I'm Bert Macklin, I'm with the freaking FBI

9/25/17

this week was too awesome!! every day I'm here I'm definitely learning so much more! things couldn't be more fantastic here in Lamoyne. 

we've been getting slammed with new investigators these past two weeks which has been awesome! but super busy haha its hard to set time to work with everyone. but it couldn't be more awesome! the Muslim lady Miriam i mentioned in my last email has been great! we got invited over to meet her family and that was so cool! they're all from Afghanistan so the languages are all over the place, like three languages at once in the house its super confusing. but Afghan is actually a lot like Arabic so its not too confusing i guess haha. so yeah funny story with them, when we showed up to talk to Khuman they all told us he was "sick in the head" and basically mentally challenged and we were like oh wow we didn't know that, and they made sure to talk up a lot how mentally ill he is compared to the other siblings. so he came into the house later into the visit and apparently to his family, since he kinda did his own thing and chose a different path than everyone else they tell everyone he's mentally ill, he's 100% totally fine hahaha. poor guy. 

we were knocking doors the other day and these kids were out riding their bikes and they kept giving us worried looks and we could tell they were kinda uneasy, just these like 12 and 13 year old kids. eventually one of them spoke up kinda worried and asked who we were and then asked if we were FBI and i realized when we drove up with aviators on and in suits and we stayed in the car for a few minutes to make calls with our garbage phone that basically looks like a radio cause we were using the speaker phone, we totally look like FBI agents. we totally milked that one, i was like yeah why? and the kids were like whoa… and rode away to tell all their buddies. gave mew a little boost of confidence. anyways, just keep in mind my friends, you can be anything you put your mind to. that day i was Bert Macklin, FBI agent. 

oh man we had THE sickest dinner appointment with our good ol friend Mario. Mario got baptized pretty recently and I've learned so much from this man. he's just this man in his late 60's that just loves the gospel with all of his heart. so he invited us to dinner and we got to his little house and i almost cried when i walked in. his whole place is decked out in 70's rock albums, this huge poster of Johnny Winter in concert SIGNED by Johnny Winter, a vinyl record player with speakers and recording equipment everywhere and every album on record that Led Zeppelin has ever released. haha oh my he and i went off for forever talking about songs and all the concerts he's been to. he saw the second ever performance of Stairway to Heaven. hes like a professional bass player and has a bass signed by John Paul Jones oooohhhh my i lost it. and then he pulls out this super sick electric guitar and sets up an amp and was like lets make a recording. and my friends i cried. we played When the Levee Breaks and oh my goodness the most incredible thing. maybe a little but against the rules I'm repenting but ah, the look on his face was totally worth it. i think the spirit was okay with it this time cause he said he's been dying to do that for years. living alone with all this equipment and finally he has a band. ah the most incredible time. I'm pretty sure he's actually someone famous though… i mean, look at the picture of us and tell me he doesn't look like a former bassist for some super sick 70's classic rock band… such an awesome guy. 

thursday was a super awesome experience. so we do our service at the food bank on thursdays and every time we've gone its always been the same crew there and I've become pretty tight with most of them, all except this one guy that kinda chills alone and keeps to himself, super tatted out with skeletons and has a huge long beard braided, long ponytail, earrings and everything. seriously the sickest looking pirate haha i wanted to talk to him so bad but also didn't want to like get beat up if i annoyed him or something. but thursday he came up to me and in english which was a surprise was like you guys J's and i was like no haha Mormons and he was like ah cool man, its good to see some good Christians out here. and then we ended up talking for three hours just he and i and he's totally irish and plays the bagpipes and the old wooden flute thing and you guys know i was dying at this, seriously too sick. but he told me all about his struggles with his health and his wife and family and he long story short, i taught him the restoration, plan of salvation, word of wisdom, about eternal families and some other bits and pieces and I've never seen someone just devour these concepts so much. he kept warning to know more and more and i gave him a Book of Mormon and promised him that if he read it, he would come closer to Christ and he would gain blessings to his family and he would receive help with his family situation, which was like a big promise like how could anyone promise that, it was totally of the spirit though and it was such an amazing experience. he texted us that night and wrote like four super long texts about how much better he's felt since being able to talk to someone finally and he used the word "inspired" so many times and man what a cool experience. its interesting to see how this tatted out pirate guy could look so scary, but have the kindest and most broken heart I've ever come across. he texted that night also about how interesting the book is and he's sharing it with his family and extended family. what a miracle my friends. he truly seeks to find Christ and i have enormous amounts of faith that he will. i truly saw what it means to come to Christ with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. this man needs Him and is willing to do whatever he can to find Him. what an amazing man we can all learn from. just maybe don't get spooky tattoos. 

we played baseball with all the guys in the ward and their friends and dang it it is NOT cool to invite your friends that are like professional baseball players. showing up in the striped pants tucked into the socks with GLOVES and garbage like that come on. seriously not cool. these guys destroyed. but i showed up in my shorts and wore my american dollar socks and aviators and apparently thats "very American" or something like that. i can honestly say though, we represented america pretty well. haha we pulled up in our car blasting Amazing Grace on the bagpipes so yeah, i was proud to be an American on saturday. we were all so sore at church though, who knew you could get sore from baseball… 

oh man so we met this Vietnamese guy, super proud to be so at that, and right off the bat he was like are either of you from Arizona? and i was like yeah what the, and he asked you know who John McCain is?? and i was like yeeahhh, you don't really have to be from AZ to know who John McCain is… and he got so excited and was like yeah oh my he was in our camp! and at first i was like oh cute they went on a little campout together or whatever okay but then like equations started forming in my head and our buddy John was a prisoner of war… this Vietnamese guy fought for Vietnam in the war… and worked at the POW camps… dang this guy totally had John McCain prisoner in his camp. haha this guy, so excited. i didn't really know how to react so i kinda basically just said "good job!" and choked on my food. 

haha so now Elder Johnson has a reputation here for being scared of spicy foods. all the members are so sweet so they do their best to like accommodate to his needs hahaha and he can't convince them it was me joking about it so they all think he's this little sensitive baby. bummer man. 

but yeah, super awesome week!! each one gets better and better! and the work just gets harder and harder!! seriously couldn't be better than that!! i love it here so much!!! i love you all so much!! thank you so much for your emails and everything! they mean so much!! your prayers truly make miracles and I'm so grateful for all of you! this gospel is so amazing and the blessings it brings change lives and I've been so blessed to be able to see that so much here! even in my own life these past few months!! such an amazing blessing to have what we have. love you guys so much!!! the church is true!!! 

here are some pictures, Mario is seriously a legendary man. and some pretty 

grass we found to take hot pictures in. and i got a jacket!! haha the store people were making fun of me hardcore as i was trying on these huuuuge jackets asking if these are actually necessary. apparently they are. and anything less, you WILL die apparently hahaha. I'm so stoked for winter. love you guys!!!  

We’ve had a fun week!  Ive thought of you all week.  and im seriously dying at your letter.  what a whole bunch of amazing experiences!!!  So charter, weston and srchie all had farewells yesterday.  Saturday we had waffles with the ym (all 3 that showed) and the boys families and my girls. so it was actually a decent sized group.  the spiritual part after was so good.  then they both said they hadnt written their talks and i told them kennadie is good at helping with that.  So charter stayed for another hour or so and he ken and i chatted about his topic and how to work stories into the talk, and he made a flow chart and all.  then saturday night we find this package on our doorstep with a basket of amaxzing stuff-like if someone went overboard asking to prom kind of thing.  A glowing sign that says we heart the hallidays .  we went through the surveillamnce video and i swear it looks like it was you!!!  But with a total Charter walk.  then as he passes the camera that faces the front he does A Hang loose sign at it.  we were dying.  it was over $100 of godies.  He is such a great kid.Weston went first and I’ll tell you, I was worried!  Weston is so witty and funny, I would not want to follow him.  But he went first, and it was great.  Then Charter gets up, and he’d told kennadie if nobody laughs at his opening joke then the next line doesnt make sense.  so during the sacrament you could hear people around us whisper “laugh loud at charters opening joke.  pass it on.” kennadie is a good friend.  but his talk, it was SO GOOD.  I’ll write you a seperate note with everything I can remember from it because it was just so good.  I cried like a big fat baby.

     one of the videos is of us playing yatzee and doing a scene from the visit.  Um, ok kennadie got a freaking 32 on her ACT!!!!  She could have half her tuition paid at BYU provo, or full at Idaho!!!!!  She is going to keep tring for a 34 or 35 to get a full tuition scholarship but this is so great!!!!  She is sailing through her senior year.  Perfect grades and so much free time-it reminds me of when you dropped those awful AP classes and you were like-seriously??? this is too easy!!!

     ok this was funny, kenadie came in our room with the computer and was like, omygosh read this.  It was a paper for reeses class, and it was a story that made no sense.  sentences were like half sentences, (like a noun, some adjectives to describe it and a period.) at first we were all laughing then we were horrified.  Like it was clear she has a learning disablility and we are just noticing?  We are awful parents.  So dad and I start talking about it.  We will help her get through high school, then help her get in to college where she can go to meet people because she certainly wont be passing any classes.  Then she can come back home and go into beauty school or something like that.  College isnt for everyone, but we neeed to talk to her now so she is prepared for a future of bad grades and IEP assignments and comes out of it with her self esteem in tact.  So i go to talk to her and she is like, what is it? am i in troub;le?  Im like, no lets just go over this togetrher and correct some stuff.  tell me what you think needs improvement.  so I pull up the paper and I’m like, does anything here seem like it needs some work?  and she is like, I dont know, I didnt write it.  the hogle kid did, its a group assignment.  Heres the paper I wrote, and she shows me this beautiful paper with a beautifully written story.  We were all laughing so hard, how we’d just planned her future of beauty school and failing college but hopefully making friends there.  She is doing great in school.  phew!

        Shannons parent were at the farewells and had lots of nice things to say.  Lots of stories and info from your letters, and one about the sacrament prayer.  They were like proud parents talking about their missionary.  I honestly didnt recognize them so I was just a bit confused until dad asked how shannon was.  haha  I also say your old crew and theyre all doing great.

        You were talked about in both charter and westons talks.  It was so sweet and awesome.  Weston quoted your letter about how great rejection is, and charter talked about the ward splitting and the fresh start and his friendship with you, and his ward family, it was all a miracle how things came together for him to change his life.  I have complete faith that it absolutly was a miracle, and all for charter because he needs to be on the path he is on.

        Sorry for all the spelling errors but im typing so fast and I still have dead spots in my finger from the avacado accident.

I’ll send a couple more pics from my phone- your pictures are amazing!!!!  And your stories just wow!!!!!!!  I love you!!!! love-mom

an what an eventful week!!! im so happy to hear all of it! we woke up and shopped and then stopped by the mall to write a big email out in case we didnt have time afterwards cause we were gonna do service and then go to the island! oh my mom the island is SO cool to explore!!! we went all over the place! the big city visiting the huge cathedrals and everything and then this other island with a GIANT biosphere with a museum inside! it was too cool. i cant wait for you guys to visit and see it all. such a fun time, ill send pictures later. but im so glad those boys did so good on their talks! thats sweet of them to mention me haha. theyre gonna be amazing missionaries. OH MY im not even surprised, kennadie is a rock star. 33 thats insane!!! shes so set. hahahahahahahaha i died over the story with reese!! thats too funny!! you guys did a good job raising some awesome girls. haha Shannons parents yeah? thats so sweet of them, theyre super nice people. yeah the sacrament prayer was interesting, they thought they heard me and that was the one week i gave it in french so that was a fun little coincidence. haha dont worry about the spelling errors, im so glad to hear from you!! ah how is your finger and everything?? i forgot youre all broken everywhere!! please keep up the pictures and everything!! hahaha and the yatzee video killed me hahahahah love you so much!!! 

haha really?! that makes me so happy!! it was such an awesome experience. every experience here is an awesome experience!! and guess what!!!! i cant believe i forgot to mention this, but we might like destroy the record for baptisms here in Lamoyne!! like the work isnt about baptsims i know, but ah! how fun is that!! president pulled Elder Johnson and i aside at zone conference and was like hey guys, i just want you to know, this companionship, and he got a little emotional, just pleases me so much. ah!! what a boost of confidence!! haha sorry, i dont like mentioning anything that could make me seem all "yeah im the best euh so strong missionary euh yeh baby woo" but i just wanted to let you know the work is surpassing some expectations here and miracles are happening left and right!! your prayers help so much!!! 

Hey, Kid!!

Glad I got to write a quick something!

Your letter was great. I’m sure playing music with someone to build relationships is an OK thing. I would stay away from the Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson sort of stuff. 

I’m flying to Kentucky today to serve a search warrant on a Gilbert case but wanted to say a quick hey and to remind ou how much I love you!!

It was so great and emotional to listen to Archie Weston and Charter talk yesterday. You would have loved their talks. They all did a great job and Weston and Charter mentioned you as I’m sure Mom already told you. They came into priest quorum yesterday and shared how much the quorum helped them. I’m hopi it helps some of the younger guys realize how they need to be involved in the quorum and how they can be blessed through the friendship. 

They all miss you and ask about you all the time. 

Anyway love you tons. Have a great week!!

Dad

I know that's how you are, but baptisms are great because it means you're acting on your promptings and being instruments in the lords hands!  Some people have expressed concern about all the manual labor you guys are doing, that you're getting taken advantage of or whatever, and what I should say to you about it, and I'm like, that kid knows what he is doing. I 100% trust him. If he is being taken advantage of he doesn't mind, or he feels it's still the right thing to do, and if it's not the lords will he will put an end to it.  I don't question anything you're doing out there because I know you are being guided every step!  So this is funny-remember how bad my bladder condition was right before you left?  And you gave me a blessing the night before you left?  It hasn't hurt since. It's like 100% normal, no pain or discomfort or spasms, it's the craziest thing. It was a daily battle that I knew I would have to live with for the rest of my life, and I'm just like, all better. Gone. Totally fine. I feel so blessed to have you out there. I miss your guts like crazy, don't get me wrong. Weston was talking (in his farewell talk) about his late night talks with his mom, and it reminded me of when you would come in to check in and stay forever and chat. And dad would eventually say something like "I remember when it was just us two in our bed..." but I loved those chats!!! Remember when you came in pacing and talking about how you couldn't kiss piper because of Chad, but that you WANTED to kiss piper and I was just cracking up at you!  Lol. I'm so super grateful for all the time you gave us. It also occurred to me just this week how my role has changed-when you come home you will be 20 and I'll be less of a parent role and more of a room/board/moral support role. That's so funny!  Good thing you're so smart, and I don't need to worry about you. I sure love you. We all do. Thank you again for these letters.Thanks again for all the awesome stories. Everyone's comments are like "this is exactly what I needed to hear today. Answer to a prayer." And along those lines. And that you are building testimonies even on instagram back here at home! Love you more!!! The girls adore you. Dad loves you so much. Xoxo mom 

yeah its true! just trying not to be prideful haha, its all the Lord's work, he's pretty awesome. its cool to know he trusts me enough!! but yeah haha no not at all i would never let ourselves be taken advantage of. we only have so much time in a day,i wouldn't waste it ever. its always helpful to strengthen my relationship with the members and everyone. cause they trust you more! the skills I've learned back home have helped me so much out here its so awesome!! i owe a lot to all the guys that taught me so much, especially dad. hahahaha yeah i  really miss those chats too. those were good times. hahaha i totally remember that, wanting to kiss Piper. think she'll be married before i get back? probably… thats a bummer. haha I'm so glad everyone likes my letters!! that really means so much! hahahaha wait no way! chad said that?!? hahaha thats so sweet! and kinda sad… i love that family. i miss them a lot too. chad and ashley i miss them and love them for me haha. and the whole family. they're awesome.