oooooh now baby please don´t go...

Hey all you good lookin' people,

 

You´re all probably better lookin' than me... all tan and summer-like. How´s it going?? School started eh?? Good luck!

-Sad news. Vaughan went home to get better. She fell on her foot in July and hasn't recovered. MAN I´M GONNA MISS THAT GIRL! We became besties in like a week and a half. SO Hna Vawdrey came from Puerto to be Hna Carsen´s companion. Vawdrey is just the biggest sweetheart. Love her. Now we´re just 4 sisters from Utah living in a cracker box of an apartment!

-So, it´s been feeling like mid-november here in Bahia. So confusing because last week it was way nice and now I´m all bundled up in my leggings and sweaters. PLEASE JUST GET WARM BAHIA!! I´VE BEEN COLD SINCE NOVEMBER LAST YEAR!!!!! I´m ready for some heat. Just watch. I´ll be complaining that i´m melting in December. :-)

- Sharing an area with the Elders (nonetheless ASISTENTES) has it´s goods and bads... and lots of awkwards. When we have lunches together, they do all the eating. I finish my one little plate in the time they've had thirds. Less pressure! Woo! The Elders EAT A TON! It´s surprising and kinda gross. We had a hilarious experience last night, we went to visit this menos activo family and they live in apartments that are usually locked but they weren't last night, so we're like" sweet! Lets go visit them!" We knock on the door and who´s sitting on the couch? The Elders! Haha, what are the odds, honestly. We were just like, uhhh awkward, and came in  and just sat there all awkward because they were getting ready to give the Hermana a blessing! jaja. But the Elders do take good care of us and I'm super grateful for that.

- Today we wanted HEALTHY HEALTHY food for lunch so we bought tons of veggies and cut them up to cook them in the oven, but guess WHAT, our oven BROKE! So we went door to door looking for someone to let us use their oven. We found this way nice girl and she let us use her oven, but she had to set a stick pressing the gas button so it would stay lit and prop it against the wall to keep it on! We spent 20 minutes trying to work that out! Hilarious! Sometimes I forget that I live in Argentina and they are way behind the times!

-We had lunch again with the purple haired chorister this week. Did I find cat hair in my food? Yes, Yes I did.

- I miss carpet.

-  SO I´ve been so stressed lately that I made myself sick Thursday and Friday. (either stress or I ate something bad) Sick as in i had to be within 20 feet of a bathroom... so I had to stay in the cracker box most of those days. The Elders came by on Friday and gave me a blessing. I'm ALL BETTER! Can I just say I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD!? How blessed are we to have the restored priesthood of God in our homes? I love that my dad is worthy to give me blessings when I need them. I´m grateful that there are 180 worthy Elders in the mission who bless the sick and give blessings of comfort. I will not settle for less than a worthy priesthood holder in my home.

- Ok we found a family of GOLD last Wednesday. Jesica and Fernando. They need to get married, pero MAL! She's 22 and has 4 kids under 7... yeah, you can do the math, and Fernando is SO attentive during the lessons. They are both reading and praying! They have very little clothes and such, so our AMAZING Relief Society got a big quilt for them!  Jesica was so surprised and grateful that people already care for them! They said they´d come to church this week! Woo! Jessica told us that her 5 year old had a bad cough the other night and she prayed and he was able to sleep the whole night. WOW! God answers prayers, I promise you that! It´s so amazing! I´m stoked for them. Pray that they can get married fast, it takes FOREVER here to get married.

- We went over to the villa last week to visit a part member family, whose kids are members but the parents need to get married. So we´ll be helping them with that. The villa is SO heartbreaking. It´s a barrio by the train tracks with tin shacks for houses and dirt floors. It just broke my heart at how humbly people live. I´ve never felt so humbled in my life as I have on my mission.

-Shoutouts: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER! I hope my mom picked out something good without my help...!!! THURMANS! CONGRATS ON THE TEMPLE!!! I´m super excited and happy for you guys. KELS AND NOAH! So glad you went to see my padres. Noah when I get home we´ll speak Spanish in front of Kels to annoy her, k? Hah!! Kels, I LOVE YAH!!! ANNA!! When is baby girl Dunn coming! I was hoping to see pics today!!! AHHH.

- I love my mission. I´m growing and changing so much and I´m so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve the Lord. I´ve never been so happy in my life. I´ve never felt so alone. I´ve never felt so much disappointment, but I´ve never felt so satisfied in my life. Like you said Greg, this is the MOST 18 months of my life. I know I'm going to bawl my eyes out when I have to take my tag off. When I get on that plane home, I´m not goin' without a fight :). These are my brothers and sisters, and I love reminding them of their potential and helping them come unto Christ. There is no work more satisfying and amazing as this. This is the true, and only true, Church of Jesus Christ. I know that with every single cell of my body. No matter how much people stare at me, or tell me it´s "my ideas", or scoff at me, or shake their fingers at me, I still know it´s true. All of that makes my testimony even stronger. I LOVE THE GOSPEL AND I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! And guess what else?  I love you all too! MUCHO. Cuidense mucho y ADELANTE!!! (**take much care and move forward)

 

Hermana Squire

 

 

FOTOS:

1. Saying BYE to the Flia WIlt in PRINGLES

2. Elder Caicedo y Costanzi setting up our bunks in our cracker box apartment

3. View from our window

4. Vaughan and I pulling fat kid moves with her alfahors for her fan (and no i didn´t eat any :-))

 

Still lost...........

Hey you crazy people,

How's it going? I can't believe school starts sooooooo soon. Have fun with THAT!

-Well, another week has come and gone and I'm just sitting here like "whaaat??"  I'm sitting here in this dark game den... because our normal spot is closed for another holiday. Flippen Argentines. Always celebrating something. ANYWAY. I usually am a lot more prepared with a list of things to write and a spiritual thought and such, but it's just been another crazy week. We still feel pretty lost still and we're still trying to get to know our area. 

- There are like 3 widows in the ward who are just SO excited to have Hermanas. The Elders can't come eat with them, and they are just so lonely. I feel so bad! We try and go visit them and stuff but they sure can talk your ear off. They just need someone to talk to! But for the most part, the members here are great! There's a lot of gossip and talking bad about the leaders. That upsets me. They don't have super great ward attendance, but at least they have enough to have teachers and such. No teaching for me this transfer! There is the CUTEST lady in the ward whose name is Rosa, she's a little bit menos activo,(**less active) but SO SWEET! She comes to my elbow and has no teeth. I love her! We had lunch with the chorister, who has purple hair, and I found cat hair in my jello... yup.

-Ok, with lunches. We have lunches scheduled EVERY FREAKING DAY. My word. We had to say no for Mondays (pday) and Thurs (planning) but there is like fights for lunches, because there are four of us. It even got a little heated in Relief Society and I got super uncomfortable! They think they need to make this huge feast, but really, the Hermanas don't eat as much as the Elders!! I've been better at just saying "I can't eat that much," and even if they are offended I'm just like "listen. I don't want to blow up like a balloon here!! The Elders can take care of that.!!"..goodness... they each had 3 plates on Sunday!! Crazies!! We had lunch with the former bishop and his family and it was my FAVORITE!!!  So delicious and they were so funny. Way sarcastic and just fun to be with. They had asked about the weird foods we had eaten and asked if we'd had cow head yet... with the brains and eyes and everything. Ummm YUCK!! No! Hopefully that NEVER happens!! Then they said that cow testicles are pretty common to eat. UM WHAT!?? NO WAY JOSE!!! ALL of our faces were like "uhhhhh." Then they went off on cow testicles are tasty and I was dying of laughter AND embarrassment. Real nice conversation for Elders and Hermanas, eh? NOT!

- So Saturday we had a mission conference and Elder Viñas of the Quorum of 70 came. We all thought it would be a bajar de caña on our hineys, (lower the cane-or chastisement) cuz that is what mostly happens when General Authorities come. But it was actually so great!!! He gave us some great council and he left one hour for answering questions. Every question he went to the scriptures. One day I hope to be like that! He was so great!! I also LOVE LOVE LOVE being with other missionaries!! It's such a strength to me. I even got to see Hna Linco! LOVE HER! (mom she says thanks for her lotion and things). Conferences always get me pumped up for missionary work!!!!!

- Yesterday, we were walking to find our investigator, Rosalia to bring her to church. I had brought my umbrella because it's been raining for the past 3 days. Lo and behold it was warm that day. So I had my umbrella and I was like "why the heck did I bring this?" Right as I said that, 4, yes FOUR dogs came running after us and Hna Israelsen shouted "USE IT!!!"  And so I started swinging!!!! We escaped! Dumb dogs. They are so much worse here!!!  And Rosalia... she's 78 I think and just a spit fire!!  SO CUTE! She comes to my shoulder and weighs like 80 pounds. She didn't make it to church, and she might move to the campo to work. PRAY THAT SHE WONT SO SHE CAN GET BAPTIZED!!

- Rain is the WORST to do missionary work. You'd think people would be like "poor things, come inside." BUT NO. It's just another excuse. They say, "come back when it's not raining!" UM WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO YOU! YOU'RE INSIDE! LET US IN YOUR HOUSE SO WE CAN HELP YOU ACHIEVE ETERNAL LIFE! Sheesh. So we just walk around all day and get wet! And I swear cars think it's funny to spray us with water!! So I just give em the thumbs up when it happens! Yep, thanks so much!  Not like we weren't soaked anyway right?? 

Villa Mitre is ok... not as receptive as Pringles. People are pretty much hard as rocks. We have to count a lot on the members to get us references and help us get into houses. I'm pretty tired of people waggling their fingers at me and talking to me from their windows. But what can ya do. You just keep going, and keep looking for the elect. The ones who are ready to change.

 Mom, don't freak out. We're safe. We only work in the semi sketchy places during the day, and the nicer barrios at night. The Elders take the sketchy villas and work there. Every area has its dangers. PRAY WE'LL START SEEING SOME SUCCESS. We're looking hard for the Lord's elect.

-Shoutouts! TAY AND KRIS! Got your dearelders! Love ya! KELS! I got your letter. I flippen DIED at your news bit! Haha didn't see that coming!!! HADDY! AHHH I loved your dearelder. MISS YOU! Have a great week everyone! Work hard and pray harder!!

Con carino,

Hermana Squire

Padres, Vaughan is from S. Carolina and we're gonna be BFFs. She might come home early for her foot. Pray for her. DAD YOUR MUSTANG!!!! SO COOL!!!! Don't worry about me. Doing well.  

love yah. still tracking miles, 200 last transfer... 

Andamos un poquito perdidas...y locas....(We're a little lost...and crazy..)

Queridos!

-Ok, SO! UHHHH where do I start!? So, Hna Leguizamón got shipped to Bahia on Wednesday, and the Elders called us on THURSDAY to say we were leaving on Saturday to Bahia as well! We are in the Area Villa Mitre 2 (Veesha Meetrae) sharing an area with THE ASSISTANTS TO THE PRESIDENT!!!! WAH! And I'm still comps with Hna Israelsen. Everyone's pretty surprised that this is our 4th transfer together, usually THE MOST comps stay together is 3 transfers. I was ready for a change but...Sea lo que Dios quiera....

- Ok, let's start from the beginning. So we kinda had a feeling we'd be shipped out too, we kinda had a forewarning that Presidente was thinking of putting Elders in Pringles. So after we got the news, we went to all the investigators, converses,(*converts) and menos activos(**Less active) that we've been seeing, to tell them the news and say goodbye. Everyone was SO sad! Belén looked like she was going to cry, Presidente was sad they were taking "las ángeles de Dios",(**angels of God) and Amanda... oh that ripped my heart out. She cried and said that she would miss us so bad, and that we gave her life and helped her find the true church. She was super super sad. Ah, it broke my heart. I'll sure miss her. We visited the menos activos and the reaction that surpised me the most was that of the Familia Bailone. They always made light of things and laughed a lot and just bashed on the members. But they got way sad too! They said we were the only missionaries that were consistent in visiting and they loved when we came over. They wrote some pretty nice things in my contact journal. Anyway, it was just really sad to say goodbye, but I hope the Elders can do some great work in Pringles and help the rama(**Branch) to grow. 

- The APs (***Assistants to the President) came with the new Elders on Saturday to do the exchange. We had to get things pretty organized and write a bunch of stuff about the investigators, menos activos,(**Less actives) and miembros(**members) and where to find stuff!! It was stressful, but they got to Pringles and went crazy over how clean the house was and that it was stocked with food!! The APs went nuts because they hadn't had breakfast. So we rode back in Presidente's car with Elder Constanzi (Argentina) and Elder Caicedo (Columbia). Elder Constanzi is A CRAZY DRIVER!! I thought we would die, but we made it. They are SOOO FUNNY! We were listening to Enya and they were interpretive dancing in the car. We were laughing so hard all the way to Bahia! We spent Saturday organizing a bunch of stuff and copying the area book. We'll be working with Elder Caicedo and Elder Gravelle. Both EXCELLENT missionaries. The ward is stoked to have us 4, and HERMANAS. It's been 2 years since they've had Hermanas. We're living in Puyerredón (Heart of Bahia) with Hna VAUGHN! AHHH I love her! It's so nice to talk to someone new!! WAHH! The apartment is on the 11th floor, ITS TINY! like 1/8 the size of our house in Pringles, we have to slide past the bunks to get into the bedroom, there's no shower curtain so we spray water everywhere when we shower, the hot water lasts 5 minutes so we have to turn it off when we lather up, there's no place for us to study, the elevators are the ghetto gate kind and play 80s music, BUT NO IMPORTA! I LOVE LIVING WITH THE VAUGHN! She's the best and a girl after my own heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy!

- SUNDAY WAS THE NUTTIEST DAY OF MY LIFE! We have to take a bus to our area, and we took it going the wrong way!! We're still trying to figure out all of the bus routes and times, but it's kinda hard! We thought, "well it'll just go in a circle and it'll be fine." BUT NO! It stops at the end of the route and the drivers all chill out in this hut in the middle of nowhere and drink mate for 15 minutes!!!!!!! AHHH! We were pacing around waiting for this driver to get done!!!! We FINALLY headed to the capilla.(**chapel) WE WERE 2 HOURS LATE FOR CHURCH! What a great first impression, eh? Thank goodness sacrament meeting was last! The Elders were like "don't worry hermanas! It's fine!" But I was way stressed!!!!  The members are SO NICE! AND WE HAVE A WARD MISSION LEADER!!! AHHHH so nice!! We ate lunch with the Elders... we might be switching off lunches, and sometimes eating together with the members... that'll be way weird. We already had like 4 sisters come to us and say "Call me when you want a member lesson!" MISSIONARY DREAM COME TRUEEEEE! AHHHHH. A WARD! So stoked!!!!!!! Side note: The first door we knocked on Saturday night was a menos activo! She was like, "did bishop send you?" And we're like "ummmm no"...... what a BLESSING!!!!! She showed us where the church was and our bus stop and everything. SO NICE! 

Shoutouts! TREVOR! You look like a MAN!!! Whoa!! Love my Dunn cousins. Hugs to them all and a belly rub to my little pregnant cousins!! Yay babies! VENICE YOU GRADUATED! Write me you goober. Everyone! I hope everything is going great! I'm happy to be here in Bahía! We are ready to pull our tights up to our armpits and get to work! (Remember Elder Holland's talk to us in the MTC?). We gotta work super hard to find the Lord's elect in Villa Mitre!!!!!! Have an amazing week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Squire

Last Zone Conference with Hermana Detlefsen

Pension in Coronel Pringles

One of Those Weeks....

Hello everybody!

Ok, this letter is going to lack its usual perkiness because to be honest, this week was just very, very difficult. Every missionary has them and wahhh.... I'm struggling a little bit. This week was just SO CRAZY. I've never had a crazier week in my life. My heart has been broken one too many times this week! Darn Argentines. Love em too much. I've almost broken down crying a few times, it's just been a little much. Now, don't feel bad for me or anything, just know every missionary has these kinds of weeks. Also, don't think that I'm some dramatic sister missionary that cries when things go wrong. I'M NOT! I'm usually pretty positive, but it was just a rough week.

- I'm staying in Pringles for now with Hna Israelsen... but we might be changing things around in the week to come.

- Let's start with Friday. Our zone leaders came to Pringles to talk with Pedro. The thing is, Pedro told us that he has depression now. He's been having bad thoughts about his past and is now on some pill trial to help him. He wants to wait until October when he finishes this pill trial to be baptized. We spent an hour and a half with him, sharing sciptures and testimonies, promising blessings, but he still wants to wait. Heart. Broken. I feel so sad for him. Keep him in you prayers and pray that he will be protected. PLEASE.

- (Mom, you might want to sensor this or take it out for the little ones, or THOSE OF YOU WHO READ MY EMAILS TO YOUR CHILDREN*****READ IT FIRST & YOU DECIDE) After we left Pedro's house, we heard a crash on the main blvd. It's pretty common here because NO ONE follows the traffic rules and I have only seen one stop sign here in Pringles, NO JOKE. ONE. The Elders were walking in front of us, and then they took off running. So I'm like, oh crap, then I start running. A guy had gotten hit by a car on his MOTORBIKE (Dad, PLEASE be careful on the Harley. I'm freaked out now!!!). The Elders ran over to take the bike off the top of this guy. No one was doing anything, just gathering around (of course school had just gotten out), so I run over there and kneel next to this guy and he's cussing and trying to get up. But, his leg is just thrashed. His ankle was cut wide open... I could see (for you anatomy nerds) his talus and his lateral malleolus was SHATTERED. Yes, I could SEE it. One of the Elders was closer to his leg and said his bones were exposed in his calf and he just had TONS of glass in his leg. He kept fighting to get up and we're like NO! Your LEG IS BROKEN! LAY DOWN! But he pushed us away and GOT UP AND STARTED WALKING! He tried to get on his bike, and drive away!!! (I can imagine Adrienne right now... You're covering your mouth with your hand aren't you?) Luckily the ambulance came and took him away, leaving us shaken and our ZL with blood on his hands. WHAT THE CRAZY??!!!

- This week, our numbers were just so bad. The worst of my whole mission. I don't know what's going on, but Hna Israelsen and I were talking and we just feel like failures. This is one of the reasons why the week was so bad.I felt like I had let the Lord down and wasted His time. We were wondering why we weren't having success, what MORE could we do in Pringles, when we felt like we've done everything to get menos activos (*less actives) back and they aren't progressing, and WHY the 80 percent of the conversos (*converts) of the last 6 months have NOT been coming to church... Then I read a talk by Elder Holland that explains Missionary work TO A "T"! Here it is: "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary...I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price."  Then THIS is my favorite part, that has given me SO MUCH comfort, especially this week. "The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Yes. No matter what happens, no matter how sad I feel, or how I feel like I'm experiencing moments of Gethsemane right now, or how many times I get rejected, I am standing with the best life this world has ever known... I am standing with the Savior and Redeemer of us all... whose name I wear on my chest. 

- Let's get happy now, shall we?

- So we had to go to Bahía from Saturday to Sunday, and we attended church in Villa Floresta with the Hermanas. WE WERE IN A WARD. A real live ward! I didn't have to teach a class, give a talk, NOTHING. Is it bad that I liked the break?? 

- So the Olympics are playing EVERYWHERE. TEMPTATIONS!!! Some guy was talking to us and he kept saying, "That Pellps guy can swim" and i was like who the heck is Pellps?? Finally it clicked. PHELPS! Jaja, ph=f sound doesn´t exist here. 

- OK ARIEL! I LOVE THIS KID! I've never had such strong desires to hug a 15 year old! He learns so quickly, is so intelligent, and WAH! So great! We asked him to pray and he said "Thank you for this opportunity I have to learn about your church. I ask that other kids can have this opportunity as well". Wish I could give him a squeeze, SERIOUSLY.

Shoutouts! KELS! HE'S HOME!!! YAHOOO!!!. TAY. Jimmer and JT I DIED LAUGHING!!!! Have fun in DC for me! I love yah! HUGO! Congratulations! You are a TEACHER! Never take for granted the Holy Priesthood that you hold. It is a divine gift and responsibility. HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK JULINA!!!! Everyone. I love yah!!! Sorry I'm so dang morose today. I'm still happy to be a missionary. I still love life. I still love serving the Lord. 

LOVE YA,
Hermana SQUIRE

Padres:

LOVE YA: WATCH SOME OLYMPICS FOR ME. 

PS. A guy showed us pics of his travels to Lima and his hike to MACHU PICHU. LET'S DO ITTTTT! PLEASE!!!!! POR FAVOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ding Dong, the Fleas are Dead.......

QUERIDOS!!

Whaaaatttttssss up!! Here we are, at the end of July.... and I'm going to hit my SIX MONTH MARK THIS WEEK!!! What the crazy! Andddd.... I haven't gotten a flea bite in a week. I think the cold killed them, that or they're tired of my gringa blood. What's next? Lice???? It's quite popular among the missionaries. EEKKK. I think I'd rather have fleas. I KNOW I'd rather have fleas!!

-This week was so windy and cold! It was definitely a dirt in the mouth, nose, ears, eyes, EVERYWHERE kind of week. BLAH. It is also the end of the transfer. I´m pretty sure Hnas Israelsen and Leguizamón are going to leave, but I don´t know what´s going to happen to me. It´s kinda whatever the Lord wants, you know? Y adonde me manda, iré. (**Where he sends me, I will go**) I want to stay for 2 reasons. One´s named Pedro, the other Ariel. Pedro didn´t come to church yesterday, we´re thinking it´s because his daughter was in town, SO he wont get baptized this Saturday. We had a lesson with him tuesday, and he said he thought that our church and the catholic church were the true churches. It was one of those smack-your-head-on-the-table-and-say-NOOOOOOO moments. BUT THEN. We came back and taught the restoration again, and watched the movie. He said he knew that THIS CHURCH was the true church! WOO! Ok Ariel- AH-Ree-Ehl. He´s 15 and a friend of one of the YW in the rama. He came to church yesterday, was super attentive, and even sang the hymns! We met with him after and he asked us how to pray and a bunch of really great questions. We invited him to get baptized and he said yes! This kid is CAPO. Pray for him.

- TONS of funny things happened this week. Like really. Let´s go though them all, shall we? 
      -So I ordered new name tags right when I got here and they FINALLY showed up. And what do they say? "Hermana Esquire". I almost wet my pants laughing, no joke!!!! I'll send one home and ya'll can have a good laugh!!

      - I got clothes lined by a clothes line. It was my "I'm tall" moment. I didn't see it at all and it whacked me right on the forehead!! I had a nice red mark after that!!!

     - A car passed us the other day blasting Whitney Houston. We all looked at each other and without saying anything, burst out singing: ANNNND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIeeeeIIIIIIIIIIIII WILLL ALWAYS LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUooooooO! jaja.

  
     - So we were kinda cold this week so to keep ourselves warm and entertained, especially at night, we tried to remember the "Remember the Titans" dance and we were singing and dancing in the streets to EVERYWHERE WE GO, PEOPLE WANNA KNOW, WHO WE ARE, SO WE TELL THEM. WE ARE THE MORMONS! THE MIGHTY MIGHTY MORMONS! Complete with the "whoo haa, feel good"s. Sometimes I´m surprised at how dorky I am. 

     - We had a Noche de Hogar in the rama on reverence. We even got some jóvenes to model church clothes....it's a problem here that people don't come properly dressed. Then one of the jovenes started playing Chariots of Fire and Presidente and his councilers came in slow motion modeling their clothes. It was so funny. I love it here!!!

- AMANDA! I´m really seeing the fruits of my labors from this woman. She wants to come with us to lessons, she is excited and willing to be a visiting teacher, and her testimony is so strong. She has no problem telling her friends and family she knows the church is true and it has changed her life. I really am going to miss her. Even her husband said he doesn´t know what she´ll do when we leave, she´s become so attached to us. LOVE IT! LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Pray her family will one day accept the gospel.

- SO. I have something to say. It might be a bajar de caña for some people (drop the cane), but I´ve been thinking aobut this a lot, especially with all the menos activos we´ve been seeing around here.  It´s about being offended and leaving the church because of it. Go read Pres Uchtdorf´s talk "The Merciful Will Obtain Mercy". Being offended and holding that grudge is like taking that initial "hit from the hammer" from the "offender" and hitting yourself over the head with it over and over and over. Is your testimony not strong enough so that one unkind word will cause you to deny what you know and leave the church? Sometimes I think... How old are we here! When it comes to being offended, holding grudges, looking to harm others... apply Pres Uchtdorf´s 2 word sermon: "STOP IT". Really. It´s that easy. People are not perfect. The gospel is. Do not expect to receive forgiveness if you yourself cannot forgive. Heaven will be filled with those who are forgiven. And those that forgive. I´ve seen this happening WAY too often in Pringles. And I think, really? You are going to deny yourself these blessings because someone offended you? Remember this scripture 2 Nephi 31:14  "But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should ^adeny me, it would have been ^bbetter for you that ye had not known me." When you deny what you know... It would be better if you hadn´t known Christ at all. WAHPUH! That is my bajar de caña noise. I hope you weren't offended by this! IF you were, then you totally missed the point of my little rant. Prophets have said this, apostles, the scriptures. Like my dear brother, Brandon would say "Cry me a river, and build yourself a bridge and GET OVER IT." This is all meant with love. The Savior will always be waiting for you to come back with open arms. It is never too late. He is waiting, saying "Come in, come follow me." He is the way, the only way. Remember, all of this was meant with love.

-Shoutouts: Julie- THANK YOU FOR THE GORGEOUS PIC OF EMILY!!! Ahhh she is a doll!! Could you print an extra for me and give it to my mom to send? Please?!! Tori Rydalch!!! Thank you for your sweet letter! It made my day! Thank you for your testimony! Hno Larsen! Thank you for the letter, I just got it on Friday! I´ll be sending you one hopefully this week. TYLER JAMES MADSEN. Bout time you wrote me!! I will be sending you a letter soon too! Mom, thanks for all the wedding invitations... EVERYONE!! STOP GETTING MARRIED WITHOUT ME THERE! Sheesh. Nah, jk, go find your eternal mate and be happy! Just know I¨ll be sad I wasn´t there. :-(  Serna CREW! Thanks for the letters! I love my little missionaries Leah, Joshua, Matthew and Rebecca!! Tio Hector, thank you for the email, You and tia alice are in my prayers. JENNY RUFF! I was so happy to hear from you!! Thank you!! Adrienne! Thanks for the email! ANNA! Thank you for writing. ONE MONTH (maybe less) for BABY DUNN!! Aunt Lori! Give Trevor a giant Cyd squeeze! Tell him I love him and SEE YA NEXT YEAR!

-ALL you people! I love you dearly! I hope all is well!


Hermana "Esquire" :-)

Padres, 
SEND ME SOME OLYMPICS IMAGES! Maybe tape a few events! Ahhh I love the Olympics! AND LONDON!! MOM WITH RODNEY ATKINS!! Of course!! You´re you! Kinda like me at the HP premiere. I know where i get it from!!!!! Before i forget, there are about 200 missionaries here, about 30 sisters. I think. Mom, I would like the song "Savior Redeemer of my Soul" that´s on the essencial missionary collection. ANd i would like Ginger to sing that at my homecoming. Trunky moment. But it´s my favorite. See if she´d be willing. also another church song... it says something like "the morning breaks, the shadows flee, come see the light....." I´d love the May 2009 Ensign if we have it. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

The Story of Toms

Hey all you tan summer people!

Don't even worry about me... I'm just white as a ghost... with fleas. Whatever. HOW'S IT GOIN YOU CRAZY PARTY ANIMALS?? Things are super great here in Pringles... but things are always super great when you're a missionary.

- Look at your toms. Now back at me. Now BACK at your toms. NOW BACK AT ME! See the logo on the back? Cool stripes right? WRONG. That, my friends, is the Argentine FLAG. Did you know they are made here? But here they're called alporgatas or something. EVERYONE HAS THEM. Know why? Cuz they're like 16-20 pesos. Know how much that is in US dollars? 4-6ish. WOOP! Have fun with your one pair of toms because I'm going to by ten pairs for the price of one... heck, I'll buy a lifetime supply I think. 

- SO! You are now looking at a member of the YW presidency in the rama(**branch) Coronel Pringles. YUP! The missionaries are now in charge of the YW and I AM STOKED! We're planning mutuals and lessons and everything! Antes,(**before) the YW were in with the RS. Now we get to really focus on our youth! I'm so excited. I love las mujeres jóvenes.(**the Young Women)  If ya'll have ideas for mutuals and lessons... LET ME KNOW! 

- We had the best lesson last night. We were doing the survey method ( IT IS THE BEST). We were teaching these three girls and one had her 8 year old brother, Octavio there. We asked them what the purpose of life is and he said "To obey God's commandments" We asked how he knew and he said "I don't know, I just feel it." SO CUTE. We ended up teaching the entire plan of salvation and then taught them how to pray. Then we asked if they thought it was true. Octavio said, "I do". How do you know? "I just prayed like you told me and God said yes". I LOVE CHILDREN! They just get life.  We'll see how it goes.

- Pedro is as awesome as ever. He is quititng the wine and is counting down the days to his baptism. 

- Santiago: This kid is super cool. He's 16 and is coming to seminary with one of the members, Alejandro (WHO IS SUPER GREAT). He's having a rough time getting up for church. Pray that he can get up in time and also that he can have the strength to cumplir (I really cant think of the english word for that right now)(**cumplir-fulfill or keep) the word of wisdom.

- So we were on our morning jog and I saw this creature thing that looked like a cat. But it wasn't!!! I was yelling THAT IS NOT A CAT!!! Over and over so we had to stop and look at it! It was backed into a porch and Hna Leguizamon said it was a vizcacha!!!! AHHH! It was so ugly! Like a possom/kangaroo/rabbit. I can't believe I ate that. It then hissed at us and we screamed and ran away!! Cool story.

- So Ive perfected "the newborn baby cry". (Mom and Kels you'd be proud) You know how ALL elders learn that stupid snap thing with their fingers? I learned a baby cry and I REALLY freaked out our district leader. HILARIOUS:

- So I've been studying about grace lately. I read about it in a talk by Brad Wilcox, "HIs Grace is sufficient" (GO READ IT) I don´t really think that I got it before. I always thought that there was a graph thing. We do our part up to a line, then the Grace of Christ fills in the rest. But in reality, grace covers EVERYTHING. There is no line. There is no, "I'll do my part and Christ will do the rest". Elder Bruce Hafen said "The Savior's gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to "after" all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts". Wilcox then says, "So grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher's touch." We are not only SAVED by grace, but we are CHANGED by grace. Thanks to the atonement, we have to opportunity to live more abundantly, be transformed, and we not only can return home, but we can FEEL AT HOME there. Because no unclean thing can dwell with God, but no UNCHANGED thing will even want to be there. My mind is like WOWOWOWOWOWOW right now. It kinda hurts. ;-)

-If anyone wants to pitch in money for a flea collar, contact mama squire. (JK DON´T do that.... but It´d be hilarious)

Shoutouts: TAYYY! I can't believe you're off to DC! Good luck! Send me pics! DEVON!!! LIMA PERU!!! AHHHHHH!!! That is flippin AWESOME! We can be Spanish speaking buddies! Kris... WOW YOU ARE TAN! STOP IT. Venice- my mom sent me the pic of you at my house. YOU ARE GORGEOUS. As usual. MOM! Some lady was watching Larkrise to Candleford in Spanish and I was like HEY! MY MOM LOVES THAT SHOW!! Aw. I miss you. (and dad of course). Hey paige. Love ya. Sandii! Thanks for the email. I´ll read it tonight, and hopefully get another letter sent off to the Hiatt crew. Sis Corbett. THANKS FOR THE DEAR ELDER. I hope you caught that pesky rabbit.  HEY! I´m sorry if I haven´t had time to write you or give you a shout out, but GUESS WHAT! I LOVE YOU ALL: I can´t say it enough. I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. 

PICS:

Hermana Brown and I....we're matching...so cute...

Bautismo de Amanda
My shoes...que verguenza(how embarrassing)....
So DIRTY!!!!   Don't LOOK!

Hermana Linco.....miss her

ZONE CONFERENCE!!!!!

Hey you summer peeps!

I'm sorry if you had a heart attack yesterday, wondering why I didn't write!!! (mom) We had a ZONE CONFERENCE yesterday and it was the freaking BEST!

- I GOT TO SEE MY HERMANA BROWN! WAHOO! At first I was way worried because her comp is sick and I didn't know if they would come. BUT SHE CAME! I gave her about 18 hugs I think!!! It was the best thing EVER! All I wanted to do was just talk and talk and talk to her. She´s doing so great and her Spanish is getting GOOD! Love you Brown!

- So, even though conference was on pday(*preparation day) it was great!! PRESIDENTE AND HIS WIFE ARE AMAZING!! I love them! Presidente talked about our objective as missionaries. To invite ALL to come unto Christ. Then he talked about our reason for serving missions, because we love our Savior. Do I love my Savior more that sleep? More than my friends? More than my education? More than the comforts of home? Yes. Yes, I do!! That´s why I'm here!! I'm here for me, my future family, the people here in the Bahía Blanca mission, but more importantly, I'm here because I love my Savior and it's one small way to show my gratitude for His sacrifice. Hermana Parreño is THE LOVELIEST woman ever!! Seriously. SO elegant and charasmatic. WOW! She taught us new ways to contact... one being the survey method, where  we knock on doors and tell people we're doing a survey and ask them questions about religion and beliefs. THEN we sneak a brief lesson and try to fijar una cita (**set a date) to come back. There has been A LOT of success with this, so I'm stoked to try it!! Sneaky! A lot more people will let you in. I LOVED CONFERENCE! I also LOVE being with other missionaries. I looked around and thought, "hey, these kids are all doing the same thing I am. They're struggling, they're exhausted and cold. I can do this."

 
- One thing I noticed at conference is that I understood EVERYTHING (even with their crazy Spaniard lisps). The gift of interpretation of tounges has come! I love living in Spanish!

- One thing I DIDN'T like about conference is that they told us we have to turn our malefactor (heater) off at night to lower the risk of CO (*carbon monoxide) poisoning. We think ours is ok because it has a vent thing to the outside, (still need to approve that with the APs**assistants to the President**) but we turned it off last night and it was 50 degrees in our room this morning!!! We left to jog and there seriously was hardly any difference between our house and outside!!!!! BRRRRRR.  Also, we came back to Pringles on THE MOST GHETTO collectivo (**bus). I didn't think we were going to make it!!! I kept hearing weird noises and smelling burnt rubber. THANK GOODNESS WE ARE STILL ALIVE!!!!

- So.... we might have a bit of a flea problem!  "GASP! Oh no! Poor thing! Gross!" That's your reaction right now, right? We went to a members house and I showed her my bites and she said "FLEAS." AHHH! She said, "oh don't worry, it's common. Just spray Raid on your blankets and leave them outside." NO THANKS I DON'T WANT TO BREATHE IN RAID ALL NIGHT!!! SO... that's the situation right now. I HAVE FLEAS. I never ever thought I'd say that!!! Well. I don't PERSONALLY have fleas. Our ROOM does!!!! And they've been biting ME!! THEY TAKE FOREVER TO GO AWAY and when I first get a bite it ITCHES like the dickens!! But I haven't gotten a new one in a few days. Maybe the cold is killing them. I hope you all don't think differently now because I have fleas... I'm still a clean person...!!!!!! I wasn't going to share this but I decided to anyway... know why? BECAUSE I THINK IT'S FREAKING HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! I'm in Argentina freezing my tush off and I have fleas. HAH!! (**her burst of laughter here!**)

-Ok weird thing we ate this week... cow liver. BLEH!! Had the consistency of cat food. What's next on the menu? Weasel.??? Yup. I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

- Ok, PEDRO- this man is  GREAT!! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and the only thing he does is drink a glass of wine at night. But you know what he said? "Oh that'll be easy to give up!"  WAHHH! PEDRO IS THE BESSSSSST! He's so willing and always wants to do the right thing. 

- SO we have an investigator named Pedro, another named Santiago... and we found a Juan. (Peter, James and John). This is evidence that God has a sense of humor. :-)

- I forgot to mention a funny story last time. When I was sick, I went to the pharmacy to get cough drops to help my throat. They had something in them to make it numb or something. WELL MY TONGUE WENT NUMB TOO! Try speaking Spanish with a tongue that doesn't work!!!

- I've started noticing how 80's everyone is here.  High tops, leggins, leg warmers, side ponytails. It's hilarious! Hello!????  It's 2012! I love my Argentines!!

- Quote time: "God has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man (or woman) in the world." - CS Lewis. Love it! The atonement is SO INDIVIDUAL and SO PERSONALIZED: Christ saw each one of our faces in the Garden of Gethsemane and suffered for us INDIVIDUALLY. 

SHOUTOUTS: DAVID DUNN! Happy birthday my cousin-who's-soon-to-be-a-papa! 

Aunt Jeni, THANKS for the fruit chews! It tastes EXACTLY like cantaloupe!! A little summer for my winter world! 

Wahoo Devon will get his call this week! WOO! My guess is......... Sao Paulo (spell?) Brazil. LET ME KNOW ASAP! 

Amberly! I'm glad my parents got to see ya! I hope things are WELL! Love ya!  

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TYLER AND ASHLEY! Sure love ya!!!

Sorry this email is way scattered. I just have so much to say! 

Everyone: GO read Pres. Faust's talk  "Where Do I Make My Stand." SO GOOD!!!!!! The church is true. If you haven't found that out, I invite you to do so.

 

I LOVE YOU ALL AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

HERMANA SQUIRE (who has fleas, NBD) **NBD: no big deal

The Week Where I ate a bunch of Weird Crap!

Querida Familia y Amigos!

¿Que tal? I hope life is going well for ya'll and that you're having a great summer. Meanwhile, you can think of me in Argentina, wearing way too many clothes and freezing my tush off. Where to start?
- This week was super cold and snotty. Yup, snotty. I've had a cold the past week and felt pretty miserable doing missionary work when it's 30 degrees outside... but I'm all better now!

- On Tuesday we went to Bahia to work some stuff out for my visa. We came back to the office to pick up mail and packages, but the Elders told us that their wasn't anything for us, so we left... but our DL(district leader) said we DID have stuff, so we ran back!! Lo and behold, 2 letters, 2 dearelders and a package from home. No letters eh, Elders?? What??? Sometimes I wonder if some of the Elders use their brains... ANYWAY we practically ran into the office before we would miss our collectivo(bus) and whom did we meet? Presidente Parreño! He is the NICEST MAN EVER! I'm so excited to be serving with him. He even told us we were the first Hermanas he'd met! What a privilege! 

- Those fires in Utah must be pretty big because Belén told us she heard about them on the news! In ARGENTINA! Hope everything is okay now, I've been praying.

- Ok so the weird things I ate... we had some stew that had vizcacha in it. What is vizcacha, you ask? Well, I just googled it. It's like half squirrel and half rabbit. EWWWW. It was gross! Then we ate cow stomach lining. I've had it before... but this time it had the cilia on it still. SO RUBBERY SO GROSS. Then! A member served us some chamomile tea, and what was in mine? A BUG! I just sighed, took it out, and drank it. I just don't care anymore. Also, some bug has been having a jolly good time chillin in my bed with me and eating me alive at night. I've washed my sheets and everything, but we think it's in the wool blankets we have. We are gonna go buy some stuff to kill the suckers tomorrow! What a week right? Snot, bug bites... quite glamorous!!

- LA OBRA! Ok, so I don't have much time left, but I want to tell you all really quick about Pedro. We found him on Saturday, and he agreed to be baptized. He's had some pretty terrible things happen to him, but his faith in Jesus Christ is SO STRONG. We invited him to church the next day, and HE CAME........ALONE! This never happens! AND HE STAYED ALL THREE HOURS! This also never happens the first time. He is such a great man! I'm super excited to work with him. Keep him in your prayers!

- We´ve been sharing a scripture with menos activos lately that´s in 2 Nephi 26: 24-28 

 24 He doeth not ^aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ^bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ^call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: ^aCome unto me all ye ^bends of the earth, ^cbuy milk and honey, without money and without price.26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they should ^adepart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. 27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his ^asalvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath ^bgiven it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to ^crepentance. 28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but ^aall men are privileged the one ^blike unto the other, and none are forbidden.

I LOVE IT! The atonement of Christ is FOR EVERYONE! Not for a selective few. WE ALL have this great opportunity to be cleansed from our sins and to change. Christ suffered for us all in Gethsemane, rich, poor, sinners, EVERYONE. 

-SHOUTOUTS: Hiatt fam! Thanks for the email! TAHNEE OWENS! I forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday last week! I need to write you soon! Love ya! Kris and Paige! Got your dearelders! LOVE YA. EVERYONE! I love you all. I wish I had more time to write. HAVE A GREAT WEEK!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY JOSHUA SERNA!

Hermana Squire

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

Transfers.................And...........................................???????????

¿Qué tal?

How's it going, you crazy party animals?? Well, transfers came in on Saturday... and..............................














-I'm staying in Pringles. WITH Hermana Israelsen. Three transfers together! Obviously there's more work for the two of us to do in Pringles. The sad thing is that Hermana Linco left us :( She's off to Mar Del Plata, the last area of Hna Israelsen! She'll be working in a REAL LIVE WARD! It was SO sad to see her go. She is my Chilean sister and I grew to love her SO dearly. I guess I'll just have to travel to Chile one day. So, we're now in a trio while we wait for the hija (companion) of Hermana Leguizamon to get here. We have to sleep in the same room and all, so it´s like a little party. Except not really because I pass out EVERY NIGHT right as my head hits the pillow. I swear, if you gave me a pillow, I could fall asleep on the sidewalk. SO TIRED BUT SO HAPPY.

- We went to district meeting in Bahía on Tuesday and GUESS WHO I SAW! Elder Kelly!! It was as good as seeing family! I did this excited little dance when I saw him because I couldn´t hug him. I miss my MTC district so much! He´s got 2 herneated discs and is in a lot of pain. So pray for him. 

- We sacked 2 HUGE bottles of booze this week at the Familia Varela's house. Two sister missionaries... walking down central with giant bottles of beer. I hope you're all laughing at this mental picture. Anyway, we are trying to reactivate this family, especially the dad, so he can baptize Rocío, his daughter. I LOVE HER! She always squeezes us so tight! The dad is dragging his feet, and it's a little frustrating, but they really have SO MUCH POTENTIAL!

- SEMINARY IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO PRINGLES! We had 14 youth come on Saturday, including Belen and Jorge. OUR YOUTH ARE DE DIEZ! I love them so much. Sometimes I want to whop them during our lessons because they're all talking, BUT they are really helping their families! They sang ¨Hope of Israel¨ to Hna Linco on Sunday and I just cried and cried! I love these kids so much, and I see them as future missionaries and raising their families in the gospel. I'll have to send a pic soon!

.
- I am just amazed at how much trust the Lord has in His missionaries. Here we are, 19-20-something year old KIDS, preaching the gospel, teaching lessons, handling the salvation of His children, and baptizing people! What confidence! I feel very privileged to be apart of this work here in the Bahía Blanca mission, where every day I get to remind my brothers and sisters in Pringles of the true plan of happiness!

-Shoutouts! TAY KRIS AND PAIGE, My mom sent me your creeper picture and I almost died laughing. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! KRIS YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED THIS WEEK!!! I can't believe it! AHHHH! MARGIE in TEXAS! I hear you've been reading my emails... lots of love to your family! HADDY MAE! You are a married woman! The Elders brought me your invitation THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING! Talk about tender mercy. Definitely cried! I LOVE YOU. Tyler and Ashely! Thanks for the email!! I have a letter on the way to you. ANNA DUNN!! I love you and thanks for emailing me. I CANT WAIT TO SEE PICS OF BABY GIRL DUNN! BESITOS to you and Dave! Serna Family in Virginia! THANK YOU for the letters and pictures! I loved them, and I LOVE YOU! Tio Hector y Tia Alice! Thank you for your email! I love ya! Fernuik family! Thank you for writing and the update! Love you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO my awesome cousin Trevor... can't wait to see you next year bud. AND TO MY AWESOME PARENTS! EVERYONE: you better give them lot's of birthday love from me on the 28th and 30th!!  ANNND MICHAEL JANE MELENDEZ! Happy Birthday cutie pie! LOVE YOU!

Wow, so much love! Thank you all for praying for me and sharing this adventure with me. It's not easy, but it is the happiest I have ever been in my life. I feel myself getting closer and closer to becoming the kind of woman, future mother, friend, daughter, neighbor and disciple of Christ that I want to be. Granted, I have a long way to go, but this mission is the best thing to help me change and grow. I love it so much and if it wasn't for all the AMAZING people in my life, I'd never come home. I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Squire

Padres:

I got the brown sugar! We made cookies for a NDH *(Family Home Evening)* and EVERYONE LOVED THEM. Got the kids CTR rings. Wearing one now. :-) THANKS FOR THE PICS! LOVED THEM! HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! I hope you are happy happy happy. Because I am happy happy happy!!