BAPTISM!

Hello all!

Ok, so we had quite the interesting morning today. We came to the cyber and my companion had some pretty strong "lady pains". Like way strong. She started passing out in the cyber and convulsing a little. I think the cyber man about had a heart attack... I was pretty calm... Adrenaline for sure... but yeah. Calm. Good thing I want to study medicine, right? So we called the ambulance and took her to the hospital. Turns out her BP dropped pretty low... but we're all good now. 

- On a happier note... ANABELA GOT BAPTIZED! WOOO! She was way happy... but that baptism... wow. Let's just say that everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. First, our mission leader said that the font would be clean for the baptism... we went, and it wasn't... so we cleaned it. (hence picture one) 

The guy who was going to do the baptism left on an emergency trip, so we were scrambling to find clothes for the replacement. Then, AT the baptism... this drunk guy shows up (we actually ran into him on the street a few nights ago... homeless... member from another providence... loves wine....) and was just hanging out. After the baptism he sang us a little song "la mujer, si no la cuides se te va!" (a woman, if you don't take care of her, she leaves"...")  I just wanted to put my face in my hands and LAUGH. Then, only 5 members showed up. BOO. That made me so sad. 

THEN! The kids were being little DEMONS! So we went in the hallway during the service and took pictures. 

WHAT A BAPTISM RIGHT? We had to buy ice cream after that to recover. But, the good thing is that she is BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED. 

The Lord and His missionaries: 1. Satan: 0

- Anabela's 12 year old NIECE came to the baptism... she's gone to church in Santa Rosa a few times and loved it... and SHE CAME TO CHURCH WITH US YESTERDAY! Her mom is cool with us teaching her... so we will. She's coming to mutual this Saturday. WOO!

- Funny note: we found this man who practices the Indian culture here... all natural stuff and all. He told us that the plants are our brothers and sisters. He said, "for example, if I want to take a grapefruit from that tree, I'd have to say to it, "excuse me, my brother grapefruit, and then take it" I tried not to giggle.

- So we have a problem here... it's called the "one hit wonder" syndrome. We find some great people, have a great lesson... and then we never find them again. One hit wonders.

- We are trying to find Laura again... she is such a great girl! We had a lesson this week about the values of the youth and she told us that her friends try and pressure her to smoke but she always says no... she is SO GREAT I tell you!

- So this is the LAST week of the transfer.... supposedly there are a lot of new hermanas to come in... President might have me train again... but who knows.... I think this because in my last interview he told me "Hermana Squire... the mission cannot be without sister missionaries who know how to work like you do",  so I think they're gonna get me again and that's o.k. But that's my guess... who knows what the Lord has in store for my last transfer.

- A few weeks ago we were walking in the street and a woman called out to us... she told us that missionaries stopped by a while ago and never came back... so we went last night and had a great lesson. She said... "I didn't want to call out to you because I was embarrassed... but something told me... these girls have something good for me." Her name is Mari. She works on Sundays. SO PRAY FOR HER! 

- Shoutouts: JAKE. Good luck this week. You will be a great missionary. I am sad I won't see ya for 3.5 years, but that's okay. You will do wonders in Spain and I'm proud of you. Love you kid. 

Happy Bday to JULIE SERNA AND ELLY BELLY! Hope you have great days! 

Thank you Tio Hector for the email... glad all is well. 

CORB you are the best. 

TAHNEE! I died with those pics! I love ya, miss beauty queen.

Listen everyone. You are all SO GREAT and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

Guess what? 

I love being a missionary. I love the gospel. I love my Savior.

Have a great week.

Hermana Squire

Puke Patrol

Well hello there my little goobers!

How's life? Well... there's not much to report this week because my comp has been a little under the weather. First she got a cold... fever... cough, body aches... so at times she was dying in the streets and weak, so we had to stop by the house to let her rest. THEN, yesterday she got really sick. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning... we were walking and she was like "ahhh I feel really sick"... 

We stopped by a members house and she basically had a throwing up fest. So basically, all of yesterday, we were in the house and she was just puking like a champ. But, I think she's all good now! Hopefully, cuz I didn't sleep too well last night either... being on puke patrol and whatnot. So pray for her health!

- SO GOOD NEWS!! Anabela is getting baptized this Saturday! WAHOOO! She really is SO prepared. When we taught her the law of chastity... her face... ahhh she was so heartbroken to know that she had gone against the commandments... (she had her 3 kids out of wedlock) but was SO happy to know she could be forgiven. True doctrine, UNDERSTOOD, changes attitudes. She understood with her HEART and wants to change. Read Daniel 10:11-12 (mom paste it on here) Love this girl.

 11 And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly ^abeloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

 12 Then said he unto me, ^aFear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst ^bset thine heart to understand, and to ^cchasten thyself before thy God, thy words were ^dheard, and I am come for thy words.

- This week we had some crazy wind. BOO WIND. Dirt in mouth and eyes! Bleh! There was some crazy weather because of a volcano in the south or something. Que sé yo...(what do I know)..... I don't watch the news. 

- Other than that we have had some pretty nice weather for it being almost winter time. It's not too hot, not too cold... all you really need is a light jacket... (Miss Congeniality... I'm kinda funny still.....I hope) :-)

- SO! We also found a really great woman... Susana... she was a contact from forever ago, and we felt we needed to keep passing by until she let us in... haha. AND SHE DID! After the lesson she told us that we brought so much peace into her home... true stuff people... the gospel brings peace into our homes and our lives!

- So Kris, I was thinking about your question about how to strengthen our testimonies and help them grow. My testimony has grown IMMENSELY these past 16 months. And I'm gonna share with you all the secret to my success... and to ALL missionaries' successes... my testimony has grown from 3 basic things:

1. Diligent Scripture Study- DIVING into the scriptures has helped me so much... and then APPLYING THEM. Keep a study journal. Read diligently EVERY DAY. Before the mission, when the Ensign came I was like, "cool, the Ensign".  Now I'm like "IT´S CHRISTMAS!!!" And even more so with the conference editions. They are like my prized possession. Eat those babies up, people. MODERN DAY SCRIPTURE!

2. Fervent Prayer- Don't get into a routine with your prayers. Need help? Read the talk by Elder Wirthlin: Improving Our Prayers. Changed my life.  

Improving Our Prayers

3. Serving others and the Lord with love- Self explanatory. When we serve others, we serve God. Pray for opportunities to serve.

SHOUTOUTS! 

WELL HELLO THERE DUNN FAMILY! My mother just sent your family pics and can we just say MODELS? Love y'all. 

Happy birthday this week to Gail Berry and to Elizabeth Squire. 

Megan Davis! Congrats on graduating! Woo! 

And to Ally, Syd and Jessica... in my mind you three will always be 10 years old... I can't believe you all are graduated. I'm OLD. 

Kris! Thanks for the email. I love you. 

TAHNEE YOU ARE THE BEST. I LOVED YOUR EMAIL. AND My WORD those pics just killed me. YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. Send me more when you get them. 

Texas people: HELLO!!  

SERNA CREW! Thanks for the letter Robert, and thank you for the sweet things you wrote... in my heart I will always be Sister Squire!! Give the Serna Squirts a big Cydnee Squeeze :) 

TYLER THANKS FOR THE EMAIL!!

Hiatts... I can't believe that Mikael is in driver´s ed. WHAT THE??

And a very special shoutout to Mikayla McChesney and fam... good luck in the MTC! And it's okay to think the first night "what did I get myself into"... everyone thinks that! But you will be great! Argentina needs Hermana McChesney right now!!

Listen, I just love you all soooo much! Thanks for the support.

Besitos!

Hermana Squire

( Meisha, Jill, Jenn and Suzie: I wanted to share this email of Cydnee's with you,  since it specifically mentioned your daughters. :-))

"What-e're thou art, act well thy part‏"

HELLO THERE!

Well it was just a lovely week here in Toay. But it's always pretty lovely here.

- First I wanna start out with some funny stuff. Yesterday we were eating with members, and we were eating jello for dessert. Well, the hermano said something funny, started laughing, and jello came out of his nose. I started crying because I was laughing so hard!!!

(had to be there)

- NEXT! This one goes out to Taylor and Devon. I'm so happy Dev is in PERU right now! His emails are HILARIOUS and I seriously laugh out loud with every one. Reading about his arrival in Peru brought back many memories and I was just busting up remembering my travels to Argentina and my first day. 

Then I realized I never really wrote about it... so here it goes... 

I was TRAVEL leader of our little group that left one day late. We got to Buenos Aires, and there was the mission president waiting for a group of missionaries, and they were like WELCOME!!! And started hugging us... and we were like... we're going to Bahia Blanca... haha awkward. So these two men came up to us and one was like "Elders, Hermana, follow". So we did and one of the Elders got sent in a car somewhere alone... and me and the two other Elders were like "oh what the heck"... and then the man took us to McDonalds. He kept saying things in Spanish and the Elders kept looking at me... and I was all  "I don't know what he's saying either!" 

So then we drive to another airport and get on a plane to Bahia, and I basically passed out on the window for an hour. We get there and Presidente and Hermana Detlefsen are waiting for us with our companions. Lots of hugs, me, confused and tired....pictures... and then I get in the car with my companion and with Presidente to head to the office. Presidente drove SO CRAZY and I thought, "Flip, I'm gonna die before I even start the mission!!" ... but we made it to the office... had orientation, and we were about to head off to the terminal to get to the area at like 8:30 at night... 

All I managed to say was "wait, I'm hungry!!" and one of the asistentes stole a box of pizza from the cultural hall as we were heading out the door. We made it to the terminal, loaded my suitcases on the bus, and headed off to the area... I was left confused and looking out the window thinking... what have I gotten  myself into??.... 

Well there you have it. I look back on that day and just laugh. And look where I am now... 16 months into the mission, and it's the best decision I've made in my whole life. 

- So for 25 de Mayo we had an activity in the chapel... you know what that means. Locro (defined at end of letter)... bleh. Well, it wasn't too bad this year. 

But anyway, ANABELA CAME!!! Wahoo! She's progressing so well! She brought her kids too... she has the most ADORABLE twins, Micaela and Bianca. So cute! 

So we took the kids outside with the rest and played so that she could talk and make friends with the other sisters. Man, I haven't played like that in a long time. We ran, we played monsters, we gathered all the leaves up... they even somehow managed to get me on the ground and they buried me in leaves...  but we just had a blast! 

It made me a little trunky because I miss all the cute kids in my life! And my GOSH can I just hold one on my LAP?! Dang, that's the hardest rule for me! Especially when the little ones back their rears up to my knees and I'm like "I CAN'T!!!"

Ahhh. And with cute kids like these... man it's hard. 

Benjamin...boyfriend #1

Gonzalo, boyfriend #2

BUT ANYWAY! So Anabela and the kids came to church! She wants to get baptized so 

she knew she had to come to the ward in Toay! WOOO! And she loved it! Man, I'm SO excited about Anabela. 

And it was just the best, walking home from church with them, with a twin on either side of me holding my hand. I just love being a missionary. LOVE IT, I TELL YOU!

- We also found a really really great 15 year old girl. Her name is Laura and MAN the spirit was so strong in that lesson. She felt it for sure, she kept smiling during the lesson. You can tell that she is a really great girl and I'm excited to teach her.

- SO! My sweet mother sent me the conference edition of the Ensign and I've been studying every talk pretty thoroughly. I read the talk by Sister Dalton and I loved it. Here's a quote that I loved  "As (children) of God we are each unique and different in our circumstances and experiences. And yet our part matters- because WE matter". Love love love. It doesn't matter what part you have... but your part MATTERS! 

I've been thinking about "my part" lately. How blessed am I for the privilege to be a daughter. A sister. A friend. A neighbor. And the most important part I can play right now... A missionary and representative of our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm trying to "act well my part," every blessed day that I have here on the mission.

Shoutouts: TAY AND PAIGE Loved your double email. Love you both little goobies. 

KELSEY! Happy birthday today! Hope you have an amazing day! 

Tio Hector thank you for the email... hope all is well. 

Natalie Grant! Happy Bday this week! 

ANNA! THANK YOU FOR THE LETTER! Oh how I love you... and I can't wait to meet Evelyn... 

AUBREY BRENNAN! Thanks for the email! what a nice surprise! 

Dad! Cant wait to see your new Nordstrom suits! Woo! 

ABUELO: ME ASUSTÓ!!! Pero me alegra que está mejor. Voy a estar orando para usted y para su salud. Muchos saludos y un abrazo fuerte. Listen all of you. You are great. I love you lots. Have a freakin fantastic week.

Hermana Squire

.

(Locro...according to Wikipedia!!  

The defining ingredients are corn, some form of meat (usually beef, but sometimes beef jerky or chorizo), and vegetables. Other ingredients vary widely, and typically include onion, beans, squash or pumpkin. It is mainly eaten in winter.

In Argentina it spread from the Cuyo region to the rest of the country. It is considered a national dish^[1] and is often served on May 25, the anniversary of the May Revolution. A red hot sauce made from red peppers and paprika known as quiquirimichi is served sometimes on the side.)

HEY! IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

• Ok, not really, but I'm totally listening to Christmas music. Ok, so maybe I've been listening to Christmas music my whole mission.... I don't care!

HOW ARE Y'ALL! 

I hope good. Well, winter finally hit us and it's pretty dang cold, I tell ya. We have iron stairs in the pension and our calefactor (heater) is right underneath, so sometimes we just study on the stairs to get warm... the mission is pretty funny. 

I'm also leaving the house with about 10 pounds of clothing... sometimes it matches... sometimes it doesn't... do I care?... NO!! It's winter... I'll do anything to stay warm!

- Well, it was a normal week here in Toay. We've been inviting a lot of people to get baptized, now the only thing they have to do is come to church :) Haha, biggest struggle in the mission. We have been finding some REALLY great people, and I'm just so stoked to see what the Lord has in store for them. 

For example:

- Anabela and Luisa. Anabela's mom, sister, and niece are converts. They were referrals from the sister, who just got baptized last month. THEY ARE GREAT! In these last few lessons they've been really attentive, asking great questions, and are reading and praying. Problem, they go to Santa Rosa every weekend to see the mom... but they do go to church with them. THEY NEED TO COME TO CHURCH HERE! So we're working on that. Next problem: There are 6 (SIX)  children in that house under the age of 7... so our lessons are like: "Ok, you teach and I will draw Mickey Mouse. Ok, your turn... where are we??" And dodging flying objects being thrown by a 3 year old demon... BUT we will do anything for these sweet girls!

- Rina. She's from Chile and is a friend of a member. She already has 2 asistencias, (church attendances) so we're working on it! Pray for them!

- So about the "deep doctrine" I promised last time. Presidente taught us that the Plan of Salvation has four names in the Book of Mormon:

1. The Plan of Salvation (Alma 42:5) It is not a plan of condemnation... EVERYTHING is for our salvation.

2. Plan of Redemption (Alma 42:11) The Plan includes suffering. But we can be happy if we understand the plan.

3. Plan of Happiness (Alma 42:8) If you're not happy, there's a problem that you need to fix.

4. The Plan of Mercy (Alma 42:15) Look for the tender mercies! 

Just look at how the Book of Mormon starts:  1 I, Nephi, having been ^aborn of ^bgoodly ^cparents, therefore I was ^dtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many ^eafflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a ^frecord of my proceedings in my days.

Shoutouts: 

TAYLOR YOU ARE NOW THE BEST CAT IN THE UNITED STATES!!!! 

Paige... still waiting...... gooberface. 

TAHNEE YOU ARE NOW A MARRIED WOMAN. AHHH I want pics! 

***Attention all friends****: Now 5 of my besties have gotten married while I'm in the mission. 

That's all great and stuff, but can the rest of you just HOLD OFF until August? Ok??  thanks. :-)

AUNT LORI thank you for the email! I'm so glad Jake got his Visa! He's gonna be a stellar missionary! 

Tio Hector, thank you for the email! 

VAWDREY! I sure love you. I MISS YA! 

AND a big shoutout to my B.F.F. Haddy... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY! I love you soooo much! 

Hey everyone! Be good! Or... portense bien!!!

Chao chao, besitos (little kisses)

Hna SKWYAH!

cydnee.squire@myldsmail.net

This is my life right now, dirty tights with stickers/burs in them, along with the dirty shoes.

                                                       Leo & Paola's

                                                             wedding

Walking the 'streets' of Toay....apparently I walk with a swagger.....

Foggy day in Toay...brrrr......