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

April 29, 2019 Kind of a rough week

So this week was full of challenges, questions, and just a lot of surprises hahaha. So first off, while waiting at the office and waiting for the new missionaries to come in, President told us that one missionary may not be coming because he decided to go home... It ends up that he didnt come and when President told us who would  be training who, he told me that I would have trained the missionary who didnt come... I was super sad but we have to move on. So right now I am again in a trio will Elder Barcelar hahahahaha. Elder Barcelar is finishing a training of one missionary called Elder J Perez who is american actually and I am with them in Jardim Canada. Ha it is funny how I am always with Elder Barclear in a trio. 

But challenges come and go and we all need to enfront them face to face!! Being in a trio is not something that is easy but this week I learned that I can only obey the Lord´s will. It feels strange because Elder Barcelar is the District leader and training and I am just helping out in the training and the work for now. I might be getting a new companion soon but we dont know yet. We spent a lot of this week looking for a new house and getting to know the area. We found a new house and so we are going to move into it this week but other than that we were able to teach a couple of great people. We found a mom that is named Maria Jose and she has a lot of potential! The message we gave her was pretty spiritual and she liked it a lot. We also contacted a couple of old friends that the elders were teaching beforehand and left parts of the Book of Mormon with them. One is a couple that is not married named Lucas and Kelly, and the other one is a girl named Liliane!! It was such a great week of justing inviting people to come and know the truth through the Book of Mormon. The branch here is pretty small, it is a little bigger than Pirapora but it made me think once again about the truth and how important it is to stay faithful. Please if you dont know the truth or if you dont have a testimony do everything you can to obtain one now!! It is so vital. 

That is funny that Zacks sister is going to the senior ball with Chris!! I think that will be funny to see ha. I miss zack and I hope he is doing good! Sadly I found out that Lorrane wasnt baptized because of something the mom did. She went on a trip just to stop her daughter from being baptized. But Elder Holt is going to still folow up with her.

I know that this church is true and I know the Book of mormon is true! I love the gospel and I hope that people will open their hearts to receive it and so that this branch can become a ward!!

April 22, 2019

 

I am so happy to hear that Easter went well and that this week was really awesome for all of you!! It was amazing for me too and I love remembering my savior and everything he has done for me. You will never guess what happened ha..

I got transferred again!!!! But this time I am going to end my mission training a new missionary in the area Jardim Canadá really close to Belo Horizonte!! And guess what?! Elder Barcelar is going to the same area to train as well and we will live in the same house!!! President gave us both a great compliment in his weekly email saying that he sent us there to be obedient and help that branch become a Ward. We are in essence reopening the area. I am so excited to end my mission with Elder Barcelar and we are going to help these new missionaries work as hard as they can!! It is going to be awesome. And other good news!!! Lorranes mom is going to let her get baptized this next saturday!!!! I am sad that I wont get to see it but I know that Elder Holt and his new companion will do a great job and help her to enter in the straight and narrow path!! I love the lord and I love his gospel. Wow how is it amazing how God works miracles among his children if they only have faith and patience that everything will be alright. It is going to be hard to train a new missionary but I have already done it before and I am excited to do it again!!! Wish me luck so we can help this branch become a ward and help others come unto Christ!! 

Sorry that I didnt write as much this week but I am grateful for everything you said about the Atonement. I too have a testimony of the Atonement and I am grateful that Jesus Christ did that for us. He suffered for us so that we can be perfect one day. So that we can wash our stains out and become clean and pure. I love the gospel and I love how no one is lost, all can come back and partake of Gods love and his Mercy through his son Jesus Christ. 

Love you all

Elder Bestenlehner

April 15, 2019

Dear Family,

This week was a great week where I learned a lot of personal lessons.  I was able to learn more from my companion. Throughout the whole transfer we have gotten along really well and we have become really great friends. But a couple of times we have gotten into an argument because of small things that one didn't understand the other or the other one just didn't want to understand. It was interesting as well to see how Pride was involved a bit too. We talked about that after one small argument this week and we were able to see how Pride is what destroys us and our lives. It is what Satan uses to keep us from entering God´s Kingdom. Please if any of you are in a situation where you can not forgive someone of you just dont want to do something that you need to do, Give up your Pride. For it will affect you and your life until the very judgement day. My companion and I try to work on it every day and we study more about being Humble just like our savior. Its amazing how we have the chances to change our lives for the better and obtain Humility. I was also able to see how the Gospel can heal our wounds and especially can heal our families.

 We are teaching Lorraine still and her mom and her dad do not want to accept the gospel but we are helping them see why their daughter needs it. That family has a lot of problems because the Dad is always drunk, the mom sadly has lots of pride and the oldest son does not like the feeling that is in the home. Every time we get there to teach it becomes more peaceful but still complicated. And I realized how important it is to listen to the Holy Ghost and fill our lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ especially in our homes and families. Let go of your pride and let the Savior do the work that he so longs to do inside of each and every one of you and I promise that the Holy Ghost will guide and protect you all. I love the gospel and I love the opportunity we have to teach to everyone about Jesus Christ and his life. We were able to find a couple more people too! Daniel didnt progress at all and we found a brother of a member of the church so we are going to work with him now too! A less active we found named Geraldo is giving us great references too so that has been a blessing. 

Thank you for everything! Love you all!

Elder Bestenlehner

From Tami - The last picture was taken by me while I was talking to him this morning 🙂

April 8, 2019

This week I think my companion and I worked super hard but our minds were focused on preparing for General Conference. 

Wow was this conference amazing. How I loved all of the talks and how the Spirit was very strong. One of my favorite sessions was definitely the Priesthood sessions but I loved all of the other sessions as well. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Eyring in the priesthood session. I think that so many people should listen to this talk. It helped strengthen my testimony so much in one thing. The power of our savior Jesus Christ and our fathers. I know that not every one has an amazing father in our real life. But we all have a Heavenly Father that loves us. He said in his talk "Son I am with you all the way. I know you can make it." That reminded me so much of the love that you and Dad have shown for me and how you have helped me through my struggles and my weaknesses... And more importantely how the Lord has been with me all the way. I agree Sharon Eubanks talk was amazing and taught us how we can turn the darkness into light. In the Priesthood session President Oaks talked about doing things that are better for us. We need to ask every time we do something "Where will this lead? and is it the best thing?" That is so important especially because the Lord knows what is BEST for us and it reminded me of a time when I had a decision to make and I remember my fathers words, you have the chance to choose good, better, or best right now. And I remember choosing good, but i should have chosen the best thing to do. I know that this conference was inspired and focused on Jesus Christ and his Atonement. Wow how they talked about Repentance and that there is time left, we can all go back to the covenant path. I love the gospel and I love my savior. Through him I am strengthened.

The work is going well and we are trying to find lots of people. This last week only Elisa came to the conference with her sister and the others didnt come... But thats ok because this week we have some plans to teach new people and get this work going like the Lord wants it too!!   I will definitely pray before hand to know the Lords will with the emails I am sending and everything else. Elder Holt is doing great and we are getting along just fine.Please pray for Lorraines mom and dad to soften their hearts because as of right now she doesnt want them to be baptized until a long ways away. But We have faith!! Love you all!