This week started off with Elder Cook, Elder Sabin and their wives coming to visit and it was incredible. Elder Sabin has a special place in my heart, because his talk "Stand Up Inside and Be All In"  from April, 2017 is one of my all-time favorites. They shared stories and insights that really changed the way I have thought about my life and about my mission.

There were several meetings; first, they visited the missionaries in Romania. After that, they came to Hungary and spoke to the missionaries here. Finally, they addressed the Hungarians in a big Stake Conference like meeting.

I'll paraphrase a few of my favorite parts.

Elder Sabin: 

-"You can't sit at a fireplace and say 'Give me fire and I'll give you wood!' You have to first pay the price. So it is with gaining a testimony and creating a relationship with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ."

-"Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere."

-One of the Apostles was addressing a congregation in a foreign country, and on the podium he noticed a note that said "Speak slowly! You are being translated!" He looked up into the sky and said, "Well, it isn't working! I'm still here!"

-"We don't know when the Second Coming will be, but it's one day closer today that it was yesterday!"

-"We are professors of happiness!"

-"We are recalled to our missions every day."

Elder Cook:

-Advised us to pay special attention to Elder Ballard's most recent talk. Said it may be one of the most important talks given in recent history.

-Promised that if we would get people to Sacrament meeting, we would see greater success and more lives changed.

-He blessed us to realize that our service will bless everybody whom we love.

The best part of the whole thing was when Elder Cook bore his special witness of Jesus Christ to us. Toward the end of the meeting, he got very serious. The whole room fell into complete silence, and I thought, "Oh boy, he's about to say something that's going to change my life!"

He then said, "I know that we must protect our sacred experiences, and only share them when appropriate. I feel like with you all, I need to be direct and clear. Pay close attention to my words. I know Jesus Christ's voice. I know Jesus Christ's face. I am a special witness that He lives." When he said that, EVERYONE in the room felt that what he was saying was true. There is absolutely no doubt about it. His words pierced my heart in a way that I've never felt before. It was powerful, and it was life changing.

I'm so grateful that the Lord is mindful of His people, no matter where they are in the world. I am grateful that He loves us and that He has paved the road for us to come back to Him. I know that He lives and I know that He loves us! This is our joyous message to the world! We are so blessed to have this knowledge.

We also saw plenty of other miracles this week. For example, we met a woman a few weeks ago named Marianna. She and her husband, Philip, are religious, but don't know which church to go to. We have been trying, unsuccessfully, to meet with them for the past 2 weeks. Finally, we decided to just go and show up and their house. I looked up their address on our map, and charted our course. When we went out, somehow (it's because I'm directionally challenged) we got completely lost. After asking someone for directions, we finally found their block. The next challenge was that we had no idea which csengő was theirs! I had written down that it was number 5, but there was no indication of which bell was to which door. We rang the first bell, and a young man came out and let us into the complex. The next challenge was that we had no idea which door was theirs, so we started knocking. The first door belonged to the young man who let us in, and the second door was answered by a dark skinned man. We introduced ourselves and he interrupted, asking, "Do you speak English?" We then explained that we were missionaries, and that we were looking for Marianna. Then, he yelled, "Marianna! Someone is here to see you!" She responded, "It's those two young men! They're here to see YOU! Tell them to come in!"

We had an incredible conversation with them that was totally led by the Spirit. The biggest miracle was that because of their work schedules, they are very rarely at home at the same time. Marianna explained that we came at the perfect time and that had we come just 15 minutes earlier, we would have missed them.

We are never lost. Only guided (albeit, unknowingly at times!) Okay just kidding, sometimes we're definitely lost haha. But as you can see, the Lord weaves our weaknesses into His perfect plan and makes things work out. Amazing.

The second big miracle was getting Ibolya to Sacrament Meeting. She is a pretty closed off person, and keeps to herself for the most part. We met with her this week and focused on inviting her to Church. At first, she said, "No, no. It's not something I'm interested in." After that, I had no idea what to say.... so I just started bearing testimony and shared with her what a blessing it is to attend Church and remember the Savior. Elder Udy backed me up with his own testimony and a promise that if she would come, she would find her way and feel peace in her life.

She gave us a solid maybe, but I knew she felt the Spirit. At the end of the meeting, as we were parting ways, I said, "Okay, we'll see you Sunday morning!" And she said, "We'll see!"

Long story short (but still pretty long, sorry) she came to Church! The members were awesome and made her feel welcome, and one of the members even sat next to her and answered questions that she had.

 

One last, very important story:

Some Krishna guys stole our favorite contacting spot in Széll Kálmán tér and one of them stopped us and talked about their book. Afterward, he gave us his card and Facebook info and a little cookie in a bag that he was giving out to people (genius). Now we know what it feels like hahaha. The guy's name was Dávid and he was super nice. Later that same day, we went back to Széll Kálmán tér with the 21 Day BOM Challenge banner, and Dávid and his friends were still out preaching the word. We set up our banner and started talking with people. Then, some actors came and did a recreation of a call to action to Hungarian laborers in the 1950's. They were dressed in old timey clothes and they got up on a box and started shouting "He who is Hungarian, joins with us!" They were waving papers in the air that said, "Free Hungary!" or something like that. On top of that, there was a drunk homeless guy throwing bags of seeds around the square, yelling at nobody in particular. 

Between us, the Krishna missionaries, the actors and the hobo, there was quite a bit of commotion in the square. We still had some great conversations and saw some success.

Also, the drunk guy eventually came over to us, as they always do, and we started chatting. I don't know what I said, but out of nowhere he said, "I love you, man. You're a good guy." Then he took my hand and kissed it hahahaha.

I am so grateful for the experiences that I'm having here in Hungary. I really never imagined that I would do anything like this. I spent all day yesterday translating a Hungarian rental agreement into English for crying out loud. If you told me 2 years ago that someday I would be doing that, I wouldn't have believed it. But here I am, being blessed so abundantly by a loving Father in Heaven, who is patiently guiding us through this crazy adventure.

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett elder

We've had another incredibly busy week and I'm loving every minute of it. Elder Cook and Elder Sabin are in Romania today, and will be coming to Budapest tomorrow. We're all very excited! They will be speaking to the missionaries that morning, and then addressing the Hungarians in the evening. We have done all that we can to invite people to this amazing event. I described it to one person as being "just as exciting as it would be if Peter, James, or John came to speak to us!" and it is! An Apostle of the Lord will come to tell the Hungarians exactly what the Lord wants them to hear.

I'm always amazed by the small ways the Lord manifests to me that He is aware of me and that He loves me. This week, His love was manifest to me as I testified to a family of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. As I spoke to them, the Spirit witnessed to me that what I was saying was true, and it also witnessed to me that the words which were coming out of my mouth were not my own, but that they were given to me from God. I expressed God's love for this family, and I could see the affect of the Spirit on them. It was a very joyous meeting, and one that I am grateful to have taken part in.

I am also consistently amazed by the ways that the Lord guides and directs us. 

We were out ringing a csengő and there were some people sitting on their balcony chatting. They listened to us ring for about 10 minutes, and finally asked, "Who are you looking for?" We told them who we are and what we do, and they told us that they weren't interested. I could just feel that they were irritated with us and was worrying that at any second they were going to come down and let us have it.

We kept ringing, despite the awkward feeling and right as we finished ringing the last bell, two people walked passed us and they were speaking English. We kind of chased them down, and I said, "Excuse me, I heard you speaking English and I'm wondering where you're from." One of them was from China and the other was a Hungarian news reporter. They were just talking about how nice the American people are and how hospitable they were when the reporter visited America.

This led to a really wonderful conversation, in English, as we walked up the street together. As we were walking back down the street, someone called out to us in English, saying, "Hey guys! Thanks for coming on your missions!" We then had another awesome conversation with him. 

Just think about the dominoes that were being set up and knocked down in this situation. It's amazing to me! I always love to think about the dominoes. "If this hadn't happened in exactly this way, then this wouldn't have happened either!"

Recognize the dominoes that are being set up and knocked over in your life and you too will be amazed by how involved the Lord is in your life.

Szeretettel,

Burnett elder

I've described this before, but I'll do it again for those of you who aren't familiar with tracting in Hungary. Most people live in 5 or 10 story buildings, and a lot of these are surrounded by a big metal fence. At the gate, there is a little box, called a csengő (bell), that has a keypad on it. Next to the keypad is a list of names and codes. You enter the code that's next to the name, and then a phone inside of the house will ring for about 30 seconds. When someone answers, you have a conversation over the phone and they either hang up, or they let you in by pressing a button that unlocks the gate (or sometimes the front door). Once you get into the front door, you then may have to ring a second bell at the corridor to the apartment you want to get into. It's a really painful process, especially because the phones can be heard all throughout the entire building. When we sit and ring the csengő, people tend to get upset after about 15 minutes of constant ringing (understandable). Sometimes they'll come down and yell at us and tell us nobody wants to hear our message and that we should go to France (that's a Hungarian swear).  

Maybe if we made days 26 hours, then I'd have time to do everything that I want to do each day...

Another packed week! Here are some highlights:
-Sang in a choir concert put on by the Buda ward. The theme was the Restoration and it was super awesome! There were some really talented singers and I had a lot of fun participating
-Took President Hettinger's car to get an oil change and spent several hours driving around Budapest. Luckily, the customer service at the dealership was actually really incredible. Grateful for that
-Found even more cool people to teach
-Went on exchanges in Dunaujvaros *typing this on an English keyboard, so no accent marks*

During exchanges, Elder Bridges and I wanted to focus on finding with the Spirit. I have read and heard many accounts of missionaries praying and fasting and being led by the Spirit directly to the front doorstep of someone who was ready to receive the Gospel. Elder Bridges and I decided that if we prayed and had enough faith, then surely we would end the exchange with an incredible story of us being led directly to someone who needed the message of the Restoration.

We set out to work, and worked hard all day, following every little impression we had. Around noon, we found ourselves in a little village called Kulcs, just outside of Dunaujvaros. We started with a prayer and set out to find the one! As we were walking, I glanced up and noticed a small dirt road behind a market, and immediately felt something kind of like a small electric shock. There was something about the road that felt magnetic. I asked Elder Bridges if he felt it too, and he said, "Yes, I felt something! That's the house! Let's go!" We practically skipped over to the house because we were so excited. It was actually working, and we were being led! 

As we stepped up to the front gate, I cleared my throat and rehearsed in my head how I would invite them to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the proper Priesthood authority of God. We rang the bell and my hands started to sweat.

Nothing.

Maybe they didn't hear us over the Mormon Messages they were certainly watching on YouTube? We rang the bell again, and this time, we heard the shifting of gravel coming from the side of the house. They were probably just in the backyard playing a game as a family, right?

Wrong.

 It was just a big Saint Bernard, who looked at us with his big droopy eyes and barked.

We left a card in the mailbox and then set out again. We were both feeling confused as to why we were led to that house. Why would we have both felt something so strongly if there was nobody there to begin with?

We tracted up and down those dusty roads, talking with old farmers and others for the rest of the day. We didn't find a single person who was interested.

I was reflecting back on this on our train ride home. Although we didn't find anybody to teach, I still believe that we were led there by God. He is constantly directing us, His imperfect servants, to where He needs us the most. As long as we humbly and prayerfully do our best to do God's work, we can be confident that He is leading us.

The story is not over! Perhaps sometime in the future we'll learn of some family in Kulcs, coming home to find a card left in their mailbox, with some intriguing information about Jesus Christ on it, that will lead them to finding the Jesus Christ's true Church, which has been restored to the earth through a Prophet.

Who knows?

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett elder

p.s. When we went to Kulcs, we knew that a train would pass through from Duna to Buda, and we planned on just going straight home from Kulcs. The whole day we spent in Kulcs, I had my backpack full of extra clothes and toiletries, and my shoulder bag which was full of books and study materials, and Elder Udy had all of his stuff too. 

We waited at the train station for a lot longer than we thought we would have to, and FINALLY we saw lights in the distance and heard the thunder of the train on the tracks. The lights and thunder came and immediately went. It didn't even stop!!!

So we had to take a bus back to Duna, then practically sprint to the train station... We barely made the train and the funny thing is, this train actually stopped in Kulcs...

Anyways, life is good.

I'd love to write about everything that happened this week, but neither you nor I have the time for that! I'll try to hit some highlights of the week.

-We found 3 new people to teach and had back to back lessons for the first time in this area in months.

-I got to go on exchanges with Elder Martin here in Buda and had one of the busiest days of my mission.

-We were blessed to be able to watch 3 sessions of General Conference in English up in the office (not sure when we'll watch the Sunday afternoon session). Most people watch the sessions at home, but as some households don't have internet access or television, the broadcast is made available at each meeting house in the country.

-We got news that Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Gary B. Sabin will be visiting Hungary and Romania at the end of October. Lot's of preparations are being made, and we're all very excited for their visit!

-I spent a lot of time planning travel for the Romanian missionaries to get to Bucharest for that event. I'm still working on getting them all back home, but as the information on Elder Cook's plans is limited, I'm not sure when I should send them home! Coordinating travel in Romania has been one of my biggest challenges in the office. Each event is its own puzzle with its own unique challenges and requirements. I'm happy to do it, but it's time consuming.

Earlier this week, we decided to go finding with the Assistants. We have a big banner about the Book of Mormon 21 Day Challenge campaign that's going on, and we wanted to set it up in a high-traffic area where we could stop people walking past and try and start a conversation with them. 

When we set out, the wind was blowing, the rain was pouring and I was thinking, "Wouldn't our time be better used doing something else? We have plenty of people whom we could call from our area book, and there are even better locations outside of the wind and rain where we could try to find people. Is it even worth trying here right now?"

We set up the banner, which couldn't withstand the wind on its own. Elder Udy took off his belt and used it to secure the post of the banner to a big metal pole, which holds up a screen that has public transit times on it. When the wind blew, the top of the banner was secure, but the bottom would kind of fly around, so we really had to keep an eye on it.

The other Elders didn't even seem phased by the weather, or by how silly our set up was so I didn't say anything. 

Despite the weather, and my doubts, we had the most successful session of finding I've had on my mission. We had many wonderful conversations and found several new people to teach. After a few hours, we were about to pack up and go to a meeting we had scheduled, but Elder Udy and I decided to stay for just 15 minutes more. Within those 15 minutes, we found another person with whom we are now meeting! I know that the Lord guided us to that location that day. I feel silly for doubting for even a second that our work would be in vain because of the weather. The Lord knows what He is doing, and He is constantly leading us to those who are prepared to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm humbled and grateful for this lesson.

I'm also so grateful for the opportunity that we had to listen to General Conference this weekend. So many powerful lessons, warnings and guidance as to how we should lead our lives in these days. We are so blessed to be members of Jesus Christ's Church, which has been restored in our day. We can know with a surety that He is leading and directing His people. The council that we receive during General Conference gives us the direction and guidance tailored to our needs. The Spirit can whisper to our hearts and minds things that we can do to improve and keep on the Covenant Path. 

I noticed themes like being firm, steadfast and immovable, being proactive in the fight between good and evil, building our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ and His teachings, finding peace and hope in this life because of our Savior and more. Anyone who sincerely listens to the words spoken at General Conference will see that all who speak in Conference have a singular purpose; to bring us all closer to Jesus Christ, and to help build our faith in Him through teaching us correct principles. I felt it time and time again as I listened. This Church is Christ's Church. These are His servants. This is His Gospel. I know it, and you can too if you study and pray.

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett elder

The translators all knew the big announcements long before the rest of us. They do a live translation with a 5 minute buffer, but the talks are translated in advance, as far as I know.

I really don't even know where to start with this one... This week was absolutely bonkers.

As we were walking home from shopping, I was telling Elder Udy about how we're pretty blessed in the office because a lot of people feed us. I said, "Life here is pretty good. It seems that meals are just placed under our feet as we step. Unfortunately, we probably won't get fed today because it's Saturday and nobody is in the office." I'm not kidding, not 5 minutes later, we were waiting at a red light when a woman tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hi, I'm a manager at KFC and we're conducting a survey today about some potential new products. Would you be interested in doing a taste test for us? It's free!"

I am thoroughly convinced, from this experience alone, that God both has a sense of humor and looks out for His children!

KFC is trying to release some products that are catered specifically to Hungarian taste buds. They started out with some questions like, "How old are you?" and "How often do you eat at KFC?" (they wrote false information for both of those questions, by the way. Why would they want to skew their own survey? Beats me!) Then they asked the real questions. First, the woman conducting the survey asked me "How pleased are you with the way that this chicken wrap looks?" and I said, "Well, it looks like any other chicken wrap I've ever had in my entire life, so I guess it's fine." but she wouldn't accept that. "Put it on a scale from 1 to 10." She said. "Hmmm maybe like a 6. It's nothing special but I guess it's not bad." I replied. Then she asked things like, "How does it make you feel knowing that there's corn in there?" and other funny stuff like that.

The test went like this for about 20 minutes and ended with her giving me a free chocolate bar and a handshake. I felt pretty important, shaping the future of KFC here in Hungary like that. I should have given her a pass along card with our number on it, just in case they ever have any more surveys.

The Romanian Assistants, Elder Welling (from Finland) and Elder Krylborn (from Sweden), came in on Tuesday and stayed the night with us.  After picking them up at the airport, we took them back to our apartment and treated them to a dinner of rakott krumpli and igazi madár tej (look it up, they're both delicious). We had so much fun together! They were here to pick up the new Romanian missionary who just came in and to help us figure some things out here in the office. We were laughing pretty much non-stop the whole time they were here. Elder Welling's American impersonation is hilarious! 

"Where's my barbecue corn, dude?" -Elder Welling

They stayed 2 nights with us and as soon as they were gone, we found ourselves headed back to the airport to pick up Elders Olmstead and Froerer, who came for a special training on how to use Facebook. Two guys who work for the Church in Freiberg came to give us an all day training on how we are going to use Facebook to spread the Gospel. It was actually one of the coolest experiences ever! Elder Udy and I are now editors of the official Church page in Hungary. No pressure. We get to respond to comments and messages, post content, and monitor the page. We've been doing it for a few days now, and it's quite a bit of fun! The sisters who are also monitoring the page even got an investigator out of it already! Super cool. Why have we been knocking on doors to invite others to come unto Christ when there's literally an invite button (invitation to like the page) on Facebook? Just kidding, tracting still yields results as well.

Speaking of which, Elder Udy and I got an interesting let in yesterday. We were knocking on doors in a 5 story block and a couple from China answered the door. They spoke neither English, nor Hungarian, but invited us in nonetheless. We used charades to explain why we were there and we were all laughing pretty hard about the whole situation. They were so friendly! They gave us some Coke and an email address, and we're going to send them some links to Church websites in Chinese.

I'm so excited for General Conference! The Conference schedule is interesting here. What's the Saturday morning session in America is actually the Saturday evening session here in Hungary. We'll likely watch the sessions with members in our meeting house.

General Conference is such a wonderful opportunity to receive personal revelation and guidance. It's really quite a miraculous event. Think about it! Speakers prepare messages that will touch the hearts of millions of people who they don't personally know. We get to hear the word of the Lord, as delivered by His chosen representatives here on the earth! His Apostles, His Prophets, His Disciples, His humble followers... They are all inspired by Him and will share guidance with us that will be a bastion of peace for us in the coming 6 months. I encourage you all to prepare for this special time by thinking of, and writing down, your concerns and questions. Pray about them and seek personal revelation. I promise that in some way, through some channel, God will answer your question in a very personal way. He wants to speak to YOU and He will! Just listen.

I love you all and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful to be a member of His restored Church in the latter-days! Life is good.

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett elder

Hungarian of the week: Instead of giving someone "knuckles", Hungarians give "krumpli" which means "potato".

"Bro, that was sick! Give me some potato!"