Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm now in Debrecen, the second biggest city in Hungary right behind Budapest. We live right next to a beautiful university, so we run into a lot of students from different countries. Most of them speak English, and trying to talk to people in English has been surprisingly difficult. It feels much more natural in Hungarian, and I feel like the freedom of speaking in my native language also gives me the freedom to get off track more easily. It'll take a little bit of practice :)

Christmas in Hungary spans 3 days, starting on Christmas Eve and ending the day after Christmas. Traditional Christmas foods include fish soup, pig jello, stuffed cabbage, szalon cukor (a kind of jelly candy in chocolate) and Christmas bread called beigli. Yesterday we baked cookies and delivered them to members, part member families, and returning members, and we almost came home with more sweets than we gave! Such are the Hungarians! Beigli is kinda gross, and there are only 2 flavors: walnut and poppy seed. The members of the branch have been so kind, and we've been fed so many meals this week! We probably have enough leftovers to last us through the transfer and enough beigli to last us until next year!

^ The local college

^ The branch building

The Elders from Nyiregyháza, Elder Hudson (whom I trained) and Elder Proctor (whom Elder Hudson is training), came to Debrecen this morning and we're spending the day with them and the Ockeys, the senior couple serving here. Sister Ockey is an incredible cook, and we've already been so spoiled by a huge brunch and will continue to be spoiled with a turkey dinner! Can you tell that life is good here?

There is just too much to write about, so I'll just do some bullet points:

-I got to take the departing Romanians out for the day before they left. We spent our p-day together sight-seeing and running various errands. It was a lot of fun, since I worked with all of them doing travel stuff. They gave me the nickname "The People's Champion" because they liked working with me so much :)

-I got to go pick up the new missionaries from the airport with the AP's, President and Sister Hettinger since I didn't have much work to do in the Office (Elder Morgan was there to take over, and I had finished my training with him). I then got to take some of the new missionaries out for their first experience contacting. The two that I took out were so brave! We were walking down the street and I was pumping them up and getting them ready when we saw an adult couple making out in the middle of the path. One of the new missionaries so innocently asked, "Do you think that they want to hear our message?" I looked at him, smiled, and said, "Yes, I think that they do! Go get 'em!" Ahhhhh, it was priceless! They got the couple's attention and explained what they were doing and why they had interrupted. I jumped in and we were able to have a pretty good conversation with them. I was so impressed by our new missionaries and their bravery. We really have such a good group of new missionaries!

-That same day, I got to take two Elders to their first lesson. The lesson was with a man from Jordan, who spoke English and Arabic. You'll never believe this, but one of the new missionaries whom I took with me to the lesson (at random, by the way) studied Arabic and was able to speak with the man in his native language! It was AWESOME. God is in the details of everything, it never ceases to amaze me.

-We had MLC in Budapest, the first one in months that I haven't been banished from haha

-We had a branch Christmas party and it was great! The members here are so nice!

-We got let into a 20 story, which is the tallest building I've been in so far on my mission.

I'm looking forward to Skyping with my family today. This will be my first and only Christmas Skype as a missionary! It's crazy how quickly the time is going by. I feel like just yesterday I was walking down the dusty roads of Szombathely in the 100 degree heat, and now here I am on the other side of the country in the snow. I've been thinking lately about heroes. I am grateful for the example of so many heroes in the Book of Mormon, the example of my great parents and siblings, the example of my ancestors, and so many others who really are heroes to me. I am grateful for a merciful God, who gave us the perfect Hero, our Savior, Jesus Christ. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for our Him to give us that great gift, but I am so grateful that He did! During this Christmas season, we remember the day when God gave us the greatest gift possible: a perfect Example, a Savior, and a Hero!

We are blessed beyond our realization by this great Gift.

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Burnett

It's transfer time! Drumroll please......

I'm going to go to Debrecen with Elder Seeley! I'm beyond excited! I loved my time in the office; I really learned a lot, but I'm excited for this next assignment.

We started the week out with Zone Conferences, which were awesome! One of the perks of serving in the Office is that we get to eat lunch at each of the Zone Conferences. One of the downsides (which is minor) is that lunch was the same for each Zone Conference, so we had chicken cordon bleu for 3 days in a row (it was delicious and we're blessed to be fed so much, so I'm not even upset). We also got flu shots, and I didn't even cry :)

During Zone Conference, we had a non member who was being taught by some of the missionaries in Kispest come and we each took turns teaching him the Plan of Salvation. Beforehand, Elder Udy and I were joking that if we went last, we would give him a baptismal date. Well, guess who were the last to teach him! We were! The Spirit in the room was so sweet and everyone was feeling it. The teaching had gone wonderfully, so we went for it and gave him a baptismal challenge. He was surprised, but excitedly accepted! It was such a good experience for everyone.

On Wednesday, Elder Morgan joined us to take my place. We've been working hard to get him trained up and ready to take over here in the office.

On Sunday we sang in the choir for a Christmas concert, which was really fun. We invited tons of people and a few of them showed up! There was a ward lunch right before the concert, and we got an entire fridge of leftovers given to us. We're pretty spoiled :)

The departing Romanians came to Hungary yesterday and I got to spend some time with them. I've done tons of work with all of their travel and things, so I know them all by name, but it was nice to finally put names to faces. We've got a busy schedule with missionaries leaving tomorrow morning, new missionaries coming in today, and MLC tomorrow. Elder Seeley and I have to lead a discussion in MLC and the first time we see each other in person will be at the meeting, so that should be fun to plan.

There are lots of things to look forward to! I'm excited to have more time to dedicate to proselyting and teaching and I know we're going to see miracles in the East!

Boldog Karácsonyt! (Merry Christmas!)

Elder Burnett

Playing ring toss with inflatable reindeer antlers

The Péter Chronicles Part 3

We met with Péter again and well... it didn't go the way we thought it would. He basically told us that the Book of Mormon is awesome and that he really likes it, but he just doesn't want to change and he's going to stick with the Catholic church. He's still interested in coming to Church sometime, so we're not giving up hope. I'm obviously disappointed, but at the same time I feel peaceful about the whole thing. We respect his agency, and only sincerely want to help in any way that we can. If he needs time, then he needs time. I'll let you all know if anything else develops but for now, it seems like this is the last chapter in that book.

In Hungary, Mikulás (Santa Claus) comes on December 6th. The children leave their boots outside and he leaves gifts for the good children and sticks for the bad children. Since everyone is naturally a "little bit bad", everybody gets a stick or two in their boot. Sometimes, he is accompanied by Krampusz (the Anti-Santa, who comes from German folklore), who pesters people who have misbehaved throughout the year.

Mikulás didn't leave any candy in our boots, but we got our fair share of chocolate from members and friends! I'm happy to report that I didn't get a single stick (yet) :)

In order to Light the World, we made gift boxes for children in a local hospital, and we went with the Budapest YSA to sing to people in a retirement home. It was super fun and it was a great opportunity for us to light our community!

The highlight of our week was probably exchanges in Dunaújváros. We left at 5 in the morning in order to get a full 24 hour exchange in before our meeting with Péter on Wednesday. When we got there, we had breakfast and then went straight out to work. Elder Jameson and I had 2 lessons planned, but they both fell through, leaving us with an 8 hour window of nothing. So, we went hard and just talked with everybody in our path for 8 hours straight. We tracted at least 10 5 story's and had at least a dozen really great conversations and a couple dozen less great interactions haha.

At the end of the day between both of our companionships, we had scheduled meetings with 8 new people for the upcoming week! It was one of the most exhausting days of my life, but it made flopping into bed at the end of the day a glorious moment.

We've got a lot of work coming up this week! Transfers, Zone Conference, Christmas, a choir concert, and a new campaign starting on Facebook are all upon us. There seems to be a never ending list of projects and deadlines, but through it all, we are happily and peacefully trucking along. The chaos and constant busy work in the office has made me really appreciate the peaceful morning hours, when I can prepare for the day through study and prayer. I have found so much strength in the stories found within the scriptures! I'm currently reading about Captain Moroni fortifying the cities in preparation for battle against the Lamanites. He built up walls and towers around the weakest points of each city, strategically posted his men to make the most of what man-power they had, and most importantly, he paid attention to and sought the Lord and His guidance. When the Lamanites came, they were disappointed and frustrated when they found that the Nephites were so prepared for them.

Much like Captain Moroni, we too can (and must) fortify ourselves against our enemies. We can build spiritual fortifications and defenses each day as we read and study the scriptures, attend and participate in church meetings, and actively and happily serve others. When the armies of the adversary arrive at our cities, they will be disappointed to see that we are well defended, and their efforts will be thwarted. They will move on, knowing that any attempt to siege such a citadel would be futile.

Go and build up your walls this week and you'll be blessed with a special shield of protection from the temptations and distractions of the world!

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett elder

It's getting super cold. We saw snow this week! It was pretty pitiful, but it was still snow. I'll take it over the rain!

Remember Péter? Things got crazy with him - in a good way. We were surprised to see a message from him on Facebook, which said, "Hey Elders! I simply can't free myself from the Book of Mormon. I tried going back to the Catholic church, but it's not really going... What should I do?" Dumbfounded, we asked, "Do you think that God is trying to tell you that the Book of Mormon is true?" He responded, "I believe that there is truth in the book and that God can speak to me through it." Long story short, he's giving it another chance and we're meeting on Wednesday. What an impressive display of the converting power of the Book of Mormon, partnered with the Holy Ghost!

Christmas is a great time to share the Gospel. We went caroling door to door last week, and were invited to come back by a family! We shared the story of the birth of the Savior, and they loved it. They're super duper religious, and very faithful to their Church, so they didn't want to meet with us further, but we left them with a copy of the Book of Mormon and a light the world calendar, and definitely a good impression. The family had 3 young children between the ages of 6 and 12 and they were seriously the cutest, most well behaved kids ever. I'm sure they'll remember the time two American missionaries came to their house to share the Christmas story with them, and maybe in the future this will lead to something later. Who knows?  

Other highlights:

-We got a new shower installed. It was honestly put in pretty terribly, and our house was left a mess... and to top it all off, the new shower leaks.... but thank goodness we got a "new" shower! Hahaha

-The Assistants' apartment is being painted, so they're staying in our apartment while we're on exchanges in Dunaújváros this week

-We got lost in a super sketchy little farm village. Long story, but an awesome adventure!

-We got sushi from some new sushi place. Unfortunately, we won't be doing that again haha

Not much else to report. Things are good!

Have a wonderful week!

Szeretettel,

Burnett elder