We met with two new investigators, Ica and Erika, this week and they're both really sweet nénis (grandmas, I think). Ica has been coming to church every week since we had our Plan of Salvation fireside last month, but we haven't been able to meet with her due to conflicting schedules. She's amazing and just one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She already gets along so well with everyone in the branch and she says she feels like she's home when she's there. She's been through a lot in her life, but she has smiled through it all! She's had a lot of health challenges and says that God must have a pretty good reason for keeping her going.

Erika was found by the sisters, who streeted into her. Since she lives in our area, we get to teach her, despite the fact that the sisters are the ones who found her. She is really accepting and loves the Book of Mormon. She told us she really wants to learn more, which is always a great thing to hear from an investigator! While we were meeting with her, she said, "So they call the girl missionaries 'Nővér', what do they call the boys?" and Elder Biesinger said, "Elder." and then Erika was like, "No, like, what do they CALL them?" and he again said, "Elder." then she was like, "No, you don't understand. I mean what do they call them that means that they're missionaries?" and I butted in with, "Elder is a title that they use which means that we're missionaries." Then she was like, "Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhh I understand now."

Aren't language barriers fun?

We were able to go to Tihany, which is a little village on the lake Balaton (I think, I might be completely wrong. You should always take my information as a grain of salt to be honest haha) with some of our investigators, Udit and János. They are super nice and saw that the weather was nice and invited us to spend our pday with them sightseeing. It was beautiful! We went on a really pretty hike through some thick woods and up to a lookout tower that overlooks the lake Balaton and the surrounding villages. My camera really doesn't do the scene justice. It was really quite a sight! We passed a church which was over 600 years old! Some of it had been restored, but the bottom half of it was original. We also got to see some of the old fashioned Hungarian houses and markets with thatch roofs. There's a lot of history and beautiful sights here.

We also were able to have a meeting with our branch president and his family and the Bradshaws, who are the self reliance specialist senior missionaries. We were there to help translate for the Bradshaws, but we really didn't have to do much because President Fehér and his wife, Isabella speak wonderful English! This was a huge surprise to Elder Biesinger and me!

 The self reliance program is truly inspired and I'm so excited to be able to be a part of it. The Bradshaws related a story, or in Sister Bradshaw's words, "A truth", which happened in Romania, just next door. There was a branch which decided to start the 12 week self reliance program and they started out with a group of just 7 people (I'm not sure if they were members or not). They had so much fun together that they started posting about what they were learning and doing on Facebook. Over time, their friends saw what they were doing and wanted to join them. Now they have a group of 200 people participating in the self reliance classes every week! Can you believe that?

In Albania, there was a group of 6 non-members who started taking the classes through this program as well. Before the 12 week program was finished, 5 of them had already been baptized. It's amazing to see the Lord's hand in His work. It surely is being hastened!

The program teaches fundamentals which will help people become self reliant, both spiritually and physically. There really is something for everyone as there are classes which focus on education, finances, starting a business, and finding a better job, each taught with underlying principles and truths which are spiritual and will help others come closer to Jesus Christ and become spiritually self reliant as well.

I am so excited about the work and the sharing of the gospel! I'm grateful for the blessed time in which we all live. Consider how lucky and blessed we are and count your blessings today. You may be surprised at how much you have! Have a wonderful week!

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett Elder

Hungarian word of the week is Kukac. They call the "@" symbol a "kukac" which also means worm. 

Also, a quick disclaimer for anyone who has been paying attention to my Hungarian words of the week or for anyone who speaks better than I do: I have realized as I've learned more about the language that some of my previous words of the week have had slightly different meanings and translations than I thought or have said, so forgive me and try not to cringe too hard at my mistakes hahahaha.