August 27, 2018

Hey everyone, how are you?

Our investigators are doing ok, actually this week we didnt have the chance to see any of them! They canceled appointments and it was very hard for us ha. Françis Lanie and Juscelene want to mark with us this week because they were busy through out the whole week last week. But this week we found two new people who are pretty good! Jessica and Braian!! They are awesome and they want to read the book of mormon and know more about the church. We are excited to teach them and we have an appointment with Jessica on saturday. But this week my testimony was strengthened about Family History work. Why you may ask? Becuase this week Elder Jones and I got to help out at a college fair this week and talk about Family History work for all of the college students that passed by. We bore our testimonies about families and how we love our families so much. There were a lot of people interested in learning more and we gave them pamphlets and it was such a cool experience. I thought a lot about you guys and about my family and how blessed I am to know that we can all live together forever! What a blessing and I hope the people of Brazil will open their hearts to learn about this amazing truth! Today I studied more about the Brother of Jared and how his faith was incredible. He would pray to the lord when his brother would ask him and the lord would answer his prayers and eventually he saw our savior Jesus Christ because of his Faith. And so we all need to increase our faith so that we can be able to call upon the lord so that he can answer us! I love the Book of Mormon and I know that it is true! It helps me to know more about who I am and what I am doing here! I love this gospel and if you do not know that it is true then seek and pray about it! 

I really loved what you said about Job, He is a great example of patience. His life was a very hard life and because he was faithful the lord blessed him in the end. I love that example and I try to think of examples like that with my ingrown toenails. I think a lot about Dad and how he is always strong with his sickness and I think about grandpa, and the father of King Lamoni. How he was ready to give everything he had to have eternal life. I love the examples I have in my life! 

I bought some shoes that are pretty good to use for sunday. Because my other shoes are worn out and it doesnt show that much respect to the lord so i only use them during the week. And i had to go to the foot doctor this week and maybe that was the 20 dollars because it was like 80 reais... My toes have braces now hahahaha well just two of them, they are to help the toenails to stop growing on the outsides, lets see if that helps! And Real Salt Lake is the best!! ha i miss watching their games so much It is very hard to buy every day shoes here that are comfortable and cheap, I havent been able to find any so far. So i dont know what to do. But I have faith ha! The ward here is actually pretty small and we dont have a chapel yet. There are a lot of less actives in this ward so we are working on that right now. There is about 70 active members I think. But i have gotten to know lots of members and i am sure it will be easier from here on. And i am planning on Rooming with Carter and Manny I think as of right now. But i will let you know for sure. Manny and I want to for sure!! And it would be cool to live close to mitch, i dont know if he would like that ha! Thanks for everything you do for me. What do you do to help with your headaches? I have had a giant one this week. LOVE YOU!! 

Elder Bestenlehner

August 20, 2018 Welcome to Ipatinga :)

Opening a new area is super hard hahaha we have no idea where anything is and so it was a little rough this week. I am doing great! It has been hard in this new area because we are opening an area but it has been rewarding too!! It was cool to see how the Lord blessed us even though we were lost the entire time. Ipatinga is awesome and Bethania is a section of it! It is going to get hot now but this last week was a little cooler. 

We found some great people to teach who are willing to read the book of mormon. Their names are mathew, lucas, tiago, marlene, françis lanie, and juscelene! They all accepted our challenge to read the book of mormon and some accepted to be baptized when they get their answers. Sadly nobody came to church but we want to help them with that this week!!  It was cool to see how even though we dont know the area at all, the lord still blessed us with work to do! 

my companion is Elder Jones, his first name is Christian and he is from Farmington new mexico. He has 10 months on the mission,  he is awesome and it has been so fun with him. He is always happy and his portugues is getting better and better. I am helping him. He knows how to say everything he just needs help with pronunciation! But other than that he is doing good.We are living with two other elders in the same area and so it has been super fun. Elder Higginbotham, he is from Logan is training a new brazilian whose name is Elder Gomes. Elder Higginbothams first name is Jacob! It was awesome because we have only been talking in Portugues! But we are still getting used to the area and we are going to try and find lots of people. 

 I was very happy that Renan was baptized too and i am glad that he is in the church, and i know that in his own time Gian will be baptized in the true church of God!! I love the gospel so much. It was sad because we taught a lady and she told us that even if she knew that jesus christs church was here, she would not go because she likes her church... it was super sad but i know that people can decide for themselves. It is amazing to me how much people reject the truth, but do not know it... but i am happy that i have it in my life and i love the gospel!! My district is awesome and they are all super excited to work hard and bring others unto christ. The members are awesome and i was able to give a blessing to a mission ward leader on tuesday and it was such a cool experience. Oh and we taught a lesson in English this week to two guys who knew how to speak English! It was the craziest thing ever ha, Lucas and Mathew!!! Mathew is a brazilian who is trying to learn English and Lucas is a Brazilian who moved to the US when he was young and speaks fluently without an accent, and he is living here again in Brazil but wants to go back ha they both asked for book of mormons in english! It was super cool but i realized how bad we are at teaching in English hahahahaha. But it was cool to testify of my savior in two languages that are the best!! The spirit was able to help me on what i needed to say. I love the gospel and the priesthood and my companion and I always talk about the truth and this gospel Since we live with two other elders, we can really focus on being exactly obedient. It should be good and i am excited to do splits and help out my district. I know that this gospel is true and I love my savior Jesus Christ, he lives and this is his church. 

My shoes are getting really worn out and so i was thinking i should buy separate shoes for sunday, because i dont have any for sunday. I just have two pairs of shoes and they are the ones you sent me and the ones that have those openings in them and both are worn out! But it will be ok if i cant, just say the word! But I love you so much!! If i think of another thing to say i will send it but later i will send pictures! LOVE YOU!!!

August 13, 2018 Transfers and a baptism!

Hey everyone How are you doing?! I love you so much and this week was  awesome! But in the end it had its bitter sweet moments. I will be sure to email the coaches. It will be important and I know that the lord will bless me and the others for my decisions. I am excited to go to BYU and i dont know if I told you but Carter, manny, and I want to stay in the same apartment. And maybe Marcus too! But Marcus is still deciding. Carter is going to UVU but we still wanted to stay together. It would be super cool. I havent gotten my package yet but here in a couple of weeks maybe i will get it. I didnt eat many of those cakes and muffins you sent. I actually like the blueberry muffin or the muffin mixes but other than that my companions ate everything ha. But i am excited for this next transer because a lot of things have changed. 

I am being transferred!! I am sad but i am super happy because the Lord has a big challenge for me ha. I am being transferred for one of the other most hottest places in MG, in a town called Bethania, actually i will be opening an area and i will still be a district leader!! It should be great! My new companion will be Elder Jones, an american. I know him and he is awesome, but struggles with portugues and so i am excited to help him with that! It should be fun, the area is near a big town called Ipatinga! I am excited but sad to leave these wonderful people in Nacional and my recent converts, Simone and Renan. Because Renan was baptized, confirmed and ordained this week!! It was so amazing and the week was full of amazing experiences! I love the mission because of these experiences. Renan told Elder Lujan and Elder França while on splits that he can not deny the answers that he has gotten and he felt that this last saturday was the right day for him to be baptized. It was such an amazing experience and he felt so much Peace and joy in his heart!! It was amazing and I love the lord because he blessed us with this baptism and this wonderful child of his that was able to enter his kingdom and really become a child of God!! We focused so much this week on his baptism that it was hard to follow up on the others. But Elder França is going to do that with Elder Freitas. But I just love the mission because when you see one of his children enter the covenant and be baptized, it is one of the best feelings in the world!!! The sisters said that Denis and his family didnt really progress and so it was hard for them to teach them. But i dont know how it is going right now, where i am going i will be far away from everyone and i cant call many people. 

I am sad to leave Elder França, i love him so much. He is awesome and I will never forget everything that we passed through together. He has such a pure heart and such a strong testimony and i know that he will do great things. Pray for me so that i can help the people of Bethania and bless the life of my new companion! I am super excited. And I am worried about my nails ha I had to spend money this last week because i went to the doctor and they charged me, but now i will be so far away from BH like 7 hours hahaha. But I know that the lord will  bless me! LOVE YOU!

August 6, 2018

Hey everyone! How are you doing?! It sounds like you guys are doing great and I was sad to see that you guys went to a RSL Game without me.... I miss those games so much and i am definitely going to go to one when i get home ha. But I am doing good! The other side of my big toe became ingrown again and so both sides of my toe have ingrown toenails hahaha. But the pain isnt that big and its easy to bare!!! But this week was great! We didnt have much success with all of those people that you named, just Renan., Larissa, and a little bit with Gian. It was a good week though. My testimony was strengthened so much and I just love the mission. It helps me to realize what is important in life. But i am excited to see the pictures of Braelyns birhtday party. Miss her and the family! I am glad that Chris got into Mrs Moultons class, if he works hard and pays attention, he will learn so much from her! And sounds great that the family is visiting! This week is the last week of the transfer and the last week of Elder França´s training! ITs so crazy! And its going good so far with my callling, I have been a district leader for three transfers now which is a lot and it has been awesome! 

This week we had so many spiritual experiences with Renan and a couple of others too. It was amazing to see how much Renan has grown in the gospel. He told us that he knows that the church is true and that this is the gospel of Christ. He is just waiting to receive one more answer to a personal prayer and he said that if he receives it in time then he will be baptized this saturday. Please pray for him! He is so awesome and practically is already a member of the church. We had a lesson with him and with a member on saturday and the spirit was very strong. We testified about Alma 7 and how it talks about how we can be set free through Jesus Christ, if we do what is right. We have another lesson with him today and practically every other day too and we are excited to read more of the Book of Mormon with him. He is already in 2 Nephi! But he has received so many answers to his prayers that he can not deny that God lives and talks with us and that this is his church and his path! It was super cool. I was also able to help teach a lesson when i had divisions with Elder Rosdahl and we taught about the commandment to be a part of the church, the young man loved the lesson and talked about how he was having problems with not having a dad. And i told him that he does have a dad that loves and cares for him, and his name is Heavenly Father. It was super cool. I was also able to give Simone a blessing this week because she was having a problem with anxiety. I had no idea what i was going to say in the blessing and when i gave the blessing, the spirit took control and i could feel him talking to her through me. It was such a cool experience. I love the lord and i know that through his priesthood we can bless the lives of others. And I know for sure that i am a child of God and that he loves me and my purpose is to prepare to meet him again and to be happy here! I love the plan of salvation and i know that only this gospel will bring happiness to others!

But no we dont have anyone who drives on the mission, what i have heard of, I dont think anyone in Brasil drives on their missions hahaha they would be robbed. But other than that everything is going good. Our numbers werent the best this last week but we definitely worked hard and focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ and trying to bless the lives of others!!   LOVE YOU!