Feb 26, 2018 God truly is a God of miracles!

 I loved opening the email you sent me. That song makes me want to cry every time I hear it. And the words are even more amazing. I know that I can always find peace in Christ and this week it was so amazing.

 i was trying to find sunglasses and some lady started talking to me a lot about these sunglasses that would be perfect for Pirapora and the sun here, I tried to deny her three times but she was a good salesman haha so I apologize for that. But they really are high top sunglasses. I am glad that everyone is doing well. I hope Brae gets better and she is always in my prayers. That is so awesome that Breanna will be speaking spanish! She will love that especially because Caden speaks spanish. Wow literally everyone except me, Camron and carter got spanish speaking hahaha. That is funny about the snow, tell chris i had to do that too ha, but not anymore!!

This week was super slow for us and it was one of the hardest, but there are always good things that are small and simple in everything we do! Emerson and Betania are doing great. They didnt come to church, almost nobody did, but we are going to help them this week to get to church and we are going to work super hard to find new people. They also need help with marriage and so pray for them if you can!!

When I heard that you all fasted for me this week, I just wanted to cry and I felt the love that you all have for me. Wow and did the fast pay off. Wednesday was one of the days where I felt the most pain because of my toes. But it was the day when Gilmara was able to take out the nail stuck in my skin, in my toe. She finally was able to do it after so many weeks of hurting, burning, and putting on medicine. But we still need to do some things about my toe and we dont know if it will need surgery or not, we will find out today! But I felt the power of the fast that you all did and I cant begin to express my love for you all. You are all a lot stronger than i could ever be. But one thing that helped strengthen me was the testimony of Gilmara yesterday. Because ever since this thing with my toes began, I have been trying not to complain and to always be positive and it has helped me a lot. Gilmara started to bare testimony about sacrifices, and suddenly she started talking about me. She told everyone that she sees me every day walking on these horrible toes, without complaint, and always working harder than the other day. And that i was really an example of someone who sacrifices everything for the gospel. I am not trying to brag about myself or anything like that. I just wanted you all to know that because of her testimony that day, my testimony was strengthened and my will to go on increased so much. This love that I have for the gospel is so amazing, is indescribable. I love the song that is in the youth section that is called One by One. There are 7 billion people in this world, and they all need to feel the love of christ. Like I feel every day!! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he felt my pain, he felt the pain of my toes and it was even more worse for him. He did that for me because he loves me. And he did everything for all of you because he loves EACH and EVERY one of you. We can all be forgiven and we can all be saved through him and by him. When we are obedient and when we learn to love, and to love to obey, we can all be prepared for his coming and we can all have a life that is filled with joy and we can all find PEACE IN CHRIST. 

The last photo is us at a birthday party of one of the less actives in our branch. We are trying a lot to help her come back to church! and the others is a service project we had, I was able to hunt some Zombies and cut some weeds haha.

February 19, 2018

Hey, how are you? I love each and every one of you and I am so glad that you are all doing well!  That is so cool about Mike Jones, He is awesome. Now it is just a couple of more people that I hope decide to serve a mission. My toes are a little bit worse but thats ok haha, they are just dying because i walk so much every day. I will send a picture. I am glad that Spencer is getting back out in the field, it helps a lot. I love the mission, even if I have lots of trials and pains haha. But it is crazy to think that Jessa will have another baby so soon, That is an awesome name, I love Braelyn so much and I am glad she still remembers me haha. 

This week was a good week but was super hard too! A lot of our investigators said they would come to church but they didnt. Our Branch President, is really good and wants to do whats right but he doesnt know how the system works. There are also only 4 Melchizedek priesthood holders. But I know that everything will turn out fine.  Nilsa basically wont respond to us and so we arent visiting her. Emerson and Betania are still working on marriage and getting their papers in.  Jessica also doesnt want to see us anymore ha. But thats ok! we found some people to teach this week and so we are hoping to have a better week here in Pirapora. I learned a lot about the trials we have on the mission and how sometimes we aren't cured physically but we can be cured eternally. It was awesome to read about that in Elder Hallstroms talk. But this week was just a good week to testify about the book of mormon and help others to see the love that our heavenly father has for us. A lot of people here don't want to accept us because they think our church is a sect, it is really annoying because they think they know everything about our church, but its all wrong! haha we always want to talk with them more and more and they still deny us. This week I gave a talk on sunday about Agency and how we can choose to follow Jesus Christ and how the Plan of Salvation really is a plan of happiness. It was cool to testify how I am staying on the mission because of my love for the Savior and everything he has done for me! But other than that, we need to find more people to teach and more people who can progress. But I know that the Lord will help us! It is hard too when you have toes that are basically just the worst, but i am trying to fix them with Gilmara! But I know that this church is true! The prophet Isaiah taught us that there would be so many signs that the gospel would be restored and it has been! I know Joseph Smith was a prophet! Read the Book of Mormon every day! It will change your life!!! 

I will probably have to use some money this week to buy sunglasses.... My eyes are burning so much here in the hot sun. I love you so much! I love to hear from you and i Love all of your prayers... I know that my toes will get better, I have faith. And if I have to lose some of them, that will be ok because i will be losing them for a good cause!  I am willing to do anything for the lord!! Love, Elder Bestenlehner

Feb. 12, 2018 - CARNIVAL

Happy Valentines day!! And Happy Carnival! Hahahaha even though its not very happy at all. I do not like carnival one bit. It takes everyone away from their homes and it brings them into more of the world. Its terrible. It hasnt been too huge here in Pirapora. They only have huge parties in the center of Pirapora near the river. It is wild down there haha. We still work though! Thats crazy about the weather and I miss snow haha its so hot here, but i actually love the heat more than the cold. But this week was super good!! Until Carnival started hahaha. But i am glad that that the family is good too! Miss you all but I love it here!! 

This week was super good! Everything went so well and we worked super hard until Friday when Carnival started... It was terrible because it started on friday and so friday, saturday and sunday all of our appointments fell through, and we had nothing to do. We tried to knock on houses, visit our investigators but nothing worked. It was so hard! And to make it even more difficult, none of our investigators came to church, and Dalva didnt come either. We had only 20 people in church yesterday and it was so hard for us because we worked so hard this week. But we know that eventually the Lord will bless our efforts. We found some people this week to teach and they are super open to learn. We are hoping that they can accept the gospel and read the book of mormon. Pirapora is such a great area and it has a lot of potential, but it isnt progressing and it makes it hard because all of the other branches in the district and our zone are progressing. But i am not complaining because this area is so great and we have lots of potential. I just want to help so much!! We have lots of investigators to teach. We have Emerson and Betania who are always doing great, so marriage ha. But they didnt make it to church too. Our appointment fell through with Milena and so it was hard to teach her. We have to wait until this week because she didnt come to church either. But she is doing good too! We found two women that are super awesome! One is named Jessica and the other is named Regina. We were able to place a date of baptism with Regina and we want to teach her again this week and folllow up about the book of mormon. The book of mormon is so important and we need to read it every day! WHY?!  Because it is how we gain a testimony of the restored gospel. We also were able to teach Sidney and Maria Aparecida, they also need to get married... But we are praying for them so much!

I love this gospel so much and it makes me want to share it with the whole world. Because everyone can be saved. Everyone! The plan of salvation is so amazing. If you havent studied 2 nephi 9 with real intent yet I recommend that you do! It is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon and it is amazing that we can all be saved through our savior Jesus Christ. 

Something funny that happened this week: We went to visit one of our investigators and she had an Intercom and so we rang on the intercom to talk to her. And She answered and asked who was at the door. I said, "Its the missionaries, How are you Sister Nilsa?" And she responded, "No No, Nilsa isnt here she is traveling." But it was her talking because we recognized her voice hahaha she just didnt want anything to do with us apparently, and so i asked her what her name was then if she wasnt Nilsa and she paused for a second and said her name was Camissa, which is basically a fake name. But I spoke with "Camissa" who was Nilsa and marked an appointment for Tuesday. Haha how funny is it that people are afraid of us sometimes. I wish they could see the importance of our message!!

But other than that this week was good, hard, and definitely hot ha. But I loved it! Pray for our investigators because they definitely need all the prayers they can get! I love them all so much and hope they can accept our message and accept the gospel. Even though the mission is hard, it is so worth it and i love how i can grow stronger every day. Oh and my toes are still the same sadly ha, But I have faith they will get better! They get a little worse once in a while but i know that the lord will give me strength!

Love, Elder Bestenlehner

February 6, 2018

 I am so happy for all of my friends and family. Wow it is so amazing to see the work around the world and how amazing it is. This gospel is so amazing!!! Caden is awesome, he is so happy in that photo and he is smiling haha!! I love you all!  I wasn't using flipflops because of the baptismal pool haha and i forgot them. And all of my shirts are stained yellow because of the heat and the weather. I dont know how to fix that. But I am loving everything about the mission. This week was super hard but i can always see the small miracles and the things that make me stronger! I am glad you had a great week too! That's so cool that Brandon is preparing and so is Garrett!! The work is so amazing!! 

This week was super hard because we didnt have time to find new people to teach, and it was hard to get things done. We werent having much success but we definitely were able to see the small and simple things. One day we taught this man who had read the book of mormon and began to tell us how the book of mormon is not necessary and shouldnt exist... How sad! He began to use different scriptures and other things to prove us that it never really happened.... But it only strengthened my testimony of the book of mormon. The book of mormon is a book that is necessary!! I love the book of mormon so much and i am so grateful that we have the book of mormon today!! I wish that people would see the love and joy that comes from that book, and that they can really know that Jesus Christ lives and is the Saviour of the world!! 

Then on friday and saturday it began to rain a lot here in Pirapora and both days I forgot my umbrella haha. But it was awesome to accept the rain and take a shower in it. We were able to teach on of our investigators about the importance of baptism, and she accepted a date to prepare. Her name is Milena and we know that she can be baptized, she really wants to know about the truth and feel the spirit. Emerson and Betania are doing great, emerson still needs to start the paperwork for marriage but we are always praying for him. I love to bare my testimony about the book of mormon because a lot of our members have a hard time with the book of mormon. It is so amazing and i wish that people would just read it, because if they do it will change their lives. It makes us a lot more happier and ready to withstand the temptations placed before us.

Yesterday we had our Zone conference and President Fernandes spoke about planning and how every area is an area that can baptize. The spirit really touched my heart that the lord helps in every area because I only heard bad things about Pirapora before arriving here, but i fully believe that I have a purpose here and i am excited to fulfill that purpose!! I know that this gospel is true and that god loves each and every one of us. The plan of salvation is so amazing and we can all return to his presence again. Please endure to the end, for those who endure to the end will have eternal life!! Love you all!

Hey mom! can you say thanks to the Brinkerhoffs, casey and jamie walk, and our family for their letters. Say sorry to some of them if i didnt respond, I received a lot of them yesterday haha because I am in a zone that is 7 hours from Belo Horizonte! But other than that I am doing great and always praying for you!! I hope you have a great week! Love you so much!!!