We had a lot of visitors this week including the one and only Elder Rohner (one of my companions from the MTC) who got to spend the night in our apartment. One of the best parts about being an office elder is that we have the apartment that is closest to the mission home, so we get to host a lot of elders who come through Budapest and have to stay a night.

This week, I got cleared to start driving! Driving here in Hungary is pretty much the same as in America, but the signs are different and there are some small differences in rules. The biggest thing is that it's much more chaotic, in my opinion. There are sections of the city where the lines in the road have worn off, and therefore you have no real direction. You just kind of go for it and hope that nobody is going for it in your direction at the same time lol. Also, the roads are super thin so you have to hold your breath a lot while squeezing between cars.

We had zone conferences this week and Elders Suggs, Martin, McCann, and I all sang "Lord, I would follow thee" in Hungarian a cappella. If I find a recording, I'll be sure to send it out :)

I got to have my own special part in zone conference! President Hettinger asked me to give a "funny, but hard hitting" presentation to pump people up about cleaning their apartments, because we have been having trouble with some landlords who are unhappy with the way that missionaries have been treating their apartments. So, I got up there and singed some eyebrows :). I'm grateful that I was raised in a household where we learned to do our chores. Now, I get to share that with missionaries! hahaha

The highlight of our week was yesterday when we went out to lunch with my dear friend, Rozi néni (aunt Rozi). She is the sweetest woman ever, and she loves to take the missionaries out to eat. I think that she takes 3 or 4 companionships from 2 different cities out to lunch every week! Anyways, she always takes us to this gyros place in Széll Kálmán tér. The problem is, that gyros place is pretty much the worst hahaha. They reheat the meat in the microwave and the gyros always turns out soggy. So, naturally, we suggested to Rozi néni that instead of microwaved gyros, we get microwaved chinese food instead. She was happy to switch it up a little bit and we went to a little hole in the wall chinese place on the street corner. I got soup, a main dish, and a drink for 990 forint (3.52 USD) hahahahaha. Anyways, halfway through our meal, a random woman comes up to us and asks, "Do you speak Hungarian? Can you please watch my baby while I use the bathroom?" and we were like, "Woaaaah, yes we speak Hungarian but no we definitely can't hold your baby, sorry. Maybe Rozi néni can!" and of course, Rozi néni is the sweetest person to ever live, so she took the baby and we waited. Once the mom came back, we invited her to sit and have lunch with us, which she did happily. We naturally started talking about the Church, and she was super open and accepting of everything! We invited her to Church and she said she would love to come. She was asking, "Can my son come? Are their boys his age?" and we said, "Yes of course! Please come! He would love it!" So she excitedly wrote the address of the church down and said she would be there. What a miracle! All because we didn't want soggy gyros and because I have a soft spot in my heart for reheated chinese :)

Of course, she lives in the other elders' area.... so she would meet with them. But that's okay, it's still miraculous!

In other news, someone gave me a bag of mountain dew flavored popcorn that fizzes in your mouth. Weird.

Things are going well and I love being a missionary. Lot's of crazy stuff happening and no time to explain!

I know that the Lord is leading and guiding us every single day, whether we know it or not. One of my favorite things to do is trace all of the events that lead me to a specific moment and look for the Lord's hand in that. For example, think of all the things that had to happen for us to meet Veronika (the woman in the Chinese restaurant). I know that God knows us each individually, and He is directing us always. It's so cool to have experiences like this where we can see His hand in our lives so directly. He certainly planned for us to cross paths with Veronika, and I'm so grateful to be an instrument in His hands!

Have a super duper week!

szeretettel,

Burnett Elder

Hungarian of the week: Apparently, Hungarian has contributed the words "goulash", "paprika", and "vampire" to English. Pretty cool!