Whoa!!! We're HALFWAY There!! WHOAAAAA!!!

Livin' on a prayer!!! Actually MANY prayers.... This week I hit my halfway mark. And that's all I'll say about that. 

HELLO WORLD!!!

How's it going? Hear you got your first snow! Poor things. HAH! Not!!! I don't reel sorry for you, cuz I was cold for a year!!! WOO summer time is a comin' ! I may melt. 

-So I am typing on the most ancient computer EVER. I think it might actually be wheezing. Hold on bessie, we got an hour to go....:-)

- I'm super jealous that BYU basketball has started. OH MY GOSH DO I LOVE MY COUGARS!!!!!

-SO WE MOVED! We now have a house! We are living about 3 blocks from our area, and the house is like a dang mansion compared to the cracker box! I don't have pics because the house is a disaster. All we have are our beds, our things, 2 chairs, a fridge, a blender, and a few random utensils. I ate breakfast on the floor this morning, thank you. But the hermanas from Villa Floresta are staying with us temporarily... Hermanas McWhorter and Marin. From Arkansas and Chile. So we're not all by ourselves. We have a BIG room, with no closet or anything so we're STILL living out of our suitcases, huge kitchen, pretty backyard, and a big bathroom. There's not a lot of hot water for the shower though... oh my Argentina. I'll miss Hermana Vawdrey, but it's nice to have some space. 

- Today I saw a girl walking down the sidewalk and juggling. Quite amusing. Random, I know.

- Remember Natalia? She came to General Conference. Well, we had an activity in the stake center and she and her 3 kids WALKED 28 blocks to get there! It was various plays put on by the youth of each ward, and they LOVED it! Then Natalia came to church! She doesn't have a fecha(date) because she needs to get married. She already talked to her pareja(partner) and he didn't say anything back... ahhh! So pray for her!

- We found an amazing woman this week, Gabriela. She's a young mother who is getting MARRIED THIS THURSDAY!  I almost peed my pants with excitement because NO ONE GETS MARRIED HERE! They say it's better to try it out first and live together for a few years. The worst part is that in Argentina if you're together with someone for over a year you get the same privileges as married couples. I am amazed and saddened at the hold that Satan has on people. Anyway. So we taught her the first lesson and when we explained baptism and how we don't baptize babies, she said  "I knew I made a mistake after we baptized my (one year old) son". You better believe I about had to pick myself up off the floor. AMAZING! She asked us when our reuniones(meetings) were and we told her. She accepted a fecha(date) and everything. THEN GUESS WHAT HAPPENED THAT MADE ME WANT TO PUNCH SATAN IN THE FACE??!!!! She started working on SUNDAYS. Flip!!! I swear, every time we find someone golden, problems come up. We have a lesson with her tonight, so we're going to explain BIEN CLARO(real clearly) the importance of church. Pray for us. LIke right now. I have faith that she can become converted, and then change her work schedule. 

 - So last week the office elders decided to play a joke on me and tell me that all my packages and letters got sent to another city in the mission. I flipped out a little, and the next day they told me it was a joke.  So I withheld cookie privileges. THEN this week, I get a package, supposedly from my dad, and I open it and it has cookies and this funny card in it. (see pic) One of the Elders said "If there's one thing I have learned in the mission: it's not to mess with Hermanas that bake cookies". Needless to say, they were forgiven. 
And Elder Costanzi's bday was on Friday, and you better believe cookies were delivered.:-)

I think the Elders learned their lesson!! 

- I´ve been reading in the Book of Mormon (IN SPANISH, thank you) and I just finished the part in Alma about the 2000 stripling warriors. I love this part in Chapter 56

V.44 Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle? 45 And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen ^aso great^bcourage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. 46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will ^anot suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus. 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the ^aliberty of their^bfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their ^cmothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their ^amothers, saying: We ^bdo not doubt our mothers knew it." 

I know that as I continue this battle here in Argentina, a battle against Satan to help others gain eternal salvation, my Savior will not let me fall. I will put my trust in Him forever. When I am a mother, I want to teach my kids in a way that keeps them on the straight and narrow path, and hopefully they will say, "We do not doubt that our mother knew it".  That if we do not doubt, God will deliver us.

--Shoutouts: DAVE! Thanks for the email! Evelyn is just a DOLL! 

EVERYONE ON THE EAST COAST! Please be careful. I will pray for you!! 

Hey peeps. I love you all. I hope you all have a great and safe week. I love you and pray for you often. I miss you a BUNCH. But that´s ok, cuz you're all people worth missing. LOVE YOU!!!

Hermana Squire

Yes, dad I´m getting your emails, thanks!
Love ya parents!

7 months!

Hey people!

My word. 7 months. What the crap. Sometimes I´m like, WHERE DID THE
TIME GOOO? Like this week for instance. Flew by. And now it´s
September. And I´ll be 22 next month. Ewwwwwwwwww.

- So right now I´m listening to rolling thunder outside the cyber.
Like I said before, rain and missionary work do NOT go together. BOO. The
weather is so finicky. I dress in a sweater and I´m dying of heat,
carrying my jacket with sleeves rolled up. The next day, I go out in
lighter clothes and I freeze. BAH! I hear summer is a peach though...
we´ll see!

-This week is the Buenos Aires Temple rededication! We don´t get to see it in real
life in Buenos Aires, but we get to bring investigators to an activity
where we get to see the youth dancing for the dedication and such. Then
Sunday we get to watch one of the three sessions. I'm STOKED! I love the temple!
If you can, go for me this week! Also on Saturday, we´re
doing an activity with one of the office Elder´s wards. We will be
taking one of the young women with us to work all day in our area! It
will be so great for the youth to see what we do as missionaries! I´m
so excited!!!

-So Tuesday Hna. Israelsen got sick with what I had. Poor thing. Not
fun. So we stayed in the crackerbox for the day.

- This Sunday we had 3 menos activos come to church! We have been
working with them and THEY CAME! It´s so nice seeing the fruits of your
labors. Rosa, our bajita hermana que es el más dulce mujer JÁMAS, **(short sister who is the
sweetest woman EVER**) came and she looked so cute! She was so happy to be there!!!

- We haven´t been able to find Jesica and Fernando, or when we set
citas they aren´t there. I´m getting frustrated with the finicky
people here. They never do what they say they will. I´m just like,
"please don´t lie to me! Just say, "no, actually we won´t go to church
this week. Or "no, we don´t want to listen to you," SO I CAN GET ON WITH
MY LIFE AND FIND PEOPLE WHO DO WANT TO LISTEN! I´m praying that things
just came up with those two. We have such great lady investigators,
but guess what??!!  FOUR OF THEM need to get married! It takes like 2
months to get married in Argentina!! My stars!! Just keep the law of
chastity,  people!!!

-I swear, Satan knows when we are fasting. We started our fast after
lunch with a member (we each take a 'bathroom break' and pray in
there) and we come out and she´s like "I´m making dessert!" Crap. SO
we´re like "we have a cita! Sorry hermana!" So what does she do? Sends us
with an apple!! So I've got that in my pocket! Then we go to a member that
owns a quiosco (stand) to ask about some menos activos. What does she do? Gives
us an alfajor (**sweet biscuit filled with filling**) and a cereal bar. So I´m like thanks Hermana! And put it in my pocket. So we come back that night, HUNGRY and with pockets full
of food. Satan is an evil man.

- This Sunday we had PRESIDENTE and HERMANA PARREÑO in our ward! I was
like wah! They´re here! La hermana is the sweetest lady and just gave
us the biggest hugs. She just talked and talked with us and you could
tell pres needed to leave so he was gently leading her out the
door and she was just talking and talking to us with her cute pencil
skirt, red lipstick, and bun on top of her head. I LOVE THAT WOMAN!

That night we had a meeting and we already had missed our collectivo back
to centro (we have to travel to our area) and it wouldn´t come until
another half hour. So, the Elders, being the angels that they are to
us, called the other asistentes (*assistants) and they brought us home in the
mission convi. Elder Costanzi was driving (native Argentine) and I
thought it might be my last day on earth. I just kept thinking, "good
thing I took the sacrament today." But as you can see, I´m still alive. The Elders
are SO GOOD to us. So grateful for them.

- Ok, I´m going to do a little analogy here. So you go to Coldstone.
And they give you an offer... 6 months of vanilla ice cream for free.
But only vanilla. SO you go every day and get your vanilla ice cream.
Well after 3 months, you get a little tired of vanilla. You want
chocolate or mint. But no, you gotta stick with vanilla because that´s
what was chosen for you. By the time you get to five months, you
REALLY want chocolate. Don´t get me wrong. Vanilla is super great. A
great missionary... I mean flavor...., and you like it. But it´s time
for a change. You want to try out chocolate for a transfer or two... I
mean... a few months. Then everything about vanilla gets a little
annoying. STILL LOVE THE VANILLA but it´s like... everything about
vanilla kinda bugs you a teensy bit. But you go on and eat it
anyway... are you catching my drift here? Hermana Squire LOVES vanilla
because it´s nice and sincere and a great missionary... but she´s
ready for some chocolate. Ok, now I have successfully achieved in making
you all think that I´m very weird. Good.

- I read a super great talk bout The Love of God by Presidente
Uchtdorf. READ IT. I loved this part:
"Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now
multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s
love for you. God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe
that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if
we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we
are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He
loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s
love encompasses us completely.He loves us because He is filled with an
infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love.
We are important to God not because of
our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us,
even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken.
God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the
arrogant, and the wicked.
What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is
hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter
our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires
that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us."
LOVE IT!
God loves each of his children so much and I get to have a taste of
that love here. I LOVE the people here. So much. I want to bop them on
the head sometimes, but I STILL LOVE THEM. I can´t even imagine the
love that God has for them.

- Shoutouts: Elder Kelly! Got your letter! You have one on the way!
GRANDPA SERNA! Feliz cumpleaños! Le extraño y espero que su día fue
BUENISIMO. Lo quiero! Happy birthday to MATTHEW Serna! I love you
little monkey! Happy birthday to IZABELLE! I love you cutie pie!
I HAVE A SECOND COUSIN/NIECE LIKE BABY!! (might as well be niece) EVELYN
DUNN IS SO GORGEOUS! CONGRATS ANNA AND DAVE! LOVE YOU BOTH!!!!!
Listen. I love you all. Have a great week!!!!!!!

Hermana Squire

Andamos un poquito perdidas...y locas....(We're a little lost...and crazy..)

Queridos!

-Ok, SO! UHHHH where do I start!? So, Hna Leguizamón got shipped to Bahia on Wednesday, and the Elders called us on THURSDAY to say we were leaving on Saturday to Bahia as well! We are in the Area Villa Mitre 2 (Veesha Meetrae) sharing an area with THE ASSISTANTS TO THE PRESIDENT!!!! WAH! And I'm still comps with Hna Israelsen. Everyone's pretty surprised that this is our 4th transfer together, usually THE MOST comps stay together is 3 transfers. I was ready for a change but...Sea lo que Dios quiera....

- Ok, let's start from the beginning. So we kinda had a feeling we'd be shipped out too, we kinda had a forewarning that Presidente was thinking of putting Elders in Pringles. So after we got the news, we went to all the investigators, converses,(*converts) and menos activos(**Less active) that we've been seeing, to tell them the news and say goodbye. Everyone was SO sad! Belén looked like she was going to cry, Presidente was sad they were taking "las ángeles de Dios",(**angels of God) and Amanda... oh that ripped my heart out. She cried and said that she would miss us so bad, and that we gave her life and helped her find the true church. She was super super sad. Ah, it broke my heart. I'll sure miss her. We visited the menos activos and the reaction that surpised me the most was that of the Familia Bailone. They always made light of things and laughed a lot and just bashed on the members. But they got way sad too! They said we were the only missionaries that were consistent in visiting and they loved when we came over. They wrote some pretty nice things in my contact journal. Anyway, it was just really sad to say goodbye, but I hope the Elders can do some great work in Pringles and help the rama(**Branch) to grow. 

- The APs (***Assistants to the President) came with the new Elders on Saturday to do the exchange. We had to get things pretty organized and write a bunch of stuff about the investigators, menos activos,(**Less actives) and miembros(**members) and where to find stuff!! It was stressful, but they got to Pringles and went crazy over how clean the house was and that it was stocked with food!! The APs went nuts because they hadn't had breakfast. So we rode back in Presidente's car with Elder Constanzi (Argentina) and Elder Caicedo (Columbia). Elder Constanzi is A CRAZY DRIVER!! I thought we would die, but we made it. They are SOOO FUNNY! We were listening to Enya and they were interpretive dancing in the car. We were laughing so hard all the way to Bahia! We spent Saturday organizing a bunch of stuff and copying the area book. We'll be working with Elder Caicedo and Elder Gravelle. Both EXCELLENT missionaries. The ward is stoked to have us 4, and HERMANAS. It's been 2 years since they've had Hermanas. We're living in Puyerredón (Heart of Bahia) with Hna VAUGHN! AHHH I love her! It's so nice to talk to someone new!! WAHH! The apartment is on the 11th floor, ITS TINY! like 1/8 the size of our house in Pringles, we have to slide past the bunks to get into the bedroom, there's no shower curtain so we spray water everywhere when we shower, the hot water lasts 5 minutes so we have to turn it off when we lather up, there's no place for us to study, the elevators are the ghetto gate kind and play 80s music, BUT NO IMPORTA! I LOVE LIVING WITH THE VAUGHN! She's the best and a girl after my own heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy!

- SUNDAY WAS THE NUTTIEST DAY OF MY LIFE! We have to take a bus to our area, and we took it going the wrong way!! We're still trying to figure out all of the bus routes and times, but it's kinda hard! We thought, "well it'll just go in a circle and it'll be fine." BUT NO! It stops at the end of the route and the drivers all chill out in this hut in the middle of nowhere and drink mate for 15 minutes!!!!!!! AHHH! We were pacing around waiting for this driver to get done!!!! We FINALLY headed to the capilla.(**chapel) WE WERE 2 HOURS LATE FOR CHURCH! What a great first impression, eh? Thank goodness sacrament meeting was last! The Elders were like "don't worry hermanas! It's fine!" But I was way stressed!!!!  The members are SO NICE! AND WE HAVE A WARD MISSION LEADER!!! AHHHH so nice!! We ate lunch with the Elders... we might be switching off lunches, and sometimes eating together with the members... that'll be way weird. We already had like 4 sisters come to us and say "Call me when you want a member lesson!" MISSIONARY DREAM COME TRUEEEEE! AHHHHH. A WARD! So stoked!!!!!!! Side note: The first door we knocked on Saturday night was a menos activo! She was like, "did bishop send you?" And we're like "ummmm no"...... what a BLESSING!!!!! She showed us where the church was and our bus stop and everything. SO NICE! 

Shoutouts! TREVOR! You look like a MAN!!! Whoa!! Love my Dunn cousins. Hugs to them all and a belly rub to my little pregnant cousins!! Yay babies! VENICE YOU GRADUATED! Write me you goober. Everyone! I hope everything is going great! I'm happy to be here in Bahía! We are ready to pull our tights up to our armpits and get to work! (Remember Elder Holland's talk to us in the MTC?). We gotta work super hard to find the Lord's elect in Villa Mitre!!!!!! Have an amazing week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Squire

Last Zone Conference with Hermana Detlefsen

Pension in Coronel Pringles