La Semana de Cambios (29th email)

Hello there family! First off so so so sorry forgot to tell you this week is changes so we have pday on Tuesday as you soon will figure out! Ive been usually good at telling you guys but totally spaced it this time dont kill me! Im ok just chillin here in Lascano as usual time is goin crazy fast! I cant believe I already have a whole change with Elder Massey and guess what.............WE ARE BOTH STAYIN! We got the call last night and we are both chillin here together for another change! WOOHOO I am pretty pumped!!! Elder Massey is a mega stud and I didnt want him to go. I hope he feels the same way.....ha  hope Im not drivin him too insane!

So nothing crazy here, it was definitely a crazy work week! We had 2 intercambios this week. One with the Elders in Chuy, I was with Elder Cross. It was a good time he is a gringo with the same time as Elder Massey. We did work! They got a huge area and I learned a lot about patience with him. They were having some huuuuge Easter Festival there too! I know what you are thinking another one. Thats what I was thinkin. Everybody we talked to was out of town so it was hard to get some new investigators for them but it was still a good time. The other intercambio we had was with the Zone Leaders in 33! I was with Elder Lacey, another gringo and we worked in Lascano! I love Elder Lacey he taught me how to just  work till you die basically! Just give it all like we should be 24/7 to the Lord. He talked to everybody in the street and invited a lot of people to be baptized. I learned a great deal of the importance of inviting someone to be baptized right there (as long as you do it by the Spirit of course). It really  helps you understand and know if the person is willing to follow God and progress at that time! Those are just a few tiny lessons I learned but now lets get to some funny and crazy insane stuff! After the day was done with Elder Lacey and I we had to take a bus back to their area in 33 to pick up my comp. Holy Smoly crazy in 33 there was a festival there too!!!! Goodnight!!! Uruguay is full of festivals and it just kills us! The bus was packed and we had to stand up the whole way with crazy people talking the whole way. But that wasnt even the worse. On our way back the next morning the bus was packed again!!! But this time everybody was drunk. I had this drunk guy talkin to me this whole time about who was the first sinner! The conversation has no point but I definitely realized that I wasnt in mormonville once again.

Another funny and embarrassing story I had was we went to a members kid  birthday party on Thursday just to go say Feliz Cumpleaño! They invited us in and to sit down for just a minute and chat. They gave us a pizza and told us to sit down. Right when I sat down the chair just collapsed, And everybody saw!!! SOOOO embarrassing! People were just laughing and I felt sooo bad. From that point on I realized that I am HUGE! No more dulce for me eh. I like to blame it on the loose chair though! ;) 

Alright those might not be as funny as they seem but it was funny in the moment! you had to be there. But now something serious I studied this week. Elder Massey showed me this scripture this week that really hit me. I dont think I have shared this with you guys but if so bear with me. Its in Alma 32:27 it talks about exercising just a particle or a twig of faith and how that will change your desires completely!! Ive been thinking a lot lately because although it might be small and easy to overcome my blisters on my feet were killing me. I sometimes thought it would just be easier to take a small rest than to keep walking. But then I remembered this scripture. Even though this trial is very small I had to put my faith in the Lord and hope for the best. And boy did the Lord grow my faith substantially! I feel so much better spiritually and physically now thanks to my Savior! There is a small Mormon Message named Mountains to Climb by Pres. Eyring that talks a lot about this! I love it and invite you to watch it! Speaking of everybody is talking about this Because of Him video! Hopefully I will be able to see it here soon! Unfortunately I cant go on Mormon.org but maybe the mission will allow it soon here! Im sure its AMAZING because its because of Him we are a here, its the reason Im on the mission, and its because we can live eternally with him and families once again!

Thanks Fam for all the support as usual, looks like you guys are gettin all set up for Mothers day eh?! Haha thanks I am mega excited of course, I will let you know more news as I get it! Investigators are doing alright! We are still working on B, he went to the Catholic church the other day to see what path he wants to take! We are crossing fingers we knows the Spirit of Truth and he recognized the difference! 

Mom I got a few requests! Haha I need a few things, some new soles in my  Dunham shoes there are already wearing down (hopefully that is possible). And a few things for winter because its gettin a little chilly down here I got to admit. So maybe just like a beanie, gloves the thin and big ones, and warm slippers please! Thanks you da best! :)

Anyways thats my week fam!! I cant wait for this new change with Elder Massey once again! :) We are going to baptize the world this change!! LOVE YOU guys so so so crazy much! Have an awesome week yall!

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

Love that smile Elder Ivie 

What is that look?  Nice smile Elder Massey!

Wanna a kiss?  haha

Beautiful sunset in Lascano

Feliz Pascua a ustedes también!! (28th email)

OOOPA! FELIZ PASCUA for some reason I thought it already passed? I have no sense of time here its just flyin! Its sounds like everything is pretty chill in Highland just like Lascano eh?! I havent gotten the package yet unfortunately but its alright the misión has definitely taught me an amazing Christlike attribute of PATIENCE! :) Sounds like a pretty quiet Spring Break though...I bet the Aquarium was pretty neat. How neat is that? And a new Muppets Movie what the what? Another one? Interesting....

As I said before this week has been pretty quiet here in Lascano almost always. Same with the work, of course we worked our brains out as usual because there is actually a lot of work to do its just hard getting the fruits of it. It has taught us a lot of PATIENCE and HOPE for the future. Its getting pretty cold down here I got to admit but, nothing near Utah yet. My companion is dying, he's from Cali. haha its so funny! ;) The cold really gets to the Uruguayos though, that was the main reason why we only had 9 people in church yesterday. Nobody likes to leave their houses when its raining and freezing but the members and the missionaries go figure right? The friendship with B has been kind of fading, we pass by his house everyday but he is either sick or gone. We aint givin up on him but he has definitely been a challenge. We just need to get him excited again! :) A L, and C are sort of fading away too, we havent been able to get a lot of visits with them because they are always busy. But of course we are DILIGENT and PERSISTENT!! We dont take no for an answer. Other than those slight challenges we are always good and happy in the Lords service. We found 2 families that are sort of interested so we will see how that goes this week!

We had an awesome Zone Conference with Pres. Cook and his wife as you guys know! It was super awesome to meet them, they are super funny and super spiritual at the same time! They told me that Chris (Elder Johnson) was on the plane heading to Taiwán and the language is kicking his butt! But he is a stud and I am so excited for him. The Zone Conference was all about change and how to always look to the future. I learned a lot on what I could do better as a missionary and the great responsibility we have for our own specific áreas! Every week is just a start over, What can I do better this week that I didnt do as well last week? I love that question because there is ALWAYS something! Scripture Study, PMG, and prayer help you answer those questions! :) I got a strong testimony of that. This work is inspired always with direct revelation from God. I am on the Lords side, I am His son, Messenger, and friend. I love the Lord and I want to do better this week for Him and his children.

Thanks for the support y´áll! I hope you have an amazing week in the warm sunshine luckies! Its sooo weird Ive been scorching hot for a whole year and now I startin to feel the chilliness! :) LES AMO MUCHO!

Love, Elder Tyler Ivie

ps. my feet got wrecked this week but im doin awesome and better dont worry

pss. thanks everybody for writing me! I got amazing family and friends!

GC is off the HIZAM!!!! (27th email)

Hooooola lovely family what an awesome, better, crazy week!! :) This week was a serious change from this past couple weeks! We had an awesome Zone Conference on Tuesday where we talked about our goal of 33 baptisms as a Zone in the month of March (we only got 16) and other things. So basically we kind of got dropped cane on. Ha not so much but they talked a lot about change and how important it is to make a change in ourselves. This conference really did get me pumped up and ready to make a change. They had us write a self evaluation about ourselves and what we could do better. This really helped me realize what I can do better as a representative of Jesus Christ. I kind of droppped cane on myself actually and just told myself I need to make a change inside myself. I am so grateful for inpsired conferences like that because I know that is what I needed to be the best missionary I can be for the Lord and the people in Lascano. :) 

Friday was amazing day, we had a crazy opportunity to talk to B's mom about his baptism!! We really had the spirit there because Elder Massey told me he didnt even know what he was saying. But she agreed to support B to be baptized. WAHOOOO!!! We were on cloud nine, we were doing everything we could to get ready for the baptism, we had to fill that font!!!!!! We got it all ready and then finally it was the day, Saturday. We had planned on taking him to the first session of GC and then baptizing him right after. We stopped by at his house to pick him up but we found out that his mom was leaving to work at a festival that was going on, and B had to take care of his siblings. So sadly we walked back trying to think of some way to solve this problem, we watched conference, texted someone to help us watch the kids, she accepted so we hauled down to his house to figure it all out. However to our surprise we found out that B's mom was back at the house but she sent B to his grandmas house. We were like oh my goodness, this is a scavenger hunt!! But hey we werent giving up, we found his Grandmas house and he was there! But unfortunately in the end he had to help his Grandma and his siblings again for some reason. We still dont know what really happened, we tried our best we did everything possible we could do but it just didnt happen. We aint giving up on him of course we got some serious issues to figure out here. Can I ask for a special prayer from you guys on this one, we are going to need it! :) However we are doing good, there is always a lesson to be learned from every trial! We definitely understand how to be diligent and patient with the will of the Lord. 

It was also hard getting people to church for conference!! Who knows why? Who wouldnt want to hear the only prophet on the earth speak?? There was a festival this week for the town so literally everybody went!!!! As you see the opposition of Satan is really working hard here. But we aint giving up, as long as me and Elder Massey stay diligent and obedient we will definitely see miracles!! :) Those 2 things were pretty hard and frustrating this week but we are moving forward thanks for all the faith and prayers for us, fam!

Other than those things CONFERENCE WAS THE BOMB!!! It was a little hard to listen to. We had to listen to it in Spanish with English subtitles. Definitely a different experience but it went alright. We downloaded all of it in english to watch in our house this week ;) haha gotta get it in the native language! Its gold! I really liked the first session on Saturday that was my favorite. There were sooo many good talks as usual but I really liked Elder Hollands talk about comfortable Gods, and Elder Andersen talk on the temptations of Satan. I have never been so excited to go read and listen to the conference again! I am excited to better myself from this conference and hopefully help the people of Lascano understand the importance of this true restored Gospel!

Mom that would be awesome if you could send me the ensign each month. The mission sometimes gets them in bulk for the missionaries to pick up but that is sometimes a little difficult to get and pick up. I think if you send it every month it would be a lot faster!! So if you could do that, that would be AMAZING! Thanks mom love ya always! :) Oh yeah and it turns out I am 2nd counselor! Haha didnt even know it is kind of an inherited calling I guess. Its chill.

Anyways thats all folks! :) Finally get to meet Pres. Cook this week I am excited for that! LOVE MY FAM ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!! Keep it real, I got work to DO!!! :)

Les Amo su hijo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

ps. Happy late Easter I guess.....make me an egg please jk

Getting anxious.....(26th email)

Hahaha hooooola familia ¿cómo a pasado? Sounds like you guys have been having a crazy week! I bet Moms bday went sooo good, what do you mean you have been partying all week? Is that because all the crazy sports games and all! Speaking of.....WISCONSIN TOOO SICK!! Have they ever won the tourney? They are sooo close I cant even believe it. Its crazy I go through days now totally focused on the work that I forget I even watched sports before. Thats how it should be eh?! RSL is kickin trash too, wow they are always going to be amazing, they are making up the slack from turible Jazz. Anyways a NEW COUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow finally its about time! Haha what did you do with the other one. SO this one has enough space to fit the whole fam? And a person can lay down?? Whatttt! I am hittin up that super comf, the first thing I get back! Hahaha that is nice timing right before conference! I dont think I have been more excited for General Conference until now! Its going to definitely be different but I am super pumped to just hear the inspired words! :)

Alright now to my awesome week as usual! :) The title says it all though...so we didnt get to do B's baptism this past Sunday. We passed by their house everyday but we could not get anytime with her because her kids were going wild or she wasnt there. Wow the opposition is really working hard right now but we got a set charla just with us and the mom this wednesday to help her understand. We are hoping it will work out because I cant tell you how ready B is! He is cruising in the gospel, he understands what a prophet is and is excited for GC! He is reading praying and teaching his friends the gospel and how to pray, and even that HE WANTS to be a missionary!! He is the biggest stud ever! :) Luckily though we got a super firm goal for this Saturday for his baptism in between the conference sessions. Keep praying one more week, he´s been a toughy but we will get there!

Other than that we found a new investigator this week that was super close to getting baptized a year ago with her daughter than somehow it just didnt work out. Her name is A L, and get this SHE texted us saying that she wanted to study with us and do what GOD wants!! Satan might be working the opposition but God is definitely working the miracles stronger! Oh yeah and we got the is kid named C that is like 16ish and he has got the same situation, we just got to line up a charla them both! The Lord is the head of this work, I have a firm testitmony of that and he is preparing the people that have been stuck in the darkness! Super excited for conference and those charlas this week!

Qué mas? Oh yeah MY SPANISH IS GETTiNG SOOO GOOOD!! Ok im not going to jump the gun and get to confident but I can pretty much say what I need or want to say now. Sometimes its a little rocky and not as flowy (is that even a word?) but whatever its getting sooo good. Talking is the secret hahaha who would of thunk? I think I am just getting a little bit over my shyness and seeing more confidence in myself and of course the help of the Spirit there is no other way I could do this! The main reason I say this is because I had to speak in church today for the first time! Woof I was a bit nervous but it honestly worked out awesome! I think I made sense...I think? I just got up there had a little plan but just went off on what the Spirit wanted me to say! Ahh sorry its hard to explain and a little cheese bomb but I am just sooo excited to see progress! :)

To answer your questions no I wasnt made 2nd counselor, but I still got lots of responsibilities in the Branch! We teach Sunday School and as I said I had a talk this past week. We are just the permanent fill ins, my comp. taught all 3 hours yesterday what a stud right? I stinkin love Elder Massey we have sooo much fun, and so chill and easy to get along with!  But yeah thats all I got for this week, I am in Chuy right now going to go buy some cheap stuff! Brazil is just soooo much cheaper I have no idea why?? But yeah thanks for all the support as usual (and the money:)) Love you more than Dulce de Leche! :) And thats saying a lot. Have an awesome week, and an awesome Conference on the sofa nueva!!!

Les amo, Elder Ivie 

PS: I will try to send some pics next week sorry I am still waitin on that camera cord, thats the thing with working in a pueblito (little town) we dont get mail super fast because the Zone Leaders live an hour and a half away! Esta bien.

La Semana de Milagros!! (25th email) -- Elder Ivie has been out 6 months already...ahhhh!!!

Hooooola How is everything goin?!? Comin up on Momma´s bday eh?!?! Whats the plans!?!? I am so glad you got the card Momma. Also getting sups excited for conference in 2 weeks wow I remember watching it in the CCM like it was yesterday! The hard thing here in Lascano is we only have a computer that can transmit it in Spanish.....sooo we might be watching it in Spanish. Its going to be quite the experience I will understand pretty good but it will be hard to pay attention I just know it. But maybe later on we will figure out how to watch in english on a Pday or something. Its all good.

Wow what a week fam, I never saw any of this comin. So here is what happened you know our investigator B? We bumped up his baptism this Sunday because he is a stud and he is so ready. Here is what happened. We taught him everything, he recieved his answer from the Lord and the only thing missing was the baptismal interviews. So the Zone Leaders came here to do it, but when we went to go pick up B from his house he wasnt there!!!!! So we freaking out trying to call him (he is 12) but his Mom had his phone. We thought he was trying to avoid us or something. We decided to go searching with him because he was probably hanging out with this friends. We called the Zone Leaders and let them know the situation and they told us to pray. So we were looking for a place to pray because we were like in the middle of a noisy street, when 3 random people that we have never met before called us over. Elder Massey decided to go talk to them. It turns out they just wanted to know  where we were from, it was like a 30 sec. conversation then they left. But here is the miracle right when we turned around we saw B and his friend walking on the sidewalk a block down!!!!! MILAGRO! There is no way that was a coincidence. It might be cheesy but I am thoroughly convinced that the Lord put those people there to stall the time for just a moment so we could find B!!! Ahhh soo cool then we had the interview and he was set. However Saturday night rolled around and we went to go visit him to make sure everything was good. But to our surprise his mom was having some doubts. She didnt want him to get baptized on Sunday which kind of stressed us out because we knew and B knew he was ready. We left it at that because we had to go back to the house. We prayed and were hoping we could make her understand tomorrow the importance of B's baptism! This is honestly the best thing he could do for himself right now. To understand his Father in Heaven more and to recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide him of course. So we went to go visit them in the morning right before church and unfortunately we found out that he had an asthma attack during the night and he couldnt come to church or his baptism.

Anyways lots of potential let up to this bummer, but we still have high hopes for B this week. The Lord is just sending tests of our faith and diligence and we aint given up! :) We got B's baptism this next Sunday and we are going to finalize everything we need for B and for his mom. Keep them in your prayers especially this week thanks guys! :) Im so excited for this week because this could be my first baptism too! Other than that huge story we got a few others investigators named C and S we are working on. The whole family are members but inactive, and their daughters C and S never got baptized. So we are going to be working on getting them back to church and hopefully get the 2 daughters in the waters this week too! :)

Lascano is rolling here, as you see we got lots of potential and we are working our hardest. Elder Massey is such a stud muffin, its hard not to compare myself to him because he is such a stud. He is teaching me just to have an amazing attitude about everything and have the attitude and hope that we will baptize! :)

Me and Elder Massey are doing awesome, cant wait for this week, I set some awesome goals this week too! Thats another thing Elder Massey has been teaching me. Anyways thanks for all your prayers and support! You guys know that I LOVE YOU snug as a bug in a rug! :) have an awesome week!

Love, Elder Tyler Ivie

Lombardi uno!! Classic!

                                     You can always find this name everywhere!  Sweet!
                                                 

Changes...Lascano baby! (24th email)

I made here safe and sound here in Lascano but, boy has it been a busy ride getting here! Tuesday was my last day in Durazno I got to say bye to some people from the ward, the Bishop, Maxi, and B thats hopefully going to be baptized here soon! :) Wednesday was changes day we took a bus at 7 in the morning to Montevideo because thats where they do all the changes stuff then they send us on different buses to our areas. We arrived in Montevideo got to chat with some of my friends that I have met, I met my comp. Elder Massey he is awesome (I will talk about him later on). And lastly we had a meeting with the Cooks!! Chris´s grandparents opa che they arrived just last week! They are soo funny and nice I didnt get a chance to meet them personally but I will here soon! They are super funny and spiritual I just hope they stick around for a while haha. Oh yeah funny but scary story I accidentally left some of my bags unattended on the sidewalk and apparently some guy on a horse and carriage was scoping them out and almost stole them. But fortunately a Brother that was outside chased them off, that definitely wasnt any coincidence that was a miracle from the Lord. Then we left Montevideo to the zone of Treinta y Tres (33)! We arrived and stayed at the Zone leaders house because Lascano was like another 1hr, and a half away and we had a Zone Conference the next day. We got a baptism goal this month of 33....go figure eh? But apparently nobody has put that high of a goal before so we are pushing hard this month we are actually getting pretty close! After the meeting we left for Lascano, its a pretty little town here in the middle of nowhere! Its definitely not as small as I thought it was going to be, I am really coming to see that Uruguay is basically the South American version of Wisconsin! Haha go figure that too! There is definitely lots of fields but lots of trees and palm trees too. The area is pretty big but our ward isnt. In fact its not even a ward, its a BRANCH! Opa! And the chapel is a house!! First time ever working or even being in a Branch. This past week we had 13 people in church...wow right? Little different from Utah eh? Even Durazno! But I really am super excited to work here and have this new interesting experience! I think I am going to be like 2nd Counselor or something, we also teach Sunday School which will be good for my Español. I have basically already met everybody in they Branch, the President is a good guy, I love the Fla. Viñarte they are a bunch of recent converts and we meet with them all quite often! They are super crazy, but super funny and so loving I love them already. They have like 10 kids and one of them just got baptized this week, his name is Mauricio. He is about 23ish and so spiritual and so ready to walk in the way of the Lord. I actually had the opportunity to confirm yesterday!! Ahhh I was a little nervous because it was my first time but it went better than I thought it would. I think he understood me? Its was very simple but I felt the Spirit which is all that matters right? We got a few investigators here, one of them went to church this week, Br. He is a mega stud he loves to learn more, we are just working on helping him feel that this is the true church and this is the way the Lord wants him to go. We are teaching him how to pray today to receive that spiritual confirmation. We got a few others but I will tell this next week if there is any progress with them this upcoming week! :)

Lastly we had a cool opportunity to go to a city called Chuy for a baptism interview on Saturday! The cool part of this city is half of its in Uruguay and half of its in BRAZIL! Amanda probably has heard of this city...well maybe Brazil is huge! But anyways after the interview we had a little extra time before our bus left to look around! Its pretty awesome because there is a 2 way street, one of half in Uruguay, the other in Brazil! So literally we just crossed the street and we stepped into Brazil! How sick is that? Its pretty cool too because people start speaking Portuguese to you and its super strange but awesome! I was going crazy, we picked up some nice cheap Brazil goodies (Guarana, Fanta Uva (grape)). I remember Guarana from the states, its soooo good and sooo cheap! But anyways that was basically it, we could definitely feel the culture change! :)

Elder Massey is a mega mega stud. Everybody in the mission loves him and l love him already! It took a little bit too warm up to him but now we are good! He has 10 months in the mission so yeah little bit more time than me. He is from California but spent a year in Hawaii to go to BYU Hawaii. He is soo chill, and funny! He has got such a great attitude about everything and I want to become more like him. I have noticed this past week that I could have had a better attitude about things. I wasnt negative but I could have been happier than I was. So that is my goal this week, I want to change my whole outlook on things. I know we will have success and I will everyday more and more if I have a better outlook on things! I found an awesome scripture today its in 2 Nephi 31: 19-20. I love it because it asks the question like have you done all your good? Or something like that, it goes on and talks about how there is no way your could have made it this far without faith and hope in the Savior and His words. I know that is sooo true! I have grown sooo much in these past 6 months (almost). And I am not going to stop or halt my progress to become a better Christlike missionary. I am going to be better this change, faith and hope is the key to a good attitude! The mission is so awesome! I am excited to see what this new experience has in store for me.

Momma yes I have been getting the emails from you! Its just hard keeping up with them! I try to read them if I have time! Its good to hear that Spring is starting up, I am sure you guys are pumped because of that. 30 days for Tommy woooooow that has been crazy fast! So excited for that kid. Sports are looking good we will see if Byu and Wisc play this next week! Haha oh momma. Well its good to hear everything is just dandy, I love you guys too much to handle. This is probably the longest email ever, its been a big week! But until next week! Chao Que pasen bien!

Les amo,



Elder Tyler Ivie