March 18, 2019

 Wow your email made me very happy to see how the Lord really does love his children and he honors those who serve him in righteousness. I love the gospel and the scriptures are the source of happiness in our lives. I love this opportunity I have to stay a little bit longer and fulfill the mission that the Lord wants me to have. And I am very grateful that I have this time to be with President Castellano. I love my mission President and this week he told me that he trusts in me a lot and he knows that I will end my mission well! I know that staying  is the right decision. 

So I am serving in a ward called Progresso and it is an amazing area!! We spent the whole week trying to find some new people to teach because we did not have that much on our teaching record. But we found some pretty amazing people and I believe that the Lord has some great work in store for us. We found an incomplete family in the gospel and we are working with two of the daughters that have the desire to be baptized. The only hard part about it is the dad is pretty hard hearted and the mom seems like she is all over the place and cant sit still ha. But we are going to try and teach them all. The daughters names are Yasmine and Lorraine. And we also found a man named Igor that is super awesome. He promised to read the Book of Mormon and we are going to visit him on wednesday and hopefully more throughout the week. There are so many great families here with people that are non members inside the family. We are going to try and teach all of them and do what we can to help these families prepare for the temple and not just for next sunday. I love being companions with Elder Holt! Its definitely different but we are working things out to be able to speak as much Portuguese as we can and help others.  My companion is awesome and and we are going to work super hard to find people to be baptized and confirmed. I am so grateful that I am here in this new area and I know that the Lord will bless the people here!

That is super cool about Ryan! I will write them an email!  I am definitely going to email Bishop, what a blessing that is. It almost made me cry! Hahaha  I love my savior so much. And I am grateful for an amazing ward i have back home.  I love you so much  I love my mission and I want to end well!

March 11, 2019

So now I know for sure about the end of my mission and whats going to happen now!! First off, I am being transferred to Sete Lagoas!! (Seven Lakes) It is a ward called Progresso and I am still going to be a zone leader!! My new companion is Elder Holt! Do you remember him?? He was with me during one transfer and he is awesome. I am super excited! Today I am still with my companions but tomorrow I will already be with Elder Holt in my new area!! I dont know for sure but one of us is going to be the district leader as well haha. But dont worry I will totally tell Elder Cardozo that and Elder Barcelar also!! I am excited for them both and I am excited for what is going to happen at the end of my mission. I talked to President on saturday and it turns out that I am staying until July 10th!! So you will probably have to change all of those plans haha I was worried about it being in the middle of the summer but I know that the lord will bless me. President gave me a promise that if I stay and do the Lords will then he will help me with my desires after the mission. Isnt that crazy that i will stay longer than 2 years haha?! It should be fun! But I think this next area is my last area. I think I dont write that much anymore because I want to tell you all in person ha but I will try to write more. 

Our investigators are doing well!! Sadly Elizabeth is a little resistent and she didnt come to church this week... But a family that we have been trying to teach came to church and Elder Barcelar is going to continue to teach them!! They are super cool and I hope that they can be baptized. Funny story this week in church. We were walking to go pick up an investigator and this lady that I had already known stopped us in the street. I forgot to warn Elder Barcelar that she is a little crazy... ha Because during these transfers she follows the missionaries around and we have already tried to help her but because of the drug use she has developed some mental problems... She is nice but we have to be careful and Elder Barcelar didnt know about that so he invited her to church ha which is a good thing! We thought it would help her out! She went to church and after the first hymn she screamed "Hallelujah!! Praise to Our God!!" haha everyone looked at her and during the sacrament she did the same thing but started citing scripture... and then just got up and left. It was pretty strange but you just dont see things like that every day hahaha. But this isnt the first time that has happened to me in an area. It was just funny because the members teased us afterwards.. But hopefully one day she can search medical help and get better! But other than that we worked hard this week and now I am excited for my next area!! It will be awesome! I am grateful for the time i spent here in this area. Six months and I really learned a lot. I love the lord and I know that he has a purpose for each one of us.  I know that the lord will bless me and will bless our family for this service as I extend!! This week on a division we found a guy that was having a terrible day and our message gave him hope for a better day and a better life! He accepted a date to be baptized after that and the elderes in that area are going to take care of him!! I love the gospel so much and I know that the Lord needs me in this new area and needs me to stay a little longer on the mission to help his children out.

That is super cool about Ms Moulton!! She totally deserves it!  I know with extending my mission I am going to miss lots of things that I love but the Lord will provide! I will miss three fourth of Julys in a row haha my luck! But I love it and i know that someone needs me here. I love you so much and I hope you have a great week

March 4, 2019

This last weekend our great friend Welerson was interviewed by President Castellano and was baptized and confirmed!! Wow how I can testify that the Tender mercies of the lord are real!!! I will forever be grateful for everything the Lord has given me and this last weekend he reminded me once again why I am here. Even though I didnt do much of the teaching with Welerson, I was able to bare my testimony and see his baptism happen. It was amazing. And he was baptized on Saturday, two years on the date after I received my mission call to serve here in Belo Horizonte. The Lord showed my how important the work is here in this city and was able to bless us for our hard work here in Barroca. It was such an amazing day and the spirit was very strong. I love my savior Jesus Christ and I know that he lives and loves us!! This gospel is true and I know that through baptism is how we can obtain a remission of our sins! Wow what a wonderful weekend and also I was able to do an interview sunday morning and we all saw a sweet old lady be baptized sunday afternoon. And now we are going to work hard to find more!! Never give up for the Lord they God is on thy side!! 

 

 I will find out on this coming sunday about my mission, if it will be extended or not ha. Because Sunday we have transfers. I don't know what will happen with transfers next week.. But I know that the Lord will bless this area even if I am transferred. This week we are going to focus on finding more people to teach because we need it ha. But I love the tender mercies of the Lord and I know that he loves us. I know that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, as I read his teachings I can feel the spirit testify to me of his calling. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that President Nelson is a Prophet of God. I love my savior and through him we can be saved.

 I felt the same way you did when I prayed, That i need to do what President feels I should do!! That is super cool about the experiences with Colby and Chris and I know that this will help them to prepare even more for a mission. I wish I could have done more but I am grateful for the journey!! I love you so much! Thanks for everything you do for me. I am so grateful for the blessings that I have in my life because the Lord has been good with me. Have a great week! 

Feb. 25, 2019

 I love missionary work and I am excited to try and work this week!! My toe actually stopped healing for about a couple of days because when he took out the stitches the wound opened up the next day and so it was hard to heal... But Even though it is still hurting, I am going to try and work in my area this week and I am super excited!! This whole last week I was still in the mission office but it was a blessing and I was able to help them out a lot! 

As of right now we are teaching a couple of awesome people here in our area. There is a lady named Elizabeth that has come to church two times now and she is starting to progress!! We are stoked and I am super happy that she wants to learn more about the gospel. And hopefully I will be able to help the other elders out this week. We also found out about an old investigator that Elder Cardozo taught in another area and he came to see Elder Cardozo and wants to move to our area!! So we are going to work with him because he wants to be Baptized!! I was so so happy and I know that the Lord will bless us if we keep working hard and if we do whats right!! His name is Wellerson and we are going to work with him so that he can move here and get baptized!! But he really has the desire to wash away his sins and I am excited that we can help him and show him the way!! I love the gospel and as I think more and more about it, the more and more I am willing to give up the things I liked in the past for the gospel. It is important that we Keep the main thing, the main thing. Which is Jesus Christ our savior!

Please tell Preston congrats and that I love him too!! I miss that family a lot ha. But I love you so much and Thank you for everything you do for me!! I hope you have a great week and If i spend any money it is because of my toe... haha . 

 I love the lord and this work and I have a testimony that when we do what is right and when we work hard the lord will bless us!  Following the spirit and listening to His voice is what will help us in this work and I am learning to do just that. To really change myself and to listen to the Holy Ghost!! But I know that Christ lives and loves us. He is the king of kings and his church truly is here upon the earth. This week we are going to work hard and we want to help all come unto christ!! Have a wonderful week and dont worry about me, For Christ is always on my side!!  I love you all!

Feb 18, 2019

I am doing great!!! Actually this last week and until now I have been staying in the office with the secretaries and my companions are working back in Barroca!!! I went to church with them and thats about it and I helped them ask members to give rides to the people we are teaching. It has been a wild week but I actually have loved it. 

Before the surgery, we had two lessons that were amazing. One with a married couple named Marcos and Marta and they have been teaching them through out the week!! Elizabeth and her mom came to church this week and Rondina also came to church. They have been visiting Samara and her family as well and hopefully things will progress. I have been here helping the secretaries and helping President with a couple of things. On tuesday and wednesday after the surgery I actually staying in a Hospital with Elder White, one of the secretaries. He is from Herriman!! But he was getting a couple of treatments and so that was cool and i was able to stay with him during that time. And that night we had dinner with President and Sister too! It was pretty sweet!! This week i wanted to study more about being happy and so I read King Benjamins excerpt on happiness. He talked about the whole process of serving, keeping the commandments, preparing for Jesus Christ, and staying away from the natural man. I loved it and I have decided that we should not stay sad for dumb reasons. We have this life to bless the lives of other people and to just have joy. Why not have joy? for we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives! I love the gospel and I love all those who have helped me, especially in this surgery. It has been a blessing and this week I am going to stay with the secretaries until i can start walking more!! 

Feb. 11, 2019 Another surgical procedure tomorrow

As of 02/12/2019  The church is changing the domain in the missionaries' email address. So instead of andrew.bestenlehner@myldsmail.net, it will now be andrew.bestenlehner@missionary.org.  You can keep emailing Andrew at the old address if you want, they will just forward the email. But if you would like to update it to the new one, it starts tomorrow.

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I am doing good!!! I think this week was once again another trial and it definitely tested my faith!! It was a rough week for us but we dont let that get us down. But on the bright side our zone had two baptisms this week and so that was awesome!! We know the two people who got baptized and they were definitely ready to get baptized! We are working super hard so that we can have a baptism here in Barroca and we know that the lord will bless us!! 

Sadly this week we had to cut Michelle and Fernando because they were not progressing and did not want to leave behind old habbits. It was very sad because we did everything we could to help them out and they still could not see it. It makes me really sad when someone decides not to continue on the true path that leads to the Celestial Kingdom... Because they are missing out on the greatest gift ever known to mankind which is Eternal Life.... But hopefully other missionaries will pass there in the future and they can be baptized in the future. We werent able to get a hold very well of Ana Claudia and her family because they had family issues this week. But we taught a family that lives right next to him and it seems like they have potential!! Elizabeth and her sister. Also we taught a lady named Fernanda and she also said that she will read the Book of Mormon and the lesson we had with her was really good and she had a lot of questions. I got a small package at the leadership meeting with the bandaids in it and the cake mix you sent!! We already ate it ha. But other than that I learned a lot about planning and how it is important to plan everything productively. This week I was reading about Samuel the Lamanite and what was interesting is that he was about to give up on teaching but the Lord told him to go back and so he did. Sometimes we want to give up on things because it seems impossible to accomplish, but God will always prepare a way because to him Nothing is impossible. This week I have surgery on tuesday so I know that the Lord will help me to stay positive and keep moving forward. 

Love you all

Elder Bestenlehner

February 4, 2019

This week was really good! I love my two new companions. They are both good missionaries who have desires to serve. I already knew Elder Barcelar and so that was awesome to be with him again! He came with me to Belo Horizonte when i got here!! 

 This week was hard for us to follow up with Michelle and Fernando.... It was kind of like they were running from us hahaha. But Maybe tonight we will have a family night with them. I hope that they can come! But we challenged Fernando to read the book of mormon and the lesson we had with him was awesome so we hope he is reading it. They didnt come to church this week because of a small problem with work but a mom and her daughter came to church whose names are Ana Claudia and Rondina. Elder Barcelar was the one who taught them on a division so I met them on sunday but they are super nice and seem to have potential!! We also were able to visit once more Nilda and see what was some of the doubts that they had. We were able to challenge them once more to read the Book of Mormon even more and to ask of God. They definitely were not doing that. This week we have some cool appointments marked and I hope that we can teach a lot more. We have our leadership meeting on tuesday so that should help a lot!! But My companions help me to keep going strong and to always be happy. I thought that interesting about Elder Barcelar is that he is always smiling and he loves Lord of the Rings so we have lots in common ha. But I love the lord and i Love this gospel. I know that the gospel is true and I know that through Jesus Christ we can all be clean from our sins and we can all be wonderful people who share the gospel!! 

I love that scripture that you shared and I think it would be perfect to share with investigators. We really do need baptism and its so important. Not just for a remission of our sins but its the way we enter into Gods Kingdom! I love the book of Moses.

Dad, I love the experiences that you share with me each week!! It makes me want to serve others even more and receive personal revelation more and more!! I love the gospel so much and the principle of revelation is so important!! This week was good but it was hard to follow up with Michelle and Fernando. It seems like they dont want to progress too much but we will see this week!! And Elida is reading the book of mormon but once again we could not teach her because her Husband was not home.... But we were able to teach some other people and help others come to church too! This week a mom and her daughter came to church. Ana Claudia and Rondina. They were a bit confused but said that they liked it a lot!! This week we are going to work a lot harder to help others come unto christ and challenge so many more to Baptism!! President gave me a couple of ideas! So I am excited and I am praying for both of my companions. They both have the desire to work hard and to find more people to teach and Baptize. So we are excited! Our zone is doing good too and it seems like everyone is excited to work hard and baptize more people!! I love the gospel so much and I want to have it recorded in my heart so that I can overcome the temptations here and at home. I know that Christ lives and loves us and is willing to help us always. 

This is an excerpt from an email Elder Bestenlehner sent to his grandparents:

I think that is one of the best things that anyone can learn. Is to put off the natural man and be willing to adapt yourself to the Lords will and what he wants for you in your life. I love how all of us can put our trust in him and walk by faith because it helps us learn trust and obedience. During my mission, I have seen so many things happen that I have asked, why did that happen or why must it be this way? But the answer is always the same, because it is what the Lord wants. I love the gospel and as we seek the gospel in our lives, the Lord will help us adapt ourselves to become the person that he wants us to be. I love my savior so much and  I think that if we are obedient and do the lords will he will always bless us with what we need. And I know that he lives and Loves us so much. His church is here on the earth and we have an amazing resposibility to preach that to every single person! 

I love you all! Have a great week  - Elder Bestenlehner