January 29, 2018

 I love it here in Brasil!! I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything!! But I always love to hear from you all and it helps me every week!!  I prayed about the sandals and I felt that I shouldn't buy them. So i didn't, I had to use some money to buy some food for us because our money from the mission hasn't arrived yet. But I won't need more money this week. We are a little bit without food until wednesday haha but we will survive! Other than that I am doing great. It is hot and it feels like i am losing hair haha. But it is normal! Thank you for everything you shared. I loved it so much! Especially that we need to remember who we are! I have found it easier to face trials on the mission because I tried to prepare. Sometimes it helps and sometimes the trials are still super hard. I have met many missionaries who did not prepare and still haven't recognized the difference. But I hope they do eventually! 

This week was absolutely tiring and super hard. But it payed off in the end! Dalva was baptized and confirmed!! It was so amazing. We passed by her house on wednesday and we asked her to be baptized this Saturday, and we told her that she is ready. She accepted and was definitely nervous about it the whole week but it was so cool. Especially because her experience is one of the coolest i have seen. Dalva met the missionaries 20 years ago and she was living with her boyfriend unmarried. She wanted to be baptized, but she never got married so she couldnt be baptized in that time. She even has a Book of mormon that is super old. One of the first ones that were made in Portugues. It was so cool to see it! And then 20 years later she met two missionaries in the street. And they began to teach her again everything that was taught. And elder Figueiredo and I were able to teach her a lot and step in place of the other missionaries. And she found the truth again, and was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was super cool to because I was able to perfom the ordinance! I got to help her be baptized and it was just so amazing to see the happiness that it brought her, even if she is a little bit older. She said that she felt more light afterwards ha!! That is the beauty of no more sins! But we are going to help her to stay firm in the church and to be a faithful member! It was a cool experience.

Our other Investigators are doing good. Emerson and Betania are still working on marriage but we are visiting with them and we have lunch with them on Saturday! But we are praying for them so they can get this process of marriage going, it is really hard here for them because Pirapora is in the middle of nowhere. But we are also trying to find new people to teach and to help know the truth! Other than that this week was awesome. Hahaha we had to fill the baptismal pool with only buckets of water. It was so crazy! But everything was worth it, because this gospel is whats worth it. The book of mormon is amazing and through our savior Jesus Christ, we can all return to live with them again!! How wonderful!! 

January 22, 2018

Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I love you so much and dont worry I didnt forget your Birthday!!! But I am glad that you got to receive snow for your birthday haha. It will never snow here in Brasil. Never. But I love it so much here. I know it is hard but the lord will provide! Neither of us were transfered so we are going to be staying here in Pirapora for this transfer. It will be good because we have Emerson, Betania, Dalva, Marcos, and a lot of others that we can visit teach and love. I am also going to start an English class for the people here. They have been asking for a long time now haha so i will try and help. I loved the transmission they had, we got to watch it and i loved that they were funny and just loving! I know that President Nelson is a prophet of god and that his apostles are prophets seers and revelators too! I love this gospel!! And yes Elder Graça was from Cape verde! And that dang Red car haha I love Elmo and i will never forget that car. I had so many memories!! 

This week was super super hot like always haha but filled with sweet and simple experiences. I love the fact that I have the opportunity to share my testimony every day and to show my faith in the lord that I will do his will. I love that so much and everything that I learn, I want to exercise in my life. I really want to be the person he wants me to be. Its funny, on the mission you think about a lot of things, because here in brasil you walk everywhere and so you have time to think haha but you think about why you are there, who you are there for, and what you can do to change the lives of others. Because our Heavenly Father provided a plan for all of his children, and the have the right to know about this wonderful plan of Happiness. The other day we were visiting Emerson and Betania and it was amazing because his sister and brother in law were there. We were able to talk with them and they are wanting to move to Pirapora. It was late at night and we needed to get going and in my heart I knew that we had to give them each a Book of Mormon. Everything was wild and everyone was talking. I grabbed the book of mormons that I had and I said, "Can we give both of you a present?" and then I began to explain about the Book of Mormon, and everything got quiet. I felt the spirit so strong, especially when I began to testify that the book of mormon is true. It was a sweet experience. I received another testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that I can not deny it. We were also able to teach a lot of people this week about the Book of Mormon, it was cool to testify about the power that comes from him. President Nelson said that we should use the Book of Mormon in everything that we do, especially with conversion. I love the Book of Mormon and I can testify to all of you that he is true, and that we can use the book of mormon to change our lives and the lives of others.

Funny story this week too, was that a drunk man started to scream at us and asking us what is the first and second commandment. I answered his questions and then he asked what is the third. I assumed he was talking about the ten commandments ha. And so I answered and he yelled. "Wrong! False Prophet!!" It was a little bit scary actually but then he went away haha. I showed love to him even if he was angry with me. I love this gospel and I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I know he lives, and I know that he loves us and is always ready to hold us in his arms. Love you all!!!

Funny hat I found

I won this acai bowl

Christmas day!

January 15, 2018

I am so sorry to hear about Bella.... wow, it is sad how things like this happen but we know that death isnt the end of life and that we will all get to see her again. I dont have very many emails, so i will try to email the nerdins and they can share it with everyone. But I hope they are all doing so well. It is super hard when something like this happens. But I know that she is resting in heaven and ready to progress. The weather here is basically just the sun set on oven mode haha. But it is awesome too. It really tests our faith and tests if we will work hard or not. It helps us to find more people and to keep moving forward! My feet are about the same, I am trying to do everything possible for my one toe that is super bad but that toe hasnt progressed much, but i know that eventually it will be healed! I loved what you shared about Joseph Smith and about when he was in Jail. It truly showed and strengthened his faith in Christ and it helped him a lot. And it helps the members of the church every day. 

This week was pretty good! It was super hot during the whole week so we had to use a lot of sunscreen and drink lots of water! We had a division in Montes Claros with Elder Dedeco and Elder H Pereira! It was super cool because I split with Elder H Pereira and he is from Cape Africa! Cabo Verde! It was awesome to talk with him and to teach their investigators. Other than that this week was full of cool things that were just small and simple, but made all the difference. We were able to teach Dalva a lot about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she is learning more about it every day. It was cool to read with her about Ammon and when he was able to teach King Lamoni. She really liked that chapter and she read more about Aaron the other day! She will probably be baptized after the next transfer since we have transfers next week. Almost all of our investigators have baptismal dates for after the transfer. Later in the week we taught Emerson and Betania about the law of tithing! I was able to bare testimony about how much tithing blesses our lives and also how much fasting blesses our lives. The spirit was super strong there and they both accepted our invite to live the law of tithing. Saturday we were able to talk with a man for about 2 hours about the Plan of Salvation. He shared with us that his son commited suicide a couple of years ago and he was asking why he did that, and what he was lacking. We were able to bare testimony that if he had felt the love that our savior has for us, he would have realized that life is so much more. The gospel really does bless the lives of others. It is so amazing when you feel the love that the savior has for us. He sacrificed himself for you and me, so that we could have everything in our lives. He is reaching out to you and he is really knocking on our doors, but we need to respond to him. And he will truly show his love. He loved that we gave him a Book of Mormon and we set a baptismal date as a goal for him and he accepted. I hope he reads the book of mormon, because it truly is a book that brings miracles in our lives, if we let it. 

Pirapora is a great area and I am really liking it here, even if it is hard and small, I believe that God loves these people so much that he sent me and my companion here to talk with them, and show his love! We are trying our hardest to work hard and we know that our efforts eventually will pay off! These past two days I got sick and so it was hard yesterday to work some part of the day. I couldnt get up and the only reason i did was to use the bathroom. But I will get better! Oh and what happened to my ring? haha I thought you were going to send it. Love you so much ! I will send pictures here in a second.

January 8,2018

Hey family! My week was super good and also super hard haha. But I loved every second of it. I learned a lot of things and yes I have been in contact with Elder Whiting and he talked to Sister Fernandes about some things that I need to do to help my toe. I might have to use my card this week to buy a couple of things. So I just wanted to let you know right now. I am sorry that you have been sick this whole week. I hate being sick, but i hope you are doing better. That is so cool that Chris is killing it in wrestling, I knew that he would do so great! And i hope his appointment goes well too. I was sad to hear about President Monson too, he truly was a prophet of God and I know that he is happy right now with his wife. But I love everything he taught us and its so important that we follow the last thing he taught us. To study and ponder about the Book of mormon and Gain a testimony of the book of mormon. Afonsos real name is super cool haha Natanael is a cool name and I liked it when he shared it with us. 

This week was super busy and also hard for us... We have been working with our investigators a lot and they just arent improving. We have been praying and fasting for them to progress and we know that the lord will bless them. The marriage did not happen yet, Emerson is still working on getting all of the papers and getting everything ready. Its really complicated here in Brasil haha. But They are awesome and I know that Emerson and Betania will be so strong in the church. They really want to do what is right and I have faith that they will strive to keep the commandments! But this week we were able to teach a lot of our investigators and the lessons went super well. We taught Dalva about the Plan of Salvation and she loved that we told her that she can see her mom again in the future. She is a about 60 years old or older and she wants to do what is right. She has a bit of fear about Baptism but we are helping her and i believe that our Heavenly Father will help her too. One day we were with our investigators Jennifer and Alice, daughter and mom, and we werent getting any teaching done because she wanted to play games with us. We played games with them for a while and I was trying really hard to think of what we could teach. We decided to teach about keeping the sabath day holy and i shared Mosiah 18:23,25. It was super cool to bare testimony about the sabath day and how i was blessed with soccer because i decided to keep the sabath day holy. The spirit was strong and I know they can follow our counsels.

We also just had a week serving and finding people to talk too. Yesterday we talked with a woman waiting for the bus and we shared with her a message about the book of mormon, and we gave her the book of mormon and she just started to smile a lot and said "Wow i am truly happy that you gave me this book, and I am going to read it." She was so happy and it was cool to see how people really need the Book of Mormon! We marked an appointment with her for Thursday. We didnt have anyone show up in sacrament meeting yesterday, but I was still grateful for everything I learned in Church and for the ability I had to share my testimony. I know that we will have more people in sacrament next week. I know that this work is absolutely amazing and that the lord really has people for us to teach, love, and serve. Have a great week!!

Mom, I would wait a little bit to send the shoes because I am going to try and buy some here... Sister Fernandes said that it will take a long time and so i need to seach for some here and I will let you know if I find some by next week. She said it would be a lot faster and that I can use the money I have on the mission to buy these shoes, but just this one time, it is under special conditions! Oh and I need more colored lead things for my pen marker ha. And I discovered that my photos werent deleted. They were put into another file that I couldnt see and I cant take out haha, I was able to put my card into our dvd player and see all my photos. I think it created a new folder. Love you!! 

Elder Bestenlehner

January 2, 2018

Hey family!!! Sorry  I didnt email yesterday haha mainly because our pday is today! But I am doing super great! My toes are still the same and the doctor told me that they wont heal until I can walk without shoes and socks haha so basically when i finish the mission. We have water and my companion is doing great. Sometimes it is hard with him because he has the same time as me but he doesnt know what to do exactly and i am still learning too ha. But It is good and our investigators are super good too, we are working with them super hard and we are working to strengthen the members, the number of people who attend church here is about 20, so it is difficult, but i have faith that we can help!! I love pirapora already even if it is a million degrees here!! But I am glad all is well at home, I loved to skype you all and talk to you all about what is going on here and there. It is just the two of us living here and all of the other elders in our district live two or three hours away haha. But thats ok! He loved everything that you sent and he said thank you! He didnt understand the jokes inside the crackers ha, mainly because it is in english. I loved all of the cards and everything, it was way cool! A lot of the other elders were super surprised about all the cards I got. But I didnt find the Epsom salt ha, mainly because it doesnt exist in Pirapora. 

This week was super good and super busy for us. We had to travel to Montes Claros and we also had to do a lot of things here in Pirapora. We worked with some of the members on a Service Project for almost four hours hahaha it was super tiring and was hard on my toes but it was super cool. I am used to missionary work so when we had this giant service project it was weird. But I know it helped strengthen our members and others. The other day we were able to teach Emerson and Betania, the couple who are going to marry then get baptized, about the word of wisdom. Because they were still drinking beer and coffee. It was so amazing when we taught that lesson. The spirit was so strong and i bore testimony of how keeping the word of wisdom gives us strength and blessings. I was able to play soccer so well because I lived the word of wisdom! It was so amazing and they accepted our invite. They are super awesome and a family that will help our church a lot. Even though this week was a little bit hard for us because two of our baptisms fell through, it was cool to see the lords hand in another aspect of missionary work. I was also able to give a talk sunday, my first talk in portugues, about sacrifice. And how it is necessary for each of us to make sacrifices in this church, and for this church. Jesus Christ made the biggest sacrifice of all time for all of us and he sacrificed himself for us. It was super cool to bare testimony of how sacrifice is so important. Joseph Smith taught us that a religion without sacrifice doesnt have what it takes to gain eternal life. We literally need to be willing to sacrifice it all for this church and for our savior Jesus Christ. I love the sacrifice of missionary work and the blessings of missionary work. I know that even when times are tough that the lord will be with us, ready to help us no matter what.

 I hope all of you have a great week!! It is crazy how it is already 2018. I cant believe how fast time passes, But I love this work and I am ready for whatever challenge heavenly father gives me! I am going to eat lunch soon and then I can email some more after but I love you so much!!! Thank you for all that you do for me and for your example. I cant ever thank you and dad enough, and the family, for all that you guys do for me. And for all of my friends and family who always support me. Love you all. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

December 25, 2017 Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Hey mom! So since it is five hours difference I will probably be calling home around 12 between 12:30. Or around 1 if my companion goes first!! I didnt get any epson salt but sister fernandes gave me some things in the zone conference that will help me but it will take three months. I have been using it everyday and yet I have not seen any improvement ha but i have faith! I got both packages and I loved everything!! My companion was super excited too that he had stuff in there hahaha. It was super awesome to see elder Dedeco! I will see him every week until he leaves the mission because we are in the same district and he is my zone and district leader ha. Yah Afonso is super awesome. He is a super good singer. I miss him and i bet he is doing great back in Gutierrez. Elder Graça will take good care of him. 

This week was full of new things and fun experiences. Our new investigators are doing great but they have a hard time fulfilling commitments. Its sad because this gospel can change their lives! But we have two investigators that are a couple but they arent married yet. Emerson and Betania, they are planning on getting married and getting baptized in January. Their nine year old daughter was baptized a couple of weeks ago and so they want to get baptized too. We had lunch with them the other day and it was awesome because he made fish! It made me think of dad! Our other investigators that are ready for baptism are Jennifer Gabriela and her mom Alice. Alice we think has a fear of baptism but Jennifer wants to get baptized this Saturday, even if it were without her mom. We are working super hard to help them have a better relationship but they are super awesome and I know they can both be baptized if they show their faith! We are working hard to find other people to teach too. It is hard to find really good people in this area because our area is huge and is basically a desert. There is just dirt roads and jungles that are like the jungles in africa. The trees mainly. Every morning we wake up to find 6 or 7 dead cockroaches haha. so thats always fun. But other news is that it has been one week now and we still dont have water in our house. We have been one week without water and we are still going ha! But everything will be ok. I love the opportunity I have to serve here and I know I can make a difference even with the terribly hot weather and the painful toes. Its amazing to just talk to people each day, even if they make fun of you because you are american! But this work is absolutely amazing, and we will be able to teach others if we put our trust in god and he will do the rest! FELIZ NATAL!

December 18,2017

December 18,2017

 Sorry i didnt email earlier we are in montes claros right now on a division because we have our zone conference tomorrow. But everything is good. My new area definitely needs work but thats why i am here. It is a good area filled with good people so i am super excited to work hard. My new companion is awesome too. He doesn't know much about missionary work because he just has one more transfer than i do. But we are excited to work hard! and this week I get to see Elder Dedeco! My toes are basically the same and i have two new ingrown toenails so things didnt get better yet but i know they will. I am praying a lot and i know that i will see miracles. Thank you so much for the family fast. Yah i had to spend some money for transfers and to buy a backpack because we have to have lots of divisions and pirapora is three hours from montes claros. I have no idea about christmas yet and when the skype will be. We actually don't have a ward in this area. Its a branch of about twenty or thirty people and Pirapora is super poor. So we are trying to figure something out. I will be able to skype for sure i just need to find out this week.

This week was super good and super tiring. It was just me trying to get used to the weather and the new area. I love it here in Pirapora even though it is blazing hot. And we have lots of bugs, and cockroaches. But it is cool to live in a place like this. I heard that there are lots of monkeys and huge spiders here too, so that should be fun! But day of transfers i missed the first bus to pirapora and so i had to wait until 3:30 and i arrived in pirapora 9:30 so it was very tiring ha. But we are working hard. The area is pretty big but it is also really poor and so lots of people accept our messages but they dont fulfill commitments. We have lots of faith though. It is super cool to teach about the restoration and invite people to be baptized through that message. You can just feel the power in the message and the spirit is always so strong. We have lots of people with potential and we are hoping to have a baptism this week! I hope everything goes well. This week i had lots of problems with my toes and it was really hard to work and to walk all day with hot shoes and just everything going against them, but I continued on and I told my companion that I would lose my toes for the mission. And I really would, i know that means no more soccer but if it was the will of Heavenly Father, I would. We all have to learn to make sacrifices for this gospel and so that others can recieve this gospel too. That is what I love about missionary work, you are willing to risk it all. Love you all so much! Sorry I couldnt write more this week!

Everything is good here my faith strengthens every day. I wont use my card more because I dont want to hahah i just had to use it the other day for those things. But I know that everything will turn out fine next week and in this new area. I will probably stay here for a long time. That is so awesome about the temple and i am glad you got my package!!! Miracle!  I will send pictures next week or later. Dont worry about my toes, they hurt a lot but i will continue to work. I am going to write Afonso soon, he is so awesome. Love you