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!