I LOVE Being a Missionary!

Amigos y familia,
 

Well, I have calluses on my calluses, a mosquito decided to feast ON MY FACE last night, I hang my clothes on a line to dry, I wear flip-flops and wool socks in my house because it´s so cold, it was wet and chilly this week, I feel gipped because I left the states at the beginning of spring and now it´s the end of fall... BUT I AM HAPPY AS A DANG CLAM! Seriously! I love Pringles, I love sharing the gospel, I love speaking Spanish, I LOVE IT ALL!!  "I JUST DON´T UNDERSTAND!"  Ha ha, missionary work is the best.

- Investigators: The fecha(date) for Analia and Rodrigo has been moved. They didn't come to church :( Analia is having trouble getting married because the family of her pareja(partner) doesn't want to sign (marriage/divorce is way complicated here). So we´re praying for a miracle. Filipe, her brother, is not a member!! Ah! So he still needs to get divorced and married to his senora. They live in a TEENY house... seriously it is as big as my class at the MTC, with 4 kids! We went over there this week and he´s like, "I have the desires to stop smoking, I know I need to get baptized."  So I said, "do you have any cigarettes here?"  And he said "yup", then I said, "well, you can give them to me and I´ll take care of them." And he gave them to me!! WHAT! Since when am I the cigarette police! My name tag (plaque) sure gives you that extra authority! I felt super weird carrying those around the rest of the day!
-We found 3 nuevos(new) this week, Rosio (12), Florencia (14), and Carina. They are so sweet! Florencia has a learning disability, but Rosio said she would read the LDM(Libro de Mormon) to her. I'm excited about these girls. Carina is their mom, and she's a single mother of 8! I just love them! Now the challenge is GETTING THEM TO CHURCH! I swear, that´s where Satan does his work. He keeps people from coming to church. SO FRUSTRATING! I hope I´m still around for their baptisms.
- So Filipe"s señora was praying, and she´s evangelico, and they say Señor Jesus after every sentence. I SWEAR she said "amen"...so I said "amen"... but she was NOT finished. Embarrassing!
- This week we had interviews with Presidente. He brought us all in the capilla(chapel) and we could ask him any doctrinal question we wanted... or anything about our investigators. He is so insightful and smart! I love him! I´m sad he´ll be leaving in 2 months. Interviews were great. We missed our collectivo(bus) back to Pringles... and the next one didn't leave until 9 pm, so we had our district meeting then worked in our Elders' area. They have a wealthier area and man, I admire them because a lot of people were very rude and had hard hearts. It made me grateful for my little Pringles!
- So NOBODY has callings in the rama (branch). We are working on that. We need teachers! The missionaries can´t teach every class! We have qualified members who could easily teach... and our recent converts need callings to stay active! Only 5 people in the rama(branch) have callings. I think that if more recent converts got callings, they would stay active. There are 400 members in Pringles... about 350 are inactive... Yup, that's gotta change. Hna Israelsen and I are visiting a lot of menos activos (less actives? is that what it is in English? Ha, I can´t remember). The Familia Bailone has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. But Hno Bailone is angry at God for taking his father and angry at the rama(branch) because he had a lot of callings. BUT HE KNOWS that the church is true! A lot of praying is going to go into this family, that is for sure.
- I read a talk by Elder Christoffersen this week: The divine gift of repentance. I would encourage ALL of you to read it. I learned that without repentance, there is no progress or improvement in life. And that the invitation to repent is an expression of love. That is what we are asking investigators to do. Repent, and feel the joy that comes from forgiveness. The pain from the process of repentance is forgotten when one feels the inexplicable joy that comes from forgiveness. Also- when we repent, we strive to change. It may require repeated attempts but there is something refining and holy in this striving. WOW WOW WOW! I love being a missionary and receiving this sort of inspiration and personal revelation. I feel like I am growing and changing so much. I need to change, I have a lot to work on, that's for sure. But through the atonement, I CAN change. What a miracle.
-Shoutouts: Kelsey: Congrats on your teaching job! I want a picture of you in your teacher clothes. And HILLARY NORTON IS ON A MISSION! What in the world? why did I not know this? Kels, could you send her a dearelder for me? Tell her I love her and I want her address. SO COOL! Ecuador is getting one fine lady. Taylor: YOU ARE GRADUATED, YOU OLD LADY! Pics please. Kristen and Haddy: you better send me engagement pics and an invitation, or I´ll stop praying for you. Haha, jk, I WILL ALWAYS PRAY FOR YOU! Hno Larsen, 3 months is right! Tomorrow, woo hoo! Corbett family: loved your email! And loved your scripture study insights. ALWAYS great to get spiritually uplifting letters. Adriana Molina: Gracias por la carta! Besos y abrazos!  Paige- Waiting on the Lord: Thy will be done. Read it. Write back your thoughts. Love you. EVERYONE! I love you all! More than I love it when Hermana Linco says: 'I am a loser' when she forgets something! More than dulce de leche...and that´s a lot! Have a great week!

Besos y Abrazos,
Hermana Squire, Skeeray, y Hermana.... "No sé" (Alexis, the son of Presidente, is 8 and doesn't know how to say my name. He says Hermana...Sk...  Hermana.... "No sé" *don't know)

cydnee.squire@myldsmail.net

Parents:

 I GOT THE PACKAGE! And letters 1 and 2 from dad! WOOOHOOO!! PEANUT BUTTER!!! I almost cried! I'm so serious. Yes, it's chilly. It will get worse. My foot is fine. When I stretch it, it feels like a creaky door but it´s not bothering me anymore. Oatmeal is so great! We don´t have a microwave so it takes longer to boil water, but so delish! Thank you! Please send Burt's Bees chapstick, if possible, the April conference edition when it comes. Can you have it bound? Sorry to ask for so much!!! I LOVE YOU BOTH! THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE AND PRAYERS! 

Pray for Visas!

Que tal mi familia y amigos?

24 days and COUNTING until ARGENTINA! What the crazy? I'm so pumped and so ready to get out there. This week was so great, but every week is great when you're a missionary!

- I am now officially coordinating sister. Pretty much I take care of the Hermanas in our zone (3 of us), go to branch council, and tell people off in the residency for not observing quiet time... in a loving way of course. Then when new districts come in, I help the zone leaders do orientation and teach them a little about the MTC and such. We got a new district last week, they're going to Columbia and are leaving before us! But they'll be in the Columbian MTC for 6 more weeks. Hopefully we get a new district this week... there are only 3 districts left! Maybe we'll get some Hermanas, who knows!

- This week, we got to leave the MTC TWICE! Hna. Hinze's retainer broke so we had to go to the orthodontist. I got to venture out into the REAL WORLD! It was weird, but I liked it. They had real music playing in there too! It was hard not to stand up and sing along... " I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL, PUT ANOTHER DIME IN THE JUKEBOX BABY!" Don't worry, I refrained. We get to go back next week! Woo!

- So, the prayer for devotional went well on Tuesday. Except President Brown called me Cindy Squire. Yup, that's me. I sorta knew it would happen, but oh well. I was SO DANG NERVOUS that I couldn't eat dinner before. Ridiculous, I know. Elder Evans came and spoke to us and it was really great. We've been hearing the recurrent themes of Enduring to the End and using the Book of Mormon more. Missionaries HAVE GOT TO ENDURE after their missions! One of the saddest things is seeing a RM go inactive. We teach our investigators to endure to the end, SO WE HAVE TO ENDURE TO THE END TOO! It's so important. I don't know how one can go inactive after experiencing all the miracles of missionary work. This gospel is so engrained into me, I cannot possibly fall away. When investigators call me up when I'm 50 years old saying their son/daughter is marrying in the temple I want to say, I'LL BE THERE!

- On Sunday night, we had an interesting fireside. Alex Boye came and did sort of a talk/singing session. It was great. He was pretty hilarious but then got spiritual. He told his conversion story and promised that years from now, people we helped to convert will speak our names with reverance and with a heart full of gratitude for sharing what we know with them. That hit me hard. It made me think about how I want to be remembered. I want to be remembered as a humble missionary who was so full of love for the people and for the gospel.

- Investigators! Sergio: I love this man!! On Saturday, we went to teach him. We left him with Ether 12 and he told us that he loved the chapter. He read it 3 times and focused on Ether 12:27 (weak things become strong), and told us that he was up all night thinking about it and decided that he wanted...NEEDED... to be baptized. WHAT! The Book of Mormon works miracles!! The Hermanas are the only ones who have a baptismal date set in stone... why? Because of the Book of Mormon. That's why. Later, Hno. Larsen told us that Ether 12 was the EXACT scripture he shared with the REAL Sergio and it made him finally decide to be baptized. I was floored and so humbled by that. THE SPIRIT IS REAL!! It prompts us and tells us of the things we need to teach and share. We had more lessons with him, and we taught about how Satan was going to try and change his mind and be working on him really hard. We told him to write down his feelings of when he decided to be baptized and used the BoM a lot. After that, Hno Larsen told us that it was our best lesson by far. He told us that we, as 6 week missionaries, were teaching like we had been out for 6 months. It was the best compliment I could have ever gotten. Ruben- Sweet Ruben! I love this kid. We finished up the plan of salvation and talked a little about how to enter the celestial kingdom we needed to continually stay on the path and continually repent. He was like what is repentence and how can I do it? That right there is a proud moment for a missionary. When someone wants to do something without you even asking. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

- Spanish is coming along great. I feel like I can speak more and more every day, and my fluidity is getting better during lessons. It's exciting!

- We're slightly worried that our visas won't make it on time. Other Argentine missionaries have been delayed. So, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR VISAS! I want to get out there! If we don't get them, we'll be temporarily reassigned to a state side Spanish speaking mission for a month or so. I would go if the Lord wanted it, but I WANT TO GET TO MY PEOPLE!

- Shoutouts: Squire Grandparents: thanks for the dearelder! Love you! Paige and Taylor- thanks for the dearelders! You two never fail to make me laugh until I'm crying. Tio Hector- I hope your surgery went well! I love all you Texas people! Grandma Hobson- You are a sweet angel! Your cookies are legendary on the 4th floor! Thank you so much! Dunn family- I was so sad about Lucky. I don't remember a time when you didn't have him. Love you all. TAHNEE OWENS: get your hiney in gear and send me a dearelder or SOMETHING! I miss you! A quick note on dearelders. I just found out that we CAN get those in Argentina! They can be sent via pouch and they send them out once a week! Who knows how long it will be till I actually GET them, but it is still an option! I don't know how, so ya'll are on your own on this one.

Being a missionary is one of the most rewarding things ever! I love it! It's challenging, but I know with the Lord's help I can do ANYTHING! This is HIS work and He will not let me fail! Thank you all for the prayers and support. I love each of you so much!

Con Amor,

Hermana Squire

I'm Going to Be on TV....sort of...

Hola!

Here I am again, stunned that another week has gone by here in the CCM. We are now HALFWAY through our time here! This time next month I will be on my way to Argentina! I have some exciting things to share this week so I'd better start!

- On Tuesday, we had our weekly devotional. AND GUESS WHO IT WAS? ELDER HOLLAND!!! Just my favorite apostle in the world! Oh my gosh. IT WAS AMAZING! He walked into the room while we were singing prelude and we all stood for him. A wonderful spirit FILLED the room! It was such a special witness to me that THIS MAN is an apostle of the Lord! I sang in the choir again this week (are you all shocked?!) so we had great seats. We sang 'come thou fount' which is definitely one of my favorites, as well as Elder Holland's! He started off by telling us that we are one of the miracles of this church and probably the most prayed for, save the Prophet. He expressed deep love and admiration for us and told us that he prayed for us as well. Morning and night. Then, the real fun started. I don't think I've ever felt so chastised but so loved in my whole life. He practically yelled at us, but with tears in his eyes. It was so great. He told us that The apostles and the prophet expect a lot of us. They expect us to 'pull our socks [or tights] up to our armpits and get to work'. He told us that we do NOT have the right to compromise our mission. There is 200 years of restoration tradition on our shoulders and we do not have the right to compromise what we are seen as. Missionaries are the image of the church. We are known by it. He also told us we need to come back CHANGED for good, even if we were terrific before. We are never supposed to go back to what we were before. He told us that we shouldn't fade after our missions, if we are just going because our parents want to and just want to get it over with, THEN WHY ARE WE GOING?! We need to come back from our missions with the gospel burned into our souls and into our countenances. Young people should say 'I want to be like them' when you speak. We won't be perfect, but we better try! He told us we would be apostolic... a witness sent to declare His word. We learned that we need to use the BoM more. It is so important! If investigators read the first 10 chapters, they will be well on their way to a testimony of the restoration. Elder Holland also said that the BoM contains the spirit! It physically dwells there. We also learned we need to PERSONIFY the spirit into our personalities. Persuade and never force, be individual, be simple, this leads to ACTION. That is something I've never thought about before. It was such an amazing talk, I wish you ALL could have heard it. I left feeling edified and feeling the need to improve... A lot. I feel so blessed to have been able to listen to an apostle of the Lord.

- Now for the subject of this email... It's too bad Elder Holland couldn't have come next week because... I'll be giving the closing prayer at devotional. Yup, Elder Kelly and I were chosen from our zone to give the prayers at the next devotional. Did I mention that they are broadcasted to 15 MTC's?!! What?! How did I get chosen for this job? Do I know how to pray in English anymore? I hope that I don't slip Spanish in there. AYE! AYE AYE! Hopefully it goes well because, my lands, I am terrified.

- Real quick: We sing the hymn Armies of Helaman sometimes... but instead of singing, 'and we will be the Lord's missionaries' we sing ' and we ARE NOW the Lord's missionaries'. I LOVE THAT! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

- Investigators: Ruben. Our sweet golden investigator. We have a fecha for him to be baptized on March 24. He is well on his way! We brought a ward member, Eduardo (actually Hermano Romney) to help fellowship him and teach him about getting baptized and getting the priesthood. Ruben is SO excited to get the priesthood because then he can baptize his mother! So sweet. Now there's Sergio. He is such a hard man and has so many questions. It's hard to find out what he needs, but we definitely have made progress. We did have a terrible lesson where he asked about infant baptism and I led him to Moroni 8. I forgot how strong that chapter is! He was like 'Es muy fuerte, no?' ahhh then he had 100 more questions that we didn't know. Hno. Larsen told us after that he just saw the wind blow out of our sails, and we looked like we wanted to crawl under a rock. Which was TRUE! Aye. But he did say never to feel bad for teaching the truth. We had another lesson with him yesterday, and it was SO GREAT! We tried to pay attention to the spirit more and decided to talk about faith. We read Ether 12 and he loved it. (no witness till after trial of your faith). It went so well and HE FINALLY ACCEPTED A FECHA FOR BAPTISM! Same day as Ruben. He did say if he wasn't ready he wouldn't do it. BUT HE WILL BE READY. That's a promise. I wish I could tell you more about them!

- Happy Birthday to my awesome cousin Greg Dunn! I hope you had a great day. And Happy birthday to my amigas mejores TAYLOR AND PAIGE! I love you guys and I wish I could be there to draw awkward portraits of you and sing weird songs. Hope each of your birthdays are GREAT. Thank you Serna family in Virginia for the dearelder! I love reading those! Love you! Thank you for all the prayers and support. I feel it every day! I have never been so tired in my life. But I am SO DANG HAPPY! I don't get it! I love you all so much and hope you have the best week!

Besos y Abrazos,

Hermana Squire

Besos y Abrazos

Hola!

Another week has flown by here in the CCM! It's crazy! Next week we'll be on our 5th week here! I can't believe how quickly time has gone. But I'm happy it's going quick here in the CCM because I want to get out to Argentina! Let's begin on the highlights of this week!

- Every Wednesday morning at 6:15, we do service. And what have we done every single week? Clean bathrooms. Yup! We have to wear these dorky goggles and huge gloves and scrub urinals and toilets for an hour and a half. It's the BEST! I LOVE IT! Haha, so I'm being a little sarcastic, but we try and make the best of it.

- This week, we've been trying to learn a new teaching strategy. We're only going to take 30 seconds to say part of the lesson then switch off. It's been a challenge but is so much better than assigning parts! We are more unified and speak with one voice. It can be tough, but I think it will really help us out! We've also been working on keeping our lessons simple. After all, we're not here to offer information, we're here to offer salvation.

- So read Alma 16:16. Hermano Larsen told us that we are not only helping people to come unto Christ, but we are helping the people of Argentina prepare for the second coming of our Savior. How crazy is that? Our calling is so so important.

- Consider the first vision in ESPANOL memorized! YEAH!

- This past Tuesday, me and my companions did MTC choir. We sang 'Be Still My Soul' and OH MY GOSH. It was the most beautiful arrangement. I am by no means a singer, but I felt the spirit SO STRONG when singing that song. Our devotional was about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon WITH our investigators! We have got to help them understand the symbolism and be there to answer questions. Once they can gain a strong testimony through the Book of Mormon, there is nothing to keep them from baptism.

- 2 of our 5 districts have left to go into the field! We haven't gotten a new district in so long. We're still the babies of the zone and our zone is SO SMALL!! We will be getting a new one next week though, but they're all Elders. No Hermanas this time! Our sacrament is so small now. Did you know that we prepare talks on certain subjects IN SPANISH every week and you only find out if you're speaking when they call you from the pulpit? Yeah, it's a little nerve wracking... But we'll have 9 sacrament talks written in Spanish for the field!

- We got new roommates this week, only two. Sister Thornton and Sister Marshall. Both are going to German speaking missions. Marshall is from England too! She's super nice but snores like a freight train. Ughhh. Dad, she could give you a run for your money. I just pray every night that I fall asleep before she starts snoring. Poor Sister Thornton hasn't slept in 2 nights :(

- Elise Leavitt is now in the MTC! I graduated with her and she will be serving in the Buenos Aires mission. It's like a Lone Peak reunion in our residency! There's me, Kaitlyn Brunsdale, Shelby Curtis, and Elise... ALL ON THE SAME FLOOR! We should take a picture sometime.

- I just LOVE my teachers here at the MTC. Hermano Larsen loves us SO MUCH and wants us to be our best. He is the greatest teacher and has helped me grow so much. My district has become my family, and now I have 5 little brothers that I can talk to about anything. Our Elders are SO great. I wish I could squeeze them all.

- I can honestly say that the gift of tongues is REAL! Before the CCM, I couldn't roll my 'R's. Well guess who's a rollin R MACHINE?! ME! Ahhh the power of the Lord is SO AMAZING! Everyday I am so grateful for this work. I have so many weaknesses, but my Heavenly Father is helping me to be better. I have been praying more sincerely, studying harder, and listening for the spirit in my every decision, be it teaching or anything else. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! There's no way I could progress so quickly in Spanish without the Spirit! I've been here 24 days!!! God loves us all! He has a perfect plan and He knows what is best for us. We just need to trust in Him! I love EACH AND EVERY ONE of you so much. I pray for you all every day.

Besos y abrazos,
Hermana Squire

Ima Wilde & Hermana Squire

Celebrating Hermana Hinze's (center) birthday! Elders decorated the classroom!