July 26, 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

One month down already! Where has the time gone!! It has been so amazing though. This week was incredible, I loved every second of it. We got new roommates since our other ones left. Their names are Elder Castro and Elder Ivo. They are super awesome and nice. One of them hasn't been to the temple, so he is super excited for that. Also I get new companions for splits  every week. I was in a trio this week but it was way good. They had me teach the whole restoration by myself in Portugues and I killed it. The gift of tongues is so real. Our lessons with irmao oliveira and irma passos are going really well. I love them all. One time irmao oliveira told Elder Goodell that he done goofed up a aron. It was so funny. 

Every day I do work outs for soccer and to stay in shape, ha a lot of sprinting and a lot of hard work. We are really good friends with this other companionship who are the zone leaders for the other branch. Their names are elder Southwick and Elder Dix. They are super funny and so so nice.  Elder Southwick made faces at us while Elder Allen and I were on the stand. Elder Southwick wants to go to Byu when he gets back and can play the piano by ear and by  theory. It is so cool. 

Thank you for my present mom, it was so amazing. Elder Allen and I use the speaker everyday. On my birthday I got sung to by all of the brazilians during dinner and breakfast and all day  hahaha. They all love doing those kind of things. Also my district surprised me with cake, ice cream, small candy presents and a birthday card. It was such a good day and I love all of them. During actividade fisica I talked with irmao oliveira about soccer and the future I have in soccer and it was so cool because his whole family loves soccer and so does mine ha! I am truly blessed by the Lord down here. 

The language is going great, it is way hard but I know if I work hard the Lord will bless me. I don't teach with any notes though. I teach based on what I know in Portugues and what comes from the spirit. It is so cool. Also thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday too!! I thought about you all. 

 I was able to say a prayer in Portugues at a devotional in front of everyone in the ctm and the mission president. and apparently I sounded fluent even though I am definitely not hahaha. The ctm mission president complimented me too.

I found Brazilians going to my mission!!! Their names are Elder Oliveira, Elder Bacelar and Elder Todrigues,  I love them already. One of my favorite things from this week was a talk by elder Holland we got to hear. He said this,    we need to promise our devotion to the Savior, we need to do what he does, say what he says, and act how he acts, that is what it means to come unto Christ. We need to be prepared to feel how he felt, and to give our lives to our missions and to the Savior.  I plan on doing just that. because I love this gospel. i know all bad things must come to an end and our for our experience. Read d&c 122. It is an amazing chapter about Joseph Smith and how he was in liberty jail and the lord comforted him. We just need to lay it all on the line. eu sei que este evangelho e verdadeiro. eu posso sentir isso em meu coracao. com todo meu coracao eu sei que jesus cristo vive. eu vou dar minha vida para o evangelho de jesus cristo!!!!!! EU AMO VOCES!!!  

ps good luck to Carter, Brodee, and Marcus as they enter the mtc! Also everyone who went to high school with brady cook and I, would know that we screamed we want the train a lot haha and Brazilians here scream like that and it reminds me of it so much haha.  We are going to go out contacting on the streets after this, we aren't allowed to do it after dark.  We hear  gunfire all the time at night.

That makes me so happy to hear about my friends. I miss them all but they all do so great things and they will be amazing missionaries. I am glad Christopher had such an amazing time. I sent him a photo in the mail. What is his email?   That is really cool to hear about Brodee, and also that story with dad. I love him so much and he inspires me. Thank you so much mom. I love you tons and miss you a lot and your advice. Thank you for everything.

 

I saw Mitchells mission presidents wife today and she is so awesome and way nice. I dont know if she sent you the picture but it was cool. That is so awesome about Cherry, Tami,  Christy,  Ruby and the others. Tell them I love them all so much and they are such big parts of my life. Well I love you so much mom. Tell Chris I love him more than anything too. and tell dad he inspires me everyday and I talk about him everyday and I love him so much. 

Elder Bestenlehner

The pictures were taken with Mitch's mission president's wife, Sister Fernandes at the Sao Paulo Temple. :)

July 19, 2017

Dear Friends and Family.

This week was an awesome crazy spiritual week though.  Saturday was filled with jam packed adventure. We went proselyting in downtown Sao Paulo and it was so awesome but so hard. No one wanted to talk to elder Allen and I,there were some people still did. The gift of tongues is real though and helped us so much as we talked to people. We were not having very much luck and we decided to say a prayer in the middle of everyone in English.  We still didn't have much luck but then we got the impression to walk a certain way, so we did and I saw a lady taking a photo and the spirit testified to me that this was the lady that needed to hear our message.  We talked to her for twenty minutes and she wanted to know more so we had to give her a paper to write her number down so other missionaries could teach her better than us ha. Then we stopped and talked to these girls about the same age as us and they only took our paper because we were american and they thought we were cute. They were totally trying to flirt with Elder Allen and I and it was so funny.  The day was really tiring but an amazing experience. 

This week we had more spilts with the Brazilians inside the ctm and I am in a trio now. It is crazy hahaha, I am with two Brazilians who are hilarious, Elder dos Santos and Elder Soares. For our frist lesson they had me teach the entire restoration without notes while they taught the entire plan of salvation in one lesson!! It was so crazy but the gift of tongues is real because I did it and now I can just talk in Portuguese so much better. It is such a blessing and I can't wait to learn more. 

Oh and by the way, Elder Allen and I are the zone leaders for our branch! We look over so many missionaries. Sunday we had some amazing cake to eat and I had like 6 pieces and the Brazilians called me fat hahaha. Then that night we had a devotional which was awesome. It said that we needed to fight for the gospel and we are in battle for the Lord. It was really inspiring.  That night Elder Allen cut my hair.... it was so funny but he did a good job. I was so nervous the whole time though. All of the brazilians were making fun of me. 

There are so many Americans now that it is really hard to speak Portuguese. I would rather have Brazilians then Americans. Monday was probably one of the best days here in the ctm. I balled up some guys in basketball which was awesome and then I took one guy, elder Ankamah he is from London and I played him one on one in basketball and I schooled him. But he played semi pro soccer before he came on a mission and that is way cool to me.  Our instructor irmao oliveira is so funny. Another instructor was making faces at us and Oliveira ran and pushed me out of the way too see and then the other instructor ran away and Oliveria said "i gotcha bruh" it was so funny because he is a Brazilian and he only knows slang terms. He also says suh dude a lot ha. He also loves soccer and has invited me a couple of times to go play with him as a joke because i can't actually go play. 

We also have trc where we teach a member and it is recorded. I make faces at the camera and then we go watch it and it is so funny. After that it got kind of hard. I was having a hard time understanding portuguese and I really needed help.  Elder Goodell asked me for a blessing because he was sick.  I said yes and as soon as I started to bless him I started crying and told him that his Heavanly Father loves him and knows about the hard decision it was to come on a mission. I felt the spirit and told him immediately to be healed and after that he wasn't sick anymore. The power of the Priesthood is real. It is so important that men stay worthy to hold it and I am so grateful that I was worthy to hold the Priesthood.

I love this gospel and I know it is true. I will always have faith in my Savior and in this church. I promise you that it is true and if you read the Book of Mormon you will know for yourself. I love you all and hope all of you are doing so well with everything. please feel free to email me personally if you want. A IGREJA E VERDADEIRO. I love you all!!!! 

ps we are becoming best friends with the other zone leaders, Elder Southwick and Elder Dix. They are awesome and elder Southwick might go to byu just like me when he gets home. oh and elder Cody Leifson who plays basketball for byu is here but just left. he has such a powerful testimony. 

Anyway I love you mom and tell dad he inspires me everyday. I tell so many people about him and share everything about him too. I love this gospel and I love you guys and I am so grateful you are my family.  love you mom. Thank you for the birthday wish!!!! tell the family i love them so much and don't ever give up on the savior or the gospel. Chris I miss you bro! I love you so much, you are always in my prayers. Stay strong!!

Love, 

Elder Bestenlehner

July 12 2017

Dear Family and friends

I love you! 

It was cool to hear that Manny and Kobe did so well Sunday. I wish I could have heard them. Tell Coach Kusak  I will look for his friend as soon as I  get out to Belo. 

So this week was crazy and super fun. My Portuguese is getting a lot better and I can say so many things now. I joke with the brazilians every day now. one of my phrases that i love to say is "asas de frangos, eu amo asas de frangos." it literally translates to chicken wings, i love chicken wings! gosh it is so funny and the brazilians love it so much. so funny story, I was talking with a brazilian the other day and he told me I was the best in Portuguese and so I said it back to him but I actually said you are a woman.  The phrase is  voce e molher, and I said voce e mulher. they sound so similar ha. It was funny but embarrassing.

We started to teach three people a day now and it is so exhausting but so good for us. We love teaching and it helps us to gain more love for the people. It is so awesome. Dad, I thought you might like this-my district always loves and hates my humor. hahaha I always make those dumb jokes that I usually make and they laugh and say shut up ha. This week we got a new instructor because our old one quit and so now we have irmao olivereira and he is so awesome and helpful. It is a blessing in my life. 

The other day I was having a bad day so during exercise time I played soccer and juggled a basketball which helped me to relieve stress. It was so fun and then at dinner we sang american songs with elder da silva and elder torres. the big and little guy. it was so fun and so amazing. oh and manny and devin and marcus and zack i sang all of our nonsense karioke to the brazilians and to my district and they loved it. Elder Allen and i are doing great when it comes to loving everyone. 

Sunday was a hard day for me though because i got a migraine and I also caught a nasty cold which i still have. 

It is terrible but i still never skip on any events, even when i look like death.  Sunday was also really spiritual too. Monday was even better though. It was sad but amazing. We had a devotional for the American elders leaving for the field, in a room which was ok but then i went to the Brazilan devotional for elder da Silva was leaving. It was sad but the spirit I felt there was probably the strongest in the whole world. man it was amazing. They have the best spirits about them, you can just tell through everything they do. oh and the other day we went on splits with the Brazilian missionaries and it was so cool. We planned lessons and taught a lesson together and I had no idea what my Brazilian companion was saying most of the time but it was so funny. His name was elder lopes and he is absolutely awesome. I get to go on more splits tomorrow with some more Brazilians. 

There is this new kid who is from london who just got here last week and he has the coolest accent. He is also very intimidating because he is huge. super muscular. I actually showed him how to do a backflip and it was funny and he loved it and was mad he couldn't do one hahaha. I also love to say to the brazilians, mais reias mais problemas. more money more problems. 

I love the weather in Brazil. Right now it is winter and it isn't too hot or too cold. The Brazilian missionaries think it is really cold though.

Gosh I love the gospel and i love everything about the work. This week i heard a quote from Elder Holland that will keep me serving no matter what. and that is,,,,, why would it ever be easy for you, if it was never easy for the Savior..... how powerful is that?! I know Jesus Christ lives and I know that through him all is possible. I Know without a doubt this gospel is true and i love every second of being here in the ctm in brazil. I cant wait till a month when I actually get to send you all pictures. One night the elders from our district had like a meeting and I shared with them my anchors for being out here and my testimony and the spirit was so strong. One of my anchors is Shadrach Meshack and Abednigo. They knew that god would help them but even if he didn't help them, they would still have faith in Him and not worship other gods or other things. I will always have faith in this gospel, in the church, in Heavenly Father, in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. I love All of you!!!! 

Also I heard that in Belo Horizonte they play soccer the most :) heck yah!!! ps the streets out here are so dirty but they have the coolest sketchiest little shops in the world, I buy snacks for the week and cookies and stuff hahaha. There is this one store that is a hole in the wall and leads you downstairs into a dark place and its so funny to go in but really weird.

I want you all to know that the gift of tongues is real!  It feels like such a miracle., just have faith. because faith is all we need. the gift of tongues is also not a one time thing. its a journey of heartbreak, hard work, and miracles.

. I love you so much and i promise I am doing great out here. I love every second of it and I will never give up no matter what. Tell all of the family that I love all of them and I pray for you all every day because you all have changed my life so much. Mom thank you for all that you do and for everything. I love you so much.  Tell dad i love him more than anything too and i use his example every day here. tell him that he is and always wiil be one of my heroes. I love you all so much including Chris too ha. Tell him I miss him. I miss you all but i love the work ;) 

Love,

Elder Bestenlehner

July 05, 2017

Hey family I love you so much, and thank you  so much for actually emailing me but I don't have like any time today, tell dad everyone I love them and thank you for always being there for me and doing everything for me. I wish I could have said more before I said goodbye but I would not have wanted to go. I love you and miss you a ton. I promise I will send more next week but this is what was sent in my group email that I did earlier this week. Love you mom and I promise I will talk to you better next week but I had to make the group emails again. The MTC is awesome and show this to dad and Chris and tell him to talk the Lord and rely on Heavenly Father.  I have been having a hard time here but I use him every day as help. Love you all so much and tell Manny and Devin i will write in the group email next week.

(This is his group email)

"Hello everyone!!! Tudo Bem?! 

That is what everyone says here ha. sorry about my spelling and grammar and stuff, we don't have much time to email and the computers are in Portuguese.  This first week has been absolutely amazing. Flying was ok ha, it was lonely until I met the other missionaries but then we all just talked forever.  I had an elder Calhoun moment (from the movie Best Two Years) where somebody said something to me in Portuguese and I just stood there dumbfounded and I said, I am a missionary, hahaha all the others laughed at me and then the same thing happened when we got to Sao Paulo.

The Brazilians are so amazing and they are so loving.  I have made so many friends here. My companions name is elder Allen and he is a super awesome guy, he is from medford oregon. So far i have found no one going to my exact mission, but I have found people from my mission and they think we are best friends now. They are Brazilian.  Funny story about the Brazilians, the night we got here they had a party for us in the hall, which we aren't supposed to do, but it was so awesome.  They were talking to us in Portuguese, then elder Allen knew I could do a backflip so he told everyone to back up and I did a back flip and they went so crazy. They were bowing down and they call me Spiderman  and the quickster now too. We play basketball every day for exercise time and elder Allen and I are the best here ha we smoke the Brazilians. Its so funny.

One of our best friends we have met that is Brazilian is Elder da Silva, he is the Brazilian version of Michael Oher. the football player. He is huge and so cuddly, he calls me the best Bestenlehner. I told them I play soccer for a living as in I play it all the time and they love me now and try to get me to disobey the rules haha. Our Portuguese is coming along pretty well. every day is really hard but that's ok, we know that the Lord is helping us. Funny story, so we were teaching a lesson in English our first day and it was about charity, and I was talking and I said to the lady, chastity is so important, it is the pure love of Christ. I  didn't know I said that till four hours later when my district told me ha. i was so embarrassed and now its a funny story here. my roommates are all so amazing. me and elder Allen share a bunk bed and then share a room with four other Brazilians, we communicate with them all the time. They are super nice and I love being with all of them. 

Gosh I just love this gospel. The devotionals and stuff have to be translated down here so it makes it really hard to not sleep but we stay awake and keep each other up ha. . I just want to thank all of you for helping me become such a strong person because it gets super hard and frustrating down here, but thats just when my faith grows stronger. We have great instructors, irma passos and irmao duran. they are so nice and one is a boy and the other a girl. Mitch she would be perfect for you ha, i told her that she should call you even if you are so many miles away. At night the missionaries cut each others hair and i dont know if i am going to let them cut mine ha, i heard the barber is worse. so not any time soon ha.

Crazy thing, Elder Allens first name is also Andrew and his dads name is David. What a coincidence, God knew i was supposed to have him as my first companion. Sometimes he makes me mad but I love him anyway. Its just so stupid to get upset or mad at anything when we have so much in the world. One phrase I love to say is sorriso sempre. Always smile no matter what. That is one thing i love about brazil - the people are so amazing and i love all of them. the Americans here are great too but the brazilians are better. I bore my testimony during testimony meeting on Sunday and it was so cool. i used the lord of the rings quote again and did half in english and the rest in Portuguese. The gift of tongues is so real.

We teach an investigator almost every night. We are teaching a woman named gabriela right now and its awesome to see the lord touch peoples hearts. All of you about to go on a mission or thinking of it, i promise it is worth it and i have only been out a week. It is so hard, one of the hardest things you will ever do. but I promise it will change and bless your life. just take that leap of faith. and never give up. 

oh the fourth of july here is awesome, they served us american food and it was so good and we had ice cream and i was so happy because i dont get as much sugar down here. but the food is absolutely amazing and i love all of their food. the drink guanara is so amazing, i dont think i spelled that right but it is seriously liquid gold. better than all of the other pop.   

Today we went to the sao paulo temple and it is so beautiful, i mean seriously you can feel the spirit so strong and it is so amazing. all of it is amazing. sorry i cant send pictures, the wifi isnt good enough. anyways i love you all and i know this church is true, without a doubt. i promise if we do our part in this gospel the lord will do his part. I am so grateful for my savior and I am grateful for everthing he blesses me with. If you would like to email me personally feel free to do so!! EU SEI QUE A IGREJA DE JESUS CRISTO DOS SANTOS DOS ULTIMOS DIAS E VERDADEIRO! also good luck to manny this sunday man I know you will be so great and go kill it in the mission field, also good luck to my homeboys kobe and brodee on their talks and go kill it in the mission field. Its hard but its worth it, the mtc is so pretty and i love it in brazil. 

Elder Bestenlehner 

Email #1 June 27, 2017

This is just an email to tell you that I made it safely to the CTM. My P-days will be every wednesday so I wont be able to email till next Wednesday. Also my watch doesnt work, just so you know ha. But I will probably have to compose the group emails myself next week so can you send me the emails of the picture I sent you before I left? It is super awesome here! Everyone is so nice and so kind, I love it so much. The flying was awful but thats ok. My companions name is Elder Allan, he is so awesome. He was one of the guys I flew out with. I am doing great, I am sure it will get harder but I know the lord will help me. Tell everyone I said hi and I am doing well! I just wanted to say thank you to you and dad for everything you all have done for me. I love you all so much. I just got my name tag too!! It is so cool to finally have it. It was hard not to watch movies on the plane because they were everywhere around you haha. Some people started watching the lego batman movie and it was so hard not to watch it and quote it. 

Also before we got on the plane to go to Brazil, I had an elder calhoun moment where someone spoke portuguese and I had no idea what he said, so I just said "I am a missionary" in an awkward voice and he just said oh a missionario. It was emberrassing but super cool to experience. So far I have found no one going to my mission, ha lucky me. But I will tell you more next week along with everyone else. Love you mom! Tell the rest of the family I love them too. 

Elder Bestenlehner