Chapter 52.

And so, Elder Burnett returned from his banishment, having gained new wisdom, stories, and a pretty good sunburn.

Tatabánya was incredible! I had so much fun. We met Elder Peery and Elder Emang at the South train station and then the journey began. Elder Peery and I jumped straight into planning, and we decided to go to a little village outside of Tatabánya to go tracting. When we got into T-bánya, we had just enough time to order some palacsinták (crepes) and then it was back on the train, 20 minutes later. We didn't stop by the apartment, so I had my shoulder bag and my backpack, which were both stuffed to the brim with my clothes, books, and other supplies for the whole day. We tracted up and down the dusty roads for hours. After a being in the heat for so long, we really needed water. All of the stores were closed because it was Saint Stephen's day, so we just asked for water when we tracted haha. This super nice néni gave us a 2 liter bottle of cold water for free! Such a blessing! While we were knocking doors, we ran into a woman who said, "My son goes to your church! His name is _____ (I forgot what his name was)." As we were walking away, Elder Peery told me that this guy had just recently gone inactive, so it was cool that we tracted into his mom.

Parker's friend Sora Colt - he got sent to do splits with Elder Peery in another city, so his comp took a pic with Sora Colt when she was at the office.

After more tracting, we took a break to do our studies in the courtyard of the local cathedral. About 10 minutes in, we saw a man ride by on a bike and it just so happened to be the guy whose mom we had just tracted into! We called him over to us and had a lengthy discussion about why he was leaving the church. We bore testimony and encouraged him to seek the truth through study and prayer, and promised that as he did so, he would find that the truth really is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was powerful! I know that God sent us to that village that day, up and down those dusty roads, just so that we could find that man and minister to the one.

We had a lesson that night with some members, and they fed us a dinner of tűros tészta. It was basically just noodles with cottage cheese type stuff. Simple, yet surprisingly delicious! We had sweet cinnamon and chocolate rice for dessert.

We fell asleep that night to the sound of fireworks and the local festival that was going on in celebration of Saint Stephen's day. This is the holiday where they parade the hand of St. István around the city. I think I've talked about it before. I was in Pest last year when this happened, and we had a great view of the fireworks back then.

The next day was fairly simple. We had a lesson in the morning and some more tracting in the heat. As we were studying in a public park, a man came up and just stopped and stared at us. I looked up, smiled, and asked, "How are you today?" And he said, "I'm just dumbfounded looking at you two. Here you are, no jobs, no work. Just sitting here. Unbelievable." Shocked by this, I replied with, "I beg your pardon?" He then said, "Why are you here? You're thieves. That's all you are. Thieves!" I asked, "What have we stolen?" and he said, "You're stealing my time and you're here to steal our money!" I replied with, "Actually, I worked very hard for several years so that I would have enough money to serve a mission. I paid for this. We don't receive any money for our service." Then he said, "You call yourselves missionaries! You have no idea what you're talking about! If you were really missionaries, you would go to Africa where they need it! Get out of our country! Go home! Stop stealing from us and go home!" 

I explained what we were doing there, what we believe in, and why our church was special. I talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and why it's important, and finished by saying that we believe that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he has a plan for our salvation. The man replied, "That's another thing that you've stolen! You've stolen our doctrine! That belief came from the Catholic church!" He finished by accusing us of being paid by a wealthy Jew in America, and then walked away as if he had done the country a favor. As soon as he left, we said a prayer for him and continued studying.

At least one day, he'll know what we know now!

Anyways, I'm completely out of time to email for the week, so here's a quick bullet list.

-Someone made a 30,000 USD purchase on one of our credit cards by accident (we got it all sorted out, it was an honest mistake made by... well, I have no idea who but the point is it's all good hahaha)

-We found a new investigator this week! Her name is Monika and she has accepted a Book of Mormon and a return appointment

-Elder Suggs and I are roadtripping to the West side of Hungary today to see Robi's baptism and to close down some apartments on that side of the country.

-I can't think of anything else. I know there's more, but I really don't have time! Sorry!

I love the Gospel and I love being here in Hungary preaching to the people. It's such a special experience and I wouldn't trade these things for anything. I'm so grateful to have a loving Father in Heaven who knows me personally, and who has sent me here to learn and to grow. I'm grateful for this wonderful life! 

Have a great week! Talk to you soon.

Szeretettel,

Burnett Elder

Hungarian word of the week is "te$$o" (pronounced teshow, and yes... spelled with dollar signs) . It's short for testvér which means brother/sibling. It's like their version of bro and it's hilarious.

I never know how to start these things out, so let's just go for it...

Things are great here in Buda! I'm so happy to be back in this city. It really is one of my favorites. There are just so many beautiful sights to see, which makes tracting so much more fun! We just go out adventure tracting in the hills and it's the best. We've been pretty tied up with different tasks, so we haven't been able to our proselyting too much, but we still have people to teach and the work is still going!

We got to visit the Southwicks this week (President Southwick is the Stake President). His family is hilarious! He is from Idaho and he married a Hungarian woman. They have 3 boys, ages 12, 9, and 6 and they speak Hungarian and English about equally. They speak the funniest Hunglish I've ever heard! It's great language practice for us.

We had a great lesson with some people from India (in English, so that was nice) and afterward, we went to a YSA activity with them. We had a waffle eating contest and I came in 1st with 11 waffles. Elder Allred still holds the record with 12. I'll let him keep the record. 11 is enough for me!

Our ward is one of the biggest in the country with around 100 people in church each week. I had an opportunity to bear my testimony and introduce myself a little bit last Sunday so that was nice. I already love it here!

I'm figuring things out here in the office but man, I never expected to deal with some of the problems we have to deal with. We're closing down several apartments throughout the country and it's our job to go and pick up all the stuff that belongs to the mission, communicate with the landlords, meet with them, and terminate our contracts. My Hungarian legal vocabulary was less than practiced before this point, so the learning curve for this particular assignment has been steep and slick. I like the fast pace though. We're always busy.

We sent home a huge group of fantastic missionaries this last week, including my trainer, Elder Jones, one of my other companions, Elder Harris, and some of my best friends in the mission including the sisters who entered the MTC with me. I've made some incredible friends on my mission, and I'm so excited to continue those relationships after the mission!

There's a missionary leadership council meeting this next week and all of the Hungarian and Romanian leadership will meet here in Buda for that. That means that Sister Colt will be here! That also means that I WON'T be here! I get to go on a little exchange for 36ish hours in a city called Tatabanya with Elder Peery until Sister Colt is back in Romania. Sometimes life puts you in some funny situations, doesn't it?

Robi's baptism will be happening on the 25th in Szombathely, and President Hettinger gave Elder Suggs and I permission to take the van and drive out there. We'll be spending the night in Sopron, so I'll get to see Elder Hudson again! It'll be so fun!

Life is great. I'm stressed out of my mind trying to do everything that needs to get done, but I'm also as happy as ever. I'm grateful to be serving with Elder Suggs, who is a great listener and a great missionary, and I'm grateful to be serving in this unique position. It's completely different from what I'm used to, but it has also been very enjoyable to work so closely with such a great group of incredible people. 

Thank you all for your love and support! Missionary life is just the best. I love it!

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett Elder

Hungarian for the week: bérleti szerződés means rental agreement. Fun to say, not to deal with.

Life is just full of surprises.

This week, we were able to meet with Robi, Elza, Krisztina, and Robi. I got to go on splits with Elder Millett and we had a lot of fun together. On Tuesday, we were supposed to have a music night with the Ommens and some of their friends, but it got cancelled. Because it was cancelled, we decided to go and visit Krisztina and invite her to dinner. We were able to meet with her in her home, with the Ommens and extend the invitation in person and she was so happy and excited to come! 

At dinner, Krisztina really opened up about a ton of stuff. She's going through a lot of really tough trials right now, and as she was talking, my heart just broke for her. She feels very lonely, and is grateful for our friendship, but she is worried that after we leave, she will be alone again. We talked about how while we will eventually leave, the Savior will always be there for her. We're trying to help her to see that as she turns to Christ, He will reach out and help her to feel peace, comfort, and happiness, no matter what trials we may be going through. She asked for a priesthood blessing, and I was privileged to be the one who offered that blessing. As we laid our hands on her head, there was a power present that I know could only come from God. His words; His message, came through my mouth, through my Hungarian, and pierced each one of our hearts. I'll be honest, I was expecting to just start speaking and have all of the Hungarian I would ever need just given to me, but it didn't work like that at all. Thoughts came to my head, and the Lord left it up to me to communicate those thoughts and messages that the Lord wanted Krisztina to hear. It was incredible. Afterward, Krisztina just said, "I can just feel it in my heart. I feel it right here!"

When we got home, I sent President Hettinger a text about our experience. His response was interesting. He said, "Very cool!" and then about a minute later, he said, "Elder Burnett, would you give me a call?"

I thought, "Uh-oh, I'm in trouble for something!"

I called President and he gave me some very interesting news. I was to pack my bags that night, and move to Budapest the next morning after District Meeting to start my training as an office secretary! What the.... That was some of the most unexpected news I've ever gotten, but I was incredibly excited. Elder Hudson will be in a trio with the other two Sopron elders until he gets assigned a new companion. 

After District Meeting, I went all by myself to Budapest with all of my bags. Luckily, I made friends with the kid that was on the train with me, and he helped me get all of my stuff off of the train on time. I'll be on the Buda side of the river this time, which is pretty exciting! Apparently, Buda is the older side (I always thought it was the newer side). After I arrived, the office elders met me at the train station and we got to work!

Training has been great! It kind of feels like everything is on fire and it's my job to put those fires out. As soon as we get one fire extinguished, there are 3 more and an explosion somewhere else that we need to figure out. It's fast paced, which is great, and we're incredibly busy. I get to deal with fun things like:

-Talking with Landlords, finding and closing apartments, rental agreements, and pretty much anything to do with housing

-Making sure that referrals are assigned and contacted

-Booking all trains and flights for every Romanian missionary (they have to do all of their booking online, and a lot of it falls onto my plate)

-Creating different mission documents

-Keeping  a history of the mission

-Anything President asks me to do

-Preaching the gospel!

And the list just goes on and on (those are just some of the main ones).

I'm very sad to be leaving Sopron, especially when the work was going so well, but I can't wait to serve in this new position. I learned so much in the 4 weeks that I was in Sopron. I think most importantly, I learned how to be humble and really work hard because I wanted to consecrate my time to the Lord, not just because it was my duty. I learned how to love the people and my companions so much more, and I learned that as I humbly tried my best, I was capable of doing some things that I didn't think I could do.

This is going to be crazy, but I'm looking forward to a great experience in the office.

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett Elder

Hungarian word of the week: kabala, which means "superstitious." Just a good word to know!

Every week just keeps getting better and better! Can you believe that? I'm just so excited about this work, and so happy to be here in Hungary, serving the people I love, doing work that I love, with people I love.

I'll start with the bad: It's getting hot. REALLY hot. All the time. You know when you get out of the shower and the air is so humid you could drink it? That's what it's like here, but always. Anyways, with the weather getting hotter, it's even more important now to make sure that we are staying hydrated. One day, as we were rushing out of our apartment, I quickly threw a water bottle into my shoulder bag. As we were stopped at a stoplight on our bikes, I felt something dribble down my leg. I knew exactly what had happened, and my heart sunk. The lid on the water bottle had popped open in my bag and dumped all of the water in my bag! The casualties include a pass along copy of the Book of Mormon, 2 pamphlets about tithes and fast offerings, a General Conference edition Liahona, my white hand book, my daily planner, and my Preach My Gospel. Luckily, my passport and my proof of residency were in a "water proof" pouch (definitely not water proof btw) and only got a little wet. Fun stuff!

Other than that our week was great. We've been working on talking with everybody, just like I said last week. I had a few fun, bold moments where I just went for it and talked with people I normally wouldn't have talked with. We got some phone numbers and potential investigators from it, so that's awesome!

We got to go to Győr for splits and I was with Elder Pulsipher, who is in Elder Jones' MTC group. We had way too much fun together. We tracted in some of the nicest neighborhoods I've ever seen, streeted everyone, and played beach soccer with some of the young single adults.

When we walked into the chapel yesterday, I saw 3 people who I wasn't expecting to see. It was a family from Pest, who I befriended almost a year and a half ago when I served there! Zsuzsa was so excited to see me, and even more excited that I actually spoke Hungarian now hahaha. They explained that every Summer, they rent a little house near Sopron and they invited us over for lunch. We went and it was seriously the coolest house I've ever seen. It was all stone, and felt like a castle. I wish I had pictures, but I actually left my camera at home that day. Sorry! It was still so fun to see some of the members with whom I served over a year ago!

We had some fantastic lessons this week as well! The highlights were Robi's lesson, in which we taught the rest of the commandments and helped him to prepare for his baptismal interview. He is all ready to go, and anxiously awaiting his baptism! We are still not sure when the baptism will be, because we need to reserve the swimming pool at the hotel next door. We're so excited!

Cool story time. We met two new investigators this week, Krisztina and Zsolt. Krisztina works for a tour company giving tours of this big palace thingy nearby, and she does them in English and Hungarian. One day, she was feeling super exhausted, so she asked the lady at the front desk if she would clear her day of English tours and decline any requests for them that day. Toward the end of her shift, Krisztina came back to the front desk to see what her next assignment was. To her surprise, there was an English tour scheduled. Puzzled, she asked the front desk lady why she had accepted an English tour, and why she hadn't canceled it. The front desk lady explained that no matter what she did, she just couldn't get that tour to cancel. It wouldn't delete off of the system.

Most tours have 40 to 50 people in them, but this one only had 3, so Krisztina bit the bullet and prepped herself for another English tour. Turns out, 2 of those people were the Ommens, a senior missionary couple serving here in Sopron. Because of the small group, they were able to spend a lot of time getting to know each other. Krisztina was intrigued by them, and asked why they were dressed so nicely, and what they were doing here. Long story short, they exchanged contact info and have become really good friends. 

Krisztina and Zsolt came to church a few weeks ago and loved it! They were so shocked by the fact that a 20 year old led the meeting, another 20 year old played the piano, another 20 year old spoke, and another 20 year old led the music. They thought, "What kind of church is directed by young people? This is crazy!"

We were able to go over to their house for lunch, and it was one of the most powerful and memorable experiences of my mission so far. We talked about everything under the sun. Krisztina speaks English, but she understands Hungarian much better, and prefers to speak that. Zsolt only speaks Hungarian and German. This put me in the position of translator, which was super fun hahaha.

At the end of the meeting, we extended an invitation for them to be baptized. They didn't accept, but they said that perhaps in the future they would take that step and make that covenant. I encouraged them to remember the feelings that they were feeling, and promised that this Gospel is what they are searching for. Elder Hudson testified that God loved them, and that he sent us here to share this message with them. Krisztina was crying (happy crying of course) and Zsolt actually shouted "Praise God for this miracle!" It was so powerful.

I am so grateful to be taking part in this wonderful work. It is such a privilege to be here in Hungary, and to be experiencing the things that I'm experiencing and growing in the ways that I'm growing. Every day is just getting better and better! I know without a doubt that God lives and that He loves each of us personally. I know that He guides us through a living prophet, and I'm so grateful for that guidance! Where would we be in this life without the gospel? Where would we be without the Book of Mormon? We would be lost. We would experience life, but we would not live it. I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who loves me enough to guide me step by step through this life, so that I can actually live it! He knows which path leads to happiness. We have every reason to be happy. We know what lies in store for us in the end if we just follow Jesus Christ, make and keep covenants, and endure to the end of it all!

I love you all and wish you the best week ever! Endure the heat!

Szeretettel,

Burnett Elder

Hungarian of the week: This isn't really Hungarian at all, but it made me laugh super hard. While we were at the store, we found a bottle of ketchup that says, "Unlimited Edition". I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but I couldn't stop laughing about it!