¡SuPrIsE! (53rd email)

Hey ohhh Family!!

                Wow where has the time gone! Yes this past week was good ol´ hump week. I hit the big 1 and boy do I feel old haha. I spent the night with the Fla. Saravia (the family of Geraline and Brandy, recent converts). We shared a spiritual thought, played a few games, and ate strange food! Their dad really likes us and gives us basically what we want, its always something out of this world though! But I love it, we had some butifarra (cow fat) with a mcnasty name but hey it was some good pickin´. They are the best and they also gave me free  ice cream to celebrate in the house! J

                Now rewind…last P’day was a blast for me. We went to the MALL (Portones  its called), and to this store across the street called Inglesa. We went there first, it basically it’s a Uruguay wanna be Walmart but it was awesome in that sense! Lots of foreigners and lots of food from ´Merica!! I bought be some Double Stuff Oreos, which I haven’t had in a year and I am almost done with them!! They´ve lasted a week I think that’s a new record for me at least especially in a foreign country. I don’t know if I should tell you guys this but we had an embarrassing story. We were shopping and my comp. spots a girl that he think isn’t bad looking that wasn’t too far from us, we are guys we have to tell each other! He told me in English so she wouldn’t understand but come to find out she totally was gringa, speaks perfect English and had a Bruins t-shirt on!! What are the chances!! But luckily I don’t think she heard, I should have tried to talk to her. It surprises me when I find a person, other than a missionary that speaks perfect English. But you find a lot in Montevideo surprisingly, especially in the Airport, no kidding right?!

                Anyways random weird funny experience, then we went to the mall got Subway sandwiches, what?! It was just like Subway in Merica but a rip off, like 7 bucks for a drink and a 6¨! But it was delicious, its been a while. I also bought myself a black tie that is super fly! Thanks fam! J

                Anyways its been a busy week, we´ve been getting a lot of people for their baptism tomorrow!! It surprised me too but we reached our goals this month and we miraculously found like 6 people this week that could get baptized pronto!! We had 6 investigators in church this week! S came, an old inv. M, and T! Them 3 will be getting baptized tomorrow!! They have their interviews today, pray for them all that today and tomorrow will turn out good! J

                M is 9yrs. old, and is an friend of a recent convert. She loves talking to the missionaries but her parents not so much! Her mom hid from us everytime we passed by, but the other day we met her and she really trusts us and is letting M make the decision herself! She promised to bring her every Sunday, and we are hoping she pops her head in one day. T, is looking awesome she is a little girl that basically got baptized herself! She is golden and is set to go for today and tomorrow. We´ve been stopping by a lot this week, teaching her everything, and this Sunday she came and went with her sister!! Through her we have found lots of investigators in her family. N her brother and J his girlfriend are perfect examples of that. We are currently teaching them & they look very promising ! So we pushed their baptism date to October so they can prepare themselves better.

                Its been a blast working here, the Lord has blessed us and this area so much. He has helped us find his children that he´s been preparing! The other elders had 2 baptisms this past week, which was super awesome to see! J This is a mixed up email, but lots of random stuff happened like what I GOT THE 1^st PACKAGE already!!!! It only takes like a month here in Montevideo!! JJ Ohhh such good candy, my comp. isn’t a big fan of it I don’t know why but hey more for me! But he loves the BYU shirt, and luckily it barely fits him! E´Guix missed out, but hey E´Aguilera loves it because he wants to go to BYU someday. Btw what the random controversy with the new BYU shirts? And momma wow, I am so set for the summer with the Gold Bond, its gonna be a comfortable summer! You sure do like to send things in bulk don’t you haha love it. I cant believe that its conference already again!! I am soo pumped, it starts at like 1 here hopefully I will be able to watch in english! You just cant beat English. Have fun at Priesthood Session Daddio, I´ll be thinkin about ya. J

                Alma 31:38- pray with faith and be swallowed up in the joy of Christ.  Spiritual goal for the week!! J I need to work on this a lot…

Btw yes Momma we see too MANY dogs, Uruguay is full of them and all of them have given birth and so they just run around in the streets with their udders hangin low!! Haha its nast! Thanks for the amazing quote Momsis from Uchtdorf I almost shed a tear! Well I basically did...what an amazing conf. it was I imagine! :) What an amazing sports week, BYU and WISC are killin it in the polls!! Love you all today and always!!! :):) Have an awesome week and conference!

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

Ps. Max Castro totally wrote me last week, I miss hearing from that man! So good to see how he was doin!! J

1st package received in Montevideo!  Man they put it through the ringer :-)

Got me some 'Merica candy, some Glide & Gold Bond and a shoe--I'm set!  Love the Uruguay bracelets that my younger sister Alexis sent me!

HUMP DAY is right.... (52nd email)

HoOoLa FaMaLiA
        Another week bites the dust, and what a week it was! A week full of
baptisms, games, Jenga, churizo, more food, ups and downs, and WORK,
lots of WORK!
        We´ve been having lots of Family Home Evenings with the recent
converts to strengthen them with their with family, while at the same time increasing our inv. pool! :) J, the sister of G and
B has listened to us for awhile now, she's been to church but has
been kind of slacking off. But she promised us that she was going to go to church this Sunday! :) We'll be focusing on her this week, while
at the same time get the parents interested. They already love us,
they feed us all the time, and take us home we just need to get them to stop smoking and to be interested! A little confusing but we are working
hard with that family.
        This past week we didnt have much time, but we worked hard and the result is Sebastian and Florencia got :):):):):) BAPTIZED! :):):):)
(see photo) One of Seba´s friends in the church, Feddy, baptized him
and my comp. baptized Florencia! She was scared of a gringo baptizing
her, haha it was random but funny! It all went dandy, Seba had to get
dunked 3 times because it was Feddy´s first time baptizing someone
haha. It was super awesome to see them in white, although Seba didnt like it so much, he said Ï am not getting baptized in this!¨But he did
it anyways obviously. They both got confirmed yesterday and now they
are both members of the church! Thanks for all the prayers this week
for them, I know they helped a bunch because we did have some
complications. Seba forgot to come to his interview the day befote!!
But fortunately we had an activity that same night and he CAME so we
just did it there! Woot woot! Oh yeah and you will never guess who bore their testimony at the baptism, MELANIE! She is the older sister
of Florencia that recently got baptized and she is golden!! She has a
strong testimony of the gospel she reads and prays every night, she is
cruisin in 2 Nephi already! I cant even remember how long it took to get to 2 Nephi for me before the mish.
        So yeah we´ve had quite a few activities in the ward, Friday as I told you guys a Foosball Tournament which turned out amazing! Lots of
people CAME but unfortunately I went down in the 1st round, here Foosball is like futbol! ´Dem Uruguayos are just too darn good for me!
Saturday and we had a Priesthood Activity we played of course futbol
and ate churizos!! Im obsessed, this ward is making me fat no worries.
        Sunday was a great day, I had to give a talk about Missionary Work,
it is still a little uncomfortable to give talks in Spanish I got to
admit. Spanish is a challenge for me but E´Aguilera is helping me out, helping me overcome my shyness!:) Sunday we had 5 inv. in church, S
(sister of a recent convert, she looks promising), J and N
(relative and friend of our inv. T, they seem pretty interested). We’ll be working
with all them this week, should be a good one! :)
        Yes this week will be the big 1yr.!! Ta LOCO no?! I guess I should
party for it right? Its been an undescribable year, with many blessings and challenges! I am very satisfied and content with what has
happened to me this past year, I’ll never forget it. But if anything
at all it gives me desires to try even harder this next year! :)Im
excited to see what the Lord has in store for me!         Scrip. of the week was in D&C 58:2-4 with much tribulation comes many

blessings! Love it! Its a scripture that we should always keep in mind
when things are hard in our lives! :)

Thanks for the good times, and the support I love you fam and hope you
have a great week yall!! I love hearing from you every week!
#favoritepartofpday did i really just use a hashtag? LOVE YOU ALL TOO
MUCH!!

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

ps. GC is coming up again?!?!

Baptism of Sebastian & Florencia!  Sept 20, 2014

the rest week! (51st email)

HEY FAMILY!

                What up! So so so so so so sorry for the late email we ran out of time yesterday so we just took a little time to send everything! LOVE YOU ALL! What a good week we had here in Aeroparque, very quiet nothing too crazy but with lots of success. Yesterday was a crazy end to the week me and my comp. were flying everywhere trying to get everybody to church! I left with the other elder of the house Elder Ospina to go pick up some of their investigators and recent converts. While my comp. went to Ward Council. We picked them up but only the recent convert, P came out because it was raining and her sister and Mom (their investigators) didn’t want to come out! We were sad about that, we stood there for like 5min. thinking about what we could do but we ended up going without them! We picked up some more of their inv. and took the bus to church! When I got there my comp. told me to go with Hermano to go pick up a recent convert and a inv. of ours. My comp. called them before then and said they didn’t want to go this Sunday because it was raining and our inv. M didn’t feel ready but we convinced them to come. So we picked them up and when we pulled up, and they were waiting for us! MIRACLE! M should be getting baptized here in a few weeks, he is trying to give up a lot substances.

                Right after that me and my comp. went to go pick up a new inv., T a 10yr. girl, just like you Alexis (but not for long, bday coming) that we invited to church. We passed by and she came with us, with her sister-in-law Y, too!! Turns out they have been to church before when they were super young. Anyways I don’t know if any of this made sense but it was a crazy day and long story short we got 5 inv. to church!!

                Recently we have been focusing a lot on our investigator S, 14yr. old jock! Haha he is awesome too and is going to get baptized this week, with the sister of M (recent convert) F! They both should be getting baptized this Sat. if everything turns out alright, we are super excited for that we got to work super hard this week for that!! Special prayer for them 2 this week! J Thanks! Anyways what a Sunday of miracles we had, it was raining the whole time but we were able to have so much success! Thank you tender mercies of the Lord.

                Now rewind back to Monday, E´Aguilera showed me around one of his old areas La Costa! We went to the beach again!! It was super pretty over there, the beach was huge, and you could see some islands off the coast by the city of Atlandia (Uruguay´s version of Atlantis)! Would like to go someday and check it out. Anyways we went and said  ¨hi¨ to some of the members and people  he knew there, then we went to the best pizza place in Uruguay and I will have to agree! I should have taken a picture of it but it tasted a lot like Merica, like California Pizza Kitchen! BUEN PROVECHO!

                Tuesday, we had a Zone Conf. in Malvin. We focused a lot on 3 specific goals, 1. Invite all to be baptized 2. Pray with faith 3. Exact Obedience. I can say it really helped me this week to be a better missionary! J

                Here in this ward we do lots of activities and I think that’s why this ward has sooo much unity!! Its amazing to see! But anyways Friday we had a Tournament of Ping-Pong and boy did it turn out amazing! We made brackets, snack tables, lots of people, a prize, we had the goods! It was super fun and we had lots of less actives, inactives, and investigators come! J This upcoming Friday we are going to do tournament of FOOSBALL! Wish me luck! J

                Saturday was an awesome day, we had a World-Wide Service thing for the church. Not sure if you guys did it or even had it, I don’t every remember doing it back at home. But anyways it was awesome, we went to an area called Paso Carrasco and served at the school. We cut grass, painted fences, sweeped, and picked up trash! It went by real quick because a lot of people showed up. Pretty awesome to participate in that I hope I get the chance next year!

                D&C 109:57 was my fav. Scrip this week, it talks about us as missionaries and how people will come to know who we are and who has sent us! I think that has a big part in the scripture that talks about how every ¨knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.¨ One day everyone will come unto the light, some sooner than others that’s why there is missionaries and missionary work so that we can find those people that are ready to accept the Gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives! Wow just writing this gives me the shivers how important the work of the Lord is in every single one of our lives! J I am super happy here guys, E´ Aguilera is teaching me a lot, sometimes I feel stressed that I can’t do things the way I want but with practice I will get there!! :)

Thanks for the good times, and the sweet lovin y'all, I hope you like all the pics!! :) I've had some crazy few weeks here! I LOVE IT!! Have a good week, and enjoy the fall weather because here comes the cold AGAIN MUHAHAHA! I'm weird. LOVE YOU ALL TOO MUCH

Les quiero, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie 

ps. thanks for the packages Momma you da best and so is OUR BOYS!! good sports week if I might say :)

Elder Aguilera & I in Aeroparque Sept '14

Geraline's Baptism Aug 30, '14

La Costa--an old area of Elder Aguilera's

Atlandia--Uruguay's version of Atlantis

Islands off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay

Practicing for Foosball Tourney with Aeroparque Ward members Sept '14

Ping Pong Tourney with Aeroparque Ward members

Uruguay's Football Stadium

Elementary School in Montevideo Sept '14

La Playa (beach) in Montevideo

Soaking in the beach air in Montevideo Sept '14

Shopping Center in Montevideo

'Elder Ivie' on the beach in Montevideo

Getting ready for a run Elder Ivie  :-)

BAUTIZAR!...(50th email)

Oh family,

                Wow another week of insanity but awesomeness as you guys can tell from the pics!! J I guess I can say Ïm not in Varela anymore¨! Haha however I do miss that place gotta admit, lots of good friendships over there! I think it is easier to befriend people over there because well there aren’t as many!

                Ha but anyways Thursday was an amazing day! J As a Zone we had the opportunity to go to Carrasco and have interviews with Pres. Cook and go to the one and only temple in Uruguay!! AHH 2 times in a year yeah baby! And boy was it amazing, Pres. Cook had some great advice for me, I say this everytime but that man has one Spirit of Love and Comfort that just hits you soo hard. I can feel the love he has for me and for the work of the Lord! I love that man and also his hilarious wife! He taught me how that spirit works and the Doctrine of Prayer. He described to me the importance of the Godhead and their role in Prayer but in a super complex but obvious way! I cant even describe it to you guys, it blew my mind and made me want to study it more because I kind of already forgot how he phrased it! After that we had lunch in the mission home and went to the temple. Ahhh the temple was so good, I got some awesome spiritual guidance and revelation this time. I found something that I knew before but it blew my mind what I felt in the temple. I opened up to D&C 101, I had to look a little bit but when I found it, it was an answer to my prayer!! I will let you guys study for yourselves but for me it hit me like a wall how amazing it was! J

                And Saturday was the big day, the big day for BAPTISMS!! We had 3 baptisms lined up for this week, and they all got baptized!! J2 of our investigators M and B, which is the sister of G who got baptized last week! An important thing that my comp. taught me this week was the best way to work in Missionary Work is thought REFS. Or referrals in USA! Haha and that’s exactly what happened, B is the sister of G and M is one of their friends! We are seeing so many miracles here in Aeroparque, people are just sharing the gospel left and right and how I am grateful for that help and support! The Lord is hastening His work here and now in this ward and it is quite amazing to see and participate in it! J We also had 9 inv. in church this week with 33 lessons with members! As you guys can see the members are helping a bunch and we are seeing a lot of success here! Oh yeah also yesterday some recent converts got confirmed along with M and B, K and P!! Ahh I am so excited for this week! We don’t have any baptisms lined up this week sadly, but I am still super happy and excited to see people making the best decision they could make in their lives! J The Lord has really been blessing us this week!

                I don’t know if I am missing anything right now but I gots to go!! I love you guys SO SO SO SO SO much! I will send more photos next week I ran out of time! J Have an awesome week, and so happy you guys got to see the fam. This week!

LOVE YOU GUYS TOOO MUCH!

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

Baptism of Melanie in Montevideo September 6, 2014

Melanie & Brandy on their baptism day 

La Playa (beach) in Montevideo

It's been awhile since Elder Ivie has touched sand!

Uruguay Stadium Centenario-SO COOL!!  Elder Ivie loves soccer!

La Playa (panoramic shot) :-)

Elder Ivie has missed McDonald's, as you can tell!!  :-)

MICKEY D'S :-)  ;-)

M.O.N.T.E.V.I.D.E.O...(49th email)

Better late than never like Elder Johnson said...

Hello my dearest family, I am alive but my mind isnt!!!! Ever since I got to Aeroparque, oh my Ive been going crazy!! But I am lovin it here, I have a complete different perspective of Uruguay now! Let me just say that Varela is COMPLETELY different from the crazy city!! In bus I am 30min from the beach, 20min from the temple and mission home in Carrasco. Im in the big boy house now and boy is it crazy. It is such a weird feeling the different lifestyle thats here, everything just moves faster including the Lords work!

Alright I am going to give you guys a REAL brief summary of what happened this week because we ran out of time this P-day! (we took a visit to INSANITY town but how I do love it! We went to the beach, the mall, mcdonalds, Uruguays stadium, basically all in montevideo!) Dont worry I will for sure send pics next week and lots of em. Anyways we got the call Monday night and found out I was heading to a new world no joke. I packed up my bags, said bye to everyone I could in Varela and headed off to Montevideo the next day! I met my comp. Elder Aguilera, he is from Chile and has like 6mths. left or so! I really like him, he is a mega stud but totes a jock. Haha but it doesnt bother me at all, he is a good missionary, loves the people and works good! I am looking forward to working with him this change, I know he is going to help me a lot especially with the language. He is already teaching/forcing me to speak louder and with more confidence. I think we will be good together, I just hope he gets along with me with me and my gringo, ignorant, nerdy personality! Haha he makes fun of me all the time because I have a baby face, but I think he just jokin if not it doesnt offend me because everyone says it! ;) But anyways a little bit about the ward it is HUGE!! Dad you sent me a photo of the church but it didnt work but I am sure it was the one, it is right off the highway! Anyways as I said its GIGANTE, we got 4 elders working here pumping out the Lords work and its an awesome experience! :) 

We are having lots of success here in this ward of Aeroparque, we got a ton of members that will feed us, and more importantly give us references and work with us which helps a TON as I saw with J in Varela! But specifically our area, there has been a lot of success. In the month of August they just about been baptizing almost everyweek here! And that includes this week. YES we had a BAPTISM this week!!! (I will send the pic next week I promise). Her name is G. S., she is actually the first one in her family to get baptized and she is only 8yrs. old! She is really setting a wonderful example for her family and friends! Now her sister and a friend might get baptized because of her example, B. and M.!! ITS GONNA BE AMAZING!! :) We are hoping the parents and grandma come around as well soon. Pray for the Fla. S., thanks loved ones! The Lord is working miracles in this ward, because the ward is so united in one purpose and that is the Lord´s work! 

But yeah thats basically it for this week in a quick summary I hope I can go into more detail next week! I just wanted to let you know that I am doing great here, it might be a little crazy here for the body and mind but hey we are never bored here on the Lords service! :) LOVE YOU GUYS TOOO MUCH! thanks for the emails every single week! you guys never miss, what an amazing fam I got....WOOT! have an buenaso week!

Les amo demasiado, Elder Tyle  Ivie

ps. Momma yeah I think my comp. wants a CTR ring of carbon. Not quite sure what he exactly wants but maybe you can look he showed me a picture it has like black on the inside. If its not too expensive could you send me one and him one. Maybe just for this week, keep your eyes open and I will try to describe it better next week! Sorry just look if its too expensive really dont worry about it! LOVE YA MOMMA annd send CANDY from 'merica!!! its gold! :)