Pu.......... Puerto!!!! Mar De Plata!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey goobers, 

How are you doing, you little igloo people!??

-Well, it was quite the interesting week. When I knew that these emails would be going out to all the world, and a bunch of people, I decided to be pretty open about the stuff that happens here in the mission, the good, the bad, the ugly and the funny. So with that said, I will tell you all something, trusting that you will not think of me differently, but accept it as one of the many crazy things that happens in the mission.

I got lice last week. BOOOO! Evil demon lice bugs! First I get fleas in Pringles, then lice here. It is kinda tradition that every hermana that passes through mission Bahia Blanca gets lice. SO I guess it was my turn. I think I got them in Villa Mitre, because I beso'd (kissed) a lot of little kids that don't live in the cleanest conditions. Funny part is that I sent the lice kit that my mom gave me 100 years ago in a box with other things that I don't use as often from Bahia to MDP (Mar de Plata) because I thought I wouldn't need it. HAHA! So yeah, Hna Mansilla was an angel and picked the little devils out of my hair and the little minion eggs too. I had to buy a shampoo thing and that special comb... I think we're all good now but man I was not a happy camper. At all.

-THEN! My shoes that have lasted 11 months got a hole in them and gave me one wicked callus/blister!!!  So I got those all resurfaced and now they've got a new sole!!! THEN! Our water heater thing had to be changed, so a member came, but didn't have one part so we had to warm up pots with water on the stove to shower for a day! Then! A nasty cat with a protruding, fleshy, bloody tumor on its neck jumped on my lap and I had to fight back the urge to vomit! THEN! Yesterday my curling iron broke! It was like 'WELLLCOOOMMME TO PUERTO HERMANA SQUIRE!!' HA; what a joke!!!!! And now I'm at a computer with stiff keys and my forearms hurt from typing so hard... haha.
- SO funny thing. Here, the cyber is called "Babylonia". And In Bahia, we went to one called "Zion"!!!! :-)

-It smells like fish here, all of the time. And when it rains, it smells like wet, dead dogs. Yes, I do know what a dead dog smells like, sadly.

-So about Puerto Mar de Plata. It is a tough area with LOTS of beautiful houses. This usually means 99.9% of the time that people think they have everything they need and don't need to change. They don't give us the time of day. But that isn't the sad thing. The sad thing is that they don't give our Savior the time of day. BUT. The ward is great. The members help us a lot and we have a great missionary team with 5 ward missionaries that do divisions with us. The members prepare investigators and bring them to church and introduce them to us. Basically, this ward is every missionary´s dream!! For example, we had 7 investigators in church yesterday!! And all I wanted to do was jump up and down, clap my hands and sing IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!! BECAUSE THAT NEVER HAPPENS! Half of them were prepared and brought by members. I don't have time to explain all of them, but I will tell you about Suri, Emanuel, and Jonathan. THEY ARE A REAL LIVE FAMILY! MARRIED AND EVERYTHING!! It's a miracle. They are friends of members, have 2 asistencias (attendances) to church, and we have our first appt this week with them. Suri is super interested but her husband will need a little work getting his testimony. But wow! A family! A goal for me in the mission has been to baptize a family. One I can see progress to the temple. One I can see get sealed for time and all eternity. SO PRAY SUPER HARD FOR THEM! They are my miracle! Also, pray for Ramiro... he's 8 and brother of converts... but we're having a hard time getting to talk with his mom cuz she's passing through a hard time and doesn't think he's ready but he could get baptized this week. He's so cute... he's like a little man!

-Ok to wrap up, a quote by CS Lewis: 

“Make no mistake,' He says, 'if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect - until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.”

I know that the Lord is shaping me into the person that He needs me to be. It hurts sometimes, and sometimes I don't like it, but I am in the perfecting process. I know if we are humble, and if we let Him, He will shape us into our best selves. 

Shoutouts!! Happy Late Birthdays to Ally Melendez, Sandii, and Happy Birthday this week to TROY and Brandon Standifird!! VENICE THANKS FOR THE EMAIL! I'm so stoked for you but way sad I can't be there. ALSO, thank you for keeping my up to date on my anatomy!! The answer is SA NODE!!! You are the best!!!

Attention all friends!!!!! Stop getting married without me!!!! How is it that I am the one who LOVES planning weddings and has to miss all of her friends weddings?????? Hummmm?? Taylor, Paige, I'm counting on you. Make it until July. Come on. YOU CAN DO IT! Tahn... when is the big day? 

-THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST! The fire of this gospel consumes me. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. I love serving Him. This truly is the marathon of the Lord, and I will not rest until my work is done! My Savior WILL sustain me when I am weak, even as I'm trekking up these huge hills in Mar de Plata,  walking at top speed, with Hna. Mansilla! 

He always gives me just the amount of energy I need to make it though the day! He will give me the comfort I need when all I hear is "no", "no", "no" all day, and will give me the miracles I pray for if I am obedient to His commandments and work with all my might. I will not fail in this marathon of the Lord! I Love you all!!

Hermana Squire

Hermana Batsta & Mansilla

PAVED STREETS!!

Churri Pan (chorizo con pan)

First Sunday at Church in Mar de Plata

                          

With Hermana Mansilla in our home.....

You're Not Gonna Believe This One..............

Misioneros Street in Bahia.....gonna miss it.

So here's the DL, the 411, etc....

I got transferred. YES. I know that it was an inspired process for sure, but I think the cookies and brownies I made for the office Elders helped a little... 

maybe a lot :)

- So, we got transfer calls at 1 in the afternoon Saturday, and ALL the office Elders knew what was happening to me before I did. I guess I was the one most anxious to leave that they all wanted to know what happened. BUT, they couldn't tell me! Goobers! So I had to wait 2 hours and I found out I would be going to......

PUERTO MAR DEL PLATA! With... Hermana BATISTA and Hermana MANSILLA!! Yep, I'm in a trio. And YUP with my hija!! I was super surprised and thought it was a joke. But here we are! We are thinking it's because no new hermanas came and that Hna Batista has to train when the 14 new hermanas come next transfer... We'll see! I'm super stoked to be here. I secretly wanted to be companions with Hna Mansilla. She is a super hard worker. She's 24, from Buenos Aires, and we have the same amount of time in the mission. Her mom owns a salon, so she knows a bajillion beauty secrets. Today, they were putting mayonnaise in each others hair... it's supposed to make it way soft... but I'm not convinced, yet. We"ll see if y'all get a pic of me with mayo in my hair!!! She is AMAZING. She said something like this "I think that we were best friends with all of our companions in the Pre-existence. But we all knew that we would be living far away from each other, so we had to come to the mission so that we could find each other again". It's so true! She also told me that they had various people that were close to baptism but things came up and they weren't baptized. She said that maybe the Lord put me here because these people need something more that they couldn't offer them. Yup, I love her already. I know that God has great plans for us! It's not very common that ex-companions return to being companions again! He has great things in store for the three of us. 

- So, I left Bahia yesterday at 5 and got to Mar del Plata at 12:30 at night. I traveled with a few Elders and we chatted for a bit and then it got dark and I thought, "super, I'll rest for a bit." We stopped in Tres Arroyos and a man got on and sat right next to me and SNORED THE WHOLE WAY!!!! Flip. But I got here safe and sound with my GIANT suitcases and Hna Carson, Mansilla and Batista were waiting for me. Hna Carson had to wait for her comp to come, so she stayed with us. We went to bed at like at 2:30 that night, so I'm runnin'  on about 4 hours of sleep!!  WOO! SO, we had to travel to Centro this morning to pick up Hna Carson's comp and leave them to travel to their area but WOW centro is SO BEAUTIFUL! I felt like I was on vacation! Beach, Hotels, Shopping... I was like "you're a MISSIONARY! Not a TOURIST! FOCUS!"  Haha, but one day I'll come back. Puerto is... well a Port. It smells like fish. All of the time. We can see the ocean!! It's so pretty, and our area is like 2 and 1/2 times the size of Villa Mitre. AND IT'S MOSTLY PAVED! No more dirty shoes! No more dirt in the face and mouth! WOOO! AND! It's not as hot! I think the Lord heard my prayers.. or He knew that I would probably DIE in Villa Mitre. I'm super happy!

 - The hardest part was leaving... as we all know. I gave a talk in church about missionary work and I sorta bajar´d the caña... pero bueno. (**lowered the cane, oh well...) Poor Rosita cried! It was so sad! She said, "oh no, don't tell me. I grew to love you so much!" She's the little lady in the pic. Erika cried as she was hugging me and all of my girls were so sad. I didn't expect so many tears! We ate with the Familia Saghin and they told me how special I was to them and how much they thought of me as their own family. It was a very sad day, with lots of tears. I will miss them all very dearly. The best part of the day was when all of my converts came to church in SKIRTS!!!  That was the icing on the cake and made me want to cry. I love these girls, and I will forever be grateful that God put them in my path. They were BEYOND ready to receive the gospel.

-Shoutouts: MIKAYLA MCCHESNEY!!!! I forgot to say in the last email CONGRATULATIONS on getting called to serve in the best country!!! You will love the Argentine people!!!!  You will also be speaking the best form of Spanish there is... Castellano.... so work on your "sha"s!! 

MOM AND DAD!!! New mission prep teachers! I AM SOOOO PROUD!!! WOOOO!!! 

JAKEEE!!!!!! WOOOO! Congrats on your mission call! I'm beyond stoked for you!!! 

VENICE!! I'M DYING! WRITE ME, YOU GOOBER FACE!!!!! AHHHH! Flip, three amigas DOWN.

 OK everyone, really quick, last Sunday we had a lesson, and Cindi Luna (love that girl) challenged us to look for the Lord's hand in our life. I challenge you to do that. Look for the blessings that the Lord gives to you every day. Big and small. For example, that very day, we were walking home in the heat, and some nice lady stopped and said, "I'll take you to your house, it's hot, hop in!"  So we did and she took us to the corner where we live. I'm not sure if that was against the rules or not... but hey, not the point. The point is that the Lord is VERY aware of EACH of His children. Look for His hand in your life and write down what you find. I promise if you start looking, every day,  you will find out that He is very involved in our lives.

I love you all very much. 

Have an amazing week.

Hermana Squire

pics:

#1 My District in Bahia!!!

#2 The "Dream Team"; Elders Cruz & Gravelle; Hermana Gomez

#3 My sweet little Rosita! Love her!

#4 My girls in Bahia; Liz who is a future missionary, in pink; Bella, the little one, a future baptism;  next 3 our converts:Tatiana next to me;.Barbara and Erika

What a great day.

#5 Hermanas Mansilla, Batista and myself (don't know about the mayonnaise....in the hair....:-)

#6 "Misioneros" Street in Bahia..the best.....gonna miss it....not gonna lie.

My district in Bahia

The "Dream Team": Elders Cruz, Gravelle,& Hermana Gomez

Our Rosita

My girls: Liz, Bella(little one), Tatiana, Barbara & Erika

Hermanas Mansilla, Batista, & 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!

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- 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!!