Rod Long
Episode 19

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 to another episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. We are laughing already because I'm with this guest, who's actually kind of a funny fellow, and you'll see why in a second. It could be because of his accent. It could be where he's from. Oh, look he's gone all serious now. He's all settled.

Japhet De Oliveira:

But I just want to welcome all of our regular listeners. And for those of you who are regular, you understand what's going to happen next. With those of you who are brand new, though, we have a hundred questions. The first 10, I'm going to ask. The next one's 11 to 100, our guest gets to choose between 11 and a 100. And of course 100 is the hardest and we don't encourage it. We try to avoid it if we can because it really is a really open and a very serious question, of course. But if they go there, we're happy to go there because the stories and experiences that shape us and make us into the great people and really just that we are. So, without further ado, let's dive in. Hope you have a great cup of tea beside you. I hope my friend does as well. Although it is quite late there, where he is. Why don't you tell us your name? And if anybody ever slaughters it or mispronounces it or anything like that. So let's begin with that.

Rod Long:

Yeah. Well, hi everyone. My name's Rod Long and no, nobody ever slaughters it because they dare not.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, because they dare not.

Rod Long:

No. Normally, if anything, they call me Rob, instead of Rod.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, that's good to know.

Rod Long:

But that's okay, I will answer to anything, if they give me food.

Japhet De Oliveira:

If they give you food, all right, that's great. Also good to know. Great, Rob, I mean, sorry, Rod. What do you do for work?

Rod Long:

I work for you, Japhet, that's what it feels like. Well, I know this because two days ago I searched for emails from you and I realized that I had 9,405 from you on my computer.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I have not searched for emails from you. I'm pretty sure I'd have 9,000 as well.

Rod Long:

And that makes me feel like I work for you.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Rod and I may work together on a non-profit.

Rod Long:

But the reality is I do actually do some work. I do property development and properties, sort of management of that, for our church, local church conference, our school system. And for myself, amongst the-

Japhet De Oliveira:

Rod's very shy about what he does. Rod's one of those people that you kind of arrive and... What do you do, Rod? What you should know about Rod is that Rod is into everything and Rod knows everything before you arrive there. And Rod has done everything and Rod's traveled everywhere and he's seen everything. So, yeah, that's great. Rod, very glad, very glad you're here. And I'd ask you how long you've been in your current role. It's your entire life. So we'll skip to the next one. What's your morning drink of choice, Rod? Is it water? Is it green liquid smoothie? Is it coffee? I'm wishing tea.

Rod Long:

Well, it's definitely not dirty water that you would have as a tea.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Rude.

Rod Long:

And it's definitely not muddy water, like coffee. Because I don't like either of those. But I would just actually drink probably a juice, apple juice.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Apple juice?

Rod Long:

Orange juice.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Freshly squeezed, or just a...

Rod Long:

That would be nice. No, processed to the hilt.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Is it really apple juice? Are you sure?

Rod Long:

Well, I could be wrong.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, good. Good. Hey Rod, with your beautiful accent, tell us, where were you born?

Rod Long:

I was born 20 minutes from where I live, in Sydney, Australia.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Which okay.

Rod Long:

In the Sydney Adventist Hospital in Wahroonga. Yeah. So I was born there many, many, many years ago.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I was going to ask you if you've ever been back, but since you're 20 minutes away, I'm pretty sure you have been back to that location.

Rod Long:

Been back for the birth of my own children, and a few other things as well. So yes, definitely have been back.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Beautiful. Beautiful. So when you were a child, what did you imagine you were going to be when you grew up?

Rod Long:

That's an interesting question. I think probably an architect. Now that's kind of a weird thing. And I don't know, a kid would normally want to be some superhero or something, or a police officer or fireman or something. But I think that for some unknown reason I had building and development in my veins, probably from my father.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's beautiful.

Rod Long:

I was always going to be an architect.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Huh. That's pretty nice.

Rod Long:

But never really made it.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And so you just develop and you architect other things. All the time. Rod's also a designer, a real, incredible creative. And so, I'm pretty sure you took that creativity into other places, as well. Rod, if people were to describe you, would they describe you as an introvert or an extrovert? And would you agree?

Rod Long:

Oh, that's easy. I'm definitely an introvert. I am an introvert. Yes. I am. I am. I don't mind being by myself in quiet spaces. Not that I don't like being in crowds or anything, but I'm not one for speaking in public or being the person up front. Yep.

Japhet De Oliveira:

You said that twice. Are you trying to convince yourself? Is that...

Rod Long:

No, I know that to be a fact.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's great. And then I know this is really late for you and really early for me because of the time zones in Australia and here in the United States. But are you an early riser or a late night owl?

Rod Long:

Well, that's an easy one too, I am a late night owl. I don't mind getting up early, but I tend to get my best work done late at night, maybe in the quiet and stillness of those moments, and keep working through it.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And that's where all those emails happen, back and forth. Because I'm up and you're up, I mean, that's what happens.

Rod Long:

That's right. All right.

Japhet De Oliveira:

What's the very first thought that went through your mind this morning?

Rod Long:

Why did I stay up so late last night? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Normally the first thing I do is go to my Bible app. So, I don't know that I thought of anything particularly, but actually trying to be in the habit of reading that first thing in the morning.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's beautiful. Love that. And then here's the last question before we hand it off to you. It's a leadership question actually. Are you a backseat driver?

Rod Long:

Maybe you should ask the person driving in front. It depends. I'm going to say that. It depends. So, I would say I can be a team player, but if I get frustrated and I think something can be done better, then I could be a backseat driver.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. That's fair. That's pretty fair. That's great. Lovely. All right. So, we begin. We are between the number 11 and 100. And your thing is that you get to pick a number and we'll see what that question is behind the curtain, so to speak.

Rod Long:

So my understanding is we can only go up, right? So if we can only go up.

Japhet De Oliveira:

You can go up.

Rod Long:

I'll go straight to a hundred and then we'll be finished.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Well, no because... Oh, you think you've got me, you're thinking, oh, I see how this goes. No, we can go up and down. It's okay.

Rod Long:

Oh, okay. All right. All right, well, let's go with... We'll go easy on you, number 11. There you go.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Thank you, I'm so stressed. All right. Tell us about the most adventurous food meal you've ever eaten. This will be interesting, friends.

Rod Long:

Okay. I don't mind trying a few different things. Just purely for the experience. Often regretted, most of them. Probably I would say in Cambodia, you've got tarantulas, deep fried tarantula, which was a little hard to swallow. Or I actually had silkworms in Cambodia with Sam [Lenore 00:09:44], which actually were very tasty. They tasted like creamed corn. You couldn't tell the difference, I don't think. But yeah, yeah. Or a frog's leg.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Sure. Fair enough. That's great. That's great. All right. So after 11, where you want to go next?

Rod Long:

Hm. How about 16?

Japhet De Oliveira:

16, lovely. Tell us about one of the places you've traveled and why you'd want to go back. Of course you'd pick this question. Rod has been everywhere, right?

Rod Long:

No I haven't. But I think that would probably be our most recent trip, which still pre-COVID, so it would be February last year to Antarctica. That was just a very, very special place and was kind of a bucket list place. Certainly for me. Purely because I think it was like being in heaven. So, I think it was just isolated in a sense that... But at the same time you felt very close to the people that you were with, you felt very close to God in that situation, and that the wildlife around you were not afraid of you. So I think that was very special and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Wow, that's beautiful. Yeah, we saw some beautiful photos from that and some interesting videos as well, but it looked fantastic. That's great. Good. All right. Now you can go up or down.

Rod Long:

Oh, okay. Well that's the rules have changed.

Japhet De Oliveira:

But [inaudible 00:11:51] different. It's always between 11 and 100. [inaudible 00:11:54]

Rod Long:

All right. Let's have 23. Hit me with 23.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right then. Tell us about the most outdated piece of technology you still use and you can't let go.

Rod Long:

Okay.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Just try to think of anything.

Rod Long:

Well, no, no. It would probably be the windows 10 PC. I bought just a week ago. What I did. I admit admit it. It feels like it anyway, but any seriously, probably the, I still have a VCR that I use from time to time.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Wow.

Rod Long:

To dub off the tapes on or digitize the tapes. So that might be as old as it gets perhaps.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Good old VCR and eats a mix. Oh, those were the days. Yeah. When they chewed up all our films, it was a great, lovely for people who've never heard of that. Just Google it all. It'd be worth your time. Right. All right. Where'd you want to go next?

Rod Long:

29,

Japhet De Oliveira:

29. Share three things that make you instantly happy.

Rod Long:

Okay. Well, one getting on a plane to travel and go on holidays. The feeling there is because, well, for, at least for us, we don't have wifi on the plane. So you can't work, which I find is a blessing. So instantly you sit in this chair and you are relaxed. You've left the cares of life, everyday life, behind and you're off on an adventure. So yeah, that would be one of them. Good food, good food. And it doesn't have to be expensive food, but it has to be food that actually takes you somewhere. It takes you to a place. So, yeah. And more often than not, that's actually when you're traveling because you're trying different things, different experiences. And it's also associated with good people. And I think probably the third thing would be, I think our group of friends, I think that always both locally and also a group of brothers.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah.

Rod Long:

That just instantly takes you to a space of comfort of knowing of relaxation and quite often entertainment.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah.

Rod Long:

So they're the three things I think.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. That's true. It's true. That's fantastic. I feel the same way right about that, good community, good friends and a good community of brothers as well.

Rod Long:

Really makes a difference.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, it does. Great. After 29, where would you like to go next?

Rod Long:

Oh, these are flying by.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, Yeah.

Rod Long:

30, 37.

Japhet De Oliveira:

37. What do you like most about your family?

Rod Long:

Well, quite a few of them look like me.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Rod's a very humble fellow. You got to, you got to understand his Australian humor.

Rod Long:

Yes, it is humor. It's often sarcastic humor. Look, I think we don't take life too seriously. So we get on pretty well. And we like going on adventures together. We do theme parks together. We have a lot of fun and maybe one thing that stands out is that we actually serve together. So what I mean by that is if one of us has a project on the go or are involved in something quite often, the rest of the family will get behind support, get involved, even though it's not their job. So I think you're doing that together. Yeah. That makes life special.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Hmm. That's really beautiful. Good. A good modeling. Good, good way to be as well. Good. Where next after 37?

Rod Long:

Let's go 40.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. Tell us about a time that you failed.

Rod Long:

Hmm. That's hard because that never had no, that does happen.

Rod Long:

Yeah. Okay. I can take you back to when I was probably 18 and driving, probably I'd only just had my own car for maybe or own licensed maybe a year and driving back late one night and it was lightly raining and maybe took a turn slightly more aggressively than what I should have, or was capable of controlling perhaps at the time and ended up in a telegraph pole, which was like a hexagonal shape telegraph pole. And the reason I know that is because you can see the hexagonal shape of the telegraph pole embedded in the side of the car right behind my driver's seat.

Rod Long:

So it actually took the back of the driver's seat. So it just missed me. And so there was at least like half a pole indent in the side of the car and the car was like a banana. So it actually took right-hand corners very well, but I was going to drive it home and park it in the garage and not tell my father until the morning. And the roof of the car was like a pyramid. So it must've been very amusing to the emergency people that are turned up at the time, but I did actually end up calling him and come and get me. So yeah, I didn't make it. Didn't do a good job.

Japhet De Oliveira:

You didn't make it home that way?

Rod Long:

It was a fail, but you know, I'm thankful that I got through that one okay.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, we are all thankful we made it through that one. Good after 40?

Rod Long:

Hmm. Let's try 50.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. 50.

Rod Long:

Keep going up.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Share about who has influenced you professionally.

Rod Long:

Well, that's easy for me because I think a real role model and a mentor to me was my father. So I spent, I trained at Avondale college, but did three years in the business world. And then after three years we actually started a building property development company together. And so I've worked, this was in 1987. So what's that 30, 34 years ago. So I think working alongside him in that capacity was actually very good for me, but it taught me a lot of things and I guess, one of the things that taught me was to be able to do business on a handshake.

Rod Long:

So if you said something, you stayed true to your word, even if it ended up costing you money, even if it wasn't perhaps the right decision. But that was something I will never forget that he taught me about yeah. How to do business. And a lot of people I run into even now that's one of the things they will say is that, yes, we just used to shake hands and the deal was done when you didn't have all these lawyers documenting things these days and all that sort of thing. We just, we shook hands and we knew it was done. So yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's a beautiful. Character. That's pretty big.

Rod Long:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And integrity, authenticity, all those sorts of things, I think. Yeah. It makes a difference. And when people find out that you're a Christian, then that actually can sort of, not that that's exclusive to that by any means, but it adds to the picture of that I think.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah.

Rod Long:

That makes sense.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, that's a beautiful voice. That's pretty good. Love that. Thank you. Where next?

Rod Long:

What was it? 50. Let's go 60.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Okay. When in life have you felt most alone?

Rod Long:

Well, it can often feel very alone if you're standing up on the stage in front of everyone in the spotlight. But I think for me it would be actually traveling, if you're traveling alone. Whether it be for business, most of the, well, mostly if I do that, it would be for business. But you know, I find that a lonely time. I think when you're used to traveling together with somebody, you've got to eat by yourself or everything and yeah, I would find that very, and I don't do it very often. I try not to do that if I can avoid it.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's fair.

Rod Long:

And so I think it's maybe being alone in a, you might be still surrounded by people, but they're people you don't know. And so the people you have to work to interact with, and ultimately there may be people who don't have a big interest in you essentially. So it's very superficial interactions, relationships.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. That's really true, Road. I mean, I would agree with you that it's very easy to be in a crowd and be alone, to be in a group and be alone, to be at work and be alone, to be in a family and be alone, if you're not, if you're not connected in that space.

Rod Long:

Yeah. And I think absolutely. And I think that's one thing that actually, I'm very conscious of when, people might visit our church, for example, to try and search out those people that are actually just, you can find them just standing on their own, looking, waiting for somebody to talk to them and to be conscious of that fact. No matter where you are in any situation, I think you've, just being aware of those other people to, yeah. Just having the word.

Japhet De Oliveira:

For those of you who don't know Rod on a personal level, you should know that he is one of the most inclusive people that I know out there. I mean, just he'll make his home, your home he'll make your space your space. I mean, he's just a really warm person and I've always appreciated that about him. And I think it comes from his heart. And so I agree with you Rod, I think that that comes from your personal experiences.

Rod Long:

Yeah. And perhaps what drives that is, is just knowing what it can feel like to be that one person in a crowd alone. Not that I feel that often, I don't, but, but I do remember what it does feel like to feel like that. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And not wanting for others.

Rod Long:

Yeah, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. Beautiful. Okay. Where did you want to go next?

Rod Long:

67.

Japhet De Oliveira:

67, all right. What's, I don't know how you ended up picking these numbers, but they kind of like speak directly into your picking.

Rod Long:

They're picking me.

Japhet De Oliveira:

They're picking you somehow. Okay. What is the best picture you've ever taken and why? Like, oh, my.

Rod Long:

I've taken a lot of pictures?

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, you've taken a lot of pictures.

Rod Long:

I've probably got more than 150,000 pictures on my computer. But I would, look, I think perhaps I think there's two answers to that. One is it's not necessarily the beauty of the picture. It's the beauty of the person and the relationship and perhaps the occasion. So that would speak to a lot of things. It might just be a snapshot taken at a wedding, for example, but then there's the other side of it is probably the, you know, from an aesthetic point of view and sometimes it's just a time and a place and opportunist moment.

Rod Long:

So I think of one in our last trip with, and probably cause it's fresh in my mind where we went to south Georgia, which is kind of a remote place and it was on a hill looking out over a value of 200, 300,000 penguins. And over above it was nice blue sky, but all of a sudden this cloud appeared and it was in the shape of a bunny's head with like ease and things. It's incredible how it like, and it just was just sitting up there in the sky. And it was just one of those opportune things that actually would never happen again probably. But yeah, I remember it because of that. So yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Rod's very kind about 150,000 photos, but he's also published his photos and his photos are kind of epic and there are, he's put them on, on Unsplash and other places. And it's, how many people, what does one of the numbers that's actually come up? Like for many people viewed your photos on Unsplash right now?

Rod Long:

It's crazy on there, because I think it's getting close to like 170 million views and a million downloads.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, mine's got like five views. So I'm doing pretty well. And so.

Rod Long:

Well the thing it, it doesn't mean, they don't have to be great photos, but,

Japhet De Oliveira:

Sure.

Rod Long:

They have to be photos that people want to look at and want to use, so.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Sure.

Rod Long:

Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, Five to 170 million. [crosstalk 00:27:11]

Rod Long:

It's a hobby

Japhet De Oliveira:

67. All right. What number next?

Rod Long:

Let's try. How much time have we got?

Japhet De Oliveira:

You got time for three more questions.

Rod Long:

Let's try 78.

Japhet De Oliveira:

78. All right, brilliant. Tell us about what gives you childlike joy.

Rod Long:

Oh, that's easy. I'm guessing you know the answer to this, but it would have to be building with plastic bricks called LEGO.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Absolutely.

Rod Long:

It takes me back. It takes me back to my childhood. It's construction. It's practical. It can be challenging. It can be beautiful. Yeah. And it's something you can do with a lot of different age groups and yeah. Something I like doing with my granddaughter. So it's kind of fun.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yep. It is truly the best therapy out there. The best joy and best therapy. Love it. All right. Time for the last two questions. Where do you want to go for the last two?

Rod Long:

Let's try 90.

Japhet De Oliveira:

90? All right. Tell us about how you have overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Rod Long:

Well, what comes to mind is, it's not something that I ever came, but something that was overcome through me, if that makes sense. So I think in our church move, we'd sold our land. We were going to build a school. It actually started the school off, a high school, so, and we had, in the end, we bought land, but the government took it off us. And so that meant that within like 18 months we had to have a school up and running, but we had no way to put it. And it was desperate, very desperate times, as I remember. And there was a lot of pressure. Well, I felt pressure because I was the one looking for the land at the time.

Rod Long:

And I actually letter boxed one Friday afternoon. I letter boxed just 10 houses in an area. One of those answered my letter. Only one. That person actually knew, actually there was two of them together which was made enough land for our school and our church, that person actually knew my father, had done business with him 20 years ago or something. And so we automatically hit it off and within eight weeks or something like that, we'd bought the land. And that's the land now that's yeah, where our church and school is sitting.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And that land, I mean, the land where you're talking about is actually a premium space. It's hard to find good land and hard to find the land to be able to build with the rights to do that. So that was a, an incredible, incredible win.

Rod Long:

Yeah. It was like I said, it was nothing that I did, but it was something that was done through me as a conduit to achieve it. So something I'll never forget.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Beautiful. Love the method. Love the, and love the connection back to your dad as well. That's great. Yeah.

Rod Long:

Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. Beautiful. All right. Your last question, where do you want to go?

Rod Long:

Maybe? All right, let's try 100. Why not? Zero to 100. Let's do it.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Zero to 100. All right. So Rod, this is question 100. Tell us about one question that you just don't want to answer.

Rod Long:

Oh, that's easy. Question 100. There you go. There's my answer. And if that was easy.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And why would that be?

Rod Long:

I think that's probably, that's a hard one to answer and it could be many. But let me say this, maybe it, the question would be something along the lines of did you do enough? And that could relate to a lot of things, but I think there's always something on my mind that says, could you have done more in that situation? Could you have done more for that person? Could you have done more in that specific task and no, I guess we actually always knowing the answer to that is probably yes. You could have always done more, but being satisfied in the answer that you give perhaps, and in what you've done. Maybe that's what it is. That's what I'll say it is anyway.

Rod Long:

Yeah, I don't know. That's what I'm feeling at the moment. If you've put in your best effort, if you've done enough in that friendship, if you've done enough to that stranger, yeah. Missed opportunities, always questioning about those sorts of things. I think you hear, you kind of get where I'm coming from.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, I do.

Rod Long:

Yeah. Not wanting to miss those opportunities, I guess, and, or any chance to do your best to make a difference. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Rod, I'm with you, Rod. I understand exactly what you mean by that. And I think, and thank you for sharing that. I think that it speaks, actually into the lives of so many of us that have opportunities every day to do something beautiful for someone else. And maybe just to capture that moment today.

Rod Long:

Yeah. And I think, I'm a person that likes to be busy. But in that busy-ness, you can forget about things, forget about people, forget about things that are more important than ticking off the to-do list, more important than getting the job done. And it may even just be spending time with people and actually maybe even just listening rather than just saying things and doing things, I'm a bit of a doer. So sometimes you, you want to do it all yourself or solve the world's problems, solve your problems. But sometimes you can't, sometimes you got to give it away and acknowledging that there is a higher power that can take over those things.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's really beautiful for our listeners. I need to let you know that I've known Rod now over a decade and just.

Rod Long:

2012? Just a decade I think.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Just a decade?

Rod Long:

2012.

Japhet De Oliveira:

2012?

Rod Long:

Seattle.

Japhet De Oliveira:

It feels like at least 20 years.

Rod Long:

That's well, let's a thousand emails a year.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. That's true. That's true. Oh, it has been, it's been an absolute adventure too. And I actually believe, that God, I believe that God places good people in your life.

Rod Long:

That's true.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And so you have these amazing people that you connect with around the world. And when you connect with somebody, who's just a [inaudible 00:35:08] that's a great person. You should stay connected to them. And Rod's one of those people. So he's one of my closest brothers, closest friends. And I'm just, I'm thankful to have you in my life and thankful for everything that you shared.

Rod Long:

You too, back at you because our lives were certainly changed nine or 10 years ago for the better, for the better. And in many ways, very unexpectedly. So, yeah. But yeah, it's been, it's been a journey.

Japhet De Oliveira:

It has been a phenomenal journey. I know I'm looking forward to the next decade. May we learn so much more from all the stories and experiences that we have and all the great meals that we break bread with together. Once we get over through, this COVID thing and able to gather again and celebrate. Rod, you are a phenomenal creative. God has wired you so well, but you are. You're good, man [accounter 00:36:09]. Good, man. And so thank you for sharing your time for your honesty and to all of our listeners. I want to encourage you to find good people in your life. To connect with them, to even though Rod called it dirty brown water, find a good cup of tea.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Sit down, share your stories and experiences, be vulnerable with somebody, let them be vulnerable with you and build good friendships up. You will find that it will transform your life. It will make you into a much stronger and better leader, a better father, mother, a better partner, a better friend, and it will make you a better person for this planet as well. So God bless you.

Rod Long:

Good friendships break down walls.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Rod Long:

And what you're doing, let me say is, doing this podcast is great and having people share their stories and experiences, and I think, yeah, thank you for kicking it off and keeping it going because it will make a difference to people that listen. I think we can all learn from each other.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Our honor together, all of us together.

Rod Long:

Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. God bless everyone. You guys take care and look after each other.

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 for the Office of Culture.