Elder Ivie Chillin' On the Mission: 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