Pringles Just Got a Lot Bigger

Hey you people!

Ok, I hope you´re all doing well. No time to chat because I'VE GOT LOTS TO TELL. So... let´s get down to the nitty gritty.

1. We had a baptism on Saturday!!! YAHOOOO!
2. I´m in a trio. Still. More on that in a second.

-BAPTISM!!!! YAHOOO! AMANDA GOT BAPTIZED! I know I haven´t said much about her.... whoops, sorry. But, we first met her in April, through Hno Achigar (note future missionaries- THE MEMBERS ARE THE ANSWER!! Gain their trust and they start introducing you to their friends). We dropped her after a bit because she wasn´t progressing. Then we went back at the beginning of June and BAM! Progression. She took a bit to get a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but when she did, she said, "I´m going to get baptized. I need this change for myself. I need to be better. WOOO!!! Besitos, hugs, feeling the spirit... AHH so happy! She was confirmed yesterday!

- Now the trio deal. Hermana Leguizamón's companion never showed! We don't know why, but we called our DL (*District Leader**) and he said they weren't sending anyone else. At first we were like, ¨THIS ISN'T FUNNY,  ELDER! STOP JOKING!¨ But it's the real deal. All of Pringles! For the three of us! Our investigators, menos activos,(*Less active*) conversos recientes,(*recent converts*) and area have doubled! Now we're all in the same room. We have been running all over Pringles! Literally, running at times. We need bikes!! This week has been WAAAY stressful with the baptism, change and everything.  It's a little different, but I've finally got a Latina companion! It's been a little difficult because Hna Israelsen and I move a little faster than Hna Leguizamón. It doesn't help that she comes to my shoulder! She's kind of short! And when I do missionary work, I get my "Disneyland Walk" on. You all know the "disneyland walk". When the park opens and you make a beeline to Space Mountain or Indiana Jones because the lines get long super fast for those two!!! Poor thing just can´t keep up! So I´ve had to slow down a bit. It´s going to be a challenge to get organized, but once we get in the groove of things it should be better. I hope. Pray for us. 

- HERMANA BROWN IS IN DORREGO! Guess what? That is in MY ZONE! My comp has been sick SO WE GOT TO CALL OUR MISSION NURSE! Yahoo! I got to talk to her! I just love her! Hope we have a zone conference soon.

- I ate ostritch this week. It wasn't too bad. At first we were just eating milanesas and Presidente said, "do you know what you´re eating?"  Um, meat? NOPE, OSTRITCH! What!!! Would I eat it again? Probably. :-)

- I´m really just sooo tired. But still happy!! It´s weird.

- I COMPLETED 5 MONTHS IN THE MISSION YESTERDAY! What the crap!?? Who said time could go by so quickly??

- We have a new theme song... it´s "Behold, A royal Army". In the chorus it says "Victory, victory through Jesus Christ our Lord" (I think) but in Spanish it´s "avencer, avencer por Cristo rey Jesus" but instead of that, in the last verse we sing "ENCONTRAR, ENSEÑAR, BAUTIZARRRR!!!! (find, teach, baptize) POR CRISTO REYYYY JESUSSSS!" I LOVE IT!! I hope you all understand this haha. 

-I read a great talk given by Presidente Uchtorf in the Priesthood session 2010 titled "Continue in Patience". IT WAS GREAT! I REALLY need some patience... especially at this time. Two quotes I loved "Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than the receiving that we grow most." And, " Patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace". I think in the world today, we could all use a little more patience. Especially when it comes to answers to prayers. We all have to remember that answers and blessings come in the Lord's time and in the Lord's way. And they always come! There's a reason why it's one of the Christlike attibutes in PME. (*Preach My Gospel*)

- SHOUTOUTS: KRISTEN YOU ARE A MARRIED WOMAN! My mom sent me a pic and you looked SO GORGEOUS! And Tay and Paige, you made gorgeous bridesmaids. I miss you three. Aunt LORI!! Thanks for the email. Finally. I don´t have time to read it, but I will print it off! Love ya! 

BENJAMIN SERNA AND JOSHUA SERNA! Happy birthdays! Love you both! 

ADRIENNE! It's about time you sent me an email!! THANK YOU! 

Sandii- I read a talk "Mothers and Daughters"- Russell M Ballard and I thought of you and Izabelle. Read it!

- All right everyone. That's a wrap for this week. Have a great Independence Day... even though it's winter here and Hna Israelsen and I are the only Americans in Pringles, we'll celebrate somehow! I LOVE AMERICA! WOOO! I love you all! Gotta go!

BESITOS! 

Hermana Squire

Bautismo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLA!

¿Cómo andan? Ah I am just so happy to be a missionary right now. I flippin love it. Every. Day. Even when I'm walking bent forward, trying not to get blown away, when I'm cold, wet, tired and sore... I still love it. BAH!!
-Estoy TAN feliz porque tuvimos un BAUTISMO ayer! **(I'm so happy because we had a baptism yesterday!)** Yup! Belén quit smoking (same with Jorge) and was baptized yesterday and IT. WAS. AMAZING. She looked so pretty in white and was so nervous before. But everything went well and she is super happy now. She'll get confirmed this Sunday. Sad thing is that no one from her family came. Only Jorge and his dad. Jorge was super happy. The Elders came to Pringles on Friday so she could have her interview. She, of course, passed with flying colors. Jorge started asking Elder Christensen about MISSIONS. OH MY GOSH. How great would that be??!!! They BOTH would be amazing missionaries. I have no doubts about Belén at all. She quit smoking in a week and a half, reads her scriptures and participates in the classes so much. I LOVE HER!!! Seeing the joy on someone's face as they come out of the waters of baptism, cleansed from all their sins,  is something I will always remember. Amazing.
- My Spanish is definitely improving. I've been getting comments from the members that I'm speaking better and THAT truly is a compliment! Argentines are pretty blunt and honest, so they won't lie! I'm really working hard with my Spanish and I have truly been blessed because I am learning so quickly!
-We had another asada on Friday. OH MY. I am convinced we will be dining Argentine style en los cielos.**(in the heavens)** Only bad thing was that the man of the house was like, "don't be shy hermana, eat all you want." I DID EAT ALL I WANT. But then he kept putting more on my plate. "Don't be shy, don't you like it?" Have you ever prayed to be able to have the strength to keep eating? I almost DIED!
- We will be having a zone conference this Friday in Bahía with interviews with Presidente. This is his LAST transfer before our new president comes in! Sad, but I'm sure our new president will be amazing.
- I just found out that Dr. Mike was in the branch presidency at MTC of Hna Israelsen's branch! Small world!
- EVERYONE! GO read "Finding Joy in Life" by Elder Richard Scott. It will change your life. " When you trust in the Lord , when you are willing to let your heart and your mind be centered in His will, when you ask to be led by the spirit to do His will, you are assured of the greatest happiness along the way and the most fulfilling attainmet from this mortal experience". GO READ IT!
- SHOUTOUTS! I got so much letter love this week! THANK YOU! VENICE! I love your guts. I'll write you next week. Taylor- LOVED the graduation pics. WHERE IS DEV GOING ON HIS MISSION! I need to start sending your letters to CA now, right? KRIS- YOU ARE A DANG BABE in your engagements! I loved it and I LOVED your letter! PAIGE! I keep forgetting to congratulate you on your 1/2 marathon. YOU GO GIRL. And i loved your letter and pics. Almost wet my pants with the wrestling pic and your birthday drawings. I got another GREAT letter from the Serna crew in Virginia! I LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you for the drawings and notes!! Everyone!! Thank you for all your prayers! I feel them every day! I am so spiritually uplifted EVERYDAY thanks to your prayers. 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Squire

Hermana Cydnee Squire

Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission

1755 Chacabuco

8000 Bahia Blanca

Buenos Aires

Argentina

Sad News.....

HOLA TODOS!

¿Cómo andan? I hope you're all enjoying the summer weather, because it is wet and chilly here in Pringles! Winter is definitely on the way... I'm not super excited about it. haha.
-Well, I've got some pretty sad news. Julieta wasn't baptized. We went over to Enrique's house and started prepping Julieta for baptism. She was pretty excited until Enrique said "So I'm baptizing her right?" NO, YOU AREN'T DOING ANYTHING TO CHANGE, MR. SMARTIE! We told him no, but he could still participate and all, but he got SO MAD. He was like, "I'm not going to support you in this, I won't come. This was special for me to do this for you because I love you," BLAH BLAH. Well, Enrique, you obviously don't love her enough to let HER achieve ETERNAL SALVATION, and YOU only want to do this for yourself. It was SO FRUSTRATING. I wanted to beat him with my umbrella, but then the news headline "Sister missionary gets sent home for mauling an 18 year old with her umbrella" flashed through my mind and I refrained. He was being so rude, I could hardly stand it. Julieta talked to us outside and said, I still want to get baptized. I want the Holy Ghost. But can we give him another chance to change? If he doesn't by the end of June, I will get baptized, sí or no? So we changed the date. THEN the next day we got a text from Julieta and it said she didn't ever want to get baptized, she wasn't going to come back to church, and to stop coming by Enrique's house. WHAT!! That was a 180 in a matter of 12 hours! We've tried calling, stopping by, we've fasted, but we can't find her. We want to know what happened and talk face to face. I am 100% sure that it has EVERYTHING to do with Enrique. So please pray for Julieta.
- Belén. I LOVE THIS GIRL. She is quitting smoking and her fecha is this Sunday. Her boyfriend, Jorge, is changing too. He's quitting smoking with her and he has more light in his face. He participates more in the lessons with us and comes to church activities. So, Belén will get baptized this Sunday, if she can completely quit smoking. She's already progressed so much with that, in a matter of one week. Capa. The other day she was praying and said "Thank you for sending me these girls. I love the presence they bring into my house". BAH! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
- We had an activity for Independence Day on 25 de Mayo. We had such a good turn out! We ate locro, a traditional Argentine dish that they ate like 100 years ago. It was...... yeah. Ok. Not my favorite. Some members did some traditional dancing and read some poems from Argentine poets. It was such a fun day.
- We had a St. Bernard follow us the other day, for almost 20 blocks! HE WAS HUGE! His head was like the size of a watermelon. We called him Vincent. Imagine two sister missionaries at your door with a St Bernard."Are you SURE you don't want to listen to our message?" (Cue the St. Bernard to growl). Later, his owner found him, relieved that he had been following us, and PUT HIM IN THE TRUNK OF A CIVIC! THE TRUNK!! Pobre.
- We found the granddaughter of a converso in the ward, Anabela. Her daughter was outside while we were contacting a reference, and she kept inching closer and closer. Finally she was like, what are your names? We talked to her for a bit then Anabela came out and let us in. We taught her lesson one and how to pray and asked her to say the last prayer. She did it, then we asked how she felt. She said " I don't know, I feel emotional, and I don't get emotional. I feel something here in my chest. I've never felt this before". Wow, right? Definitely one of the coolest experiences so far on the mission. We have high hopes for her. Please pray for her that she can find work. She's in a tough time right now.
- I read a great quote about keeping the Sabbath day holy. It really made me think. "Our observance of the Sabbath is an unnerving measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward His suffering in Gethsemane, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in every deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of His atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us." - Elder Mark E. Peterson. WOW, right?
-Shoutouts: Tyler and Ashley, I LOVED the pic of Lucas in the BYU shirt! SO CUTE!! Happy Birthday to NATALIE GRANT! Woo! Love you! And happy birthday to Kelsey yesterday, hope it was great. I got the BEST LETTER with pictures last week from the Serna crew! Thank you and I LOVE YOU JOSHUA, LEAH, MATTHEW, REBECCA! And of course Robert and Julie :). SOMEONE GO TELL RYAN DEGROOT I AM SO DANG PROUD OF HIM!! WOO MISSION! Everyone! I love you all! Read your scriptures! Pray every day! Pray with your family! Go to church! Do the little things! So simple, but so vital. 

Está obra es la obra del Señor! El sufrió por TODOS. No solamente por nuestros pecados, pero por nuestros dolores, affliciones, TODO. Cada día, le doy gracias a Dios por el sacrificio de su Hijo. Estoy tan agradacida que estoy sirviendo aca en Pringles.  LES QUIERO! 

Translation****(This work is the work of the Lord. He suffered for everyone. Not just for our sins, but for our pains, afflictions, EVERYTHING. Each day, I give thanks to God for the sacrifice of His Son. I am so grateful that I am serving over here in Pringles. I love you!)****

Hermana Squire (or Hermana Alta... (hermana tall) it´s a new one. And people spell my name SCUAIR so they say it right when I have to give a talk in sacrament)

Rocio, our cutie pie

Transfers and I Almost Got Eaten By A Dog!

Hola Todos!

Well, my first transfer in the field is now over. It went SO FAST! What in the world? I will be staying here in Pringles. In fact, all of my district will be staying, so we're happy about that! We've got some promising investigators and we are ready to work hard to get baptisms this transfer.

- Belén- This girl is the DIEZ!(10) She's the girlfriend of a menos activo and we found her last Sunday. We've already taught her the first 3 lessons! She's 17, and OH MY GOSH! She is the best!! She reads everything we give her, highlights passages in the Book of Mormon, AND does the additional studies in the back of the folletos (pamphlets) that we leave her! She remembers what she's read and everything! Sometimes Hermana Israelsen and I are like...Is this girl for REAL?! Get this, I asked her if she knew Jose Smith was a prophet. AND YOU KNOW WHAT SHE SAID? Well, yeah. There?s no way he could have written this book without the help of God. He's like Moses, right? AHHHH! Pray hard for her!! I really want to see her baptized!
- We are concentrating more on the menos activos in the branch than before. We really need strong members who can have callings and help us with our investigators. Presidente Wilt told us yesterday he really wants us to work with the menos activos, so he can lift the load of teaching all of the classes off our shoulders. We are really trying to strengthen these menos activos and get them back to church. There are SO MANY that have great potential.
- I ate cornmeal mush/crap again this week. I need to teach them how to make cornbread.
- Ok, so I read another talk by Elder Christoffersen this week. I LOVE THIS MAN! It?s called "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten". SO AMAZING. Here's what I learned: We will be judged for our works on this earth, but what we've DONE isn't as important as what we've BECOME.  We should willingly accept and even seek for corrections. Just think: God considers us worth the time and trouble to correct. Divine chastening has 3 purposes 1) to persuade us to repent 2) Define and sanctify us- to prepare us for greater spiritual privileges and 3) at times to redirect our course in life to what God knows is a better path. He then shared a story about the Currant bush. GO READ IT. May we always say "Thank you Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down".
- So, I almost got eaten by 3 dogs. I thought this only happened to Elders, but I WAS WRONG. So we were looking for a menos activo family and were clapping at this gate (we clap here, we don't knock if there's a gate) and these 3 HUGE dogs come running out from behind the house. Usually, dogs just bark at us and leave us alone. But they came up and were jumping on us and one was tugging at my skirt with his teeth! I have 2 huge tears now! At least it wasn't my flesh...Well, we started running, but Hna Israelsen turned around and swung her Book of Mormon like a bat and knocked one over the head. They ran away after that! It's a good thing she had her LDM (Libro de Mormon) in a hard case! It would have been death by dog for the both of us! We were pretty shaky after that. Dumb dogs.
-We are actually on a shortage of LDM in the mission. They are on back order! It's hard to have someone pray about the LDM if they don't have one, haha. Pray that we get some Libros de Mormón, soon!
- We had a lesson with Enrique and Julieta and they asked me to pray in English. I COULDN'T DO IT! I haven't prayed in English in 3 months! It was like trying to speak a new language all over again. "les bendigas... erm please bless" haha, so embarrassing.
- Earlier this week, it was raining SO HARD! We seriously looked like we decided to shower in our clothes. So we came to a curb and there was practically a river running next to it, so I was doing this awkward shuffle, trying to figure out the best way to jump across (who knows why, I was soaked anyway), when I stepped on something and almost fell. I looked down, and what was it? A diaper? No. A DEAD, BLOODY, DECAPITATED PIGEON. A PIGEON!  I started yelling PIGEON! I STEPPED ON A PIGEON! Like some weirdo and ran off the sidewalk. Couldn't stop laughing after that.
Shoutouts: HADDY MAE JARVIS- you are a DANG BABE in your engagement pictures. I love you. I read your letter and I laughed so hard about the Ryan Reynold's picture (I'M BUSY!). Happy Bday on the 20th! I miss you and a letter is on the way!! Congratulations to Sean Johnson on getting set apart as an Elder! Proud of you, buddy. Dave and Anna- BABY BUMP! Oh my gosh! I can't wait to see pictures of baby girl Dunn! Got any names picked out? Hey mamas! I hope you all had a fabulous Mother's Day :)

I'm so dang happy here in Argentina. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE! I LOVE THEM! Sometimes I want to bop them on the head for saying they'll come to church, then they don't, but I STILL LOVE THEM! Being a missionary is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. THE BEST, I TELL YA! I hope all of you are well and enjoying spring. I love ya!

Hermana Squire

Padres,
LOVED TALKING TO YOU YESTERDAY! AHHH best ever. I had a perma-smile for the rest of the night. So: we walked 280 miles this transfer. WOW!!! My shoes are holding up. Dirty, but still working.  LOVE YA!