Second Week in the Field‏ - October 27, 2015

This week has been pretty great! Yesterday, Monday we had a Zone Conference where Elder Neilson, the President of the Missionary Work spoke. It was a really long day at that conference but we got so much out of it! On Sunday night we went to Los Reyes and we stayed at our zone leaders house with the district leaders. So there were six missionaries in the house. All I brought there was my toothbrush, towel, soap,

My Bed

and some new socks where everyone else brought a whole suit case. I was fine with just the stuff I brought but we slept on the concrete! I woke up in the morning and my hip is bruised! It was the worst night! 

The Conference with Elder Neilson was awesome! He talked to us at the church for 7 hours! We had a couple breaks but I almost fell asleep so many times! He talked to us about missionary work, then we heard from Hermana Stutznegger, Presidente Stutznegger, and then Hermana Neilson. They all gave amazing talks. We were supposed to read two articles by Elder Bednar and then we talked about them with Elder Neilson. It was a really cool experience.

My Room

The language here is really hard to understand still. I have been able to understand quite a bit more but it is still pretty tough. We were in a lesson on Thursday with an investigator for the second time. He was talking to me and I was trying to figure out what he said. He said something about a girlfriend and I thought he meant that I  didn´t have one so I said yes. But then my companion was like no no no. Apparently he asked me if I was going to marry a girl in lomas (where we live) before going back to the United States. I felt so dumb but he was really old and couldn´t pay attention at all. His wife kept falling asleep so he would slap her arm and be like ´´WAKE UP, THE BOYS ARE GOING TO STEAL YOUR BOOKS!´´ this happened like six times, we couldn't stop laughing, then we were talking about baptism and he hit her and she held up the pamphlet we gave her and she was like ´´Agh whats going on!" haha 

I am still trying to figure out the money here. 17 pesos in mexico is equivalent to 1 dollar right now. I guess it changes all the time. I can buy a coke here from anywhere between 5 pesos to 11 pesos. The coke here is so much better than in the united states. Everything here is so cheap! 

Me and my companion are just about to get our hair cuts right now. We are at an internet cafe which is also a hair salon and then they give us food afterwards. The food here has been really good! It is hard to eat some of the things I don't like such as tomatoes and avocados and stuff like that. But I just drench it in lime juice and It tastes better haha. My favorite food so far has been Tostadas de tinga. It is a tostada (A big round tortilla chip) with cream and then this meat which is sooo good! I had like three bowls! (One bowl is like 5 tostadas).

My View

This week we got two dates for baptisms! On the 28th of November. The investigators have to come to church five times before getting baptized and they cancelled coming to church this Sunday. Hopefully they will come next week. It is a mother and her daughter. Today I am going to be asking two other investigators if they will be baptized! I am pretty excited! 

The weather has been perfect here. Everyone walks around with big coats and stuff and me and my companion are out in short sleeves contacting people. It has rained a couple times but it only drizzles. Nothing bad at all. 

So all in all everything has been awesome so far! My companion is the best! He has the coolest accent and all the other missionaries are like, ´´you have to get his accent before you get a new companion!´´ He is the best! Can´t wait till I can speak more fluently! Hope everyone is having a good week! 

Love Elder Ivie

Mom , Dad and Family
We have a lady in the ward wash our clothes and then we go pick them up the next day or so. We take

Taxi

taxis and taxi vans everyday! They are about 8 pesos every time we get on. Monday I had to go to the offices to go to the immigration offices to get my ´´green card´´. So now i am a resident of Mexico. We had to take the metro to get there and that was a crazy experience. Once the doors open on the train everyone rushes in to get a seat. Everyone starts fighting if they don't get a seat and one of the times we were so crammed into there we couldn't move and i just watched as some guy tried to pick pocket my companion! I would never try to steal something from Elder Alverio.... He is huge! He is shorter than me but his arms are bigger than my head! Probably the weirdest thing I have eaten so far is grilled or cooked platano. I didn't like it very much because it is so different! But yeah everything has been going great! They just opened up a new gym in our area and it costs 500 pesos a month. (35$) we aren't going to do it because it is like a 20 minute walk to even get there. If you look on google maps our apartment is in Lomas de cristo. then if you look more south there is Coatlinchán. We are like at the edge of lomas and in between coatlinchán.
Love Elder Ivie

First Week in the Field - October 19, 2015

New Missionaries

 My first week here in Mexico has been crazy! I arrived on Monday at about 4:00 and was greeted by my Mission President. He is awesome! We talked a bunch about the mission and about other things. He brought me and one other Elder from my flight back to the offices, where we met the other 16 Elders and 1 Hermana. We all got to know each other and they had to translate a bunch of stuff because half of us were English and the other half Spanish. We had tacos al pastor for dinner but they said they weren´t very good but I thought they were. We stayed the night there and then in the morning we went to the stake center and met all of the missionaries.

Companion Elder Alverio

I got introduced to my new trainer... aka ´´my dad´´ Elder Alverio. He is from Puerto Rico and has been out on his mission for 3 months! I guess they liked him so much and he was doing such a good job that they had him be a trainer and I got the privilege to be his companion. He is awesome! My area is in Los Reyes, the Texcoco area. There are four larger areas in my mission and the one I am in right now is the smaller of the four. I love it so far. I am in half country and half city. It is amazing here though. I can be walking down the street and it looks like I am in Paris or something and then I can turn a corner and I am in the biggest dump ever. It is amazing. Some of the peoples houses here are so much nicer than they look from the outside. They all have walls around them so you can never see what it looks like till you go on the other side of the wall. 

My first day with my companion was pretty tough. The language is what is killing me. I have no clue whatsoever what people are saying or asking me. They look right at me and say something and I either say, um I don´t know or si. haha I am just really glad my companion is able to speak both english and spanish very fluently. He saves me so many times. I have tried to contact people on the streets all the time but once I start talking I draw a blank and dont know what to say at all, so then my companion comes in and says something.

My apartment, we live on the top floor.

The food here has been really good so far. The first meal I had was a soup with a chicken breast in it with lettuce and big pieces of corn in the bottom. I was not able to finish it at all. I got yelled at for not finishing to. Later on I found out that all the meals they give you here start out with soup, then they give you the actual food. They feed you so much! I am going to weigh 250 by the time I get home! 

My first Sunday here we were late for sacrament meeting but once we walked in I sat down and my companion was like stand up, I guess they were introducing me. They had me go up to the front and say something and I was caught so off guard. I just walked up and said, ´´Hello brothers and sisters, my name is Elder Ivie, I am from the United States, Utah. I am very thankful to be here with you all and to serve the lord´´ then I sat down again. I guess they wanted a lot more from me but that as good as my spanish is so far haha. We did do three baptism confirmations that sunday. They do the confirmations on sunday after the speakers in sacrament meeting. Kind of different I guess.

From Sister Stutznegger "This young man decided to pick these two Elders as his companions."

Overall I am liking it. I just wish I knew what the people were saying so I could reply to them in spanish. I know over time I will speak better spanish. Hope everyone has been having a good week!

Love Elder Ivie

The top of my apartment

1st Day in Mexico - October 12, 2015

We woke up this morning at 4:20 and went and got on a bus. They dropped us off at the train station with our luggage and we rode that all the way up to Salt Lake City. Our flight took off at 10:05 and we landed at about 4:00. Once I got off the plane we waited in lines to show them our passports and we got our bags and as soon as I walked out the sliding doors my mission president was there to give me a big hug! He is already the coolest guy ever! We talked a bunch about the mission and how the MTC was. We went and

got in his car with his wife, the two assistants, and one other missionary that was on the flight with me from Salt Lake. We then drove to the mission office which is outside of my mission and I am going to be staying here for the night. I had a interview with him and he asked me what I wanted him to pray about for my family. So I told him to pray so that you guys could have peace and comfort while I am gone. It was an amazing prayer. We then just talked about a bunch of random stuff and it was awesome! He saw my bracelet with Nicks name on it so I told him about that and he said he got the email from dad. He told me that he is going to make it so that I will be able to meet with those people and continue the work he started. He said to remind him to send me to one of those areas so that I can do that! He is the nicest guy ever! Miss you guys and hope you are having a great week!

Love Elder Ivie

Week 6 - October 10, 2015

Provo Temple

Well it is my final week here in the MTC, or my last Saturday and Sunday. We leave at 5:05 in the morning on Monday! I am so excited to get out and be in the real world! We had a pretty great last week! During personal study on Wednesday, we watched a talk by Jeffery R Holland  called, "Like a broken Vessel." At the end of the talk he tells a story of this girl that gets in a plane crash with her husband. He is thrown out of the plane and she is stuck inside and is being burned alive. There is an Elder in our zone and that lady is his aunt! He left last week and so he gave us a note that was written to her. Apparently she comes to the MTC every Wednesday and talks to the missionaries. Me and Elder Ainge got to go and talk to her and gave her the note from her nephew. It was a really cool experience. 

We also had TRC Skype on Thursday. We got to give a 30 minute lesson to a member that was somewhere near our missions. The member we taught was actually from Mexico City. It was awesome! She talked so fast it was ridiculous! We had to tell her a couple times that we didn't understand what she was saying. I can't wait till I will be able to talk that fast, if I ever get that fluent with the language. 

After general conference on Sunday we had a devotional in the evening. Usually they have a speaker but this Sunday they had BYU vocal point come! It was way cool! Each one of the members bore their testimony and they sang a bunch of songs for us. The very last song they sang was "Nearer My God to Thee" It was really good! It was probably one of my favorite devotionals that we have had.

How I marked my scriptures

I have been reading the Book of Mormon everyday since I came to the MTC. I started from the very beginning and I  finished it today. It is a great feeling to have been able to read the entire Book of Mormon. I am excited to go through it again and have a question in mind and highlight anything that relates to that question. I am going to make a collection of book of mormons with different questions. I got that idea from a talk by Elder Bednar I believe. 

Last night I gave Elder Harley a haircut in the bathroom! It was the first time I had ever cut someones hair and it looked pretty good. I asked this Tongan how they usually cut the hair on peoples necks and he just took over and finished the entire thing. I thought I did pretty good.

Me getting a haircut from Elder Ainge

We went to the temple this morning and did a endowment session then had breakfast afterwards. It was sooo good! They have the best breakfast's there. I got an omelet, hash browns, bacon, and a cinnamon roll. Didn't even have to have lunch because it was sooo good!

My District

We started packing up all our stuff today. It is a weird feeling packing everything back into your suitcases. It almost seems like you are going to a whole new mission which we pretty much are. I am so excited to leave! 

I hope everyone else has been having a great week!

Love Elder Ivie

Week 5 - October 3, 2015

Pinata I got for a Fiesta from my Mom

This week has been pretty great here in the MTC! Not much new has happened. The temple was closed last Saturday and then yesterday it was closed again for general conference. It kinda feels different not having gone to the temple this week. We did get to sleep in though the past couple of nights which has been amazing! On Friday we received our flight plans! I will be leaving on Monday the 12th. I have to go to the travel office at the MTC at 5:00 in the morning which is a lot better than a lot of the people here... they usually leave around 3:00 in the morning. The one downside is that Elder Harley is actually leaving on Sunday not Monday. I am the travel leader for my group which is only me haha, We go from Salt Lake straight to Mexico City. I am really excited to get out of here.

The language has kind of hit a wall the past week. It doesn't seem like I have been learning very much lately. In lessons I will try to say something but the words just don't come to my mouth. It is kind of frustrating but usually I can get the message across somehow. If not the people just look really confused at me and it is awkward.

Conference with everyone in the GYM

We had conference yesterday and everyone went to the gym to watch it. We sat in the bleachers where the seats really are not that comfortable. We had 3 sessions to so it was kind of hard to pay attention and not fall asleep. It is really neat to be here while conference is going on though. You can definitely feel the spirit being in a gym completely full of missionaries.

The Tile Step I Broke

On Thursday we had service really early in the morning. We got asked to vacuum the stairs. I grabbed the vacuum and set it up against this box at the bottom of the stairs cause I had to grab something else. Then when I grabbed the vacuum again I heard something start to fall but I kept walking up the stairs and didn't pay attention. Then there was a huge thud! I turned around and a huge pole,(The poles that they use during devotionals where they display the talks on the glass for the speakers to read) had fallen and landed right next to my foot! It shattered the tile right where my foot was! It was pretty scary and kind of weird that they would put that standing straight up in the hall. But now I can say I have left my mark on the MTC! haha.

Hope everyone else has been having a great week! I have got 8 more days here in the MTC then I am going straight to Mexico!
Love Elder Ivie

Spike Ball

     

Week 4 - September 26, 2015

Zone

This week has been pretty great in the MTC. The language has been starting to slow down quite a bit. We have memorized a lot of things though! I have the Missionary purpose, the baptismal prayer and baptismal invitation, and the first vision memorized. Anytime we are in a lesson and we are teaching about one of these, my companions just look at me and have me recite them to the investigators. I guess they think I know them better than they do but I really don't. 

Yesterday we had a lesson with our teacher Hermana Anderson and she was playing the role of ceci. We have taught her a couple times and it is hard to try and figure out what their specific needs are. In the lesson yesterday I was able to listen to the spirit and know exactly what she needed to hear. I heard her say something about having hope so I started to talk to her about having hope and how we can have hope through faith in christ. I had her read 2 nephi 31:8-11 and then right after that I asked her, "Segira el ejemplo de jesucristo al ser bautizado por alguien que posea la autoridad del sacerdocio de dios?" aka the baptismal invitation. She paused for a long time. She looked down at the scripture and didn't say anything for like a full minute. It was completely silent. Then she said yes. It was an awesome experience to have yet again another investigator say yes to baptism. Even though it is just a role play, the spirit is so strong. She said it was the best lesson we have given. 

On thursday we taught member TRC which is pretty much like a family home evening lesson. We give a short message to people that are already members. I enjoy it a lot! I think I like it more because the people we teach are really old and talk slow so we can understand exactly what they are saying. It is also easier because they participate a lot! They will share their testimony with you and I love hearing their prayers in spanish! They are incredible. 

On Sunday we had a devotional after dinner and the speaker was the guy from the spoken word. I can't remember his name but it is the guy that says the opening to every general conference. His voice is really cool! We also sang a bunch of songs in between parts of his talk which made it really interesting. Then on tuesday we had a member of the seventy come talk to us. It was Elder Cardon. His talk was really hard to follow and pay attention to. It was just a bunch of scriptures and nobody was really able to tell what his talk was really even about. I could barley stay awake. 

Me and my crew

On wednesday my mom sent us some doughnuts because it was our half way mark here in the MTC. It said happy hump day on the box! There were also a bunch of krispy creme doughnut hats in there so we put them on and walked to class. When we got to class we looked through the peep hole and our teacher was in there. We decided to knock on the door and sing happy birthday to her. We did it and she was so confused it was funny! But she let us eat the doughnuts during class so that was nice. 

MTC Hump Day Doughnuts

Gym is one of my favorite parts of the day. We either go outside and play spike ball.. or go to the gym and I workout on all the equipment on the running track. Spike ball is my favorite thing to do! Me and Elder Harley make a really good team. At the end of the day Elder Martinez, Elder Ainge, Elder Harley and me go into the hall in our residence and we do a insane workout before we go to bed. Elder Martinez is in the army so he is crazy! We do like 100 push ups and in between every ten push ups we do some other workout! It is so tiring but we have to work the food off somehow haha. We started getting a bunch of other Elders to come out and join us cause they hear all the noise from their rooms haha! Elder Ainge was playing basketball yesterday and hurt his thumb, so during class we went to the clinic and they sent us on a little field trip to the BYU student health clinic to get a x-ray. We had to walk there and then after the x-ray we had to walk back to the MTC clinic and find out what the x-ray showed. He broke his thumb. He has to wear this big wrist thing but he thinks it is dumb and never wears it. 

I get my flight plans next week! We are over halfway done with our work here at the MTC! I am so excited to get out of here and be in the real world. It almost feels like a prison here but not at the same time haha. Everything is going great though!

Love Elder Ivie

Week 3 - September 19, 2015

This week has been a ton of fun with a lot of cool experiences! Elder Harley, Elder Erickson and myself got to go up to Salt Lake City to appear at the Mexican Consulate and get our visas. No we aren't going to be able to go to the Mexico MTC, we will be staying in the Provo MTC. I am totally fine staying here, I think the food is better here anyways! While up in Salt Lake we had a ton of cool experiences, we talked to a young Asian boy at the train station and he said he was a recent convert and was thinking about going on a mission. We shared a couple stories with him and I think we were able to build his hope in serving a mission. We also saw another Sister Missionary at the consulate and she was going to the Mexico MTC and it was pouring rain outside at the time. She said we could get a ride back to the trax station if we wanted and we ended up going with them and she sent a picture of us to our moms which was really nice! Oh and by the way all they did to send us off to Salt Lake was give us a phone and dropped us off at the station and said call us when you get to Orem on the way home! It was a very interesting way of doing it. We also were talking to an old lady at another train station and she was saying how she has been abused in so many other churches and had sinned way to much to be in the Mormon church and she talked so much we couldn't ever reply to her. But while we were talking to here a trax worker that was picking up the garbage's (in the pouring rain) while yelling out random lyrics to songs. He walked by and was like "Elders, where are your rain coats?" We kinda laughed and said, "Oh we left them behind." He chuckled and walked off and started singing some church song! It was pretty neat. I feel like being a missionary you carry around this kind of glow and people are always attracted to you and it is just a very neat experience unlike any other. And I'm not even in the field yet! I can't wait!

We have been teaching a lot of lessons each day here in the MTC! Just this week we taught an investigator named Diana. She was really nice. We talked for a while and I asked her if she would be willing to pray. She was hesitant but we told her it was very easy and was just a simple conversation with god. She then said a very sweet prayer and when she was done, she said she could feel some kind of spirit or something, I told her it was the Holy Ghost and a little while later I asked her to follow the example of Christ and be baptized. She said she already was, so we explained our way of baptism to her and she started to understand and at the end I asked her again if she wanted to be baptized and she said she wants to know a little bit more about our church. I hope on Thursday this week I will be able to get her to commit to getting baptized!

Salt Lake City

Our classroom teachers also play the role of being an investigator and we go and teach them lessons. We taught Hermano Wolfe yesterday and the previous time he said we didn't connect with the investigator enough. So this time we really got to know him and we got him to say a prayer and then I asked him to be baptized and he looked at me and said yes.. he had watery eyes and said he felt the spirit really strong! I think he was getting into character a little too much but it was still an awesome experience!

We also like to have some fun when we are about to go to bed! I received a basketball hoop and some nerf guns in the mail and every night we play Pig or Horse or Speed, or shoot each other with the nerf guns! It is a lot of fun! The other day Elder Ainge found a jump rope out side and so he brought it  back to our residence. Elder Martinez was using it and was tossing it back to Elder Ainge when he wasn't looking, and it nailed him right where you don't want to be hit. He was in the middle of drinking water to wash down some pills he was taking and he spit them out everywhere! It was hilarious! Elder Martinez felt bad so he said he could do it back to him I guess haha. So Elder Ainge had a yo-yo in his hand and they had Elder Martinez turn around and they swung the yo-yo right underneath his legs! He dropped like a sack of potatoes! It was the funniest thing ever! They had to try multiple times to! They are pretty dumb!;) haha I guess boys will be boys!

My Room

We went to the temple early this morning and did initiatories. I saw one of my neighbors there working and he said he would tell my parents he saw me! It was a great experience and after wards we went and got a delicious breakfast at the cafeteria there! The MTC has been treating us well the past couple days and I can't wait to see what it has in store!
Love Elder Ivie

YoYo Kings