I'll be the last one to give you a bit of a story in terms of what happened with COVID. Although mine is mixed, it's not just bad. I think we're going to be able to look back maybe not immediately, but in the years to come and look back and see how the Lord really blessed us during this COVID time. Even while we were kicking and screaming and didn't like what was going on. For me, my job, I'm a weird deacon in many ways, in more ways than one. I'm a full-time missionary, so I'm not even assigned at a parish. I wasn't when I was here. I had a home parish, but I was not assigned there because I was gone. I think maybe at the height of me going out, I was home maybe 10 weekends a year. It was a lot different. I'm constantly on the road, I was going out. Of course, when COVID hit, all the churches, my schedule was full pack and all of a sudden, call after call after call after call. Hey, yeah, thanks. No, thanks, we're done. We're going to wait and see, but everything came to a grinding halt. Of course, the three weeks as you know, continue to progress and the only way that I make an income is when I was out on the road. So everything came to a grinding halt and during that time, I'll be honest, I was uncomfortable. Not in like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen kind of way, but more so like, what am I going to do with myself? So I did what most other people did during COVID who aren't priests, clergy, they went to Home Depot or Lowe's, and they bought a bunch of stuff and started working on home projects. Really? I mean, one of the places that was slammed was Home Depot or Lowe's. These places were just slim. So I was working on these projects and just doing this stuff and praying like, Lord, what do you want me to do? One of the other things that he told me to do was I've been working on a small group project that he had given me a year before to work on. He says, well, I've given you the time, finish it. So from a work perspective, I dove into just doing that. But to be honest with you, I started, it's not that I felt uncomfortable like, oh my gosh, he's got going to provide because my ministry started with no money and he built it up. So that piece of the faith component for me was not really bad. But what was bad came in a little bit later. One of the benefits of it, like all of us, is we had much more time to pray, didn't we? And that could have been a good thing or a really bad thing. Because if we had more time to pray, did we actually pray? You started watching the jokes about people going and giving themselves to all the different vices. People drank more, people binged TV, watched all more. They did all kinds of things to cope with the uncertainty of the unknown. For me, I took advantage and I actually started sitting in the chair.  It was a glorious time. I really benefited from that. But what became difficult was that the Lord began to call me. I got up out of the chair one time thinking I was done, but he wasn't done. And in that moment, I heard really loudly the silence. Ever heard that? Ever been in a situation where the silence is so loud, you can hear it? It was, yes, deafening. It freaked me out. Literally. I'm like, and it just sensed that the Lord was saying, Ralph, come. Come to the silence. I'm going to be totally honest with you guys. I said, no, I was afraid. And as I tried to look and see what the silence was, what is this? What did it try to understand? What's going on? And what are you doing, Lord? I didn't know it, but the enemy had just kind of made the silence appear in my mind's eye like this just huge empty chasm, a huge abyss. And so I was afraid. And the Lord kept calling me back at different times in prayer. Come, come to the silence. Come to the silence. And I'm like, no, no, no. I was in outright disobedience. I knew what he wanted me to do, but I didn't want to go. I was afraid. Why should I be afraid? It's Jesus. And yet, I think if we're honest, there are times in our lives when Jesus calls, we're afraid. We're afraid of what He's going to ask of us, what He's going to lead us, who we're going to have to talk to, what kind of uncomfortable situation we're going to be put in. Because we said yes. Please tell me I'm not the only one that has that experience. Praise God. So I'm sitting there. And I've got my projects in the backyard. I've got stuff in my office. So I go into my office one day. This is how I remember the day clearly. It's a Monday. I don't remember what the day was, but it was a Monday. I went to the office clearly. And I start crunching out some of the stuff. And everything in the office stops working. Computers are down. Printers down. Internet is out. I mean, it just stops. I'm like, expletive? So I said, well, I'm going to go on to backyard and work on this project. So I go on to the backyard and start working on a project. And sure enough, that breaks down. Nothing is working. And now I know. You know. Another expletive, bleep, Lord Ralph, out of frustration. I finally gave up saying no. And I just got up. And I walked to the front of the house. And I sat in a chair in a shade. It was an ice breeze blowing. And I sat down in the chair. And I was scared. I sat down. And I just prayed. And I said, Mama Mary, you know the truth. I don't want to go there. I don't even know how to go to the silence. So you're going to have to come take me. And I just sat there in a breeze blue. And it was beautifully calm and calm outside and peaceful outside. But inside of me, I was just a hot mess. I was just, man, my eyes are closed. I'm just in prayer. And I see Mama Mary come up, walk up to me, kind of go, OK, let's go. She takes me by the hand. And we walk over. And as we start walking over it with my eyes closed in prayer and posture in a chair, we walk over right to the place where Jesus is now coming into focus. And behind him is this huge abyss. Mama holds my hand, takes me up to Jesus. Jesus looks at Mom and says, thanks, Mom. Sure, let's go with my hand. And Jesus looks at me and goes, thanks for coming. And I'm like, you kidding? You knew I didn't want to be here. You knew I didn't want to come. So why are you saying thanks? Because I wanted you to come. I want you to come in. But before you can come in, pointing behind him, I have a question for you. And I'm going to give you this question, and I don't want you to give me an answer now. Because we both know that the answer to this question is not going to be right.  He knows everything. It's disgusting sometimes, really. So anyway, in that moment, he says, what I'd like you to do is go to the backyard and work on that project. And don't worry, all this stuff is going to start working. But the spirit is going to come to you. And he's going to ask you, he's going to show you some things. And I just want you to, as he shows you these things, I want you to apply the question that I need you to answer for me. I'm like, well, OK, what's the question? Am I enough? Am I enough? Go on. And I leave. I get up out of the chair. I go to the backyard. And the machinery is not working. I'm doing as he, and one of the things he says, I don't want you to put earbuds on. I don't want you to listen to Christian music or talk radio or a audio book or anything. I just want you to listen to what the spirit is going to. And the spirit began as I'm working on this.  You just follow the machine. It was that kind of stuff. And the spirit started showing me parts of my life. Am I enough here? Am I enough here? Am I enough here? In some of the places, I could say yes. But again, to be brutally honest, I couldn't say yes to all of them. So at different times, I heard the Lord call, and I again continued to avoid. Spirit would come, am I enough? See, because the problem was that while I say I believe in God, and I believe that Jesus is my all in all, and I know the things to say. The truth is that in my life, I still give myself to other things. I'm still looking to other things to give life to my existence. And I didn't want to face Jesus and tell him no. So I kept avoiding, like duh, he doesn't know the truth. But I didn't want to look out of many eyes and say no. So this period lasted for about a month and a half. Am I enough for this? Am I enough for that? Am I enough in this situation? And the Lord called a couple more times, and he patiently waited. I avoided, like I did before.  You know what I mean by that, yes? When we come and we say, OK, Lord, here I am. I'm going to be dutiful and do what I promise. But I'm going to do the prayer. I'm going to punch the list. I'm going to fulfill my obligation all the while of avoiding the encounter. So finally, one day, I knew I needed to go. I'd just been telling him no too much. And he called again, and I said, mama, she showed up, took me by the hand, took me back to him. Hey, hi. Got an answer? What would you know I do? What is it? I don't want to say it. I need you to say it. And with great compassion, he said, thank you. Thank you for proclaiming the truth. Now you can enter. And when he said now you could enter, the fear that Satan had put up behind all of that stuff was just his divine, loving presence. Come on in. And I just followed him in. And I experienced this amazing peace and love, even though I told him no. He knew it was no. And so since that time, he's been calling me back to the peace. And it's still really loud. But the more I keep going back to that peace, that presence, the more he keeps doing what feels like interior surgery. And this week has been a major part of that too. Kind of, I wouldn't say culmination because we all got work to do, right? The Lord has a lot more work to do in us. But if you got nothing else out of this conference, I'm sorry, but I sure as heck did. In this retreat, I really needed this retreat. I really needed to encounter the Lord in the way the Lord came to me. That's why I'm so thankful and why I love to be a part of this. Because a lot of times in our dioceses, we don't get this kind of stuff. No bashing here. But when I went through and I started thinking through of all that we went through, again, just kind of taking our minds back at the beginning, some highlights that really struck me. Monday night, Father Dave said, we need to go back to the basics. It's just about Jesus and me. No activity, no earning his love, no serving to pay Jesus back for saving you. And the Lord said, come to the silence. Tuesday, Peter Herbeck, the Lord wants to revive our faith. He wants to give us the vision of his kingdom so that we witness to what we have seen to the silence. Tuesday afternoon, Dr. John Bergzema spoke of Adam as priest and the failure of man's priestly responsibility. What did he do as priest when the threat of the serpent came into the garden? He remained silent. How many times have I remained silent? Come to the silence. Tuesday night, Sister Miriam asked a question. How did you get here? Mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Do you not see that your life poured out for others is an incredibly beautiful thing. Wednesday morning, she continued on, said Christianity is not sin management. It's transformational glory. The Spirit came to me and revealed to me that if I'm not experiencing ongoing transformation in the Lord, then I either don't want to change or I'm stuck. Either way, I need the Spirit to break through. Come to the silence. Wednesday evening, Peter reminded us that every one of us is a prophet and the Spirit is restoring and renewing our role as prophets. He challenged me to evaluate if I fear man more than I fear God. This morning, John Boliu shared, what hope is really all about? We tend to place our hope in a desired outcome as if we're telling God, how is the best way to go? How it should be, we must place our hope in the living God who is. Other statements that just kind of nailed me was, you know, if Jesus Christ is the anchor of life, then prayer is the chain that connects us to the anchor. Come to the silence. And then he gave that image of concrete and forming, right? And that struck me really in the eyes.  It's not strong enough.  And it struck me too that I went back to Peter Herbeck and he was challenging us about the words that we say in our preaching and how we need to go to the Holy Spirit and say, I need your help to help me become a preacher who's going to give the full gospel. And for me, the form, you see, like, you know, if we're gonna take clay or something and form, right? We're supposed to conform to the image of Christ. And that means that we've gotta take us and shove it into something that's incredibly hard. And then when we're done, we're peeled out and we take on that image. Brothers, is not the form that we have been given that conforms us to Christ? Is it that not His word? Yes or no? It's incredibly hard. What happens if, for example, how would you feel if you, I came to your church and as a deacon, I did a baptism for you and you're standing on the wings and I'm doing a baptism and I begin the right and I say the child's name, John, I baptize you in my name, how would you feel? Or how about if you go on vacation, you go to Mass and you see another brother priest, my brother priest, and they go through the right of the consecration but they don't say the words of consecration and they just move past it and skip it all together, choosing to just leave it out. Been there, seen that. Is that good or bad? Why? The form has been given to us so that we can conform to Christ. If we don't keep the form intact and give them the entire form, we make something other than what they were created to be. Amen? And therefore we're called to give the entire message. The fullness of the message of Jesus Christ, good and bad. I was struck by Peter when he said that. He said, but look at what he did to the woman at the well. He went up to her, he, as we've all preached, I'm sure we've heard that phrase because it's a great phrase to preach in a homily. He thirsted for her soul. But before he could bring her to conversion, he had to confront her with her truth. You're not married and the last five guys you've not been married to either. You think at that point the girl would have turned around and walked away, I don't need you. But it was the truth that brought her back. I don't know about you, but for me, I got incredibly convicted that I need to do more. I need to say more. I'm tired of, you know, we all are in parishes to say, Father, keep it to seven, eight minutes, okay? But while we're dumbing down and shrinking the amount of time we're talking with the absence of content, the people are getting less and less of the form. So why are we upset with them when they don't do and they don't act and they don't be the things we want them to be when we're not the ones who are keeping the form in place? That's our job. But the truth is sometimes we get afraid. I know.  Or when you don't make your assessment. Isn't that true? And so therefore that puts a pressure on you and then you put it on deacons if you have deacons because I don't want you doing this. I've had pastors come to me and go, Ralph, you need to tone it down, bro. Because he was afraid that if I would upset their people, the people wouldn't donate the money and then the collections go down and then you get your phone call. Isn't that just right where the nastiness of the rubber meets the road? The reality of parish ministry life? I mean, isn't that it from a institutional component? Yes or no? But this is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ and our people are giving themselves to all kinds of stuff and we're letting them and we're claiming it in silence. By our silence, we say okay. By our silence, we just look the other way. I was convicted, brothers, because the truth is that it's only gonna get harder and darker. The passage that comes to my mind is when Elijah has, he's the last prophet left, right? And he confronts the prophets of Baal, right? Remember, we all know this is a great passage. It's an awesome passage. He's the last one left. And you go through the whole story, you know what happens at the story. But Elijah tells the people, Elijah then came near to the people and said, how long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. If the Lord is God, then recall to follow. If the Lord is the truth, then why do we live as if the kingdom of God can only be experienced after we die? Tell me that. Didn't Jesus say it's at hand? Yes or no? Didn't he bring the kingdom of God to us? Aren't we praying that I will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Then why are we living as if we're waiting till after we die so that we can be filled and completed and healed? Is it just me? I mean, sometimes I'm looking at what Jesus says and what he did, and I'm like, well, that's what he says, but we're not living it. That's what he says, but we're not teaching that. Peter was just telling us, look guys, he tells us all these warnings about what's gonna happen to our people because they're in sin. Boy, when he said, when's the last time you warned your people? I don't know about you, but I started squirming on my seat a little bit. The truth, the truth is that every one of us in this room is totally capable of doing that, warning our people. The truth is that all of us in this room, I don't care what your personality style is, every single one of us has the ability to call out what is sin in the world. The truth, brothers, is it's much easier not to. Who are we taking care of? Me first, or my people. And this isn't an indictment, please understand me. We're all in the boat. We're all experiencing this pressure, but I believe our Lord is now coming to us and saying, now is the time. I believe one of the major things about COVID is this is the time when the church should be shining brighter than ever before. This is the time when we're supposed to be standing up and saying, look, is Jesus Christ not the Lord of heaven and earth and of life and death? Then why does everybody think that COVID is stronger than Jesus? Because everyone started looking at their mortality, including our priesthood and deacons and bishops, but 65% of the presbyterite are 65, we'll be in retirement age within seven years. They're in that age bracket that was most susceptible. And I think our Lord is coming and he's pulling us close. Come, come to the silence.  Your ordination is not an accident. It is a call, a holy duty, but you're never meant to do it alone. You're meant to hold on to me and in fact, let me do it through you, but you will never get to that place until you come to the silence.  I loved the little boy that was broken in you. While you were trying to figure out how to just run away and protect yourself, I love that little guy. And while you still look back at that little boy and don't understand anything, I see you completed in my form. This is what you have to give me. This is what you have to offer. Me, but am I with you always? Or Ralph, are you giving yourself to other things? Still, when you hurt Ralph, where do you go? When you get frustrated and angry, Ralph, where do you go? When someone calls you and says, dude, you totally blew that, where do you go? When your wife confronts you and calls you out. Can I have an amen? You know, my brother priest, there's one thing us deacons can really relate to is when the bride calls you out. We know it sucks, particularly when it's true. I think our Lord is saying the days are coming and things are gonna get really hard, but I will be with you always.  If you preach the truth, they will hate you because of me, but what you will be doing is shining a bright light for everyone to see the way, the truth and the life. Our people are hurting really bad. You know, sin really is just the pursuit of happiness. They've just been deceived to believe that doing all this stuff and this new way of thinking and a gazillion genders and everything else is the way to happiness. And yet John, one of the things he shared is this litany of how many things are exploding in our culture.  And then when someone comes and starts confronting me about confronting them with the truth, why are you saying this? That's so hateful, I'm gonna say because the increase of suicide has started by such and such percent because, ta-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, because, ta-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, why am I doing this? Why am I preaching the truth? Because God made you in his image and he knows what's best for you. And you're never gonna be happy until you find him, but you don't want him right now. You wanna do your own freedom. The Lord's already telling me, here it comes because if I'm really gonna put myself out there, you know, and I have a little bit of an easier situation because I'm the guy that comes in, stirs up the hornet's nest and I leave. Right? I come in, I say the stuff and then I go and leave you to pick up the pieces. But it creates plenty of opportunity for conversation and self-evaluation. But I know, I still get slammed. I leave, you know, at the end of mass, people come out and they do the drive-by slapping the face. That really was a horrible homily. Thank you, Deacon, bye. And I try to engage in a conversation. They don't wanna talk to me. They just wanna slap me in the face and walk out. You know what I'm talking about. We've all gotten that. But none of that's the point. The point is that at the end of the day, when we come back to the silence and we encounter the Lord, as the scriptures say, when you come to encounter the Lord, do not let your own heart convict you. You know what I think is one of our greatest problems? And I think it's collective. I think it's easy to believe in God from our perspective. What I think is really challenging for us is to believe that God believes in us. You know what I've been sensing all week? A spirit of resignation. We just resign ourselves to say, this is the way it has to be. This is the way it's always been. This is the way it's gonna be. That we really can't go back and make a difference. I'm just a hobbit, Deacon. I'm not even assigned to a church. What could I do? But I think God looks at us and he says, when you entrust your entire ministry to me and stop trying to earn my love, but just receive it and open up that heart and let my spirit go, you will be a very strong weapon in the transformation process of my kingdom. I want to use you to move mountains in the lives of people. And that requires you to bear witness, bear witness. In my apostle, one of the things that I have, the pleasure of doing is going out and doing like staff retreats and things like that. And sometimes when I'm preaching a mission or something, I'll challenge the people as the Lord calls me to and I'll say, you know, you people, you want me to buy into your Jesus, right? And they all go, yeah. I mean, you believe in Jesus, right? Yes, you want me to, you want me to buy in Jesus. Let's say I'm the guy that lives across the street from your church, which none of you have ever come to my house before to visit because we only minister to falling away athletes. Why? Churches are closing down, you know why? Cause we see our churches much more instead of seeing it as a beach head where we're gaining territory, we're seeing it as the exit point because we're getting our butts kicked.  Now I'll say, yeah, I've heard of him. Well, we think you should open up your hearts and let him in. You want me to buy into your Jesus? Yes, that's why we're here. Well, let me ask you just one question. Why should I buy into your Jesus when you don't? Cause you look just like me. You dress just like me. You watch the same television programs just like me. You worry about money just like me. What makes you different from me besides the fact you get up on Sunday morning, I don't, I sleep in because I was up Saturday night. It's not much of a difference. That's why the world doesn't want to knock on our doors to find out what we have. I mean, do we really believe that in Christ we have everything we need? Do we really believe? Do we really believe? Do we really be living that in Christ we have all we need? And here's the spirit whispering saying, come to the silence. I'm encountering people who are starving for truth. But you know what they want? They want to know the why. From an evangelist standpoint, hence my job an evangelist, the number one question that is confronting the church today from the world is how do you know Jesus is real? Because those people can't see Jesus in the Tabernacle. Heck, 70% of our people don't see Jesus in the Tabernacle. Why? Because they don't know that he's real. They can't see the Lord in the blessed sacrament when they can't encounter the Lord in their hearts. So are we putting that vision out in front of the people?  That's the question I asked in all my missions. And you know, the weekend masses that you preach before to kind of give people a taste. I said, give yourself your own test. If you're sitting here today, do you have a love for God in your heart? If the answer is no, then ask the other question. In your heart, do you experience a love from God? If the answer is no, then I'm here to tell you you're missing the very best part of being Catholic. You're missing God. And we're meant to have God. Do you think Jesus came and he did that so that we would have to come to church every Sunday, obligatory, and have a mediocre experience of the faith because we don't understand what's going on? Or could it possibly be that maybe we're just missing something or more accurately, someone. You know, when Elijah the prophet finished that, he ran away because his life was threatened, right? The Lord asked him several times, why are you here? Lord, I'm your last prophet. I'm the last one. They've killed all the rest and they want my life now. So he's hiding in a cave, right? Brothers, it might very well be that you are the last prophet in your town.  But you know what the Lord told him afterwards while he was hiding, he says, go back. And he gave him a list of a couple of things to do. Anoint this guy king, anoint that guy king. Make Alicia your replacement. Tell me, who's your Alicia? Who's your Alicia? Every one of us should be working on one. Who's your Alicia? Who's the one that's gonna take over? Who's the one that you're pouring yourself into? Who's the one that you're allowing the anointing of the living God to flow through you and begin to start resting on them? We need to start living that model, brothers. It's a model Jesus gave us, amen. We need to be doing it. I was at a church and I asked the staff and I said, how many of you are disciples of Jesus Christ? They all raised their hands. I said, great, you're disciples? Wonderful, tell me, who are your disciples? Who are the people you are training up to follow Christ? And the DRE, she's one of those kind of people that just kind of speaks her mind. She goes, are you kidding me? I don't have time to make disciples, I'm the DRE. And I heard that and I just, I was stunned by what she just said and then I started to smile and then everyone, you know, it's like a pregnant pause and everyone busted out laughing. But she really did illustrate a very critical point. Sometimes we're so busy running programs and we have no time to make disciples. A couple of closing thoughts, brothers. Because I'm sure you're tired of listening to me. When Joshua stood before the Israelites after they conquered the land of Canaan, just like Moses had done before. Remember, when Moses came to the people, it kind of is a grand goodbye. He stands before them. He says, I set before you life and death. Blessing and curse, right? Joshua does the same thing. After they go into the land of Canaan and they conquer Canaan, he gathers the people. I'm looking at Joshua 24, starting in verse 14, and he says this. Now therefore, revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods of your ancestor, your ancestors, that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. Now, if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods of your ancestors, that your ancestors served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You know, a lot of us are asking, well, what do I do now? Where do I go from here? And how can I even get close to starting to do this? Because I'm still fighting my spirit of resignation. And yet I think the Lord has been showing us pretty clearly this week that Satan seeks to rob us of our identity as sons of God. And just even in our priesthood, in our horrors, in our diaconate and in seminary. Because we focus on what we do instead of who we are. Brothers, are you a son of the living God? Do you treat yourself as a son of the living God? I've been kind of chewing on that a long time, wondering how would I behave differently if I really did treat myself as a son of God as Jesus has always done? Would I lose hope so quickly? Would I doubt so quickly? I don't know about you, but I'm convicted. The truth is not meant, is not just meant to be known but lived. And we're living in a world where we like plastic Christianity. Everything's in place, everything looks good, everything is right. And yet I think the spirit's coming and he's stirring. Didn't he do that in you this week? Stirred up, went to the spot. So you knew you were trying to tuck away and keeping the junk closet of your heart. And he went in there, opened up the door and says, man, is it stinking here or what? And he's going in and he's causing chaos and you're like, what is going on? And the one thing we begin to realize is that we're not in control. You realize every time that we try to attain control, we step out of God's will. Every time we lose our peace, we step out of God's will. Cause in him there is nothing but peace. Now can we still feel fear because we're confronting our parishes with the truth of God? Yes, but we are created if the higher function of our soul is operating properly and the lower. We experience emotions in the lower and in the higher function of our souls, we sense the fruits of the spirit. It's God's way of communicating to us through the spirit of how we are called to follow him, but Satan has trained us all to pay attention to the emotions, the fear, the anxiousness, the resignation, whatever else is going on in us. God calls us to embrace him and encounter him in the silence in the spirit to move where he moves us, to allow him to flow and have access to every part of our humanity. Can we sit here today and say that Jesus, that the spirit has access to every part of our humanity? Or are there still things in our lives that we're holding on to? Our false gods that we believe give us life, that we go to because they, whether it's enjoyment or whatever. My brothers, if we're really gonna leave here and go and evangelize, first couple of questions. Do you know how?  I'm talking a bunch of priests and deacons, but I've talked to plenty of priests and deacons who've told me they don't really know how to do it. They've just been taught how to do the priestly and deacon things. If you don't know how, then it's maybe some boning up to do. How do I share the karygma with someone? The good news, the gospel. How do I bring them to a point of proper disposition where as it says in the Catechism in 1131 that we need to bring people, the fruits of the sacraments will not come to fruition without the proper dispositions. Peter teaches us those proper dispositions. Repentance. You can't start learning to be a new identity in Christ, a disciple, until you give up trying to be God and baptism.  There's a place to go. We need to start boning up. Does our staff know how to do it? Do our volunteers? But here's the real key. This is what I've discovered. If we're really gonna go out to do that, then we need to answer this question. Upon what do you base your conviction of our faith? Upon what do you base your conviction of our faith? Because the people will see right through it if they don't see that we're sold out. What is your conviction based on? If it's book knowledge, it's gonna fall flat on our head. They need to see the Lord activated in our hearts. On what is our conviction of the gospel of Jesus Christ based? When we know that answer and we start preaching that answer, people are gonna start seeing something different. They're gonna start understanding. They're gonna start seeing you in the ways that you preach the gospel and sometimes you say the good love warming stuff and other times you're calling the kettle black and they're gonna see why because of the conviction.  How do you know? And then you're able to give the answer. Hello, which is something that we oftentimes don't like to do. You know, it's really easy to just officiate the role of the office we've been called. We can put on the collar and we can read what it says in black and do what it says in red. And never once reveal the truth of our own humanity. But the truth is brothers, and then I'll close with this and get out of your hair. The gospel of Jesus Christ must go to the very places in people's hearts where they most desperately need hope. And if we're not prepared to talk about the ways that God has given us hope in our lives, even from this week.  And you can just give them the one word answer. Fine. Or you can say, could we sit down for about 30 minutes, 45, let's make it an hour and open up your heart and show them. You know what that's gonna do to your staff? You show people your heart, they'll follow you.  But if you give people your heart, you're gonna suffer because love is gonna be free to flow and they're sinners just like us. But we are not alone. You are not in your office alone. The Lord is calling us to rise brothers and go and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're never meant to do it alone. We're always meant to do it with him. Always meant to do it with him. But to do it, we have to come to the silence. It's there in that encounter where we are going to be replenished or we're gonna be challenged or we're gonna be made uncomfortable and where we're gonna be loved. I don't know where you are today right now. I don't know what Satan has been throwing up in your face as I've been talking. Maybe trying to get you to stick with where your plan was. You know, as you started looking back to your parishes and starting to dive into your emails and stuff over the day, you know, the temptation comes and brothers, how are we going to be different when we go home? And is that difference gonna be something that we do? Or will it God do? Some people I know here still have that fear. I'm not like that. I don't do that kind of stuff, Deacon. I can't do this and that and this and that. And I've just come to recognize in my own life because as a middle school kid, if I looked at a girl in the eyes, I about peed in my pants. I was so shy. I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ has not gone out to the four corners of the world the way it could because those of us who profess to believe in Him say we can't instead of saying, I can't, but God can't, God can't. And yeah, I might be living in a dark world in a sinful parish or all kinds of stuff going on, but the spirit is alive and well. And Jesus Christ did rise from the dead and He did conquer sin and death. And He has done all these things. And if He's done all those things, then doggone it. He can do those things in my parish. I just got to bring them there, but He wants to move through your heart's brothers. He wants to move through your hearts because once He captivates your heart and that fire starts blowing through you, it's gonna spread. That spirit, that love is gonna just flow freely, but we're the ones that keep saying no. So as we prepare to close out the night in terms of going into prayer, can we just begin to pray for each other about the things in our lives that we're afraid to do? Can we proclaim it? Ralph, I'm afraid to go back to my parish and preach the truth because say it. Don't keep it secret anymore, say it. I found tremendous freedom when the Lord made me go to Him face to face and say it. They put it out there. Let's just calm our hearts down. Be still, close your eyes. Let's go before the Lord.


Hey y'all, what's up? My name is Sonali, welcome to a new vlog. This is definitely gonna be an interesting one because I'm finally telling you guys what's happening and you probably can already tell by the title but I'm gonna be explaining in depth about the new situation, I guess. But first, I'm going to brunch with my friends. I'm pretty sure I'm going to Bolden Creek Cafe and if so, I've been there before, I just haven't really eaten brunch there and my friend said that their cornbread was so good and I was like, I love cornbread. I'm really excited for that. The outfit we have going on today is from Outdoor Voices. I love this little colored top and then we have a little skirt to match it. Then today, we're probably going to go to Canyon Lake which is an hour and 10 minutes away from here so usually we go to just Lake Travis if we want really blue water and kind of like a beach access. We go to Bob Wentz Park but I've been seeing so many tech talks of this really blue, clear water in Canyon Lake so we're gonna go check it out today. Hopefully brunch doesn't take too long because we're gonna plan to leave around one ish. Hopefully we can get off the door by then because it's an hour drive so it puts us there at two and then I'm pretty sure the park closes at seven so I feel like that's more time than we even need to go swimming over there so I can't wait to take you guys along through the day and I'll definitely talk about this situation after brunch. Here with Shirin and we are gonna go into Bolden Creek Cafe and no, I haven't been here. I guess there's like a billion different Bolden Creek thingies around here but it's on self-first. Yes, so good. Highly recommend the blueberry cornbread. I think that's, I still dream about it. So when you said that, like I was like craving it and I was like, oh yeah, Saturday I'm gonna get it like last Saturday because I thought we were doing this last Saturday so I like texted them on Friday, right? Or something. No, Saturday morning at 8 a.m. Like, I'm ready for the cornbread and they're like, it's next Saturday. I was like, okay, got to wait a week so we're here now though. I'm excited. I was gonna say hi back with my team. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And they just met. To my channel now. Yeah, it seems like it. So good. It's our first time. Okay, so back home from Holden Creek Cafe and that blueberry cornbread was everything. I think I'm gonna try to make it and recreate it because it was so good. Yeah. But thought we would sit down and explain the situation.  A bag. Literally, because you don't really have that much. Not gonna be that long, but I'm gonna be back in Georgia until September. September. I'm gonna come back and visit. Oh my God. And then go back until October. And then come back and visit, or me visit you. And then chill, come back in November. Oh yeah. And in December. Okay. And then January and February. I'll come back to Austin. Okay.  Yeah. So I need to save some money. She's pretty pricey, if you haven't noticed. Yeah. And houses here are really fricking pricey too. So basically, moral of the story, he's moving home for six months or a little bit longer, is it six months? Sophie. She's mad. Sophie, I know. She's mad because we'll get into the Sophie situation next. What's the situation? I'm keeping her. We're gonna do the thing where we like put her in the middle and call her and see if she comes too. We'll not see you too. No. But anyways, yeah. So he's moving home until next February. You're literally moving home for six months.  Like I was literally thinking like, okay, he's like, are you really leaving Friday? Yeah. Okay, I'm getting excited now. What? The camera's on. No, front. You're so mean. Anyways. She's like, I can't believe I get through this. Because, right, so like, I'm at a point where like I've accepted it. I was really scared to live alone. And I still am really scared to live alone, but I think it's gonna be good for me because I've never done it before. But like, obviously he's, we like are together 24 seven because we both work from home, which is a good thing and a bad thing, mostly a bad thing because I think, you know, I might be more productive if he's not here. I might be more space too. This is like my, this is my office right here in his couch. Yeah. We have a two bedroom apartment, but like it's not that big. Sometimes you use my office for calls and stuff. Yeah. Which isn't a big deal because like I can do my work whenever. But anyways, so that's that. So yeah, it's definitely gonna be like different living alone and all that stuff. But I'm keeping Sophie because I won't have anyone and I need someone. And Sophie's gonna be my someone. Right, Sophie? Say hi to the vlog. Sophie's very sad. She doesn't even know what happened or what is gonna happen. I am glad that you're leaving like during fall though because no, during fall, not like winter or summer because. Winter's awesome, awesome. Nothing to do here in winter. Yeah. But you're gonna come back during winter. Well, anyways, basically what I'm trying to say is that, wait, when? In winter? I think so. Well, our lease is like till next November. So I'm not really in a big rush anyways. What? It's till next August. No, I think it's November because we did this longer lease. Mm-hmm. Yes. Because they bamboozled me. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is I'm glad that he's going this time out of all the time because in September, I wanna come home for Labor Day which is like what, three weeks after you're gone. And then later that September, he's gonna come back here because his friend wants to visit Austin. And then in October, I'm probably gonna go home because I wanna see Georgia in fall. And then November is my birthday and Thanksgiving and then December is Christmas. So I feel like I'll be home a lot which like, I kinda don't wanna go home because I don't want it to like mess up my routine, you know? Because I feel like if I travel, like I get so thrown off. This will just really expedite the house buying process because I feel like well, we hope, kinda hope the market crashes. And maybe like when he comes back, like it'll be a really good time to like start looking, you know? I don't wanna have more money for down payment, so. Yeah. And yeah, like he said, I'm not a cheap girl, like. And also these houses are like so expensive for like the shittiest kind of house, to be honest. And my company's in Atlanta, so we'll probably close a few more deals. If you guys are new to my channel, we actually did long distance in college for four whole years. You went to UGA, I went to UCF. It's not like that far apart. It's like an eight hour drive, but we never drove to each other. We flew like spirit and stuff. But that's another thing like, well yeah, you did fly a lot too. But I feel a lot to you. You're home, I had to pick you up at the airport. Well, that's your problem that you're fricking college and I'm there for it. Because I'm there for it. Okay, you want me to send $1,000 to go to happen in Georgia? No, thank you. One thing I'll say that made like long distance really easy for me was that I was in a sorority and I was like surrounded by girls all the time. And like I was very distracted with like how I involved I was in college and internships and all that. And I don't think I have that here. Like I don't, I don't know what's gonna keep me like that busy to be like super distracted. Good job. I mean like, yeah, my job, but I don't wanna become a workaholic because I feel like I already am. But I see myself working even more, which might be good or bad, you know? But yeah, I don't know. We've done it before so we can do it again, especially for like only six months. But... It's been like two weeks, it's been like two weeks in a year every time. Big video every time when I cut it, I'm like dying. Well, it's gonna be different because we've been literally spending like like 24 seven ever since COVID with each other. Like that's... I know. I know. Anyways, so that's the lowdown. That is the sad news for this week. That's the good news. I heard you saying that's good news. Oh yeah, you don't know the good news. We're going to Canyon Lake right now. Yeah, we're going to Canyon Lake. No, the good news you'll find out in the next vlog. Nice. Excited. Is there something in my teeth? No, I don't think so. Okay. Well, we're going to get our stuff together and go to Canyon Lake. I'm excited to swim, even though I like just wash my hair.  Like seriously, it fades so fast and you have to like freaking tone it. Feels like every week. No, we're not chopping it. Finally it's getting long. All right, anyways, we're going to pack our bags and drive over to Canyon Lake. We made it. Ryan, what is that? You did it in the last vlog and I didn't notice until I was editing.  You're on Instagram reels. That's a TikTok thing. You don't even have TikTok. So why do you know all that? I'm on Instagram reels, I'm on the Facebook. It is really blue, huh? I mean, my sunglasses make it look like that. I don't know. It actually is. Oh yeah, snorkels, that's so fun. You're probably down there though. Now I feel like this is perfect. Very rocky though. Guess we'll have to like literally jump in because it's horrible to like slide down. It is 6 p.m. Ryan and I are just trying to thrive here because we brought our goggles in. I actually feel like we haven't used them since I bought them. Cause I think I bought them when we went to Mexico. I feel like I bought them from Mexico. Anyways, we haven't used them since I bought them, which was like so long ago, but we just went diving and we thought there wasn't gonna be like that much because at first we, cause I was like, oh my God, there's like a fish, like two fish. And he was like, I don't see anything. And then he saw it and then we went deeper and like a whole school fish. And the fish are like actually kind of pretty like fish you would see snorkeling and stuff. So that was kind of fun. Ryan loved, loved to dive, didn't ya? Good morning. Happy Sunday. I feel like this weekend is already going by way freaking too fast. And it's kind of sad because it's like literally my last weekend with Ryan, living with him until six months. I know I'm being dramatic. I know I'm gonna see him like pretty often, but you know, like living with someone is very different than just him being in Georgia and me visiting and him visiting. So it's very sad, but this is my outfit for today. I don't know if it's like too much. Like I don't feel like totally confident just cause I feel like this hat, like I have so many cute hats from Gigi Pip, lack of color and how cute are these little seashells. But like I never really have like places to wear them to. Unless I'm going to the beach, which whenever I go to the beach, I'll just take one hat cause it's like annoying to carry around. But I thought with this outfit, I feel like it kind of looks cute. This top is part of a matching set from Free People that literally I wear all the freaking time. I really want to like look into getting some more free people pieces because I wear them so much and the quality is like honestly so good. And then here are my Madewell shorts that I recently bought. I also love how these just like fit the A-line style for shorts cannot be beat in my opinion. And then we have these Dolce Vita canvas sandals. I think they're called the Corinne sandals. So yeah, I'm not really sure about this hat though. I wish I could like get your like advice in real time but unfortunately I can't. So maybe we'll go with it. We're going to Key Austin or like Chee Austin in pre-shirts, Chee, but every time I say Chee, I don't think anyone knows what I'm talking about. So I just say Key Austin, but it's a dim sum place. And on Sundays, they do like dim sum brunch. We didn't make a reservation but I'm hoping we can get in if we go right at 10.30. So we need to leave in like literally 10 minutes to get there on time. But I have a gift card because when I worked at my corporate job, they gave me a gift card for my birthday which was in November and I've literally thought every single Sunday, oh, we should go to Key, we should go to Key, we should go to Key. So this Sunday we're making it happen. I also check out Sophie this morning and it's like so overcast that it's like 80 something degrees, which is so nice. Okay, let's do everything outside today and just enjoy the weather while we can. I did some last minute edits for it the week of my life. That is going up as soon as it freaking exports. It just takes so long cause like the week of my life vlogs are like 32 an hour long. I think this one's like right under an hour. But I hope you guys are liking the long vlogs and then I kind of had like an urge to film some TikToks. So I wanted to unbox some Amazon stuff and try them on for you guys. I just got the cutest workout set and I'm so excited to try on. I saw this on TikTok. So it's like a one-shoulder little two-piece set and then I also want to show you guys these shoes. I'm shook. They're on Amazon and they did take a while to ship. Sometimes that could change but I am so excited to like wear these out on rainy street or just going out cause I feel like they'll be pretty comfortable and I love like a little like heel, you know? I just don't like the ones that obviously I can't walk in at the end of the night. But I'll try on that two-piece set and after that I want to do like kind of like a Sunday reset cleaning kind of thing. I have a steam mop that I bought on prime day that I literally have not opened yet cause I wanted to vlog it for you guys. So I'm going to do that today. Here's the two-piece. I'm obsessed with the way it fits me and like the quality is like insanely good. Like honestly, Amazon especially athletic wear is so good and don't get me wrong, I love buying from like Aloe and Lou Lemon but sometimes when you find such a good deal on a set for such good quality too, you're like, it's an o-brainer. I feel like all my Amazon workout sets never disappoint me. I got the color brown but I'm pretty sure they also had like a green and a lavender purple color, which was so pretty. So honestly, if I wear this a lot, I'm going to be purchasing some more colors. Here's the next thing I got from Amazon. It's like this corset shaped top. Honestly, I did think it was going to be a little bit thicker of a material since it said it was going to be like a corset but it's not, it's just kind of like a regular tank top. I still do really like the fit. Like I feel like the fit is very flattering with some jeans shorts or even some jeans with some heels. And then I'm actually wearing a regular bra. Well, like a cami kind of bra and it was like really easy to hide this strap. So very cute. Here's what the shoes look like on. So freaking cute. I just feel like I can't do like regular heels anymore because I don't know, I'm just like not cut off for that. And then also I did want to show you guys my earrings really quick again because I think I showed you guys in one other vlog but I'm still loving them so much. They're also from Amazon. This pair is under a hundred and they're like really cute and chunky. I'm really realizing how important it is to have greasy hair when you do these like slick back buns or like you just have to have product in them but my hair is clean so I don't really want to put product in it but it is freezing in my apartment. Just posted my Sunday vlog, posted two tech talks. I feel like my brain's fried cause I was staring at my freaking computer and phone for so long. But now it's time to Sunday reset and open up the steam mop. I'm so excited about this. I'm very intrigued by it. Like I said, it was a deal on prime day. So I was like, you know what? I feel like, like the apartment could just feel a little bit cleaner sometimes than it does. So I made the robot vacuum, do its thing before I did this. So the floors are all vacuumed and now it is time to get them like extra, extra clean. Honestly, I cannot wait to buy a house one day just so I can have like space to put all this shit because I feel like I always want to like buy this stuff and I don't really have much space for it. And I don't know why I still keep buying it. Like I don't have room, but I guess I just make two. I'm not sure if I'm just supposed to add water but I do have this like wood floor thing that I kind of want to add into it just to make sure it's like super clean. Okay, I'll leave a little room for the solution. So I couldn't figure it out at first. Like it wasn't like really steaming but it says to pump the handles. So you actually have to like, wait. Like now you can hear it and you can like see the steam coming out. How cool. I'm actually terrified to see what the pad looks like after I do the whole living room. Do we still have like a lot of water? So I might actually do the bathrooms but I have to vacuum the bathrooms first. So I'm gonna do that. I'm so hungry. Ryan is still playing golf apparently. Said that it felt like 70 degrees outside. I looked at the weather and it was like 90 degrees which honestly this morning it did feel really good. So I think I need to take out Sophie so I can enjoy the weather too. Taking Sophie for a little walk and I see this freaking sunset. The floors are all clean. I even did the bathrooms and now there's still so much water in there. I'm just like, what else can I like steam mom? So I'm like trying. Honestly, maybe like the dressers. I feel like that could be something to steam up. Anyways, I also did the green little bustle thing for the carpets because it was just looking really discolored and just really dirty. So just like might as well just get it all done tonight and then I put the bath mats in both bathrooms in the washer. So that's what's in the dryer right now. I wanted to end the vlog here because I am pooped and I just wanna get in my cozies and watch some YouTube. Hopefully my favorite YouTubers have posted today. There's nothing I love more than watching YouTube on Sundays. I don't know why. I just feel like Sundays are the best days to watch YouTube. Let me know like what's your favorite day to watch YouTube. Of course my content is gonna be changing a little bit because I feel like not that this is a couple's channel and Ryan's not in every single vlog but I definitely feel like he's in a lot of them and it's just gonna be sad to not have him around like 24 seven, but maybe this is gonna be good for me because sometimes I do think like, ooh, am I being a little bit dependent on Ryan? And I've never really lived alone so I'm kind of curious to see how I'm gonna do with that. I'm honestly kind of just ready to experience it because I've kind of known for a while now and I definitely was really freaking sad about it and a little mad just because I don't know. It's kind of like we already did the long distance. Like why do we have to do it again? It's kind of like that feeling but I really do think it'll be good for me and I know I'll be vlogging a lot more and just being on social media a lot more because I feel like whenever I am alone, this is horrible and I do feel like I need to like learn to be okay alone because I'm not like at all. But basically I just like am always like consuming podcasts or YouTube videos like always consuming content and I also like to make content when I'm alone so that could be good or bad. I don't wanna be a workaholic but I feel like that might be in my future. In the last vlog, I told you guys that there's bad news and good news. So the bad news was today, the good news is going to be tomorrow or the next day. So I'm really, really freaking excited for that because it's like a big change for me personally. It's something I've been kind of insecure about and I'm finally getting it done. So yeah, I'm just so excited about that and I'm definitely gonna take you through like the whole process. Make sure you're subscribed, make sure your post notifications are turned on and if you guys aren't following me on Instagram already go ahead and do so. Also, TikTok is the same handle. I swear I think I post on TikTok more than I do on Instagram nowadays but I will see y'all in my next vlog. Bye.


So I heard about STARS through an email list. I'm involved in the Minority Engineering program, and they love to send us a bunch of emails about opportunities. And it was this opportunity for this program, STARS, over the summer. It really didn't have anything to do with what I'm currently studying, but honestly, I'm like, why not? The best thing about STARS is that it starts from the very base level. Even if you have no experience with electrical and computer engineering, you start at the very bottom. It's been a learning opportunity to go through lots of ECE labs and just get the fundamentals of how semiconductors work, how they're being applied in the industry. You start breadboarding, like using wires. Like, you're literally plugging wires into the breadboard using resistors for the first time. And you start at a very low level, and you work your way up. Eventually, we're going to be doing chip design, so I think it's super cool. Being in semiconductors, transistors, MOSFETs, a lot of complicated terms that you probably aren't familiar with, but as you go into the program, you'll learn very quickly about what those mean. I think I never really knew before STARS exactly what a semiconductor engineer would really do and how I could use my background, especially as a mechanical engineering student, to go into semiconductors. And after these past few weeks, I've really been able to see exactly what I can do with so much of this education and this experience. Well, in STARS, there's two tracks. There's the design track and the manufacturing track. A lot of companies, they need both manufacturing and they need design. They need people to first make the chips and then they need people to program those chips. It's very rare to be able to see manufacturing in person in a lab, especially at our very own school, so being able to go into the plant and talk to people of different backgrounds and different educations. We've spoken with a lot of industry experts. We've spoken with L3Harris, we've spoken with Intel, we've spoken with Texas Instruments, and we've learned what it's like to be working at those companies. If it was just work, I don't know if I could survive, but with the balance of work and all the friends that I've made, it's totally worth it, 100%. And I feel like the people that you meet in STARS are gonna be the people that you interact with most in the next couple of years since they're doing the same kind of focus on semiconductor, just you. Definitely produce efforts in relation to the semiconductor industry with this effort with STARS has definitely been something that's been one of a kind. They really emphasize how we are the first really to be doing something like this. I feel like there's so much more growth and so many more opportunities for me and future people to see.


Welcome back to another one. If you're new to the channel, I'm Gold Pony, I do new car track SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we are in the brand new 2022 Toyota GR 86, courtesy of younger Toyota and Hagerstown, Maryland for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so we are in this one today because it is the GR 86, completely refreshed look for the 2022 model year. You got a larger engine, a revised chassis, one of the few cars out there right now that still offer affordable fun. So I'm pretty darn excited to be in this one today. So ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering for ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all of that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so MSRP for the six speed manual will start at $27,700. MSRP for the six speed automatic starts at $29,200, which is the one we have today. Then there's actually a premium six speed manual for $30,300 and then the premium six speed automatic for $31,800. But regardless of which configuration you go with the power plant on the GR 86 is going to be the same. Powering this little beast is a 2.4 liter naturally aspirated inline four cylinder. It's not turbocharged. So that's pretty cool for reliability especially, but 228 horsepower, very impressive there at 7,000 RPM, 184 pound feet of torque coming in at 3,700 RPM. Power sent to rear wheels again through a six speed manual or six speed automatic. Zero to 60 time is going to differ pretty substantially depending upon which transmission option that you go with. The manual transmission is going to give you that zero to 60 in 5.4 seconds. Extremely impressive there. The automatic however puts it at 6.6 seconds. So like I said, pretty darn big difference there. Overall weight for this thing comes into 2,838 pounds. So it is super light. Red line comes in at 7,500 RPM, top speed 140 miles per hour for the manual, 134 miles per hour then for the automatic. FPG numbers coming in at 20 in the city, 27 highway for the manual, 21 city, 31 on the highway then for the automatic taking premium unleaded fuel. But so now before we do any kind of fun paddle shifter acceleration test here in our GR 86. Do want to mention to you guys the drive modes, the drive buttons are located directly behind the shifter. You got sport, snow, normal and track, essentially adjusting things like the shift points, a throttle response and the gauge cluster to a certain degree and the steering sensitivity. It's noticeably weightier. I just put it in that sport driving mode. So that is pretty cool. I like that. And then it kind of loosens up a little bit but still very nice steering feel either way. We'll get to that in a little bit. Anyways, having got all that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's put it in sport driving mode here. Let's put the paddle shifters and acceleration to the test all at once here. Let's see how quickly the paddle shifters react. And let's see how quickly we can get the new GR 86 here up to speed. All right you guys. So it's a little bit slippery out today but here we go in three, two, hang on. Manual shift mode and one. Here we go. Quick, paddle shifters are actually quick. Surprisingly. I like it. I mean, it's not as quick as I thought it was gonna be as far as overall acceleration goes but the paddle shifters actually work very, very well which is kind of hesitant because this is kind of an affordable fun to drive car but still affordable but the paddle shifters work really, really well. It's an instant reaction there. So I'm still thinking I've driven the six speed manual in the Subaru BRZ as well as the old Toyota 86 and that's absolutely amazing. Quite honestly, it's a very easy vehicle to learn how to drive manual on if this is gonna be your first vehicle but the paddle shifters did pretty well so I did not mind them. I'll put it that way. But anyways to go along with that acceleration as always breaking is equally important.  In the back 11.4 inch solid rear disc with single piston rear cowpers. Also for anyone who plans on giving drifting a shot in the 86, I did wanna mention there is a traditional center handbrake that comes standard on either transmission options so you don't have the electro mechanical parking brake like you do in most cars these days. You do have the handbrake so you can use that for a little bit of drifting if you wanted to go that route. As far as 60 to zero stopping distance goes it comes in at a very, very impressive 107 feet. By the way, as far as braking feel goes it is a very firm braking feel. So definitely something you're looking for in a car like this, a more fun to drive car, more sports car. So the braking feel is 100% on point in the GR86.  So this thing is tuned for the track. By the way, we do have that track mode. So this thing is definitely tuned for the track. So that is definitely a good thing. And as far as ride quality goes you do tend to feel a little bit more of the road and vehicles like this. So that is gonna be there for you of course. As far as steering feel goes, it's dang excellent especially in that sport driving mode. I feel like I could just toss this thing around like crazy.  Yeah, the steering feel is definitely excellent. I still have it in that sport driving mode. So it is wonderful. As far as cabin noise goes I'm going 36 miles per hour right now but you do tend to hear a little bit more of the road when you get up to higher speeds. And if you put it in that sport driving mode here a little bit of the engine as well which isn't a bad thing in my personal opinion but you do get a little more than that just because of the size of the car and then touching on visibility because it's so small you can see perfectly fine out the back so definitely not going to have any issues there but Pambert rounds out the performance segment of this review guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2022 Toyota GR 86. All right you guys and so here she is the new 2022 Toyota GR 86 finished in track red. This is such a good looking car. Let's go ahead and start up front in this one gloss black front grille does come standard. You actually get the GR or Gazoo Racing badging found in the upper portion of that one corner there as well. Front air currents again finished in black as well helping direct air around the wheel entire combination which is always helping assist with aerodynamics. Then to the sides LED headlights do come standard for every single trim level across the board. Gotta love that for added illumination at night. They also get auto leveling feature which is pretty cool. They get LED daytime running lights. They got the automatic feature as well meaning when it starts to get dark at night those headlights will turn on automatically for you there. The automatic transmission configurations actually get automatic high beams as well meaning when you have your high beams on and you're going around to bend at night those high beams are gonna automatically dim back to low beams if it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction and then it's automatically gonna put that back up to high beams again when that vehicle is gone. So that's definitely added little safety feature really in itself but the premium automatic trim is also going to give you adaptive front lighting. So those headlights are going to swivel based on the direction of your steering angle better help illuminating what is around that bend. So you're less likely to hit a deer or a person or a cyclist or whatever the case. So definitely pretty nice there too but that pretty much rounds out the front end of this one again. Insanely good looking front end but let's now go ahead and make our way to the side of this one. All right so now since we are around to these side black windows surrounds do come standard functional black air outlet vents found in the front fenders and let me actually get a little bit closer up here so I can show these to you guys. They are finished in gloss black. You got the gauze racing badging found within that as well and yes, I don't know if you guys will be able to see it but they are actually functional. There is a pass through. So added aerodynamics yet again. That is pretty darn cool. So I wanted to emphasize it but touching down on the mirrors they are gloss black power adjustable side mirrors and they will be heated for every single trim level across the board then as well. You have body colored side skirts as well. Definitely look good there. Taking a look down to the wheel configuration 17 inch machine finished alloys is going to be the standard configuration that you guys are currently looking at right now but there are 18 inch matte black alloys that are going to come with the premium trim level so little bit different configuration there. Then you do have some LED side marker lights found on the kind of corners of that front bumper there so I wanted to mention that but overall the pretty much rounds out the side profile of this one. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right so now since we are around to the back of this one I'm gonna try not to slip on this ice right below me here but there is an integrated duck bell rear spoiler coming with the premium trim. However, even if you don't go with that premium trim you kind of have someone of an integrated rear spoiler like you're looking at right now anyway so that definitely looks good. LED tail lights with the C shape design. LED tail lights come standard for every single trim level. You gotta love that as well. Of course you have the GR86, Gazoo Racing badging found on that rear trunk there as well. Below it all you do have that matte black accenting on that rear bumper which gives it a little more aggressive look there to the sides. Dual exhaust outlets and they are pretty large dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips. So having said that I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. As always here is that exhaust clip. All right so now since we are around back of the 86 when it comes to opening that rear trunk there is a button on the key fob. There's also a button by the driver's side left knee and there is a black rubberized button directly on top of or directly above the Toyota logo in the back there as well. Once opened up cargo capacity comes in at 6.26 cubic feet which quite honestly isn't a whole lot but this is a smaller vehicle so I guess it makes sense. But those receipts do fall down. There's some buttons on the top portion of the seats themselves. If you need a little extra space there for any kind of pass through. Don't also mention just underneath of that cargo floor you will find a tire inflator kit as opposed to an actual spare tire more than likely to save some weight when it comes to that. So wanted to mention it. Then making our way up to the rear legroom then just going to come in at 29.9 inches. I'm quite honestly not even going to try that. Maybe you could fit a small child in there if you move the seat up a little bit but there isn't a whole lot of rear legroom going on in the back of the 86 which makes sense. Although we do appreciate that it has back seats though it's definitely good. Then making our way up to the front seats. Cloth seating is going to come with the standard configuration. Ultra suede finish is going to come with the premium trims. You will find manually adjustable front seats that come standard across the board.  They have nice bolsters to them so better help hold you in place when you're drifting or whatever. So very nice, very comfortable seats here in the 86. I certainly didn't have any issues there. Then take a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped across the board. You got to love that. And you do have the GR badging found on the bottom portion of that steering wheel then as well. Then make our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. Kind of looks like a Subi key but you do have all of your buttons located on one side. You got your Toyota logo. That is going to be the unlock button, the lock button just above it and the button to pop the rear hatch just below it. But it is all keyless entry with a push button start. So all I'm going to do, simply put my phone in the break and press that GR engine start button located just by the driver's right knee. And so once started up there is a seven inch digital gauge cluster that is going to come standard. So no analog gauges in this thing so that is pretty cool. To adjust what is on that gauge cluster you can do that by using the steering wheel amount of controls found on the right side there. You got some G4 statistics which is pretty cool. There's actually a lap timer up there as well. You can check out your radio information. There's some safety features. The list goes on. So really it's quite a bit up there. Average miles per gallon at any given time, I like that. I think I'm going to leave it on the G4 statistics. So that's pretty cool. But anyways, of course with the drive modes that's going to adjust the gauges a little bit. If you put it in sport mode it's going to give you a lot more red hues. You take it out of that. It's going to put it back to normal and it's going to let you know if you're in snow driving mode at the very bottom then as well if you were to do that. But take a look then and overall interior quality. Dual zoom climb control does come standard aluminum foot pedals for the premium trim levels only. You do have some nice smooth black finishes found just surrounding the shifter. I will say that is very easy to clean to have that in my own vehicle as well. So I actually like that finish a lot. Again, you got your handbrake just behind the shifter who have a single cup holder just behind all of that. And then within the center armrest you actually have two more cup holders. So hooray, there's some extra cup holders there. There's actually an auxiliary port and two USB charging ports found just in front of the cup holders there as well, which is pretty cool. But actually that's a brilliant idea. I was wondering about that because with this vehicle having Android Auto Apple CarPlay you do have to hook it up manually via USB cable. I was wondering if the USB cable is going to be located in front of the shifter because then if you go with a manual transmission that's going to obviously keep getting in the way. So I like that they put the USB charger within the center armrest. That definitely makes that a heck of a lot more convenient for actual driving. Anyways, that kind of leads me into the tech. An eight inch color touchscreen display will come standard Bluetooth and audio streaming. Like I said, Android Auto Apple CarPlay as well can actually check out some maintenance information up there like when you need your next oil change, which I absolutely love that. I like that they put it up there as opposed to the gauge is pretty cool. Gives you your outside temperature up there as well. Gives you your radio information. Everything worked pretty darn quickly as well. There wasn't a whole lot of lag whatsoever to that infotainment screen. But anyways, when it comes to the sound systems there's two of them. There's a six speaker sound system that comes standard with our bass trim level but then there's also an eight speaker sound system that comes standard with the premium. So having said that, since we do have the six speaker sound system here with us today, let's go ahead and turn on the radio, see what we got playing today and let's test out the clarity of this one. Honestly, it's not bad. And the reason I say this, I think it's because it's such a small vehicle. Six speakers I was kind of hesitant because I've heard, I don't know, hundreds of six speaker sound systems at this point. But it's not bad in the size of the vehicle that the GR86 is. I'll put it that way. Honestly, the eight speaker sound system should sound amazing in this thing because again, it's such a small vehicle. Now having said that, the bass wasn't the most I've ever heard but I think the eight speaker might compensate for that a little bit. But the six speaker sound system was actually pretty darn good because again, the size of the vehicle. But last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen at least is when you do put the GR86 in reverse you will find a rear view camera with dynamic grid lines letting you know who or what is behind you, which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so to start front side, side curtain airbags do come standard. Driver's knee airbag up front as well. In the back you're going to have latch aka lower anchors and tethers to your children for the rear car seats. There is a tire pressure monitoring system.  And then if you were to go with either of the automatic transmission trim levels you will get a pre-collision system, pre-collision throttle management, adaptive cruise control lane departure warning and sway warning and automatic high beams as well. So overall when it comes to my final thoughts here of the Hachi Roku great entry level drift car is one of those things if you can't afford a Z maybe the Hachi Roku is definitely going to be where it's at. So the other thing is not many cars like this really exist anymore. The other car that I can see this being compared to the most is probably the Mazda Miata. But then again if you were to go to the coupe version of the Miata or the Miata RF you're looking at what 45 grand or something like that whereas this thing is 30,000 or just under 30,000. So this really is a heck of a deal for a fun to drive car at a lower price point. As far as comparing the trims a little bit if you wanted more of the safety features obviously go with the automatic that's where you're going to get all of the safety features that you don't get on the manual. But on the other hand want more performance definitely go with the six speed manual because you're going to be able to drift that one a heck of a lot better it's going to be a heck of a lot quicker to 60 as well. And quite honestly like I said if that manual is anything like the last generation it's extremely easy to drive. So definitely a very nice manual to learn how to drive on. Really the only constructive criticism I could think of is the Android Auto Apple CarPlay. I do like that the wires are located within the center armrest but still wireless Android Auto Apple CarPlay would definitely be for the better. I know Toyota can do it they do it on a lot of their other vehicles so definitely wanted to mind it if they put that maybe at least on the premium trim level at the 86. Anyways that is about it for this one you guys let me know what you think of the GR86 in the comment section below. Feel free to follow me on social media if you wanted to see what's coming up next on the channel before it actually gets to YouTube be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in any new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay Gold.


that Anthony Eden first spoke of a property-owning democracy. It was here in 1975 that Margaret Thatcher first spoke to us as leader of our party and again in 1979 for the first time as our prime minister. Conservative memories made, Conservative missions defined. And it really is a mark of what our party has achieved. That we can proudly say for the first time since 1997 we have two Conservative members of Parliament. Paul Maynard and now Scott Benton are working with the government to transform a place that Labour left behind for decades. And like hardworking Conservatives across the country they are bringing growth and prosperity. A new town deal for Blackpool worth tens of millions of pounds making good on our promises and getting on with the job. That is our mission. And I'm proud to be bringing party conference back to its spiritual home and bringing millions of pounds into our local economy. And when Conservatives say we back business, we deliver. So to everyone who made this happen, thank you. Now of all the moments of history our party has made here in Blackpool the one I want to focus on today is Margaret Thatcher's speech right here in October 1989. Some of you may remember she said as the iron curtain was about to lift she stood here and she told the winter gardens the torch of freedom that is now the symbol of our party has become a beacon that shed its light across the iron curtain to the east. Today that beacon shines more strongly than at any time this century. Conference in March 2022 we must ask this. Does the torch of freedom shine as strongly in Europe today? Could Margaret Thatcher have she have foreseen that the Conservative Party would meet here in Blackpool more than 30 years later with the precious freedom of Europe once again under threat from Russia? A generation of Conservatives understood the threat of tyranny. Their opposition to it defined their conservatism. So whilst much has changed about our party this much remains the same. It is Conservatives who always carry the torch of freedom. And once again it is a Conservative Prime Minister who is leading the world's response to the crisis in the Ukraine. We were the first country in Europe to arm Ukrainians with lethal aid. We've imposed the biggest package of sanctions in the history of our United Kingdom and we are the largest donor of humanitarian aid. And you know as I walk with my children taking them to school through the calm suburbia of Hertfordshire its values as you know so derided by the left. I actually reflect on the tremendous fortune that we have to live in a country defined by stability, security and yes conservatism. And it might not be fashionable to say it but actually for me those private hedges of suburbia are the private hedges of a free people and I will make it my mission as your chairman to defend those values and defend those freedoms. And right now I am proud that Conservatives like so many Britons up and down our nation are playing their part to support the people of Ukraine in their hour of need. They're donating what they can, they're preparing their spare rooms, they're organising their communities to give those brave Ukrainians the very warmest of welcomes. Just as you know 50 years ago and it was 50 years ago this October that the British people under a Conservative government welcomed tens of thousands of Ugandan Asians fleeing that brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin in Uganda. And you know what, half a century later it is our nation that reaps the reward of the prosperity that they have generated and the public service they have so freely given. Dola Popat, Mohamed Sheikh, Jitesh Gardia are now Conservative peers in our House of Lords. Shailesh Farah is in the House of Commons and our own Home Secretary, Priti Patel, sits round the table of the most diverse cabinet in the history of our nation. Now this government, our government has focused rightly relentlessly on dealing with the Ukraine crisis. But we must be just as relentless in dealing with its longer term consequences. We must confront the fact that this combination of Covid and the Ukraine crisis is placing really significant pressure on both inflation and the cost of living. We need to level with the British people about the causes of this and demonstrate to them the very same resolve that we demonstrated as we did with breaking the Brexit deadlock, as we did in investing in that game changing vaccine, as we did in reopening our economy. But we must also confront the mistakes of the past. Today, we face Russian aggression hampered by our lack of energy independence. Our reliance today on Russian oil and gas was a course set by Labour governments. They were the ones who neglected to invest in new nuclear power. You know Ed Miliband, remember him? He spent ten years blocking it when we could now be relying on it. So it falls to Conservatives to deliver energy independence for the first time in a generation. Phasing out the import of Russian oil by the end of the year. Exploring options to end the import of Russian gas. Of course, that means investing massively in our offshore wind and other renewables. But it must also mean developing new nuclear projects and re-incentivising new oil and gas exploration in this country as we transition. Because do you know what? I really think the British people want to see a bit more conservative pragmatism and a bit less net zero dogma. We are Conservatives. We exist to conserve. Of course we will get to net zero.  We just don't want Vladimir Putin taking it over while we're getting on with it. And we all know the alternative, don't we? Next week marks two years of secure starmer as Labour leader. Well in that time he really has managed to stem his personality on the party. Dull, uninspiring and bereft of ideas. Now some people in his party believe he's not real Labour. And I can certainly see what they mean. He certainly has more faith than any Liberal Democrat I've ever met that Ed Davie marks the path to government. But let's not be complacent about the threat that Starmer still poses. We need to remind people of his sincerity in campaigning to have Jeremy Corbyn that NATO-hating Putin apologist is stored in number 10 as our Prime Minister and we must thank Boris Johnson for ensuring that fate never befell our nation. But the danger has not passed. The Corbynistas, they are still there. You know Starmer, he cannot resist cow-towing to the cancelled culture brigade because his base are the cancelled culture brigade. He's frightened to defend women's rights or protect our heritage from vandals but he fears he would be cancelled. And he won't argue against state handouts because his party don't believe in rolling back the vast Covid state at all.  That is why we cannot let him into office. Now I've had the pleasure and it really was a pleasure of fighting many elections like all of you both inside and outside the party machine. And you know as well as I do it's never going to be plain sailing. And of course we do face a tough path through local elections and on to the next general election. We will be seeking that fifth Conservative win. A feat never achieved before. And that challenge starts this May. Thanks to your hard work we go in defending results that defied expectations both in 2017 and in 2018. By the time when people are worrying about the cost of living we need to be reminding people that the best way to tackle the cost of living locally is to elect Conservative councils that cost less and deliver more. And it is that message. Delivery today, delivery tomorrow and delivery the day after that will carry us through the local elections and on to that general election. And when that general election comes it's going to look a lot more at the campaign of 2015 than the campaign of 2019. We really are going to have to fight this one seat by seat promise delivered by promise delivered door step by door step. So from May we're going to launch our two year election campaign. We're going to launch the target seat strategy and that will build on the experience of the 4040 campaign that we used in 2015. So we'll be building capacity developing profiles and framing the choice. And to implement this we have a fantastic team. I've appointed Tony Lee as our new director of campaigning. Well you all remember Tony as the man who masterminded Andy Street's successful election campaign. I've recruited more than a dozen new campaign managers now embedded across the country and working in critical defence seats. And now we've opened our Leeds HQ which means that when people call up and ask to speak to Conservative central office the next question will be which one? But we all know that people matter more than the party machine. Our diversity challenge is not some lefty tick boxing exercise that dumps people into one category or another. It's our way of finding talent from all over the country and from all different walks of life. Our candidates must reflect the new Conservative party the party of Darlington and Doncaster as much as Devon and Dorset. The party of mill towns and mining towns as much as the metropolis. So today I'm announcing that we are reopening the candidates list for the next general election with a big open call for candidates.   We're looking for people with judgment, with integrity and with wide-ranging life experiences. And for the first time candidates will be put through a new process, a process that matches the very best in class from organisations and businesses all around the world and gives us the most representative and best candidates we've ever had. Now let us contrast that depth and breadth of our talent against the out-of-touch Islington elites who dominate the modern Labour Party. You know what? I'm proud to be a comprehensively educated boy from Watford who now gets to chair the Conservative Party.  And I'm proud to represent a constituency where people get up early each day and work hard to provide for themselves, their families and their community. And I'm proud of our party. A party with men and women from all walks of life, bound by common Conservative values who believe in our country, believe in our history, believe in our traditions and believe in the enormous contribution that we have made to the world. Those are the values of the British people. They are the values of the Conservative Party. Our instincts are their instincts. Our values are their values. Now Blackpool Conferences have been the launchpad for many Conservative election victories. So let's make today the start of another great journey and let's get on with the job. Thank you.


I would consider myself one as of right now. You would consider yourself a TikTok rapper?  But it's like, I don't think it's as bad as people kind of say it, like, oh, you just a TikTok rapper. Like, I don't think that's a bad thing. Okay. I was going to ask you, do you think it's a bad thing? Nah, nah. I don't think it's a bad thing at all. Because before it was SoundCloud rappers, you feel me? Yeah. And it's like, Soldier Boy, he blew up off of YouTube.


Hello Zwifters, welcome to another episode of how to run on Zwift and today we are talking about the brand-new Zwift running League So as you may already know, we now have a brand new running event on Zwift It's called the Zwift running League This is in addition to the Zwift racing series, which we have every month We now have this running League organized by WTRL They're responsible for the Zwift racing League in cycling and the Duathlon League, both of which have been very successful So WTRL do know what they're doing Now the Zwift running League is a team event So the first thing you need to do is find yourself a team The teams consist of three or four members So maximum of four and a minimum of three members What you do is you go to the WTRL website Which is WTRL dot racing WTRL dot racing and there you need to register your team Each person needs to register individually But you put your team name down and then WTRL will know what team you're in and will be able to assign your results to that team Now when choosing the members of your team, you need to think very carefully about pace There are on the WTRL website five classes of pace So the fastest being class one then class two three four and five all going slower and slower Then there are also city groups. So Atlanta, Helsinki, Munich, Rome and Sydney Now depending on the class the speed that you're going to run at you will join a particular city group So if your fast runners are class one, then you will join the Atlanta team group So when choosing the members of your team, you do have a little bit of flexibility Your runners don't all need to be from the same speed class You can have one runner from a class above and you can have a runner from a class below You have to have at least two runners who are in the speed class of the city group that you are running in So for example, if you are going to run in the city group Helsinki Then you need at least two runners who are class two runners You can have one runner who is a class one runner and you could in theory have one runner who is a class three runner Example again, you can have runners in Rome. So you would have at least two runners who are class four runners But you could have one runner who is a class three runner and one runner who is a class five runner I hope that makes sense Do go and look at the WTRL website and read all the information there. There's quite a lot to read There's quite a lot of information to take in just make sure when you sign up you sign up correctly Once you've sorted out the members of your team and you've registered your team with the WTRL website Then you need to go and make sure that all your team members are also signed up to Zwift Power That's ZwiftPower.com used to be a third party app. It's now integrated into Zwift But you still need to sign up at ZwiftPower.com and make sure that WTRL are able to access your data for the results The league is going to operate over six weeks every Friday So every Friday we will race and each week will alternate between a points-based individual race and a team relay We will start on April the 16th Friday April the 16th 2021 with a points race You can have four runners if there are four runners in your team But only three will count in the event of a tie break then the fourth runner may come into play So you can have three or four runners each one will run the full distance of the race And depending on which position you finish in that's how many points you get So if you finish in second you will get two points if you finish in sixth You will get six points each runner gets the points based on their finishing position Each week the distances of the races will be different so it's not going to be the same distance every week The following week we will do a team relay. This will consist of a six kilometer run Three runners involved each runner does two kilometers and then hands over to the next runner When you start you will all be on the same start line The first runner will go and complete two kilometers now as a team you will need to coordinate when your second runner and your third runner start There will be penalties if runners cross the start line before they are due to run So you need to have some way of communicating with each other either with a zoom call or discord Which is another third-party app you can use to talk to the other runners in your team If you want to you can have your fourth team member on the start line in case any of your other runners have any technical problems But none of your runners must cross that start line until they are due to go The Zwift running league will be divided into six separate leagues and each league will start at a different time So the leagues are asia Europe east europe west america east america west and oceania You can race in any of those leagues, but they start at particular times So you need to look at the schedule on the w trl website to work out what time is best for your team to start You might have a runner in america and you might have a runner in europe So you need to work out between you which time zone. So which league you are going to run in Now there are no prizes for the Zwift running league simply bragging rights over the teams you've beaten There's also no requirement to have a heart rate monitor for example, although you do need to have cadence cadence Some treadnils transmit cadence Otherwise use a foot pod to transmit cadence into Zwift Another really important thing to mention is that you do not sign up for the races on the Zwift companion app Or the Zwift events page You need to wait for an email to arrive from w trl. It will have a coded link Click that link to sign up for the race that you want to do There's no other way to do it because w trl won't be able to get your results Won't be able to verify that you are in the team that you say you're in If you don't click on the right link you can't simply go to the Zwift companion app and sign up for one of the races So make sure that you wait for an email to arrive With the coded link to click on to sign up for the particular race that you and your team want to participate in And I think that's all the information I've got for you. If I've missed anything out I do apologize. Please do go and read the w trl information on their website That has absolutely everything you need to know. I think I've covered most things for you But if not, I do apologize Like I said, please do read the website and that's it So I really hope you enjoy taking part in the Zwift running league starting on april 16th 2021 every friday for six weeks Enjoy it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Take care. We'll see you for another how to run a Zwift very soon. Bye. Bye