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!!!

And.......it's getting WARM!

Hello people,

Well, another pday has come and gone. I swear, all the days are SO LONG, but pday. Then the weeks go by so fast... weird. 

- SO it's getting really warm here. And it's spring. It's been like 85 degrees. WOW. I don't even carry my jacket around anymore, because it doesn't get dark until about 8, and the sun comes up at around 6. Crazy! I'm a little nervous for summer... they say it gets above 100 degrees, and it's HUMID, and all anyone does around here during the day is SLEEP. The other missionaries have told me it's rough because hardly ANYONE is outside, and hardly ANYONE is awake during the day!! So I guess we'll see how it goes. I come home every day, beat and SO DIRTY. I have to wash my feet every night because we basically work in the SAND DUNES and they get SO DIRTY. Good grief. 

- Well, this week Hermana Batista and I got sick with sinus infections. Fevers, congestion, sinus pressure and I had a super bad cough. So bad I would start gagging because I coughed so hard. So basically Tuesday through Thursday we were quarantined in the house recovering and couldn't do much work. Now the other hermanas are sick... it is a good thing we got sick at the same time! That way we didn't waste too much time :)

- We now have tables! WOO hoo!! We now have a washing machine!!! But we're working out the plugs and such. We are slowly getting stuff for the pension and I'm pretty happy about it. I'm pretty sure we live in the best pension in the mission. It has to be that way because this is where all of the hermanas are going to stay for conferences and such. I feel spoiled :)

- With all this heat there are more men walking around shirtless. And let me tell you, most of them are not very buff. Sometimes I have to fight back the urge to gag when a hairy, chubby man comes to the door all shirtless and I'm like  "ahhhh.... hi, we're missionaries.... " It's an interesting experience. 

- I'm sorry I don't have a bunch to share, we can blame it on me being flat in bed for three days. 

- We had our lesson with Gabriella on Monday. It went VERY WELL: Thanks for praying! She has a lot of desires to learn and told us that when she prayed how we taught her (and not just Padre Nuestro)(**Lord's Prayer) she felt something different, something good. I about died. I know she can get baptized. I know it! We just need to help her get Sundays off!

- I read a talk a while ago about the enabling power of the Atonement. Yes, we all know we can receive perdon(*forgiveness) for our mistakes, but we can also receive STRENGTH to do things that we could not do without the help of the Savior. Scripture examples, when the brothers of Nefi tied him up, this was his prayer: 17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me ^astrength that I may ^bburst these bands with which I am bound.

Did he pray that his circumstances would change? No. He prayed that he would have the STRENGTH to CHANGE his circumstances. And that faith was founded in Christ. I have changed my way of praying. I now ask for strength to work the entire day, courage to open my mouth, wisdom to teach people from the scriptures, the Spirit to guide me to "the chosen ones".  By praying this way, I am becoming a missionary who ACTS and is not ACTED UPON. I loved this talk... look it up... It's by Elder Bednar "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality") Here are some other examples of this enabling power: Mosiah 24: 14-15 and Alma 31 30-38. 

- SHOUTOUTS! Happy birthday to MEGAN DAVIS TODAY!!!! 

And to Tio Hector and IRMA WILDE!!!! Hope yáll have great days!! 

East coasters! Please be safe! Thanks for the email!

TYLER!!! LOVE the pics of little Lucas! SO CUTE! Thanks for the email Tio Hector! Glad all is well! 

Kris, Got your email. I'm glad you're not pregnant. But you now have my permission to get pregnant because I will be home before the baby is born. :-)

Hope I didn't freak you out... but that also goes out to all of you married ladies that I know! 

Listen Peeps. Have an amazing week and don't forget about your sister missionary in Argentina :)

Madre! Send popcorn! We have a microwave!!!!

OKAY!!! 

BYE LOVE YA!

H. Squire

                     Hermanas Vawdrey, Batista, Carson & I before we moved out of the 'cracker box'. :-0

 Backyard of the pension (where I exercise)

Beautiful sunset

Argentine sunset in our area

                                                              Our study/living area

                                         My corner with pictures of my cute family and friends!!

 Kitchen with Hermanas Marin and McWorter. (p.s.  that's our wardrobe against the wall...still needs to be put together for our clothes)

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!