Christmas Week--Such a GREAT week in the mission field!

Christmas Eve--LAMB, sooo good!

 

Dearest family!

Wow what an awesome week, it was so so nice since we talked last! Oh Christmas was so so good, talking to you guys was the best christmas present ever! J Wish I had all day to talk to you guys. 1 hour was definitely not enough but hey got to be obedient and devote my time to the Lord right now. Im just so grateful I got to see your faces and talk to you for a bit. Surprisingly it worked real good, besides the quietness on your side. Oh and I wish I could have found more about whats new with you guys! I didnt hardly ask you guys any questions I was just so overhwhelmed with excitement that I was actually talking to you guys. I got the crying genes from ya momma, thanks a lot! Haha its all good though they were mostly cries of joy! J So good to see Grandma and Anna too, love you guys thanks for everything. Since then the work of the Lord has been progressing. We had 3 investigators come to church this week, which was super exciting! And most all of them have super high chances of getting baptized. We just need to keep visiting them and commit them to a baptism date. One of them is named Fabiana, she is probably in her early 40´s. She is so awesome, she is faithfully coming to church just about every week. She is golden because she knows the truth of this góspel and wants to get baptized. However she needs to get married to her husband first. Every week we ask if she has a date for the wedding yet. She hasnt set a date yet but we are hoping at the end of next month. I´ll keep you updated on the status of her! Francis and Sambra are still coming to church and loving it! Always excited every week.

                Personally this week a Little rough for me. Its been one of those rollercoaster weeks I struggled a Little bit with the language. Its so hard to patient with it, I just want it to come instantly but this week of course I was reminded that isnt the will of the Lord. I realized that this week being patient with the language involves being patient with the Lord. One scripture I loved Reading this week came from a talk given by Elder Funk  He is from the Seventy, its a talk from last conference and he spoke about missonaries. I know that when I found this talk, it was the Lord´s response to my question. I know the Lord is always there and he wants me to be the missionary I can be. I hope this makes sense. But the scripture is in D&C 112:21,22. Amazing scriptures it was just what I needed this week. I am a called missionary of God through a prophet and I know the Lord will open the doors for me or in my case open my mouth to teach his góspel in Uruguay. He gave his promise in 21, and what I need to do to obtain this promise is in 22. I need to be humble, abide by his Word (obedience), and hearken to voice of his Spirit. This scripture is so true I have already seen that happen in my misión I think I just needed a reminder. I honestly believe the Lord can do that for me if I do the things he asks. I love that Little message you have at the end of your emails Dad. I know the Lord and you guys just want me do the best I can. I know the Lord will work miracles this week if I keep doing these things. Thank you for all the support you guys give me. As I always say it keeps me going throughout the week! J

                By the way thanks mom for the quote you sent in your last email. I love your quotes, I hung this one up in my room. I´ve been trying to give these type of gifts this week and it definitely has changed my perspective of people and of my misión in general. So thanks again Mom, love you always! J Ahhhh crossing fingers I get the package tomorrow, I am so excited! Oh also Dad I hear have been talking to this kid called Maxi. He Works with us during the day sometime. He is awesome for taking time out to work with us. I Heard you used google translate, well of course you did!  TOMMY GRAHAM AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I freaked out when I saw his emaiI. I was totally joking about Africa but hey thats where he is called to go! So so so amazing I honestly cant believe it. With all this waiting and to go to Africa what the insane! So proud my Tommy Graham!  love that kid cant wait for him! Good eats you ask mom? Good eats with Kevin Brown? Jk stupid how did I remember that. Umm just the Uruguayo barbeque!! SOOO GOOD! Ummm I want to try those things that the Garcias made. They sound amazing, making my mouth wáter right now. Im so excited Thornton got married.  Honestly time has flown by I cant believe Aaron is already heading out too!! Ahhh exciting week, I cant wait for him too! We are going to be in the same continent soon! Booyah! What a stud he is. GOOO WISCONSIN BBALL. Ballers!! Who is playing for them. They have got to be number 1 by now! AND MY BOYS PULLED IT OUT!!!!! Sooooo sick against the bears too even better. Good ol Cobby and ARodge, nothing like em. And of course Jordy but im super glad they are both back in and hopefully fully healed. Well I think that is just about it. Love you guys so much , have an amazing week and FELIZ ANO!! (HAPPY NEW YEAR!!)  J

Week of Feliz Navidad Photos

Zone at the Christmas Conference in Montevideo 2013

Elder Ivie and Elder Castro tracting in Durazno

My week was pretty good. Elder Castro has really been helping with the language and missionary life. He helped me realize that I sometimes put a ¨wall¨up between me and the people that I talk to. Mainly because I feel inadequate with the language. Sometimes I feel scared to mess up so I just stay quiet and push the language to the side. Obviously I realized this week that it isn't my lack of knowledge of Spanish its myself being too shy to speak up. I  grateful for my companion. I'm grateful that he reminded that I can do it. He knows I can speak Spanish. Definitely not perfect but I know if the Lord wants me to say something he will help me say through the Spirit. I cant count how many scriptures that say with God anything is possible or something along those lines. This my goal this week, to trust in God and speak up! Ha yeah what else…my scripture this week is in Lucas or Luke in English. Its Luke 1Ñ79  I believe, its talking about John the Baptist and Zacharias is fortelling his missión on earth. I love this verse because its as a missionary this should be my objective, my purpose to bring people out of darkness, bring people out of their challenges into light and peace which is the Gospel of Christ. And boy was John the Baptist the perfect example of a missionary. He devoted his time and love to the Lord so he could bring souls unto Christ.

                 This week with the investigators was pretty good, we placed 2 baptism dates for the 4th of January and what's even better is we had a lesson with both of them this week too. We invited them to come to church and the both committed to coming but unfortunately no show. A little disappointing but hopefully this week we can reassure them the importance of coming to church. Something that has definitely been an eye opener on my misión is that people really struggle to stay active and to come to church every week. Dad I really appreciated what you said in your email. That scripture is so true, I believe I shared that in my talk. People really don't know where to find it. A  HUGE part of missionary week is keeping converts active. Its definitely no different here in Uruguay. This is definitely where the members come in to help. I know that if converts find member friends they will feel more welcome in the ward and more willing to come to church. A goal we have every week to involve the members more, I am so grateful for them and I know they are working miracles. Like you said Dad the local members really do know who is kept from the truth.

                Oh yeah this week was change day too, I already told you guys me and Elder Castro are sticking around here in Durazno, but all the missionaries in the misión met in Montevideo for a Christmas Conference. Super good I love Christmas time so so much! The missionary choir was amazing, and there were some super dece musical numbers that blew my mind. Presidente and Hermana Newsome spoke about Christmas and our focus on the Savior especially now. Presidente said something awesome that I loved, it was something along the lines of ÿour misión is one of the greatest opportunities you have to remember and learn of Christ.¨Super good conference, oh and the food! Cake, Soda, Ravioli buffet oh the godos! That's basically it said bye to my friends and the some of the missionaries going home because they finished their missions. Studs I look up to them so much! Yeah that was pretty much my week!

 

Love, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

December 2013 Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elder Martin, Elder Castro, Elder Ivie, & Elder Ence

 

Christmas in Durazno

Getting the Oven Hot

 

Carne Asada and Churizo--2 1/2 hrs to cook but sooo worth it!!

 

 

 

 

That's what's for dinner...BEEF!

 

 

 

Patiently waiting for birthday dinner....

 

 

 

 

BIRTHDAY week (11th email)

Hoooooola

 

I am elder castro and im training your son, he is a great missionary and he helps me to be a better missionary  and i am grateful to be his companion.

 

Love ELDER MAX CASTRO (COLOMBIA)

 

                Haha hooola familia! Elder Castro insisted on writing something to you guys! His english isnt bad eh!?!? Its getting a lot better, I had to help him a bit but he is doing awesome. First I would like to apologize I forgot to tell you guys pday wasnt on Monday this week. Its obviously today because this week is changes week! Woot woot!! And the verdict is…….nothing haha of course I wasnt expecting anything. Me and Elder Castro are staying here in Durazno. I thought he was going to be moved because he has been here for 2 changes already. But Elder Castro is now District Leader for our district so that should be a blast for him. Anyways my week was pretty full as usual. My bday was good, definitely quite the different experience with no friends and family here. We just stayed busy working, a member family sung Happy Birthday to me which was pretty cool but the best part was Sunday. Since we had more time Sunday night after working we cooked the godos!!!!! Dont worry we bought everything the night before. We cooked up carne asado, churizo and boy was it amazing. Quite the long process but 2 and half hours to cook up, so worth it though. Soooo juicy and seasoned perfectly, it was a fiesta!! We also cooked up this weird thing called chinchuline, its basically fat wrapped in intestines. It was so weird, it wasnt good or bad. It had no flavor but it was super chewie. Pretty interesting and to top off the night we had dulce de leche ice cream! Awesome night dont ya think_ But hey momma your cooking is still number one on my list
(also thanks for the extra money mom and dad). We had a Multi’Zone conference this week with Presidente Newsome and all the assistants. It was pretty awesome I love it when Presidente speaks because his Spanish is kind of slow, and super easy to understand. However so powerful at the same time, he is an awesome Presidente. I saw a couple of my friends from my CCM group too which is always awesome. Presidente challenged all of us to hablar con todos )talk to all= and so thats what we did. That meeting got me and Elder Castro so pumped to keep going and find those children of God prepared for us. We have been talking to all this week and we placed 6 baptism dates!! Booyah! Good times here in Durazno but it was rough too because all the lessons we had planned with them fell through and they didnt attend church this week too. But we are keeping high spirits and praying we can teach some of them this week, hopefully all! I feel like if we can teach them or show them the wonderful spirit of the church. The Holy Ghost will really tesify the truth of this wonderful góspel. Thats just about it with the investigators. As I have said before a huge part of missionary work is keeping converts active and excited to come closer to Christ. Regarding Francis, he is doing so so good now. He had that Little rough spot but now he really has made a change and has come to church 2 times in a row and also gave up smoking!! It is amazing to see someone make a change like that. Which can only happen through the Spirit of the Lord. Now he is super happy, and loves it when we visit and check up on him! Oh yeah also with that, Francis´s sister Sambra is a convert too but less active. However this week there is a new spark in her! She lives in the same house as Francis and she allowed us to talk with her, and I think Francis has been helping out too. I know the Spirit of the Lord touched her heart too and the result she came to church this week! And more importantly she loved it! So things have been really really good this week and I hope there is a lot more to come. Language is the same as usual, I am learning more everday but its definitely a line upon line precept upon precept principle. Other than that, this was my week. This upcoming week changes day is tomorrow (Wednesday) and so ALL the missionaries will be going to Montevideo again to switch and we also have a special Christmas Devotional thing which im pretty excited for!

                This week I dont really have a crazy awesome spiritual thought but I enjoyed studying and Reading President Monsons talk last conference Ï Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee¨. I remember listening to this talk the first time and it really hit me! Super comforting to know the Lord and His Atonement is always there through times of good and bad! That is one amazing promise in Joshua 1:5.

                Dad thanks for the email, its so awesome to hear Andrew, well probably Elder Peterson now leaving out on the best experience of his life!! Ahhh incredibly excited for him! What is his misión again? I feel bad I cant remember, its stateside right? Regarding President Peterson he is one amazing guy and a great example of faith and perserverance! I hope the best for him, I keep him in my prayers every night. Thanks for the amazing thought too Dad. What a great reminder that we need God, we need to love him. And why wouldnt we? He always loves us, no matter what we do. He is has given us so many blessings in life so the least we can do is be grateful of them and love him back. J

   Do you guys have a english mini hymn book that I could give to Elder Castro he really wants one! Haha let me know thanks again! You guys went to Texas Roadhouse on my birthday!!!! ohh my, too sick!! That was the place we went out to eat before I left!! Soooo good. Did Lindsay come? And the Yoakums came too?!?! Oh my goodness fiesta to the max, I hope it was so fun! I love talking to Carson he really is the studliness missionary. Well at least right now! Dad is the studliness missionary of all time! Haha good sport week MY BOYSSSS!!! Holy nerve racking game, I was like biting my nails reading that! I cant believe they pulled it out! Clutch interception from Shields and dude Flynn is a stud. We never should have got rid of him. Keep him forever! He doesnt play anywhere else. Crossing fingers Rodgers comes back this week. All I want for Christmas is for Rodgers to come back! Haha jk all I want is to talk to you guys. Anyways Gordon what a stud keep it up. He is the only one keeping the Jazz alive. Surprisingly the Uruguayos know the Jazz and some of them like em! I dont know how but they did, its soo weird. Thanks Grandma for the support as always! I love you so so much and cant wait to talk to you on Christmas woot woot! :)

Alright thats all I got. Thanks so much for being the best family in the world. I look forward to this time everyweek to see whats new! Love you guys more than I can say. Have an amazing week and all I can say is I will be talking to you guys 2 times this week! BOOYAH!! ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD! 

Love, ELDER TYLER SCOTT IVIE

'Move week', New Missionary Reunion & Birthday week---'Woof Week' (10th email)

                To the most amazing family in the whole wide world!

                First off I FINALLY GOT THE PACKAGES THIS WEEK!!!!! BOOYAH!! Made my week when I saw those bad boys in my hands! And boy did they not disappoint. Haha momma im diggin the sweaters, although definitely wont be usin them here soon but hey if you got them for great price then go right ahead! Cant wait to use em! Ohhh mambas…american candy! Its gold here, im trying to not eat all at once. They are so addicting especially when I cant get them down here. Letters were amazing también, almost made me cry. Thanks Alexis for the amazing drawings, its good to see you havent given up your amazing talent of creativity! Send me a wizard geeb J hahaha love you so so much! Oh yeah and shout out to my bff Tommy Graham, thanks for the jelly straws!!! Hahaha good times, so weird but so dang good! Also the tooo sick drawings, guessed them all without cheatin!

                Ok now to my insane week as usual but extra crazy this week! Not a normal week, this week as I think you guys knew was move week. Yeah so Wednesday was the big day. What a mega insane day, I dont think I have ever moved out of a house that I lived in. Oh yeah and on top of that 15 years worth of missonary stuff left there también! Meaning like books coming out of our ears! Some of it was good stuff to keep however. A man came that day to help us, his name is Elder Pugmire. Kind of an older man that is serving a couple misión in the misión home. He helps with all the moves and basically is the fixer upper dude. He is awesome and what a trooper he is. It basically took all day to move us to the other house but he stuck with us. We were running everwhere trying to get everything packed up. So with many trips back and forth taking our luggage, furniture, and basically everything we finished! Oh yeah we had one big let up. It was a ginormous dresser me and Elder Castro use. Goodnight this thing was HUGE!! It took is almost 2 hours to get it down 3 flights of stairs! But hey we got it, with a couple of sore bodies and broken backs we did it! The new house is great! Lots of more space, clean, no cockroaches, and no fungus!! Woot woot! Then the day after, Thursday we head to Montevideo for the new missionary reunión thing! So that took up most of the day, we stayed the night in the hotel that I stayed in the first night in Uruguay a month ago!! Wow family a month ago! Crazy! Im almost to my first change. Anyways super nice hotel that the church runs. Then the next morning, everyone finally arrived and we had an awesome breakfast. It was so awesome to see all my friends from the CCM again. Then we had some meetings with the President and other missionaries. Awesome meetings, I learned so much and it got me pumped up to be better! And to improve on all the things Ive learned in the field. It took up most of the day, we finished at 3. We had a little time to go to the distribution center, which was super awesome. Got a mini spanish hymn book, and General Conference addresses in the Ensign!! GOLD! Now you know what ive been studying lately!

                Now that leads into my spiritual thought this week! Ive recently acquired this obsession of listening and reading talks. I wish I would have taken advantage of the words of the prophets more back at home. But thats besides the point, I stumbled across Elder Scotts talk last conference. I guess it wasnt a stumble, It was a prompting from the Spirit to read his talk I know it. It was what I need exactly. I invite you guys to go study that talk again. Its amazing, sometimes I forget how powerful the Atonement really is in our lives. I guess sometimes I take it for granted. I couldnt imagine my life without the love and power of the Atonement. Through my mistakes and faults in my life the power of the Atonement has healed them. I love the part where Elder Scott talks about when Captain Moroni built a breastwork of timbers to fortify the weak cities. Our sins bring not only short term but long term consequences sometimes. And its those fortifications in our life that prevent us from yielding to the temptations of Satan. As Elder Scott says those fortifications are built through, losing yourself in the service of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. What an amazing promise and thought that through faith and hope of the Atonement and Jesus Christ we can be clean from every wrongdoing. It is my testimony that my Savior Jesus Christ loves me and wants me to understand him more. And I know through the His Atonement I can accomplish that and become more like him.

                Thats what I got for this week pretty crazy week but goodie as usual. Love serving the Lord everyday and having the amazing opportunity to act in his place. My confidence is getting better, the Espanol is coming along. This week there shouldnt be too many distractions so Im just going to go ham on the language! Im ready for the challenge. Oh yeah our investigators of course! Ha busy week so we didnt get to visit a lot of them but we got to visit Francis. And he is doing so much better, hasnt smoked every since we had that awesome lesson! Most importanly he came to church!! He is so happy and doing so great! Umm that was basically all that was exciting, we just have been strengthening the menos activos (less activos) and really striving them to come back to church. This last week it went ok but not much time so this week we got a good goal set to bring em back! I will let you know how that goes this next week. Oh yeah Dad thanks for email this week. Its really those experiences that cause us to reflect how we got our testimony of the Book of Mormon and the góspel of Jesus Christ in general. Im so grateful for your example in following the truth and living the truth all throughout your life. I have been eternally blessed, especially now on my misson. Thanks so much dad loved the scriptures and testimony you shared. Love you so much! Your emails keep me going every week.

                Response to the your amazing email momma! Its going great here! Things are getting easier and im getting more adjusted to the missionary lifestyle. I cant believe you guys got snow!!!!!!! Actually I can believe it because its Utah but its just weird because its soooo hot here. You shouldnt be jealous mom! Holy Hannah its so humid all the time and I constanty feel sweaty and the mcnasty! But hey sort of getting used to it. But still not really diggin the humidity. Its good to hear Alexis´s concert went good. The students were probably going crazy because they did so good! I sure would. Who cares about the game go for the chimes! Woot woot! Haha Lone Peak will never be as good as they were. Unless Nick TJ ERIC TALON and such have kids in Highland and they play for Lone Peak haha! But hey best team in the state nice! J As of Saturday psh Ive got plans. Plans for the Lords work of course! Hahaha maybe we will get something. Idk not much time to go out for dinner but maybe ill buy a cake or some dulce! Hahaha not really sure but I love how you guys are keeping the tradition!!!!! And with the Franklins too!! Oh my goodness that just makes my soul full of joy! Ha cheesy but really sooo cool! Thanks so much where are you guys goin? I got lots of favorites! MICKEY DS!!! Hahaha jk. As for sports not too bad of a week. MY BOYS pulled it out! ¡¡Es muy importante!! Haha hope Aaron comes back next week. But its good to hear they have Flynn back and he is carrying them. Go Wisconsin FB too sick!! Dang good this year cant wait to see the result.
Who is BYU FB playin again?! And Wisconsin bball wow. Thats all I have to say! They are money this year. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shed a tear L That is such a tragedy. They deserved it. Oh bummer I still love em and they still could beat Uruguay! Thanks for everything  Momma and FAM! You guys are the best . Dont party too much this week without me! Haha peace love and blessing yall CHAO LOVE YOU!!

Love ELDER TYLER SCOTT IVIE

FELIZ DICIEMBRE!!! (9th email)

 To the greatest family ever,

                Como andan?!? Feliz NAVIDAD!! Well almost but FELIZ DECIEMBRE! What a rollercoaster of a week! Tuesday was a pretty darn good day. It started off great we had a District meeting and for some reason I could understand all of it. It made me so stinkin happy that I could see myself progressing in the language! Then we visited a new investigator of ours, Carlos. He is an old man that lives alone. He was married but his wife passed away, cant remember when though. He is quite the stubborn one. Some of this first visits we just had to listen to him talk and really reach out to him. Now he trust sus, and loves it when we come over! Its still a Little hard to teach him but he is progressing because he wants to listen to us. We´ve been trying to teach him the Plan of Salvation so hopefully he will find its true this week. That would be huge step for him, the knowledge that he can see his wife again. We tried to inviting him to church this week but he turned it down. We will work with him this week ñ=

Also Francis he´s unfortunately smoking again so, its been sort of hard to have patience with him this week. But on Tuesday we told him he really, really needed to stop smoking for his health and to be obedient to the Lord. The Spirit was definitely there, then all of sudden he took his pack of cigarettes he crushed them up and gave them to us. SO AWESOME!! NO MAS! I know the Spirit prompted him to make the right decisión . And then I shared a scripture in DyC 130, verses 20,21. It was the perfect scripture for him and I think he really liked it. During the week we´ve been checking in and he says he hasnt been smoking so its been amazing to see him progress. We just need to get him to go to church again. He hasnt gone for 3 weeks now, which has been a bummer. Now we know what we have to work on this week with him.

                Then on Wednesday I had my first interchange! I went with my District leader Elder Cordova to his area about and hour away from Durazno in Paso de los Torres (I think it means land of the bulls or something) Which is a lie because I hardly saw any bulls. It was an awesome experience! I definitely like Durazno WAY better because of the trees and the city! Paso de los Torres is a pretty open area and literally has no trees. But who cares the lessons and experiences I had with Elder Cordova were amazing. He is a stud, he jokes a lot but when we need to be serious he is. He invites the Spirit to every lesson and contact we talk to. I got some good oppurtunites to bear my testimony and to talk in español mucho!! Elder Cordova is from Peru soo he hardly knows a lick of English! But it went alright, we made the best with the language barrier and things went a lot smoother tan I thought! Thats basically all that happened this week. Im looking forward to this week because I believe we are moving to nuestra casa nueva en miércoles (Wednesday)! Wahooo enough of this turible Kenny house we are in right now! I also think me and Elder Castro are going to a reunión with all the new missionaries to the misión home! That should be awesome to see all my friends again! What else? Umm oh yeah so I guess im not allowed to use Skydrive on my misson, apparently its against the rules. I had no idea so I dont think I can use it anymore. That was a super bummer so I hope sending pics through email Works, sorry gots to be obedient! I also recieved a letter from the Baums with all the missionary moments!! Thank you so much Baums, I loved hearing from my amigos!! J

                Some of my favorite scriptures this week. One of your favorites mama, Moroni 10:3. What an amazing scripture, I have  been trying to ponder the stuff I learn  every morning during personal and companionship study. And it really has helped maintain focus and staying spiritually in tune throughout the day! Also a real simple scripture but it really stood out to  me, in Mark 5:36 where Jesus says ¨Be not afraid, only believe.¨Its been helped me this week to remember to just believe and trust in the Lord and he will help me everything , especially español! Also thank so much Dad for the quote in your email last week. It really reminded me this week to be more humble and grateful for what I have. Ive been really thinking about all the things I have been blessed with in my life. And this last week I recieved an email from Elder Franklin, he said that he has been keeping a gratitude book. Every night or so I have been trying write in it and it really has helped to be more optimistic and happy throughout the days here.

   TOMMY!!!! Im so proud of that kid! FINALLY!! What a stud, crossin fingers URUGUAY! haha oh Levi that is so awesome and hilarious! No one in Arkansas is going to be messin' with both of them! Hahaha too good. Hey thats awesome that Alexis is going to play during some LP games! Wish her luck for me! LOVE YOU Alexis. Wonder how good the basketball team will be this year!! AND THE TREE!!!! Soooo jelly we might get a fake one. But I'm definitely going to miss that amazing pine smell in the house!! Ohhh geez I'm getting goosebumps just thinkin about it! Quite the rollercoaster sports week. I'm so anxious for the REAL game!! I believe they can go all the way again! Umm hey what the Jazz actually doing good this week. But my boys...............what a tragedy. I will never give up on them! Wisconsin and BYU bball going strong booyah! Well I literally have no time today! The computers keep crashin and being weird so Im going to hurry and send this before anything else happens!! Love you guys so very much! Have an amazing week, you are guys are the best as always.

Love, Elder Tyler Ivie

 

 

 

 

 

Don't really know what week it is. But who cares URUGUAY!! (9th email)

Another week down fam! Wow time is really speeding up here. What a week its been. Its been a weird one, we didn't have too much success this week. Elder Castro got sick a few days, lost 3 baptism dates because the people moved, and lots of people bailed on their appointments. But hey missionary work isn't always perfect right? I've learned that missionary work does come with rough times but we aren't giving up! We got killer plans this next week for the Lords children! J But hey on the upside my Espanol is improving a lot. I´m getting better at reading and understanding people more. Definitely not perfectly or even close to perfect. But this week I really focused on the conversations and the words sort of just separate so its easier to understand what they're talking about. I've been memorizing lessons and phrases to expand my vocab and its been going pretty good! Oh yeah also we are getting a new house!!!! Haha the house we have now is "turible kenny".  Don't really know when we are moving but probably a couple weeks when  they finish the paperwork and stuff. Much nicer home and closer a la capilla thank goodness!

                Still no package unfortunately it sure takes a decade to get to Uruguay! I got a letter from the Tinchers and Morgan this week and that took like a little under a month to get here so hopefully here soon! By the way Dad thanks for the great email last week as usual! To answer some of your questions. The baptism went so good. Jonathan is an awesome kid, he lives with a family that kind of adopted him. He lives there on the weekends and most of the family is baptized and attends church which is a really good support for him! The call over Christmas cant wait!!! Haha but still focused on the work, just really excited to see you guys! I don't know too many details but I believe its over Skype. That's all I know, I will let you  guys all know when I know more. We only cover 1 ward here in Durazno. There used to be 2 wards that the missionaries covered before I came but apparently they combined them! So yeah we have a pretty big area we cover. YOU SOLD MY CAR!!!! TOO SICK! And to Randy Smith too! So yeah maybe its wasn't goodbye after all. Well maybe not but I hope Skyler likes it. It won't be as cool because it doesn't got the Packer apparel all over it! Haha thanks again Dad!

                Alright my spiritual thought I had this week! Really relyed on the scripture I mentioned last week in Alma 26. It helped me immensely this week to submit my will to His and rely on not only my strength but His. And boy did I see miracles happen this week. My Spanish has grown so much this week and that is quite the miracle to me! Also something that was incredibly special to me was another Elder Holland talk, don't know the name but it's where he talks about Loving the Savior. He bases his talk off John 21 where the Savior asks Peter ¨lovest thou me?¨ 3 times! Also in John 14:15, Ïf ye love me, keep my commandments.¨It reminds me to NEVER EVER lose sight of my love for the Savior. I know there is nothing I can do to fully repay him for the Atonement. But I will love him no matter what. As Jesus said in John 21, ¨feed my sheep¨. If I love him I will feed his sheep. I will serve a mission not for myself but for Him. That's something sort of tough for me. To not selfishly think of myself but to do serve my God because I love Him and his children. Definitely something I'm going to focus on this week.

                Thanks for the amazing email as usual! Love Pdays they cheer me up so much when I get to hear from everyone! Thanks for the support on the language! I need all I can get. Momma you should learn Spanish!! It really is a beautiful language and it could be really useful because like everyone speaks Spanish in America now! Haha we could totes chat it up when I get home! I challenge YOU! Haha thanks for the gratitude quote. I need to try to be show more gratitude, even if there is no thanksgiving here! I need show gratitude year around. Especially to the Lord and my amazing family!  I've been so blessed to have the gospel in my life and the knowledge that families can be together forever.  I think the Lord blessed me with those things so I could share them with the people of Uruguay! I'm so blessed to have this amazing opportunity to share the Lords wonderful message with the people of Uruguay! J I think that is the coolest thing. Yes I got Levi's email, he looks like he is doing soooo good! He stands out, hahaha. What a stud, thanks for sending  that. What else....ohhhh TOMMY GRAHAM! ATTA BOY! Soo happy for him. I cant believe Kali Lynn is already heading out!  I'm so old.  I wish all the luck to her! Ohhh momma you take care of me tooo well. I haven't even received my other 2 packages and you are sending a Christmas Package!! Haha thanks momma you are amazing! The address for the packages are definitely right, don't worry about the dot the addresses are the same! No need to worry. Oh Alexis I LOVE HER SO MUCH! I'm going to write to her this week because she is pretty neat!  I'm glad she is carrying on my phrases! Someone has to do it haha! SPORTS!! Ehhh mediocre week BYU esta bien, is Notre Dame even that good this year? YES THE UTES GOOO DOWN AGAIN!! Tooo goood! Eric Mika!! What a stud hopefully the injury isn't too serious. They are gonna be good this year. And when everyone gets back from their missions, unstoppable! Too sick! MY BOYS porque?!?!?!?! They are really living on the edge. They need to keep Flynn in! He is a stud. Good luck to my boys this Thursday! Ahh thanksgiving football...nothing better. Well maybe my family and the gospel but that's it. REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really would like to see Uruguay challenge them! I'm a soooo proud of them! Mega quality!!!!

                Well I've run out of time, I love you all so so very much! Enjoy Thanksgiving, stuff yourselves just for me! To the best family in the world, Chao! MUCHO AMO!

Also could you send some Forever stamps in the next package or letter or something because I was stupid and didn't bring more with me, sorry.

Love your son, Elder Ivie

Week 1 technically in Durazno down! BOOYAH! (8th email)

Oh my goodness family what a week. Its actually gone by super fast! Sorry for my breakdown last week, it was a crazy first couple days. However it still is super crazy here everyday. My faith in God, Jesus Christ, and the góspel in general usually grows every week but, this week my faith has grown immensely. I have really learned to rely on the Lord for strength and humble myself before him like it says in Alma 26:12. I also read this week in Alma 8 where it talks about Alma when he preached the gospel to the city of Ammonihah. Read it! Its amazing, I think it sort of parallels Joseph Smiths First Vision experience. I likened these stories to myself in learning Espanol. Because its a mega trial for me right now. Ive learned this is just a big trial of my faith. That ¨my afflictions will be but a small momento…then if I endure it well…then I will triumph over this challenge.¨Kinda sounds sort of cheesy but it gives me hope that I can learn Espanol through faith and obedience to the Lord. So yeah thats basically my spiritual thought for this week. Im doing great here! Im usually happy all the time and I know the Lord blesses everyday!

                Oh my goodness first off the food this week just magically got amazing! On Thurs. I think we walked like a half hour to the Bishops house. We live in the city of Durazno and he lives in another town in Durazno that is quite the walk. Durazno really reminds me of Provo but its newer looking, way less mormons and no Lindsay and Communal Ñ)  Anyways we went to their house for lunch and goodness was it worth it. French fries, fish, pollo, soda, helado, the works! So worth the walk yeah no point to that story. Oh yeah and yesterday we got churizo and carne asada for the first time!!!! This family is amazing there is nothing like freshly barbequed beef and sausage. People said it was amazing but boy they sure werent kidding. Hardly anything can compete with this well, at least in Uruguay that is. Mom your cooking is easily gold compared to this! Nothing can beat the teriyaki chicken and pork! Boy do I miss your cooking though mom. But hey at least Im eating pretty good stuff here. The members feed us well down here. And like every meal has arroz (rice) in it, I thought I ate a lot of rice at home but hey its muy bien! Oh yeah and dulce de leche crepes, to die for! Anyways this week was good but not great. None of our investigators came to church this week which was bummer. And lots of appointments fell through this week. But its ok me and Elder Castro are keeping a positive attitude. Next when did you send the packages because I still havent gotten them as of today. Hopefully I get it this week, Im pretty anxious to get it obviously! Lots of people ask if I have a photo of you guys and I dont have one! And I want to show them that I have the best family in the world! JHere is the mail package address to the misión home that they gave us, I believe its the right one but just check.  I knew you would give in! Its about time Christmas is just around the corner!! Sometimes I forget that its actually November because of no snow! Its insane sooner than we know it CHRISTMAS TIME! ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! And I get the best present in the whole wide world! So excited to talk to you guys but for now Im the Lords and its my job to fulfill his work in Uruguay! Tell thanks to Grandma and that I love her so very much. I appreciate the support and the prayers from her and you guys every week! MY BOYS!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I dont even want to talk about them but thanks for filling me in SO glad they got Flynn back BOOYAH! How does Tolzien play? What a tragedy it sounds like the rest of our teams are doing amazing! Keep it up hope Utah goes down these next couple weeks!! Haha too good and what the GOO REAL!! I wish I had a jersey to wear it loud and proud here in URUGUAY! They could probably beat Uruguay! Thanks so much for the amazing emails every week its so good to know that everybody is doing great! I know the Lord is blessing all of us so what more can I ask for? Have an amazing Thanksgiving week? Right? Maybe i dont know sorry I didnt have too many stories this week. Hopefully I will get better at writing someday. Love you all!! J Paz!

Arriving in Uruguay!!! That is soooo sweet!!! (7th email)

Hello from URUGUAY!!!

                Familia!!!! Its been so long since I last talk to you guys well it sure seems that way! So much has happened back at home! Why am I not surprised that you guys ended up going to the game!! I am SOOO glad you went! I'm pretty jelly I gotta admit but one of these days I will hopefully make it to one! I knew the badgers would win no matter what but BYU kept it close cheers to them! That must of been such an amazing game! I don't think i've watched game and wanted both teams to win. It must of brought  back so many memories of your alma mater momma! Was it kinda of similar to the Packer game? You guys decided to go so quickly! I cant believe you pulled it off! You guys stayed till Saturday right? OH HEATHER!!!  TELL HER MUCHOS CONGRATS from me! That is amazing. Owen Misseldine a very classy name!  Have fun with the kids this week. Its so good to have all the family support thanks so much everybody.  Miss them all but hey i'm in the most important work times do get tough and I struggle a lot but I know this is what I need and want to do for you guys. Myself. And the people of Uruguay!  Go REAL TOO! They are too sick! I love futbol now keep me updated. I would like to see them play like Uruguay. Did USA make it to the FIFA world cup?

 

First off i'm going to tell you about a experience I had the last week in the CCM. We went Proselyting out in Buenos Aires for the last time last week. It was the nicest area we have been in yet. There were some pretty big homes. Well for Argentina. Not like Alpine homes, haha those are mansions! But me and my comp. Had a neat experience I wanted to share. So we were just tracting some houses and we came across this house that had like 2 dogs out just laying on the ground. And once they saw us they started yappin like crazy! They were so loud and me and my comp. Were like oh my not again. Basically every house has a couple dogs, there are more dogs than people. Its insane anyways, so at first we were just like ehh nevermind its just one house. We just didn't want to deal with the dogs. So we started walking away and we got the impression to go back to that house. So then we went back and what do you know more DOGS STARTED POPPIN OUT OF THE WINDOWS! But of course there is like a gate between the dogs and us. We are like are you joking but we rang the doorbell anyways. There we easily like 10 dogs out going crazy and no one came outside. We weren't going to give up so, my comp. Rang the bell one last time and lo and behold some nice mid late 40´s lady came out. She told the dogs to be quiet and listened to us!! She was all excited to hear the message we had and she wanted to hear more! So we got her name and number and now the better speaking Spanish missionaries are going to go out and hopefully convert her. So hey it might of sounded like a cheesy story but I gained such a strong afirmation and testimony that we get blessed when we listen to promptings of the Holy Spirit.

                Now to URUGUAY! Wow what a MEGA crazy week its been. We got all packed up on Monday and that was crazy enough as it is. Then on Tuesday morning literally bright and early at 3:30am I got up to catch the bus to the airport. Our plane left at like 7ish, and it was basically only a half hour flight. Mega quick!  We then went through customs, Passport, baggage, and all that good stuff. The Mission Pres. and his wife were there to pick us up! There are soooo nice. Apparently the Armstrongs got released so instead it the Newsomes. They are from Florida are the some of nicest people I have ever met. I like them a lot. Then we went to the misión home where we had breakfast, meetings, free time, and other stuff. I got to go walk the temple grounds because the temple is literally right next to the misión home! Super pretty temple, I love how its built out of granite. Anyways then we had some free time, I took a nice long nap! Then they threw us out with the other missionaries in the area by the misión home to go proselyting and such! So scary! Goodness we went to go teach a guy that was a recent convert to the church. I taught him a Little principle about our purpose here on the earth but I don't think it made sense. But hey I tried and it was the first day. His testimony was so strong and humble though. It was quite the interesting experience. Then we got to stay the night in the Hotel by the misión home that is run by the church. Super nice hotel!! The next morning we went to the doctors office and just had the check up stuff done. Apparently I got sort of higher blood pressure not terrible though. So a Little interesting, we will see where it goes from here. I really think its because I was sittin, and eating all day in the CCM (besides Physical Activity) that made it so high. So hope it goes down here in the field with all the walking and Im trying to eat less and better. Don't be worried im fine J I feel great! Then after that I got my NEW companion!! His name is……Elder Castro he is from Columbia and he knows a little english! He has been trying to learn on his misión, and it isn't bad. He is like perfect because I can sort of communicate a Little bit through english but it still forces me to speak in Spanish because its obviously easier for him to understand. Then we got on the bus and headed for my new AREA! It is like 5 hours away from Montevideo. Its like Central Uruguay. The area is called Durazno, it means peaches in english. But there are not peaches everywhere unfortunately. So yeah it took all day but i'm finally here. The place we are staying at is pretty gross. Well compared to our house its mega nasty. There is fungus on the wall, stuff falls from the walls and ceiling occasionally , and the toilet doesn't flush on its own. We have to pour wáter into it when we got to forcé it to flush. But hey I got to count my blessings, we have a washing machine, beds, and hot wáter! Me and Elder Castro are living with another companionship, Elder Martin from New Zealand, and Elder Ence from Idaho! Thank goodness english speakers! Ha they are awesome and pretty cool. Wow what a crazy hard adventure the misión field is. I got to admit I've gotten super frustrated with myself this week because I don't know the language hardly at all. The language they taught me in the CCM was not their language, its góspel language. Which is good but when they ask me a question i'm usually like uhhhhh huh? And Elder Castro has to translate for me. The Uruguayans are probably like who is this White mormon boy from America. I literally don't understand anything, they are sooo fast, and I can only pick out like 1 or 2 words out of the sentence if that. This has been the biggest challenge I've had to face in my entire life. Being frustrated was definitely not the approach I should took on this challenge. I always way to hard on myself all the time. I've definitely learned a new Word in english that I fully didn't understand to much until now, patience. I know if i'm obedient and diligent the His work, I do know he will bless me. I unfortunately had to learn that the hard way. But making my will, His will has been the biggest blessing to me on the misión. A really important concept I learned this week is if I do all that I can in my power the Lord will make up for the rest. Like the story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors in Alma 57, or in D&C 123:17. If I face my challenge with the language and study I know the Lord will bless me with the gift of tongues. The amazing thing is I've already seen that in the misión field.  I still struggle immensely with Spanish but when its my turn to say something the helps me say it even if it doesn't make sense sometimes. So yeah this week has been super hard for me but I know it will get better. Thanks so much for your prayers I feel them everyday! Love you guys! Oh yeah the good things this week we got a BAPTISM!! Nbd. Haha well I didnt really even know the kid until the baptism day but I know him now! His name is Jonathan, he is a funny kid. He is apart of a big part member family so maybe we can get more investigators soon! We have about 7 investigators as of right now, and hopefully we can teach them all lessons this week. Also futbol is obviously crazy down here. The rivalry here in Uruguay are the teams Nacional and Penarol. Its like a BYU Utah rivalry but probably crazier because its the whole country. I'm a Nacional fan because their colors are USA colors! Never seen them play but they got cool colors. Pretty often we just hear fireworks go off in the middle of the day, its pretty sweet. People weren't kidding soccer is basically their religión! Anyways sorry I probably missed something but not much time to write emails. I only get to write emails on P-day. Anyways love you all as always! Wish me luck this next week, i'm gonna need it! Have a great week, keep it real.

Last week in the CCM for Elder Ivie...ahhhhhhh! (6th email)

SO GOOD to hear from you guys this week as usual! I am SO SO SO proud of Alexis I almost started crying when I saw those pictures of eating salad!!! And what no minecraft? Who is my sister now? Have fun at Chick Fil A tonight I could you use some of that right now! Dont get me wrong I got amazing food here but I could use some nice solid MERICA food right now. Its good to hear that Dads work is giving him a break, he deserves it. And yet again my teams pull it out again! It's because I'm on my mission, thats why they are doing so amazing! Haha! Go BYU they sound that they are starting to really work as a team, and Taysom Hill and Cody! Too sick! Ultimate duo this season! Typical JORDY what a wizard! He never disappoints, sit down PETERSON, tooo knarly.  I'm doing sooo good thanks mom, i´ll try to send some pics this time so go check it out! And Levi leaves on Nov. 6th?? Why did I think he was already out?? Hmmm his farewell was pretty far out! Hmm well good for him, I met a girl that knows him today. Pretty neat. Tommy tommy tommy, keep riding him! Goodness I'm riding him also! LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Next time you hear from me, ill will be in the MISSION FIELD! AHHHH!

Anyways my week has been pretty neat! Haha everyday just keeps getting crazier and crazier! They are going by faster than ever. I literally have 5 days left  here at the CCM and it really just felt I just got on that plane! Sorry hopefully that wasn’t bad to say but I totally feel that way right now! Sorry I didn’t answer all your questions last week, we were pretty rushed last email time.  Saturday we went proselyting otra vez! We went to a different area this time. This area was definitely a lot poorer than the last area we were in. Some pretty sketchy, 3^rd world parts people talked about. But on the flipside this time we had our best numbers ever! We contacted almost 50 people in 5ish hours! Got 6 referrals, we placed 2 Book of Mormons and lots of pamphlets. People this time were so interested and happy to see us! This area was definitely a lot more humble. I also was a lot more excited going out this time too. It flew by because I got a little taste of losing myself in the work! SO COOL! I was just happy all the time, we stayed diligent, and because of that I know the Lord placed the people we contacted for us to share His wonderful message. Oh yeah and also we were in a Tri-panionship this week because one of the Elders sprained his ankle real bad so he couldn’t go proselyting. So his companion came with us! We also had a really good devotional on Sunday, with the 2nd Counselor in the CCM presidency. He said work so hard on your missions that you come out on a stretcher! And I need to work my guts out so when I am done with my mission, I can show the Lord what I have done and he will accept it. I'm not as good at explaining it but, it was an amazing class! Pretty much almost cried. 

                Still been pretty cold there? I've been checkin the weather and it is usually pretty nippy but sometimes perfect fall weather. Oh Utah weather…how I don’t miss its tripolarness! I can't believe it might snow this week, HAVE FUN! HA! Here in Argentina it stays the same most everyday. It gets cloudy and rains occasionally but that’s just about it. Its definitely getting hotter though. Today is Halloween eh? Too sick Alexis is probably dieing! That’s still here favorite holiday right? I get to celebrate my Halloween on my P-day so, that’s pretty neat!

      

Love, Elder Ivie

One month down...time slow down!! (5th email)

Buen dia mi familia! My week was great as usual. I feel bad nothing exciting really happens here. Its usually just the same stuff every week. Don’t get me wrong its amazing experiences and a journey but its just usually study, teach, eat, and sleep! I surely do love it here though. We went proselyting on Saturday again. Every time we go it gets me more and more excited to be in the mission field and sort of nervous! But hey the Lords on my side and I know that, He already has and will continue! Just like it says in D&C 84:88. Anyways proselyting was fabulous. We reached our goal for number of contacts and references. We placed 2 Book of Mormons and the investigators seemed really interested which is sooo good. Also Sunday we had a good lesson from our District Leader, he said if I can bear my testimony of the truth of the book and get them to take it. The Lord and the truth of the book will do the rest. Its awesome and that made me so happy and sometimes I forget how important giving a Libro de Mormon to a person can be. The book can change a persons life! That’s why I'm getting so excited for the mission field! 2 weeks!!!!!!!! AHHHH crazy! Woof anyways. On Sunday as well we had the 2nd Counselor in the MTC Presidency talk to us! He is a FBI agent for Argentina! How cool is that? He is way cool he has great advice and mission stories to tell. Oh yeah and Thurs. we had a devotional after our Pday! It was a devotional in Jan. 2013 where Elder Holland spoke in Provo! Ahh so good! He sounded like he was going to be passive about what he was speaking about, and boy was I wrong. Love how he says it as it is, and gets in your face. Because I feel like we all need that sometimes especially me! He talked about being a fully converted missionary because we all have to be converted to the gospel somehow. He said in every mission a missionary should have a least 1 convert, him-herself. He talked about being the missionaries in Helman 5:17-19 as well as ministering angels in Mosiah 27:11 that had voice of thunder. Anyways he grilled us on everything and it was such an inspiring talk! He is easily my favorite speaker of all time! He always talks on stuff I need to improve on. Anyways whats up with the whole government shut down thing in America right now? People keep talking about it but its not really making sense to me. Oh yeah mom I forgot more pens so I will let you know in the mission field if I need some or if I can just go buy them! I was not thinking that one over. Oh great news this week momma! Love it! Halloween should be super fun with the Misseldines! You goin out with them? Or you on candy duty again. Are you guys gonna get Wendys or we done with that one for now! CHICK FIL A it up!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha that is so good to hear from Levi and Thomas! What studs! Love them both. He is gonna do amazing! When does Levi leave again? And momma you are amazing, thanks so much for the packages. I can always count on you for packages!  I cant wait to see them! Love you! I had no idea Kylie was going on a mission! And Australia!! That is so so cool! So excited for her! Anyways umm Marlene and Janelle stopped by? What were they doing in Utah? Love them both too!  KEEP THOSE LIGHTS ON DAD! Hahaha especially on Halloween! That is the greatest, I have already started to listen to some Christmas Music! Its heavenly. Thanks for the quote and all the support. Thanks so much for keeping up with the blog and stuff! You are golden! Our teams have been rockin it lately! They suddenly all got SOO good when I have left. They keep winning! Keep it up! Thanks for the sports updates also. I cant believe my boys are staying alive with all the injures. Hopefully they get back out there soon! Thanks for everything, love reading the weekly emails. Love hearing from you guys and whats up in good ol Highland! Love you all so so much! Have a wonderful semana.
Love, Elder Ivie

Getting into the hang of it!! (4th email)

Hola my dearest family? How was the week? The language is coming along. We have been doing quite a few activities to test our Spanish, first off, we did a language fast on Friday so for 6 hours we didn’t speak English, I was proud of myself. Also Sat. was the big day, we went proselyting out of the CCM! What a crazy experience. They literally gave us an area to cover they dropped me and Elder Shaeffer off and let us walk the streets for 5 hours! All spanish too! Dude I'm so lucky that Elder Shaeffer knew enough to carry on conversations because I hardly did. I know how to ask people things and introduce myself but that’s just about it. They all speak so so fast too so that doesn’t help much either. But what a great experience it was. I know in the Provo I would never get to have that experience. We placed a Book of Mormon and lots of pamphlets so we did decent. Next time I'm gonna try to get a baptism commitment! Oh yeah Argentina has mega crazy drivers. There are no rules and no lanes so they just like cut you off! But like no one cares they are just all polite so the craziness isn't really crazy. Oh and add to the craziness they just allow horses on the highways too! Ok back to proselyting they dropped us off in a pretty poor area. But there were some really really nice homes. Argentina is so different to the US because everyone I mean everyone has a gate and you either have to ring a doorbell or clap to get their attention. There are also numerous amounts of (perros) dogs around! Everyone at least has 1 or more dogs and there are also stray dogs, but the weird thing is the strays are way nicer than the ones that have homes. There are pretty much more dogs than people in Argentina! I also had a great Sunday! We usually have a lot of meetings but they are mind blowing meetings because I said before the CCM President is a wizard and basically knows everything through the scriptures. One of the lessons he taught was about Gods love for His son Jesus Christ, all throughout his life on earth. It was so cool to read about in the 4 gospels like it says in my Patriarchal blessing. It was so cool to understand what little things he did when Jesus Christ was a little boy. Because you don’t hear much about his childhood! So cool and mindblowing! Also im doing the creep here but I think there is a girl here that is in our Stake!  Also how is the blog goin mom? I take it that you are getting the hang of it since you haven't said anything about it. Thanks again mom, love you!

Hola! Elder Ivie is having the time of his life! (2nd week @ the CCM--3rd email)

Que pasa mi familia? I feel like I'm so cheesy in these emails but whatevs. It was so good to talk to you last week, I felt like it was forever since I talked to you all. But anyways this week at the CCM has been muy comf! (inside joke)  I'm so happy everyday and it’s so easy to feel the Spirit. It’s hard to teach with the Spirit in Spanish because I want to say stuff in English so I can bring the Spirit. But we have to speak all Spanish well and some Spenglish! But hey things are coming along, Spanish is pretty slow as usual but my goal is to say new things everyday so I can expand my vocabulary. Umm how was Conference?!?!? I missed watching it with you guys, it made me think of you and those mega good muffs every Conference morning but it was still amazing! The church is true no matter where you are. It was cool that all of us missionaries were all dressed up and ready to hear revelation from the Lord through the Prophets.  Such a cool sight, and I loved it when President Monson said that there are 80,000 Full-Time Missionaries out right now and I was like that’s me! Anyways the talks were sooo good. I loved Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk in the Sat. Morning session and it wasn’t even morning.  It was so weird it started at 1:00pm, that’s how far ahead we are!  He talked about doubts and coming back to the church and stuff. He said "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith"  Hey momma that was one of my favorite talks too. So cool because sometimes I can get down on myself here at the CCM because I don’t know as much as some people or the language isn’t coming along faster. But I know that as long as I don’t doubt my faith that things will work out and I can do this! I also liked Elder Holland's talk on overcoming diseases and stuff. That was really touching.  Also Dad just wanted to let you know that I’ve been doing pretty good with working out and stuff. I ran a couple times and I do push ups and sit ups just about every night! I'm gonna be huge when I get back guarantee it!! Anyways umm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday was so weird because ALL the Latinos and North Americans left. Well besides us obviously. So there is like 15 of us here in the CCM that holds about 90-100 people. It’s crazy to think that some of the Latinos that came with us on the flight from Buenos Aires are gone now. Oh yeah and also this week our district has been muy muy enferma,  very very sick. Literally half the district got sick with influenza. Thank you mom for getting me that shot because thankfully I didn’t get it. But now most of them are getting better now. When they were all sick we quarantined them into one room and called it the Leprosy Pit! Haha anyways, I realized this week that I should have totes put more spiritual Piano Guys on my iPod. I love their stuff, I should have listened to you guys. Oh yeah mom I forgot soap, how did I do that? Whatevs I'll find some. Umm this Sat. is going to be crazy though because it will be the first time they bus us out to a random part of town and drop us off to go proselyting!! In Spanish!!  Obviously but I’m so nervous because I hardly know any at all but hey its awesome practice and I’ll always try my best. Most of the time they just want you to do service and just talk to them. Oh yeah totes they got bides here! Like those European toilet things. Dude I'm never going back, yeah this is a weird subject but I thought this was very important because when I get my own house I’m easily fo sho getting one. Oh! Alexis how was your bday??  I thought of you all day! Love you! Wow seriously it must be so cold there. I get to go on the computer sometimes and do a language study program and I check the weather there every time and its always like raining, or almost snowing?!?! Did it snow? Crazy stuff, have fun fam! Oh yes I do love my companion. He is so funny and we get along pretty well. Our mock lessons are getting better and better each day. 

Well love you guys so much! I can feel your prayers everyday and I'm beginning to lose myself in his work and I love it! Have a great week love you all!

Elder Ivie and his companion Elder Schaffer (6' 7")

Elder Ivie in front of the CCM (or MTC)

Elder Ivie and the Elder's in his district.

Elder Ivie's 1st full week in the CCM (2nd email)

Hola Momma and Familia! First umm don't send me packages to the MTC I probably won't get them sorry if you already did I forgot to tell you in the first quick email. The first day was quite the day. I think I forgot how incredibly uncomfortable airplanes were. Both flights weren't too bad but it was just muy muy long! But hey I'm here in Bueno care. Our CCM Presidente Openshaw just challenged me to not focus a lot on whether you don’t know if its right or not.  I think I won't have any trouble with that because I got 4 missionaries in my room and its me and my companion Elder Schaffer and 2 natives that speak NO English whatsoever. So it's kinda awkward right now because I literally can't strike up a conversation so I just say Hola! Como estas? Haha and my companion Elder Schaffer can speak a little spanish so that's nice to have a little communication with the Latinos. My companion is so awesome. He is so humble and always open to the Spirit. I couldn’t ask for a better companion. He is 6' 7"!!!! Haha he is a giant! I like him a lot. He is from Arizona but he spent his summers in Utah for a job I think or something haha. The white house is soo pretty I feel like a king living here. They have this thing they like here, it's dulce de leche which is obviously caramel but amazing caramel and they put it in everything!  Elder Jensen, Sister Leifers nephew in the room across from me. And he probably thinks I'm a creep because I know some things about him through Aaron. He lives in Castle Dell and I remember I've been there to his dads work at the Vet. I think we did it for a Merit Badge! Ha good times. Oh and umm for Aaron tell Sister Leifer that they gave me lots of books. Like that red Spanish Language book you gave me, which is was like dang but thanks anyways momma! Also a Spanish Dictionary, a Spanish and English Preach my Gospel, True to the Faith in Spanish, a Spanish Bible and Book of Mormon, umm  Journal for notes, and I think that's just about all that really matters. I have got to admit this week has been sooo tough for me. I miss you guys more than ever, I miss my old lifestyle and doing things on my schedule but lately I just remembered what I should have never forgotten is that I am here to Invite others to come unto Christ. And by doing that I have to become humble towards God and let him help me. I've tried to a lot of things by myself and it has gotten me frustrated especially with the language. But when I submit to Gods will he will help provide if I exercise my faith in him. The Gospel is so true guys. So many miracles have happened and each day gets better and better!