A little on the sickly side....

Hey Goobers!

How are you all? 

-Well. It's been an eventful week. I stayed in Santa Rosa until Wednesday night and worked with the Hermanas there. I slept on this mattress that was basically like sleeping on the floor, and LUCKILY, I brought my sleeping bag because it was SOO cold at night. I literally slept with the blanket over my head because it was so cold. But it was a good experience... even if I looked like a giant next to these sisters!

- So on Wednesday night, I went to pick up my new companion! Ever since then, it has been the absolute BEST! We have just been laughing so hard for the past five days. It's so nice to have someone from the same culture who knows the SAME people! We have just been having a blast working here in Toay. I think the Lord sent me Hna Vawdrey so that I could enjoy my last transfer and have fun. My last two transfers were a little more serious and not too much fun, so I think this will be a great way for me to end my mission... working hard and enjoying it.

- Well... I think I ate something bad on Saturday because I've gone to the bathroom more in the last 48 hours than I have in my whole mission... you all wanted to know that right? Sure you did. :-) Well.. just pray that this food poisoning goes away soon, ok? I ate six crackers yesterday. Yup six. I want real food again!  urgggghhhh....

- My mom told me all about her woes with my flight plans... apparently she hasn't received anything yet... I think parents get more trunky than the missionaries do... haha! Tell my parents not to get too crazy, ok??

- So I read a little quote from Elder Ballard, here it is:  "Whenever you serve the Lord, He blesses you. Many... missionaries begin their missions thinking they are going to repay Heavenly Father for His goodness toward them by serving Him for 18 months to two years. But before long they learn an important eternal truth: you can never do more for the Lord, than He can do for you".  I LOVED THAT because it is so true! We are forever in debt to our Heavenly Father. He will always bless us more that we can serve Him. We will never be able to "repay" Him.  I've realized that on my mission... the more I serve Him, the more He blesses me.

- Shoutouts: Happy Birthday to my parents!!! WOOO!! Hope you have great days!!!!! 

Happy birthday to Trevor! 

Listen. I love you all!! 

Hope you have a fabulous week.

Love,

Hermana Squire

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......

I LOVE TOAY!

Hey peeps,

How are ya! I'm doing pretty darn great. Flippin' EXHAUSTED but hey, that's missionary work for you. It's pretty great! You should try it sometime. :-)

-Since I didn't have much time to write about Toay last time (and also because I didn't really get to know it yet) I'm gonna explain to you. Toay is about a 15 minute drive from Santa Rosa, the capital of La Pampa. It's a small farm town... it's a big area with not a bunch of houses, but a bunch of fields. I LOVE IT! The dirt here is like sand. Straight up sand. I pick burrs out of my skirts daily. There are pickups everywhere and farm animals in the yard! We got hissed at by a goose the other day, and I think it almost charged us. It was a close call.  It's dryer here (thank goodness) and it's a lot more humble than Mar Del Plata. The people here are SO NICE! Always greeting you in the street, and the majority listen to us with respect, even if they aren't interested. 

A lot of them live pretty humbly. They are hard workers and all around good people. And the members... WOW! I love them. Everyone is so excited to have Hermanas. Well, the sisters are the most excited because we can come in and eat with them... the other day we ate with some members and they fed us chicken... their own chickens! And today they gave us eggs. The hermana said, "don't ever buy eggs, we will give you some."  These same members drove us to Santa Rosa today to check some prices on stuff for the apartment at a place like Walmart but on Steroids. It was the best! Then, the hermano installed our washing machine!!! I LOVE IT HERE!

- So the other night, our plans had fallen through and we were just walking around without direction. It was frustrating so we stopped in the corner and said a prayer, asking the Lord to guide us to someone who was prepared to receive the gospel. We walked past this girl outside smoking and my companion was looking at me and I was looking at her and she had this look on her face like, "ahhhh". So, we stopped on the corner and I said to my companion, "It was her wasn't it?" and she said "yes". So we went back, but she had gone inside. We then knocked on her door. She had company but we found out that she was atheist. She invited us to come back again. I thought it was interesting and amazing that the Lord would guide us to one of his daughters who didn't feel that He existed. I hope we get to teach her again, her name is Monica. Pray for her heart to be prepared for us. Lesson learned: Never delay a prompting!

- I have been LOVING my personal study time as of late. I know that I won't have as much time to study the scriptures in depth when I am home so I'm taking advantage of it!  I read in Ezra 7:10 " For Ezra had ^aprepared his ^bheart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel ^cstatutes and judgments." I love that! Ezra first prepared his heart to seek the will of the Lord, then prepared to DO IT! 

Next up, I read in Doctrine and Covenants today in 127: 2, "And as for the ^aperils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the ^benvy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ^cordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God ^dknoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in ^etribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it." 

Sometimes I feel like I have been called to swim in deep waters... but like the Joseph Smith movie says... "better deep than shallow". The Lord has trusted me to pass through my trials because He wants to shape me into a better person, and He knows that I will be able to pass through it. In the last few weeks, I feel like I have come to the end of my rope. But someone once told me "when you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!"  So that's what I'm doing. I've tied my knot and I'm hanging on with both hands!!  

Then I read D&C 128:22: "22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. ^aCourage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad."  I love that scripture! I know that the Lord is saying to me, "ON TO THE VICTORY, CYDNEE! Be exceedingly glad, because you are doing MY work! You are my instrument! Look ahead! Move forward! Open your mouth! Courage!"

- Shoutouts: Happy Birthday to my Vawdrey!!! 

HUNTER DAVIS! Congrats to your rocket team! Hey just remember your cousin Cyd when you become a famous rocket scientist. Man, my cousins are rockstars!

Holmes' family and mission prep kids! Thank you for the pkg and the note! Keep working hard and preparing for the best 18 months to 2 years of your life! 

TAHNEE! I got your letter. You are the best. Also, I think I might have been in the same EFY group as Taylor when we were  14 or 15... I'm almost sure. Check on it. Email me. 

VENICE YOU ARE MARRIED! I can't believe it. I LOVE YOU! Email me! And happy bday! 

Rachelle! I just wrote you a letter, it´ll be off to you soon! 

Lucretia! Congrats on the baby :)

LIsten. I just love you all so much. You are the greatest support group. I know that I can go on because you're all cheering for me. Have a great week.

Hermana Squire

Our chapel, capilla, in Toay

Front door to our apartment

Emergency Transferred...

Hello Everyone!

-Well. This last week was probably the longest and toughest of my mission so far. I´ll tell you why. It all started with Wednesday. We got a call around 1pm from our mission leader telling us that Mariana had passed away that morning. It was so sad. But she was suffering so much. The comforting thought is that she went from this world completely clean. One month ago today she was baptized... and that baptism was a miracle. She suffered so much, but knew that baptism was necessary. She knew it and we all knew it. So she went through with it, and now she is resting in paradise. That I know for sure. I'm so grateful that the Lord let me teach her. It was an amazing experience, and she is an example of perseverance.

- Later on Wednesday, we had Juan Enrique's baptismal interview. TODO BIEN. He passed. On the way home in the remise, our district leader called us and said there was EMERGENCY TRANSFERS: WHATTT!! NOOOO! He said we would be leaving THE NEXT DAY. But we were like "NOO! We have a baptism on Sunday!" So after our Z.L.s (*zone leaders) talked to the A.P.S. (assistants to the President)... we were able to stay until Sunday. And we had time to say goodbye. They put Elders in this area and Hna Ibaña and I were assigned to TOAY, LA PAMPA (a different providence in Argentina) OPENING THE AREA FOR HERMANAS!!!! and Hna Batista and Hna Godoy got sent to Pigue. So the whole half of the week was spent preparing, saying goodbyes, packing, cleaning the pension, and writing up info about the area for the Elders. It was super sad saying goodbye. Especially to our ward mission team. The best ever. The girls cried. I'm not gonna lie, it blew. Emergency transfers blow. It's a big change to put in Elders. But the Lord knows what's best. 

- Juan got baptized!!! It was the best thing ever. He looked so cute in white, and was just grinning from ear to ear. It's been a long time since someone got baptized that wasn't a referral from members. So, it was a true miracle. Juan taught me that you are never too old to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never too late. I know he's gonna be great.

- SO, here I am in Toay!  We left last night at 8:30 and got here at 8 in the MORNING.. well we arrived in Santa Rosa. I LOVE LA PAMPA!! It reminds me of Nevada or Arizona or Texas. Hopefully, I'll have more pictures of the Area next week. I think I'll be finishing my mission here and I'm pretty excited about it! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it already. 

Shoutouts; Happy Birthday Corb! And thanks for the email! :) 

Also thank you to Tio Hector for the email. 

Hope all is well. 

HEY I LOVE YALL! 

Have a great week. 

Hermana Squire

(******note from mama Squire: In a separate email, she wrote that Sister missionaries have not been in Toay---pronounced *toe-eye* since 2008. So she is super excited to be in an area that has not had hermanas for a long, long time.)

Familia Henrik

Graciela and Carlitos

Hermana Raventos & Gladis

Missionary Team in Puerto

Ward Misson Leader and his family

Barby, a ward missionary

With Estefy, FUTURE missionary!