five residency programs and we use a lot of the resources through the state, through Song-Brown or CalMedForce and our three residency programs out of the five-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. That's great.

Juan De La Cruz: ... from that. But in addition to that, I mean, just having the elected officials understand the benefit of a community hospital like White Memorial and how different we are from other community hospitals is key. And so they've built an affinity. We just had, last year in October, the mayor, Karen Bass, came here. She was actually a nurse here at the [inaudible 00:08:59]. And so she walked halls-

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. [inaudible 00:09:02] home.

Juan De La Cruz: It just went back to memories and how we do it. But she understood the additional work that we do that other hospitals do not do. And it's homeless health navigator programs in our emergency department, substance abuse navigator, a mental health service navigator. And this is what we try to create here. It's the opportunity for people to learn the benefit and the true community work that we do here at Adventist Health.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're not just thinking of their physical health.

Juan De La Cruz: No, not at all.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're [inaudible 00:09:36] their-

Juan De La Cruz: A holistic approach in health.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes. Yeah. I love it. I love it. That's great. All right. When you were a child growing up, what did you imagine you were going to be?

Juan De La Cruz: A football player.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. I thought I was going to go to Michigan.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really? Michigan? Oh, okay. All right. Hey, that's good. That's good.

Juan De La Cruz: But unfortunately, my-

Japhet De Oliveira: Unfortunately or...

Juan De La Cruz: Unfortunately. Unfortunately, I had to work. I've been working since I was 10. And that was a need. Your lived experiences, right? My household wasn't a traditional household, if you will. We had a lot of issues with mental health, drug abuse, substance abuse with my father. And so I had to grow up quickly. Yeah. So I didn't have the opportunity to get into what we give our kids now, the opportunities that you didn't have to play sports. I did play sports in high school, basketball, but I quickly had to cut it because I had to go to work. But, yeah, I used to run in my backyard, put trashcans on the floor, in the rain, I remember jumping [inaudible 00:10:43] around doing spin moves, thinking I was Barry Sanders and things of that nature. But, yeah.

And then as I got older, I thought my true passion was education. So I had my master's in education from Whittier College, and so I thought I was going to be a teacher, and then a principal, and then a superintendent. And I was going to be the superintendent of the education department in California. Yeah. So that's where I thought I was. But I'm here now.

Japhet De Oliveira: But you're here now. You're here now. It's amazing how these things all come together.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Right? All right. Hey, that's fantastic. Now look, when you get up in the morning, are you an early riser or a late night owl?

Juan De La Cruz: I'm both.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're both?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. As you get older, you become both, I think.

Japhet De Oliveira: Because we sleep a lot less.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Yeah. When you get up in the morning, do you have coffee, tea, water, liquid green smoothie. What's your drink of the day?

Juan De La Cruz: Water.

Japhet De Oliveira: Water? Okay.

Juan De La Cruz: Water. I used to drink a lot of coffee early in the morning, and then I stopped.

Japhet De Oliveira: Cold?

Juan De La Cruz: Cold.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. But then I started again. But it wasn't early in the morning, [inaudible 00:11:50] it was 10:00.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, that's good. That's good. So there's water in morning.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. I prefer to get my adrenaline through working out. And there's-

Japhet De Oliveira: So what's your exercise routine?

Juan De La Cruz: So I used to, before I hurt my hip, run a lot. I used to do marathons and triathlons, everything. And then-

Japhet De Oliveira: Iron Man.

Juan De La Cruz: I did an Iron Man. But then your age catches up to you. And so now you have all these little kinks in your body that are not allowing you to do it. So now, I do some weightlifting, Peloton, it's easier. It's at the house. So 45 minutes of that. But that's my coffee in the mornings now.

Japhet De Oliveira: Gets you going.

Juan De La Cruz: It gets me going.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah, it's really good. Personality. If people were to describe you, would they say you're an introvert or an extrovert? Would you agree? [inaudible 00:12:45]

Juan De La Cruz: Extrovert. And if you ask my wife, she would tell you, "As soon as you walk into a room, you're prancing around, talking to everyone. And I lose you."

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, "I lose you." Okay.

Juan De La Cruz: That's part of the government relations part, I guess.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah. Sure. No worries. No worries. And then this morning when you woke up, first thought that went through your mind.

Juan De La Cruz: First thought? Getting my son to school.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, yeah?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. Getting him on time so I can get to my 8:30 morning meeting. That was my first thought.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's the miracle of children. Getting them on time. I empathize deeply with you on that. That's great. A leadership question here. Are you a backseat driver?

Juan De La Cruz: Define backseat driver.

Japhet De Oliveira: I would love to, but I'll let you do that. You're welcome.

Juan De La Cruz: I think my leadership style is creating leaders and allowing them to learn, and fail, and grow from that failure. I'm not a micromanager. I only micromanage it when I need to, and that doesn't happen often. But I like to grow leaders, in this capacity as a leader here, because I felt that throughout my career, I didn't really have that model of a leader. It used to be governing bully pulpit or, "It's my way or the highway," and I don't think that works now. I think what works is being through thought partner with your team and giving them the experience to either grow with their wins or their losses and how are we going to move from that, right? And so I would assume that's a backseat driver.

Japhet De Oliveira: How you interpret it, I like it. I like it. It's good. It's good how you define it, I should say. It's great. All right. So floor is open. You get to pick anything between 11 and 100 where we'd like to go. Do you want to drink some-

Juan De La Cruz: 57 popped in my head.

Japhet De Oliveira: 57? All right, let's go. 57. You take a swig of that. It's brilliant water. It's called Thirstier. That's a funny name for a water, right? 57. Okay. This is great for you. If you had to endorse a brand, what would it be and why?

Juan De La Cruz: Not because I work here, because I see everything now, Adventist Health.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Juan De La Cruz: Like I said, I grew up in the community and knew about Adventist Health White Memorial and used the facilities, but I think the passion that our associates bring here, our leadership, they believe and they know that we're doing God's work. And you see it every day. And so it brings hope that we're doing the right thing for our patients and the community. And so not all brands have that ability to showcase-

Japhet De Oliveira: The integrity.

Juan De La Cruz: Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, it's great. It was great. Well, that was good. All right. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It's fantastic. Where next? That was 57.

Juan De La Cruz: I want to do the sevens. 37.

Japhet De Oliveira: 37? All right, here we go. What do you like most about your family? Oh, I wish you could see Juan's face right now.

Juan De La Cruz: What family are you talking about? The one I created or the one I was born into?

Japhet De Oliveira: You tell us.

Juan De La Cruz: I'll start with the family I was born into. They're first-generation Guatemalan Mexican.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Juan De La Cruz: My mom came to this country from Guadalajara, Mexico, and my dad came from Guatemala, in Guatemala City. And so it comes with trauma from their countries. So there's bumps and bruises and the ability for them to grow as people because of the trauma that came with their arrival here. And then, let's be honest, they weren't always welcome here, and are still to this day. And so combating that and growing up as a first-generation youth here in California and seeing the struggles that they went through gave me perspective in life and why they came here. They came here to give us a better opportunity to not live in poverty like they did in their countries. And so looking at the family that I was born into, I think my parents did a great job, especially my mom, with what she had. And so my brother's a police officer, my sister is a licensed social worker. I'm here as a president of foundation, and I think they did a great job.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: They invested in you. They sacrificed.

Juan De La Cruz: They sacrificed a lot.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: I don't think people always understand that.

Juan De La Cruz: No, they don't. No, they don't. And you go back to the lived experiences, right? What makes you your person that you are now? Those lived experiences. And so there's three of us... Four of us. One passed away about 17 years ago.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, I'm sorry.

Juan De La Cruz: There were a lot of health issues... Not a lot, preventable health issues that I felt that the health system failed us. And so when I detoured from education, healthcare was something top of mind for me. When I was in LA Unified, I was there for 12 years, part of some of the work that I did was strategic partnerships and developing public private partnerships. I managed a $120 million program. And through that, we built the largest high school or school wellness centers in the country. And what drove me was my brother. Yeah. And so that lived experience, but the nurturing from my mom and teaching me what's right and wrong, I wouldn't have done it without her.

Japhet De Oliveira: Making something good out of something bad. It's not easy.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Right? Yeah. So that's your family that you were born into. What about the family that you are-

Juan De La Cruz: Oh, I love them. Especially at teen years. Right now, I have an 18-year-old, a 16-year-old, and a 14-year-old. Yes, I know.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're so lucky.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. Yeah. But it's fun. I knew when I had kids, I wanted to give them what I didn't have, the opportunities that I never got. And sometimes I feel like it's a detriment.

Japhet De Oliveira: I was going to ask you that question, but you've already... All right, go on. Go on, unpack that.

Juan De La Cruz: Because it's more of an expectation from them now versus-

Japhet De Oliveira: A privilege.

Juan De La Cruz: Exactly. And so I didn't teach them the privilege versus expectations and things like that. And I deal with it now with my oldest, and thankfully, he has his head on his shoulder. Boys mature at a later age.

Japhet De Oliveira: Allegedly.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. And so he still has maturity opportunities. But the great thing is that he's graduating on Friday from high school and he got accepted to UC Riverside... He got accepted to 20 universities.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Juan De La Cruz: And so he's a smart kid. So we did well. We did well. And then my 16-year-old, she's great. I mean, she's very self-sufficient, she's very driven. She's always looking opportunities to volunteer, to learn more.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Juan De La Cruz: And she's going to do great. She wants to be an attorney.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. All right.

Juan De La Cruz: And then my youngest, he's still finding himself, but he's a very meticulous thinker, thought-provoking, very analytical, very smart. And that's great. And then you can't do it without a great wife. And so my wife is great. We're a blended family, but she's been the reason why I'm here. Right? Because she's supported me in my growth. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. This is good. Do your kids know these thoughts that you have of them other than when they listen to this podcast? I mean, you articulated it so well. Do you ever sit down and say to your youngest, "Hey, you are this thoughtful... Do you say-

Juan De La Cruz: I have. I have. And not to the extent I should, that I want to or I should do it. I think it's hard because I wasn't raised in a family that was open and we had open discussions about how we felt and things like that. So-

Japhet De Oliveira: But you're persevering.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. So I'm trying. Every day, I'm learning something new. I'm a-

Japhet De Oliveira: You're maturing.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. I'm maturing at 47. I'm maturing at 47 still.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's the truth. It's the truth.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. But I hope they see it with my actions and how I'm there for them for everything and every up or every low, I'm there for them. So I hope they see it and I hope they see that I'm a human too and I make mistakes. And I know it's hard with teens, but hopefully when they get older, they'll realize-

Japhet De Oliveira: They'll remember.

Juan De La Cruz: They'll remember that. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: When they make their mistakes as parents, like, "Oh, I remember that." Yeah. So you just have another 30 years to wait. So good luck. All right. Where'd you want to go next?

Juan De La Cruz: 75.

Japhet De Oliveira: 75? All right. Do you remember the first thing... This is great. The first thing you purchased with your own money, right? At 10 years old? Whatever it was, why did you buy it?

Juan De La Cruz: So delivering newspapers at 10 years old, because we needed to find financial resources to support ourselves, me and my older brother. And I remember buying my younger brother and my little sister a toy.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, my. Do you even remember what the toy was?

Juan De La Cruz: I don't remember the toy.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, but you remember you bought them a toy?

Juan De La Cruz: My sister was a Barbie and that's because our parents couldn't afford it. Yeah. I don't remember playing with toys, to be quite honest, and my parents either, but we wanted to give them what we didn't have, my older brother. So, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's beautiful, man. I wonder if they remember it.

Juan De La Cruz: No, they don't.

Japhet De Oliveira: But now when they listen to this-

Juan De La Cruz: I don't say it either.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. But now, you have and I think they're going to listen to it. All right. Good. All right, we're next? That was 75.

Juan De La Cruz: Oh, 23.

Japhet De Oliveira: 23? Okay, let's go there. Tell us about the most outdated piece of technology that you still use on a regular basis.

Juan De La Cruz: I would say that the kids now would say text messaging. Let's see.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure. Yeah, yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: I don't know.

Japhet De Oliveira: Because they talk via thought?

Juan De La Cruz: DirecTV.

Japhet De Oliveira: DirecTV?

Juan De La Cruz: Because everything's apps now, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: That's true. That's true. You still have a satellite dish?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah, I know. What's a satellite dish?

Japhet De Oliveira: What is that? My goodness. You really need to catch up. Yeah. You just like the remote control.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, what next?

Juan De La Cruz: 21.

Japhet De Oliveira: 21? All right. Share the best compliment you've ever received.

Juan De La Cruz: Best compliment? I would say it would be when I was at LA Unified and we were building or creating a healthcare master plan for our school district in partnership with the county department of health services, department of mental health services. And we had a director of student health and human services. And I remember we would walk through hallways in some of the high schools that we had partnerships with FQHCs and we treated our partners like a secondary thought. We put them in closets. They were seeing patients, their kids, the family and everything, and we just dismissed the work that they were doing, at least I felt. And so he felt the same way. And fast-forward, we created the healthcare master plan, all these clinics in our campus. And he was crying and he told me, "Thank you for walking into our lives. Because of you, we have this opportunity for our community now."

Japhet De Oliveira: Those are precious moments.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's a real blessing. Hey, fantastic. All right. Where next?

Juan De La Cruz: 99.

Japhet De Oliveira: 99? All right. What's the most difficult truth that you've ever told?

Juan De La Cruz: Most difficult truth I have ever told? I don't know. It's tough.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's tough.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. I would say the most difficult truth I had to tell was when my brother passed away to my nephew. And he wasn't aware. He was six years old. Yeah. I still remember I couldn't get it out of my mouth. And so that's probably the most difficult truth I've ever had to tell anyone.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. When you deliver things like that, it's scarring everywhere. As beautiful as it can be, it's scarring everywhere.

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah. And he was only six, so I don't think it registered until he saw his dad.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's true. All right, Juan, we have time for two more, last two numbers. Where'd you like to go for your last numbers?

Juan De La Cruz: 1 and 100. We'll do 1 and then 100.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, we did one. We did number one.

Juan De La Cruz: Oh, let's do 11 and 100.

Japhet De Oliveira: 11 and 100? All right. I'm going to go to number 11. All right? Ready?

Juan De La Cruz: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: This is tell us about the most adventurous food or meal you've ever eaten.

Juan De La Cruz: Oh, I would say a scorpion-

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, okay. All right.

Juan De La Cruz: ... in China.

Japhet De Oliveira: Bless you.

Juan De La Cruz: Right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. I'm never doing that. I'm happy for you. Okay. Worth it?

Juan De La Cruz: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No? Okay.

Juan De La Cruz: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Did you eat the whole thing?

Juan De La Cruz: It was for the experience. How about that?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Did you-

Juan De La Cruz: No, not at all. Not at all.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. Question 100.

Juan De La Cruz: Okay.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. If you wouldn't mind, tell us about a question that you would not want to answer.

Juan De La Cruz: How are you today?

Japhet De Oliveira: And the reason you don't want me to ask you that today?

Juan De La Cruz: I don't know.

Japhet De Oliveira: You don't know?

Juan De La Cruz: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's a tough one. All right. I respect it. There are moments that we all have, but I think that, Juan, first of all, thank you for the time, because we have these moments to be able to connect and I think that we underestimate the power and the blessing of being able to hear each other.

Juan De La Cruz: I agree. I agree.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. And the encouragement. We will mature. I will not forget that. We will mature forever. We need to mature forever. And all sorts of things take place, but I want to encourage people who are listening to do the same thing. Sit down with a friend, ask them a good question, listen, be there for them, and God will bless all.

Juan De La Cruz: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Juan De La Cruz: I agree.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Thank you so much for your time.

Juan De La Cruz: Thank you for-

Japhet De Oliveira: [inaudible 00:30:00].

Juan De La Cruz: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for The Story & Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at adventisthealth.org/story. The Story & Experience Podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health through the Office of Culture.