You're Not Gonna Believe This One...............

Hello Everyone...

Well, I'm running on about 3 hours of sleep but that's okay. 

SO LET'S GET DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY.......

- So transfers came. My comp was sent off to Bahía Blanca... and I was told I would be training... AGAIN! Just send me all the newbies! I'll train them all! Don't worry! Haha, an Hermana told me I'm like Eve... "the mother of all hermanas"... LET'S GO HIJA (daughter) NUMBER 3!!! That night, President called me... he said  "Hermana! I know you have six weeks left (thanks for reminding me...) I'm going to send you another companion. She's from the U.S.! You know I trust in you a lot, and I want you to teach this sister all you know! She must have a marvelous mission, like you've had!" Then he told me that she was waiting for her visa and already has about 3 months in the mission. So I thought... "WHAT IF it's Jamie Vawdrey?" ( a girl from our former neighborhood, a girl from HIGHLAND, UTAH)  I found out there are 6 gringas ("yankees" as they lovingly call us) coming, and ZERO Latinas. Well, as of right now, there are only TWO American sisters... and only I am free to train. SO YEAH. Anyway. I just looked at my missionary profile to write to President... and IT SAYS MY COMPANION IS JAMIE VAWDREY! What!!?? WHAT ARE THE ODDS? Such a small world! 

- So, Hna Ibaña's collectivo(bus) left at 2 in the morning, and we had to wait for other hermanas to get to Santa Rosa... I'm going to be working in Santa Rosa with Hna Perdomo and Hna Troval until Wednesday... so we went to bed at like 3... wow, I'm tired. But I'm loving being with these hermanas... Hna Troval is from El Salvador and has such an amazing story. And she speaks English SO WELL. Hna Perdomo is so humble...from Honduras and the only member in her family. I'm just so pumped to be working with them, and so stoked for this transfer with Hna Vawdrey... an AMERICAN! A real live AMERICAN! Haha, she'll  think she's lucky to be with an English speaker... but little does she know that I can't speak English anymore. I was talking with Hna Troval in English and I'm pretty sure that she can speak better than I can... hahah. 

Hermans Perdomo y Troval

- This morning I had to go to Toay with Hna Perdomo to get some stuff. We started talking to a lady that I always cross paths with, she's really sweet and we chat a bit before the collectivo. Well, I was praying for an opportunity to share something about the gospel with her... well, she just started talking about God and His patience with us, and BAM! We started talking about forgiveness and Christ and what He did for us... next thing I know, she's crying. She feels alone and overwhelmed. We tried to get her address, but she said she would look for us...  not QUITE her time yet. But I was so amazed at how the Lord just puts people in our paths, RIGHT when they need us.

- I've been thinking a lot about this time in my mission. I'm in my last transfer. I'm the next one to go home. I know the language, I know how to work with the ward, I know how to find, teach and baptize... as Aubrey said, "I'm a big, bad, Spanish speaking missionary"... but when we start thinking we're successful because of US, the blessings stop. The sucess stops. I have realized that I have to constantly rely on the Lord and be worthy of His spirit, to direct me to the people that are being prepared to listen to the gospel. I tried hard to be humble this week... and the Lord prompted me to knock one door, where we found a wonderful young mother, Andrea, and two days later, He guided me to another door, where we found another awesome woman... who turned out to be the Mom of Andrea.They are both SO GREAT.

- Camila is doing well... she came to mutual and loved it!

- We've been teaching a man named Darío... he came to church yesterday, BY HIMSELF! He is really looking for the right path and is so great. Pray for him!

- An hermana is staying with us that just came from one of my old wards. She told me that Tatiana and Erika, my converts are doing SO WELL! So active... and Erika is going to seminary every morning :) I'm SO HAPPY!!!!!!

Shoutouts: KELS I LOVE YOU. Next time I have time, I will write you. 

ADRIENNE! Glad you are good! Thanks for writing! 

Aunt Lori, thanks for the update, chin up buttercup! And happy bday this week!

Happy bday to Hugo Jr! 

Aunt Jeni thanks for the pics and announcement! You are great! 

TO ALL FATHERS, especially mine, I hope you had a Happy Father's Day! 

Listen everyone. YOU ARE SO GREAT! I LOVE YOU ALL! PORTENSE BIEN!!!!! (behave!)

Hermana Squire

*meditating the scriptures (listen, this was at 10 at NIGHT okay?) and it's a joke...not really sleeping!!!

My district

You're Not Gonna Believe This One..............

Misioneros Street in Bahia.....gonna miss it.

So here's the DL, the 411, etc....

I got transferred. YES. I know that it was an inspired process for sure, but I think the cookies and brownies I made for the office Elders helped a little... 

maybe a lot :)

- So, we got transfer calls at 1 in the afternoon Saturday, and ALL the office Elders knew what was happening to me before I did. I guess I was the one most anxious to leave that they all wanted to know what happened. BUT, they couldn't tell me! Goobers! So I had to wait 2 hours and I found out I would be going to......

PUERTO MAR DEL PLATA! With... Hermana BATISTA and Hermana MANSILLA!! Yep, I'm in a trio. And YUP with my hija!! I was super surprised and thought it was a joke. But here we are! We are thinking it's because no new hermanas came and that Hna Batista has to train when the 14 new hermanas come next transfer... We'll see! I'm super stoked to be here. I secretly wanted to be companions with Hna Mansilla. She is a super hard worker. She's 24, from Buenos Aires, and we have the same amount of time in the mission. Her mom owns a salon, so she knows a bajillion beauty secrets. Today, they were putting mayonnaise in each others hair... it's supposed to make it way soft... but I'm not convinced, yet. We"ll see if y'all get a pic of me with mayo in my hair!!! She is AMAZING. She said something like this "I think that we were best friends with all of our companions in the Pre-existence. But we all knew that we would be living far away from each other, so we had to come to the mission so that we could find each other again". It's so true! She also told me that they had various people that were close to baptism but things came up and they weren't baptized. She said that maybe the Lord put me here because these people need something more that they couldn't offer them. Yup, I love her already. I know that God has great plans for us! It's not very common that ex-companions return to being companions again! He has great things in store for the three of us. 

- So, I left Bahia yesterday at 5 and got to Mar del Plata at 12:30 at night. I traveled with a few Elders and we chatted for a bit and then it got dark and I thought, "super, I'll rest for a bit." We stopped in Tres Arroyos and a man got on and sat right next to me and SNORED THE WHOLE WAY!!!! Flip. But I got here safe and sound with my GIANT suitcases and Hna Carson, Mansilla and Batista were waiting for me. Hna Carson had to wait for her comp to come, so she stayed with us. We went to bed at like at 2:30 that night, so I'm runnin'  on about 4 hours of sleep!!  WOO! SO, we had to travel to Centro this morning to pick up Hna Carson's comp and leave them to travel to their area but WOW centro is SO BEAUTIFUL! I felt like I was on vacation! Beach, Hotels, Shopping... I was like "you're a MISSIONARY! Not a TOURIST! FOCUS!"  Haha, but one day I'll come back. Puerto is... well a Port. It smells like fish. All of the time. We can see the ocean!! It's so pretty, and our area is like 2 and 1/2 times the size of Villa Mitre. AND IT'S MOSTLY PAVED! No more dirty shoes! No more dirt in the face and mouth! WOOO! AND! It's not as hot! I think the Lord heard my prayers.. or He knew that I would probably DIE in Villa Mitre. I'm super happy!

 - The hardest part was leaving... as we all know. I gave a talk in church about missionary work and I sorta bajar´d the caña... pero bueno. (**lowered the cane, oh well...) Poor Rosita cried! It was so sad! She said, "oh no, don't tell me. I grew to love you so much!" She's the little lady in the pic. Erika cried as she was hugging me and all of my girls were so sad. I didn't expect so many tears! We ate with the Familia Saghin and they told me how special I was to them and how much they thought of me as their own family. It was a very sad day, with lots of tears. I will miss them all very dearly. The best part of the day was when all of my converts came to church in SKIRTS!!!  That was the icing on the cake and made me want to cry. I love these girls, and I will forever be grateful that God put them in my path. They were BEYOND ready to receive the gospel.

-Shoutouts: MIKAYLA MCCHESNEY!!!! I forgot to say in the last email CONGRATULATIONS on getting called to serve in the best country!!! You will love the Argentine people!!!!  You will also be speaking the best form of Spanish there is... Castellano.... so work on your "sha"s!! 

MOM AND DAD!!! New mission prep teachers! I AM SOOOO PROUD!!! WOOOO!!! 

JAKEEE!!!!!! WOOOO! Congrats on your mission call! I'm beyond stoked for you!!! 

VENICE!! I'M DYING! WRITE ME, YOU GOOBER FACE!!!!! AHHHH! Flip, three amigas DOWN.

 OK everyone, really quick, last Sunday we had a lesson, and Cindi Luna (love that girl) challenged us to look for the Lord's hand in our life. I challenge you to do that. Look for the blessings that the Lord gives to you every day. Big and small. For example, that very day, we were walking home in the heat, and some nice lady stopped and said, "I'll take you to your house, it's hot, hop in!"  So we did and she took us to the corner where we live. I'm not sure if that was against the rules or not... but hey, not the point. The point is that the Lord is VERY aware of EACH of His children. Look for His hand in your life and write down what you find. I promise if you start looking, every day,  you will find out that He is very involved in our lives.

I love you all very much. 

Have an amazing week.

Hermana Squire

pics:

#1 My District in Bahia!!!

#2 The "Dream Team"; Elders Cruz & Gravelle; Hermana Gomez

#3 My sweet little Rosita! Love her!

#4 My girls in Bahia; Liz who is a future missionary, in pink; Bella, the little one, a future baptism;  next 3 our converts:Tatiana next to me;.Barbara and Erika

What a great day.

#5 Hermanas Mansilla, Batista and myself (don't know about the mayonnaise....in the hair....:-)

#6 "Misioneros" Street in Bahia..the best.....gonna miss it....not gonna lie.

My district in Bahia

The "Dream Team": Elders Cruz, Gravelle,& Hermana Gomez

Our Rosita

My girls: Liz, Bella(little one), Tatiana, Barbara & Erika

Hermanas Mansilla, Batista, & Squire

What the.......

Hey goobers!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! SO, what's new??

-Ours was spent turkey-less in our house. It was weekly planning so we prepared a little lunch with the 6 Hermanas. Guess what we had???!!! TACOS WITH REAL TORTILLAS. I died!!!! WE EVEN HAD GUACAMOLE!! Not as good as yours dad, but we ate it! I was SOOOOOOO happy! So we put our two tables together, made little placemats with turkeys on them (we traced our hands) and ate like queens. I have pictures but this computer is being a real peach so maybe next week! 

-Hermanas McWorter and Marin moved to their new apartment this week so now it's just us and the Hermanas Vawdrey and Carson! We've been enjoying our time. I sure do love my Vawdrey. 

- SO it rained like a lot this week! I HATE RAIN HERE! It's just another excuse for people to say they can't listen to us. "oh chicas, but it's raining" And in my mind I'm  like "NOOOO, REALLY???"  Oh Argentines, you are a funny people. BUT, Hermana Batista and I are on fire right now. Wanna know how many other lessons we taught this week? (other than lessons with members and with menos activos) 18!!!! We teach everyone if they let us. Our DL (**District Leader) actually asked us to do a workshop in meeting tomorrow to teach everyone how we do it. Here's the thing:  Argentines can be a little prideful (ok A LOT prideful), so when you start off talking about THEM and complimenting THEM, then they open up and usually ask US what we're doing. BAM! Then we start teaching and testifying. We may not get into houses and we may not start and end with a prayer (we don't want people to think we're crazy by praying on the porch) but we teach about a 15 minute lesson with a bunch of questions about their beliefs and hopes in life, leave them with a commitment, fijar cita, (**set appointment) BAM! Lesson. 

- We've found our miracle, people. After a long time of struggling with little success, frustrated feelings, desperate prayers... we found them. Tatiana and Erica. Remember Sandra? Well, the poor thing is pretty busy with work and a little uncommitted, but her daughters Tati and Erica (11 and 13) came to church with us this week. Tatiana came last week and was assigned a talk for the primary program and we helped her to prepare it. She did GREAT! She's not even a member yet! Her sister Erica came with us to support her and LOVED young women's. She left with a huge smile on her face!! We committed them BOTH to be baptized on the 9th. They are up for it! And Sandra said it was FINE and she wanted them to keep coming to church! I DIIEEED! They are SO CUTE! I am so thankful that the Lord is blessing me. I know that He needed me to be refined during this hard time. I struggled so I could become stronger. I'm a better teacher and more committed. As Greg said in one of his letters "The harder my path, the stronger I become". I know that's true. I remember talking to Hna Hinze in the MTC and I remember saying, "I WANT my mission to be hard. I WANT to struggle so I can change. I WANT to work hard for every baptism and every miracle we see". And that desire has come true. I was sent to a hard-hearted part of Argentina, where people are a little too relaxed and a little prideful, and it hasn't been a walk in the park for me with baptisms every week. But I'm thankful that the Lord trusts me enough to be here and that I can be molded into the missionary He needs me to be through the struggles I have here. Keep praying for Tatiana and Erica. We all know Satan works really hard, but we can work harder :)

- Quote by Elder Holland about faith and the future to finish: "I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."

- SHOUTOUTS! Happy Birthday Christina Standifird! Brendi, thank you for the cute pìcs of your kids! MY LANDS THEY ARE SO BIG AND ADORABLE! Serna kids! Thanks for the letters and drawings! Josh-  they don't celebrate Halloween here! I wish they did, that would have been fun! Tay, I got your letter a bit ago, can't remember if I said anything yet, but THANK YOU! 

LINDSEY BROWN! Congrats on your call! 

And Devon Scott, you go in THIS week to the MTC!!!!! Good luck! 

Also, Julina, I got your letter and pics! Thank you! 

Everyone! I sure do love you! I miss you a whole lot, but hey, I'm on a mission and I'm pretty happy. (Even though I smell like I'm camping with all the bug spray I use!! :) 

HEY BE GOOD YALL.

Hermana Skeeray