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