the longest email you've ever seen....brace yourselves Uruaguayo style (48th email)

Good day familia!

Boy do I got a crazy email for you! Mission Tales, Mission Tales, Mission Tales, Mis-sion Tales (can you guess the tune?) But really this week was crazy insane brace yoursleves!

Where to start today was insane we arrived to the church and to our pleasant but not quite so pleasant surprise we found out that somebody broke in! Luckily they did not steal anything but they broke windows, sprayed the fire extinguisher everywhere so yeah we've been busy trying to clean up. Oh yeah and to top it off apparently a cat got in and messed everywhere too! Ahh crazy random story and we still have some work to do.

Anyways to the big news will I be staying or goin?!?! Annnnnnnnd.......................chau I am bouncin!!!! Crazy right?! Ive only had 2 1-2 changes here and now Ive got to go! Wow now all the memories are hitting me! Ive learned so much here and grown closer to Lord these couple changes than Ive ever been in my whole life! :) I will miss it but the Lord needs me in another places and that would be..........Montevideo!!!! Yes I will be headin to the big crazy eastern part of the city. My area is all Aeroparque B, Zone Este!! Yes my area is named airport because I imagine its close to the airport! Woopa I got admit I am pretty excited for this new area though. :) Never been in Montevideo before so we will see how it goes. Unfortunately thats all I know, they didnt tell us our comps. So you will have to wait till next week! Bueno, wish me luck!

But here in Varela its been a killer, miracle full week! Let me start with miracle #1, I had the impression to go contact a referral that we got along time ago but never contacted! We almost forgot about it but luckily it turned out to be a woman named K with a past of missionary visits! She told us her story of how she almost got baptized 4yrs. ago but she wasnt quite married yet. The missonaries were helping her out with it but apparently they took them both out of the area and the other missionaries lost contact with her. But anyways she is sooo awesome she wants to get married so and does her husband they just need to arrange it! Ive heard marriage is sort of a long process, I dont know never done it hehe so it will be awhile but I have to faith that she will get baptized in the near future!

Miracle # 2 we ran into another woman named E H, (a friend of a member) that almost got baptized two years ago but got offended somehow. But she loves the church and loves the story of Joseph Smith. Shes been to church before we just need to help her clear up the doubts, she is super probable for a baptism in the coming months as well. As missionaries we love to meet people like this, that have a past with missionaries and still would like to listen! I see great potential in her.

Miracle # 3 another member of the branch has been talking with her neighbors for quite sometime now about the gospel. The parents are not quite so interested but will support their kids which might help them come around. Apparently the little 8yr. G had been WANTING to get baptized for quite sometime he´s just been waiting to get some plates in his head taken out. They took them out this week and now in no time we will be able to teach him! The Hermana told us that this is HER baptism haha she is too good! :)

Miracle #4 the biggest one of them all, so we had Stake Conference this past weekend where Elder Bednar, Elder Arnold, Elder Hallstron, and the 2^nd Counselor of the Primary spoke (I dont remember her name). Anyways the session Sunday morning, the Varela Branch took a mini bus to 33 to see it and guess who came?????? K!!!!!!!! Yay she committed to come earlier on in the week and she arrived!!!!!!!! :):) An investigator in the church, she is so awesome and sooo ready!! She said she really enjoyed it, besides her son running around everywhere. It was an awesome conference but just a little bit hard to pay attention trying to preoccupy her son. But its alright we just were sooo excited to see the faith she showed by coming all the way to 33 with us all! She even walked all the way to the church with a swollen leg. I hope the best for her, she is a great woman! :)

As I said it was a crazy weekend, we as missionaries got to attend the adult session at 8pm on Saturday! So we took a bus about 30min. to 33 but sadly we found out that there was no bus to take us back in the night so we had to stay in the Zone Leader´s house for the night, wake up, and take a bus at 7:30am back to Varela. And give ourselves just enough time to shower and head on over to the bus to go to 33 again. I dont know if that any sense but it was a crazy 2 days of traveling!

Its been a hot week here in Varela, people are saying that the long streak of raining is about to come, its called la Santa Rosa (the Holy Rose)! We also went exploring in the outskirts of Varela for a little bit this week. Thats the reason I am sending a bunch of pics of us on the train tracks! Very cliche eh?!

This week in my studies I LOVED the story in Alma 21 about Alma and his brothers in the city of Middoni. It says that the people of Middoni believed in little what they said-preached and were eventually thrown into prison. But it says in 14 that they were freed by Ammon and King Lamoni and this is the part I loved. RIGHT AFTER they were freed, they started to preach the gospel again with the guidance of the spirit! There were diligent missionaries and in the long-run the Lord blessed them with people to listen and baptize! Its quite the lesson I learned from Alma and his bros. It shows that diligence brings blessings, we just need focus ourselves in the moment and not bail when things are not going the way we want too! I can testify that this happens in the mission, in fact everybody in life but its how we react, and what we do that will define the outcome! I can say that this happened this week in Varela, we've been trying to be diligent and the Lord has blessed us with all these miracles! And in this occasion lots of them!! :)

I am so grateful for this area, for the people I was able to work with. My comp. has been good to me, Im gonna miss that little man he was one funny kid! I think he is going to miss me too ha! But most importantly I am super grateful for this little time the Lord has given me to serve His chilren here in Varela! :) I am grateful to meet J and see the change that happened in his life because of the gospel. By the way he got ordained an elder on Sunday and received the Melchizedek Priesthood! What a mega stud, he looks so happy and ready for this new responsibility! He has helped us soo much this change, visiting people with us in the burning heat. He will surely be blessed, he already has and will continue to be blessed for what he does here in Varela! Last of all he received his Patriarchal Blessing this past Wednesday as well!

Alright I think that is just about it for the week! Haha as you can see now its been a HUUUUUGE week here. But now its my turn to go see a new part of the Lords vineyard! :)

And daddio thanks so much for the explanation to my Q I knew you would answer it even though its not doctrine it makes sense!! What a stud muff you are! Ummm the answers to your question I am doing fabulous Dad the money is good, my health is good maybe I am a little fatter here in the winter but the Lord has really blessed me with amazing health! The language is going better these past few weeks Ive been trying to put myself out there and just say what I am thinking and it really amazed me what I was able to say through the help of the Spirit. I still get scared sometimes but my comp. has been a real help and for that I am super grateful for a latino comp!

Love, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

ps. what a long email, and pics too! Bonus for you guys!

Outskirts of Varela August 2014

'Look over there, can you see that?'

Looking good Elders!  

Last week in Jose Pedro Varela with Elder Guix August 2014

Sure going to miss this Elder!  He is so much fun & have learned so much from him!

Outside the Varela Branch building August 2014

Mini bus ride w/Branch members to Stake Conference in 33 on August 24, 2014.

One of our investigators came with us too!!  She really enjoyed it!

Woopa! time is....(46th email)

Buenas Tardes y'all!

Another week here in Varela goes by, crazy loco! Elder Guix and I had a good week, it wasnt an easy one but we are here starting the new week off fresh! :) We met some old investigators this past week, T and B. O., that committed to come to church this week but sadly they didnt make it. :( Not sure what happened B recently had an operation and its a little hard to walk and it was a little chilly in the morning as well! Oh well we will see what happens this week. This week was a little difficult with L, D, and B we couldnt get a well planned in charla with them and they arent coming to church. L committed to read and pray about everything but unfortunately she hasnt done it for many reasons.  We might be losing them here this week or the next but, pray for all of them and that everything will turn out right! (like you always do thanks!)

Thats the sad news but we had an awesome charla with one of our investigators A, not sure if I told you guys anything about her. But me and Elder Ramirez found her like 3mths ago, she is a Catholic and definitely likes to take her time on reading and meditating about the things we teach. Everybody has their time right!? We just got to be patient with her and she will come around. She is the woman that thinks the BofM is better written than the Bible not sure if I told you guys that already. But anyways we passed by this week and woaaah she told us right off the bat that she read but was mad!! We were shocked, well at least I was Ive never had someone be mad about a specific principle about the church just in disagreement with something. She asked this crazy question that through us both off, and at this time we hadnt said a prayer yet. So my comp. asked if we could start with a prayer and talk about it after! We said a prayer and suddenly I could feel something different in the room, we were able to answer her question through the Spirit using the scriptures and testifying. She was just bothered with a sentence in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We talked about this life is a trial but as we suffer through this life WITH Christ we will find peace and happiness in this life and for eternity (Romans 8:17-18)! I always knew that Christ was the center to the Plan of Salvation but this lesson just took it to the next level! The spirit was soo strong, she told us that she felt so much peace that we could answer her question but we told her it was the Spirit testifying of the truth. This lesson was a HUGE testimony builder that the Holy Ghost really is the Master Teacher! She is looking very potential to be baptized here soon just got to get her the answer she needs! Ahh!

Oh yeah this week we got to do a service project for President Alejandro, laying down some cement for a patio out back! Pa, its some heavy work but luckily we got lunch and dessert in the middle of it, I think they both trust and like us a little more! :) See photos for the goods

I cant believe im saying this but next week we get the call again......pday on tuesday btws. But what?!?!?! That is insane what a fast change, the weeks are becoming a sweet dream Dad. Its sooo good to hear from all of you! I cant believe summer is over, well winter but yeah! I love that talk by Pres. Uchtdorf momma! There is a mormon message on that talk, its a bullying video you should watch it, its pretty neat! Dad thank you for the crazy doctrinal talk I am so excited to find out the answer haha love ya daddio, by the way I didnt forget about you but HAPPPPY B-DAY this week Dad oh Dad! There are good things waiting in store for you ;) Party like you are 20 daddy love ya! Alexis you went on California Screamin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOCO!!!!!!  2 times good night after 2 times I get sick, I will have to challenge to 3 then! Lumps I sure do love you, hope everything is rico your way ha! :) LOVE you all, momma sure if you want to send the shoes go right ahead Im down. But I am not in desperate need for them, but I wouldnt mind having them and another package YAY! Have an awesome week, eat some ice cream for me at the party! Love guys too much! ps sorry the email is a little shorter

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie 

Elder Ivie in his dream truck!

Elder Guix getting ready for some 'heavy work'!  Service project in Varela Aug. 2014

Cement pad that we laid down for a patio!

Service project ROCKED!  Love that face :-)

God Lives (45th email)

Oi familia!

Boy do I feel good after this week! It went by really fast, we had 2 conferences in 33 on Wednesday and Thurs. First off we had our monthly normal Zone Conference, first one with Elder Massey! What a stud! I went into the conference with a question and it sure got answered. Just a little heads up this week has been full of some revelation, answers from God-- craziness thats why I feel sooo good! :) I liked a quote that they shared from Elder Bednar, (its not going to be perfect because I had to translate it into english) something like this:¨You were called because He trusts you. You havent been called to serve for what you've been, but what you can become.¨ I learned the only way to achieve what we can become is through Jesus Christ and His Atoning Sacrifice for us! I learned that we learn and progress when we fall short, we learn to be better and more importantly we learn that we cant do it ourselves! After that I had a interchange for a day with our District Leader, Elder Torres. It went good, we worked here in Varela and we got rejected a bunch but we stuck it out and a learned a bunch from him about confidence! He is such a stud, he is actually from my group in the CCM! Love that man!

Then Thurs. We had a Multi'Zone Conference in 33, the most dearest President and Hermana Cook came to spend the day with us! :) We learned an insane amount of information that normally before the mission would honestly have put me to sleep but the conference was so inspired I felt the spirt so strong, and it was yet another answer to my prayer! :) #2 and counting....they talked about how to be a better PMG missionary! They talked about 5 requirements to help us accomplish this task.

1. Comprehend who we represent and how to service Him
2.  Be Worthy
3. Treasure the Words of Eternal Life
4. Comprehend that the Holy Ghost is the True and Supreme Teacher
5.  Comprehend that teaching is much more than to talk and exhort

All wonferful points I definitely need to work on but what caught my attention was in general I need to devote more time into PMG! And not do it because I should but because I want to because the Lord wants me to be a PMG missionary! I committed myself then and there to study it more, especially chap. 6 how I can develop more Christlike Attributes. While I was thinking about how and why I should do that more this week, I had a thought pop into my head referring back to my patriachal blessing! I remembred a whole paragraph in my blessing that talked about this topic, and it really got to me. I understand what I need to do better and what the Lord expects from me as a representative of Him! :) It almost brought me to tears how the Lord answers in so many different ways, and in this week he answered very willingly!

However that wasnt the end, Saturday morning study blew my mind away, I wont bore you too much with all that I learned but I was reading the in the August Liahona that got here this week thanks momma! And I ran into a short quote in a story that really impacted me. Elder Holland said ¨the past is to be learned from but not lived in.¨ Love it! And in another story I was reading a random woman said ¨Our faith in Jesus Christ allows us to align our will with that of our Heavenly Father.¨ I always knew this was true but the way she phrased it really got to me! I learned that basically if we have perfect faith in the Jesus Christ we will perfectly understand the will of God and why things happen the way they do! :) It is a principle we should always strive to work on.

Alright so anyways hopefully that wasnt too boring I just wanted to share with you guys the spiritual experiences I had this week. It was quite the slower week, B said she would try to make it to church for a hour but it ends up that she didn't go and was sleeping when we called her :( Noooooo, to be honest I really dont know what to say. We will see what happens this week but we might have to drop them soon because they arent progressing. :(:(

Anyways that was my weekish. The Cooks told me that Chris had his first baptism and his mission Pres. Sent him back to the area he was in to baptize her!! Pretty neat eh?! What a stud Elder Johnson is. Hope things are going good at home, Alexis getting pumped for school! Mom getting pumped to relax maybe...Dad getting pumped to work even more, but hopefully taking BREAKS! And Linly getting pumped to work more in the super dece restaurant in Park City! Do you live there Linly? I figure you do just for obvious reasons! What a cute family we are eh!! Love you guys toooo much THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH FOR THE PICTURES!!!! Ahhh you guys are all soo amazing, what an awesome trip and lindsay basically had all her friends there at the same time! Que cosa! It was like another session of skype seeing all those photos!! AH I think I understand why you guys love photos from me so much! Times are good, the mish rocks Love you guys TOOO much have an awesome killer week! :)

QoftheWeek see if you can guess it...im asking you guys because neither me or my comp. fully understand it. In 3 Nephi 16:1-3 it talks about when Jesus visits the Americas but he says ¨I have other sheep, which are not of THIS land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.¨ So who are these lost sheep' They arent from Jerusalem, the Americas, or of any part of that land round about. Who is he referring about??

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

the photo is the branch of Varela again, we had a Branch Conference where the Stake Pres. and all the leaders came down here and spoke to us! It was amazing, they are watching over good ol small Varela.

Branch Conference in Varela August 10, 2014 (Stake President & other leaders came down)

Rando... (44th email)

Bon jia fam!

I am keeping you guys on your toes lately. You will never know what time I will be writing you these days now! I hope I wake you guys up with this email haha! Soo another week flew by like normal ahh its insane! Not sure if you guys are still in California or just got back?! I hope you guys had a wonderful time and expect to see a few pics at least! I hope all the rides were open and you got to do all the good stuff. I hope Alexis went on the Matterhorn and California Screamin! Haha I got the best fam ever, and just to let you guys know I was super focused this week, I promise! I dont know how you cant believe this is the work of the Lord and for me this was one of the fastest weeks ever not sure why?!

Anyways me and Elder Guix had a good week! J went out with us for like 3 days in a row preaching the gospel which was tooo sick! It really does make a difference in many ways, it helps him gain a stronger testimony of the gospel and missionary work. And also not only do we get member support but J knows like everybody in Varela so anyone will stop and talk to us! Haha its hilarious how it works that way but its gotta be done. Yesterday Hno. J blessed the sacrament and bore his testimony! He is such a stud, its amazing to see his reactivation and the light of the gospel come back into his life! He is so happy right now, and loves to work with us.

The progress with L and B is slow to say the least. We had a couple good charlas with L and a short one with them both. On Friday we had a planned charla with them at 7pm. We arrived 10min. Early and they werent home. My comp. And I sat on a bench right outside their house to decide what we were going to do. We chose to visit another family but before we got up to leave, I asked E' Guix if he had faith and 2 sec. Later we saw their car turn the corner! Dont think Ive ever had an answer happen so quickly in my life! It was a super simple miracle but really amazing testimony builder that we found them that night! We ended up having a good charla with L and B that night! :) I think they understand and believe everything WE say but they need to get a testimony of everything for themselves through the Holy Ghost. That is our goal this week, to get them to pray and understand the importance.  Actually B prayed when we invited her, but she said she didnt feel anything different! So she is getting there just needs to keep trying to find that answer! They are super awesome just so hard to get to church. Another experience so we sent a message to L saying we were coming to pick them up right before sac. meeting. She didnt answer but we went anyways on bikes that some members lent (<--is that a word?) to us so we could get there fast because they live so far away. We arrived to their house, my comp. knocked the door, I checked the phone randomly and we received a message from L saying that she was in 33 for the day! Wow we thought, hope everything turns out alright we have a charla with them tonight! Pray for them!

Oh yeah but the crazy thing is when we were pedaling back to the church, it started to sprinkle just a little bit but not too bad. We luckily arrived in time because like 1min. After we arrived it began to pour ICE! A huge hailstorm came in, and basically almost destroyed the roof of the church! It was insane I have a photo I will send with this email. The hail was the size of a chicken egg!! If we were outside even for a min. longer, or if we would have walked we would have got pegged by stinkin eggs no joke! The Lord certainly blessed us with protection and miracles this week. Quite the amazing week, I know the Lord watches over us and is the head of this work. :)

I really gained a great testimony of faith and patience with the Lords will this week! He hastens the work, not us as missionaries. We are just here to give these people opportunities and not to get in the way. Elder Massey told me that last night, he heard it from Pres. Cook. How true it is, the Lord prepares His children and guides this work! I learned again this week that His will is everything in missionary work. He guides us, and prepares us with the people to teach when they are ready and when we are ready too.

We also as a district had another choque de fuerza its called in Varela! 6 missionaries came and helped us find new investigators, and pick up the work here in good ol Varela. I got to work with E' Peterson which interestingly enough he knew me (sort of) before I got to the mish! Remember good ol Maceys, well yeah remember Starlet, you used to work with her right dad?! Well anyways yeah E' Peterson is her son, and Star told him that I was coming to Uruguay and that he had to look for me! He found me and it was awesome I got to work with him for a couple hours. He is a mega stud and taught me a lot of stuff. He told me I worry too much and take missionary work too seriously sometimes! Haha maybe its true, he taught me to just talk to the people, get to know them, be kind and offer service. I always know that is the key to missionary work but I get so shy sometimes with the language that I buckle. But yeah I work on that a little more this week, he helped me so much it was super exciting to work that way! I need to work on that power and authority thing you were talking about Dad in your last email. Put God first, he is on my side cheering me on in His work! I am called by Him I just need to do my part. Also just like you guys say all the time, have fun with it! I´LL DO IT I PROMISE!!

Funny story, my comp. was like washing some clothes in a bucket or something weird like that. He was dumping the extra water into the toilet and for some reason he left some socks in the bucket. The toilet suck them down now our bathroom is clogged and we cant shower or go to the bathroom! This happened Sat. night, so yeah I know what you are thinking I havent showered for 2 days! But we are going to talk to somebody today dont worry about it! But anyways funny, random, dumb story Ive been teasing my comp. about it all weekend. However I need a shower pronto!

Well thats it folks! Love the pic Lumps, still using tha hashtags eh!? Dad you look like a hipster, Momma you are amazing, thanks for your amazing emails that would be amazing if you turned alexis into Cavani for the HALLOWEEN! SO GOOD! BALLER! 

LOVE YOU ALL TOO MUCH!!! Have an amazing week, say hi to Andrew for me! :) 

Les amo, Elder Tyler Scott Ivie

Mega Rolls

Ice chunks that came down from the sky--the size of a chicken egg!