This week started off with Elder Cook, Elder Sabin and their wives coming to visit and it was incredible. Elder Sabin has a special place in my heart, because his talk "Stand Up Inside and Be All In"  from April, 2017 is one of my all-time favorites. They shared stories and insights that really changed the way I have thought about my life and about my mission.

There were several meetings; first, they visited the missionaries in Romania. After that, they came to Hungary and spoke to the missionaries here. Finally, they addressed the Hungarians in a big Stake Conference like meeting.

I'll paraphrase a few of my favorite parts.

Elder Sabin: 

-"You can't sit at a fireplace and say 'Give me fire and I'll give you wood!' You have to first pay the price. So it is with gaining a testimony and creating a relationship with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ."

-"Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere."

-One of the Apostles was addressing a congregation in a foreign country, and on the podium he noticed a note that said "Speak slowly! You are being translated!" He looked up into the sky and said, "Well, it isn't working! I'm still here!"

-"We don't know when the Second Coming will be, but it's one day closer today that it was yesterday!"

-"We are professors of happiness!"

-"We are recalled to our missions every day."

Elder Cook:

-Advised us to pay special attention to Elder Ballard's most recent talk. Said it may be one of the most important talks given in recent history.

-Promised that if we would get people to Sacrament meeting, we would see greater success and more lives changed.

-He blessed us to realize that our service will bless everybody whom we love.

The best part of the whole thing was when Elder Cook bore his special witness of Jesus Christ to us. Toward the end of the meeting, he got very serious. The whole room fell into complete silence, and I thought, "Oh boy, he's about to say something that's going to change my life!"

He then said, "I know that we must protect our sacred experiences, and only share them when appropriate. I feel like with you all, I need to be direct and clear. Pay close attention to my words. I know Jesus Christ's voice. I know Jesus Christ's face. I am a special witness that He lives." When he said that, EVERYONE in the room felt that what he was saying was true. There is absolutely no doubt about it. His words pierced my heart in a way that I've never felt before. It was powerful, and it was life changing.

I'm so grateful that the Lord is mindful of His people, no matter where they are in the world. I am grateful that He loves us and that He has paved the road for us to come back to Him. I know that He lives and I know that He loves us! This is our joyous message to the world! We are so blessed to have this knowledge.

We also saw plenty of other miracles this week. For example, we met a woman a few weeks ago named Marianna. She and her husband, Philip, are religious, but don't know which church to go to. We have been trying, unsuccessfully, to meet with them for the past 2 weeks. Finally, we decided to just go and show up and their house. I looked up their address on our map, and charted our course. When we went out, somehow (it's because I'm directionally challenged) we got completely lost. After asking someone for directions, we finally found their block. The next challenge was that we had no idea which csengő was theirs! I had written down that it was number 5, but there was no indication of which bell was to which door. We rang the first bell, and a young man came out and let us into the complex. The next challenge was that we had no idea which door was theirs, so we started knocking. The first door belonged to the young man who let us in, and the second door was answered by a dark skinned man. We introduced ourselves and he interrupted, asking, "Do you speak English?" We then explained that we were missionaries, and that we were looking for Marianna. Then, he yelled, "Marianna! Someone is here to see you!" She responded, "It's those two young men! They're here to see YOU! Tell them to come in!"

We had an incredible conversation with them that was totally led by the Spirit. The biggest miracle was that because of their work schedules, they are very rarely at home at the same time. Marianna explained that we came at the perfect time and that had we come just 15 minutes earlier, we would have missed them.

We are never lost. Only guided (albeit, unknowingly at times!) Okay just kidding, sometimes we're definitely lost haha. But as you can see, the Lord weaves our weaknesses into His perfect plan and makes things work out. Amazing.

The second big miracle was getting Ibolya to Sacrament Meeting. She is a pretty closed off person, and keeps to herself for the most part. We met with her this week and focused on inviting her to Church. At first, she said, "No, no. It's not something I'm interested in." After that, I had no idea what to say.... so I just started bearing testimony and shared with her what a blessing it is to attend Church and remember the Savior. Elder Udy backed me up with his own testimony and a promise that if she would come, she would find her way and feel peace in her life.

She gave us a solid maybe, but I knew she felt the Spirit. At the end of the meeting, as we were parting ways, I said, "Okay, we'll see you Sunday morning!" And she said, "We'll see!"

Long story short (but still pretty long, sorry) she came to Church! The members were awesome and made her feel welcome, and one of the members even sat next to her and answered questions that she had.

 

One last, very important story:

Some Krishna guys stole our favorite contacting spot in Széll Kálmán tér and one of them stopped us and talked about their book. Afterward, he gave us his card and Facebook info and a little cookie in a bag that he was giving out to people (genius). Now we know what it feels like hahaha. The guy's name was Dávid and he was super nice. Later that same day, we went back to Széll Kálmán tér with the 21 Day BOM Challenge banner, and Dávid and his friends were still out preaching the word. We set up our banner and started talking with people. Then, some actors came and did a recreation of a call to action to Hungarian laborers in the 1950's. They were dressed in old timey clothes and they got up on a box and started shouting "He who is Hungarian, joins with us!" They were waving papers in the air that said, "Free Hungary!" or something like that. On top of that, there was a drunk homeless guy throwing bags of seeds around the square, yelling at nobody in particular. 

Between us, the Krishna missionaries, the actors and the hobo, there was quite a bit of commotion in the square. We still had some great conversations and saw some success.

Also, the drunk guy eventually came over to us, as they always do, and we started chatting. I don't know what I said, but out of nowhere he said, "I love you, man. You're a good guy." Then he took my hand and kissed it hahahaha.

I am so grateful for the experiences that I'm having here in Hungary. I really never imagined that I would do anything like this. I spent all day yesterday translating a Hungarian rental agreement into English for crying out loud. If you told me 2 years ago that someday I would be doing that, I wouldn't have believed it. But here I am, being blessed so abundantly by a loving Father in Heaven, who is patiently guiding us through this crazy adventure.

Sok szeretettel,

Burnett elder