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Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind Podcast. This is the

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Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and

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Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the

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Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope

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Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day.

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Speaker 2: Dog reunited with family after going missing for almost a

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Speaker 2: week following winter storm. Written by Heather Riggleman, read by

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Speaker 2: Jully Provost. The dog was reunited with its family after

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Speaker 2: going missing for almost a week following winter storm. You

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Speaker 2: love animals, You know that particular kind of fear that

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Speaker 2: grips your chest when one of them gets loose. The

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Speaker 2: house feels too quiet, every sound outside makes you look up.

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Speaker 2: Hope and dread sit side by side. We learned that

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Speaker 2: kind of waiting one Thanksgiving in Nebraska when our cat

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Speaker 2: Mickey disappeared into freezing temperatures three weeks past. Three weeks

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Speaker 2: of wondering where he slept, how he stayed warm, what

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Speaker 2: dangers brushed past him in the dark, We imagined his

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Speaker 2: paws on ice, his body curled tight against the cold.

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Speaker 2: Then just like that, he came strolling in at Christmas,

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Speaker 2: scratched dinner and alive. Really flushed over us tangled with

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Speaker 2: questions we'd probably never have answers to. It was gut wretching,

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Speaker 2: lesson in letting go, and hoping hard. That same ag

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Speaker 2: settled over a community in Beaver County when a dog

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Speaker 2: named Willow went missing during a snowstorm sub zero temperatures.

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Speaker 2: Days passing neighbors shared posts, scanned trestles, whispered prayers. Everyone

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Speaker 2: who had ever loved a pet understood what her family

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Speaker 2: was feeling. Six days later, help came from an unexpected place.

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Speaker 2: Homeless man noticed movement beneath a train trestle in Bridgewater

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Speaker 2: and flogged down first responders. Down there was Willow, cold, frightened, alive.

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Speaker 2: She didn't trust easily at first, surrounded by strangers. After

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Speaker 2: days alone, ice clung to her fur. She had been

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Speaker 2: digging a trench, hunkering down, doing whatever instinct told her

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Speaker 2: might keep her alive. Fire Fighters carefully lifted her up

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Speaker 2: inch by inch, and then possible became real. Willow survived.

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Speaker 2: No one knows exactly how she endured those nights. Maybe

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Speaker 2: it was the husky in her that deep down knowing

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Speaker 2: how to find shelter and water. Maybe it was stubborn

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Speaker 2: will Maybe it was the prayers of a community carried

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Speaker 2: on frozen air. What matters is that she made it home,

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Speaker 2: back where she belongs, warm, loved, safe. Stories like Mickey's

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Speaker 2: and Willow's stay with us because they remind us how

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Speaker 2: fragile and fierce life can be all at once. They

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Speaker 2: remind us that sometimes survival happens quietly out of sight,

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Speaker 2: while people wait and hope and believe on the other side.

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Speaker 3: And they remind us too that even now and then,

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Speaker 3: against all odds, love finds its way home. The righteous

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Speaker 3: care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest

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Speaker 3: acts of the wicked are cruel. Proverbs twelve ten.

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Speaker 2: Nineteen year old's brave act saves a couple and earns

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Speaker 2: many unexpected rewards, written by Mikayla Goordoni read, Budgy Provost

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Speaker 2: saves a couple from a devastating car wreck, and now

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Speaker 2: they're calling him their angel. This young man hopes to

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Speaker 2: save many more lives, and that's why he's getting a

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Speaker 2: very special reward. He was gifted a scholarship to pursue

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Speaker 2: his stream of becoming an EMT, but that's not the

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Speaker 2: only reward he got. The mayor of his town in Westcote, Texas,

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Speaker 2: gifted him an official proclamation of Juan Mendoza Day incredible honor.

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Speaker 2: One was driving on a rainy day with his girlfriend

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Speaker 2: when he saw a car spinning out and stopping in

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Speaker 2: the middle of the highway, It's rear crumpled. He made

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Speaker 2: a split second decision to jump out and help them.

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Speaker 2: My first thought is that they could have kids, and

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Speaker 2: I have little brothers, the teen said, and that thought

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Speaker 2: came into me rushing and I'm like, I'm going to

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Speaker 2: get them out. The people in the car were One

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Speaker 2: and Adriana oh Maatata, and they had been driving home

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Speaker 2: from one's doctor's appointment when the car was struck. Nobody stopped.

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Speaker 2: One Motada said he was the only one who stopped.

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Speaker 2: He was there at the right moment that we needed him.

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Speaker 2: That's why I say he was my angel, said Adriana.

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Speaker 2: The couple wanted to thank the young man but never

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Speaker 2: got his They reached out to CBS News to help,

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Speaker 2: and journalist David helped reunite them at the young Juan's workplace,

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Speaker 2: Texas Roadhouse. I'm so happy, said Adriana, hugging him. I'm

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Speaker 2: so proud of you. I wish there were a thousand ewes.

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Speaker 2: One came to help them at the perfect moment. Adrianna

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Speaker 2: had passed out and the car had just started smoking.

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Speaker 2: Though were my grandparents, I would have done the same thing,

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Speaker 2: said one will live you forever, Juan Momatada told the teen.

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Speaker 2: David gave one a surprise. He brought a president from

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Speaker 2: an AMS company to give one a scholarship to the

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Speaker 2: National AMS Academy and a conditional job offer. Then David

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Speaker 2: brought in the mayor, Adrianne Gonzalez. We're always looking for people,

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Speaker 2: good people who want to help others, said Justin Back,

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Speaker 2: president of Akkadian Ambulance Service. But that takes a big heart.

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Speaker 2: It also takes a lot of intelligence and a lot

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Speaker 2: of courage to do it, a lot of toughness, and

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Speaker 2: that's a rare combination on behalf of myself. In the

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Speaker 2: city of Westaco, we're proclaiming Juan Mendoza day. Thank you

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Speaker 2: for everything that you did. The mayor told Mendoza, thank

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Speaker 2: you for being their guardian. Angel Wan credits his parents

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Speaker 2: for raising him to be a person who help helps others.

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Speaker 2: They teach me to be humble and to help anybody,

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Speaker 2: He says, and the omadas needed help. Right now, One

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Speaker 2: just has a couple more months of training before he

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Speaker 2: graduates the EMS program. It's wonderful that One stopped what

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Speaker 2: he was doing and ran to the couple's aid. It's

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Speaker 2: also a blessing that so many people got together to

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Speaker 2: recognize his efforts and encouraged future efforts. One is bound

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Speaker 2: to have many more of rescues ahead of him.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Story Behind podcast.

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Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story.

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Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced

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Speaker 1: in this episode, check out the links in the show notes,

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Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our podcast and please tell a friend about us. We'd

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Speaker 1: Story Behind is a Salem Web Network production.

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Speaker 2: I in a book A book book