It's flu season, and none are immune! Except for us, we got immunized ;) But plot twist, we got sick this week regardless, so that was a bummer, but we'll get to that later. Here's the breakdown of this week:

"Sausage Claus" - (There was a holiday called Disznó Vágás or pig slaughter)

Monday we were in Budapest for exchanges and interviews. I was with my m8 from down under, Elder Mccann. Since we were there on p-day, we got to go bowling with the Assistants and the Secretaries and we had a ton a fun. That evening, we had a lesson with a woman in a café. She had been stopped by the APs sometime last week and wanted to learn more. She was very nice and listened carefully and asked a lot of questions. One question that she asked me was, "How has your mission changed you?" I couldn't just tell her one thing. I talked about how I've learned what happiness is, I've learned what sadness is, I've learned what true poverty is, I've learned what true humility is, I've learned loneliness, I've learned really who I am and why I'm here on earth. As I was just pouring all of this stuff out and blabbing on and on, I said, "Do you feel that feeling in your heart?" (I knew that she could feel it, because I could feel it. My ears were burning and that always tells me that I'm speaking through the Spirit haha) She said, "Yes, I feel it." and I told her "That's the Spirit of God testifying that these things are good and true. I get to feel that all the time and I get to help others feel that. Isn't that awesome?" Then she just looked at me and said, "Wow! I have goosebumps!" The Spiritual terrarium that we had created in that little café was the perfect environment for us to extend a commitment. She was so excited about reading the Book of Mormon and learning more about what she was feeling. It was one of the best lessons I've ever been a part of.

Tuesday we met a man in the park named Ábel. He looked like he was deep in thought on a bench, so we went up and started talking to him. At first, he was a little skeptical of us and kind of mocked the idea of what we were doing, asking questions that were probably more to provoke us than to actually get an answer. As we answered, he changed and got serious. We ended up teaching him about the Restoration of the Gospel and he said, "You know, I have a lot of questions about these things. I don't know what to do and I feel lost. I feel like this might help me." And then we set up to meet with him on Thursday. Being a missionary is so cool, lemme tell ya.

Wednesday we did some translation work for the Ockeys and the Europe Area Welfare Manager, Gilles Francois. We first went to an assisted living home for children with severe autism and other mental disabilities and took a tour of the facility. It was an incredibly unique and humbling experience. After that, we went to a children's hospital in the oncology wing to see about helping with some funding for new equipment. After all of the translation work, we went out for lunch and ordered a ton of delicious food from Calico Jack's. Brother Francois was awesome and I felt like I had known him for years by the end of our day together. It was so cool to take part in this kind of work!

Thursday I woke up with a little tingle in my throat. At first, I thought my throat was just dry, but I soon realized I was getting sick. The day was pretty normal and we had a really awesome English Class, but I went home and just passed out because I was so weak and tired.

Friday after District Council, we went over to the Ockeys' house to try a home remedy called a mustard plaster (I guess it's a Canadian thing? Go ahead and google it haha). Well, they don't have mustard powder here, so we tried bottled mustard. Unfortunately it didn't really do anything except make me smell like a hot dog hahaha. It was worth a shot, eh?

Later that day the Szolnok Elders came up for exchanges. Elder Barton and I went out and I felt like a zombie, but we still had a good time. We've spent a lot of time together, but we've never been on exchanges together so it was a lot of fun to finally get some one on one time with him.

Saturday after exchanges, we went and visited Ken. We went to a little café and ordered some delicious white hot chocolate and had a good conversation with him. He's a great man! 

As we were walking home from our meeting with Ken, we ran into the Ockeys and Gagniers, who were on their way to dinner. Naturally, they invited us to come with them and of course, we accepted the invitation. We went to this place called IKON Debrecen, which is... well, a VERY fancy place. I had some duck with sweet potatoes and oranges and it was really interesting. I also got to taste squid ink (kinda tastes like buttered toast) and some other cool stuff that was really fancy. We get so spoiled, that's for sure!

Here's the duck.  Parker said it tasted like baby food.

Then of course yesterday we had Church and Elder Smith got sick too. We decided to rest and try to get better, and it worked! We're feeling much better now. Oh, also we may have accidentally locked Csáki Csaba in the meeting house.... whoops! Don't worry though, someone came to get him hahaha.

Things are going great! I'm still a little foggy brained and sore throated, but I'm happy and life is great. I love my mission and I feel so blessed to be here.

Chapstik blow out...

I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Burnett