Bautismo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLA!

¿Cómo andan? Ah I am just so happy to be a missionary right now. I flippin love it. Every. Day. Even when I'm walking bent forward, trying not to get blown away, when I'm cold, wet, tired and sore... I still love it. BAH!!
-Estoy TAN feliz porque tuvimos un BAUTISMO ayer! **(I'm so happy because we had a baptism yesterday!)** Yup! Belén quit smoking (same with Jorge) and was baptized yesterday and IT. WAS. AMAZING. She looked so pretty in white and was so nervous before. But everything went well and she is super happy now. She'll get confirmed this Sunday. Sad thing is that no one from her family came. Only Jorge and his dad. Jorge was super happy. The Elders came to Pringles on Friday so she could have her interview. She, of course, passed with flying colors. Jorge started asking Elder Christensen about MISSIONS. OH MY GOSH. How great would that be??!!! They BOTH would be amazing missionaries. I have no doubts about Belén at all. She quit smoking in a week and a half, reads her scriptures and participates in the classes so much. I LOVE HER!!! Seeing the joy on someone's face as they come out of the waters of baptism, cleansed from all their sins,  is something I will always remember. Amazing.
- My Spanish is definitely improving. I've been getting comments from the members that I'm speaking better and THAT truly is a compliment! Argentines are pretty blunt and honest, so they won't lie! I'm really working hard with my Spanish and I have truly been blessed because I am learning so quickly!
-We had another asada on Friday. OH MY. I am convinced we will be dining Argentine style en los cielos.**(in the heavens)** Only bad thing was that the man of the house was like, "don't be shy hermana, eat all you want." I DID EAT ALL I WANT. But then he kept putting more on my plate. "Don't be shy, don't you like it?" Have you ever prayed to be able to have the strength to keep eating? I almost DIED!
- We will be having a zone conference this Friday in Bahía with interviews with Presidente. This is his LAST transfer before our new president comes in! Sad, but I'm sure our new president will be amazing.
- I just found out that Dr. Mike was in the branch presidency at MTC of Hna Israelsen's branch! Small world!
- EVERYONE! GO read "Finding Joy in Life" by Elder Richard Scott. It will change your life. " When you trust in the Lord , when you are willing to let your heart and your mind be centered in His will, when you ask to be led by the spirit to do His will, you are assured of the greatest happiness along the way and the most fulfilling attainmet from this mortal experience". GO READ IT!
- SHOUTOUTS! I got so much letter love this week! THANK YOU! VENICE! I love your guts. I'll write you next week. Taylor- LOVED the graduation pics. WHERE IS DEV GOING ON HIS MISSION! I need to start sending your letters to CA now, right? KRIS- YOU ARE A DANG BABE in your engagements! I loved it and I LOVED your letter! PAIGE! I keep forgetting to congratulate you on your 1/2 marathon. YOU GO GIRL. And i loved your letter and pics. Almost wet my pants with the wrestling pic and your birthday drawings. I got another GREAT letter from the Serna crew in Virginia! I LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you for the drawings and notes!! Everyone!! Thank you for all your prayers! I feel them every day! I am so spiritually uplifted EVERYDAY thanks to your prayers. 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Squire

Hermana Cydnee Squire

Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission

1755 Chacabuco

8000 Bahia Blanca

Buenos Aires

Argentina

Sad News.....

HOLA TODOS!

¿Cómo andan? I hope you're all enjoying the summer weather, because it is wet and chilly here in Pringles! Winter is definitely on the way... I'm not super excited about it. haha.
-Well, I've got some pretty sad news. Julieta wasn't baptized. We went over to Enrique's house and started prepping Julieta for baptism. She was pretty excited until Enrique said "So I'm baptizing her right?" NO, YOU AREN'T DOING ANYTHING TO CHANGE, MR. SMARTIE! We told him no, but he could still participate and all, but he got SO MAD. He was like, "I'm not going to support you in this, I won't come. This was special for me to do this for you because I love you," BLAH BLAH. Well, Enrique, you obviously don't love her enough to let HER achieve ETERNAL SALVATION, and YOU only want to do this for yourself. It was SO FRUSTRATING. I wanted to beat him with my umbrella, but then the news headline "Sister missionary gets sent home for mauling an 18 year old with her umbrella" flashed through my mind and I refrained. He was being so rude, I could hardly stand it. Julieta talked to us outside and said, I still want to get baptized. I want the Holy Ghost. But can we give him another chance to change? If he doesn't by the end of June, I will get baptized, sí or no? So we changed the date. THEN the next day we got a text from Julieta and it said she didn't ever want to get baptized, she wasn't going to come back to church, and to stop coming by Enrique's house. WHAT!! That was a 180 in a matter of 12 hours! We've tried calling, stopping by, we've fasted, but we can't find her. We want to know what happened and talk face to face. I am 100% sure that it has EVERYTHING to do with Enrique. So please pray for Julieta.
- Belén. I LOVE THIS GIRL. She is quitting smoking and her fecha is this Sunday. Her boyfriend, Jorge, is changing too. He's quitting smoking with her and he has more light in his face. He participates more in the lessons with us and comes to church activities. So, Belén will get baptized this Sunday, if she can completely quit smoking. She's already progressed so much with that, in a matter of one week. Capa. The other day she was praying and said "Thank you for sending me these girls. I love the presence they bring into my house". BAH! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
- We had an activity for Independence Day on 25 de Mayo. We had such a good turn out! We ate locro, a traditional Argentine dish that they ate like 100 years ago. It was...... yeah. Ok. Not my favorite. Some members did some traditional dancing and read some poems from Argentine poets. It was such a fun day.
- We had a St. Bernard follow us the other day, for almost 20 blocks! HE WAS HUGE! His head was like the size of a watermelon. We called him Vincent. Imagine two sister missionaries at your door with a St Bernard."Are you SURE you don't want to listen to our message?" (Cue the St. Bernard to growl). Later, his owner found him, relieved that he had been following us, and PUT HIM IN THE TRUNK OF A CIVIC! THE TRUNK!! Pobre.
- We found the granddaughter of a converso in the ward, Anabela. Her daughter was outside while we were contacting a reference, and she kept inching closer and closer. Finally she was like, what are your names? We talked to her for a bit then Anabela came out and let us in. We taught her lesson one and how to pray and asked her to say the last prayer. She did it, then we asked how she felt. She said " I don't know, I feel emotional, and I don't get emotional. I feel something here in my chest. I've never felt this before". Wow, right? Definitely one of the coolest experiences so far on the mission. We have high hopes for her. Please pray for her that she can find work. She's in a tough time right now.
- I read a great quote about keeping the Sabbath day holy. It really made me think. "Our observance of the Sabbath is an unnerving measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward His suffering in Gethsemane, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in every deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of His atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us." - Elder Mark E. Peterson. WOW, right?
-Shoutouts: Tyler and Ashley, I LOVED the pic of Lucas in the BYU shirt! SO CUTE!! Happy Birthday to NATALIE GRANT! Woo! Love you! And happy birthday to Kelsey yesterday, hope it was great. I got the BEST LETTER with pictures last week from the Serna crew! Thank you and I LOVE YOU JOSHUA, LEAH, MATTHEW, REBECCA! And of course Robert and Julie :). SOMEONE GO TELL RYAN DEGROOT I AM SO DANG PROUD OF HIM!! WOO MISSION! Everyone! I love you all! Read your scriptures! Pray every day! Pray with your family! Go to church! Do the little things! So simple, but so vital. 

Está obra es la obra del Señor! El sufrió por TODOS. No solamente por nuestros pecados, pero por nuestros dolores, affliciones, TODO. Cada día, le doy gracias a Dios por el sacrificio de su Hijo. Estoy tan agradacida que estoy sirviendo aca en Pringles.  LES QUIERO! 

Translation****(This work is the work of the Lord. He suffered for everyone. Not just for our sins, but for our pains, afflictions, EVERYTHING. Each day, I give thanks to God for the sacrifice of His Son. I am so grateful that I am serving over here in Pringles. I love you!)****

Hermana Squire (or Hermana Alta... (hermana tall) it´s a new one. And people spell my name SCUAIR so they say it right when I have to give a talk in sacrament)

Rocio, our cutie pie

I LOVE Being a Missionary!

Amigos y familia,
 

Well, I have calluses on my calluses, a mosquito decided to feast ON MY FACE last night, I hang my clothes on a line to dry, I wear flip-flops and wool socks in my house because it´s so cold, it was wet and chilly this week, I feel gipped because I left the states at the beginning of spring and now it´s the end of fall... BUT I AM HAPPY AS A DANG CLAM! Seriously! I love Pringles, I love sharing the gospel, I love speaking Spanish, I LOVE IT ALL!!  "I JUST DON´T UNDERSTAND!"  Ha ha, missionary work is the best.

- Investigators: The fecha(date) for Analia and Rodrigo has been moved. They didn't come to church :( Analia is having trouble getting married because the family of her pareja(partner) doesn't want to sign (marriage/divorce is way complicated here). So we´re praying for a miracle. Filipe, her brother, is not a member!! Ah! So he still needs to get divorced and married to his senora. They live in a TEENY house... seriously it is as big as my class at the MTC, with 4 kids! We went over there this week and he´s like, "I have the desires to stop smoking, I know I need to get baptized."  So I said, "do you have any cigarettes here?"  And he said "yup", then I said, "well, you can give them to me and I´ll take care of them." And he gave them to me!! WHAT! Since when am I the cigarette police! My name tag (plaque) sure gives you that extra authority! I felt super weird carrying those around the rest of the day!
-We found 3 nuevos(new) this week, Rosio (12), Florencia (14), and Carina. They are so sweet! Florencia has a learning disability, but Rosio said she would read the LDM(Libro de Mormon) to her. I'm excited about these girls. Carina is their mom, and she's a single mother of 8! I just love them! Now the challenge is GETTING THEM TO CHURCH! I swear, that´s where Satan does his work. He keeps people from coming to church. SO FRUSTRATING! I hope I´m still around for their baptisms.
- So Filipe"s señora was praying, and she´s evangelico, and they say Señor Jesus after every sentence. I SWEAR she said "amen"...so I said "amen"... but she was NOT finished. Embarrassing!
- This week we had interviews with Presidente. He brought us all in the capilla(chapel) and we could ask him any doctrinal question we wanted... or anything about our investigators. He is so insightful and smart! I love him! I´m sad he´ll be leaving in 2 months. Interviews were great. We missed our collectivo(bus) back to Pringles... and the next one didn't leave until 9 pm, so we had our district meeting then worked in our Elders' area. They have a wealthier area and man, I admire them because a lot of people were very rude and had hard hearts. It made me grateful for my little Pringles!
- So NOBODY has callings in the rama (branch). We are working on that. We need teachers! The missionaries can´t teach every class! We have qualified members who could easily teach... and our recent converts need callings to stay active! Only 5 people in the rama(branch) have callings. I think that if more recent converts got callings, they would stay active. There are 400 members in Pringles... about 350 are inactive... Yup, that's gotta change. Hna Israelsen and I are visiting a lot of menos activos (less actives? is that what it is in English? Ha, I can´t remember). The Familia Bailone has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. But Hno Bailone is angry at God for taking his father and angry at the rama(branch) because he had a lot of callings. BUT HE KNOWS that the church is true! A lot of praying is going to go into this family, that is for sure.
- I read a talk by Elder Christoffersen this week: The divine gift of repentance. I would encourage ALL of you to read it. I learned that without repentance, there is no progress or improvement in life. And that the invitation to repent is an expression of love. That is what we are asking investigators to do. Repent, and feel the joy that comes from forgiveness. The pain from the process of repentance is forgotten when one feels the inexplicable joy that comes from forgiveness. Also- when we repent, we strive to change. It may require repeated attempts but there is something refining and holy in this striving. WOW WOW WOW! I love being a missionary and receiving this sort of inspiration and personal revelation. I feel like I am growing and changing so much. I need to change, I have a lot to work on, that's for sure. But through the atonement, I CAN change. What a miracle.
-Shoutouts: Kelsey: Congrats on your teaching job! I want a picture of you in your teacher clothes. And HILLARY NORTON IS ON A MISSION! What in the world? why did I not know this? Kels, could you send her a dearelder for me? Tell her I love her and I want her address. SO COOL! Ecuador is getting one fine lady. Taylor: YOU ARE GRADUATED, YOU OLD LADY! Pics please. Kristen and Haddy: you better send me engagement pics and an invitation, or I´ll stop praying for you. Haha, jk, I WILL ALWAYS PRAY FOR YOU! Hno Larsen, 3 months is right! Tomorrow, woo hoo! Corbett family: loved your email! And loved your scripture study insights. ALWAYS great to get spiritually uplifting letters. Adriana Molina: Gracias por la carta! Besos y abrazos!  Paige- Waiting on the Lord: Thy will be done. Read it. Write back your thoughts. Love you. EVERYONE! I love you all! More than I love it when Hermana Linco says: 'I am a loser' when she forgets something! More than dulce de leche...and that´s a lot! Have a great week!

Besos y Abrazos,
Hermana Squire, Skeeray, y Hermana.... "No sé" (Alexis, the son of Presidente, is 8 and doesn't know how to say my name. He says Hermana...Sk...  Hermana.... "No sé" *don't know)

cydnee.squire@myldsmail.net

Parents:

 I GOT THE PACKAGE! And letters 1 and 2 from dad! WOOOHOOO!! PEANUT BUTTER!!! I almost cried! I'm so serious. Yes, it's chilly. It will get worse. My foot is fine. When I stretch it, it feels like a creaky door but it´s not bothering me anymore. Oatmeal is so great! We don´t have a microwave so it takes longer to boil water, but so delish! Thank you! Please send Burt's Bees chapstick, if possible, the April conference edition when it comes. Can you have it bound? Sorry to ask for so much!!! I LOVE YOU BOTH! THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE AND PRAYERS! 

Little Devastated

Hola Todos!

Well, here I am in the final week of the MTC... with no visa. Half of our district got theirs and will be leaving on Monday, and the rest of us will be stuck here until we get ours. To say I'm bummed is a huge understatement. I was pretty much devastated. But, there is still hope that the rest of ours will get ours next week. It will be hard to see the rest of our district leave on Monday, I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye and having to stay here. So pray hard, I don't think I can last much longer in the MTC... I'm going a little crazy!!

- David Archuleta is in the building. The rumors are true. He is so small and he looks scared all the time, like someone is going to tackle him or something. He's pretty well guarded and for the most part, everyone kinda lets him be. Which is good.

- We are ready to sing for conference! We have been practicing so much and working so hard. It's going to sound so AMAZING! The sisters have been having a rough time finding pastel-like shirts. And the Relief Society Presidency had us wear our outfits for Saturday this past Tuesday to get approval. Try singing your part with the Relief Society Presidency pacing around you and scrutinizing your outfit with their eyes. Not easy, I tell ya! It's going to be so amazing, I hope that you get a glimpse of me in the crowd!

- This past week has been great... a little monotonous at times (so many practices and acting like fake investigators!) but great. Hermano Larsen made it special for us by showing pictures of his mission and we FINALLY got to see the real Sergio. He was exactly as I pictured. A little stocky and grumpy looking. We saw post baptism pictures and man, what a difference. He's so happy and has the light of Christ in his eyes. I can't wait to witness that first hand in Argentina. Today we're doing in-field training... it's where they tie all the loose ends together for the departing missionaries. So far we've learned contacting, working with members for referrals, and preparing investigators for baptismal interviews. It's been really great actually! I can't wait to leave and apply all that I'm learning.

- Our new district has an Elder in it that looks like Squints from the Sandlot. I GOTTA take a picture of him before we leave. It's pretty awesome. We'll be getting another district this Wed... but let's hope I'm not here to see them :) We got new girls in our room and they're all going to MCALLEN TX! Small world right? It gets even smaller: one of the Hermanas is Rachel Richards. I went to school with her in Jr High and High School and she even came to my bday party when I was like 14! So nuts! It's always fun to see people I know here.

- I'm sorry this email is so scatterbrained and a little unfullfilling. I really am at a loss for words and don't know what to talk about! Everything is the same here in the MTC! All my days run together and I never know what has happened on each day. Shoutouts: Paige- you are great, thanks for the email. A letter is coming your way (for all of you). Had- YOU ARE ENGAGED! I saw the ring and it is GORGEOUS. Ahhh and your pictures! I love you!!! Rachelle- thanks for the dearelder and I LOVE YOU!! Grandparents Squire: thanks for the email! Hope you all feel better soon! Summer- thanks for the dearelder! I miss you, and keep me updated on your life. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Hno Larsen told us... why should we ever be discouraged? We have SO MANY people praying for us. In every temple, our wards are praying for us, the prophet prays for us, and all our family and friends pray for us. I am so blessed to have you all pray for me. I really appreciate it. When I feel discouraged (especially since I'm not leaving on time anymore) I think about you all and how much I love each of you. I hope you have a great week and always remember that I love you... but more importantly, I hope you remember you have a Father in Heaven who loves you and cares about your happiness. He knows you personally because you are His child. Always remember that you are sons and daughters of a King. This is the work of the Lord! I cannot wait to start bringing others to Christ.

Con amor,

Hermana Squire

Pray for Visas!

Que tal mi familia y amigos?

24 days and COUNTING until ARGENTINA! What the crazy? I'm so pumped and so ready to get out there. This week was so great, but every week is great when you're a missionary!

- I am now officially coordinating sister. Pretty much I take care of the Hermanas in our zone (3 of us), go to branch council, and tell people off in the residency for not observing quiet time... in a loving way of course. Then when new districts come in, I help the zone leaders do orientation and teach them a little about the MTC and such. We got a new district last week, they're going to Columbia and are leaving before us! But they'll be in the Columbian MTC for 6 more weeks. Hopefully we get a new district this week... there are only 3 districts left! Maybe we'll get some Hermanas, who knows!

- This week, we got to leave the MTC TWICE! Hna. Hinze's retainer broke so we had to go to the orthodontist. I got to venture out into the REAL WORLD! It was weird, but I liked it. They had real music playing in there too! It was hard not to stand up and sing along... " I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL, PUT ANOTHER DIME IN THE JUKEBOX BABY!" Don't worry, I refrained. We get to go back next week! Woo!

- So, the prayer for devotional went well on Tuesday. Except President Brown called me Cindy Squire. Yup, that's me. I sorta knew it would happen, but oh well. I was SO DANG NERVOUS that I couldn't eat dinner before. Ridiculous, I know. Elder Evans came and spoke to us and it was really great. We've been hearing the recurrent themes of Enduring to the End and using the Book of Mormon more. Missionaries HAVE GOT TO ENDURE after their missions! One of the saddest things is seeing a RM go inactive. We teach our investigators to endure to the end, SO WE HAVE TO ENDURE TO THE END TOO! It's so important. I don't know how one can go inactive after experiencing all the miracles of missionary work. This gospel is so engrained into me, I cannot possibly fall away. When investigators call me up when I'm 50 years old saying their son/daughter is marrying in the temple I want to say, I'LL BE THERE!

- On Sunday night, we had an interesting fireside. Alex Boye came and did sort of a talk/singing session. It was great. He was pretty hilarious but then got spiritual. He told his conversion story and promised that years from now, people we helped to convert will speak our names with reverance and with a heart full of gratitude for sharing what we know with them. That hit me hard. It made me think about how I want to be remembered. I want to be remembered as a humble missionary who was so full of love for the people and for the gospel.

- Investigators! Sergio: I love this man!! On Saturday, we went to teach him. We left him with Ether 12 and he told us that he loved the chapter. He read it 3 times and focused on Ether 12:27 (weak things become strong), and told us that he was up all night thinking about it and decided that he wanted...NEEDED... to be baptized. WHAT! The Book of Mormon works miracles!! The Hermanas are the only ones who have a baptismal date set in stone... why? Because of the Book of Mormon. That's why. Later, Hno. Larsen told us that Ether 12 was the EXACT scripture he shared with the REAL Sergio and it made him finally decide to be baptized. I was floored and so humbled by that. THE SPIRIT IS REAL!! It prompts us and tells us of the things we need to teach and share. We had more lessons with him, and we taught about how Satan was going to try and change his mind and be working on him really hard. We told him to write down his feelings of when he decided to be baptized and used the BoM a lot. After that, Hno Larsen told us that it was our best lesson by far. He told us that we, as 6 week missionaries, were teaching like we had been out for 6 months. It was the best compliment I could have ever gotten. Ruben- Sweet Ruben! I love this kid. We finished up the plan of salvation and talked a little about how to enter the celestial kingdom we needed to continually stay on the path and continually repent. He was like what is repentence and how can I do it? That right there is a proud moment for a missionary. When someone wants to do something without you even asking. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

- Spanish is coming along great. I feel like I can speak more and more every day, and my fluidity is getting better during lessons. It's exciting!

- We're slightly worried that our visas won't make it on time. Other Argentine missionaries have been delayed. So, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR VISAS! I want to get out there! If we don't get them, we'll be temporarily reassigned to a state side Spanish speaking mission for a month or so. I would go if the Lord wanted it, but I WANT TO GET TO MY PEOPLE!

- Shoutouts: Squire Grandparents: thanks for the dearelder! Love you! Paige and Taylor- thanks for the dearelders! You two never fail to make me laugh until I'm crying. Tio Hector- I hope your surgery went well! I love all you Texas people! Grandma Hobson- You are a sweet angel! Your cookies are legendary on the 4th floor! Thank you so much! Dunn family- I was so sad about Lucky. I don't remember a time when you didn't have him. Love you all. TAHNEE OWENS: get your hiney in gear and send me a dearelder or SOMETHING! I miss you! A quick note on dearelders. I just found out that we CAN get those in Argentina! They can be sent via pouch and they send them out once a week! Who knows how long it will be till I actually GET them, but it is still an option! I don't know how, so ya'll are on your own on this one.

Being a missionary is one of the most rewarding things ever! I love it! It's challenging, but I know with the Lord's help I can do ANYTHING! This is HIS work and He will not let me fail! Thank you all for the prayers and support. I love each of you so much!

Con Amor,

Hermana Squire