December 11, 2017 Baptism and a transfer!

Hello! This week was super good! It really payed off because we worked super hard and we did everything we could. The rain is always good haha its an escape from the hot weather. My toes are still really bad and its going to get worse now that I AM BEING TRANSFERED. I will leave on tuesday for the hottest area in the mission, and the most crazy haha. I am being transfered for Pirapora. I am excited to go and serve there. I have to take a five hour bus ride but I am excited. So I have no idea what i will be doing for christmas yet so sorry ha. But My new companion will be elder figereido. And I am excited to serve with him because he only has one more transfer than i do. So it will be super good! I am being positive about it ha. I am almost done packing all my things.

This week was super cool. I had some great experiences. For one Maria de lourdes was baptized and confirmed! It was amazing to see how happy she was and that she took the most important step in her life. We worked really hard with her because she had lots of problems this week and so we had to run to her house so many times and her house is way far away from our apartment and basically everything in the city. But it definitely payed off. I am so grateful for my companion elder graça too because he taught me so many things. Sometimes we didnt get along very well but we always made up and worked super hard. We are actually really great friends. He told me his experience about life and the mission and it made me think about my past life. And how I had it so much easier than he did. One thing that is sad is that he cant even write his mom. His mom doesnt know how to read or write and so he only gets to speak to her 6 or 7 times a year. Maybe more but he told me thats why he doesnt spend much time with emailing. It made me realize how blessed I am and how I shouldnt be prideful or complain. I need to be more humble and he taught me a lot about humility. This week was super good to learn and to just work hard. Friday we had a division with the zone leaders and it was very helpful. We were able to work in their area while it was pouring rain... Seriously the rain here is like the rain off jumanji.... hahaha. But yesterday we were teaching Valter and he uses the computer to watch a youtube video and pray. And we sat there with him to support him and watch him while he prays. I thought to myself.... How grateful i am to have the gospel in my life. The book of mormon. and prayer. Prayer is not something that you recite every day or every night. It is a conversation with our heavenly father and he really wants to hear you talk and talk with you. Prayer is so so so important and it is important that we pray every day. I love Alma 37:36-37 because it talks about how important prayer is and how we need to counsel with the lord in everything we do! 

 I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be here. I am happy to hear that camron killed it and will do so great in the field. and Chris has always been a stud to me. He is awesome and he will do even better. I am sorry to hear about Zack Vernon and his mom. They are both in my prayers and him serving a mission will help so much. Afonso will be hard to leave especially because I may not see him again but i will keep in contact with him and always talk to him. If I need anything more I will let you know before I get off. Love you!! 

Elder Bestenlehner

December 4, 2017

December 4, 2017

Hello - Elder Bestenlehner let me know that so far he has received 23 cards from all of you!  Thank you so much!!


Dear Friends and Family

My toes are doing better but they still need work hahaha. But thats ok. I work during the day anyways and I am learning to get used to it. But other than that I am doing super great and we are meeting lots of people to teach! Our investigators are doing great too. This week was super slow mainly because of the rain....

But this week was also super good too! We had a really hard time finding people to teach and talking to people on the streets mainly because it was pouring rain all week. And not just simple rain. I mean super super super strong rainfall ha. But it was so fun too. Because usually we dont get much rain here but all of a sudden it decided to rain here. It was funny because last night and saturday night was some of the strongest rainfalls i have ever seen. Saturday night we arrived at home early and decided to leave to place some books of mormon. So we left and began to find people when all of a sudden the rain came. We had to stand under a building and just watch. We watched the streets become rivers and cars that were parked become covered with water. The time was running out before we had to be home so we decided to run in the rain so we could make it home in time. We were literally running in rivers hahaha. We were helping remove things out of the road too because the rain carried lots of pieces of wood and other things. It was so fun and a super cool experience. I have pictures!

But before all that happened we were able to teach the restoration to Juliao. He is super awesome. We were trying to contact references during the whole day and nothing was working, and we were almost lost. But then we realized that we were in the front of his house and so we decided to visit him. And he let us in and so we taught the restoration, it was so amazing and you could feel the spirit. We invited him to read and to be baptized and he accepted! Also we visited maria lurdes and maristella this week and they want to be baptized soon too. Specifically maria who will be baptized saturday hopefully! 

Then last night was a super spiritual experience too. Last night was a devotional for christmas for all of the wards in our stake. We were there waiting and ready to support Afonso, our recent convert because we was going to sing in front of everyone! But then the rain came again and elder tenorio and i decided to help people enter the church because the rain was horrific. We decided to sacrifice our clothes and dryness too haha but it was so worth. I loved the opportunity I had to help people stay dry and enter the church because I really saw the blessings of service. It was amazing. And we were able to help afonsos uncle and aunt enter the chuch because they wanted to see him and they werent members. They were able to see him sing and watch the devotional. But we missed afonso sing because we were still helping. But I know he did great, and it turns out that his aunt and uncle loved the church and want to learn more. Service is the best way to make someones day and talk about our church! and we have the opportunity to serve every day this month. Seja a luz do mundo!!

Nov 27, 2017

 I hope your week was super awesome!! My week was super slow but it was really rewarding because I learned a lot of small things this week. The small things are what helps us become greater. My toes are the same haha but they are getting a little bit better too, I still need to ask for a blessing because I always forget. That is so cool that mitch came out there for the weekend. How is he? He doesnt email me much hahaha neither does chris. Halli is the only faithful sister in the family besides you and dad. Thank you for always caring about me and sharing things that I need to hear. It really helps me. 

This week was super good but also really hard. We didnt have much success this week and the greater part of our investigators with a date for baptism fell through and so we dont have many people to teach. But we also found some people to teach and we just decided to be missionaries this week and do our part. We have an investigator whose name is Maria Lurdes and she is progressing a lot! She wants to be baptized but she needs to come to church more. She came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it. She is a bit more older and she tends to forget things often haha. But it was awesome to just teach her about the gospel and make those long walks up the giant hills just to make her day and the days of other people. Maristella is doing good too. She wants us to teach the law of chastity to her and to her boyfriend again so they can make a plan for marriage. We hope that she takes this next step for baptism. We have an appointment with her on Wednesday. Valter, the pastor, is progressing too! He came to church yesterday and he is changing his heart ha he is super cold inside and so it is best to just love him and teach with Charity. We are also teaching the son of rosalia. He has a huge problem with drugs and beer. He is super addicted and we are trying to help him because we want him to have the gospel. He is so addicted that it is to the point where he sells things in home just to get drugs. We decided to fast for him and for our other investigators so that we could see miracles in our work. We had six investigators in sacrament meeting yesterday and it was so amazing to see our ward just packed with people. Elder Graça and I want to have one more baptism before the transfer ends and so we are working hard with our investigators and doing all that we can. And we know that the lord will do the rest. This week I had the opportunity to teach a very old lady who was 90 years old. Actually we were walking in the street and Elder Graça told me to talk to her and her daughter. They were on a balcony and so I started to talk to them and they let us in. She told us that she always loved to receive the missionaries. She began to tell me all about her life while elder graça spoke with her daughter. When she finished, i gave her a book of mormon and she smiled and began to thank me so much for my kindness to her. I realized that night that maybe nothing will come out of that visit and maybe she wont be baptized or be an investigator. But I realized that she needed the missionaries that specific night and she needed our love. I realized that we are truly representatives of our savior jesus christ and we can make lots of visits like that just to make someones day. I also learned that you have to be able to get along with your companion because if you dont, you wont be able to teach and you wont feel the spirit. But everything between me and elder graça is good! He is awesome and I am learning so much from him. I also helped with a baptism that the other elders had and it was amazing to just see how baptism helps people to become clean and to start a new life. I know that this is the right path and that the book of mormon is so important. Without the book of mormon, we would not have the church restored on the earth. I am also really grateful for Joseph Smith who decided to ask our heavenly father one simple question, that turned into the most amazing experience. Leia o livro de mormon, pergunte se ele é verdadeiro. Nosso pai celestial vai responder para você. I LOVE YOU ALL! 

Thankfulness and A baptism!

Hey everyone,

It is definitely raining here a lot and guess what..... I have two infections in my toes. It turns out that my ingrown toenails did not heal haha. But I have to be super careful. My week was super good! It was super tiring and super painful because of my toes but it was rewarding in the end! 

This week we really focused on helping others arrive in sacrament meeting because we needed more investigators in sacrament meeting. We taught a lot of lessons and we met a lot of people!! We have two new investigators named maria ludia and angela. They are not progressing a lot because they wont come to church, but we are helping them! I am excited to teach them anyways. We also were able to help the sisters this week in their area and no one accepted us hahaha. It was very hard because we were rejected so many times. After that we taught maristella and natasha, but we found out that maristella and her boyfriend are living together and so we have to set a date for marriage with them, for her to be baptized. But we know that everything will be fine!!

I was able to experience something amazing this week too. Afonso was baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday!!!!! It was so amazing to see the change and to see how happy he was. What made it even better was that I got to help him and I was the one who baptized him. It was the first time I had ever baptized anyone or helped someone to be baptized. Wow, what an experience. I will never forget the feeling that came from just helping him. I cant imagine how he felt haha. But it was super cool especially in portugues. I am so grateful for Afonso too. Wow he has a powerful testimony already and it was amazing to see the gospel change his life. He is super awesome and I will never lose contact with him! He is definitely like my brother now! It was such a cool week and super rewarding because we worked so hard and just to see him make this powerful step made all the difference! It was super cool. I know that baptism is such essential in our lives and that through the gospel and through our savior Jesus Christ we can do all things!! I love the gospel so much! The power of the atonement is real and the power of the priesthood changes lives.

I love the work and I am excited for more. Yes ofcourse it is super hard when you arent having lots of success but I learned something super powerful this weekend. Alamo, the first counselor to the bishop spoke with us about motivation. He said that we as normal humans look at things or look at the future and tend to say, No i want to stay in my comfortable zone. But he said that true disciples of christ look at the future or look at a challenge and say, Yes it will be hard but i have god on my side. And they continue on. How powerful. Sempre fique firme nas coisas que nosso pai celestial nos deu. Temos ele em nosso lado!! I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!

 I am grateful for you and for our family. For my savior jesus christ and the love he shows me every day. For my Heavenly Father, and all of the gifts and counsels he has given me! I love this gospel and the book of mormon and I am so grateful for everything in my life. I will look towards the future with god on my side. Love you so much!!

Elder Bestenlehner

November 13, 2017 The power of the Book of Mormon

Dear Everyone,

This week was absolutely amazing. I saw the hand of the savior in my life and in the lives of others more than ever before!! This week was amazing because Elder Graça and I fasteed with Afonso on tuesday so he could recieve an answer about the book of mormon and about this path for him. It was very brutal because its super hot here and we wanted to eat food ha but it was so amazing because we fasted with strength and we didnt complain. Afonso remained strong too. And blessings definitely came after that. The night that we ended the fast with him, he told us that every time he is around us he can feel the light and he can feel the spirit testifying to him. He said that he is reading the book of mormon every day and trying to read with real intent. He loves the book of mormon. He also told us that he wants to serve a mission too. He is 23 years old and that night he was struggling so we asked him if he would like a blessing of comfort. I gave the blessing and in that blessing I could feel the spirit so strongly, and then all of a sudden I dont know why I said it but I did, I told him that he would serve a mission and ended the blessing. After that blessing he said, Wow I love this feeling. It was so powerful and so amazing to see him changing. I have been teaching him and visiting him for two months now, he is more like my Brother than anything else right now. 

Then on saturday we visited him and he brought a friend. We taught his friend and Afonso testified to her about the book of mormon and how the book of mormon brings paz and it is truly an addiction to read. I started to cry when he bore that testimony ha. But after that he watched a Baptism of another person in the ward Barroca, and he told us that he had something to tell us on Sunday, yesterday. Elder Graça and I were very excited and we waited for him in the church because he was participating in the choir. After that we sat down together and he began to draw for us. When he finished drawing, it was a picture of his baptism and confirmation, and it had him becoming a member of the church!! He is going to be baptized on Saturday! He bore testimony to us and he said that no matter how many temptations he has this week he will be strong. I cried then too. The power of prayer and of fasting is real and I have a strong testimony of this now. I remember when he didnt believe in the book of mormon, but now he does and he has a testimony, he loves this church and he loves everything about the testimony and answer he recieved. How amazing is the gospel of jesus christ and the book of mormon. Wow. The book of mormon is powerful and truly is the most amazing book we have on the planet right now. I know for a fact that the book of mormon is true and has the power to change lives. What an amazing experience that I will never forget. 

This week was also really awesome because Arthur, a teenager, who we are teaching he decided to be baptized saturday too. And we had lots of people in sacrament meeting and we have lots of people to teach. I can truly see the blessings that the lord gives us when we work hard and trust in him. Pray for Afonso, Arthur, Maristella and Natasha. So they can feel the desire to join our church and gain a testimony like we have. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for the opportunity I have to teach the people of brazil and see the change in their hearts. Sei que esta igreja é verdadeira e que meu salvador Jesus Cristo, ele vive. Ele nos ama. Ele vai proporcionar milagres em nossas vidas se nos confiarmos nele!!! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Dont forget to always pray, read the scriptures, attend church, and be Happy!!!

This week was amazing! The miracles that I saw and the things that I experienced I will never forget. The language is getting better and I am super excited for the future and for this week. I know that Heavenly Father will help me and will help you too!! Love you!

Elder Bestenlehner

Hard work and obedience

This week was very tiring but super awesome. I learned a very important thing this week. 

Elder Graça is super awesome and he is a super hard worker!! We worked so hard this week and we have 7 people with a date for baptism. But our main investigators are having difficulties with some things that I cant tell but they are trying to do better and I love to see them working hard and preparing for baptism. This week i learned an important lesson about teaching through the spirit. It is important that we are constantly guided by the spirit so we can know what to say and how to say it. I had two experiences this week where I didnt follow the spirit and I said something that didnt sound right or was offensive in some way, and we almost lost two of our investigators. It was supér hard for me especially because I was honestly trying to help them, I just said one little thing wrong. But right now I am learning how to listen to the spirit fully when teaching. It was just two little but big mistakes.. Other than that I listen to the spirit and so say things that the Holy Ghost can testify to them!! But We always need to start with a prayer too, prayer is essential and it brings the spirit in the room more than any other thing. It was a good week to learn new things and to work super hard in this hot weather. One funny story that happened this week was that I was sitting down with Elder Graça between two buildings, and a bunch of little kids ran up to me and said,, Do you speak english!? Speak English for us!! it was so funny and super cute, but then a man in an apartment came out of the window and said oh look its the mormons!! Ha and all of the little kids started to call him Santa Claus..... It was so funny and super strange too. but in portugues it is funnier because Santa is Papai Noel! He looked nothing like santa claus but the little kids were just pestering him haha. But Other than that we are struggling a little bit here in Gutierrez because the work is really hard and super slow, everyone else is baptizing and so it makes it hard for us. Our ward is super weak and needs llots of help. So we are trying to help them and trying to teach at the same time. We are fasting and praying a lot for the ability to do both of those things. But other than that this week was super good. Elder graça likes to work hard and to joke around, but he said that he likes to be super obedient and so do I! I learned a great lesson too about our savior Jesus Christ, We were teaching with Afonso the other day and he was talking with Elder Graça, and afonso told me to pick some song to play for us. And I saw "You raise me up" By Josh Groban I love this song so much, and I started to cry when we listened to it beacuse he truly raises us up to do marvelous things in our lives. He will raise me up to move mountains to walk on stormy seas and to love the people of Brazil. Sei que meu salvador Jesus Cristo vive e que ele nos ama. EU AMO VOCÊS!! Tenha uma boa semana!! 

The package arrived on monday and I basically ate everything in the package already because I miss american candy hahaha. But thank you so much, it helped me a lot!!! And I am trying to find batteries in brazil but I havent found good ones yet ha, but the fans are great, I just need to find batteries for them. Love you! Thank you for everything you do for me and all the prayers!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I probably wont send pictures this week.. sorry ha. 

Elder Bestenlehner

Transfers!

Dear Family and friends

This week was super great! My last week with Elder Dedeco! So Transfers came this week and Elder Dedeco is leaving for Montes Claros! The hottest area in the mission haha, he is going to be a Zone Leader there! I am going to be staying here in Gutierrez and my new Companion will be Elder Graça! He is from Africa!! From what I have heard he is a super cool person but not a hard worker, I am going to use your advice and be exactly obedient in all things. I am excited though and I know that the Lord has plans for Elder Graça and I! This week was a little bit hard for us too because we honestly thought that Alfonso was going to be baptized but he didnt pass the interview. So we need to wait more time and he told us that he wants to make sure that he is completely ready for Baptism. Elder Dedeco wont see him be Baptized but thats ok! It was cool to actually have one of those missionary experiences where you think everything will be perfect and that all will work out fine but then all of a sudden everything falls. I honestly was sad for a hour because I wanted him to be baptized on sunday or saturday but I know that everything will work out in the end! 

We had a couple of Family Home Evenings this week to and it was super cool to feel the spirit. One of our other investigators, Italo, he was with me at one Family Home Evening and he honestly wanted to learn more and change his life!! It as amazing to testify of the power that the Atonement brings and that we can all be saved through our Savior Jesus Christ!! Elder dedeco and I also found a group of 5 teenagers, all boys, and when we were teaching them I could just imagine all of them in church as a quorum strong and ready to serve. It was super cool and I want to visit them again this week. It has been hard to contact Jorgina because she doesnt want to see us anymore. We are still praying for her though. Maristella wasnt in Church on Sunday but we set a date for her for Baptism on the 18 of november! I am going to visit her more with Elder Graça. We have another investigator named Valter and at first he didnt want to change at all and wasnt really open to many things, but then on sunday he told us he is reading the Book of Mormon and he believes that the parts he is reading are true! It is amazing to see the difference that the Book of Mormon makes in the lives of others!

Most of the week was just anxiety for Transfers ha, It is normal for everyone to be nervous the last week of the transfer! I am excited for more to come and I have so much faith that everything will be ok! I love you all and Hope  you all have a great week!! 

Thank you for sharing all of those things with me. I needed to hear those things especially since I am super nervous for this next transfer. Because I need to explain everything and take control on some things here because Elder Graça doesnt know the area.... But I have faith that the lord will help me with the language and with what will come. I am getting better though and learning more and more that I have my own experiences and I cant compare myself with others. I just want to feel the spirit so strongly every day and be guided by the spirit too. But I know that through exact obedience and my faith that miracles will happen. I am always praying for the family and I am so grateful for you all! I am happy to know that through my service here you will all be blessed. The people that will be living in my house are: Elder Graça, Elder Tenorio, and Elder Keim. And you dont need to do anything special with the notebook, it will be fine if you just send it here please ha! Thank you mom. Love you so much and if I need anything else I will let you know! LOVE YOU! oh and I dont have pictures right now but I will try and send some later haha I don't have batteries for my camera...

Love,

Elder Bestenlehner