Adam Mitchell [00:00:07]:
Hello, everyone. I wanna welcome you back to this episode of the Close Quarter Dad Podcast. And today is so special because I'm here with Sarah I'm She's gonna share a story with you about her life, and I would like you to for this episode specifically, I wanna ask you to turn off your phone. Turn off any of the gadgets that you have, turn the television off, and give yourself 1 hour. And I want you to listen, and I want you to be I want you to absorb her incredible message of power, and strength and determination of hope and of faith. Sarah is the author of an incredible book, How I Survived the Killing Fields, a story of hope, love, and determination. And I would like to start first before anything, Sarah, by thanking you for all of the incredible work that you have done and the lives that you have changed through the work that you currently do. So with all of my gratitude, thank you.
Adam Mitchell [00:01:20]:
And I'm so blessed to have you here with us on this episode.
Sara Im [00:01:25]:
Thank you. Thank you for reaching out and inviting me to be here, and I am I'm honored to be here with you.
Adam Mitchell [00:01:34]:
Thank you. Sarah, if we could go back to the beginning, I know I know maybe not all of our listeners are familiar with the political environment of Cambodia, in during the Vietnam War era, and it's it's trying not to be involved, and it's trying to play both sides of the war and all of the complexities around that. And I'd I'd like to kind of move that to the side because it's a very complex political situation in a different time, and but there was a rise of the Khmer Rouge during that time that created situate a very dire situation for, the Cambodian people. And I was wondering if before you we go into your story, if just for a minute or 2, just to help contextualize what had happened at the time for any of our listeners who may not be familiar. I'm going to certainly provide a couple links in this, episode for further further study on this if people wanna understand it more because it is it is a very important part of our history that I think, especially young people should know about. But if you could if you could set the context just for a little bit for us and then step into your own personal story.
Sara Im [00:02:57]:
Sure. Yes. Yeah. I, I grew up in Cambodia. And when I was young, Cambodia was peace peaceful and tranquil for for me and my family. But in 1975, the communist Cairo took over our country. And they came in in all the city with military takeover. They came in with the truck, with all the soldier soldier with big gun on their shoulder and just very intimidating.
Sara Im [00:03:41]:
And they when they came in, they shut down the whole country. The shutdown is not like pandemic in United States. They completely shut down the country. That mean there is no grocery store. There is no transportation. There's no bank. There's no post office to send any letter. It it just complete shutdown.
Sara Im [00:04:11]:
There's nothing working. So that's what happened. And they also evacuate people from the city. All the city was evacuated. Imagine, at that time, there was about 7,000,000 Cambodian, and all the 7,000,000 people had been evacuated from their own home. We so we left everything behind. So that briefly about when the Khmer Rouge took over our country, and they ranged for 4 long years from 1975 to 1979. During that time, there was estimated about 2,000,000 people died in in a country that has only about 7,000,000.
Adam Mitchell [00:05:07]:
When, in from what I understand, when the people were evacuated from the cities, they were moved north, and they were put into labor camps. Is that accurate?
Sara Im [00:05:21]:
That's accurate.
Adam Mitchell [00:05:23]:
Yeah. What was your first experience? If we were to step back, then, what was your and if also, Sarah, how old were you at this time, when you
Sara Im [00:05:35]:
first learned
Adam Mitchell [00:05:35]:
about this?
Sara Im [00:05:36]:
I was 21. I was in college at that time.
Adam Mitchell [00:05:44]:
And when the word came down the pipeline or the information came to the people, how did you receive that? And then what was the first contact with the Khmer Rouge when they came into, into the cities or onto your campus?
Sara Im [00:06:01]:
When they came, I was hiding in the building, try to hide from all the the the gun and the the bomb that the shuttle that come in and bang, bang, bang. So we we all look for a strong building to hide. So when they came, I was in hiding. But when the military truck came in, I peeked through the window, and I saw the truck moving along the street.
Adam Mitchell [00:06:36]:
So they came in they came in with guns firing. They didn't come in and surround the city, and lock it down. They actually came in with artillery and and in the process of live fire and shooting at people. Is that accurate?
Sara Im [00:06:59]:
The day that they march in, they don't do much of the firing. But the the day before, a few days before, there was a lot of rocket, a lot of gun shot that was very scary. But the day that they took over, it's not not much of the gunshot.
Adam Mitchell [00:07:23]:
And what was your first contact, and how were how were you discovered? And what what happened at that point?
Sara Im [00:07:33]:
Well, we don't know what to expect, but they yell at all of us to get out get out from this wherever we are. So I was hiding in the building, so I'll have to come out whatever I have. I happen to be hiding with my uncle and his family, and he's more mature and he understand because he he was a soldier soldier in the in the previous government. So he pretty much prepare what to do. So he asked us to to grab some food that we have left over so we don't go hungry. And I have a few clothes in the little bag. That's all. That's all.
Sara Im [00:08:27]:
Because I was not in my apartment at that time. So we walked out from that hiding place on the street like everybody else, and we sleep on the street. We don't have place to to lay down properly, and we don't have place to take a shower or, even a drink. We can have to go to the river to drink the water in the river.
Adam Mitchell [00:08:58]:
When they began moving the people from the cities north, Could you tell us a little bit about that experience for you and what that was like and what started to go? I could I could imagine well, I can't imagine, but I'm trying to imagine, Sarah, that you must have had these your thoughts were very much changing. You must have been saying to yourself, this is much different than I had thought. And I'm interested to hear how that shift of your of your paradigm had changed about what was going on, maybe what your fears all of a sudden were, and what you were seeing around you at that time.
Sara Im [00:09:40]:
Yes. I never expect that they will evacuate people from from the city, And I never expect that they will shut down the whole country. Because at that time, I want to go back home very bad. I I was not home because I went to the capital city to attend college while my family was back home in the in the village far away. So I was now expect to to see all this chaotic situation. I was scared, but it's one good thing that I have my uncle with me. But I was crying all along because I want to be with my family. My mom had been paralyzed for almost 5 years.
Sara Im [00:10:36]:
She just start to walk again about a year before, just before I left for college. So I was journeying to go back home to have at my mom and my baby brothers. I had 2 baby brothers that need support, need help, but I can't go home because of this situation. And then finally, I I end up in the forced labor camp.
Adam Mitchell [00:11:14]:
Did you learn was there any way for you to find out about your family during that time and what they had done, where if they were being moved, or was there any any type of contact or information that you could have gotten?
Sara Im [00:11:28]:
I got no contact for 4 long years. I was in the dark. Wow. I was I was very, very stressful for for not knowing what happened to my family because there is no way that I can send any information to to any of them.
Adam Mitchell [00:11:52]:
I'm very interested to hear, and please just I'm I'm really curious about your uncle in this story and how he, as as a former soldier, and as as the family that you had with you who understood maybe a story that you didn't know was going on. Maybe there were parts of this that he contained within his own self in this intense fear that I could only imagine as a soldier he was carrying, but couldn't share that or show that to you. No. Could you tell us a little bit about his story and how he helped, keep you going and, and and and help guide you and and and help with your emotions during that time?
Sara Im [00:12:42]:
He's he stripped away everything that had connection with the previous show soldier. Like, his clothes, his mind, whatever the the, the tool that he used to use, he got rid of all the everything. So he stripped himself out of the military uniform.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:10]:
So they didn't know so so that would to to keep from the Khmer Rouge, to keep keep from those soldiers that he was in military. Is that correct?
Sara Im [00:13:21]:
Yeah.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:21]:
So he was hiding.
Sara Im [00:13:23]:
Yes. Yes.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:25]:
If
Sara Im [00:13:25]:
if they have any doubt that he was a former soldier, he would never survive.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:33]:
How long were you with him until you ended up in the labor camp?
Sara Im [00:13:37]:
I was with him all the way until I was I went to the labor camp. And he he was in the in the village because he had family. My the labor camp, it was for the single people like me.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:59]:
So so were you with him for a period of did it take you a period of time to get to these camps when they were moving everybody out of the cities, Or was it relatively a quick only a couple days or a day or 2, or was it a longer period of time?
Sara Im [00:14:13]:
It's a longer period of time. Yeah. When when we moved from the big city, we end up in a village, and then we got transported to other province. And then we stayed together as a family for a couple months, and then I enroll. I want to be in the in the, a camp a work camp because my mind, I was keep I want to keep moving because I want to be closer to my hometown. Yeah. So so that's my mind, and I left my uncle from there. And I feel sorry about that because my uncle sacrificed everything to accommodate me.
Sara Im [00:15:04]:
So he he didn't make it through the 4 years.
Adam Mitchell [00:15:07]:
I'm sorry. I'm sure he'd be very or I'm sure he is so happy to know that you did make it, though. Right?
Sara Im [00:15:20]:
I know. But he he he passed on while at the the middle of the 4 years. It probably passed on the 3rd year.
Adam Mitchell [00:15:32]:
Mhmm. So as could we now move to the story of the camps? And I know in your story, there is there are periods of hope and periods where you really have a lot of questions within yourself. And at this point, I'm I'd like to know if you could take us now into your initial experiences as you arrive at the camps, and then take it from there and share with us your story.
Sara Im [00:16:10]:
So when I arrived in the camp, I was shocked was shocked that there's 1,000 of us, men and women, all single, and they want to want us to go to work in the rights field. The right field is in the in the open air, and Cambodia is very hot. Hot, like, on the average about a 100 90 to a 100 degree every day. And we work in that rice field all day long for about 15 or 16 hours a day from early morning, like 4 AM, all the way until almost close to midnight. And during that day, we was given very little food and no time to rest. And we have about 4 hours of sleep every night. So, normally, we need at least 8 hours, but we got only 4. So very quickly, many of us become sick.
Sara Im [00:17:24]:
And me too, I start to get sick. But no matter how sick I was, I still have to push myself to work because if I don't go to work, I will not receive any little food that they are given. So I have to just go to work so I can get a little food.
Adam Mitchell [00:17:45]:
And what was that food?
Sara Im [00:17:47]:
Food is rice. Just rice and a little bit of soup. Not much meat, just soup and vegetable. Just very bland, no nutrition. So talking about nutrition, very very shortly, I become we call it a night blindness. When you are lack of nutrition, you become blind at night. You cannot see anything at night. No matter how close you you stay close to the land, you don't see anything because of the lack of nutrition.
Sara Im [00:18:34]:
So I suffer that along with other with a few other illness. But finally, when I got too sick, I cannot push myself to work anymore, and I stay. When they saw me stay, they don't let me stay there. They sent me to the infirmary. So they said you need to go to the hospital, but the hospital is the infirmary, the place for people waiting for time to die. When I realized that I I want to get out of that infirmary, So where would I go? If I go back to the working place, I can't work. If I get if I run away, I don't have a strength to run away. I will get shot.
Sara Im [00:19:33]:
So if I stay, I will get more disease from other people, and I will die. But my goal is to to try to fight for my life, not to die because my goal is to go back home to help out my family. So I I remember I believe that there is god. So I start praying for to god to help me. God, please help me. Help me. I want to survive. So I keep praying every night.
Sara Im [00:20:13]:
I was very careful because if they saw me praying, I would not laugh because they don't believe in any religion. So I pray at night time for for many, many night. And then one morning, I got up very early in the morning, and I realized, oh, I have a little bit extra energy today. I'll sneak out. I'll sneak out from there. So I took a big rest. If they saw me, they're gonna punish me. But thank goodness, god must have protected me.
Adam Mitchell [00:20:48]:
And this was early one morning you did it when you woke up before the guards? Or
Sara Im [00:20:53]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. In the informery. So because the informally people have got so sick, the guard didn't pay too much attention.
Adam Mitchell [00:21:05]:
Mhmm.
Sara Im [00:21:06]:
So, but when I sneak out from the infirmary, I went to the working place. But before I got there, I saw one young woman. She's a team leader. And she saw me, and she feel compassion on me, and she tried to help me. So she's a team leader. She say, oh, you can stay with me. Maybe you can do something. So in this camp, you have to do something in order to receive food.
Adam Mitchell [00:21:38]:
So, Sarah, so I understand you escaped from the infirmary because it pretty much meant death.
Sara Im [00:21:45]:
Mhmm. Yes.
Adam Mitchell [00:21:46]:
And if you had escaped death, it meant that you would have you would have been killed probably by the guards or something. You would have been the the treatment for that would have been very severe, I could imagine. And you were escaping to return back to the labor camp. Is that what I heard you say?
Sara Im [00:22:06]:
Yeah. That's the only place where people live. If I escape into the wood, I don't know where to go from there. So those that's the only lively place that people live. So, from my sick mind, you know, that's the only thing I can see, and I want I want to be closer to people. Yeah. And when this young team leader saw me like that, and she tried to help me, but she realized I'm so sick. So, she went to the kitchen, the kitchen where they make all the food to feed the 1,000 people.
Sara Im [00:22:54]:
So they asked if they can use me. They say, okay. Sure. Let her come, and she probably can help us cut prep food. So so that's what I believe that god answer my prayer because god know where I need to be to survive. I survived. That's the first the first time that I know that I will survive.
Adam Mitchell [00:23:26]:
How long into your time at the labor camp was this? How how long are we within the 1st year right now or 2?
Sara Im [00:23:31]:
Within yeah. Within the 1st year.
Adam Mitchell [00:23:34]:
Wow. You you said something very interesting that I wanna step back to, Sarah, and that was I wanted to be closer to people. This is very interesting to me. What was the if you could share with us the community of the workers in the labor camp and how you interacted and supported one another or maybe didn't or what there was conflicts. What did that look like?
Sara Im [00:24:03]:
The people that, we live together are the people that was evacuated from somewhere. And we we are on the same boat. We are the victim, and we help each other. When I become sick, my friend help me. When I become blind at night, they help me. When I need to go to the bathroom, they took they hold my hand, lead me to the bath as outside in in the wood. So people is very important to me because they have been really helpful to me.
Adam Mitchell [00:24:47]:
And do you feel that this was a this coming together of one another was, obviously, it was a result of the situation and the compassion that one another showed and the support that they gave was in itself something that helped keep them alive by offering themself and giving themself and holding your hand and helping you feed yourself when you couldn't see or to the go to the bathroom when you couldn't. Would that would you would you say that that's how it was?
Sara Im [00:25:25]:
Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. We I call it the sisterhood. The girl all all the women stay in one part of the camp. All the men stay in the the other part of the camp.
Adam Mitchell [00:25:39]:
My next question. Yeah. Yeah. Did the, did the guards treat the women differently than the men, Or was it just work is work and production? What you produce is what's most important? How how did that look?
Sara Im [00:25:55]:
I think they came all backward. They don't pay too much attention to man or woman. And they feed they feed man and woman the same. The little food that they feed us woman, woman can endure it. But the man is starving. It's starving because a man need more food. So, my heart is breaking because when I see how men are so hungry.
Adam Mitchell [00:26:32]:
So let's pick up where we left off, as we as your time goes on. What was your next experience?
Sara Im [00:26:42]:
As the time go on, I was recovering a little bit of my illness in the kitchen. For several month, I become well again. Because I work in the shade, I work less hour, and I get more access to food and all. All the little little thing make a big difference. So I become well. And and when they the supervisor of the camp saw me look like that, They pull me out from the kitchen and throw me back into the rice field. So I go back to the hard labor in the in the field. So the work in it's not only in the rice field.
Sara Im [00:27:30]:
When there is no rice season, the the rice season is a planting season and the harvest season. In between, they sent us to dig the canal, build the dam, all the hard work. I worked we all worked very hard. There's a lot of people that did not last. They got sick, and they they did not make it.
Adam Mitchell [00:28:01]:
Did you stay, throughout these 4 years, Sarah? Did you stay at the same camp, or were you moved around?
Sara Im [00:28:08]:
I stay in the same camp, but they they sent us to a different location to work.
Adam Mitchell [00:28:15]:
I understand. I understand. Throughout the course of the 4 years, did you continue well, I guess I have 2 questions as I think as I try to imagine this. You mentioned that you in the infirmary, that you believed that your prayer and the the strength of your faith, was the first of all, was this something that was give given to you by your family, or was this just found in that moment, or was it something was this part of your upbringing?
Sara Im [00:28:56]:
My mom is very religious people, but she was a Buddhist. But she loved to read. And and one when I was young about maybe 7 years old or so, one of her book that she read while I'm listening, the story in the book told me that there is god, god that is bigger than Buddha, god of the universe. He came to rescue the children and the woman that was abused. Now now he he didn't come directly. He sent the angel to come to rescue. So from that story alone, I make make up my mind that this is god. God is bigger bigger than Buddha.
Sara Im [00:29:52]:
So when when the time come that I need help so badly, I thought about that god, the biggest god. Then that's where I whom I prayed to.
Adam Mitchell [00:30:06]:
And this was that's that's amazing. So you didn't come up in a family of of that type of faith. Your mother was religious. She was a Buddhist. She was a devout Buddhist, it sounds like, but she loved to read, and she shared the story of God with you. And then you in this moment where you're in the infirmary, this is where you make that decision to communicate with God and and ask for the strength or the help or the guidance to to get through this and to stay alive. Is that is that correct? Am I hearing
Sara Im [00:30:42]:
you correctly? Yes. I I I, when I look back, I say, wow. This is maybe God reveal it will reveal himself to me all time on my knees.
Adam Mitchell [00:30:56]:
Is this did did you carry this feeling or this spirit, this this faith, throughout the next 4 years? Was this an important part of your, survival? Was this communication with God and this, this sort of ignited faith from that moment forward?
Sara Im [00:31:16]:
Well, the the prayer happened when I was in the infirmary. Yeah. And later on, I I did not need God as much as as I feel better and all that. But but I carry that God is protecting me. And I I have a feeling that god was was with me and helping me.
Adam Mitchell [00:31:47]:
As you, as the what it was the Vietnamese that came in, and they didn't quite liberate, but they moved the Khmer Rouge out. Right? I think it was a Christmas Eve or or something like that. Was it 1970 79? 79. 79. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 1979.
Adam Mitchell [00:32:11]:
Was it a Christmas Eve? Is that correct?
Sara Im [00:32:14]:
I don't know. Because when they when they came, I was still in captivity.
Adam Mitchell [00:32:20]:
Well, how did So tell us about that. What did that look like? What did the release and liberation of that camp in yourself look like?
Sara Im [00:32:27]:
The release is in the other province, in the other section of the country. But in my area, I did not know. And and the CAM people, they the the leader of of my CAM, they heard something. They probably know something. So they start to move the camp, move away from the main road and move closer and closer to the jungle. So we keep moving into the jungle. And when I I didn't know what's going on. Why did they move us? I have no idea.
Sara Im [00:33:07]:
But when I realized that, oh, we are moving into the jungle. That is far from the main road. And I don't like that because I want to be close to the national road where I can travel to find my family. When they move us to the jungle, I start to think about escaping. This time, it's a real escape. Real escape. So I, talked to 3 of my friends. So I have many friends, and 3 of them, I asked them if they would like to escape with me, and they agree.
Sara Im [00:33:51]:
They say, yes. Yes. Let's do it. So they wait we've we had to wait until nighttime because if we do it during the day, they will see us. The the god will see us. We get shot, when we wait until nighttime. And nighttime is very hard for us to know where to go or what direction to go, but it's safer that the guard will not find us.
Adam Mitchell [00:34:21]:
So But it's still a huge risk.
Sara Im [00:34:23]:
It is the bigger risk, and we have no idea where what direction to go.
Adam Mitchell [00:34:29]:
Just to go?
Sara Im [00:34:30]:
Just to go. Just to we try to backtrack on on where we came from. But when when the night come, we have no idea. But, again, that's why I said that god was with us. He was protecting us from the danger in the jungle. So we walked all night long.
Adam Mitchell [00:34:53]:
So you escaped, Sarah, into the jungle. You didn't escape along the road, along the route. You moved into the jungle and tried to just disappear. Wow.
Sara Im [00:35:04]:
Yes. The camp got moved into the jungle already.
Adam Mitchell [00:35:08]:
Yeah.
Sara Im [00:35:08]:
So I tried to get out from the curb from the camp.
Adam Mitchell [00:35:12]:
I understand.
Sara Im [00:35:14]:
Yeah. But the camp was already in the jungle.
Adam Mitchell [00:35:19]:
So how long were you and these 2 girls on the run, and and where did how did you how did you end
Sara Im [00:35:27]:
up? Well, one night, all night long, we was walking really fast. And then when the day when the la when the sun come up, we was out of the jungle. So, we keep continue walk, walk, walk, keep walking until we see some people. So we saw some people. Why do they walk freely? I didn't pay attention until later on, I found out that most of people in the country had been liberated. And we were in that jungle for a few more months than than the rest of the country. Wow. So but
Adam Mitchell [00:36:17]:
What were your feelings when you first found out? And could you take us back to that could you take us back to that moment when you first learned that you were liberated in your 4 years of being in this in in this camp or living in fear every single day had come to an end?
Sara Im [00:36:40]:
Well, happy and sad, but but by that time, I already found my family. So my mind was very I was very happy by because I found my family. So I didn't think too much about anything else.
Adam Mitchell [00:36:56]:
Okay.
Sara Im [00:36:56]:
And and I found out that my my dad was riding a bicycle everywhere, was looking for me and asking people, have you seen my daughter? Have you seen my daughter? Because my dad has only one daughter. That's me, and he love me very much. So when I found my family, we was just so happy. I forgot about all the pain and suffering in the past. I was just so joyful, but I was so skin and bone. Yes. My mom had to pamper me with a lot of her good food. So I eat and eat and eat, and I at at that time, my thought is this.
Sara Im [00:37:49]:
I rather be fat than being skinny and weak and sick. So I keep eating and keep I'm butchering myself.
Adam Mitchell [00:38:00]:
For you. Wow. And how in that reunion, did you find the fate of every every is that when you learned about your uncle?
Sara Im [00:38:14]:
No. I found that I found that my uncle was passed, since I was in the camp.
Adam Mitchell [00:38:22]:
Wow.
Sara Im [00:38:23]:
Yeah.
Adam Mitchell [00:38:23]:
Okay. So what an incredible and just what a story, Sarah. Thank you so much for sharing that. If, you know, still as a young woman, I you it ended if if my if my math is correct, you were probably around 25 years old when it was over. Is that right?
Sara Im [00:38:46]:
25, 26. Yeah.
Adam Mitchell [00:38:48]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Sara Im [00:38:49]:
Yeah. Yeah. 25.
Adam Mitchell [00:38:53]:
You know, one of the things that the listeners of this podcast as as parents, a lot of the challenges that we face certainly don't come anywhere close to, what you endured at all. But we oftentimes with our children, we see them go through these periods where they feel as though they just can't go on. They feel as though the whole world is against them. Maybe their feelings of being trapped or, alone, or they don't know. They just can't see tomorrow. And I was wondering if there was any any type of message that not that you could share with that child, but that you could share with that parent, to help them with some guidance, with some light? What would that what would that be from you, Sarah?
Sara Im [00:39:55]:
I think, it's good good news for the the diet of a younger child when you can start building a trusting relationship when the children are still young. In my my my own personal story, I was loved. Loved, pretty much loved by my both of my parent since my young age, and there is no question that they didn't love me. And when I was a teenager, my mom became paralyzed from an accident. And as the oldest child in the family, I became a caregiver. And I care for my mom with compassion. I feel so compassion, to her that she couldn't get up. She could not do anything for herself, and I feel so sympathy for her.
Sara Im [00:41:01]:
So that time of serving her as a caregiver, it built my relationship with my mom. I think that's one of the strength that had me through the hardest time in the work camp because all I thought about was going back home going back home to my family to help out because the strong love that we build, it help us during the hard time. So if you are the dad that take care of children, stop building that strong relationship with your children as soon as possible. That relationship will last forever. And when they grow up, they will not go grab anything else, but grab hold of your strong love, the security that you have built for them. And if you are a a faith based person, instill the strong faith in your children.
Adam Mitchell [00:42:12]:
Now I understand. Okay. Now I see. It was that. It wasn't anything that you had to pull from within or any discoveries that you made. It was already there, and it was taught to you that you would survive. And it was that love. And I hear in your story of your father riding the bicycle around looking for you and not giving up.
Adam Mitchell [00:42:38]:
And that is, that right there is the example of the family of the of and of the father who and I've heard in your story several times, you just wanted to return home. Even when the camp moved, the road was over there. That's was how I that was my path home. Everything led to home. So you had that in your heart, and that's what you survived for because of the love that you were given as a child and the caregiving and the compassion that you had for your mother. Now that makes that makes beautiful sense.
Sara Im [00:43:22]:
Yeah. Yes. At one time, I was interviewed for the radio, and 1 the radio interviewer, when he heard this part of me craving to go home for my parent. And he said, oh, I will do anything to get that love relationship from my daughter to for her to to to fight for her life to come home for. So that's, it's a beautiful thing. We can build the the strong love relationship between family members.
Adam Mitchell [00:44:07]:
Wow. Thank you so much for this, Sarah. You know, before we end this conversation, there's so much I could I could ask you questions for hours, but the lesson here that I'm hearing and just to say it again and and by the way, you're right. I I thought the same thing too. I thought I have a I have a 13 year old daughter, and I have a 20 year old daughter. And I was thinking the same thing. I would I would love it. I would love to know that my daughters, in a time of being put into such a a difficult and, horrible places you were in, that the one thing that would keep them alive would be their love that I had their desire to be with me and their family.
Adam Mitchell [00:44:59]:
I think all all fathers feel that same way of, like, boy, I I I hope I wish my children feel that way. And I think they do. And I think your message what I hear in your message is start now, especially with the young ones. Time doesn't stand still, and the time is now to really be present with your children to instill that love so that when the hard times do come their way, and they will, it's that that they'll wanna return to. Whether that's returning in their heart, whether that's returning maybe they're at a party and there's a situation or maybe they're away at college or but they will return to the values and the love that you have instilled in them, and that that is their shield. That's what will keep them going, and protect them. And I don't know if there's I mean, just that is so powerful and so beautiful. Sir, I'd like to ask if we could I'd like to I'd like to ask if you could share that prayer with us as we close this conversation, or if there's one that you may have discovered later on in life that was meaningful to you, so that all of the listeners here might be able to feel some of that spirit, and be able to connect with you.
Sara Im [00:46:31]:
Yeah. Before I I I pray, I like to, share with you a a scripture from the bible. Psalm 1 Psalm 103 verse 4. He say, he redeemed you from hell. He crowned you with love and mercy. That scripture is for me. God redeemed me from hell. So I
Adam Mitchell [00:47:02]:
Thank you for that. Yeah. That's beautiful.
Sara Im [00:47:04]:
Welcome. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, lord, we love you, and we thank you for who you are. Thank you for being such a powerful and compassionate and loving and kind God. Father, we thank you for loving us so much that you'll do anything to win us back to your family. Father, thank you for guiding us every day direct our path, and want us to do the right thing, want to protect us. Thank you, lord, for redeeming me from hell and crown me with love and mercy. And I pray that you will do the same with all the father that are listening today.
Sara Im [00:47:58]:
When the time come, you will redeem them from heart being from frustration. Ground them with love and mercy. We pray that you will continue to guide and bless their life and direct the father to know what to do to keep the children safe. And all these, we pray in the name of our precious name of our lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Adam Mitchell [00:48:35]:
Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Sarah. I appreciate you. I appreciate, your kindness to come on and, and share with us your story, and to share with us your wisdom and also your prayers. Before we go, would you mind sharing with the listeners how they can contact you, how they can learn more about the work that you do, and also get a copy of your book, which, is wonderful.
Sara Im [00:49:04]:
Alright. Thank you. Thank you for asking. I have a website. It's sarahim.com. It's spelled sarahim.com. In there, you will find out, about my speaking engagement and some other topic that I speak about. And, also, you will find a book there.
Sara Im [00:49:29]:
That's the only place you can find my book. And some events, you can go to the events tab so you can find out what I'm involved with, and I'm I'm speaking here and there. As I got invitation, I go to speak. I speak online or in person locally. And now I expend extend myself to do some coaching for some serious case for people that was broken
Adam Mitchell [00:50:05]:
from the
Sara Im [00:50:05]:
childhood abuse or domestic abuse and want to rebuild their life and do the coaching.
Adam Mitchell [00:50:14]:
Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, I'll be sure to include all of those links, in the in the description with this episode, Sarah. Thank you so much for your time today, and, thank you once again for all the lives that you're changing, with your story.
Sara Im [00:50:31]:
Thank you, Adam.