MY PRINGLES PEOPLE!!!!!

HOLA MY PEOPLE!!

How are ya? Fall is around the corner for you all and I'm hopping into SPRING!! WAHOO! 

-Well here it is, the last week of the transfer and I'M SO READY FOR SOME CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!!!!!!!! (if you know what I mean).

- I've started noticing more funny things about Argentina that just make me love it more... like during the siesta little camionetas FULL of cartons of eggs pass through the streets and a man on a megaphone yells LE VENDO HUEVOS, HUEVOS BARATOS, BARATOS BARATOS (I'll sell you eggs, cheap eggs, cheap cheap) But its more like LEVENDOHUEVOHUEVOBARATOBARATOBARRRATTTTOOOOOOOO! Jaja, I LOVE IT!! Then there are these little horse drawn carts that go and pickup cardboard boxes that people leave out... just a horse drawn cart in the middle of the city. NBD. (**no big deal)

- So Elder Caicedo will be leaving this week which is way sad. We've grown to be good friends with that little Columbian. He's trying to learn English and works with 3 American missionaries in his area so we always make him practice. He says the funniest things. Last funny thing he said to me: "Hermana Squire you have to eat more cake!" When I didn't finish my postre. We all were dying. He's just as focused as ever and I swear he wont get trunky until his plane ride home. We'll miss our little Columbian!!

- We have a microwave!!!!! Oh MY!!  We are now getting up to date on things here!! We got it and we were like... "ok, now what do we do?" I've been warming up my oatmeal on the stove still because I keep forgetting we have it!! Wonder how things will be like when I get home, when I have a stove that is electric, a dishwasher, A DRYER, and carpet. I won´t know what to do with myself!!!!!

- So I had the wonderful experience of seeing Amanda TWO TIMES this week. On Thursday, she came for a doctor's appointment and she came to see us! It was the best! She is now COUNSELOR IN THE RELIEF SOCIETY! Ahhh nothing is better than to see your converts progress after baptism... getting callings and preparing for the temple. I got to see her AGAIN on SUNDAY along with all my PRINGLES FAMILY! Gigi and Melisa, my YW, came running up to us yelling HERMANASSS!! AHHH! I just hugged everyone so tight! I´ve missed everyone SO MUCH! Amanda has her temple reccomend too! AHH! Presidente Wilt was like "how are my dear angels??"  Oh my. I miss little Pringles.

- The temple rededication was so great. On Saturday, we got to see the celebration and see all the traditional dress and dances. I LOVED IT! I just was grinning like a goon for love of these people and this culture and this country. I really think I got a little peek into the love that our Heavenly Father has for them. I got tears in my eyes thinking how much I love them. I felt a little bit of pride too like, "I love my country." Then I was like, "wait, I´m American... then I said "NO IMPORTA! SOY ARGENTINA EN MI CORAZON!" (***NO MATTER! I'M ARGENTINIAN IN MY HEART!")  I also saw Elise Leavitt with the missionaries!!! Ah! Sunday was great too! So spiritual and I love President Eyring. Elder Christofferson did the dedicatory prayer in Spanish. Loved it!! Such a great weekend!!

- We also had our mini missionary with us on Sat, Yanet. She's 16 and super cool! She loved being with us and loved living a day in the life of a missionary. We had studies in the morning and left like normal! We didn't have tons of success, but she loved the experience. 

- Quote from Elder Oaks: Testimony is to know and to feel, conversion is to do and to become." My dear friends and family, are we truly converted? We may have testimonies, but what are you doing about it? What are you doing to become better disciples of Christ?

- I have another quote for yall. It's by Bruce R. McConkie: "I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master and He has chosen me to represent Him. To stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts, my words are His words and my doctrine is His doctrine. my commission is to do what He wants done. To say what He wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work."  How great is my calling!!!!  I love being a missionary!!! We all know the calling process... the apostles sit in a room and a picture of the missionary comes up and by pure revelation, we are assigned. I have no doubt whatsoever of where I have been called. God knew I needed to be here, with these people, loving them and teaching them. There isn't one day that I am not proud of my calling. I am so proud to be a missionary and a representative for our Savior.

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Shoutouts! KELSEY OH MY GOSH YOURE GETTING MARRIED!!! AHHH!!!!!! I'm way stoked for you and your ring is GORGEOUS! My word... will I EVER EVER, be a bridesmaid!??? Sheesh. 

Jk!!! I am BEYOND happy for you! 

Happy Birthday to TYTY!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Sister Wooden! Hope your day was great!! 

Happy Birthday to Mikael too!! 15... oh my, I'm so old. I remember watching you learn how to walk. Love ya kid. 

Jenny! Thanks for the message! I miss ya! 

SANDII! Thanks for writing, glad that Elly is finally outta diapers!! 

Serna's in VIRGINIA! I sure love getting letters from my little monkeys! I love you kiddos! Love you too Robert and Julie :). 

Abuelo Serna! Espero que todo salga bien con su gallbladder. Estaré orando para usted.

LISTEN YOU PEOPLE! I LOVE YOU! I hope you have a great week and know a little sister missionary in Argentina loves you and prays for you! 

Hermana Squire

Foto 1: Us and our PRINGLES PEOPLE at the stake center for the rededication!!!
Foto 2: For the love of ARGENTINA!!! (the INSIDE of one of my shoes....)
Foto 3: The dogs in Argentina are either 1. really ugly. or 2. really fat. This one we affectionately named Jefe---Chief. 

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