code: protected function getCountries()
      {
          //Get the countries from the JSON file
          if (sizeof($this->countries) == 0) {
              $this->countries = json_decode(file_get_contents(__DIR__ . '/Models/countries.json'), true);
          }
          
          //Return the countries
          return $this->countries;
      }
docs: Get the countries from the JSON file, if it hasn't already been loaded.
  
  @return array