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. 

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!

Transfers and I Almost Got Eaten By A Dog!

Hola Todos!

Well, my first transfer in the field is now over. It went SO FAST! What in the world? I will be staying here in Pringles. In fact, all of my district will be staying, so we're happy about that! We've got some promising investigators and we are ready to work hard to get baptisms this transfer.

- Belén- This girl is the DIEZ!(10) She's the girlfriend of a menos activo and we found her last Sunday. We've already taught her the first 3 lessons! She's 17, and OH MY GOSH! She is the best!! She reads everything we give her, highlights passages in the Book of Mormon, AND does the additional studies in the back of the folletos (pamphlets) that we leave her! She remembers what she's read and everything! Sometimes Hermana Israelsen and I are like...Is this girl for REAL?! Get this, I asked her if she knew Jose Smith was a prophet. AND YOU KNOW WHAT SHE SAID? Well, yeah. There?s no way he could have written this book without the help of God. He's like Moses, right? AHHHH! Pray hard for her!! I really want to see her baptized!
- We are concentrating more on the menos activos in the branch than before. We really need strong members who can have callings and help us with our investigators. Presidente Wilt told us yesterday he really wants us to work with the menos activos, so he can lift the load of teaching all of the classes off our shoulders. We are really trying to strengthen these menos activos and get them back to church. There are SO MANY that have great potential.
- I ate cornmeal mush/crap again this week. I need to teach them how to make cornbread.
- Ok, so I read another talk by Elder Christoffersen this week. I LOVE THIS MAN! It?s called "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten". SO AMAZING. Here's what I learned: We will be judged for our works on this earth, but what we've DONE isn't as important as what we've BECOME.  We should willingly accept and even seek for corrections. Just think: God considers us worth the time and trouble to correct. Divine chastening has 3 purposes 1) to persuade us to repent 2) Define and sanctify us- to prepare us for greater spiritual privileges and 3) at times to redirect our course in life to what God knows is a better path. He then shared a story about the Currant bush. GO READ IT. May we always say "Thank you Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down".
- So, I almost got eaten by 3 dogs. I thought this only happened to Elders, but I WAS WRONG. So we were looking for a menos activo family and were clapping at this gate (we clap here, we don't knock if there's a gate) and these 3 HUGE dogs come running out from behind the house. Usually, dogs just bark at us and leave us alone. But they came up and were jumping on us and one was tugging at my skirt with his teeth! I have 2 huge tears now! At least it wasn't my flesh...Well, we started running, but Hna Israelsen turned around and swung her Book of Mormon like a bat and knocked one over the head. They ran away after that! It's a good thing she had her LDM (Libro de Mormon) in a hard case! It would have been death by dog for the both of us! We were pretty shaky after that. Dumb dogs.
-We are actually on a shortage of LDM in the mission. They are on back order! It's hard to have someone pray about the LDM if they don't have one, haha. Pray that we get some Libros de Mormón, soon!
- We had a lesson with Enrique and Julieta and they asked me to pray in English. I COULDN'T DO IT! I haven't prayed in English in 3 months! It was like trying to speak a new language all over again. "les bendigas... erm please bless" haha, so embarrassing.
- Earlier this week, it was raining SO HARD! We seriously looked like we decided to shower in our clothes. So we came to a curb and there was practically a river running next to it, so I was doing this awkward shuffle, trying to figure out the best way to jump across (who knows why, I was soaked anyway), when I stepped on something and almost fell. I looked down, and what was it? A diaper? No. A DEAD, BLOODY, DECAPITATED PIGEON. A PIGEON!  I started yelling PIGEON! I STEPPED ON A PIGEON! Like some weirdo and ran off the sidewalk. Couldn't stop laughing after that.
Shoutouts: HADDY MAE JARVIS- you are a DANG BABE in your engagement pictures. I love you. I read your letter and I laughed so hard about the Ryan Reynold's picture (I'M BUSY!). Happy Bday on the 20th! I miss you and a letter is on the way!! Congratulations to Sean Johnson on getting set apart as an Elder! Proud of you, buddy. Dave and Anna- BABY BUMP! Oh my gosh! I can't wait to see pictures of baby girl Dunn! Got any names picked out? Hey mamas! I hope you all had a fabulous Mother's Day :)

I'm so dang happy here in Argentina. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE! I LOVE THEM! Sometimes I want to bop them on the head for saying they'll come to church, then they don't, but I STILL LOVE THEM! Being a missionary is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. THE BEST, I TELL YA! I hope all of you are well and enjoying spring. I love ya!

Hermana Squire

Padres,
LOVED TALKING TO YOU YESTERDAY! AHHH best ever. I had a perma-smile for the rest of the night. So: we walked 280 miles this transfer. WOW!!! My shoes are holding up. Dirty, but still working.  LOVE YA!