Milagros!! (Miracles)

HOLA QUERIDA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!

Oh my goodness, this week was GREAT! Wet, but so amazing. Miracles I tell ya, MIRACLES! Where do I even start?!

-We had 3 investigators in church yesterday. THREE! We went from 0 for the past 4 weeks to 3! Woo! So, Julieta came alone. She ALWAYS comes with Enrique. She told us that she called him that morning and he was all wishy washy about going to church and she told him that she's tired of waiting for him to change, so she's going to get baptized anyway. WHAT!!! AHHH! She asked us, "So when can we do it?" WELL, THIS SATURDAY OF COURSE!! WOOO! POR FIN! Ah, I'm so excited for her! We've been praying for this for a month! Ahhh what a miracle, no?
- We called Belén at 9:30 (when church starts) and she had been crying. Her uncle had passed away that morning (good timing on phone call, right?). We told her that if she felt up to it, she could come late. SHE CAME! She came in just after sacrament with puffy, red eyes and with Jorge. OH MY GOSH. She participated so much in the class for the jovenes (youth) and stayed the WHOLE TIME. Oh my gosh. I LOVE HER! We only have diezmo y ofrendas (tithes & offerings) left to teach her. We taught Word of Wisdom and Chastity with her WHOLE DANG FAMILY there. Awkward. But she´s working on quitting smoking. She is truly the golden investigator.
- How we found Belén is totally the Lord´s doing. We met Analia after fasting, then met her brother Filipe. We visited with Filipe and his señora, Yanina (they aren't progressing) and then we were knocking at their house one day and Jorge was there (menos activo and novio *boyfriend* of Belén). We visited Jorge at his house and that's where we met Belén. Belén is Yanina´s SISTER! What in the world...??? all this work and family connections and we find Belén. Our little gem of an investigator. I hope that made sense.
- Rosio (little CUTIE PIE in the picture) came with her family too! La familia Varela is menos activo, but are working with them. They are the greatest and I LOVE THEM. Gabby is working on quitting drinking so he can baptize his daughter. Rosio is SERIOUSLY the cutest girl you will ever meet. I want to squeeze her all the time.
- Lesson learned this week: Check boots for spiders before you put them on, or you might find one smashed against your tights that night.
- We had just finished teaching an investigator about the resurrection and how we would have perfected bodies. She told us she was happy for that because she had a ´problem´ that none of her siblings had. Then what happened, you ask? SHE HAD A SEIZURE, right then! Oh my word! Hna Israelsen was freaking out, and I don't know why, but I was just so calm. I just helped her stabilize and it passed. Freaky, but what timing, right? Vomit and seizures... what´s next?
- It rained SO HARD on Wednesday. We seriously had a river on our street. A RIVER. It probably would have been easier to canoe to our lessons.This is when we found out our roof leaks. Luckily Hermana Israelsen and I came back to grab something and saw it was leaking so we were able to put pots and pans out everywhere. Oh, the mission.
Shoutouts: HADDY MAE. Happy dang birthday. Hope it was great. Thought about you tons yesterday. And... soggy waffle... hope you got that. AND I WOULD LOVE TO BE YOUR HONORARY BRIDESMAID!! Aw, you're gonna make me cry. YOUR DRESS IS THE DANG CUTEST! SO YOU. Bah, I love you. Paige- The Abundant Life- Elder Wirthlin. Read and Report. I love you dear. KELSEY FARR! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY!!! 21 you old lady. TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS!  We just got a  brand new rule sheet from the zone leaders! We can't open emails from friends!! Aunts, uncles, cousins (cousin´s wives), brother and sister in-law and nephew (Tyler and Ashley), and grandparents are ok... but the rest of you,  :-( So sad! Dearelders for you! They take longer, I know, but if you have something EXCITING to say like you're getting married! You're having a baby! etc., shoot an email to my mama (jssquire@msn.com) and she'll inform me. I'm so sorry, but I have to be obedient!! So dearelder.com, o.k.?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Bah, being a missionary is the best. It makes you so dang happy. It's really so true, when you are serving others with your whole self, it makes you so happy. I hope all of you have felt or will feel this happiness.

BESOS!
Hermana Squire (Hermana SQUARE... it's a new one. People are like, OH! Like the shape in English, right? Sure. Close enough)

Pic 1: The flood in front of our house

Pic 2: Rosio. Our 9 year old investigator. Her dad (menos activo) is the bald man in the back. I LOVE ROSIO! Isn´t she the most adorable girl?!

***NO PICTURES CAME. Bummer! (this is Janie)

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!

Fotos & Investigadora de Oro! (Photos & Golden Investigator!)

23 abril 2012

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!

Oh man, we are now in week four of the transfer and I cannot believe it!! WHAT! WHERE has the time gone? Seriously. Fall is here and it is chilly. Mornings and nights are a funny thing in our house. Our little home has giant cracks in it (that´s how that monster spider got into our house) and so it is really cold when it's dark. So we all are walking around like eskimos and warming our hands by our gas heater. Oh, the adventures of the mission! AND I FINALLY AM ABLE TO SEND PICTURES! We have to go to the church and do it there and it takes approximately a million years to download one, but I hope you all enjoy them.
- ANALIA- OH MY LANDS. She is my golden investigator!! We found her and her two kids in the calle (street) after we had fasted. The 11 year old, Abby is a member, and Rodrigo is 9. We went to visit her and she told us that before Abby´s baptism, they were homeless in Mar Del Plata, and only got food when people would give it to them. Then the missionaries found and baptized Abby. After that, they got a house, she got work, then they moved to Pringles and she got pregnant after trying for 8 years (she´s six months along). She said that recently she was feeling that she needed to change, and started praying. A few days later we met her. She started crying and said that she knew that was a sign from God that this was the way she needed to go. I just sat there in amazement at how everything played out. We were all sitting there crying, the spirit was so strong. She bore testimony of how we need to learn from trials and that God´s hand is always in our lives. GOLDEN, RIGHT?! Her fecha, and Rodrigo´s is for the 13th of May, the last day of the transfer. We are praying she can get married to her pareja(partner) by then. PRAY FOR HER TOO! My goodness, I love her. We are also going to work with her menos activo brother, Filipe and his señora. He went inactive after his son died, said he would never go to church again and never would pray again. He came into our lesson as we were finishing, and not knowing the circumstances, only that he was inactive, asked him to pray. He offered such a beautiful prayer and Analia told us her testimony was strengthed because she saw that her brother was changing too. So excited to work with this family!
- Julieta was not baptized. We had a noche de hogar(FHE) for the youth in the branch, and only she and Enrique showed up. We had a good talk with her about not waiting for the blessings that will come from baptism, but she still wants Enrique to do it. I could just shake Enrique right now! He´s not doing his part, he doesnt come to church in his white shirt and tie and doesn´t participate in activities. We are going to work on them both and work on a plan. So frustrating, but hopefully we can baptize her soon.
- Funny stories: We had just finished teaching a lesson with a 14 year old girl and her friend in their house when her 4 year old little brother came in and puked EVERYWHERE. I was surprised that I reacted so calmly. I didn´t even flinch. I was just like, oh, barf. Ok. The best part was Hna Israelsen was like, so, can we leave you with a prayer? And I was like NOPE! WE¨RE OUTTA HERE! Ah so gross. Then, the next day, we were walking in the street and WHAM, a bug flew right into my eye with the force of a jet plane I swear. It took me like 2 minutes to get it out of there and my eyes were watering so bad. We were laughing about it and not even 30 seconds later, a fly flew down Hna Israelsen´s throat (her mouth was open from laughing at ME). She was gagging, coughing and laughing... I was seriously dying on the side of the road. What a scene. Oh, she ended up swallowing it. Nice.
- I had my worst meal and my best meal so far in the mission this week. Worst: This sick cornmeal stuff with meat soup stuff. The worst part is that she PILED it on our plates. It was a small mountain and it was all I could do to eat half of it... so gross. Hna Israelsen ate it ALL. We were SO SICK after. Ick. Then, on Friday was Hno Achigar´s bday and we had asada with sheep, chicken, stuffed zuchini, and chorizo. OH MY LANDS. It was so great!! Ah, I just love Hno Achigar. He treats us so well. Next week we´re going to milk cows at his ranch... we´ll see how that goes.

Kelsey, Adrienne (letter on the way to you!), Hno Larsen- Thank you for the emails! I wish I had time to email you all back individually. Everyone, thank you so much for the love and support. I am so happy in Argentina. I love the people. I love this work. I love Castalleno :) It´s hard sometimes but when I find people like Analia, it makes all the hard times worth it! Have a wonderful week!

Much love,
Hermana Squire

Picture 1: The giant trantula in our house. Now you know why I screamed.
Picture 2: Asada for Hno. Achigar´s birthday with Familia Wilt. SO DELICIOUS
Picture 3: Presidente Wilt y Familia with Hermano Achigar. And I just realized I look like a giant.
Picture 4: Las Hermanas with Hermano Achigar.
Picture 5: our little room (my bed is on the left)

Parents:
YES I HAVE TO PAY FOR PACKAGES. PLEASE DON´T PUT ACCURATE AMOUNT. If you put 15 dollars, that's 60 pesos and I have to pay for half. So HIDE HIDE HIDE. And don´t list all things... Could you send some raisins, some cereals (none with nuts... they´ll take those) so i was thinking maybe get like captn crunch, take that cereal out and put in some yummy granola and a bag of almonds and raisins in the empty box and reseal. I AM CRAVING HEALTHY SNACKS but everything is so darn expensive. If you can hide beef jerky, nuts etc in a box that previously had granola bars or fruit snacks or whatever and just carefully reseal, that would be great. I really NEED healthy snacks!! Aye aye aye! Foot is better. I think I did strain it and I stumble a lot haha. But I´ve been careful and it´s been better. We have number for doctor in case it gets bad again. Only Hna Israelsen and I jog together. Other times I use my thing Brendi gave me. IT´S THE BEST! Please tell her that. Our house has a washer. It doesn´t rinse so we rinse in the sink and then hang dry. Don´t know how that´s gonna work in the winter. We only have lunch w presidente and family so far. Yes I can open attachments. SO CUTE AVA. Sleeping bag is great for cushion now. I´ll be sleepin in it sooon, no doubt! Internet is 8 blocks from house. Not going to buy a blowdryer. Ive been using Hna Linco´s... well I've used it 3 times so far. OK LOVE YA! Hope all is well and I get to talk to you SOON! Doing Race for The cure this year? HOPE SO!

The spider that made us scream!

Asada for Hermano Achigar's birthday. Presidente Wilt & hermanas

Hermanas with Hermano Achigar

My bedroom with Hermana Israelsen. My bed is to the left.

The Crazy Man In The Window

¿Cómo andan?

Wow, I can´t believe I´m in my 2nd week here in Pringles. It is such a great place and I absolutely love the people. I´m so excited to be in Argentina! Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I´m like, whoa! I´m in Argentina!

-      -  Pringles is a super safe town and we have no problems walking around at night or anything. We are lucky to have an Amazing branch presidency who will do anything for us. Hermano Achigar comes by and brings us fresh vegetables and fruit multiple times a week and we have lunch at President Wilt´s home 2 times a week. They take great care of us and I love all the branch members. Ha, they SHOULD take care of us, because between the 4 Hermanas, we rotate teaching gospel doctrine, relief society, the youth class, AND give talks. I´m giving my talk next week… eek!
-         - Funny stories this week: Hermana Israelsen and I were studying in the main room when all of the sudden she starts freaking out. There was this guy looking in our window! We ran out of the room and the other Hermanas came out and it turns out, he was trying to ask us what time it was. Whoops. A couple days later, Hna Israelsen and I were walking in the street and all the sudden, right in the middle of her sentence she said ´Ugh i just stepped on a diaper and it was squishy´ Sick, huh? Then last night I was getting ready for bed when I hear HERMANA HERMANA ARAÑA!!!! (Hna Israelsen is terrified of spiders) I come out thinking it´s a little spider, but NO. It´s as big as a freaking tarantula! I´m serious! It could have swallowed a mouse! I would like to tell you all that I courageously slapped it dead with my shoe, but no.. What did I do? I got on the chair and started screaming with Hermana Israelsen until Hermana Linco came out. She sprayed Raid at it which made it scuttle around and made us scream louder. Oh my gosh. There better not be any more of those in our house. I have a picture and once I figure out this picture thing I´ll send one.
- - We had a 3rd companion with us this week. A little stray cat we named Favian. He followed us around for half a day and patiently waited while we contacted. We lost him after an appointment then he miraculously showed up 2 days later and followed us again! How funny:)
- If anyone wants to give me advice on how to convert a Jehovah´s witness, that would be great! They are so hard to talk to and trying to get them to even listen is impossible.
 -- Fasting works miracles. We had a zone fast and after that we found 4 new investigator, and a family with an 11 year old menos activo and a 9 year old who wants to get baptized. We are going to work with them and find out what kept the mom from being baptized. I´m so stoked.
- -Julieta- She has a fecha this Saturday but it probably will fall through. She only wants her boyfriend, Enrique to baptize her but he´s been less active for about a month because of a dumb fight with a kid in church. BUT HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! WOO!! So he is working on being worthy to baptize Julieta. Ah, I love Julieta! She´s 16 and always keeps her promises. WE taught the Word of Wisdom and she was like yeah, I´ll live it. SO SWEET!
  - We celebrated Ramon´s 85 birthday this week. We got him a little alfahor and a candle and sang to him. I LOVE HIM! He is the cutest grandpa!
  -We are also working with a recent convert, Juanita (MOM!!), and she is the sweetest old lady. Every time we go over she tells me I need to eat more or I´ll blow away in the wind. Another menos activo: Maria Jose. I LOVE HER! She had a problem with smoking and didn't want to come back because she was ashamed. But she hasn't´t smoked in 2 weeks!! She has a strong testimony and has gone through the temple. We visit her and she whips out her preach my gospel, gospel principles book and we just chat! AHH love that woman.
--- We found a nueva yesterday, IDE... sounds like Iday? Anyway, we knocked on her door and it was like BAM. Smoke cloud. She is a heavy smoker but we´ll help her change that. Also, there were approximately 150 flies in her house. I about died, but THAT went away when she said she would be baptized. Woo!
-  Shoutouts: Tyler, thanks for the email! CONGRATS ON TENNESSEE!!!! You were right in your post script once again. Sis Corbett thanks for the dear elder! BYU peeps, I hope finals go well! Then you can write me! Dearelders take 2 weeks, letters I'm not sure, and emails are obviously quick. Hermano Larsen, Thanks for the email! Thank you all for the endless love and support.

Hermana Squire
cydnee.squire@myldsmail.net

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