Mission Conference Goodness!

Hey, what's up goobers?? 

Hope you all had a good Mother's Day. I forgot to do a little shoutout to all the moms out there, especially mine! I'm grateful for my mom and all the mother figures in my life. Thank you for all you do!

-Well! We had quite the week! Yesterday I got to talk with my sweet parents! I really didn't know what to say, haha. And I sorta struggled a little bit... "uhhhh, ehhhh....." haha.

- SOOO! We had a baptism on Saturday... YUP, LEO GOT BAPTIZED! (well, it wasn't really MY baptism, we were just there to watch... but the way that I see it is that the baptisms we witness as missionaries aren't OUR baptisms, but the Lord's).

Leo's baptism

We weren't planning on that but when we had an appointment last week he was like, "listen, hermanas, I want to get baptized this week". So, what did we do? We whipped out all the folletos and got to teaching. He already was familiar with everything so we just reviewed, committed, and BAM! Water. He got married on Friday and baptized on Saturday. Both he and Paola were so happy. They are now working on getting to the temple.  

- On Friday, we got up at 2 in the morning to travel to Bahia Blanca where we had a mission conference with Elder Zeballos. IT WAS AMAZING. The best so far. Hermana Parreño talked about the things that hurt us now... the blisters, sore feet and legs, tired backs, the heat, the cold... will exalt us when we leave. We have to pass through these things in the mission so that we can leave happy. I know I should be more like Paul, and "glory in my tribulations".  President talked about deep doctrine, about the Plan of Salvation. It was like WOW, I'm gonna have to explain it in the next letter cuz I´m short on time. Hermana Zeballos said something that I really loved. She had an apple and cut it in half and asked us what it had to do with missionary work. We made our guesses and she told us, "You can count how many seeds are in an apple, but you can´t count how many apples will come from one seed". As missionaries, we plant seeds everywhere. Sometimes we are able to see them sprout and bring forth fruit, other times, no. 

Story time. in Pringles, my companion and I worked with a menos activo family every week while we were there, but we never saw any progression... this week, my mom got a facebook message from my trainer, Hermana Israelsen. The hermano had sent her this message:

"Buenos días Hermana! como le va??? le cuento algo ya hace un mes que asisto a la capilla junto con mis hijos, Andrea fue a la conferencia general y este domingo asistió a la capilla. Ya tengo un llamamiento soy el secretario ejecutivo de la rama y el domingo me sostienen. Hacemos las noches de hogar, oramos y compartimos las escrituras en mi casa. Quería que lo supiera porque esto es producto de su trabajo aquí, su semilla quedo plantada y esta dando frutos, Muchas gracias por habernos ayudado.!" 

**************translation: "Good morning Sister! How are you? I want to tell you something. It has been one month since I have been to church along with my children. Andrea went to General Conference and this last Sunday she went to church. I already have a calling. I am the executive secretary of the Branch and this Sunday, I will be sustained. We have Family Home Evening, we pray and we share/study the scriptures in our house. I wanted you to know this because it is the product/result of your work here; your seed was planted here and it is giving forth fruit. Thank you for having helped us!"*******************

I am SOOO happy. To you missionaries.... sometimes we sow and we sow and we sow... we plant seeds all over and sometimes we don't get to see them grow. But some of them DO grow. This is evidence that they do. Sometimes we get frustrated when we don't see any results. My cousin Greg told me " Remember you decided to be a missionary despite what your ´results´ would be". So true. I have to remind myself of that daily.

-  One scripture to finish up. This is in 2 Nephi 33:3-4, but I'm gonna change the words up a bit "3 But I, {Cydnee}, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great ^aworth, and especially unto my {family and my friends}. For I ^bpray continually for them by day, and mine^ceyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry.

 4 And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my {family and my friends}. And the {letters} which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it ^apersuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life ^beternal.

- Shoutouts! 

KRISTEN FINALLY YOU WROTE ME!! (whose the best cat in the United States... it´s you, champer damper, it's you!). 

Taylor, Paige, EMAIL ME! Goobers. 

Serna family! Thank you for the email! Cool lizard!!! I like the name Draco... only because it reminds me of Harry Potter :) Leah, thank you for the drawing! Thanks Tio Hector!

Fernuik family! Thank you for the letter and for all the postcards!  I love seeing where you're all going! 

Myranda Thurman! Thanks for the email! I hope all is well with your family :) 

Tyler, thanks for the email and for constantly giving me advice.

I'm lucky to have a brother like you. 

Listen up peeps! You are great!
I love ya!

Love,

Hna Squire

cydnee.squire@myldsmail.net

Elders Allred and Hall! From my MTC District!!

Hermana Marin

With Elder Flores and Presidente's wife, Hermana Parreño

Reunion with Hermanas Mansilla and Batista!!!

Mom Times 2

Hey goobers!!

How are ya!? Well, you're all heading into spring, breakin' out the sandals and such and I'm puttin' on the scarves and tights. BOOO. 

First off, THANK YOU ALL FOR THE EMAIL LOVE. I love hearing from you!! Yes, YOU!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Mansilla

-Well, we finished the 9 week transfer of death, Hna Mansilla said her goodbyes and we got all of her stuff together, which was a LOT! and headed off to Bahia. Dorrego is like an hour from Bahía so I don't think we'll see each other until we finish the mission in July. PS. Every time people ask me how much time I have left and I say 4 months, they're like, "oh hermana, ya esta, ya se va!"  It's weird... now I'm in the "old group". 

So, we went to the office and did the whole orientation deal and I found out who my companion would be.........

Hermana Ibaña! Another comp from Argentina! She's 20, and from Santa Elena, Entre Rios. She did a mini mission, so she knows the basics of the work and the lessons. She likes cooking and is hungry every 2 hours... but she's like a little stick! It's hilarious. So we're happy to have her here in Puerto.

New companion! Hermana Ibaña

-So we had one heck of journey home! There weren't any colectivos directly to Mar del Plata, so we had to take one to Villa Gesell, about 1.5 hrs from MDP. WELL, 3 hours into the journey, we blew a tire! So we sat off to the side waiting for 3 hours. Then we drove to a pueblo and got off since we were the only ones going to Villa Gesell. The six of us got into cars and headed off to ANOTHER colectivo (bus) in the middle of nowhere waiting for US. We got on, and there were only 4 seats for 6 of us!! SO I sat on Hna Ermacora's lap for an hour. Any longer than that and I think she would have been paralyzed! haha!  We finally got to Villa Gesell at like 4 in the morning and had to wait until 6 to get another collectivo to MDP... it was a joke!!!  We were beat after the 17 hour journey. I wanted to die. So long!

The lost and weary travelers, even the dog...

4 am......so tired!

I don't think she will ever recover from the bus ride!

- Hey! Today is my 14 month mark! WOO! Can you believe it?? That means in less than four months I'm gonna be home and I'm gonna see all of you!!!

- Ok, I was reading in Nefi (Nephi) the other day....we all know about 1 Nefi 3:7... I will go and I will do... and everyone loves that scripture. And it says yes, I will go and I will do what the Lord asks of me! But that's future tense, right? So, I was reading in 2 Nefi 5: 31, in Spanish of course, and it says, " 31 Wherefore, I, Nephi, to be obedient to the commandments of the Lord, went and made ^athese plates upon which I have engraven these things". In Spanish, "hacer" is to make or to do. SO it says,"fui e hice", or I went and DID. I thought about that for a bit, and I thought maybe we should be more of the type of disciples you "went" and "did" and less like the disciples who "will go" and "will do" (tomorrow, next week, later). Hopefully you all understood that. 

- Shoutouts!!

 Since I don't have time to write you all, thank you Sandii, Tio Hector, Amberly, and Serna family for the emails! 

AND MY VAWDREY! It's so weird that you're home! I miss you!!!! 

Happy Birthday to Heather De La Garza , Bella Davis, and to Paul!! Hope you all have great days.

Venice!! My mom sent me some of your bridal pics, and you are GORGEOUS! WIsh I could be there with you. 

HEY! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

SQUID, ah, I mean, 

Hermana Squire

We will all finish the mission together:
Hermanas Ermacora, Squire, Mansilla y Gonzalez

Straight Up Miracles

Hello everyone!

- Well I've got a lot of exciting news! We got transfer calls on Saturday and we found out that Hermana Mansilla and I are both going to be training! She's going off to Dorrego and I'll be staying here in Puerto. I kinda had a feeling I'd be training again, so I'm excited! It'll be great to have an extra energy boost to finish off my mission training a nuevita.(newbie) We'll be heading off to Bahía tomorrow to go pick them up. I'm excited to train, but I'm sad I'm going to be leaving my Mansilla. Our companionship was perfect, and we never had problems. It was a dream and we had a lot of success together.

Sweet Mariana

-The other exciting news is that Mariana got baptized on Friday. That was a miracle in and of itself. Missionaries have been teaching her since August, but she never could get baptized because she was in and out of the hospital. She has cancer in the area where she sits... not to be graphic, but she has a lot of lesions and she's constantly in pain. Her legs are very weak and she can't walk anymore. Well, she got out of the hospital on Thursday, and the plans were set in motion to baptize her on Friday at 6. Her daughter was supposed to come home at 5 to help her change and get ready, but it turns out that she couldn't make it in time. We ran over there at 5:30, helped her change, and then the bishop, his son, and another hermano came and put her in a chair and carried her out to the taxi. They couldn't find a wheelchair in time, so they carried her on the chair the whole time. She was in so much pain... almost to the point of vomiting... I felt terrible. We got to the church and we had an hermana there who's a nurse. She helped her get into her clothes and ready for the baptism. There were two men waiting for her in the font, and two men who carried her in there on the chair. Luckily, she got baptized in one go and the nurse helped her change quickly. She was confirmed that same day. We all felt so bad that she was in so much pain, but she knew, and we all knew that this baptism was important for her salvation. I honestly don't know how much longer she's going to be with us. But we went to go see her Saturday and yesterday and she told us that when she got in the water,  the pain and fear left her. She was all smiles after that. It was so wonderful to be apart of this experience with Mariana. She is a special woman and so spiritual. The Lord really has blessed me here in Puerto.

- Yesterday we had stake conference. It was a broadcast for all of Argentina and it was AMAZING! Elder Bowen spoke (in Spanish) about the Holy Ghost and receiving revelation. Suni was there, and I think that talk was especially for her. He also talked about how when we "receive" the Holy Ghost when we are baptized it is a CHOICE if we receive it or not. It is also a CHOICE if we want it to stay with us or not. It was a great talk. Also, Elder Nelson spoke in Spanish! It was so special to see him. We felt like they were in the room with us. 

- Hermana Mansilla told me something yesterday that really humbled me. She and President are pretty close and he frequently talks to her about the Hermanas and how to help them. He confides in her with that type of stuff. Well, before I got here, he told her that he trusts all of the Hermanas, but there are some that he trusts in completely and unconditionally. Actually two. Hermana Mansilla, and me. He said that we are the pillars of the mission. I was honestly like... what?? She said that basically he knows he can put us with anyone and anywhere and give us any assignment knowing that we would do it and succeed. I was floored and humbled at this confidence that President has in me. Our mission leader also told me that he had a lot of faith in my capabilities and knows I can do a lot of good in Puerto. I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging, because I really do feel so humbled... and I have a drive to prove myself to President and to our Mission leader. Hermana Mansilla and I talked about it later... how Pres told her this before I came here... we think he put us together for a reason. Actually we know it was for a reason. The investigators we taught and baptized in 9 weeks were no ordinary investigators. A family, an engineer, a psychologist, a woman with cancer...  They were tough to teach with a lot of tough questions and issues, but we did it. So now that we completed our purpose together, we're off to teach new missionaries how to have success. 

- Well, how special is it that today, on March 25, 10 years since my brother passed away, I get to write you all and give my little tribute. I don't know where I would be without the special lessons I learned from my brother. Lessons on love, service, patience, endurance, and long suffering. I don't think he knew that he was preparing me to serve a mission, long before I even knew I would go. He is busier than I am on the other side, and I feel that he is approving of my work here in the mission. He's not far, I know that for sure. I am blessed to have the family that I do. I am blessed to be a missionary, sharing the news that families are forever. And what better example do I have to share than that of my own family? I know families are forever. I know that MY family is forever. And man, I'm grateful for it. So to all of you, be sure to send my parents lots of love today, since I'm not there to do so.

Shoutouts: Happy Birthday to Andrea Corbett! Grandma and Grandpa Squire, I haven't been getting your emails! Anna, I haven't gotten pics of Evelyn in a while! I don't know if they are coming through! 

Everyone! Our mission rules on emails have changed! I now can receive emails from friends and all family members! So send away to cydnee.squire@myldsmail.net! You guys are the best!

With lots of love,
Hermana SQUIREEEEEE

Had Subway heaven today! With a real pickle!!!!

Our District in Puerto

Hello World!

Hello world!

Wow, I'm sitting here staring at the screen trying to think about what I can write. I think about all of the stuff that happens during the week then I get to the cyber and my mind is like....... blank. 

Juan Enrique

- We found a new investigator last week... his name is Juan Enrique and he's 80 years old! We found him knocking doors. He loves politics and says that we're the only friends that he has. We went to go get him for chuch on Sunday morning and he came out in pants, a button up shirt and clean shoes. He's got problems with his knees so he does the "grampa shuffle" when he walks. We walked all the way to church, up and down giant hills! I almost had a heart attack going down the hill because he started running! I was like "Whoa tiger! Take it easy!"  I grabbed onto his arm so that he could walk easier. He joked and said, "I just wanna get to church faster!"  But he enjoyed all the meetings and told me "So I should read the Book of Mormon, every day, right? If not, I´ll never learn!" It was so adorable. 

-Mariana is still in the hospital, but is planning on leaving this week, WE HOPE. We are going to try and baptize her before the transfer ends this Saturday. Basically, the ward is waiting till she leaves, so that we can baptize her when she has a good day. It's going to be a different type of baptism. When she has a good day, we'll fill up the font, we have members on reserve to come help, and a few members who are nurses that are going to help her change. There might be more than one member in the water with her to help her in and out. I´'m so anxious for this baptism! She needs this saving ordinance and needs it now! Please pray for her!

-This week there was an activity in the Stake Center to celebrate the foundation of the Relief Society. We normally don't go to these things, but our ward mission leader asks us to go to activities to support the ward and create more trust between us and the members. It was absolutely amazing! They had a skit that portrayed the organization of the RS with Joseph Smith, Emma and all the early members of the RS. That's where the pioneer pictures come in. I am so grateful for the Relief Society! Our role as women in the church is so important, and through RS we can learn how we can serve better in the community and the church. 

Con Graciela at Relief Society Celebration

- I'm so happy to be a missionary! And I'm so happy that we have more missionaries to knock more doors and talk to more people! Especially SISTER missionaries! How wonderful is this work!?! I love it!

Con mi compañera, Hermana Mansilla de Argentina :-)

Shoutouts: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAU!!! Flip, I can't believe you're 15. I swear I just watched you get baptized yesterday. Have a good day, kid! 

Happy Birthday this week to Emily Gray! Woo! 3 Years old!! 

And happy birthday to Ruby De La Garza!

Love you all!!

Anna! Thank you for the email! I love you and miss you!! 

Mom and Dad, glad you had lots of opportunities to serve this week! Humanitarian work and the MTC! My parents are rockstars. 

Everyone. I hope you have a fantastic week.

I love you all very very much.

H. Squire

Grandpa Serna:

le quiero mucho y no puedo esperar hasta que podamos hablar en español juntos! Cuidarse mucho!

Hermana Batista y Mansilla

We Pray and Then We Go......

Hey sweet things!!

 

All right, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

-SO! We're gonna have a baptism this weekend!!! Story time. You all remember Laura?? She's a psychologist and is super smart. When we were teaching her she said "how do I prepare to be baptized?" But then she told us she wanted to get baptized at the end of MARCH. And we were like, "in your dreams." Not really, but we were determined to help her get to the 23rd. Well, she told us that this past week she was feeling a "darkness". She prayed and felt that she couldn't put off her baptism for that long so she's getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!! 

Then we have Suni and Family. Suni and Jony are super prepared. Suni is already converted, and I don't doubt she'll have a Stake calling in the next year. She was at the pool reading the conference edition of the Liahona that I gave her (thanks mom), and some guy came up to her and was like "can I buy one of those somewhere??" And she said, "oh it's from my church." Then she told us, "I should have passed him your number or something! I'm sorry I didn't think!" She's the best!!!!  Emanuel says he doesn't feel anything yet and wants to wait for the next baptism. But his means that he KNOWS that he's gonna do it anyway, because he KNOWS it's what he should do. He is just having a hard time recognizing his answers. He's an ENGINEER: So I imagine that his brain is like "012384749584934839" all of the time!!!  He said if he gets his answer this week, that he'll get baptized with his family. So please PRAY SUPER, SUPER HARD for him!!  I KNOW he can make it to the 23rd!!  So if all goes well, we could be having 4 baptisms!! How great is that??!!!!!! These people are so so special!

- So we went to Centro today to run some errands and I honestly felt like I was on vacation!!! It was so beautiful! Malls and shopping! Movie theaters! Restaurants! Clothes! Purses! Shoes! Jewelry! Beach! It was pretty dangerous!! I was like, "I'm so doing my trunky shopping here!!! I saw a movie poster for "Les Miserables..." is it true??????!!!! Is that a movie now????!!!!!!!  Hi, sorry I'm being trunky right now. Blame it on Centro and all the clothes and shoes I saw!!

-I read a talk by President Monson, before he was the Prophet, that's called "They Pray and They Go." And I thought, that is SO missionary work. We may have very few citas (appointments) planned for the day, but we pray before we leave, and we go out and work, having faith that God will put people in our paths that are prepared to receive the gospel. It's like the scripture in 2 COR. that says "For we walk by faith, and not by sight."

Shoutouts: JENNY! Thanks for the message! I'm glad you're doing well!!

DENISE! I'm so happy you're getting married! 

Congrats ASHTON!!! YOU'RE GONNA BE A DAD!?!!!! What the heck??!!!!! First you can't wait for me to be there when you get married, and now this???! :-) BRENDYN! Congrats on your baptism! You looked like a future missionary in your pictures!! 

Vanessa Welch and family, my prayers are with you. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

 

H. S

Me and mi compañeras by the ocean!

                                                  At el Centro! With Hermana Mansilla

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Another from Centro

                                                 

Beautiful Puerto Mar De Plata

                Puerto........ This is how I get so tan. I lay out all day in my skirt. (NOT!!!! EVEN!!!!!)

ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey

Ladies and Gents, this missionary hit her one year mark this past weekend!!!!! ONEEEE YEEEEAAAARRR! Can you believe it? Woo! Well, it wasn't too eventful of a day, but Hna Mansilla and Hna Batista made it special. They dressed up as a 1 and a 2 for 12 months, and put clown noses on. It was super fun!!! 

Pointing to ONE YEAR mark on calendar that my mama made me!

SOOO here's a little list of things that I have learned/done in the 

last 12 months of my mission:

- I have drank a lot of water that I probably shouldn't have

- eaten a lot of food I didn't want to

- eaten MORE than I wanted to

- Have had great companions, and learned to love each one.

- Have had baptisms with each companion, so far

- Gained weight (BOOO!)

- Lost weight (yahoo! now let's stay that way!!!!!!)

- Met amazing people that I consider to be family

- Taught hundreds of lessons

- Talked to strangers in the street

- Entered strangers' homes like it was NBD(no big deal)

- Missed several weddings (booo!!)

- Been chased by a few dogs

- Had my skirt RIPPED by a dog

- Learned a little bit of Spanish

- Knocked on a lot of doors and clapped at a lot of gates

- Received very creative excuses as to why someone can't listen to us

- Got a few rejections... OK, a LOT of rejections

- Felt the Spirit stronger than I ever have before

- Heard words leaving my mouth in grammatically correct sentences with words I didn't even think I knew how to say

- Borne my testimony every day

- Strengthened my testimony about this gospel

- Walked endless miles

- Grown closer to mi Salvador y a mi Padre Celestial (***my Savior and Heavenly Father)

And many more. To repeat what cousin Greg wrote to me in my letter book, this has been the "MOST year" so far in my life. And I am happy, happy, happy!!!!! Even though I'm TIRED. But it's all good.

OK, SO WE HAVE THE BEST INVESTIGATORS! We had ELEVEN PEOPLE IN CHURCH YESTERDAY! Excuse me, are we in Lamanite land?? That does NOT happen, especially in Bahia. And they all came by themselves or with members. WOW! I wish I had time to explain all of them, but I'll give y'all the DL.(down low) 

Suni and Emanuel. This is the third time that Suni has investigated the church. When she read 3Nefi 11, she got emotional because the people didn't hear the voice of the Father until the third time. She felt that this third time is HER time. She has a testimony already and said  "I know I need to join this church". Her husband comes to church with her, but doesn't have a strong testimony. We're working on that. Both of them and Jony, Suni´s son (10) have baptismal dates for the 23. THEY ARE AMAZING!!!!  Our lessons are super spiritual and they are SO smart so they ask great questions. Then we have Laura. She has like 6 asistencias (church attendances) but wants to go slow. She said in our last lesson "How do I have to prepare to get baptized??" HELLO! WE CAN HELP YOU! She wants to get baptized at the end of March, but we are confident that she can make it to the 23 too. Then we have Mariana. She has cancer, and is very sick and in so much pain, but is determined to get baptized. She needs to quit smoking and make it to the 23 as well. PRAY FOR THESE PEOPLE PLEASE!

-So there was a HUGE storm on Friday. LIKE HUGE!!!!! We were close to the house so we hid inside while it passed. But the thunder sounded like CANNONS. AND then it hailed huge ice-rocks! One hit me in the head and it HURT! (see pic). But wow, it was CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shoutouts: Happy Birthday this week to Eric Dunn!! 

Aunt Lori, thank you for the email! Glad to hear an update from the G-Lo, especially about the Super Bowl half-time show. 

Thank you to Sister Wirig for the email, too! 

LOVE YOU ALL!

H. S.

Milk in a bag....yeah.......we do.

Our new missionary phone! It replaced the old brick that we had before!! yay!!

Just a little hole in my shoe!