One of the most important concepts in computer science is how to define new commands, how to add your own words to a computer language. Most computer languages have only about a hundred words or commands and really the art and magic is in defining your own new words out of these building blocks. We do this all the time in sports. For example, in basketball you start by learning how to dribble, how to do a layup, how to rebound. Once you've learned these really basic moves, you learn new moves and put together these building blocks like a pick and roll or a give and go. And you can then go from there to do more complex plays. And once you learn that play and give it a name, everybody on the team knows how to do it. Similarly, once you've taught a computer how to do an action once using these sequence of commands, you can make up your own name for that action. So it's easy to repeat it later. When you define your own command and give it a name, that's called a function. There are two steps to using functions in JavaScript. First, we need to define our function and then we need to call it. When you define a new function, you are simply giving a single name to a set of actions you want the computer to perform. To call a function, you just type the name of the function followed by parentheses. This is actually telling the computer to perform or execute the set of actions you gave a name to. You've already been calling functions when you use the total commands. The only difference is that someone else defined them for you. Notice in App Lab, the toolbox now has a tab called functions. There are two blocks in there, one for defining a new function and one for calling a function. Let's make a function that moves the total forward twice. We'll call it move twice. Drag a new function block out and type in the name you want to give the function. Now add the code that you want to run when the function is called. We'll add two move forward commands and then run our program. Hey, we defined a function but nothing happened. The reason is we forgot step two. We need to call the function. To call the function, we drag out the other block in the functions tab and add in the name of our function. Now that we have both defined and called our function, the code will actually run and the turtle will move. Notice that if I also call the function before its definition, it still works. It just calls the function twice. Defining a function simply gives a name to a block of code without actually running it. The definition can actually be anywhere in your program. The rest of the code will execute line by line just as before. Calling a function executes the lines of code inside the function and afterwards, the program returns to where it left off when the function call was made. The fact that the function definition can be placed anywhere means that your code can get messy and really hard to read. So we typically put our function definitions at the end of our programs to help keep things organized. In JavaScript, we call them functions, but the generic term is procedure. All programming languages have a way to define and use new procedures and it's just another example of how computer scientists use abstraction to solve problems. Once you've written a procedure or function that you know works as intended, you can call the function as often as you wish without worrying about the details or problems you had to solve to get it working. And in defining a function to perform a certain task, you've essentially increased the capabilities of the programming language and can now use that function on its own or as a part of even more complex actions. You can also see why it's important to give your function a meaningful and descriptive name. If you call it something like do stuff, it would be unclear what the function was supposed to do and make it hard to use in your own code. By referencing a large and complex block of code by a single name, it makes it much easier to understand what a program is doing by reading the code and also easier to locate and fix problems or errors.


So, good morning everyone, thanks very much for joining us today. My name is Mark Fiddler and I'm the host for your webinar today, The Importance of Being Accurate and a behind-the-scenes look at our contact centre. To give you some background, I've been with the RTA for 15 years. The majority of that time has been spent across a range of roles within our contact centre. In my current role, I'm a support officer to the contact centre, so today's webinar topic is close to my heart. I am hosting this webinar today from our office in Brisbane and before we get underway, I would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this event is taking place and elders past, present and emerging. I also recognise those whose ongoing effort to protect and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures will leave a lasting legacy for future elders and leaders. So in today's session, we will cover a number of points as outlined on the slide. We hope to provide some background around why we do what we do and how we use questions to ensure privacy and provide a consistent response to callers. We'll also explain why it's important for all parties and the RTA to have accurate information. We'll also stop a few times during the session to answer questions. Please note that the RTA cannot provide legal advice and you are encouraged to seek your own independent advice to make informed decisions. So today our webinar will include a few polls and we'll start the first one shortly. As we mentioned, we will stop for some questions during the webinar. We'd love to receive any that you have. Please click on the chat function or speech bubble in your zoom bar or if you can't see it, click on the more and look for chat there. My colleague from the RTA, McKaylee will join us for the questions sessions. We'd also like to hear from you on how it went as well as any future topics you might like to hear about. Please look out for our satisfaction survey at the end of the webinar and email us, sorry, and an email for tomorrow. Your feedback will help us continue to improve our webinars and other education. Now we'd love to get an idea of which part of the sector you're in and your location. Could you complete a short poll so we can get a better look? So while we're waiting for some results of that poll to pop up, if you can pop your details in, that'd be fantastic. Okay, so thanks very much for responding there. So the majority of our listeners today are in the Greater Brisbane and South Queensland area with a few from North Queensland and Central Queensland. And it looks like most of the, or a fair majority of those along with us today are property managers or agents or property owners or landlords. So moving on, and thanks for that. So before we get into the topics that we put up on the slide earlier, let's have a look at some interesting statistics around the volume and length of calls that we receive in our contact centre. Now over the last 20 years, our volumes have increased and our call lengths have also increased. Back in 2000, we answered around about 241,000 calls at an average talk time of just over three minutes or three minutes and 20. Counter that to our last financial year, where our preliminary figures indicate that we answered around 423,000 calls at an average talk time of about seven minutes. So you're looking now at an increase of about 185,000 calls per year and a little more than double the talk time. Now some of the reasons why those numbers have increased and why our call lengths have increased, we are placing more emphasis on understanding the situation and helping with options, especially when we consider, and most recently, the impact of COVID on people from a tendency perspective and also situations with the market as they are. There's more traffic through our website, so we're assuming that people are getting straightforward information from that source. So that requires or means that more complex questions are coming through the contact centre, taking a little bit longer and a little bit more need for questioning and that sort of thing. The other thing is that more bonds have been lodged, so there's a natural increase in bond inquiries. And to give you an idea, we're currently holding over 630,000 bonds compared to around 300,000 back in 2000. So on average, the RTA adds about 1700 calls a day. Those calls can be a mix of tenancy and bonding inquiries, customers ringing to update details or customers seeking assistance with our web services. As mentioned before, tenancy inquiries are becoming more complex as our customers are able to find a lot of information from our website. And our increasing list of podcasts and webinars provide them with a lot of answers they're seeking. Obviously, the current rental market trends have also caused an increase in inquiries regarding rent increases and ending of tenancies, and these calls can be complex and sometimes lengthy. So before we move on, I'd like to run another poll and get an idea of how regularly you ring our contact centre. You should see that poll pop up now. Please choose an option and submit a response. Give us an idea of how regularly you need us or like to ring us. So looking at the results of that, and thanks very much for your submissions there. So about half are contacting us about once a month, and the rest on a little bit less regular basis. So hopefully some of the information that we're providing today will give us an opportunity to know what you need to do or what to look for when you contact us. So from that, we can see that most of you have contacted us at some point. You probably had your inquiry rather answered, but you may not really have thought about the process that takes place for you to get the information that we provide. One of the most important things at the start of the call is knowing what your inquiry is about and selecting the right option. Before you ring, please ensure that you have any details that you might need throughout the call easily accessible. This might include copies of tenancy agreements, breach notices, entry notices, the bottom number or bottom details or any other information that you might be ringing about. We'll ask questions to ensure that we understand the situation and can provide you with a suitable response. Please be proactive with the information that you give and provide all details when asked. The answer to how much notice do I need to give or to be given can be vastly different depending on what type of a tenancy agreement it is. Is it fixed? Is it periodic? Have notices been issued? Those sorts of things. So having this information at your fingertips can be important. So before you get through to an operator, you need to choose an option. The four options listed there are what is shown on or what you'll hear on our IVR. So our IVR or integrated voice response will provide you with a list of options as well as some other information around the call and calling for. As we mentioned, one of the topics we're going to discuss today is how you can quickly get the help that you need. Selecting the correct option at the start of the call will go a long way to ensuring that a relevant staff member answers your call. For example, if you have an inquiry regarding when you can submit a bond refund, that would be a general question on renting in Queensland as it relates to the legislation around when you can submit a refund. If you were looking to lodge a refund request but were unsure who the contributors were, then selecting the bond inquiries would be correct. So now you've selected your IVR option for the inquiry that you're ringing about and you get through to a customer support officer. So who are we and who will you be speaking to? Our contact centre staff are initially trained to answer inquiries from our Bond Inquiries Q. They are then supported as they build their knowledge and confidence before being trained for other areas. Once that training is complete, they have access to standard responses to common topics to help ensure consistency of information provided. However, a response is always tailored to the information that you're providing. The RTA provides training to staff to enhance their questioning skills and improve their ability to increase their understanding of a scenario prior to providing a response. And we undertake quality reviews to ensure that skills and responses are of an acceptable standard. Generally, one of the first things we do once we've introduced ourselves and got an understanding of the inquiry is ask some identifying questions. These are important as they ensure that we're providing information to those that are entitled to it. Privacy is important to us, so we will always ask a series of questions before we provide any details about a Bond Record. The RTA has a privacy plan and staff members have been made aware of their responsibilities to uphold privacy requirements and to comply with the Information Privacy Act of 2009. This is done during their initial training and through follow-up training sessions and through changes to our documented policies and our procedures. If we cannot reasonably identify you and determine that you have a right to access the information we're seeking, we cannot provide specific bond information, but we can provide general information. For example, if a husband and wife run a tenancy agreement, but only the wife is named as the Bond Contributor, we would not be able to provide specific bond details to the husband, but we would be able to provide general information regarding how the refund process works, time frames and notices, and those sorts of things. In a tenancy inquiry, understanding the situation is important for us to provide a correct response. We will ask questions like, is a Bond Lodge? Is it a periodic agreement? Has notice been issued? Any answers to those questions can change the information that we provide back. If you're ringing with a tenancy inquiry, we will still identify you and bring up either your bond or client record. We like to make a note of the call on your client record, including the topic of the call and a brief record of the information discussed. It also gives us an opportunity to check that your contact details are correct and update them if needed. The data that we record assists us to understand what topics we might need to run webinars and podcasts about such as what we're doing today. It also provides a reference point for you as a customer because our calls are recorded and having the service session on the call, should there be any issue or you need feedback, we can find and go back and listen to those calls. So at the end of this slide, I will take a moment to answer any questions. So please use the chat function to submit anything that you might be inquiring about at this point. And speaking of questions, our contact center will ask them. When we ask questions, please remember that small details or omitted information can change our response. Answers to questions such as, has a breach been issued and was it remedied or is it a fixed tenancy or a periodic tenancy can change the response that you may get. We can only provide responses based on the information we are given. So that's why we suggest that you be proactive in providing the details and have all the information regarding the tenancy on hand when you start the call. Contact center staff do have access to an information database that assists them to provide a response. But there are some things in the legislation that are not specifically referred to, such as who is responsible for cleaning gutters or who is responsible for cleaning mold. The circumstances around how these things occurred will drive a response. So if we're getting different stories from different parties, it can impact the response that we're providing. Our contact center are supported by a support team. And the support team are there to take any escalations or provide assistance to the staff during a call. Contact center staff also have calls assessed for training purposes by our quality and training team who provide feedback and coaching sessions on a regular basis. And as I mentioned earlier, our calls are recorded, unless of course the customer requests that it does not be. So it is an idea to keep the name of who you spoke to along with the date and time of the call. We do encourage feedback and the contact us page on our website has a form available for you to provide any feedback that you may have. So just having a look in regards to any questions that we might have in at the moment. No questions there at the moment, Mark. All right then, we might keep moving then. As I said, if you do have anything or anything that pops up during what we're discussing today, please feel free to pop your questions in and we'll address them there a couple more opportunities as we go along today. So as we've touched on, our questioning is to ensure that our privacy is maintained. And obviously your answers to our questions are based on the information we have in our system. With that in mind, let's look at our data and why it is important what you provide to us is accurate. The information provided with the bond lodge form is how we start building our client records. If you're submitting a paper bond lodge form, then having accurate email and mobile numbers are critical and fundamental to our entire tenant correspondence design. Without correct information, we're receiving increasing numbers of calls and dissatisfaction of customers as they're not getting the information that they need. Inaccurate information can also mean longer processing times. If you have multiple tenants, we require unique email addresses. We cannot have tenants with the same email address as the privacy reasons. And if you are getting tenants to sign your bond lodge form, please get them to check the details on the form for accuracy before submitting it to us. The other important information aside from the tenant's details is that the details regarding the tenancy, the type of tenancy, the number of bedrooms, whether the property is a house or a unit, all those little questions at the top of the form, these are important for us as well that enables us to compile data around median rent information, which is available on our website and is extensively used. If you are using web services for lodging your bonds, then you'll notice that the web service lodgment doesn't require the agent to provide as much personal information for the tenant as a paper form. But a unique email address is mandatory and must be accurate. And if you have a contact number for the tenant, it should be provided. If you don't have an email address for the tenant or individual email addresses for each tenant, then you must use a paper form. We'll touch on the implications of providing accurate details in a moment. But if you do have any questions regarding this process, you can contact the RTA and select web services from the IVR and one of our staff members will be able to provide some assistance. And once the bond has been lodged and processed, there may be need for details to be updated or parties involved with the bond to be changed. Organisations and individuals can update their details, things like contact information and bank details via the update your details option through web services or they can fill out and update your details form and submit it to us. Individuals can ring the RTA, the contact centre and select update your details option through the IVR and provide any new information. If parties to a bond change, then again we provide a couple of options. A change of contributors form can be done via web services or by paper form. The paper form can be emailed to the RTA as can any change of managing party form or change of premises address detail form. If there has been a change, please ensure that the change form is submitted to the RTA in a timely manner. If customers, sorry, if we have a valid email address, notifications regarding those changes will be emailed to the required parties. If customers wish to receive legislative notices such as on acknowledgements, notices of claim, they wish to get them by email and they do need to provide authorization to do so. This can be done via the update your details process or for individuals over the phone. If the RTA doesn't have specific authorization for us to email notices, then they will be posted and the time frames for notices will need to take postage times into account so it can slow down the process. Now the easiest way for all parties to receive bond monies at the end of a tenancy is to reach agreement on how the bond will be distributed. If you need to submit a paper form, then please ensure that all details are accurate and clearly written. If we can't read bank details, we will not be able to use them and this will slow down payment to the party that is looking to receive it. Also ensure that the required signatures are on the form. Missing signatures will require a notice of claim to be issued to those parties that we don't have signatures for and check the ear allocation data up to the bond amount, the total bond amount. Also no cross-outs on the form or white-out. You can get further details from a recent webinar that we did on bond basics if you're looking for more information around those processes. Now if agreement has been reached between all parties, then web services can be the quickest way to finalize your refund process. However, again, if there's no unique email address for each tenant, the paper form must be submitted. If the agent is lodging the request, then accurate email addresses are vital so the tenant can receive fast-track requests. They can then access web services to complete the request. Generally, a refund completed with all parties accessing web services can be done within sort of 24 to 48 hours. If the agent is making a claim, then claim reasons are mandatory and also through web services, the tenant is the one that has a responsibility of providing their own bank details. All right, so again, an opportunity for questions. How are we going, McKaylee? We've got a very quiet group out there today, yeah. So no questions, but we do stop again at the end, I think, don't we? Yes, we certainly do, we certainly do. All right, now I mentioned a little bit earlier and we've looked at and discussed the issues around correct email addresses and the implications. Now, to give you an idea of the impact of the RTA receiving incorrect email address, we have put together this table. Now, there is a lot of information on there and I appreciate that, but just to touch on a couple of points. If an error is made and the email address is submitted incorrectly, now using my own name as example, my mark with a C. So mark fiddler with a C at Yahoo, might be my email address, I won't give too much away. If we receive that email address as marked, but with a K and it's not uncommon for that to occur, then the tenants will not receive the notifications they should. Now, as we mentioned earlier, this does create more calls and unhappy customers. This can also have the potential of exposing the RTA to potential privacy breaches. If the incorrectly provided address is not an invalid address completely, then someone who should not be receiving emails from us will receive them. Now, I know that there are a few mark fiddlers in the world, spelled with both mark with a C and mark with a K and my name's not particularly common. We have received reply to emails that we've sent from people all over the world due to simple spelling errors in email addresses. Incorrect information can also slow down other processes throughout the tenancy. So if there's a change of one contributor or even a refund process at the end, if the parties aren't getting the emails that they should because the email address is incorrect. Now, making an error in an email address is one thing, but providing a bogus address for the purposes of not having to lodge a pay-per-form is another thing altogether. The addresses that you see on this slide have been presented to the RTA by users of web services and they've been provided at both the lodgement and the refund stage. Now, the web services terms and conditions state that you agree not to use the site for any dishonest, fraudulent, false, misleading or malicious purposes and that you agree to provide true and correct information to us and that you declare that all information you provide is true and correct. Now, the provision of false or misleading information, including incorrect or bogus email addresses on any form or via web service is an offence provision under the act and penalties can apply. Now, I appreciate some of this information is a little hard-hitting, but it is important for both the RTA and our customers to be dealing with correct information. Again, we would encourage you to contact us if you have any concerns about not being able to use web services because of tenants not having an email address and we can discuss options with you. As we've discussed, bodily funds and lodgements can now be submitted at any time of the day and night and we certainly see them coming through at all times of the day and night. Similarly, information should be obtained outside of ours, outside of our contact center hours. We've recently updated our website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better flow of information. So for example, if you're looking for information about entry, you'll now find a linked podcast on the entry page. Similarly, the Who is Responsible for Repairs page contains a webinar related to repairs and maintenance. So information contained on these pages, including the podcasts and webinars may answer questions that you have and avoid the need to call our contact center. Our website also contains links to other organizations and referrals to other resources. So even though you may not be able to call us, there's plenty of information at hand that may assist you outside of ours. Now as we've discussed today, our contact center staff are available to take inquiries regarding the rights and responsibilities of the parties within a tenancy. Matters regarding bond and also inquiries about web services. Accessibility is important to the RTA and that's why we work with both interpreter services and also the national relay services to ensure that customers have access to us. We can also accept letters of authority from customers allowing us to talk to support workers, family members or friends to ensure that they have access to our services. You can contact us for more information about this process. At times we've received calls from interstate tenants or from commercial tenants. We also received calls from road traffic authorities and yes, there were RTAs in other states up until recently and it wasn't unusual to get inquiries about car registrations and traffic infringement notices. Obviously we're unable to assist other than providing those calls with appropriate contact numbers. Similarly, we may not be able to assist with inquiries that appear to be more within our scope. Things like management agreements between agents and owners and some tenants to tenants scenarios, have a go at that guys, we cannot assist with. Again, we should receive those inquiries, we would do our best to provide appropriate referrals to organisations that can assist. One last note in regards to when you should contact us. Changes were made with the introduction of COVID regulations last year to assist tenants who are fined themselves to remove the tenancy due to domestic or family violence. Adjacent landlords need to be aware that privacy provisions apply around this. Devulging information can result in offences being committed. We suggest parties who are in this situation to review the information available on our website and if you require further assistance with the process to call our contact centre. So that brings us to the end of the presentation part of today's webinar. We hope that you've gained some insight into how we can work together to get the most out of the next contact that we have, that you have with us. So in summary, we have a lot of resources on our website that you can access 24-7. When you do need to call the contact centre, be prepared with your information. Whether you're using web services or submitting paper forms, please provide complete and accurate information. This will help us process lodgements, refunds and any changes quickly and it also provides all parties with a better experience. Before we go to the final question, I'll just remind you to complete the short survey at the end of the webinar. So, where are we at? Mikaela, have we... Yes, Michelle was... Any questions? We do. Michelle was asking about tenants who had trouble lodging bond refunds, international students, sorry, who had trouble and asking about that easy process. And William also said that they had this experience up until last year, obviously, with the border close. That's impacted on numbers. But Mark, we at QGov's documents have changed with the addition of a couple of things that might be suitable. But what's your advice on international students? Yeah, it is a question that we get on a reasonably regular basis in the contact centre. The... As you did mention, we are aware that QGov is expanding their identification options. So, we'd hope that that opens the ability to use web services up to more customers. Outside of that, I guess it... Depending on the circumstances that I know, some international students move from one property to another in Brisbane a lot, pack up and move back home once their studies are finished. The importance really is around having contact details for them. There is a lot that we can do certainly in regards to the provision of bank account details and that sort of thing via email. But the refund process can start if the agent is initiating it, as long as they've got an email address for the client. We will then provide, as a part of the refund process, we send the fast-track notification and alert them to the process. But it is something that we are working on with QGov around expansion of those identifying documents and being able to provide access to more parties through that. An Australian bank account is still a requirement. It is still a requirement? Yes, yeah. So that we find that that's not so much of an issue in regards to finalising the tenancy or finalising the bonds, rather. We don't get too many inquiries or requests for other payment methods. So generally, most students tend to leave that account open at least until they know that they've finalised the bonds. So, yeah. Alrighty, thanks, Mark. And that is the only questions that have come through. Right, very quiet group today. All right, well, if that's the last question, then look, I will say thank you very much for your attendance today. Hopefully, you've got a little bit out of it and have a better understanding of how we operate and why we do what we do. So again, keep an eye out for the survey and the email, the follow-up email tomorrow. But for now, thank you for attending and I will close the webinar.


Hey friends, welcome to day four of our epic Disney World resort hopping staycation. I am so excited So far we knocked off the Polynesian, the Grand Floridian, the Wilderness Lodge, and then tonight We're staying at the boardwalk. I am so excited This is such a beautiful resort and it has so many great offerings Especially a walk to Epcot. So Let's go do this Easily one of the best Disney World resorts right here just because it's so accessible to walk to Epcot You can even walk to Hollywood Studios and you can just hang out on the boardwalk all night long This is like an attraction on its own people literally come here just to mingle on the boardwalk And tonight we get to stay here. I'm like very excited very giggly like excited The theming here at the boardwalk is very hard to match You can walk down those steps and go right to the boardwalk But first we're gonna go and check in and take a look at our room. I Made a video probably about two weeks ago where I came here and ate at Trottoria Alferno and watched the sunset on the boardwalk itself So if you want to see a little bit more of the details, you can check out that video This video I'm gonna focus more on the things I did not show especially the room and the views from the room With it being the boardwalk resort We're gonna see a lot of 19th century boardwalk Amusements and a lot of like circus decor, which is really awesome The art and decor inside the boardwalk is just so beautiful It's like a tad bit classy, but a tad bit childish, and I like that I'm gonna make an attempt to put in a request for the room of my liking You can always do that and don't be afraid to ask sometimes you be surprised with the answer you actually get and Different resorts have different rooms like for instance here at the boardwalk For you to get a room that faces the boardwalk. It's kind of like getting a theme park view at Bay Lake So that's a little bit more expensive. So since we are going with just a studio Gardener pool view. I'm gonna try to get the highest level possible all the way up And that is exactly what we got. It was actually really easy All I did was say hey, I would love to have a room at the highest level At first I asked if I could be facing towards the ESPN because I know the sunrise comes up over on that side of the Boardwalk, but there was none available So I did get a nice nifty pool view on the fifth floor And I think I'm gonna like it coolest thing about the boardwalk lobby or these pictures here I've discussed them in the video that I was talking about the other day and all of those pictures are the different castles From all around the world at Disney parks really nifty The sundry store is actually closed So you'll have to go down to the screen door general store on the boardwalk itself I definitely want to get myself a nifty little boardwalk memorabilia piece Every single resort that I have stayed at this past week I've been making sure that I actually take something home with me so that I can remember my stay It's something I've never done before and I kind of regret it But now it's a new tradition and I'm gonna make it last anywhere I go to stay. I'm bringing something back Going right up to the fifth floor the highest level possible When in doubt that's the way I like to go some people like the lower levels because it's a quicker walk, but I like the views Look at this in here.  I thought it would be cool to take a peek See out this window and I was gonna lift up one of the blinds, but there would and they don't move I don't know why that is. I'm sure there's a beautiful view on the other side of this I'll never know. I Always appreciate the hallways and the wallpapers that lead to your room, too It's something I always look forward to seeing and holy moly our room is like the first room Right off the elevator Fancy that Mickey to Mickey Thank you It has such a fresh clean scent when you walk in this door so far the wilderness lodge probably had the best scent When I walked in that room, I was like, oh I like this, but this one it just smells clean and I like it And also when you first walk in it seems a lot more spacious because they have these kind of like little spots We're usually there's a wall that just goes like this and then also It has an open bathroom makes the room look a lot bigger speaking of bathroom I really like this little sink area here.  Oh Where's the light? There it is Sad though no stand-up shower I don't even know if they have stand-up showers here, but every resort I've been in so far I got to enjoy that wonderful rain falling from the sky on me and This is a different place For storage usually it's on the other side of the room Huh? Oh wow that goes back deep Hi guys doing No, like it really is really deep back here.  Oh, yeah, check the pillows and one two three four pillows Polynesian is still the pillow king with six pillows, huh? I also like the mirror that they got there and the blue paint is actually really nice. Oh What's this? It's a little fancy dresser. I like that I've never seen a dresser like this before It's kind of cool how it has doors Very nice, and then we got the TV area with the little dining room set I'm gonna turn on the TV with our clean and sanitized remote Thank you It is July 31st soon to be August. Isn't that crazy how time flies like that? 452 p.m 93 degrees out and Look at all of the pretty sceneries you get with the Disney parks channel There's definitely a bed back there, but we have to move all this stuff to get a good look at it Makes it a little bit difficult It's the only room so far that actually had like the table set up there But it does create more space in the room And we'll take a look see here what we got for a nice little bed spot. You got to move these chairs out of the way Is that Dumbo? Oh? It's a sleeping Dumbo Look at that. I Always love these little daybeds. They're so cute, and they always have a nice animation It is really cool that the desk or the table is attached to the bed But like I said, it does kind of make it a little difficult to open and close Does save room in the room though. I do appreciate these light fixtures and that chair looks pretty comfortable Then I have to give it a seat test We got the fancy pull-out sofa. That's a nifty coffee table. I actually like that one a lot in a very Fun-looking lamp in the corner to go along with the fun-looking pictures on the wall Really theming the boardwalk, and that's why I like about this place like I said It's like classy, but with like a little child is charm And like I said before my favorite part of a resort is always the balcony and the balcony view That's what I really enjoy about Disney is just the pit the attention to detail on everything Disney always takes the extra step to make sure things fit properly and Since we did not get the boardwalk view, which is probably the more preferred view and it cost more money We did get probably Just as good of a view because I actually looked on the map and which way it's pointing Kind of gets me excited But also can I point out that there's hidden Mickey's all over this? That's what I was talking about on detail That's pretty awesome Yep, I like it. I like it a lot The main pool viewing area Wow, it's so beautiful out today. Oh You can see the Tower of Terror Well, just a tippity top still gets me very excited because that's my favorite place is the tip-top club That building right there. I'm pretty sure is Guardians of the Galaxy I'm pretty sure. I don't know though. It looks like it and then of course the laughing palace Amusements theming at the pool is so Fantastic, I feel like the clown pool scares a lot of people away because there's a lot of people that are afraid of clowns But you can't deny that it's themed very well like leaping horse libations This is a bar lounge area that's decorated as a carousel. I just really like it here You can see the sign over there says family amusements It's a very beautiful resort Another really awesome thing is you don't share a balcony with anybody else like this is a wall here and then This is actually to that lobby area when we first got off the elevator. That's only this room. The other rooms kind of have We have to share a view but wow, I really lucked out here. I Didn't ask for all this I just asked for the highest level and to be possibly facing the sunrise, but they really hooked me up I'm really appreciated of that. That's what I mean Like when you have a request Disney tries to make every single guest as happy as possible So you can never be upset like I'm not one to get upset about anything because I just enjoy everything The patio furniture is actually really nice. It's a mixture between just all metal and a little soft for the Turkish But the balcony itself Is a little bit small compared to the other ones. They had a longer balcony. I Probably should have done this before But look how bright the room is with the curtains for the balcony open now You can like really get a good look at it. It is really bright and it still smells clean It's like Disney sense just constantly wafting in your face don't get me wrong. I love it I mean, I'll take all of them. I love the smell of the water like that's how much I love Florida and Disney I Think I'm gonna head on down to the leaping horse libations only because I really want to hang out by a pool bar It's something I haven't done so far most of the pools have been closed because of rain and Today seems like a good day so beautiful out and sunny Yeah, I like that idea Before we actually head on down to the pool area I want to show you guys some stuff at the resort that you Technically wouldn't actually notice unless you were staying here A lot of people come here and they go immediately to the boardwalk All the fancy bars and restaurants, but the resort itself Has a very beautiful Scenery that's actually within the resort It's hard to explain because it's like, you know, the boardwalk is so nice I mean what else could be nice? I mean they come here because they want to be on the boardwalk But there are other things here A part of the theming is all these really cool knickknacks And I like the old-timey phones that they have this one is actually out That's really nifty That cake does not look delicious though If you do come here to visit Don't just go straight to the boardwalk and if you want to explore a little bit Go a little bit past the Bellevue lounge And there's an exit that'll take you out to a beautiful garden setting and I'm going to show you where it's at this way Right here is the Bellevue lounge. I've talked about that before in videos It's a really cool lounge kind of reminds you of an old living room with old news radio broadcast always playing And this is the way I was talking about that normally people don't go explore This music though It's so nice. I don't even want to walk hard because it makes a noise and it distracts from the music Right out these doors Look at that Isn't it pretty out here? I have to be honest.  So Unless you're really exploring a resort or staying here You really wouldn't know what's here And some of the rooms over here actually have Amazing gated balconies with little gardens in front of them Isn't that so cute? It's like you're walking up to a home. It's got a little number with a birdhouse And just a beautiful like entrance way I absolutely love this. These rooms are so spectacular, aren't they? This really is such a beautiful resort to just stroll around Like I feel like I'm walking through an old town right now Look at this one right here What a little pretty garden that's a resort room right there Mine boggling, isn't it? They even have their own little pool over here and some special fountains Honestly though, I mean, I know staying on the boardwalk and having a boardwalk view is great But these rooms are just as great. I would love to have one of these rooms I actually might say they might be a little bit better Let's move along back on over to the other side of the resort Where I said I wanted to go down to the pool area and I can show you a little bit more To get over to the clown pool area. I think that's just what we're going to call it You have to come through the lobby and then right down through this passageway But take a look at that room. That's a nifty room to have right there It's really nice and you get to see all of the festivities that are happening in the courtyard of the boardwalk And there it is the clown pool area And right outside the pool, that's our room all the way up there Pretty fancy that you get to have a drink at a carousel bar, isn't it? Since we're drinking at a carousel bar, might as well get the drink that's named carousel Absolute Mandarin vodka and coconut pineapple And orange fancy. I had no idea it was going to be a frozen drink, but look at that Very fancy looking It's actually very delicious like an orange pina colada definitely refreshing on a hot day Since we couldn't show you before the back side of the actual carousel lounge Wanted to show you what it looks like from this angle because there's nobody over in this area by the pool Isn't it so pretty Definitely a drink you have to drink pretty quick or it just melts away It's good though The only odd thing I think about this drink though if it's a drink named the carousel I would expect it to probably have a lot more colors I don't know why it was just orange based with a little coconut and pineapple I was expecting like red white and blue and green and just a flavor of rainbow So for now I'm going to head back up to the room cool off a little bit and find something to do until sunset time I don't know. There's a lot to do here. Maybe I'll take a stroll over to Epcot I did make an Epcot park reservation since it's so close and we can just walk there And it closes at nine the latest park open is Epcot Now that I'm a little bit more cooled off I think I'm going to take a little walk over to Epcot because if you're staying at the boardwalk You got to take advantage of the luxuries of going and just walking to a theme park because it's that close And plus I'm a little hungry. So I'll probably get something to eat while I'm there Just take a look at that view either go left more boardwalk you go right more boardwalk and actually Normally, I can't even hear the music out here But I can hear it just fine and it's a delight On our way over to Epcot Sad to see my favorite ice cream in disney is no more Ample Hills is closed down bankrupt and actually they even stopped the disney springs expansion Really sad that place has amazing ice cream I can pretty much guarantee if it was open. We'd be having some ice cream tonight I love this overlook that they have here sometimes they have weddings and certain little parties happening over here But it's a great spot to actually get a full view of all of the boardwalk I would say total walk time is about six maybe seven minutes from the boardwalk over to Epcot Which is actually really really good The only other resort that would actually have a faster way to get to with theme park Probably would be the beach club right here because that's like a four minute walk You know one thing I have not done yet I have not rode the skyliner since we opened back up I don't think I'm going to be able to do that today because I won't have enough time But I got to get back on those babies And just like that here we are Epcot and I think I'm going to indulge in a little of a taste of Epcot's food and wine festival And get one of my favorite dishes and also see if they have my favorite dessert available Luckily both of those items are right here in the france pavilion I definitely want to get myself The amazing duck that I had here from food and wine But I also want to see if the bakery's open to get my napoleon that I absolutely love Sad news folks the bakery is closed. So there's going to be no napoleon for me But I'm still getting my duck. There it is right there. Doesn't that look delicious? Oh, man canad I don't know how to say it. I was trying and I was even having the cast member try to teach me. I just uh Couldn't say it the proper way. This was definitely by far my favorite thing so far I just love the mixture between the the sweet potatoes and the duck unbelievable Another thing is it's actually one of the bigger portioned items for food and wine. It's only six dollars You go to uh, canada and you get the steak and it's like nine dollars and it's a very very tiny piece So that's why I like this The duck was fantastic But I went to go get a crepe and then the next you know, I looked at the sky and I was like, holy moly I'm gonna miss the sunset and I was really looking forward to that sunset So now I'm gonna try to rush back to the boardwalk room. Maybe I'll catch it. I am totally racing the sun right now Oh, and I'm pretty sure a raindrop just hit me Oh, we're gonna make it and I'm gonna start the b-roll like Now I'm out pretty good. I've made it back to the room and I was up there and realized that I've already missed the sun Setting actually it was already past the actual resort So I decided to hop back down to the boardwalk so I can get more Footage and it did come out good. It looked really good down here. And now since I'm down here Might as well go to abracadabra I wouldn't mind to get myself a curious concoction and enjoy the beautiful lounge While I was hanging out in here. I ran into my friend Susan and Matthew But sorry Hannah. I didn't get to meet you. Maybe next time It's a little sad because most of the things at the resorts are closing super early because of the situation and uh I mean, I'm not sad. I didn't get to enjoy myself. The sunset was beautiful and hanging out the abracadabra bar was nice I got myself a bud light and it's good to be able to just walk back to your room afterwards And now I am back in my room. I had a great time just hanging out tonight at the boardwalk I ran into so many friends. It was unbelievable. I'm so happy that there are people out there that watch these videos And when I run into people in the parks, it's just so great because I just start talking So if I've ever seen you and you've watched the videos and you said hi to me I'm sorry if I talk a lot. I just get really excited to see you And I feel like we're just gonna compensate for hours Anywho's I think it's time to probably go to bed if we're gonna catch a sunrise But before that I just want to take one more look out on the balcony It is so beautiful Look at this resort I love it here and honestly the pool view is amazing I like all the bright colors and I like hearing the music because It's like a faint music right now and I can still hear the water slide running Actually, you can see it coming out of the clown's mouth It's just really relaxing to look and see the swan and dolphin the boardwalk the tower of terror And then also I'm pretty sure I've established this before that I think that's guardians of the galaxy No, it can't be Because Epcot is like this way. So I wonder what that building is actually Huh, I'm a little mind blown right now. If you guys have a guess, let me know in the comments But like I said Definitely time for bed Oh I love these Disney beds And I sleep with my hat on I'm only kidding. Good night. I'll see you guys in the morning. Bye Good morning it is 5 a.m time to get some coffee and See if we can do this sunrise. I know I can't do it from my balcony So I'm gonna have to go down on the boardwalk itself. It rises over espn So hopefully we can see something beautiful I don't know how well it's gonna go but gonna make the best of it. I mean regardless. I'm waking up at the boardwalk So that's awesome Super excited. I should have put the coffee on but I'm glad I got my french vanilla creamer One thing I didn't notice though is if I didn't bring my french vanilla creamer I would have had nothing because literally all they have is coffee here They don't even have the regular creamer or sugar packets.  I was so busy yesterday. I actually did a Another vlog off-site. So I woke up at 4 a.m. Watch the sunrise at the wilderness lodge Explored a little bit Checked out and then drove to another location, which I don't want to tell you because it'll spoil another vlog but Then the video there came all the way back Checked into the boardwalk and I was just a beat But it was like one of those good beats because for some reason when you're in like vacation mode Like your feet hurt, but it's all worth it because you're excited to do something I wish I had this much energy and like everyday life That would be amazing, wouldn't it? But as tired as I am I am so excited to experience the boardwalk early in the morning I told you I'm just in I love Early mornings at resorts And I've never actually explored the boardwalk early in the morning. I've stayed late many and many of times, but Never this early I'm pretty positive the sunrise is going to happen behind me and it's going to actually come up over ESPN So we're going to try to get some nifty shots And angle this right so we can get A beautiful boardwalk sunrise Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science adventure and ideals the atomic age the challenge of outer space And the hope for a peaceful and unified world I felt that there should be something built some kind of a Newsman enterprise built where that the parents and the children Could have fun together if you had it to do over again. Would you do any part of it differently? Well, if I had it to do over again, um, I think uh, no, I don't think it would Well, there you have it The sunrise on the boardwalk. I hope you guys enjoyed all of them Let me know where your favorite resort was and what your favorite sunrise was If you want to go back and look through you can see we had the poly the grand Floridian the wilderness lodge And the boardwalk. Thank you So much everyone that helped and made this possible Today I stayed at the boardwalk because of sandy and jerry You guys were all fantastic every single one of you. See you later. Bye


BUGACTA Na wumpikolil Cancer Bangauna Mary Nganyaka stu Uko Na dunetya Manda We were aware of communicating with certain people in my, I'll say, the people who communicate with me, those are my family, not my fans, you know? Yes. Yama wana penda yuhu segmenti kusawa. Uhu. Kuna criticism yuhu hote hina come through? Wana leta ki dogu criticism kusababa wana sama otu me kopi kibes. We didn't know kibes is an old guy, you cannot teach him new tricks. Yie yie mo yie we alikopi sisi kusabu sisi dutlimu, ali jari bukila kitu kashinika na lafuna wana atame ni yiga kusaba imenta them, you know? Kibes asa me nuka garika dogu juzika inskilas. I was driving that kind of car in 2017. For sure. Ya. Hey. Ya. Napenda, napenda zi nivaze wa nani kopi, zi jana dogo nani kopi, but wana kuna wana criticism wana kini wana sama. Ya. Hawa kitu wana juini kwa podikast has been there for a long time.  Ya. I just don't mind about those kind of nonsense criticism. Ya man. Ah, good stuff you're doing there. We wouldn't have thought you'd actually start something like that, Kerji. Lekini wana kazi poa sana? Ya, at least in a kili o time, niki fikan time ni kufri, I can do something else at least. Ya man. Kwa ni musicu me stopki dogo wana nani? No, no, no, no. I'm doing music, I'm actually shooting a new video tomorrow. And I have a video that I dropped a month ago. You know music is not something like podikast, you cannot be dropping things every day. You know because it costs money, it costs a lot to promote the song. And also to give time to your fans to digest the music. Kwa wana nani kwa makama podikast. Podikast nani zahongeta, nika radio station. Ya man. Okay, is it a collab? Ile ni inwatuwa sayizi. Ile ni nashutikesha ni collabo. And then ni konayangu penashut next week ni ko solo. Alafu kuna couple of collabo zangu sasa mbozo ni singles. But ni collabo zawa sisina kam suini. So before, tumanda December, azimat fungi moka na visindo. Nyewe, you are overworking. We are waiting for the music, Kerji.  Hey, we saw that interview kwa Dr. Fweneke. You said you are worth five billion. Ya, but I've been a billionaire. I've been a billionaire. I don't know why people are like... ...wana kwa shokt leo kwa zi ni medisema netu kwa tia. All along ni mkwa ni kwa ni kwa in billions, ni kwa in billions. But still, it's a amount. But we can't intervene in the SPMs. Like last year, I guess. The company is worth four billion. But I don't know kwa sabu labda iku kwa kwa TV. Waka daru labda SPMs. SPMs ni dynasty, bana paka mwa SPMs. So, sasa ni mkwa wambia sayi, kutukayo time baka sayi ni meongiza properties, ni meongiza deals, ni meongiza assets, ni mefungo new businesses. Of course, now I am. Ni kwa partisa sayizi ni kwa karibu kufika five billion, ni kwa 4.9 something, something billion, yes. But also, I think Kenya elish two hour to kidogo, Kerji.  It's because you're wealthier than Osalia Mudavadi. I cannot decide who becomes wealthier than who. You can be young, you can be old, as long as you have the wealth. You know, unida kumeni heriti ababa yaku. Kuna watotapa kuna mabina juo. My friends, I know my friends who are worth over 50 billion. Over. I'm talking about 170 billion. And they are not even older than me. They are younger. They are like 24, 25. Wow.  Oh yeah, I'm not so sure. We are here because of Chatil Kerji. And I saw you on the post. I'm like, wait. What are you doing today? Mi mi mimi misani. Mi mi misani fids anywhere. You can perform for people when they going for a break. I can also be a comedian because I'm not a comedian. So, I can also let them believe that it was a cheke. Was it your friendship with the church? Tukosawa, tuko vizuri, kwa sababu bi, I see him like a big brother, he sees me like a small brother and I have the right mind for the industry and we work together, vizuri. Ya man. Alright, so what? Nivila tu jawai kuja public, by the way rajo ni, ono dani mi na chachil tu me juwana leho, no no no no, we've been friends for a long time, ya man. Nivila tu sujawai kuja rajo, I have a lot of friends, I don't post them because maybe others they're not supposed to be in the media, others are in the private sector, others in, you know, all different I'll say, nikona marafiki kwa, how do I say, in all, across industries, ya man, anywhere, in the maskini tajiri, on other avenues in life, ya man. Now today you know it's his birthday. Yes. Is there any contribution you'd note that you know chachil has brought in your life and what would you like to tell him today? I'll say, you know, I'll just say leave your life to the fullest because you know you have already done it. There is nothing, you don't need to prove anything to anyone, kusbabu wewe, do me patiana kama your back for everyone to ride on. I will say that's for the comedians and also he put, he put like a platform, his platform gave a lot of artists, I will say not comedians only, but other artists may be acrobats, gymnastic guys, musicians, you know, to be in the limelight nawaqa benefit from this.  So they have benefited from him as a man kusbabu without him pulling all the strings, nothing could have happened, you know, and so many other people who work as PAs for the other artists also, you know, when you go behind the scenes, that's when you see how many people the producers, the audio and video producers, you know, yeah man, so many other people use and have benefited from chachil himself. Okay, now as a living legend, so he should be living like a legend, yeah man.  We had a moment with him, at least we spent like, we spent together like five hours, we talked a lot, we also did a podcast with him and he explained to us and we also called other people who were accusing him of maybe alifanya, even alifanya ville and then out of that I went to do my due diligence and I came out to find the truth what really happened and he doesn't even know that I know that, but in real sense it's that the people who were accusing him, they did him wrong. So we need to correct those few mistakes and you know as a human being sometimes when things put you in a corner, you trip a bit. So maybe he tripped a bit and I think he's gonna be right on his feet again and he's gonna run things and probably nivila tutu kuna shi dekido kwa sababu alipo, nili ilesikutu lia chana, I sorted in a few things, nili make sure nimi mpapakapesa ekstra yaku nuwa simu, so that we can communicate easily, but haja nuwa simu, I don't know why because alipige simu na nambam tu mwingine. So I'm still waiting to find out why and then so that we can kick the ball from there because I have gotten for him a job, a job that will be paying him monthly and another job for daily. And a place also to stay.   Ita zunku kucha umchana kucha, ita kwe mechoka kili, lakini kipana palia kushikili ya, kidoga mahaze nanda kupawa. Ya man, bata taruli na umon na joa, taruli vizuri na ta pambana kazi na tapika kazi nzuri, ya man. All right Kairji, we're gonna let you go, thank you so much for talking to us as always. Shukuransana, mingawa eke. Okay, thank you. Sawa.


Many of you guys have heard of the virus that's been going around, the coronavirus, and there was actually the statistics, there's been about plus-minus 100,000 cases worldwide. There's been about three and a half thousand deaths worldwide, and in just America there's been about 19 deaths that's been happening because of this virus, and in Washington alone about 16 of them, and I want us to begin to pray against the spread of this virus, I want us not just the spread of this virus but the fear that's been in our social media, the fear in the news, the Bible says he hasn't given us a spirit of fear but of power, of love and a sound mind, amen? That's the kind of mindset that we need to have, that's the kind of spirit that we need to have. And when we come against it, church, when Jesus was on the ship and everyone was scared of the waves, Jesus came out and told the waves to stop, and the people, the disciples are saying who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him? When we come against this virus with the name Jesus, it has to stop spreading, it has to stop moving, it has to stop because the name Jesus is more powerful than the name coronavirus, the name Jesus, it has more powerful in Jesus, mighty name. So I want us to begin to pray right now against the fear of this virus and against the spread of it in the mighty name of Jesus. So if I ask if we can just raise our hands and as we begin to come here in the middle, let's begin to raise our hands, let's begin to come against it in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray. In your name we shall take victory, that whatever we shall face, that nothing shall scare us Lord, that the spirit that you've given us Lord is the spirit of power and love and the spirit and the sound mind Lord, not a spirit of fear and that anything we shall raise and ask in your name it shall take place, that you will take the glory, you will take the honor, you will take the victory that we shall give you praise and the walls of Jericho shall come down Lord and everything that we shall ask in your name it shall be taken place Lord. Thank you Lord that you will give us that peace, you will give us that prosperity, you will give us that sound mind and happiness Lord throughout the midst of all this pain and all this sickness Lord, in Jesus' name Lord, in Jesus' name. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ I come against every spirit of fear God, in the social media I committed to be broken right now in the mighty name of Jesus. When we come against it in the name of Jesus every fear has to begin to end. When we come at the name Jesus every spread of the virus has to stop. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ in the mighty name I break its grip, I break its spread in the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus I committed to be broken in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord let your power begin to break God, every virus God begin to break every spread of it in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray in Jesus' mighty name. I want to pray one last prayer, I want us to pray for those that have been affected with it already. You see the amount of cases that already been confirmed in the amount of deaths that we have. I want us to begin to pray that there would be a supernatural healing power that God just supernaturally begins to heal those people that whatever cure however the cure begins to spread the cure begins to get faster and come out but we're gonna believe in a better cure that's a Jesus power amen. That's a healing power of God and I want us to begin to pray that the supernatural healing power begin to go to every person that has an amen and it will begin to see God's healing power just begin to manifest in those lives. So let's begin to pray, let's begin to ask God that his power begin to go and manifest in those people's bodies in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Let's begin to open up our lips church and let's pray against it in Jesus' name. We thank you Lord God there is no name about the name of Jesus. Jesus' mighty name and the church shouting.


Are we ministers of mercy or are we messengers of the truth? In this age of Pope Francis, this Pope that we never thought we would have that the American Cardinals, I think, never thought that they were going to get, are we ministers of mercy or are we messengers of truth? This probably ruins the talk, but I think the answer is it's pretty much one and the same. I don't think there's any difference at all if we truly are being ministers of mercy or and messengers of the truth. Why did I set it up in the title of this talk like that? Because I think there is healthy discussion right now about what this whole mercy thing means. When Pope Francis gave that famous quote, who am I to judge, I think a lot of us said, while you're the Pope, start there, right? If you're not making judgments, right? At the same time, we've come to, at least I have, and I think many of you have, have come to understand more deeply what he meant by that. We've come to appreciate that, and when we come to try to incarnate that in our own ministry, in our own lives, we realize how deep what he said truly is. There is this healthy discussion or conflict about whether we should be more messengers of the truth or ministers of mercy because we are called the judge, and Pope Francis judges, as I mentioned this morning, he judges us priests a lot, right? He's telling us to get out of the sacristy. He's telling us that we're supposed to smell like the sheep. He's telling us that we have to stop being, like he said this last week, animals. I don't know if you heard that. It was Argentinian priests or something else, right? He had a tough diocese, or I don't know, but because they don't baptize babies of single or unwed mothers or... And it's very easy then to begin to interpret and say, okay, well then, gosh, what am I supposed to let anyone do anything? In our parishes, it gets down to the nitty gritty. I got a call about three weeks ago from a bride I'd never seen before, but she needs to get married in her parish, right? My parish, her parish. And she said, I'm calling just to make sure it's okay with you that my maid of honor is a transvestite. I'm sorry, not transvestite, transgender. Not transvestite, a transgender. And she called first the secretary, and my secretary, who is... We've talked a lot about my secretary. She's wonderful, and she's very... She's such a simple, pure, wonderful, hard, and she called me up and she was heartbroken. She's like, what has my parish, what has my city, what has my world come to? And she was afraid of what I was going to say. She was afraid. She was afraid I was going to say, yes, no problem. That's what she was afraid, I think. And so I went and I recognized her fear, and I went and I spoke with her. And I said, let's test this out. What Pope Francis is calling us to do. Let's test out how to do, how to be ministers of mercy and messengers of truth. And I said, yeah, maybe they're trying to get us. Maybe they're trying to... Who knows? Maybe they're trying to get a news story that this transgender person wasn't able to. And so I called up first the bride to be. And I said, gosh, thanks for calling. I'm so looking forward to meeting you. And I said, so just tell me a little bit about the issue. And she told me that this was her best friend who transitioned to a woman biologically. And she said, I just want to know. And it turns out that she had totally pure intention, this bride. She goes, I just want to know what's allowed. And so we ended up having this amazing conversation. I said, first of all, I don't ask any... I've never asked anybody in a bridal party what their gender is. I don't know if any... Has anybody here asked a bridal party? I said, I don't... I've never done it. I don't know why I would begin doing it. But now you've brought it up to me. And so let's talk about it. I said, there's nothing sacramental... There's no sacramental element of the procession of the bridal party. And in fact, it wasn't the maid of honor, it was one of the bridesmaids. And I said, but at the same time, you have decided to have a Catholic wedding. And you've decided to come and ask God for His blessing and to receive the sacrament of holy matrimony. I said, let's talk about what you want with this. And if you think that she's going to be there sending another message, distracting us, etc., you can imagine how the conversation went. And she came to me, she goes, you know what, I just decided, I haven't asked her yet anyway. I decided that I'm not going to ask her to do this. I had already gone in saying that I was going to allow her to be in the bridal party, him or her, to be in the bridal party. I wasn't going to ask her, I wasn't going to gender. I was going to say, as long as this is not going to be a distraction from what we're celebrating, who am I to judge? Maybe that's a long example. But I think it's leading us to the very specific and detailed and nitty gritty and messy decisions that you and I have to make pastorally. As soon as we fall into the trap, in my opinion, of debating whether I should be mostly a messenger of truth or a minister of mercy, we have lost our way. We talked this morning about what our priority as parish priest should be. I told Jew priests that the gentleman who runs the pasta shop across the street told me that my main mission was to be a savior of souls. And in preparation for this retreat, I felt God very strongly remind me or tell me that that's not my main priority. My main priority is to be in friendship with Jesus, to be in communion with God, and to do that day in and day out, hour by hour, in making the decisions that I have to make. And then, of course, God's going to lead me within that friendship to make sure I save not only save souls, but to save this soul. And that's where this tension and this call and this invitation and this wonderful challenge from Pope Francis is really seen and felt. It's not in the salvation of souls. I am going to live a life in such a way that I am going to be saving souls.  No, I am called as a friend of Jesus who has been and called to the priesthood to serve him in this way, to save this soul and this soul who is hurting, who is hurting, who is hurting, who is damaged. And because they're hurting and damaged, they drive me nuts because they have reactions that are not normal because they have likes and preferences and attachments that are not normal. I mean, I have in my church, I have more statues than you can possibly imagine. Okay, and I have an area for statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and there's a competition to see whose statue is bigger. And it's a serious, it's not a, it's not a, it's very serious competition of which statue is placed in front of the other, which one is taller than the other. And then we have processions and we have lots of processions. And if we had procession for a Lady of Guadalupe, why don't we have procession for the Altagracia?  I am called to save because of my friendship with Jesus and his invitation to me to be working with those people who are attached to a three foot six inch statue. Because that is the only, only just option, three foot six, not three foot four or three foot three. Maybe one of the confusing aspects of, for us, for me of whether or not I should be more focused on being a messenger of truth or a minister of mercy is that sometimes I forget that I'm not God. Maybe we could answer this question. Can God have mercy on the unrepentant? It's a theological question. Can God have mercy on the unrepentant? I'm not really sure what the answer is. I would kind of lean towards no in the sense that mercy really flows from love, right?  We know this. I'm not going to get into this and probably because if I keep going, I'll make a mistake and you correct me later, right? But I think you know what I'm talking about, generally speaking, right? Well, if love, love flows, excuse me, mercy flows from love. Mercy is not something separate.  That's not it. Love, mercy flows from love. And if God can't force his love on somebody, he can't force his mercy on somebody. He can't say, welcome into the kingdom of the Father even though you don't want to be here. He doesn't say, I forgive you even though you are persistent in your sin. And as priests and as messengers of the truth, I think sometimes I find myself at least falling into, ah, therefore I don't have to be merciful to the unrepentant. You see where I'm going? And this is where I think we end up having trouble, where we justify our entran- entrangency, where we hide behind whatever it is, our schedule, our busyness, our cassock, our genes, our sunglasses, whatever it is. We all have different things that we hide behind because we don't want to go into the hurtful, painful place of learning to love the unlovable, to give mercy to those who are unrepentant. I don't know how many of you have been in Penn Station? Penn Station in New York, ah, New York, okay? It's the only Penn Station that matters, okay? I think there's one, there might be one, is there one in Philadelphia? Newark? I'm talking the Penn Station, the Penn Station New York City, okay? Okay. Well, Penn Station New York City I have to admit is a disaster, okay? It's not a nice place. Grand Central is a nice place. Penn Station is not a nice place.   Well, I was there one morning, it was about 7.15 in the morning, and it was my day off, and I was waiting for a friend of mine and we were going to go to Long Beach, to the beach. And I was in casual clothes, 7.15 in the morning, my friend was late, and I was waiting in one of these terrible, kind of, deli slash, you know, they sell anything that somebody will buy, and everybody's walking in and out there fast, there's a few tables, and there was a guy there who, you know, who was sort of there, but he came up and he was asking for money. And I'm sitting at one table, there's another guy who was sitting at another table, and this guy comes up, and he goes, hey sir, can I get, no, I'm going to have some money for breakfast.  And I'm thinking to myself, all right, I'm a Midwestiner, but I'm not that dumb, right? I mean, I've been in the sense that, you know, in the Midwest, most people were asking for money or honest. These New Yorkers, you know, so I said, listen, I'm not going to give you money. I said, but where do you buy your breakfast? I was just curious. And he goes, well, just right around the, down there. And I said, well, what do you get there that you can't get here? Because they'll make anything for you. He goes, well, I get a low-fat brand muffin with whipped cream on top. And so I thought to myself, like, just, I mean, the guy deserves something for that, right? And so I reached in my pocket and hoping to find a couple of dollar bills, and all I had was a $20 bill on me. So I pulled it out, and the guy next to me at the other table almost died, you know, when he saw me doing this. And I looked at him, I said, okay, I'm going to give this to you, but bring back the change. And I gave it to him, he left, and after about five minutes, I could sense from the guy next to me, he was thinking, what an idiot. This guy must be from Michigan or Ohio or Indiana or something. But you know what, ten minutes later, or the total of ten minutes are so passed by, and the guy came back. And in his hand was what looked like a low-fat brand muffin with whipped cream on top. And not only did he have change, but he had a receipt. And he gave it to me, and I wanted to look at the guy next door to me.  I said, I'm a Roman Catholic priest, and you really witnessed to me. And he looked at me and he was, what's a Roman Catholic priest? What's a Roman Catholic priest? It's like a minister.  And I said, yeah, I'm a preacher man. And he got down on his knees like this, and he lifted his hands up and he said, I have won the Jesus Lottery. The reason why we can't be just messengers of truth is because we're not God. The reasons why we can say with Pope Francis, who am I to judge the heart is because we are not God. The reason why we should err on the side of mercy or lead with mercy, lead with mercy, which doesn't mean we shouldn't speak the truth. But the reason why we should lead with mercy is because we are not God. The reason why we should be nice to our secretaries. The reason why we should be not only nice, but be servants of our associates or different diocese, call them different assistant pastors or vickers. The reason why we should be servants is because we are not God. The reason why you and I can forgive the unrepentant is because we are not God. We don't have to worry about being the ultimate judge. You know, God defines himself not only in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, as a God of mercy. You remember when he tells Moses in the 34th chapter of Exodus that he, the Lord, is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.  He is slow to anger. He is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. But the reason why we're not that with those people whom we don't like and who don't like us is because we are messengers of the truth. And sometimes you have to say it like it is. It sounds like a Donald Trump rally, right? I don't want to distract you, okay? I don't want to create any... I am from New York, that's true. I don't have this error, no. But it's very easy, it's very easy for us, for me, to fall into, hey, look, I'm doing the right thing here. You know, that person needs a little truth. I wouldn't say justice, because then I would say, ah, I probably have to confess that. I would say just the day before I came to the retreat, it was actually about an hour before I, and I was late, heading to the airport, my flight, my original flight, that I ended up getting delayed three hours, and so I had to try to get on an earlier flight, and I'm trying to do last minute meetings with different members of the staff. And I'm walking across the street, and there's a lady who sees me, I'm talking to these two guys, and there's a lady who sees me and who just kind of yelled at somebody else there on the street, and she saw me, and I didn't recognize her, but I'd recognize her, but I didn't know her, she doesn't go to Mass, and she goes, hey, Father! I said, ah, I don't want to talk to her, I definitely don't want to talk to her, but I don't want to talk to anyone right now, and the light hadn't changed, and she goes, wait right there! And really, I wanted to say, who are you to tell me wait right there? That's what I was feeling inside, wait right there! And when you hear that wait right there, okay, this is someone who's coming to complain, and she came over, and it's her New York, you know, tough character, and she said to me, she goes, people have been talking! I go, ah, people have been talking! They say that you're kind of social, like, you kind of like being with people, I'm like, oh, okay, that's not too bad, you know, but I'm not sure what, and she said, and they tell me you even have a drink with people, so I'm like sure, that's a good, and I said, what are you talking about, and she said, I'm not going to tell you exactly, oh no, and it turns out there was a new place that opened up on Arthur Avenue called Top Bus for those of you who are in New York, and when it's a little tiny place, and the owner invited me over when he was opening up to Blasset, and I had a drink with them, somehow this lady heard it, okay, and she goes, so tell me what do you like? Like, do you like, and she went, it turned out she had an unbelievable kind heart, she didn't know how to express it, but she had an unbelievable, here she is, she wanted to know what she could get me, okay, these are people who are right on the edge of, not only on the edge of a lot of stuff, okay, those of you who live in inner cities, you know, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Cleveland, and a lot of other places, you know what I mean, right on the edge of a lot of stuff, but here she had, that was all, that was her way of getting close to me, her way of getting close to me. I'm going to get a little bit maybe personal here and figuring out what it means for us to be ministers of mercy and messengers of truth about maybe, I guess it was three years ago or so, my sister, my youngest sister, I'm the third of seven, my youngest sister told the family in a pretty dramatic way that she was dating other women. She went here, she went to Franciscan University, she graduated 30 now, so she graduated nine years ago, and then she went on to Georgetown Law School and when she was at Georgetown Law School, she started dating other women with the help of a spiritual director there from Georgetown University, Law School, all of which bugged the heck out of me, you know, but that's how I was experiencing in that moment. She was saying this is what God wanted for her, et cetera. I told her at that moment, I said, Anne Marie, you know what, you know that I will love you no matter what, but then we ended up having a lot of discussions of what that meant and about what God's will is for her and what the source of this was and why this, and if she had, if I knew, and I'm thinking, I can't believe I scared her last boyfriend off. I mean, that was a very bad move on my part. But it was out of the blue type thing, right? Out of the blue. She ended up marrying civilly in Washington, D.C., the woman that she started dating, and she came to have a very, very strong attitude towards the rest of the family that she would not go to any family events, that her girlfriend and then eventually civil wife was not allowed to attend. And it's complicated in these situations when, you know, practicing Catholic family, I have five other siblings, and they have little kids.  Right, this is my other brothers and sisters going, we don't want that conversation. And my sister, Emery, was saying, we will not, I will not go to any family event that we are not going as a couple. I will not take my ring off. I will not, okay, this was the attitude that she had. I'm only bringing this up because it's been a tremendous experience for me to try to understand what I'm called to do as a Christian and as a parish priest. Not only in these situations of, I know you heard a lot already today about homosexuality and, but I'm using it as one example, okay, one example for a lot of other pastoral issues. I want to read to you a little bit. I actually wrote about this in my last book, The Way of Serenity, on a chapter that I wrote about mercy before mercy was cool. Okay, and this is a letter that my sister Emery wrote to me after she read the first big interview that Pope Francis had done, okay. It was an email that I received from her that something beautiful and something miraculous, in my opinion, happened in my sister's soul. She wrote this to me. This is the already married civilian in Washington D.C. She says, all of this is to say that my first reading of the Pope's interview is that I felt like I was listening to the voice of Jesus. A Jesus I could believe in. I have had extreme difficulty in opening a Bible over the past number of years. I get knots in my stomach. Yesterday, she wrote, I experienced Jesus through Francis' words. I would have been disappointed and listened to this, and this is the miracle. Between ministers of mercy and messengers of truth, she says, I would have been disappointed if the interview only included the substance of what was highlighted in the news cycle, right, that who am I to judge, et cetera. But it didn't. It was filled with radical empathy, radical love, radical humanity, while not at any point watering down the Pope's understanding of objective truth. The news clippings conveniently left out the parts about moral consequences flowing from the simple, profound, radiant message of the Gospel. I'm thinking, Anne-Marie, I've been telling you these things for all these, you know? Like, right? What was it about Pope Francis' words or attitude? Later on, she told me, Jonathan, please don't ever say that phrase that I hate so much, speak the truth in love, because it's usually used as a way to hide behind the cowardly of speaking the truth because you want to speak the truth without loving one bit. Let's look, brothers, at one example from the Gospel, because Pope Francis is, he's going to be here this year, next year, five years, ten years, and then we'll have somebody else. Let's look at Jesus for a moment. We have 18 minutes, I think. And his relationship to Zacchaeus. He remembers Zacchaeus, the tax collector. He was the worst, of course, in the eyes of the Jews, because he was a Jew himself. He was a traitor to his own. He was from his fellow Jews to give to the Romans. I'm not going to go on into all of this because you guys know it probably better than I do. But let's take a look at it with the perspective or the glasses of mercy for a minute. What do we know about him? The Gospel says that he was rich, which means he was really good at doing what he was doing. Right, so he's probably smart, I guess in some way, street smart at least. He was short, right? He didn't have any friends because he was a traitor. So why did he want the money? What did he spend it on?  Like gold chains. I also picture him as being a little heavy because he's probably living by himself and he's eating good food. I don't know. That's what I pictured him as. A short, shameless, wealthy, curious traitor. Of course, not a pretty picture. But for Jesus, he was pretty. For Jesus, he was his son. We remember Jesus' first words to Zacchaeus, right? Or his first word, remember? His first word when he looked up at him. He was shameless because he didn't mind imagine that guy climbing up a tree and looking down and his chains hanging down and his, right? And Jesus looking up at him and what was his first word? Remember his first, first word? Zacchaeus. I've got a lot of parishioners whose names I don't know. Hate it. But I know the ones that I care about. Or the ones who I care to avoid. I know their names, right? The ones who have harmed me. Or the ones that I can ask a donation from. I know their names. I know their addresses. I know their email addresses. Sometimes I even say yes to going to their houses for dinner. Not very often. But there are a lot of them I don't know their names. And Jesus looked up and he said Zacchaeus. Can you imagine what happened to his heart? The first might have been fright. If he knows my name what else does he know? Maybe. But my guess is that the way Jesus said his name he knew that there was love behind it. It wasn't Zacchaeus. We might be tempted to yell at our associate or something. Really? I probably shouldn't tell that story because this is too close to home. There are too many people here who know. If I say a previous pastor or something I'm not going to say that. He probably said Zacchaeus. Or something like that. Zacchaeus. And all these other people were watching him going. If he's friends with him. And then he said to him, Zacchaeus come down to the synagogue. Remember this? Because I've got a few words I need to tell you. He didn't. He said let's go have dinner.  I love that. He knows what I like to do. We know the rest of the story. But let's remember what Zacchaeus really did. Zacchaeus the next thing we know is standing up. And it seemed like there was people around. But Zacchaeus didn't care. He said, look Lord. Let's imagine he had a million dollars. Now he says, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor. Now he's got 500,000. And if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Where did he get the million dollars? From cheating. Right? Let's say maybe only half of it was cheating. So he's got 500,000 dollars now. He's now got to pay back two million dollars. Zacchaeus was willing to go to the poor house. Zacchaeus was willing to file... No, there was no such thing. Zacchaeus was willing to work his butt off in order to pay back the very people that he cheated. Zacchaeus was willing to sell his gold chains. To probably sell his house. To change his diet. What a conversion. Back to my sister Ann Marie. One of my other sisters named Mary Hope. She's right underneath me. And she's probably the most conservative of the kids. I don't know if she would agree with that. But she went to Magdalen College. She was the only one who didn't go to Franciscan. Magdalen was conservative. And she stayed in New Hampshire. She had six children. She's awesome. But I think their kids are pretty... Not so much anymore. But they were pretty protected. She homeschooled for part of it. And now they're tired. So they send them out. But listen to... This is an... And my sister Ann Marie had decided that... My sister, Mary Hope, had decided that Ann Marie was definitely not allowed to come visit their house with her girlfriend. And listen to this email that I got from my sister, Mary Hope. She says, Jonathan, I think Ann Marie may have or will be forwarding on an email I sent her earlier this week. And as I had mentioned to you a couple weeks ago, my sister's husband and I really were moved by the interview by the Pope in conjunction with Annie's email to you. Because I forwarded to my whole family with her permission. She said, I was on retreat when I saw the interview and took the weekend to really read the interview and reflect on it. Coincidentally, Mike did the same while I was gone. I wanted to explain a little more to you since I didn't explain my whole reasoning to Annie and just made it simple to her that we both decided that we needed to change our relationship with her and her wife at the time, Katie. From my end, it was actually a much larger process than I explained to her. That Saturday I was on retreat. The Gospel was from St. Matthew and it was the calling of Matthew, the very one Francis spoke about. The priest who was doing the retreat was speaking of the significance of eating a meal with a person and how important it is to literally share our lives with those around us, especially the quote, sinners and the hurting. And he was explaining that this was not just a physical thing but being a part of the other's life and how important that was to reaching those who are lost. I've been really struggling, my sister told me in this email with how do you love someone completely, have them a part of your life and not be condoning of their lifestyle, especially as an example to my kids.  That is all around us. I want to make sure it is clear to my children, especially through our example, that this is not a normal way of life according to God's plan and this way of life will not ultimately make you happy. Up until now it has been very clear to Mike and to me that the way we should do this is to let Annie know, remember that, say the truth and love, that we love her, we would love to have her in our lives and we cannot acknowledge their marriage and cannot have, I wrote in the book, Sally and Annie together as a couple with our children around. We kind of both thought it was very simple and we're very at peace with that. We knew not everyone agreed, but we also knew, meaning other members of the family, basically me, but we also knew we needed to do what was right for our family. Then this all happened. When I was reading through Pope Francis' interview, it was so clear to me that I need to be immersed in the relationship with Ann Marie. That was the only way that she was going to experience God's love, which I feel she needs more than anything else. The Pope said that no one is saved alone as an isolated individual, but God, quote, attracts us looking at the complex web of relationships that take place in the human community. God enters into this dynamic, this participation in the web of human relationships, unquote. Although we didn't choose to have the suffering in our family, it is our web that is going to ultimately make us all reach heaven. If I try to run away from that web, I'm not saying yes to the life God has asked me to live, even if it may be messy, confusing, and hard. He also mentions that the church needs to heal wounds and that you can't try to fix the small issues when you really need to heal the whole person and their wounds. Once we do this, we can talk about everything else. And to do this, we need nearness. Listen to this, what she wrote. This went right to my heart, not about all the other relationships in my parish and in my community. And that lady was, what we need is nearness and proximity. Like all of us, Ann Marie has been hurt and I believe she is still really hurting. And although I don't know, I wrote Sally, I know that she has been hurt as well. He then talks about ministers, but I look at also towards me as well, warming the hearts of the people who walk through the dark night with them, who know how to dialogue and to descend themselves into their people's night, into the darkness.  That hit me. I need to have confidence in my faith with Christ, not to be afraid to be immersed into Annie's life fully. I think that was my fear for me and my family. And lastly Pope Francis speaks about being willing to have tension in our lives. We are never going to know clearly the answers in our lives. We wouldn't be growing in faith if we thought we did. I hate not knowing for sure the right thing to do and what God wants me to do. But I have to accept that God calls each of us slowly and only he knows the direction he's sending us. We just have to respond, et cetera, et cetera. Annie responded to our email so happy. She wants to come up here and spend the day with us and Sally. She is willing just to come and go out for dinner with Mike and me if we aren't comfortable with them being together as a couple with the kids. That never happened before. I will not go out to dinner unless the whole family is present. You see? I don't know what we will do so please pray that we do it the right way, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I don't know where all will go from here but I did want you to know where we are at since I knew Annie was going to share our email with you. Can't wait to see you next week. Ministers of mercy or messengers of truth. Obviously it's... Maybe we can say both and but then that gives us an out as well. Sometimes I'm merciful and sometimes I say the truth. We're called to be Christians. We are called to be followers of Jesus. As pastors, as parish priests, as associates, as seminarians, as deacons, we are called first and foremost to be Christians, which means that we're not God. Yes, we're called to speak the truth and in its fullness but we're called to do it in a way and my invitation to you or my suggestion or my proposition today is that we're called to do it in a way by leading with mercy, leading with mercy so that others can experience the truth as love. Let me say it again. Because we are not God, because we are called first and foremost to be Christians, we are called to communicate and to preach and to live the fullness of the message of the Gospel and to do it by leading with mercy in such a way that each and every one of the souls entrusted to us, which are not just the ones who show up at Mass, that each and every one of the souls entrusted us to us can experience that fullness of the message of the Gospel as love, as love. I don't know exactly how to do it and there's a few people who I'm almost convinced are unlovable but by faith I know that they're not because God loved them first just as he loved you and me and put very imperfect, very imperfect pastors and deacons and seminarians to be servant leaders of our church. God bless you.