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)

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.