Thankfulness and A baptism!

Hey everyone,

It is definitely raining here a lot and guess what..... I have two infections in my toes. It turns out that my ingrown toenails did not heal haha. But I have to be super careful. My week was super good! It was super tiring and super painful because of my toes but it was rewarding in the end! 

This week we really focused on helping others arrive in sacrament meeting because we needed more investigators in sacrament meeting. We taught a lot of lessons and we met a lot of people!! We have two new investigators named maria ludia and angela. They are not progressing a lot because they wont come to church, but we are helping them! I am excited to teach them anyways. We also were able to help the sisters this week in their area and no one accepted us hahaha. It was very hard because we were rejected so many times. After that we taught maristella and natasha, but we found out that maristella and her boyfriend are living together and so we have to set a date for marriage with them, for her to be baptized. But we know that everything will be fine!!

I was able to experience something amazing this week too. Afonso was baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday!!!!! It was so amazing to see the change and to see how happy he was. What made it even better was that I got to help him and I was the one who baptized him. It was the first time I had ever baptized anyone or helped someone to be baptized. Wow, what an experience. I will never forget the feeling that came from just helping him. I cant imagine how he felt haha. But it was super cool especially in portugues. I am so grateful for Afonso too. Wow he has a powerful testimony already and it was amazing to see the gospel change his life. He is super awesome and I will never lose contact with him! He is definitely like my brother now! It was such a cool week and super rewarding because we worked so hard and just to see him make this powerful step made all the difference! It was super cool. I know that baptism is such essential in our lives and that through the gospel and through our savior Jesus Christ we can do all things!! I love the gospel so much! The power of the atonement is real and the power of the priesthood changes lives.

I love the work and I am excited for more. Yes ofcourse it is super hard when you arent having lots of success but I learned something super powerful this weekend. Alamo, the first counselor to the bishop spoke with us about motivation. He said that we as normal humans look at things or look at the future and tend to say, No i want to stay in my comfortable zone. But he said that true disciples of christ look at the future or look at a challenge and say, Yes it will be hard but i have god on my side. And they continue on. How powerful. Sempre fique firme nas coisas que nosso pai celestial nos deu. Temos ele em nosso lado!! I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!

 I am grateful for you and for our family. For my savior jesus christ and the love he shows me every day. For my Heavenly Father, and all of the gifts and counsels he has given me! I love this gospel and the book of mormon and I am so grateful for everything in my life. I will look towards the future with god on my side. Love you so much!!

Elder Bestenlehner

November 13, 2017 The power of the Book of Mormon

Dear Everyone,

This week was absolutely amazing. I saw the hand of the savior in my life and in the lives of others more than ever before!! This week was amazing because Elder Graça and I fasteed with Afonso on tuesday so he could recieve an answer about the book of mormon and about this path for him. It was very brutal because its super hot here and we wanted to eat food ha but it was so amazing because we fasted with strength and we didnt complain. Afonso remained strong too. And blessings definitely came after that. The night that we ended the fast with him, he told us that every time he is around us he can feel the light and he can feel the spirit testifying to him. He said that he is reading the book of mormon every day and trying to read with real intent. He loves the book of mormon. He also told us that he wants to serve a mission too. He is 23 years old and that night he was struggling so we asked him if he would like a blessing of comfort. I gave the blessing and in that blessing I could feel the spirit so strongly, and then all of a sudden I dont know why I said it but I did, I told him that he would serve a mission and ended the blessing. After that blessing he said, Wow I love this feeling. It was so powerful and so amazing to see him changing. I have been teaching him and visiting him for two months now, he is more like my Brother than anything else right now. 

Then on saturday we visited him and he brought a friend. We taught his friend and Afonso testified to her about the book of mormon and how the book of mormon brings paz and it is truly an addiction to read. I started to cry when he bore that testimony ha. But after that he watched a Baptism of another person in the ward Barroca, and he told us that he had something to tell us on Sunday, yesterday. Elder Graça and I were very excited and we waited for him in the church because he was participating in the choir. After that we sat down together and he began to draw for us. When he finished drawing, it was a picture of his baptism and confirmation, and it had him becoming a member of the church!! He is going to be baptized on Saturday! He bore testimony to us and he said that no matter how many temptations he has this week he will be strong. I cried then too. The power of prayer and of fasting is real and I have a strong testimony of this now. I remember when he didnt believe in the book of mormon, but now he does and he has a testimony, he loves this church and he loves everything about the testimony and answer he recieved. How amazing is the gospel of jesus christ and the book of mormon. Wow. The book of mormon is powerful and truly is the most amazing book we have on the planet right now. I know for a fact that the book of mormon is true and has the power to change lives. What an amazing experience that I will never forget. 

This week was also really awesome because Arthur, a teenager, who we are teaching he decided to be baptized saturday too. And we had lots of people in sacrament meeting and we have lots of people to teach. I can truly see the blessings that the lord gives us when we work hard and trust in him. Pray for Afonso, Arthur, Maristella and Natasha. So they can feel the desire to join our church and gain a testimony like we have. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for the opportunity I have to teach the people of brazil and see the change in their hearts. Sei que esta igreja é verdadeira e que meu salvador Jesus Cristo, ele vive. Ele nos ama. Ele vai proporcionar milagres em nossas vidas se nos confiarmos nele!!! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Dont forget to always pray, read the scriptures, attend church, and be Happy!!!

This week was amazing! The miracles that I saw and the things that I experienced I will never forget. The language is getting better and I am super excited for the future and for this week. I know that Heavenly Father will help me and will help you too!! Love you!

Elder Bestenlehner

Hard work and obedience

This week was very tiring but super awesome. I learned a very important thing this week. 

Elder Graça is super awesome and he is a super hard worker!! We worked so hard this week and we have 7 people with a date for baptism. But our main investigators are having difficulties with some things that I cant tell but they are trying to do better and I love to see them working hard and preparing for baptism. This week i learned an important lesson about teaching through the spirit. It is important that we are constantly guided by the spirit so we can know what to say and how to say it. I had two experiences this week where I didnt follow the spirit and I said something that didnt sound right or was offensive in some way, and we almost lost two of our investigators. It was supér hard for me especially because I was honestly trying to help them, I just said one little thing wrong. But right now I am learning how to listen to the spirit fully when teaching. It was just two little but big mistakes.. Other than that I listen to the spirit and so say things that the Holy Ghost can testify to them!! But We always need to start with a prayer too, prayer is essential and it brings the spirit in the room more than any other thing. It was a good week to learn new things and to work super hard in this hot weather. One funny story that happened this week was that I was sitting down with Elder Graça between two buildings, and a bunch of little kids ran up to me and said,, Do you speak english!? Speak English for us!! it was so funny and super cute, but then a man in an apartment came out of the window and said oh look its the mormons!! Ha and all of the little kids started to call him Santa Claus..... It was so funny and super strange too. but in portugues it is funnier because Santa is Papai Noel! He looked nothing like santa claus but the little kids were just pestering him haha. But Other than that we are struggling a little bit here in Gutierrez because the work is really hard and super slow, everyone else is baptizing and so it makes it hard for us. Our ward is super weak and needs llots of help. So we are trying to help them and trying to teach at the same time. We are fasting and praying a lot for the ability to do both of those things. But other than that this week was super good. Elder graça likes to work hard and to joke around, but he said that he likes to be super obedient and so do I! I learned a great lesson too about our savior Jesus Christ, We were teaching with Afonso the other day and he was talking with Elder Graça, and afonso told me to pick some song to play for us. And I saw "You raise me up" By Josh Groban I love this song so much, and I started to cry when we listened to it beacuse he truly raises us up to do marvelous things in our lives. He will raise me up to move mountains to walk on stormy seas and to love the people of Brazil. Sei que meu salvador Jesus Cristo vive e que ele nos ama. EU AMO VOCÊS!! Tenha uma boa semana!! 

The package arrived on monday and I basically ate everything in the package already because I miss american candy hahaha. But thank you so much, it helped me a lot!!! And I am trying to find batteries in brazil but I havent found good ones yet ha, but the fans are great, I just need to find batteries for them. Love you! Thank you for everything you do for me and all the prayers!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I probably wont send pictures this week.. sorry ha. 

Elder Bestenlehner