Use Me to Do Something Good

Welcome to another inspiring episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. Host Aaron Alejandro brings you another insightful conversation with a special guest who has sown seeds of greatness throughout his life. Today's guest is none other than Congressman Bill Sarpalius, the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Let's dive into his incredible journey and the lessons he shares.

Congressman Hon. Bill Sarpalius' life epitomizes the American Dream. Abandoned by his father, he faced homelessness with his brothers and a struggling mother. Despite early hardships, he found refuge in Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch at 13, where he started in fifth grade unable to read. Graduating high school with $100, he entered politics, addressing alcohol and drug abuse in Texas. Elected to the Texas Senate for eight years and later to the U.S. Congress for six, Sarpalius gained global recognition for supporting Lithuania's independence, earning the "Grand Duke of Lithuania" award. His compelling story makes him a sought-after Keynote Speaker, emphasizing resilience, determination, and triumph over adversity. His involvement in Baltic States' independence contributed to the Soviet Union's downfall.

Story Notes:

• Turning Point
• Political Career and Advocacy
• International Impact
• Grand Duke Title
• FFA Journey and Life Lessons

Learn More at:

https://mytexasffa.org/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. Here is your host, Erin Alejandro.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Well, good morning, good afternoon or good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. As always, we just enjoy bringing this podcast in Teachers and students and stakeholders across the country that just want to listen in. You know, we like to say that if you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, how do you grow something? You got to plant seeds and you got to take care of them. That's why bringing on special guests is so special to us because our guests share with us seeds of greatness, seeds that we can put in place in our lives. That will grow great things, and today is no different.

Speaker 2: 1:11

Today we have an incredible guest, ladies and gentlemen. You can meet presidents and elected officials, and you can meet movie stars and athletes, but I will tell you, very seldom will you ever get to meet the Grand Duke of a foreign country, and today we have the Grand Duke himself, bill Sarpolis. I'm going to tell you more about that here in just a little bit, and he's going to share how you got that title, ladies and gentlemen, congressman, bill Sarpolis. Congressman, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 3: 1:42

Thank you, Aaron, it's good to be with you.

Speaker 2: 1:45

This is going to be fun. We're going to talk about a lot of great stuff. We're going to talk about your FFA journey and how you you know send it to the ranks of US Congressman and how you captured that title Grand Duke of Lithuania. But before we do that, congressman, we start every episode off with the same question, and you get the same question everybody else gets, and that is this what are you grateful?

Speaker 1: 2:12

for today.

Speaker 3: 2:17

I'm grateful for, for everything. I'm grateful to be alive. I'm grateful to be living in a free country that anybody can dream any dream and make their dream come true. I'm grateful that I have good health. I'm grateful for my family, for my church, for my friends I mean I have. I'm grateful for everything, Everything in my life. I'm not disappointed about anything. I've been blessed beyond my means.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Well, I couldn't agree with you more. And I will tell you isn't it fun to be around people that are grateful? Isn't it fun to be around people that are hopeful, people that are positive, people that have energy? I think to everything that you said the celebrity that I have, my family, my friends, my job. I meant there's some negative out there. I get it, but there are so many other things to be positive for and I think it's encouraging to hear folks like you share that positivity.

Speaker 3: 3:23

So thank you for sharing that Well you know, everybody chooses life and they make life the way they want it. It's their choice. I've seen you and I both have seen people who are mad at the world and they're very negative on the future, and that negativity that they have is of no value. It's nothing. It's nothing, but somebody that is positive and looks at life in a positive way has a positive future. Life is what you make it.

Speaker 2: 4:07

Well, I couldn't agree with you more what they say. I think there's an old saying that says your vibe attracts your tribe. Well, I'm glad we have a positive vibe and I'm glad that we have surrounded ourselves with positive and hopeful people, because I am hopeful, you know. One of the quotes that I like to use is a quote by Abraham Lincoln, and Abraham Lincoln said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. So if you want to know what the future is, grow it.

Speaker 2: 4:38

Well, congressman, you coming on the show today and knowing that FFA members both in the great state of Texas and across the United States are going to get introduced to your story and you're going to be able to share with them your FFA journey and how you accomplish some things in life and how you allowed God to use you to do some great things. So, with that, let's don't waste any time, let's just jump right into that journey. Why don't you take us back to Houston, texas, to you and your brothers and your mother, and tell us how your FFA, your senatorial, congressional and international journey began?

Speaker 3: 5:19

Like I said, aaron, I've been blessed beyond my means. My dad was in the Air Force and we were based in Houston, texas. While he was in the Air Force he was a navigator for B-52 bombers and we lived in Japan. We lived in different places across the country but we were stationed. He was stationed at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston. Houston has a lot of good memories but it was a.

Speaker 3: 5:49

I started life, I guess, kind of rough. I got polio as a young boy and polio at that time struck a lot of young kids. And what it does, that disease, it shrinks your muscle, all your muscle tissue, and you get to where you can't walk. If any of you ever saw the movie Forrest Gump, when Forrest is running and he has braces on his legs, that's polio. And and unfortunately I got it and my legs shrunk, my arms, my legs. I can remember when I could take my fingers like that, run them up and down my arms and legs and never touch a skin. But I survived that disease and but unfortunately I started school late. I have two younger brothers, bobby and Carl. Bobby started school before me.

Speaker 3: 6:46

So by the time I finally started school I was two years behind and my dad left when I was 10 and he walked out the door. I never saw him again and my mother was a severe alcoholic, depressed, suicidal, had tried to take her life several times in front of me and my brothers. And so we became homeless. We lived in vacant houses, we dug food out of trash cans, we just moved from house to house and we never, never went to the same school for an entire year. We just moved around and so finally, when I was 13 years old, the courts had gotten involved and we were placed at Cal Farley's boys ranch, which was started by Cal Farley and it was a home. His goal was to help the bottom 10%. So, aaron, you and I were both in the bottom 10%, so we really didn't have much to go except up.

Speaker 3: 7:59

And when I came to boys ranch I was 13 years old. I was in the fifth grade and couldn't read. I was tall, skinny, behind in school and was a prime target to be bullied in school. And boys ranch was not an easy place to grow up. I lived in a dorm with 36 boys. There were about close to 400 kids that lived at the ranch at that time, half of the kids who committed violent crimes. So it was a rough environment. But they had some good teachers and they had some good staff and they had people who cared. And Cal Farley was a smart man, he had a small teacher student ratio and he saw that, he saw the value of the FFA and so we had a very, very active FFA chapter, now boys ranch. Not only did we have an FFA chapter that was large, but we also started to produce all of the most of the food that we consumed. At one time we were producing close to 80% of all the food we consume, and when I went there we milked cows by hand. When I left we had fancy milking machines.

Speaker 3: 9:21

And so, anyway, I got exposed to the FFA and I thought you know who are these kids in these blue and gold jackets? You know what their name on them? And how do I get one of those? What do I got to do? And the jacket was the selling point, and I wanted a jacket. Every boy did.

Speaker 3: 9:45

And they told us well, you get in this program and then you have to raise an animal. You have a project is what we called it, and usually you started out raising a pig. And so I enrolled in the FFA. I was so shy at the time, erin, I could not stand up and say my name, I was just extremely shy. And but, as you know, one of the first things you have to do in the FFA is stand up and say the FFA Creed. And that was a lot, a lot for me to do. But I got.

Speaker 3: 10:25

I got a pig and I had to get up every morning and go feed that pig and make sure it had clean water. And it began to teach me responsibility, which is one of the I think one of the real assets of the FFA. It teaches you responsibility. If you don't feed that hog, if you don't water those crops, if you don't, if you don't take care of your project, it will die. And then we had to keep records. How much money did it cost for the feed, you know? So I got exposed to keeping records in, which was something you use for the rest of your life. So the FFA had so many lessons that you learned that are really the principles of life. You taught patriotism. Every time you'd stand up and say the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of a meeting that we used Robert Rules of Orders, which is organization. It teaches you that there's so much good that comes out of the FFA and it's kind of back to what we were talking about. It's what you make it. You and I both have witnessed a lot of kids who grew up through the FFA program, who have become very successful in their own way in different areas, and we've also seen kids who didn't take advantage of it. So the FFA opened the door for me and my senior year at Boys Ranch.

Speaker 3: 12:02

At Boys Ranch, during the FFA week, the FFA chapter conducted the church services. We had the choir, all kids wearing their blue and gold jackets in the choir, and I was asked to give the sermon, which was the first time I ever got up and gave a talk about it, and it was on February 19th and I went to the chapel and I had written this sermon out and it was titled being Prepared for Death. It was about salvation. And one of the boys came and got me, said Mr Farley wants to see you and every Sunday when he came to the ranch he would stand at the door, on the steps of the chapel and shake hands with every boy that walked into the chapel. And that was a big deal. And so I stood there and I was shaking, holding that piece of paper, and Mr Farley saw me and he came up to me and he said I'm looking forward to hearing what you got to say. He said you're going to do just fine. And then he put his hand on my shoulder. He said Bill, let me give you a little advice. He said don't look at any boy in the eye, look over the tops of all their heads and save me a place in the dining hall, which was a big deal. He was going to sit next to me in the dining hall. We went from church to the dining hall for lunch and got time for the services to start. We walked in and the choir got in their place and I walked in and I looked at Cal Farley and he leaned next to a boy beside him and he slumped down and he passed away. He died of a brain hemorrhage and I watched him carry him out the back of the chapel. I knew I couldn't give that talk. I had to.

Speaker 3: 14:02

At that moment in time when he died, my life began and I had nothing going for me. I was going to graduate from high school in three months. I was towards the bottom of my class. I had no job, had no home to go to. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life.

Speaker 3: 14:28

But I talked about how Cal Farley was a giving man, how he gave each of us. If we needed clothes, he gave us clothes. If we needed a bed, he gave us a bed. He gave us opportunities and he would do anything to help that bottom 10% of kids. I went back to my dorm, like every boy did, and I cried and sat on my bunk and I began to analyze my life and saw where I didn't know what I was going to do. So I just got down on my knees and I asked the good Lord to take me and use me in some way to help people. Well, two months later I was elected area FFA president and got off a bus in Amarillo when I graduated at one suitcase $100 in my pocket, no place to go but the FFA. Being area president, I had to travel and speak to FFA bankwits, the same as you've done Any officers in the FFA. What's so neat is you can climb in leadership roles and it depends on you and how hard you work at it.

Speaker 3: 15:48

Well, anyway, I wound up, hitchhiked down to Clarendon Texas, and was trying to go to college. I had no money. I had a bunch of different jobs rode a school bus, was a disc jockeying, a little radio station, a bed hogs and drove tractors. And I just didn't know how I was going to make ends meet. And so my ag teacher said you know, if you get elected area, if you get elected state president, you'll get a scholarship. So that was my motivation. So I ran for state FFA president and got elected and I did the same thing you did, aaron. I spent a year driving all across Texas in an automobile. I was driving all across Texas in an automobile. I spent a year driving all across Texas in an automobile. That car I'll never forget. The executive director asked me when I was going to have a business car made. He said what do you want to put down for your address? I have no address. I said I want to just live in the car. So that's literally what I did, is I'm sure you did the same thing. You just live in the car and you go from town to town and you promote the FFA, and it was a great, great opportunity and then, of course, doors continue to open for me. I was at the state FFA convention the year when we approved girls in the FFA. That was a very significant convention because we approved girls being in the FFA, but we also changed reapportionment. At that time Every state in the nation only had two delegates. Your Texas made up like 25 percent of the national enrollment but we only had two voices. So we changed that that year and that was very significant. But it was the FFA that helped build my foundation towards a political career and I went on and became a vocational ag teacher, taught at Boys Ranch for several years.

Speaker 3: 18:04

I'll never forget when I came in as an ag teacher. You know I wanted to teach. I wanted to train the parliamentary and procedure team. You know I was a past state FFA. I knew how to do this. I want you sitting. Now you're a rookie teacher. You'll take the, the junior farm skills team, and you get the last one and you get the leftover kids. So I had three boys and one of them stuttered very bad and I thought how in the world might take these three boys and one of them stutters and develop a farm skill for them. But I did and they worked at it and they wound up winning second in state. Wow, and the boy that stuttered because of that program. He never stuttered again. Wow, it's his life that one FFA program being involved in it built self confidence for him. And but it was. I enjoyed teaching a lot.

Speaker 3: 19:07

My mother committed suicide and she actually died on March 2nd, 48 years ago and she was 48 years old. But that's when I decided to run for public office, because I had taken my mother when I left Boys Ranch and was trying to find a place to help her and we hitchhiked across Texas and there was none. Texas ranked 50th nationwide. And alcohol and drug there was not a single place in the state of Texas that an alcoholic or drug addict could go to get help, unless if you had money. So I decided to run for the Texas Senate. That was my passion. I wanted to do something about that problem and I announced and started my campaign with $25.

Speaker 3: 20:01

Had zero name ID, running against an incumbent who used to be a congressman and but because of the FFA I learned how to work and because of the FFA I knew how to give it my all. And because of the FFA I never gave up and and I got elected and then I served in the Texas Senate for eight years and was chairman of the Ag Committee my freshman and was chairman of the Ag Committee my freshman year. Well, and actually I went hired my Ag teacher, guy Fentz, did to come help me with that program. We were all new. We didn't understand in the Texas Senate we only have 31 senators Well, all of them but three were attorneys. I wouldn't attorney, I was an Ag teacher.

Speaker 3: 20:57

But we got a lot done in those years and and also, fortunately, we created a new state agency that set up alcohol and drug treatment centers all across Texas and it's helped, continues to help, a lot of people who who face that disease. And then the congressional seat opened up. I ran for that and I had carried this bill as a state senator had mandatory penalties for anybody who sold drugs to minors, and these drug dealers hired a hit man and came up to me. I never saw his face and he hit me and knocked me down in a crowd, kicked me and busted my jaw here and here. So I walked out holding my jaw on my hands and went into surgery and they wired my mouth shut. Everybody thought that was it.

Speaker 2: 21:59

Now, this is when you're campaigning.

Speaker 3: 22:02

This is when I'm campaigning.

Speaker 2: 22:03

Oh no.

Speaker 3: 22:06

And. But I went ahead and campaigned. You know the FFA does not teach you to give up. You may hit some hard times, you just pick yourself up and keep going. But I remember doing live debates on television with my mouth wired shut. But I would hold the mic like this and I'd say I'm the only guy running for Congress that will keep his mouth shut. But I won, got elected and then went to the US Congress and was appointed on the Ag Committee, which was a great opportunity, and I served with some giants in agriculture Charlie Stenholm, Kika Delegarsa I mean some real, real leaders in agriculture. Yes, but all that became available to me just because I took advantage of what the FFA has to offer. And you don't look for excuses in life, Everybody's got an excuse. You don't accomplish anything looking for excuses this old saying you got a cowboy up and when times get bad, you just keep going and you prove everybody else is wrong. You prove that you can become whatever you want to become.

Speaker 2: 23:39

So you're in the. You know what an incredible story and there's so many things that we could take off here and talk about. So many experiences in the Texas Senate, and we're again. We won't pursue all those today, but I will tell you that this man right here as a state senator probably saved agricultural science, education and the FFA in the state of Texas. It was on the chopping block and thank God that God gave him a reason to run for office to help people like his mom. But in the process he also helped the Ag, science and FFA.

Speaker 2: 24:12

And then he goes on to serve in the US Congress and he's there. He's serving on the Ag committees, on the small business committee, and, on a side note, I had the honor of working for him and that's. You know, we have an experience there that we may get around talking about. But I think probably one of the most unique things that happened was the day that a guy by the name of Dr Landsberg is came to your office and that started a chapter in your life that you probably could have never expected. Tell us what happened when he came to see you that day.

Speaker 3: 24:46

Well, it's kind of interesting, Aaron. That day I got on my knees and I asked God to take my life and use me in any way that I can to help people. He just brought him to me, he just gave me the opportunities to try to help people, and that was one of them. I was in office about about 10 days and this tall man from Lithuania walks into my office my name is a Lithuanian name, but I knew nothing about my background and he was a music teacher from Vilnaus and he told me about my uncle who was a famous composer of music and had had written a lot of music. That was a lot of the people in Lithuania were new about, and so I learned a lot about my family through him. And then I asked him I said what are you doing here? And he was head of a new political party called the Ciudas Party.

Speaker 3: 25:47

Now I know a lot of the people listening to this podcast probably don't know much about the Communist Party in Russia and what the Cold War was all about and what the Soviet Union was doing and the threats that they made to the US and other countries around the world. And at that time, if you were a member of the Soviet Union. You lived in the Soviet Union. The government told you what you were going to do. You did not go to church Church going to church was illegal. You did not have any freedom of speech or freedom of press. You were owned by the government and that's the type of lifestyle that these people were living in. So he wanted to put the Ciudas Party on the ballot against the Communist Party and he told me. He said, if we could just do it, he thought that they could get a majority and would win and the Soviet Union and Lithuania and the Ciudas Party, the Ciudas Party would break away, and then Estonia and Latvia would follow, which are the Baltic states, and then Georgia and Ukraine and Romania, and it would lead to the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Well, if you'd been in my office at that time and heard that, you would have thought he was crazy. It's just unheard of. So I started helping him and I kind of learned the ropes of Congress. Being a former state senator was helpful. But I started building coalitions, I started giving speeches on the floor, I started doing everything I possibly could to help the Ciudas Party and they started getting a lot of publicity all around the world about this little party that was going to be on the ballot against the Communist Party. So they always had elections, but there was only one party, the Communist Party. And so so President Bush senior appointed me and three other members of Congress to represent the United States to go observe those elections.

Speaker 3: 28:20

So we flew into Berlin and the Soviets took our passports and visas away and we could not leave our hotel room. Well, that was right at the time when the Berlin Wall collapsed. I saw that I mean I was the time I arrived in Berlin they had already, was just a few days earlier, they had already come over the wall. But I saw everybody from East go to West and it was like it's like the world changed in that city, and I remember seeing all these people who came over and there were these crosses and names on the other side of the wall. Many times people had tried to escape, but you never knew if they made it and they were a member. Seeing these people standing by these names and crying because they knew either was their husband or their son, or somebody tried to reach freedom but didn't make it. We take freedom so much for granted in this country. And so finally, we held a press conference in the, in the hotel lobby, and it was covered and was and was all around the world. It was hit everywhere around the world and the Soviets finally decided to let us in for 16 hours.

Speaker 3: 29:48

We got into Vilnius in Lithuania, and my friend, dr Landsbergus, was elected president. Wow, the Siodist Party. For every Siodist candidate, they had 30 Communist candidates and but they were able to do it and the Siodist Party won and they broke away from the Soviet Union. And we got in a school bus and with the new leaders and we went to this town right outside Vilnius to get a Catholic cardinal out of prison who had been in prison for over 45 years. And we came back to Vilnius and in that bus they were asking us how do you set up a government? How do you elect a speaker? You know, what can we do for our economy? You know, now that we're a country, what are we going to do? How do we organize it? And, and fortunately one of us, we had brought a copy of our bill of rights, our Declaration of Independence, that had been translated into Lithuanian language, and we discussed all that on that school bus. We came back into Vilnius with the cardinal.

Speaker 3: 31:03

I wish you could have seen what I saw, aaron.

Speaker 3: 31:05

There were thousands of people surrounding this old Catholic cathedral that they had not had mass in that church for over 50 years. They turned it into a museum for the Soviet Union and people were crying everywhere. And we went into that church and they had mass for the first time. And you have no idea what it's like to have freedom of religion until you lose it. You don't know what it's like to see until you're blind or to walk until you can't walk. There's so many precious gifts that we take for granted every day, and life is a journey, but what you make of it is dependent on you. But I saw that happen. And then, of course, stony and Latvia broke away and I went and met with Boris Yeltsin when he was in hiding, and I saw the Soviet Empire collapse. Well, years later, the country gave me their highest honor that they could give a non-citizen, and they made me their Grand Duke. So that's how I got that title. With that we could probably get a cup of coffee in Vilnius, but it's an honor I'm very proud of.

Speaker 2: 32:33

Well, I will tell you, both as a friend and a mentor, very proud of you, and I think that you're a great example of the power of that blue and gold jacket that when you zip that jacket up you look just like everybody else and what you do inside that jacket's up to you. And you know, I think, that there's something to be said when passion meets purpose. There's a lot of people that are passionate but they don't have their focus on the right purpose. And then I think there's some people that have a purpose but they just aren't real enthused about it. They don't have a passion. But I think when passion meets purpose, I really think that's when God can use somebody. And there's no question that God put things in your life that became hurdles for you to get over, because he knew that you were about to take on some of the largest hurdles, not only domestically but in the world. You took on the hurdle of ag education in the state of Texas. You took on the hurdle of freeing people and you know one of the things and you've been around our foundation ambassador kids, so you know this fine group that we work with in the summertime. One of the things that we teach them is the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never set. That's the essence of leadership. And, congressman, you have planted some incredible trees and there will be generations, both domestically and internationally, that will have a better life because of what you did. And so the day Cal Farley died and you hit your knees, god answered your prayers. Just don't ever forget that you did, because you have made an incredible difference Again.

Speaker 2: 34:33

We could go on, I'm telling you folks, we could tell you all kinds of stories. This guy, he and I had the pleasure of working for him for six years. We both grew up at Boys Ranch. Today's not about my story, today's about his story. We both had the pleasure of serving as state FFA president and I remember when micro the dirty jobs guy, remember when micro was on the podcast and he, he taught me about the word broadcast and how it was really a farming term, because it meant we're scattering things, were scattering seeds. And here we have this incredible podcast called the growing our future podcast. And guess what you did today, congressman? You help spread some more seeds of greatness.

Speaker 3: 35:18

Well, like I said, life is what you make it. Life goes by so fast. Aaron, yeah, and all of us you know, especially those young students that are watching. You better enjoy it while you got it. You know, take what, take in everything you can. This you see right behind me here as an old warlords or jukebox plays old 78 records. Most kids probably don't even know what a 78 record is. Had only plays 24 songs, and today you have all the knowledge in the world right in front of you. So there's no excuses. Time goes by so fast. Look at that change in technology and it's going to change even more in their lifetime. So I'm jealous. I'm jealous of every student that's looking at this.

Speaker 3: 36:10

I wish I was in your shoes.

Speaker 2: 36:13

Yeah, like I said, we could take off on so many topics here real quick just because you brought that warlets are up, which I remember when you bought that warlets are real quick. Just I want to tell everybody watch this, you're ready for this here? How many years did it take to get to 50 million viewers, constituents, users, think about this. You ready how many years to get to 50 million? Here we go. Radio it took 38 years. Television it took 13 years. The internet it took four years. Ipods when iPods first came out, it took three years to get to 50 million users. When Facebook was introduced, it took less than one year to get to over 200 million users.

Speaker 2: 37:10

Well, technology and the transfer of information. But, bill, something that you said and I sure hope people heard it you can have access to all the information in the world, but if you don't do something about it, if you don't reach down and say I want to find me a purpose, I'm going to find something I'm passionate about and I'm going to serve somebody else. If you don't do it, you're just a number in a series. You know, I tell people don't be a placeholder. God did not create you to be a placeholder. God created you for something great.

Speaker 3: 37:48

There's one other thing, aaron. If you look at people's tombstones, it has a date they were born and the date they died, with a line in between. What did you do in that line? The day? Your life, that's your life, and I've always told people what you accomplish for yourself in life has no meaning. It's what you give of yourself In service to him and in service to other people. Give of yourself to your friends, to your family. Life is about giving. It's not about taking. I mean our FFA model. I love our model Learning to do, your learning as a student to do, earning to live what you've learned, you've earned how to live with it, and then you're living to serve. And that's what life is all about. It's in service.

Speaker 2: 38:49

Well, there's so many things we could talk about. I mean, I'm talking about we can go on together again.

Speaker 2: 38:56

Aaron, but we'll go ahead and start wrapping this one up. I appreciate your grateful heart. I appreciate your encouragement to others. I do agree with you. The circumstances that we came from were very blessed and I thank God gave you the platform that he gave you. He's given me the platform he's given me and I hope that we continue to be able to serve in those capacities. Before we wrap up, I always ask somebody, I guess, a fun question. So here's your fun question what is the best concert you've ever been to?

Speaker 3: 39:39

Elvis Presley.

Speaker 2: 39:40

What you saw, the king.

Speaker 3: 39:43

Saw him three times. No way. He was an entertainer at the Houston Livestock Show in Rodeo the year I was state FFA president.

Speaker 2: 39:51

No way, I didn't know that. How long have I known you? I didn't realize. You saw Elvis three times.

Speaker 3: 39:58

Yeah. I'm jealous, he put on a show he was jealous.

Speaker 2: 40:04

I'm jealous, All right. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us for the Growing Our Future podcast. This, right here, is just another example of why I love my job and why I love the fact that we're able to gather. We have this incredible media to share. We live in this incredible country to listen, to learn, to grow, to be better, to help our fellow man and to bring on special guests like Congressman Bill Sarpolos, the Grand Duke of the country Lithuanian. Until we meet again, go out and do something great for somebody. And remember, don't ever forget. If you want to know what the future is, grow it. Plant seeds of greatness, Take care of them and grow an incredible tree that others can sit under, enjoy its fruit and pass down to the people that follow in their footsteps. Until we meet again, everybody be safe. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 41:06

We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen agricultural science education so students can develop their potential for personal growth, career success and leadership in a global marketplace. Learn more at MyTexasFFAorg.