of today's show, check out my podcast, cnn.com/podcasting. thanks for watching. i'm dr. sanjay gupta. more news on cnn starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good sunday morning, everybody. look at what a lot of folks are waking up to in one particular part of the country. yes, it can be beautiful, but it can be dangerous as well. dangerous to folks out there on the roads but also it can be a disaster for folks trying to fly today as well. we'll tell you exactly what's happening in minneapolis. reynolds wolf is tracking this snowstorm. also, a beautiful, beautiful sight of the capitol building this morning in washington, d.c. more than 90 newly elected members of congress have arrived in washington, d.c. you know they are gung-ho, so excited for their new jobs and to do the work of the people.

before they get to that they need to figure out where the bathrooms are, how to set up their office, who to hire, find a place to live and how to cast a vote. we'll tell you what's going on with the freshman orientation and tell you exactly what they are learning right now. from the cnn center this is your "cnn sunday morning," 8:00 a.m. here in atlanta, georgia. wherever you may be, glad you are here with us. i'm t.j. holmes. give you a look at some of the stories we're keeping a close eye on this morning, the president, he is on his way back after his ten-day trip to asia. he's headed home. he was in india, indonesia, south korea, and japan. he wrapped up with the apec summit in japan working toward free trade there. also aung san suu kyi, she is addressing her supporters. she wants national reconciliation. this is the pro-democracy activist who was just released yesterday after spending 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. also in california, a horrible story to tell you about a, you see the pictures of the scene here. look at this. five people are dead, another

six seriously injured after a car hit a group of 12 motorcycles, this was on a desert highway. what happened here was the car was swerving to avoid another car, and crashed into the motorcycles. now, the vehicle that actually caused the accident, the one that the car that hit the motorcycles swerved to avoid, that car kept going and police are still searching for that vehicle and that driver right now. get back now to some of those pictures i showed you right off the top, severe winter weather hitting the upper midwest right now. parts of minnesota got close to about a foot of snow, as you can imagine, knocked out power to a lot of people, thousands without power we're told. one of our i-reporters thomas christianson showing us the eight inches of snow and ice piled up near mound, minnesota. the flakes were enough to cancel the state's cyclocross championship race in crystal.

clearly they are ironmen and would not let snow, not even a foot of it, reynolds, get in their way. >> it's not only snow but it's also the type of the snow. it is a very wet, heavy snow and really tends to weigh down a lot of the tree branches, the branches break, hit power lines and what happens, t.j.? >> knocks the power out. >> exactly. we have a lot of people tuning in on satellite radio. let me tell you, although you may not be able to see what's happening on radar, things are going to improve as we get to the afternoon hours. until then you can expect some snowflakes. you can see here's minneapolis, but even better view a live image of minneapolis tells the story and the story is a white one. take a look at that. it is a beautiful, serene setting, the first significant snowfall they've had of the season. looks like we'll see more on the way. the reason why, pretty simple. take a look at this map, a good part of the united states with a lot of action towards i-35 and north of minneapolis. that's your center of low pressure, and it's got a long trailing cold front, all that coming together to bring all kinds of activity to parts of

the midwest, activity like this, eden prairie nearly a foot of snowfall, denison, iowa, ten inches. nine inches maple grove and minneapolis and man kato not done just yet. as the system churns to the east it will bring scattered showers to the eastern half of the great lakes, the ohio valley is going to get rainfall, too. expect scattered showers to linger down to galveston, texas. 56 your high in st. louis, 44 in denver, 78 in los angeles. seattle with 54 degrees. new york 60, enjoy the sunshine because the storm system is coming, rain in the forecast for you as you kick off the work week for monday. t.j., back to you. >> reynolds, appreciate you, buddy. we'll talk to you again throughout this hour. imagine a lot of people out there, you wait your whole life, you work and get to retirement. you want to enjoy yourself. that's exactly what a british couple wanted to to. they had a yacht, they went sailing about a year ago, and what happened? they were captured by somali pirates, and they have in the

custody of those pirates for the past year, until today. you're seeing video of paul and rachel chandler, captured by pirates in october of last year. this was a video they sent out of the man there, you see, mr. chandler was pleading for his life and release, pleading with the government, the british government to do anything they can to free them. well the couple was freed earlier today. right now we understand they're on their way to nairobi, kenya. we also have confirmed the pirates originally were asking for about $7 million in ransom, but we have confirmed that about $750,000 was paid to these somali its. our david mckinsey picks up the frightening story. >> reporter: for more than a year in activity paul and rachel chandler feared the worst, knowing that the next day could be their last. their captors had guns and often threatened to use them if ransom wasn't paid. >> and i have no doubt that they will not hesitate to kill us, perhaps within the week or so of

now, if there is no response. >> reporter: the retired english couple were sailing around the world, it was their lifelong dream, turned into an awful nightmare. somali pirates took them captive in a nighttime attack, transferred into a larger boat as the royal navy looked on. the navy said it was too dangerous to intervene, a decision heavily criticized by some. the chandlers were held in remote areas of lawless somalia. interviews conducted by satellite phone, they said they were treated well. but as the days dragged into months, they said they were beaten, separated, and dealt with like animals. >> please, somebody get in touch otherwise we'll just sleepwalk to a tragic ending. >> reporter: the chandlers and their family wanted flep london but successive british governments refused to pay a ransom saying it would only encourage more kidnappings and the weak somali government called the kidnapping a shame on their country but its attention is focussed on battling islamic

insurgents and has no sway over the powerful and rich somali pirates, whose only real motivation is money. now finally free, the chandlers who have gone through so much and felt abandoned for so long will be turning their thoughts towards home, and a reunion with their family. >> i want to bring in david mckenzie joining me from nairobi, kenya, where the couple is expected to arrive shortly. you talked about the reunion with their family. when might that happen? do we know how long it will be before they get to you? >> reporter: well, t.j., i think before you even think of that, it's a reunion with each other. they were held separate for many of those months they were held by somali pirates and that was the hardest thing, married for so long on this dream vacation at the end of their work life in retirement and they said that was the hardest thing for them, t.j., to be separated. they're now together. i can tell you they are on route

in the air flying to nairobi, left mogadishu a half hour ago on a small plane and certainly this is the last leg to truly come into a friendly country and then they'll be heading to the uk, whether they leave right away or in a day or two after medical checks and security checks and so forth, remains to be seen. paul and rachel chandler the retired couple finally after this long ordeal are heading to safety. >> all right, our david mckenzie for news nairobi we appreciate you this morning. coming up on eight minutes past the hour now. i want to share with you an emotional journey, an emotional journey for an 83-year-old vet of world war ii. >> i've seen the monuments and stuff like that. and i think i'm going to leave it alone, leave rest of it, try to block the rest of that stuff out of my mind. >> he is visiting the memorial

to those who served in the great conflict, and we are taking you on his trip of a lifetime. [ female announcer ] imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. so skin can replenish itself. it's true. you never forget your first subaru. it couldn't conquer. the craftsman compact right angle impact driver.

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tribute, 60 years in the making. by the time world war ii memorial opened in 2004 many of the war's aging heroes never dreamed they'd make it to washington to even see it. as a massive effort to change that, called honor flight, and they have one mission to fly as many veterans to d.c. as possible free of charge. we jumped on board for a recent flight. 83-year-old navy veteran waman owens is embarking on one last military campaign of sorts. thanks to a program called honor flight. waman is being flown to see the world war ii memorial in washington, d.c., for free. >> i said, well, that's a chance for me to go see those monuments, and next thing i knew i was accepting. you'll have to excuse me. >> reporter: as you can see this trip is not an easy one for waman to make. >> i get torn up. >> reporter: he didn't see

combat during the war, his mission had its dangers. >> i went to the islands, where we did two atomic bomb tests. >> reporter: after the tests, he was sent to japan, where he witnessed the destruction of the bombs firsthand. >> i've seen enough at hiroshima. it was hell. it was ships blown all to pieces, animals blown all to pieces. everything was torn apart. it was hell. you don't want to see any part of it. you just might think you do, but you don't want to see anything like that. >> reporter: what he saw still haunts him to this day. >> it tears me up to see that stuff. i've seen enough of that stuff. i've seen the monuments and stuff like that, and i think i'm

going to leave it alone, leave the rest of it, try to block the rest of that stuff out of my mind. >> reporter: the memorial is more than he expected. >> beautiful. beautiful. >> reporter: he finds that people still show their appreciation for a man in uniform. >> thank you very much. >> absolutely, thank you, sir, so much for your service. >> reporter: he pauses to remember those who didn't make the trip, the more than 400,000 who died in the war, and the other veterans for whom the memorial was built too late. >> i didn't go into service to be in a memorial. i went there for something else. a memorial is beautiful. it's worthwhile, it's something to be proud of. i wish everybody could see it. >> weyman owens. >> reporter: then a chance encounter. >> i tell what you i've done -- >> reporter: a reunion of two comrades who haven't seen each

other in more than six decades. >> i get my blankets and pillow and crawl up on the eight inch and sleep. >> sleep at night and sometimes get soaking wet. >> yeah. >> reporter: the two men are from different parts of the country but happened to be here at the same time on different honor flights. >> you made my day. >> you've made mine, too. i never did dream that i would run into this fellow again. i didn't know him. i knew where he had been and shaking his hand, i was proud to see him. i was more than proud to see him. >> reporter: weyman couldn't ask for more, but there's still one more surprise for the veterans. ♪ eye hero's homecoming in the airport terminal, total strangers giving them the thanks

they deserve, after honor flight gives them the trip of a lifetime. >> if i went tonight, i'd have a lot to be thankful for. >> and to find out more about honor flight and our world war ii veterans, head over to my blog cnn.com/tj. also in honor of veterans day this morning's news quiz, how many veterans are there in the united states today? is it a, a little over 9 million, is it b, 14.5 million or c, about 22 million? that answer for you after the break. [ male announcer ] welcome to that one time of year

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we're lowering the cost of bright spirits. trade any light string for 3 bucks off a new led set. all right, 16 minutes past the hour now. before the break we had a news quiz, how many vets are there in the united states today? a little over 9 million, is it 14.5 million or is it closer to 22 million the saepsanswer is c9 million vets in the u.s., since the census nearly 5.5 million have a disability and nearly 10 million were working at the time of the study. josh levs, a lot of conversation about debts and deficits had a lot to do with the elections, the midterm some would say >> exactly. >> people wonder how did we get there. >> a lot of freshmen congressmen arriving today, having to deal with this as well. we heard the proposal to cut $4 trillion in spending so we're

trying to figure out how did it get this incredibly bad and who owns it? there are countries owning part of this debt. >> yeah. >> a lot of people don't realize this massive debt, the problem they have to deal with in congress goes back to the founding of our country. documentary also check out called "iousa." >> our war friends created most of our early debt. by march 4th, 1789 our national debt was $75 million, which was about 40% of our economy. this terrified our founding fathers and they acted quickly to pay it down. >> so it has the cartoon, animation that takes you through the history of the debt, 1835, the only time ever that we as a nation ever have had no debt, and since then it's skyrocketing. you have so many times it's gone up, you have the civil war, you have all of our wars, the great depression. come back to me on the screen. what a lot of you want to know what's happened over the past

decade. in 2000 it was at $5.7 trillion, and now it's at $13.7 trillion. so we're talking about this massive jump and analysts point to our tax policies, to the iraq war, to 9/11 and all sorts of things. where there is this big jump in the last couple of years, this fiscal crisis and the government taking steps to do something about it. now, a lot of people want to know who owns. the debt and we hear about this, there's one country that's often mentioned like in this political ad. take a look opinion [ speaking in foreign language ] >> that's from citizens against government waste talking about china and how much of our debt they own. i got it on the screen, china owns $868 billion of our debt. two other countries, japan $837 billion, and the united kingdom owns $448 billion of our debt. it's important to keep in mind

trillions of dollars in the debt are still in this country. the government does this thing where it borrows from itself but that said, t.j., all these concerns that people have about our debt and thousand ultimately gives power to other countries, absolutely critical. i posted a big breakdown for you guys on my facebook and twitter pages there for you, josh levs cnn. help you understand how it got this bad and what needs to be done because clearly we cannot keep going in this direction. t.j.? >> we've been hearing that for a long time. we can't keep going but we seem to keep going down this direction. we'll see what happens with the new congress. josh we appreciate that as always. look at this video now, folks, and we are so pleased to be able to bring this to you. you can't make out what's happening there. one of our most prominent leaders of our best political team on television, doing something you have never seen him do before. wolf. teach me how to duggie.

2 is minutes past the hour, i'm joined by my man reynolds and nad dwra bilchik. i have to ask you since you are south african here, the duggie, are you familiar with the dance? >> i have never heard about it before. i know about toy-toying. >> what is that? >> the african dance and that's rhythm. africans are about rhythm. >> that doesn't make the dougie sound so good. >> clueless. i don't know anything. >> did you know about the duggidug i dougie? >> i'm very familiar. >> can you do it for us? >> i will not because i'll embarrass myself compared to this guy who did it in front of the audience, i'll let you hear

the music and pick out the guy in the middle. ♪ yes, folks, that is our wolf blitzer doing the hottest dance craze called the dougie. wolf was in town last week here in atlanta to attend the soul train music awards where he was the presenter and you brought him back out, wolf has done this over the past couple of years, on occasions he'll dance and he was a really good sport and it turned up the crowd. >> a standing ovation, "dancing with the stars" here we come! >> it was quality, good stuff. >> he danced on "ellen" you all might remember a year or so back. he was a really good sport about it but the dug ougie, i'll get up to speed on the commercial break. >> we have so much to learn. >> every day, so much. you bet. wild turkeys, something else

to learn, taking over new york, you seen this video yet, staten island in a neighborhood where apparently they have spotted 100 plus of these things doing exactly what you see they're doing now, just kind of taking over. not exactly sure where they came from but they are making a mess and i against you guys understand the mess i'm talking about here. as we get close to thanksgiving, what do you all think they should do with these things? >> i like wild turkey mostly in a glass with a few cubes of ice. this is in time for november and thanksgiving but kind of weird. there are people in the country that actually hunt these animals, they're supposed to be highly intelligent creatures, hard to hunt. you have to call them to you, which i'm not going to emulate that unless you do the dougie, but no, it's amazing. weird to see the flock in neighborhoods along long island. >> do you think anyone will end up having one of the wild turkeys for thanksgiving? >> you know somebody is. >> i agree, wild turkey in the

glass is much nicer. >> i had to cut down on my drinking after my physical. >> do the dougie. >> the last one, we don't have the last one. it's all right, we'll skip that one. >> you mean no jellyfish? >> we don't have the video. >> doing the jellyfish, never mind doing the dougie. we can do the jellyfish. >> is that something else in south africa? >> no. >> you saw this one, reynolds, trick play from a middle school, i can't remember how old the kids were, a risky and sneaky play. should plays like this be run in middle school, we was a debate going. look at this thing, the kid walks right through the defense. we're going to break this play down a little bit but also carl azuz is here with comments and extra credit about the trick play that caught online. >> love it. - pie. - apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream?

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yes, it's that time for -- look at this play, folks. could you tell what happened there? this is the middle school play, a trick play went viral on the web, and it's -- you know what? sorry, carl, this is just cool. if you can pull off a trick play, that's original. we haven't seen anything like that before, but if you can, again i'm joined by carl azuz, running it once again. some people are saying this is bad sportsmanship. >> some people are. they had the approval of the refs on this, the whistle never blew, the line stayed put and the center did hand the quarterback the football. this is something as far as the refs were concerned, totally green lighted. you liked it. you thought it was cool. >> love it. >> i talked to a parent who tried to argue with me saying, because i didn't agree either, the parent tried to argue look at the peewee level and middle school level you're supposed to teach students about the rules of football and the spirit of the game, not so much about the

loopholes of it and that comment is supported by one student on our blog at cnnstudentnews.com, listen to what camille is saying. "plays and fakes are part of the game. this wasn't about skills or throwing the ball. this was about how sneaky you could be." >> isn't that a part of the game to get an advantage no matter how old and they see the examples day in, day out. if they watch football on saturday, sunday, they see this stuff anyway. >> sure. >> you know, you have to be smarter than your opponent. that was a case where the other team was not. >> 90% of our audience totally agrees. >> okay. i feel better now. >> cnnstudentnews.com, asked middle and high school students how do you feel about the game and we have a graphic showing it, 90% of them, only 10% say it was a cheap shot. 90% saying this was smart thinking. i remember talking to one student who was telling me, they're lucky, because i've seen plays like this where the

quarterback who is trying to pull the fake gets lit up because the defensive lineman saw this on sports center the night before. they're telling us yes it worked, yes it's okay, but it's risky, and i have one more student comment for you, talking about sort of this could be a learning experience, is there a lesson in all of this? that's what kyle says. "it teaches the opposing team you always got to be prepared and always got to expect the unexpected." so what we're hearing from students is most are saying this is part of the game and as you said, they're seeing this on saturdays, seeing it on sundays. >> some trick of some kind but this one, you know, i would love to see the patriots try to pull that off or something. you don't see anything that tricky. it was just cool. >> listen, it tied the game at 6-6. it was a championship game, ended in a tie at 6-6. that made the difference in the entire thing. >> oh my goodness. all right. carl, i'm disappointed they went through all of that and it was just a tie. >> well, i mean, it would have been a loss otherwise. >> all right. >> certainly they think it's worth it. >> carl, good to see you as

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33 minutes past the hour. a look at some of the stories

making headlines. millions of muslims beginning the annual hajj pilgrimage today, traveling by foot, car, public transportation, conver converging on the city of mecca. arizona appears to have become the 15th state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. several organizations including the arizona central newspaper are reporting, in fact, that proposition 203 has passed now by a narrow margin. this is what they voted on during the midterm elections, on the ballot there but it took awhile, it was so close, they've been counting the balance loss, it appears it's won by 4,000 votes. they become the 15th state to legal hooiz marijuana for medicinal purpose. california the first since 1996. hundreds of bernie madoff former items were auctioned off, you saw that ring, a 10.5 carat diamond engagement ring, about

half a million dollars and steinway grand piano, 42 grand. madoff is serving a 150-year priz sentence for his ponzi scheme that bilked americans out of more than $50 billion. despite criticisms of the trip the white house is calling it a success. white house correspondent dan lothian gives us a rundown of the final days of the president's trip. >> reporter: after traveling to four countries in ten days focusing heavily on trade and the global economic discovery he payed tribute to the buddha statue in kamakura, following a meeting with dmitry medvedev. >> i reiterated my commitment to get the s.t.a.r.t. treaty done during the lame duck session and communicated to congress that it is a top priority. >> reporter: the two leereds

also discussed economic issues and afghanistan. president obama calling russia a good partner. even though the president failed to lock up a south korea free trade deal or find significant agreement on the china currency issue, the white house says the trip has been a success, touting the $10 billion in contracts with india that the president says will create tens of thousands of jobs in the u.s. now the focus shifts back to president obama's domestic agenda, as he sits down with republicans to find a compromise on extending the bush tax cuts. dan lothian, cnn, yokohama, japan. rahm emanuel is running for mayor of chicago. i know what you're thinking, duh, t.j. well he just made it official, though, even though he's essentially been campaigning for the past month or so. the former white house chief of staff announced his intention yesterday with his family standing by his side. he made it official yesterday. he stepped down from his job at the white house last month, again this is the formal announcement but there was

really no doubt, he had been essentially campaigning from the moment he stepped down as white house chief of staff. turn to some weather now, a blast of winter weather, making it to minnesota, and they are digging out, what was it, reynolds, a foot? >> about a foot of snow. the official total i believe in minneapolis, st. paul, about nine inches of snow. around the area you'll have places where you'll have more, and some places less. snow is kind of a funny thing. you ever lived in an area where you had snow? >> not that bad, no. >> i lived in michigan for three years, a beautiful state and the snow is great. it's a lot of fun the first couple of snowfalls. when you get into april and you have snow, ugh. let's go right to this. certainly not april, we're into november and here comes the snow. take a look. we have an area of low pressure that's set up here. look carefully, a little bit of a counterclockwise rotation, upper level low. you see the white, nur enough that is your snowfall. some places stack up big. the winter storm warnings in

effect for portions of say minnesota but back into wisconsin that will be in effect through about 4:00 local time so keep that in mind. you'll have issues with delays, no doubt in minneapolis, st. paul toward chicago, possible delays later in the day and green bay be advised on that, one of the days that may test your patience. the storm system extends over 1,000 miles back to the great lakes, clear down to the bank of the gulf of mexico. we might have a few storms, severe thunderstorms probably not in the picture but might get a rumble of thunder in the blue ridge parkway. pretty dry day in new york, beautiful day, 60 degrees the expected high. 80 in miami. 56 degrees in st. louis and back into denver it's going to be great. anyone taking the drive along 70 a major transformation going from the low lands back up into the front range of the rockies and the central rockies, boom, where you have heavy snow possibly in places like hayden, be advised on that, back "nao salt lake city nice. up in the hills snowbird the

snow will be coming down. 54 degrees in seattle and 78 in los angeles, out by staples arena. in terms of the rest of your forecast, i can tell you, keep in mind on the eastern seaboard the frontal boundary coming through, you might have delays on monday. no delay to our forecast and so much more news and other stories coming up, you're watching "cnn sunday morning." see you in a little bit. oderate or severe plaque psoriasis with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. in a medical study, 7 out of 10 stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin at 12 weeks. and 6 out of 10 patients had their plaque psoriasis rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections, like tuberculosis, require hospitalization. before starting stelara®, your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, or have had cancer. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems.

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42 minutes past the hour now. one on one with the former president of the united states turned best selling author, candy crowley getting in face time with the former president, president george w. bush, been on a media blitz to promote his new book "decision points." catch the entire interview tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern

right here on cnn. apparently with her big interview, candy crowley is too busy to come do her regular segment with me on a sunday morning, but joe, i don't get to do enough tv with you, my man. how are you doing? >> that's true. >> how are you doing, filling in for candy? >> i'm glad i'm filling in for candy. sorry i can't be candy, but those are the breaks, t.j. >> that's all right. again we don't get to do enough tv together. i'll take advantage of this opportunity here and she has this opportunity -- he's been out a whole lot lately. he has been everywhere. is this going to change? >> it's amazing. >> is he trying to change people's perception of him? >> i think he is. regardless of what he's trying to do it's fascinating, those of you who actually got to spend time to him and talk to him when he was president, the real george w. bush is now starting to come out, and all these interviews he's taping, in ways we never saw during his eight years in washington, so you're getting to see a little bit more

of george bush the person, as opposed to george bush the president, who was standing there in front of the media and the briefing room at the white house, or whatever. he seemed very stiff and muted back in those days. now, no more. it's like george bush unplugged, i think is what you would call it. >> you're right, certainly not the case of him being stiff, rigid or anything now. you talk about possibly trying to change the perceptions, is there any indication that maybe it is working right now? i guess what has some of the reaction been to this media blitz? >> well, yeah, i think he was a very polarizing figure, and i have seen just some headlines, if that's any indication, questioning whether george bush's reputation and opinions of him are now getting a second look, but i haven't seen any public opinion polls just yet telling us whether all of that is successful. he says that at the end of the day, history will remember him fondly, and you know, if he did

nothing else, he kept america safe from another terrorist attack after september 11th, so that's what he and some others in his administration sort of hung their hats on. >> we're looking forward to seeing that again, candy crowley interview with the president 8:00 eastern time tonight, see it on cnn. also you have coming up on the show today, are you going to be talking about what they're trying to figure out with the democrats and the minority now coming up next year with the new house. >> right. >> they're trying to get their leadership worked out. >> sure. we also have this lame duck session that's just about to begin here in washington, so there are going to be a lot of people who want to talk about that, looking to senator john cornyn of texas to sit down with us, just a little bit, mark warner of virginia, we want to talk about that definicit commission report that came out last week that caused a stir in washington, the issue of whether the bush tax cuts ought to be reinstituted before they go out of style in january and we're going to talk about the house

leadership races, particularly over on the democratic side, starting to try to work out their problems but there are still some unanswered questions, so we'll talk to heath shuler and jim clyburn about that. pretty full show. >> they had to essentially create a position possibly for one member to stay in the leadership. joe johns talking about that, really good to see you this morning. i rarely get to do tv with you but good to see you. >> you too and the next time you take a camera to the doctor's office, just let me know, because i'll be tuned in. >> all right. we appreciate you. joe, thanks so much. you can see joe coming up at the top of the hour. joe john for "state of the union" starts 9:00 eastern time right here on cnn. make sure you check him out. ♪

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we're about 12 minutes to the top of the hour now. an atlanta-based pastor at a megachurch goes public, he's gay. pastor jim swilly at church in the now came out out to his congregation and the world about two weeks ago. the reaction is mixed but the pastor is at peace with the decision he made. diana davis from affiliate wsb with the report. >> the other thing, and i wouldn't have known what to call it at the time was my sexual orientition. >> reporter: he founded rockdale county's church in the now 25

years ago. a father of four, his wife, debbie, is a associate pastor was by his side. >> i know a lot of straight people think that orientation is a choice. i want to tell you that it certainly is not. >> he told debbie he was gay from the start. >> she said i love you, we'll work this out. >> reporter: the couple kept their secret 21 years. they divorced earlier this year. debbie wanted jim to go public. >> and your whole ministry is about people being who they are, she says we're not real. >> reporter: he told his kids and his congregation. he knew he might risk everything, but told me the recent rash of gay teen suicides pushed him over the edge. >> as a father, i think about you know, thinking about your 16, 17-year-old killing themselves. >> reporter: he says he's received support from many in his congregation but reaction on at least one conservative christian blog has been fierce,

calling him sick, twisted, unclean, an instrument of the devil. >> i know all the hateful stuff that's being written about me online. to think about saving a teenager, yeah, i'll risk my reputation for that. >> reporter: but at 52, he says coming clean has been a relief, after years of trying to hide something he says he couldn't change. will his church survive? >> the name of our church is church in the now, and that name really becomes prophetic for us. we have to take it one day at a time. >> last night pastor swilley appeared live with don lemon. he said one of the hardest parts of his coming out was dealing with the effect it had on his wife. for awhile his wife thought she wasn't attractive. >> i said look, you're a beautiful woman. there's nothing wrong with you. you're a desirable woman, and you know, the part of me that's her husband wants to still feel like you're my wife, you shouldn't be with anybody else. the part of me that is her friend wants her to be happy in a way that she's known for some

time i could not provide that for her. we have a great mutual respect, a great synergy in working together, but there comes a point in your life where you say, how much time do we have left in our lives, are we going to be authentic? >> pastor swilley says the two, he and his wife remain incredibly great friends and church partners. let me turn back to nadia bilchik, always interesting stories you bring to us. construction projects go overbudget and over their time line. 127 years a church has been under construction? >> yes, the sagrada famiglia in barcelo barcelona. the architect died and he's known for his magnificent structures and incredible art. what happened was the church in an attempt to try and honor his original plan, they are building it back inch by inch and each moment of building requires

scrutiny. if you're looking at the picture now some people destroy as you go to the beach and build a sand castle from drippings, that's supposedly what it looks like. antoni gaudi was the master of gothic revival but innovative leader of spanish art nouveaux. i love this description of gaudi sensuous curve, almost surreal design style. >> they just want to make sure they get it exactly the way he wanted? >> want to build it as beautifully. this last week the pope was in spain. >> um-hum. >> he consecrakons consecrated, basilica. >> even before it's complete. >> which was very interesting, because gaudi was somewhat of a maverick. to have the pope's blessing and he praised gaudi for integrating nature, scripture and liturgy in his masterpiece in a way that overcame the distinction between the temporal and the eternal world and he went on to state

this is pope benedict that gaudi did this not with words but with stones, lines, planes and points. those people who have been there say it is a magnificent experience. >> better be after 127 years. i might be stretching it here, when do they expect it to be complete? >> some reports say 2050 and others say 2025. >> are you kidding? we've still got some time. >> we're under construction. we will be watching the masterreese of antonio gaudi. we need to go to barcelona. >> how much does it cost? >> millions and millions and 2 million visitors a year have to pay so hopefully they're bringing in revenue. they need structural designers and engineers to try to keep it congruent to the way that gaudi's vision originally was. >> possibly still another 15 plus years. >> many, many more years. >> all right, we'll continue to keep you updated about the progress. a long overdue construction project. nadia, we appreciate you as always. thank you so much. quick break here, we're right back. [ male announcer ] montgomery and abigail haggins

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♪ a loving day ♪ lovely day, lovely day >> what a lovely day, in washington, d.c. getting close to the top of the hour here now. a lovely day in washington, a lovely day to be there and time to get to work for some freshmen. tomorrow is marking the first day of freshman orientation for the newly elected lawmakers in washington, d.c. they're getting a crash course here on how to navigate their new workplace, seminars on everything from setting up an office, hiring a staff and all importantly learn how to cast an electronic vote more than 90 newly elected lawmajors. the balance of 85 of those are

republicans, just 9 are democrats. they're up there getting the orientation, not really getting to work yet. the new congress takes effect next year, the beginning of next year. right now they're learning the ropes so they'll be ready to hit the ground running and get work done hopefully at the beginning of next year. a look at other stories we're keeping a close eye on this morning. horrible story we have to tell you about a out of california. five people are dead, another six have been seriously hurt. this was after a car plowed into a dozen motorcyclists on a desert highway. the car had swerved to avoid hitting another car. police are looking for the vehicle they say may have caused the collision. the car that ran into the motorcycle was swerving to hit another car, the other car is the one the police are looking for. . obama is wrapping up his ten-day tour of asia, but not before getting a look at japan's great buddha statue in yokoha.