May 20, 2019

Things are going good here in Jardim Canadá!!! This week was a little rough for us but we also had some good experiences through out the week!! That is super cool that Chris won the Daniel Gurr scholarship!! I remembered how I wanted to get that scholarship too! And I am sure that things are crazy back home. I cant believe that Chris graduates this week haha I am just shocked. I feel like I have been here in Brasil for a long time because of that but I love this place and I love the people here as well.

This week we were not able to follow up on with a lot of the people that we found last week. Maria José we were able to teach her on thursday and we challenged her to pray about if she should be baptized. Its hard for here to understand the things we teach and so I hope that the Lord will open her heart and her understanding. But she hasnt come to church yet so we might have to stop going there if she never comes to church. Laís was super busy this week and so she didnt have time to see us and the other people as well were never home. It was kind of frustrating for Elder Gardner and I and so we spent the whole week finding new people to teach and hopefully this week we will be able to follow up with the rest. We taught a family on wednesday and it was a mom and her two sons. Sadly the mom is one of those people that believes that she is a prophet ha but the two sons were very interested in our message. Only one of the sons lives with the mom and his name is Weberson. We will see on tuesday if he read a part of the Book of Mormon!! We were also able to visit a couple of less actives and we are planning on working with some of them!! So there is a lot of work to do here we just need to find the right time that all of them are at home!! Elder Barcelar and Elder J. Perez are having a lot of success with this one lady named Cida! She is going to be baptized next saturday, not this one but the next! So that is super cool!! I know that the lord will bless this area and bless us as well! He helped me see and recognize the importance of Humility and how we need to take our pride away. Those who are righteous will have true happiness. The zone conference this week was super good as well!! We learned a lot about 1 Nephi 17 and how the Lord wants us to build ships just like Nephi but in a different type of way. We can do hard things with the Lord on our side!

Thank you so much for putting our names in the temple and I know that the prayers of so many are having their effects. We are trying to seek the Lords will in everything we do.  I love the Lord and I know that through him we can be cleansed of our sins and we can strengthen our weaknesses. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that God and his son Jesus Christ appeared to him and restored the true gospel through him. I can feel it burn in my bones and my testimony grows every day. I love you!! Have a great week!!

May 13, 2019

The cinnamon rolls were his first attempt. He didn't have all the ingredients so he improvised, they look pretty good to me :)

This week we were able to teach the first lesson to a lot of people and we had the opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. My companion is awesome and he is doing great!! He will be such a great missionary here in the future and he already speaks really well portuguese. The people that we are teaching are doing great but one of the families did not read the Book of Mormon sadly.. But we are going to follow up on them and follow up on the people that we found this week too!!

 We are excited to teach two girls that we found! One is named Laís and the other is named Clesia!! Hopefully they were able to read the Book of Mormon. I was able to give a blessing this week to a member that was really needing it and her husband is coming back to church recently so he couldnt help us. But it was amazing to be able to help her and see how much she needed a blessing. We are working very hard and we are searching for opportunities to teach more people and involve the members in everything we do!! 

 I know that Christ lives and that he directs his church here upon the earth!! I know that through Christ we can be forgiven of our sins and that if we read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it is true, God will respond!! It was such an amazing week and every time that we teach about these principles, I can feel the Holy Ghost testifying through me and I know it to be true! Those who do not know or even do not believe, I invite you all to ask of God once again. The Lord wants us to be happy and his blessings, the fulness of his blessings, come from following the Holy Ghost and obeying his true commandments. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to repent of our sins and become better than who we are right now. I love the knowledge that I have that we have a living prophet today here upon the earth and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can all be purified and cleaned of our sins. We can become the people that God wants us to become. Now is the time to leave all of the things that dont matter behind and Follow the Savior Jesus Christ. We were able to teach these wonderful principles to Maria José, Laís, Clesia, Fabiana, Kelly and Lucas, Nadila, and a couple of other wonderful people. Pray for them so that they might come to know for themselves if all is true and if they should follow the example of Jesus Christ as we all should do!

A member sent this to me yesterday - totally made my day!

May 6, 2019

I am so grateful that I can work here and that I can help the members and the Branch President in everything they do here. This branch has so much potential to become a ward and I know that the Lord sent me here for a reason.  

This week I had an interview with President Castellano! It was such a spiritual experience and by the end of the week I could see the importance of what the Lord needs of all of us and how we need to be more open to his point of view. Which is the best point of view. President told me in the beginning that he knows that I may have been confused, mad, or upset about what happened with the first week of the transfer but he said that he trusts in me and knows that the Lord has a work for me to do. He said that he wanted so many times to send another missionary to come and work with me but the Lord wont let him. It was a conforting conversation and as he spoke to me about the trust and the work I need to do here in Jardim Canadá with Elder Barclear and Elder J. Perez I could only feel the power of the Holy Ghost testifying to me the truth of his words. It excited my heart and I knew for many reasons that I need to be here. And yesterday talking with the Branch President, because we work with him like the whole week, I was able to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for his family and for the sacrifices of this small Branch. We had a frequency of 56 this sunday and that was a great blessing. I know that the lord calles us all for specific things and that he has a purpose for me in this area and in this very moment. I love the Lord and I know he lives. I had problems with my toes again through out the whole week, it was the smaller ones. And every time i went to the center of BH to cut them I could feel the Saviors love for me and that helped me to endure the pain. My toes were not getting better and so finally I asked my companions for a blessing. Elder Barcelar blessed me with the ability to get better quickly and that I would be able to be a testimony of Gods power and waking up on sunday and today my toe has gotten a lot better. I know that through the savior our weaknesses and pains can be healed if we only have Faith and do our part. 

  There is a family that lives in another city that is close but far away for us that we are planning on helping out. The dad and the mom are members that are mostly active but inactive sometimes and they have two sons that are ten years old that arent baptized. And we are teaching another small family that has potential to come to church and join the church as well. I hope that they read the book of mormon and do everything they can to know if it is true

 I love the Lord and I love his gospel. I love this area that I am in too along with the members. Everything makes me feel joy here and it makes me appreciate the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. I know that the Lord will reveal to me even more why I am here and what I need to do for him. I really do love my mission even if it is super hard. But I know that if it wasnt hard than it wouldnt be able to teach me who I really need to be!  It is another testimony to me that God lives and loves us all! I love you so much!! And this lady in these pictures is 94 years old and originally from Portugal, her name is Mary and she is super funny and has a great accent ha and she goes to church every week!! She was baptized about twenty years ago!  

Love,

Elder Bestenlehner

PS (this email came two hours after the first one)  So good news but sad news as well haha, I will have a companion tomorrow! His name is Elder Gardner and President felt like it was necessary. So lets do this haha