12-19-15

hello from the south,

hey guys! well, we travelled again. we went to a place close to my last area of Yungay, 

called Huaraz. It is the best here. It is the only place you can wear coats and see snow.

We are preparing more and more for Christmas here, and we are travelling to all the zones

of the mission to do Christmas Devotionals with the missionaries. Its been fun seeing

everyone de nuevo. Especially I have been fascinated to be with a lot of the new missionaries

and learn from their simpleness. The past 2 nights we are going to be staying with Elder 

Price and his son (trainee) Elder Ortiz from Ecuador. I was able to proselyte with Elder

Ortiz last night. He only has about 5 weeks in the mission and he is already inspiring and

helping his family, even miles away. Him and his mom are the only ones baptized in his

family but he just found out that his sister will now be baptized as well, after waiting about 7

years of his life. We taught a less active family, and he told them how important it is

to just read, pray and go to church. We commited the family for the new year,

(new years resolutions = great technique for missionaries trying to do commitments)

to read as a family every night. The mom of the family was super excited and so were we,

in the freezing winter rain of Huaraz. She gave us some bread as a parting gift. I love the 

mountains here.

With all the cosas going on this end of the year, I have been searching for a lot of spiritual

and mental refuge. A really great section of this months Ensigns (or Liahonas) gave me just

that with this quote: "He recalled that when he prayed in his earlier years, he did so with a list of requests and   solicitudes. He would approach heaven with what  he called “a kind of shopping list.” But now, he said, “I think [I am] trying to grow in just being   there. Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter,  you are just there in front of the fire, and you don’t have to be smart or  anything. The fire warms you.”^2"

we dont have to be smart or elegant or anything in our prayers. I love that metaphor, we can just pray and kind of just soak in the warm spirit of the Lord, until that peace we require comes. As the cold approaches us spiritually, and phisically this time of year, hope we can all learn from this council and pray in such a way.

Love you guys. Wish I could send some picture but I have forgotten to llevar mi camara hoy dia. disculpeme. Next week will be chalk full of some mountain pictures. 

also pray for my mom if you can! she is having surgery soon. also for our investigator francisco so that he can progress. 

Elder Caldwell.