Nini's Deli Reopens

Conversations That Matter

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Welcome to the

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Conversations That Matter podcast, I'm John Harris, this is Juan Riesco. For those who saw the documentary

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Paint the Wall Black, Juan, the main character, Juan, you opened

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Nini's Deli and it got shut down and you just did something. You opened it again and today's the opening day.

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I haven't heard anything yet, so we're getting this all fresh. What happened? What happened today?

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Bro, praise the Lord, man. Today was incredible. Today was the first day back, like you said, after Nini's was closed for 13 months.

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And man, it was nothing short of a miracle. So the whole prayer, the thing that everybody was praying this whole time for my church and for my family was just that the

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Lord would allow us to go back to work as usual. We didn't want to protest. We didn't want to evangelize anybody.

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We didn't want to have to go stand in anybody's face. We didn't want to have to be bold in our faith.

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All we wanted to do was go to work for the glory of God. And that was our prayer, that the

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Lord would allow that to happen. And that's exactly what happened. God gave us the desire of our heart and our desire was to work for him and to serve our people in the community.

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And that's exactly what happened. We had a busy, busy day, business as usual.

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There was a lot of tension in the air. I think people thought there was going to be big protests, but there was only one or two miscellaneous random protesters.

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And there were a lot of believers and generally conservative minded people who definitely need the gospel, but we're just there to support freedom and people being able to run a business how they want and have their own beliefs.

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So it was this amazing mix of people. And it was just a glorious, glorious day.

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Now you were open, what, nine to five or what are your hours? We did a little bit condensed hours. It was nine to three.

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Nine to three. Every day this week, is it nine to three or is it, what is it? Yeah. Yeah. So we're open at the moment, five days a week, just because we're still hiring people.

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So we're open five days a week, Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 3pm, Lord willing, that's the goal.

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Okay. Well, yeah, that, I mean, it's awesome. It's unexpected. Even when you first told me,

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I remember it was a month and a half, you said, I'm reopening Nene's and I was kind of like, in Dallas, right? And you're like, no, in Chicago.

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And I was like, is that a good idea, man? I think everyone who saw Paint the Wall Black was like, did you not like one?

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I don't know, dude, did you see this movie Paint the Wall Black? Did you see that one? You were in it. I saw it.

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I saw it. Yeah. You remember what happened? I feel like so. So that's, that's really good that there were no protests.

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Do you expect, I mean, have anyone has a, have they threatened you and said like, we're coming back later in the week or anything like that?

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John, I've had nonstop threats this whole year. Okay. It's been 13 months of threats without a doubt.

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And when I reopened, the Lord had given me a really specific vision of how to move forward. And basically it was like this, the game plan was that I was just sensing and really just preying on where I should go.

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And I really felt it like this. I really wanted to come out and just share all of my

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Christian worldview and share my full testimony. And so I relaunched the Nene's page and that's exactly what

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I did. I covered all my bases and I said, look, you guys, and nobody ever can ever say anymore.

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They don't know what Nene stands for. We stand for biblical values. We stand for the

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Christian worldview. And then I explained to them, this is what that means.

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So then I explained for them step -by -step and my social media posts, this is the biblical approach to all of these things happening in society right now.

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And people went haywire. Our posts got hundreds and thousands of views and a lot of threats, comments, everything was horrific.

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This was all within the last 40 days. And people kind of thought, even my pastor was like, dude, this is crazy.

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Like it's all happening all over again. You had like a mixture though, right? You had, cause you have like the people that saw the documentary and have supported you and stuff.

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And they're probably commenting alongside of like Chicago social justice types, right? Well, so here's the thing.

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The body of Christ has been incredible to me. I love the capital

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C church in this world. Since the documentary has came out, people, men and women of God from all over have came around me, covered me in prayer, reached out, sown into my life, blessed my family to the nth degree.

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I want to make that very clear. I am so grateful, John, for you, for your friends, your group of people that you communicate with.

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I am just beyond blessed. My family is beyond blessed. It's like every moment I'm telling my wife, babe, this incredible family from, um,

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Oklahoma, you know, it wants to, wants to buy us dinner tonight, you know, and just takes care of us.

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It's just been amazing beyond belief. The Lord has been so good and he's used so many people to bless my family and I, well, what

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I'm speaking to is when I relaunched the Nini's Facebook page and the vitriol that came from people through that specifically is what

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I'm saying is it was reactivated in a moment when I restarted the page and started posting again.

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And so I sensed the Lord wanting me to just lay out the biblical worldview, lay out what we believe and reopen the business.

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And that's what we did. Wow. Um, I mean, you're, you're brave and the people around you who are working

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Nini's are brave. Uh, I'm assuming, I mean, they know what they're getting into when they work for Juan Riesco at Nini's Deli.

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So they're, they're not, there's no surprises there. Um, the surprise probably is that there wasn't a mass protest and, um,

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I just, you know, I just praise God. God is, uh, he's been good. He's, um, protected you. You're an example of someone who, uh, went through cancel culture, didn't back down, ended up, um, coming out the other side of it.

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And, uh, now you're reopening the business that you lost essentially. And um,

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I mean, I'm excited for you. I, I, I'll be honest. I was nervous at first. I remember thinking, I was like, Lord, is

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Juan doing the right thing? Does this make sense, Lord? You know? Um, but you have an incredible amount of faith and the people around you, your church there in Chicago is just incredible.

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Uh, as far as a, I think being in a sea of just godlessness does something.

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Everyone kind of clings to each other, uh, but they're supporting you. And um, I, I understand you had a rally too.

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Is that today or yesterday? Oh no, I didn't have a rally. You didn't have a rally. I thought you were having a rally at the church, uh, because we had

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Bevelyn, uh, BD on last week and she said she was going to be at a rally for Nini's or something on your show.

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Yeah. It was last week. Dude. Bevelyn's the homie. I had no idea, bro. Oh my goodness. I got to catch up on that.

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There's a rally for Nini's going on somewhere and you weren't invited and it wasn't. I didn't know.

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That's what you're talking about. Okay. So what you're referring to is, um, so actually, uh,

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Bevelyn BD is a close, close friend of our church and our family, and she is hosting a conference at our church,

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Metro Praise International at our, uh, here in Chicago, our Chicago building, and, uh, it's called the

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Jesus is God conference. And it's basically a whole conference, uh, dedicated to debunking oneness, the oneness heresy essentially.

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Um, and, um, the, there's going to be a teaching and evangelism. For those who don't know oneness, like believing, not believing in the

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Trinity, essentially believing. Okay. Yeah. Also known as modalism. Right. Um, they are, um, so they're having a pastor,

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Joe was leading a conference with Bevelyn on that and there's a evangelistic portion of the event.

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Um, and they're coming to Nini's after the street evangelism to come support. So it's

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July 9th, 10th, and 11th, there'll be in Chicago doing that. Okay. So maybe, all right.

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So I didn't get my facts quite straight, but you straightened me out and everyone else who's, Hey, some people who might be coming home from like a late 4th of July celebration, they're coming through Chicago.

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Uh, they may want to stop by, get an empanada. Are you going to be there this week? Or I know you, you have a home in Dallas, so you're all right.

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So what's going on? Are you living in Dallas? Are you moving to Chicago? I currently live in Dallas and I am reopening

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Nini's in Chicago and I am just going where the Lord leads. I want, I believe the

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Lord is leading me to open up more businesses. I really do. Um, I really do sense, uh, his anointing on our business.

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It was just such an amazing day. There was a total spirit of peace, uh, dwelling over the business.

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And, and I really, I heard a word one time, uh, my pastor shared with me and it wasn't trying to be prophetic or anything like that.

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He was just, just sharing with me. He just said, I really believe in your life. This was almost exactly one year ago after, um, almost exactly one year ago, about a month or so after Nini's was protested.

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And he said, I know you're trying to figure out where you're going to work because I just lost my job. And he's like, I know you're trying to figure out what your future is.

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And I really believe that wherever you are receiving the most demonic pushback is where I believe you're called to be.

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And that really rocked me, bro. And so I really do believe I'm called to be at Nini's a hundred percent. Well that makes sense then why you reopened

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Nini's. That's the, uh, understanding that you're operating by, um, cause you definitely got some pushback there for sure.

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Yeah. Uh, so tell me, give me kind of like just a sketch of what today was like, this is your first time in business since, uh, you know, it's been what, a, a, over a year since about 13 months, almost 13 months exactly.

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Um, and, and so what does it feel like to be back in the kitchen? How many people came, what was it like? So John, uh,

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I have four young men by the grace of God who I have the privilege of employing at Nini's, all of which are part of our church

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Metro Praise, all of which are leaders in training. Um, and, and all of which who are, see this as a total honor and privilege to be working alongside of us together.

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They are so excited. They're so honored. One of which left their job that was able to pay them more than what

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Nini's could offer. And he said, I just want to be where the spirit of God is. And that young man, his name is

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Nathan Fajardo, young man who you interviewed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was at, well, he was in Panther while black.

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For those who saw that he was the young guy who, uh, kind of his, his faith was reinvigorated when he saw your testimony and came, came back to church and stuff.

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Yes. He was, he was living a double life to say the least half in the church, half out the church chasing girls.

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And when he heard the testimony, he said, I need to get on fire for Christ. I'm done living like this. And now he wants to, now he's working with us and now he's a leader in training at our church.

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Uh, so he's one of them. The other ones are just amazing men of God. One of which I discipled who is also, uh, gave his life to Jesus after him and I met at Nini's as well, many years ago.

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Um, so it's just been incredible having, um, this just amazing team to work with. And then the people that showed up, it was neighbors that just were done.

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They're like, I just don't care about those things. I'm not involved. I don't want to, I just want food. And I was like, great, we have food.

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And then there was like, you know, uh, people who are going into the Navy and stuff, you know, young people who are like,

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I just believe in freedom. You know, I just believe you should be able to say whatever you want and you shouldn't have to fear for your life because you love

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God and the one Nate and this country, you know, like that there were police officers, there were church people.

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They were just, um, you know, just all walks of life that just were there for good food and to be served well.

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And they were just there to support. And it was, it was amazing, John. That's great. That's great.

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And, uh, recipes still taste the same. Recipes are better than ever. You know, they're better. They're better.

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So for this, so this week you'll be there in Chicago. If someone wants to come and they want to see Juan Riesco, uh, show up at Nini's deli between nine and three, uh, in Chicago.

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Um, I mean, it's, it's, it's a little bit of a trek off the highway. What if someone's just passing through Chicago? No, John, no.

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Off the highway. It's super close. There's a couple highways. You might have gotten off the highway that was a little bit farther, but there is one highway that's about six minutes away.

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All right. Off the highway. It's really good. Yeah. So, okay. So it's not a bad place to just have a pit stop, get your empanada and then keep going to wherever you're going.

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Um, so, all right, man, this is a bad of a place. Yeah. It's not. Yeah. I mean, you know, there's other, you can go to white castle, but you know, you might as well go to Nini's.

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Um, if you want to support good food, uh, Christian business, as well as, um, make a statement for freedom of, uh, speech and expression, uh, and, and just against this cancel culture.

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Uh, I mean, Juan was canceled and here he is smiling and still making and selling empanadas. So, um, man,

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I, I'm looking forward to finally, I mean, I hear so much about it for the, I mean, we made a movie, uh, you came out and spoke at Liberty.

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I keep hearing about these empanadas. I've never had one. So, um, I'm going to have to get one one day, uh, and I hope you open one.

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You need to open one in Lynchburg. You need to open one in Dallas. Uh, we need Nini's everywhere. So, uh,

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Thank you, bro. That's the goal, man. That's the, that's the vision. Honestly. You know, I just want to say one last thing, brother,

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John, um, this whole time I've really had to develop a theology of persecution.

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Yeah. I really had to understand and really develop that because we read about it in the scriptures, but a lot of times we don't, um, you know, internalize it until something like this happens, you know?

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And so my theology of, of persecution is just what the scriptures say, you know, we're blessed to be persecuted.

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It's an honor. Cause this is the way that the prophets of old were treated, you know? But when we say those things, we have to make sure it's not just a novelty.

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It's not just something we say for fun when it's happening, when our coworkers are coming against us, when our classmates hate us for what we say and love and believe when our family members want to cut us out of their lives.

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You know, we have to remember we are blessed for it. We're blessed for it.

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We're better off with them hating us because woe to those who aren't hated for the gospel. I believe that's in Luke, you know?

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So we have to remember that we have to embody that and internalize it. And that's the heart that we came back to meanings with.

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I was like, wait a sec. And it really, this is when it all started to click. I was like, wait a sec, wait a sec, wait a sec. If I'm blessed for being persecuted, then

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I have to go back. I have to, because if I'm blessed, then

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I took a victory that day. I'm coming in hot off of a

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W. The gospel won. It doesn't lose.

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And so I had to really understand that. And we have to remember that as Christians, we win.

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Jesus wins when we're persecuted. It's a win -win. Well, you've been focusing not just on the life in front of you and what you can see, but the unseen and the person who actually you should be living for anyway, the person who created the whole place and runs the whole place and who you'll be spending eternity with.

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And so that's a hard thing. So many Christians, including myself, I mean, I can get into this mindset of just living in the here and now cause and effect world that I see right in front of me.

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And that's true. That's all there. But forgetting that, wait a minute, there's someone beyond all this, there's a designer and there's someone who's actually called me to live for him.

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And he's promised that he'll protect me as I do that. And he'll give me food and shelter and everything necessary for life.

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So I was actually talking this morning with a pastor from Canada, which actually will be airing that later in the week, who is undergoing severe persecution and in a sense got kicked out of his own denomination has,

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I think, $600 ,000 or up to that in fines against him from the government, just because he wants to keep meeting and they still have these

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COVID lockdowns there. And it's happening in places that we don't expect it in the

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United States, in your case, in Canada, the Western world, where we think, wait, hold on, this is a

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Christian sort of Christianized area, but not anymore. And so thank you for being an inspiration, for being brave, for having faith.

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And I just wish the best for the rest of the week. We praying for you. If you're going through Chicago, stop by Nini's.

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Maybe pray with Juan. I know he'd love that. Just stop, get an Epanada and then just pray with him if he's available.

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And anyway, people can go where we're going to go to find out more, should they like your

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Facebook page? What do they do? Yeah, man. If people want to check us out on Facebook, it's just Nini's Worldwide.

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And we're on Instagram at Nini's Worldwide as well. It's just N -I -N -I -S Worldwide. Okay.

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All right. Awesome. So everyone go check out Nini's Worldwide. Give them a good rating. And even if you haven't tasted the empanadas, then you'll definitely give them a good rating.