Transcript
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One of life's greatest questions is what happens to us after we die?
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Is death the end or a new beginning?
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Welcome to the Round Trip Death Podcast.
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In this show, we listen to firsthand accounts of people who have gone beyond the veil and
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return to talk about it.
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Anyway, we are so happy to have with us today, Crystal Merzlach.
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I hope I pronounced that properly, Crystal.
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Yes, you did.
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How are you doing today?
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I'm doing good.
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Thank you.
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And you live in one of the most beautiful places in the continental U.S.
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Do you want to tell us where that is?
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So I live in Star Valley, Wyoming, and it is pretty close to the Idaho border on the
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west side of the state.
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And when I go to Jackson Hall, you're right on the way.
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Yes.
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Okay.
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Tell us a little bit about you.
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So I am a clinical director of a mental health agency here.
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I've been working, living and working here for eight years, eight and a half years.
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Just living my life as a mom and I don't know, a friend, probably just, I don't know, I try
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to go see my family.
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I'm a big family person, so I have to always go do that.
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They're in Idaho and Pocatello.
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So a couple hours away, roughly, right?
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Yeah.
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Well, I heard your story first at the IANS conference in Salt Lake City, and you were
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famous when you were younger.
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I'm not saying you're not anymore.
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No, no, no, that's okay.
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That's okay.
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You were very famous back then.
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And why don't you tell us a little bit about your story leading up to your NDE?
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What happened?
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What were you doing that particular day?
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So I went to a swimming or sorry, a birthday party that day.
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And all of this is are things that are told to me because I don't remember any part of
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this, but I went to a birthday party.
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My parents dropped me off.
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We didn't know that I was going swimming.
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And so borrowed a swimsuit and all that.
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And off we went to the local swimming pool.
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And were you a good swimmer?
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I know.
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I had just learned how to swim.
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So in my elementary school, they took us as a class to get swimming lessons.
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And I just learned.
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How old did you say you were again?
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Seven.
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Seven.
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Okay.
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So I'm going to jump ahead.
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We've teased that a little bit.
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Let's jump ahead to the famous part.
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How did you become famous after this happened?
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How did I become?
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I never thought I was famous.
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So and but then again, I was so young.
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I don't know what was happening.
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My parents kind of took over.
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But the famous part, what do you mean the famous part?
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Well, I believe you were on TV and some things like that.
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There was quite a bit of news around what happened with your situation.
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There was.
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So locally, I kind of did some meetings and I was honored by the Lions Club when I was
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probably eight or nine.
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But then after that, when I was a teenager, I went on to the Phil Donahue show.
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And then I think near death experiences were just starting really to kind of take off in
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popularity.
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People wondering what they were.
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So then I was on Sally, Jesse, Raphael and Oprah and Unsolved Mysteries.
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It doesn't get any bigger than Oprah.
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It doesn't get any bigger than Oprah.
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You might as well stop there.
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I was on 60 Minutes Australia.
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So you were not just huge here.
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You were famous in Australia, too.
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Okay.
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And I didn't ever understand why I actually had to ask someone.
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And I said, why are you so interested in my story?
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Why is everyone interested?
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And I didn't know that I was the youngest near death experience and the most I don't
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know, thorough is the word near death experience that was out there or that that people knew
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of.
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How did it get out there?
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Dr. Morris that kind of put it out there?
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Yeah.
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So I think it all came out with Raymond Moody's first book.
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I think it was Life After Life, something like that.
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And he's of course, very, very close to Dr. Morris.
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And Dr. Morris kind of led me into that.
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And actually, Raymond, I was in Raymond Moody's book.
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I didn't know, but my name is Katie in that book to protect my innocence, I guess, protect
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me from publicity or whatever.
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That's nice of them to leave it up to you to eventually want to use your real name or
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not.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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So.
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Okay.
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Well, and Dr. Morris, I've talked to him.
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We're going to have him on this show here in a couple of weeks also.
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And I think people will find him very interesting because he's a medical professional who has
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studied this topic.
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And I'll save the rest of that for later.
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All right.
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Go back to when you were seven years old.
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You're at the birthday party.
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You head to the pool.
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What happened?
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Okay.
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So I was waiting down the side of the pool, you know, just, you know, moving with my hands.
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And I wanted to get out.
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And I got out, was walking down to the deep end.
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As I got down to the deep end, I was pushed in.
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I think there was a group of boys.
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They were just playing, pushing each other.
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I don't think anybody just spitefully pushed me in, but I got pushed into the pool.
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The other interesting fact is the pool was overpopulated, overrun.
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There were too many people than what the fire code would allow, I guess, would call it now.
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That makes it more difficult too for a lifeguard.
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Was there a lifeguard there?
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There were two lifeguards.
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Okay.
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But it makes it more difficult to keep track of everybody, I would think.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So as soon as I was pushed in, I was scared.
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I lost all thought of even trying to swim, except to try to get up into the water and
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breathe.
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And all of a sudden I was in a state of blackness and I heard seven sounds that scared me.
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And still to this day, I don't remember exactly what those are or compare them to something
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else.
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And then I found myself sitting in a tunnel.
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And this tunnel was very bright.
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It was a colorful tunnel, meaning there were some large bricks on the wall and it's like
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they were shining light through the back of the bricks with fluorescent colors coming
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through.
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It's very vibrant, very bright.
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And at the end, I saw the light and I thought, I don't know what that is.
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I need to get to this light.
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And so I tried to get up on my feet and start walking.
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And the ground was very unstable to me.
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So I got down on my hands and my knees and I started crawling toward the light.
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I could feel so much love radiating from this light that there was no other.
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It was drawing me to it is kind of what I felt.
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As I crawled a little way, I saw the figure of a woman coming from the light and coming
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to me.
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And I saw that she was a woman, dark brown hair and wearing all white.
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And when she got to me, she said, Crystal, my name is Elizabeth.
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I am your guardian angel and I'm here to help you.
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And from that point, she took my hand and I stood up and we walked to the light together.
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After that point, the ground was stable.
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You know, I wasn't afraid to fall any longer.
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And we walked in through the light into what I believe is heaven.
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Okay.
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And take your time.
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We want lots of detail.
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You want lots of detail.
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So from that point, I just kind of looked around.
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Well, I did.
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I looked around and could not in one point, I could not believe what I was seeing.
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The other point, I felt totally at home with where I was and knew where I was and what
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I was doing.
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And what I saw was beautiful green, like a beautiful green meadow.
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Or more of now, that's how I described it when I was seven.
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But I would more describe it as more of a rainforest type of place with these green,
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big, luscious plants that were over, you know, they could be overflowing.
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There was a waterfall.
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As I turned left and I always, always see that when I describe it, but I turned left
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and there was a some water running through like a small river.
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And there was a bridge that went across that.
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And on the other side, there was a tree.
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And what was interesting about this tree to me is it had white fruit that came from it.
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And it was just very beautiful, very big, very vibrant as well.
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I've never heard of a tree with white fruit.
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Yeah, that's fascinating.
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Okay.
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What else did you see?
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What else did I see?
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I saw I was greeted by people I'd known in the past.
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Relatives, my grandpa was there, an aunt that had died just previous to this.
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Some other relatives that I'd never met before, like my great grandma, Dora.
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And my grandpa had a friend with him.
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He said that his name was George.
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I have no idea who he was, but he was very nice.
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And they just welcomed me and said they were so glad that I was there.
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I can't remember everything or the content of what we said, but it seemed to be that
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we were talking for a few minutes.
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And I don't remember the sequence of events necessarily, but I do remember I had a chance
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to look down on my body.
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And when I say look, I just kind of turned my head and seemed like I could see myself,
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my physical form that is.
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And I was lying on an operating table.
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There were a lot of doctors that were around me at that time wearing white coats.
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It was like I was looking down from them, but I was in heaven looking at them, not like
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hovering above, anything like that.
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And they were putting something up my nose and trying to put different things in my wrist
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to help with whatever.
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And I didn't like it, so I looked away.
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And when I looked away outside the operating room, that is, I saw my parents.
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And they were so worried about me.
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I didn't spend a lot of time really looking at them, but I just remember thinking, don't
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worry about me.
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I'm in a good place.
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I'm safe.
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There's no reason for you to worry.
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Do you know, while you're thinking about that, did you find out was Elizabeth a relative?
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I never did find out who Elizabeth was.
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There are some Elisabeths that are in my genealogy.
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But she also said that she, and I don't think it's one of them, because she also told me
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that she was going to be born, that she had not been born yet.
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So she wouldn't really be in your genealogy at this point.
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No, no, but it's always fun to come back and look and see what Elisabeths were there.
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But no, there wasn't.
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And I don't really think I don't know if I've met her on this earth or not.
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That's interesting.
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And I think there is something to learn from that about about the fact that people pre-birth
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and people post-death may be in the same place.
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True.
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At least your experience was.
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In my experience, it was.
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Yeah.
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And Elizabeth was with me through this whole time.
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So she didn't just appear and disappear or that kind of thing.
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She was with me.
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So yeah, definitely.
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And I love to hear your feedback and your thoughts about all of this, too.
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It just helps me further process.
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Yeah.
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Well, I don't want to try to interpret it until we well, I really don't want to try
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to interpret it, but I do want to hear.
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But I do want to hear what else happened.
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What can you remember what happened next?
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Yes.
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So after I saw my parents.
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I remember looking a different way.
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And I could see like my baby sister and she was just playing with some toys at home.
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About then she would have probably been six, seven months old, just remembering how much
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I loved her.
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And I think that's about all I really saw when I looked down on Earth is just my body,
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my parents and my sister, which was interesting because they're all very different locations.
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You know, sure.
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And that's OK.
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Anything else that you saw there in that heavenly place where you were?
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I yes.
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So I had I had the chance to meet two girls and I saw them as my playmates in heaven.
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Their names were Heather and Melissa.
250
00:15:53,340 --> 00:15:58,840
And what was interesting about them is they also said that they were going to be born
251
00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:00,500
soon.
252
00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:01,500
I don't remember.
253
00:16:01,500 --> 00:16:03,760
I didn't think anything about it.
254
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,920
It was just something that was normal.
255
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:13,480
And I don't remember talking about too much, just playing.
256
00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,680
What was interesting about that is.
257
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:24,680
I saw myself and them as as girls about my age, you know, seven, eight years old, same
258
00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:25,680
height.
259
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:32,240
But the rest of the time when I was there, I could see eye to eye with everybody that
260
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:36,520
was there, which was a big deal to me when I was seven, because I wanted to be grown
261
00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:37,520
up.
262
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:39,640
I wanted to be as big as everyone else.
263
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,520
And I was as big as everyone else.
264
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,440
And even the kids that I was playing with.
265
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:46,840
So just interesting to me.
266
00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:51,560
I felt like I was a child when I was playing with them from there.
267
00:16:51,560 --> 00:17:00,740
I I had a chance to go and I met Christ.
268
00:17:00,740 --> 00:17:10,280
And he asked me whether I wanted to stay in heaven or whether I wanted to go back and
269
00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,560
live on earth.
270
00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:18,400
And I met Heavenly Father who was with him.
271
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,160
But he wasn't there the whole time he was.
272
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:28,320
The Heavenly Father was there when when they first came to.
273
00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,480
I see it as them coming to get me.
274
00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:36,760
And they kind of took me to another side of the same area that we were when and we in
275
00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:42,640
my mind, we sat on a rock in this meadow and we're talking.
276
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:50,160
And at first, after they asked me if I wanted to stay or go, I thought, no, I want to stay.
277
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:56,040
The one thing I haven't talked about that you hear a lot is just this immense love that
278
00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:04,760
you feel when from the light that I saw at first and everything that's in heaven, it
279
00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:09,960
is feels like the perfect space.
280
00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:11,520
I thought I want to stay here.
281
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:13,880
Why would I want to leave?
282
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,600
And then I thought about my mom.
283
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,480
I thought about how much I miss her.
284
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,600
And I said, no, I want to go home.
285
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:34,440
And Jesus said to me, OK, OK, remember, you you will have to live, righteously obey rules,
286
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:40,080
something like that in order to make it back here.
287
00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,200
Basically live a good life.
288
00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:51,840
And I answered as if I knew what he was saying and said, yes, yes, of course.
289
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,980
And then he told me, I remember a few things.
290
00:18:55,980 --> 00:19:06,040
He told me to obey my parents, that they were good parents, to live.
291
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:15,040
I guess my religion, my spirituality follow the examples that are given to me.
292
00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:18,780
And don't forget him.
293
00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:21,200
Don't forget his sacrifice.
294
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,360
I have some questions if you don't mind.
295
00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:24,440
No, go ahead.
296
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,920
That's really, really an amazing experience.
297
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,120
Just amazing.
298
00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:33,240
How did you know who they were?
299
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,120
Speaking of Christ and Heavenly Father, did they introduce themselves or did you just
300
00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:38,120
know?
301
00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:39,280
No, I just knew.
302
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,080
So they were.
303
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,040
Everybody in heaven wears white.
304
00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,800
They were brighter than everybody else.
305
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:57,640
So and their presence was unmistakable.
306
00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:04,160
And I just knew who they were.
307
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,640
And they communicated with you one on one?
308
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:08,640
Yes.
309
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,800
As if you were the only person there that mattered right then.
310
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:12,800
Yes.
311
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,280
Do you remember anything else about them?
312
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:17,280
I remember their appearance.
313
00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,600
And what was that like?
314
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:25,960
So they were both wearing white, just like everyone else.
315
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,920
Jesus had brown hair, no facial hair.
316
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:37,560
It was shorter than is usually displayed in pictures.
317
00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:39,720
Very kind eyes.
318
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:41,960
Just very kind, peaceful eyes.
319
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,760
I remember that.
320
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,680
Very soft touch.
321
00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:55,120
Heavenly Father had white hair and a white beard.
322
00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:59,160
And I don't know how else to explain him.
323
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,800
You don't happen to remember eye color, do you?
324
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,120
That you saw in them?
325
00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,000
If I told you, it would just be my best guess.
326
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:09,000
And I don't.
327
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,000
Yeah.
328
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,000
So no.
329
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:12,000
Wow.
330
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:13,000
This is amazing.
331
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Keep going.
332
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,000
OK.
333
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:25,120
After I was asked and decided that I wanted to go back, I don't really remember saying
334
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:28,360
goodbye to them necessarily.
335
00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:34,120
The next thing I remember is being back with my family, the same individuals who welcomed
336
00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:37,140
me into heaven.
337
00:21:37,140 --> 00:21:41,760
And Elizabeth tapped me on the shoulder and said, Crystal, it's time to go.
338
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:43,840
So I said, OK.
339
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,060
And I started to walk away.
340
00:21:46,060 --> 00:21:52,040
And then I got confused and looked back and said, I don't know how to go.
341
00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:56,320
And that's the last I remember.
342
00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:03,760
Before I ended up, well, I was back in my body and trying to feed.
343
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,720
I don't know if it was feed myself or remember something.
344
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:12,080
And I was doing it all wrong in the hospital.
345
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,000
I need to learn some of that over again, I imagine.
346
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:16,000
Yeah.
347
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000
OK.
348
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,160
Let's get back to the physical part of what happened here.
349
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,640
How were you rescued and how long were you in the hospital?
350
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:35,300
So when I was when I fell into the pool, because the pool was overcrowded that day, I was floating
351
00:22:35,300 --> 00:22:38,080
on top of the water.
352
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:45,160
And two scouts are what we we know as scouts that was determined later, who were racing
353
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:49,640
across the pool, bumped into my body floating on the water.
354
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:57,900
And they were the ones who them and one other woman grabbed me out of the pool and started
355
00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:00,060
to resuscitate me.
356
00:23:00,060 --> 00:23:08,240
There was also a doctor who was in the dressing room who was dressing and getting ready to
357
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,480
go swimming.
358
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,440
And his name is Dr. Bo.
359
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:21,800
And when he came out, he started working on me and working to resuscitate me.
360
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:27,720
It was him who who really did a lot of the work.
361
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:34,160
It was also him who they said, oh, no, we're not going to come get this girl.
362
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,720
We're not going to rescue her.
363
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,200
She's she's dead.
364
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,080
And he said, no, we're going to rescue her.
365
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,280
And he continued to work on me.
366
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:48,240
The other thing is, when the ambulance got there, the swimming pool, which was inside
367
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:55,280
of a building, had panicked and they had locked all the doors so the paramedics couldn't even
368
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,040
get in when they arrived.
369
00:23:58,040 --> 00:23:59,040
Whoops.
370
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,040
Yeah.
371
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:01,040
Yeah.
372
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,240
So eventually that happened.
373
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,400
They took me to the hospital.
374
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:13,600
But all in all, they I don't know, it's determined or the average that I was not breathing for
375
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:14,600
20 minutes.
376
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:16,320
That's a long time.
377
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:17,320
That is a long time.
378
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,920
Have you had any long term effects from that?
379
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:28,880
I think I have I think that's where a little bit of my shortness of breath comes from.
380
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:33,400
Because there's not really asthma or things that run in my family.
381
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:38,240
And it's gotten better, a little better with age, although I do still have some asthma
382
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:39,640
at times.
383
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,360
But no brain damage or anything like that?
384
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:44,180
No, no.
385
00:24:44,180 --> 00:24:45,180
That's so interesting.
386
00:24:45,180 --> 00:24:47,840
And then how long were you in the hospital?
387
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:56,280
So I was in the hospital in Pocatello for I don't know how long I was there to tell
388
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,160
you the truth.
389
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:04,720
I know that I was in the hospital for three to four days before I woke up.
390
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:13,520
So when I was when they took me to the hospital, I was 96 97% apparatus and only functioning
391
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,320
three to 4% on my own.
392
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:23,080
And when they called primary children's, which is where they transferred me to, they asked
393
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,640
the doctors, why are they transferring a dead girl to them?
394
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,200
Why are you giving us a dead girl?
395
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,220
And I don't know what happened, but the transfer was made.
396
00:25:33,220 --> 00:25:35,480
And I was moved to primary children's.
397
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,100
I was life blinded over there.
398
00:25:38,100 --> 00:25:41,280
And I don't know.
399
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,040
I don't know what what happened here.
400
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:54,000
But at one point, my dad said he was looking through the glass watching the doctors working
401
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,920
on me.
402
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,160
And he saw my toe wiggle.
403
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,480
And he burst through the door.
404
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,600
And I lifted my arms up to him and said, Dad, wow.
405
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,120
So and then he said, the doctors just cheered.
406
00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:07,760
So the doctors cheered.
407
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:12,800
So and then from there,
408
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:17,480
as a dad of daughters, I can say that brings a little tear to my eye just thinking about
409
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,600
that picturing that scene.
410
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:20,600
Wow.
411
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:21,600
Yeah.
412
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,720
You know, and it still gets me especially now that I'm a parent, too, I can I can feel
413
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:35,040
that I would probably do the same thing if I saw my child be terrible.
414
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:45,520
So I they told my parents that I would pretty much be a vegetable because I had had almost
415
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:50,080
no brain activity for for a few days.
416
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:55,560
And I was everything was miraculous from that point.
417
00:26:55,560 --> 00:27:01,220
So the first day, I really wasn't able to do anything very much.
418
00:27:01,220 --> 00:27:03,480
They were still feeding me through a tube.
419
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:10,320
And the next day, I was trying to feed myself and not being able to find my mouth, that
420
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:11,320
kind of thing.
421
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,920
And then I was eating on my own just fine.
422
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:21,440
They I couldn't walk, you know, one day and the next day I or two, I would be running
423
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,200
down the hall.
424
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:33,720
So they called in probably 14 to 15 specialists to come and see me and only one to two actually
425
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:34,720
came.
426
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:35,720
Why do you why is that?
427
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:37,240
They just didn't believe it.
428
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,240
No, I didn't need it.
429
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,000
Oh, I didn't need it.
430
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:47,240
I recovered really fast from from the injuries.
431
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,080
OK, I got it.
432
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:54,160
I thought you meant specialists to come and sort of witness this miraculous recovery that
433
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:55,160
you had made.
434
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,840
But no, I didn't need the special help at all.
435
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,120
No, no, I didn't.
436
00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:03,280
And within a week, I was back.
437
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:09,200
As you probably heard Dr. Morse say within a week, I was back to back home and in front
438
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:14,000
of him saying, you know, you don't remember me, Crystal.
439
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:15,920
I remember you.
440
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,320
And I told my mom, he's like, I said, no, I remember him.
441
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:26,100
And I scowled at him because he was one of the doctors that was putting things at my
442
00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:29,080
nose and trying to work on me.
443
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,720
And and that kind of thing.
444
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,760
I told him things I can't remember now.
445
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,800
He probably remembers and has documented more things that I told him.
446
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:39,800
But yeah.
447
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:45,640
So you told him things that you should not have known and kind of blew his mind.
448
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:46,640
Correct.
449
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:47,640
Well, that's fun.
450
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,320
That'll be fun to talk to him.
451
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:57,080
I want to sort of compare your experience to some others.
452
00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:03,120
I try not to do this, but yours is a very special experience.
453
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:10,280
It has become sort of commonplace or cliche for people to think of a near death experience
454
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:16,720
as going through a tunnel to the light, being greeted by relatives.
455
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:22,480
And with the many, many people that I've interviewed on this show, that's actually not very typical.
456
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:23,920
Oh, OK.
457
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:29,160
No, it's it's not.
458
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:30,340
Everything is different.
459
00:29:30,340 --> 00:29:32,680
There are tunnels, some have lights, some don't.
460
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:33,680
Some have colors.
461
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:34,680
Some don't.
462
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:40,120
I've heard any described like glowing bricks as sort of how you did.
463
00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:48,240
But no, your experience is really I hate to use the cliche word special, but it's a really
464
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,640
fascinating experience.
465
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:56,040
And I also hate to say better than some people have, but it's an amazing experience.
466
00:29:56,040 --> 00:30:00,080
And and that's really cool that you have that.
467
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,960
How do you think that has made your life different all these years compared to people that haven't
468
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,080
had that sort of experience?
469
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:12,560
I have always I've never doubted that there was a God.
470
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,320
I've never doubted that there was heaven.
471
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:19,000
I never doubted that there was Christ and that he died for me.
472
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,120
I was able he showed me the prints in his hands.
473
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:30,200
I just I haven't I have never doubted that.
474
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:34,720
I look at my kids and say, OK, well, this they need.
475
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:40,200
I think that they're just going to know everything that I know.
476
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:44,160
And have and have felt that I've always known, but that's not true.
477
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:51,040
I need to do things a lot differently than I did when I was growing up.
478
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:57,800
I think I've I've always been led by what felt right to me.
479
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:06,320
And I've felt that that's just tuning into that that love that I felt and just that peace.
480
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:12,480
And if something has given me peace or leads me in one direction versus another, I have
481
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,280
tended to to go with that.
482
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,920
And it hasn't been wrong.
483
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,440
This is one way or the other.
484
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:26,020
Tell us what you do for a living now and if this has affected that at all.
485
00:31:26,020 --> 00:31:33,440
So I am a mental health clinician and a substance abuse counselor.
486
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:34,800
And I think it does.
487
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:35,800
I think it does.
488
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:43,720
When I first went into college, I didn't really have any desire to get a degree.
489
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,800
I just was going there because that was the next step.
490
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,760
My friends were going to college.
491
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,840
I was still young, didn't know really what I wanted.
492
00:31:54,840 --> 00:32:04,640
And after a semester or two, I fell into social work and just absolutely connected with the
493
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:14,080
classes, connected with everything that was in there, ways to help families, ways to help
494
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,680
groups of people.
495
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:25,440
I through this, I never in my life thought I would be led to be an addiction specialist
496
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,360
and work with trauma.
497
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,840
And those are those are my specialties now.
498
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:40,080
So and I really think that it has led me to to do some of that.
499
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:41,080
That is what I feel.
500
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:45,720
It's hard to say because other people have that same mission, that kind of thing.
501
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:48,480
And it has always been the right thing for me.
502
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,160
So what else did you learn from this whole experience that you want to share with other
503
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:53,160
people?
504
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:55,160
That's a good question.
505
00:32:55,160 --> 00:33:03,800
This experience, when I first started telling it and that kind of thing, I didn't know.
506
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:10,880
I have always just told it just because not necessarily that I was supposed to.
507
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:19,600
You know, when you're 10 and 11, you just kind of are you OK with telling your experience?
508
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,120
Do you want to?
509
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:22,120
You've done this fireside.
510
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,040
Do you want to do?
511
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,000
And I've always said, yes.
512
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,120
So I've always been drawn to this.
513
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:37,160
I want people to understand and to know that that there is life after death, that there
514
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:44,800
is a God in heaven that loves them and wants the best for them.
515
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:54,200
And that Christ not only loves me, but loves everybody else just just the same.
516
00:33:54,200 --> 00:34:01,320
And one thing that I didn't say, because I just kind of involved in the story, is that
517
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,480
Christ held me on his lap.
518
00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:12,040
And when he did that, I could feel tremendous love like I have never felt before.
519
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,400
Probably or since either.
520
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:15,400
Probably or since.
521
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,600
Could you describe that love?
522
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,200
I've asked other people this.
523
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,200
I know it's very difficult.
524
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:25,400
I have some weird things coming to mind.
525
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:30,200
But I have something that I don't know.
526
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,360
I've never had this thought before.
527
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:39,160
But being in like an embryo or a sack or something like that and just filled with everything
528
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:45,860
that you need and everything not necessarily want, but everything that you need is given
529
00:34:45,860 --> 00:34:55,760
to you because this person, this being wants everything the best for you.
530
00:34:55,760 --> 00:35:00,000
It tingles everywhere in your body.
531
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,600
You feel swelling in your heart.
532
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,240
No chaos in your mind.
533
00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:10,120
You're just complete where you are.
534
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:11,120
That's great.
535
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,440
No one's ever asked me that before, I don't think.
536
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:17,200
Well, I think that's a beautiful place for us to finish our conversation.
537
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,200
Thank you so much, Crystal.
538
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,200
You're welcome.
539
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:28,120
If you have had a round trip death experience, we would love to hear about it.
540
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:31,840
Send an email to eric at roundtripdeath.com.
541
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:36,160
And lastly, if you have found this program uplifting, if it's given you just a little
542
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:41,360
more hope in the future, share it with a friend, hit that follow button and take a few seconds
543
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,520
to write us a review.
544
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:48,440
Until next time, I wish you everything good that you're looking for in this life and
545
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:57,640
the next.
