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St. Louis Blues run to the 2018 Stanley Cup. to be precise. Here to tell his story is Sam Goodwin. Author of Saving Sam, a true story of an American's disappearance.
Yeah. Take it away, Sam. Which one stands out to you the most that maybe had the higher expectations this year that just hasn't lived up to one?
Well, I think the changes that the St. Louis Blues made in the offseason, I mean, this isn't just a local flavor that I'm giving you. You ask anybody around the National Hockey League. That's the answer. When I look back on their roster that year, they really did have a lot of the pieces that are necessary for winning the cup.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that a team's going to win the cup just because they have the pieces. for O'Reilly. In overtime, can he be the hero? Yes! During that season, the 2018-2019 season, the Blues at roughly the halfway point were at the bottom of the NHL, but they pretty incredibly turned things around in the second half of the season.
They peaked at the right time that year. Sensational! And the ball is winning over. Throughout primarily their playoff run, I was traveling quite a bit. I was in the South Pacific.
I was in Singapore. I remember watching them the Western Conference final. from Iraq. Series is over. The wait is over.
Over, and the St. Louis Blues are the Stanley Cup champions. And they win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. And I'm in a Syrian prison. I started playing hockey when I was about four or five years old.
I played my entire life. Triple-A hockey through high school, the year of junior hockey in Texas. And then from there, I was recruited to play in Division I in college and remained. Close to the game. I unfortunately had pretty bad concussion injuries, and that sort of was the end of the road for my formal playing career.
I had an opportunity to help launch a tech startup business. In Singapore, and kind of unexpectedly ended up playing quite a bit, helping to grow the game in a non-traditional market. I coached the Singapore national team for about five years and ran charity hockey schools around Asia and Philippines. I coached the North Korean national hockey team. I coached volleyball in Kabul.
I went to a Formula E race in Saudi Arabia. I originally only planned to be in Singapore for about three months. I ended up staying for six years. During this time, I traveled as much as I could. I had the world's best airport in my backyard, had a little bit of flexibility in my work schedule.
I was in my early 20s, and when I traveled, I didn't like to repeat places.
So even if I went somewhere and had a Fantastic experience. The next weekend, the next holiday, the next opportunity. I would just go somewhere different and In early 2018, I realized that I had traveled to about 120 countries in the world. And it was at this point when I remember thinking, well, how many are there? There are 193 fully recognized UN sovereign states.
So I thought to myself, well, maybe I could go to all of them. The competitive athlete in me likes setting goals and working toward achieving them. I was going to give this a shot. I had no idea if I could do it. I didn't even know what that would look like, but I became committed to working toward achieving something that I thought was extraordinary.
About a year later. I had traveled to 180 of 193 countries in the world and Syria was number 181 of 190. Syria. A country that's experiencing arguably the most tragic humanitarian disaster of our lifetime. The attack on Khan Shakun produced terrible images of children poisoned by nerve gas.
By conservative estimates, half a million people have died in the conflict. The UN stopped counting at 250,000. But one of the most significant things that I had learned through my travels is that places that are negatively perceived or that we're not supposed to like, these were places where I had many of my best experiences and where my perspectives were most meaningfully impacted.
So despite everything that was happening, I was confident that the same was going to be the case. And on May 25th, 2019, I went to the northeast region of Syria. And it was frankly all a very straightforward process. I went into an immigration office on the Iraq side of the border and they stamped my passport. Went across the river to another office on the Syrian side and they stamped my passport there.
And then I got in a taxi and went to Kamishli. And it didn't feel unsafe. I'm not saying it felt totally comfortable because it was still Syria, but there were certainly places in the world where I felt a lot more uncomfortable. This is an area of the country, hundreds of miles from any ongoing conflict. And I was frankly excited to be there.
It was a place that I had wanted to visit for a long time. It's one of the most culturally, religiously, historically significant places in the world. It's the cradle of civilization. Just two hours after I arrived, I was walking through a roundabout on the way to meet up with my guide. I was talking to my mom on FaceTime.
when all of a sudden a black Rock. Pulled up next to me. Two armed men jumped out of the back seat and instructed me to get inside. And I didn't have a choice. And as we sped down back alleys of the city, the officer sitting next to me reached into his pocket and he pulled out a blindfold and he put it over my eyes.
And accused me of espionage, of being an American spy and collaborating with terrorists. And these men, I learned, were loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. The truth. Truck then stopped. I stepped out of the truck.
And they took the blindfold off, and I looked up above me, and I was underneath a massive. Syrian military airplane out on the tarmac of an airport. And at that point, they handcuffed me behind my back, took me over to the ladder. and threw me into the cargo hold of the plane. About thirty minutes later, the plane took off.
When we come back, More of Sam Goodwin's story on Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories. Send us your stories, small or large, to our email, oas at ouramericanstories.com. That's oas at ouramericanstories.com.
We'd love to hear them and put them on the air. Our audience loves them too. Let's be real. Life happens. Kids spill, pets shed, and accidents are inevitable.
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Visit washablefas.com today and save. That's washablesofas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World. Parents, let's talk snacks.
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Learn more at motts.com. Are you shopping for a new laptop while still trying to keep up with technology and AI? Talk about feeling burnt out, but no more. Lenovo.com makes it easier than ever to find the perfect PC. In fact, we'll break it down for you.
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With Thumbtac, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all in the app. Download today. And we continue with our American stories and with Sam Goodwin's story. When we last left off, Sam, a St.
Louis native who'd made it his goal to travel every country in the world, found himself detained and thrown into the belly of a plane. In Syria. And you'll be hearing not just from Sam in this segment, but from his father, his sister. and his mother. Let's continue with the story.
Sometimes I ask, how often have you ever been flying on an airplane but didn't know where it was going? Hmm. We landed in what I learned to be Damascus, which is the capital city of the country. And I was taken from the airport, driven into the center of town, taken into the basement of a facility that I now know is called Syria's Military Intelligence Prison, number 215, a facility notoriously known for housing political prisoners. Shocking allegations of systematic executions and torture carried out by the Syrian regime.
Amnesty International says it has evidence that around 30 years. And the officer. who was in charge escorted me to a cell. In the back of the basement, and it had no window. It was all concrete.
I had nothing but a small blanket to lay on the concrete floor as a bed. When he put me in there, I'll never forget. He went to the inside of the cell door and he said, feed, water, toilet. Knock. And he did a knocking motion on the inside of the cell door.
And then he said otherwise. Quiet, no talking. And he slammed the door and laughed. I was stunned and in disbelief about what had happened in just a few short hours. I mean, my life had spiraled out of control in the most terrifying of ways.
I felt exactly the way they wanted me to. Hopeless, utterly cut off from any control of my life. The only human interaction I had was for a few seconds in the morning and evening when the guards brought bread and boiled potatoes and water. But The most challenging part for me. was the uncertainty.
I had no idea what was going to happen to me. Was I going to be in that cell? Forever? Was I going to be released in five minutes? Was I going to be released in a week?
Were they going to open the door and shoot me or torture me and stop feeding me? Based on the information that I had, I believed that all of these things were possible. And trying to entertain all of these potential options 24-7 was emotionally and psychologically exhausting. Um On day 23 and 24 in solitary confinement, I was. I I was interrogated for three hours on both days, handcuffed, blindfolded.
A man from across the room began talking to me in perfect English. But he basically started from the day I was born and worked his way all the way up to the present day, asking everything. about me. Where I was born, where I lived, where I played hockey, where I had worked, my school, my siblings. And he told me, Sam, if you don't start telling the truth.
I'm going to do a 180 with your life. Do you want me to hand you over to ISIS? I'll do it right now. The news of my disappearance was learned through me going dark. I was always very good about keeping in touch, especially if I was in more of an unstable place.
And I had communicated that I was going to be in Syria for just a few days. They began to worry. Ah. Different people were chasing different leads, but we were certainly working with the Vatican, we were working with some NGOs on the ground in Syria, we were working with some journalists. We cast the net very wide.
They reached the FBI field office in St. Louis, our hometown, which pretty quickly escalated to some of the highest levels of the U.S. government in Washington. They communicated two key things to my family. Uh The FBI told us that if the word got out and into the wrong hands and it was made public, they'd probably immediately kill Sam or make his situation worse and use it as leverage.
So it was very, very important that this was super, super hush hush. From day one, they said, hey, like this is tough for us. Like, we don't really have much representation in Syria or in that region. It would be wise to manage your expectations, which, you know, we could kind of read through what they were saying. Like, there's a chance we might not ever see Sam again.
The only thing might be if you find someone who has any influence on Assad. The FBI said 100% the only way that Sam will be released is if Assad signs off. That just seemed overwhelming to me. Just, how is this going to happen? My father works in civil engineering.
My mother is a Registered nurse, turned educator, both of them are smart people and they've had relative success in their respective fields. They're an average family from Middle America. They had no idea what to do. And they briefed my family accordingly about when my captivity ended, I came home. I could be a vegetable.
Institutionalizing me for the rest of my life. I was in a situation where everything had been taken from me: my material possessions, my communication, my freedom. But in captivity, it's so important to maintain a connection to the outside, so to speak. And the blues run of the cup was one of the ways that I did that. This was just one piece of the puzzle.
Oh, he scars! Fitz done! What two seconds left? He gets it done and the Bulls win it overtime. Inside my cell, I chipped this rock off the cell wall.
And I call it. Carved a calendar. I knew when those first four games were. And I put small marks on the calendar. For those four games, so that I could think about that when it happened and have a few seconds of relief.
Lord Frankly, after several days of pacing back and forth, I finally stopped. I said, hang on a second. Maybe there's some good in this situation, something to be grateful for here. I remember an inner voice replying and saying, Sam, are you crazy? You've just been taken hostage.
There's nothing good here. There's nothing to be grateful for. The best this will ever be is a period of your life you can forget.
Well, I fought that inner voice and I said, I'm grateful to be alive. I'm grateful for my health, my education. I'm grateful for the basic food and water I'm being given. I mean, I've encountered a lot of people around the world who don't have access to those things. I mean, perhaps being in this cell would be an upgrade for them.
How's that for some perspective? Each one of these small expressions of gratitude became this silent rebellion against the uncertainty of the situation. After channeling a little bit of strength, I didn't want to then just sit around and do nothing. Despite being in this eight by eight cell, I wanted to take action. What I found was that I could control my thoughts, how much water I drank, and when I went to sleep at night, I could control.
My routine. Within that cell. Finally, nothing was more important than my faith. In that cell, I felt this unbelievable closeness to God, something like I had never felt before. And my prayers became this uninterrupted conversation with God.
I was constantly. Saying things out loud, even though they told me not to talk, I said, God, I'm here, I'm listening. What are you trying to tell me today? What can I learn today? What are perhaps the positives about my situation?
And then I finished all of my prayers by saying the rosary. I'm Catholic. And I would dedicate each decade to something different. I prayed for my family, my friends, anybody who I thought might be working to get me out of the situation. I prayed very hard also for the courage to forgive my captors.
And through that, I discovered that I was working to forgive people who weren't even sorry. And I discovered that forgiveness is not a feeling, it's a choice. And my number one prayer was always: please keep me physically unharmed. My second prayer was then about the timelines. If this was all going on peacefully, then the next question was.
When, and this was the prayer that. Me became the most tricky and intense, and I remember almost positioning it as like a business deal. I said, God, I know you have a plan, but would you consider an adjustment to the timeline? Can that work with your plan? And you're listening to one heck of a story, Sam Goodwin's story.
The book is Saving Sam. You can go to Amazon with the usual suspects, and you can get it. Here he is in a small prison. He's making marks on a calendar, trying to set some hope in his life, St. Louis Blues games.
And maybe there's something good that can come of this, he's thinking to himself. And he's looking for things to be grateful for. And in the end, he said, My expressions of gratitude. were a silent rebellion. And he felt closer to God.
because of that uninterrupted time. with God. When we come back. What happens next on Sam's story here? on our American stories.
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Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World. Parents, let's talk snacks.
If your mornings look anything like mine, one kid's trying to pile drive a pillow and the other is trying to zip themselves into a backpack.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to sign a permission slip with an eyeliner pencil because that's all I could find. That's why Mott's no-sugar-added applesauce pouches are perfect to have nearby. These things are clutch and are perfect for moments of stress. Made with real apples, no sugar-added, and the pouch? Genius!
It's mess-free and perfect for the car, the lunchbox, or after-school activities. This is a snack you can feel good about, and a good source of vitamin C, too. Just tasty applesauce your kids will actually want to eat. The other day, I handed one to my son mid-meltdown. He took a deep breath, squeezed the pouch, and suddenly he was.
calm. He had a tiny, apple-powered moment of zen. Trust me, your future self will thank you. Motts were Real apples make real good applesauce. Learn more at knots.com.
Are you shopping for a new laptop while still trying to keep up with technology and AI? Talk about feeling burnt out, but no more. Lenovo.com makes it easier than ever to find the perfect PC. In fact, we'll break it down for you. Step 1.
Shop our lineup of AI PCs powered by Intel Core ultra-processors. Because why deal with downloading new software when you can buy a smarter PC that already comes with all of the AI features and tools? Step 2. Find the one that fits your passion. Whether you're a creative genius, a research scientist, a hardcore gamer, or a future CEO, no dream is too big.
That's the power of Lenovo with Intel inside. You can keep up with your ideas as well as any challenges you may face. Step 3. Add to cart and purchase. Oh, if you're a college student or a teacher, make an education account through us and get 5% off your whole order.
Shop now at lenovo.com. A better future is waiting, and it needs you. Sacks off fifth, up to seventy percent off every day. Summer is officially here, and Sacksaw Fifth is your destination for deals on all of this season's designer must-haves. From breezy linen and floral dresses to chic sandals and beach-ready swim, you'll find everything you need to refresh your summer wardrobe.
Discover the latest men's essentials too. Think lightweight campshirts, cool summer suiting, and trending loafers. Plus, shop new designer arrivals every week. We're talking Valentino Garavani, Valenciaga, Stuart Weitzman, Hugo Boss, and more, at prices you won't believe. Whether you're packing for a summer getaway, getting ready for upcoming special occasions, or updating your work wardrobe, Sacks Off Fifth has all the fashion you need.
Head to SacksOffFith.com or a SacksOffFith store near you for up to 70% off every day. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtac knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish or satin, or what that clunking sound from your dryer is? With Thumbtac, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one.
You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all in the app. Download today. And we return to our American stories and the final portion of Sam Goodwin's story. When we last left off, Sam, a St. Louis native, had discovered ways to make his captivity in Syria more bearable, including thinking about the St.
Louis blues run. to the Stanley Cup, but all he wanted and all he prayed for was release. Let's continue with the story.
We begin with the audio of Sam's sister. And his friend. For the first time in their history, the St. Louis Blues are the Stanley Cup champion, champion, champion. Sam had been gone for three weeks now and.
There was very, very, very little hope. Up until that point, it was like throwing darts in the dark. There was nothing that was really. concretely sticking. Everyone was telling us this wasn't gonna end well.
Everyone told us to manage our expectations or that we would never see our brother again. There were like no words. I just felt like. This is going to take a miracle. On July 26th, one of the prison officials came to the cell I was in.
He called my name, and he indicated that I was being moved. And as he escorted me out front, he stopped and he said, Sam, you're very lucky. President, Assad has agreed to release you. This sounds encouraging, but I had been lied to so many times in the past two months that I had. Essentially, and come immune to believing anything.
like this. Outside I stepped into a black SUV which It turned out to be part of a five-vehicle convoy that raced out of Damascus at what seemed to be 100 miles an hour. I mean, we didn't stop traffic lights, we used the shoulder of the road to maneuver around traffic. Nobody in the vehicle said a word. I remember the nice cars, the professional nature of the operation made me think that this was, all of this was either.
Really good. Really bad. I'm about to experience one extreme of the captivity spectrum here, but I didn't know which one it was. And we came up to a checkpoint, one that seemed to be some kind of significant border. And as we passed through, the officer, the vehicle sitting next to me, quietly, kind of subtly tapped me on the leg.
And I'll never forget, he said. Sam. You're in Lebanon, you're safe now. And this was also Pretty encouraging, but I was still trying to figure out everything that was happening. But we drove from there for about another hour into Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, and I was taken to the office of Lebanese Internal Security, sort of like the equivalent of the FBI here in the US.
And when I walked into the office, My parents were there. Which was this moment that was indescribably emotional. One that many people thought would never happen. And frankly, just a breathtaking display of God answering prayers. Yeah, when I reflect back on that moment.
Sometimes I think That If this story or to ever be adapted for something on screen if it would ever be a film. Nothing in that moment would need to be dramatized for the movie. We could just take the CC TV footage inside of Lebanon's general security office. and just put it on the screen. Then just a few minutes after being reunited.
I was thinking about everything that had happened in the past nine weeks and I kind of innocently said to my parent, I have a story for you. And The day looked at each other and then looked back at me and my mom said, Well, Sam, we have a story for you too. This threw me off a little bit because when I was trapped on the inside, I had no idea about anything that was happening on the outside. Everything that happened on the outside, I learned later, and essentially. They reached the FBI field office in St.
Louis, our hometown, which pretty quickly escalated to some of the highest levels of the U.S. government in Washington. They said, don't let the press get a hold of this because if they do, and Sam's captors feel that type of pressure. they might just kill him. And from there, about three weeks later, My younger sister, Stephanie, who was.
25 years old at the time, living in Nashville. She particularly became entirely overwhelmed with everything that was happening and She decided that she needed to call someone and talk to them about this and just blow off some steam. It was always in the afternoons I felt like I was having the hardest time with things.
Something came over me that. I felt like I really needed to tell somebody something. And the only person that came to mind was Steph. My old college roommate.
So I call Steph and I say, You're never gonna believe this. My brother went missing in Syria. And she says, That is so awful. Is there anything I can do to help? And I said, from what I'm told, unless you know someone who's friends with the Saad, all you can do is pray.
Okay. And her response was, is it okay if my dad calls your dad? And I said, yeah, it is, yeah. As it turns out, you know, his friend, the general. is one of the few people in Lebanon that have.
a relationship with with President Assad. That was probably the first time that I'd heard somebody as confident. I don't think he said we could be successful, but he goes, tag, I can help. It turns out that Roommate Steph is Lebanese, and her uncle is good friends with General Abbas Ibrahim, who heads Lebanon's internal security, essentially the spy chief for the country. And General Ibrahim has a somewhat secret back-channel relationship with the Syrians and was able to mediate my release when so many others were struggling to do anything.
So, this is kind of the situation where the FBI, the CIA, the White House, Middle East NGOs, the Pentagon. The Russians were all struggling to be effective. But my sister's college roommate could identify a path to get an American hostage released from captivity in the Middle East.
Sometimes people ask me if I get my sister a special Christmas gift every year. Which we certainly have a special bond, but just so grateful that things ended the way they did. I was just like. Absolutely elated, like just like running around outside, like crying. Like, I could not believe this, that like a miracle, like, basically had been done unto our family.
Everything happened extremely quickly. We landed in Beirut. And traveled at a high rate of speed to a military office. And we get out of this vehicle and we ride this elevator up, and they open it up, and Sam is right there. And I just hugged him and just, you know, Sam, I just love you so much.
And I go, Are you okay? And he said, Yes. And then I said, Did they hurt you? And he said, No. You know, once we got comfortable that Sam was Okay, so to speak.
He quickly was asking about the St. Louis Blues. Stay on my cop. Hehehehe When my captivity ended, I came home. It was kind of surreal because I.
I opened up YouTube and I typed in 2019 Stanley Cup final, and the first video that came up had been posted six weeks earlier. And when I read the title of the video, I thought, oh my gosh, they won. There must have been a parade, there must have been all of these celebrations, but I had missed all of it. When I'm home in St. Louis or really anywhere, and I see people wearing sweatshirts or see flags or towels or whatever that say St.
Louis Blues 2019 Stanley Cup champions, it's a very humbling reminder of where I was during that time. I don't want to be known for the things that happened to me. I want to be known for the way I've responded to them. I think that when we're at our lowest point, we have the best chance for a huge breakthrough. And people ask me quite a bit, Sam, if you could go back.
Would you still travel the way you did or still go on this trip? And on one hand, I would never want to relive captivity, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody. But on the other hand, and I think more importantly, I would also never want to give up everything that's come from it. The opportunity to meet some remarkable people, to grow in character and in faith. in understanding really um just the stuff in life that actually matters.
There were a lot of people who said that my life was over. But in truth It was just getting going. And a special thanks to Sam Goodwin and his family for sharing this story. The book is Saving Sam. Sam's website is SamGoodwin.com.
And he does speaking engagements, folks. Bring them in. And if you have a church, a family, I'd most certainly bring him in. The story of Sam Goodwin here. on our American stories.
Let's be real. Life happens. Kids spill. Pets shed. And accidents are inevitable.
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Visit washablefas.com today and save. That's washablefas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. We finally switched to T-Mobile because with them we can be connected here and there. Dad, the cousins in Mexico have a surprise for you.
Please stop, stop. And enjoy the gift of staying connected. Switch and start saving today. Get four Samsung Galaxy S25 phones with Galaxy AI on us and four lines for just $25 per line. Plus, non-stop talk texts and data between US and Mexico.
Visit his door, t-mobile.com or call 1-800-T-Mobile, 1-800-T-Mobile. See details at cmobile.com. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World. Okay, moms, it's that time again. Back to school.
And if you're anything like me, you want your kids to look great without spending a fortune. And that's why I've been hitting up JCPenney. They've got the trends your kids actually want to wear, from graphic tees and cool denim to shoes and backpacks, all at prices you'll feel really good about. And yes, I may have grabbed something for myself too. Like the sleeveless chevron crochet MIDI dress, it is so cute, so flattering, and perfect for everything from weekend errands to brunch with friends.
When I told my friends it was from JCPenney, they were floored. It just goes to show how much style and value you can find when you know where to look. JCPenney seriously makes it so easy to check off everything on your list and maybe treat yourself while you're at it. Whether you're shopping in store or online, it's one-stop shopping for the whole family.
So if you've been sleeping on JCPenney, now is the time to wake up. Shop back to school and beyond at jcpenny.com. Yes. JC Penny. There's a time in a plate for a fillet of fish.
But breakfast. It's for sausage biscuits. McDonald's breakfast comes first. Let your imagination take flight with an AI-powered PC from Lenovo. Whether it's creating digital art, designing new software, or building a portfolio for a future career, our PCs are powered by Intel Core Ultra processors to help students unlock smarter learning and unleash their creativity.
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