This week was quite a party! 

We started off with an exchange with Elders Inglish (new) and Barton. They came up monday night and we celebrated New Year's together by drinking some sparkling cider. I saw a lot of masks and noise makers for sale on some displays in the town square, so I assume that on Szilveszter there is some sort of masquerade or something. I'm not 100% sure about that though, since we were asked to be inside by 7 pm that day. I think that the celebrations are pretty similar to how we do it in America. There were tons of fireworks at midnight, so we went onto the balcony for about 10 minutes to watch before crawling into bed. The sound of the explosions bouncing off of all of the 10 story buildings was pretty cool.

Hungarian baptismal font

Immediately after that exchange, we left Debrecen and headed to Békéscsaba. Elder Smith got really sick and had to go up to Budapest for a few days, so we took his companion, Elder Dalton (one of the missionaries whom I took out on their first day; he started the conversation with the couple who was making out), to Debrecen to work with us while his companion was recovering. We had a great time in our little trio! Elders De Baun (also new) and Williamson from Szeged also came up  for an exchange that we had planned a few weeks ago so there were 5 of us in our little apartment.

We had some ups and some downs this week, but were able to find some new people to teach and take the new missionaries out to some great teaching appointments.

There's really not a ton of super exciting things to update on. We're very busy, and being a Zone Leader has brought some fun new responsibilities. For example, we participated in a Stake leadership coordination meeting with the Stake and Mission Presidencies, in which we had to report on the units in our Zone and how the missionaries are working with members. It was a cool experience to participate in a meeting like that and see some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes on here.

2 hour Church went by so quickly! Here in Hungary there was a mix of meeting times. Some units met for 2 hours and some met for 3. The only place in which I've served where Church meetings were only 2 hours was Sopron. I think that the change to 2 hours will be really nice, especially for those who have to travel up to an hour just to get to Church!

Parker bought a whip!

A few days ago, I read about the Army of Helaman. I love Helaman's affection and love for his "little army". I think that their relationship is touching. I especially love the stalwart exactness of the army! They followed every order with exactness, and because of that they were blessed with great faith, protection, and many victories. A few weeks ago, I talked about fortifying our faith and preparing ourselves for our future battles. As we follow the Prophet and his counsel, the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and keep the commandments with exactness, we can also be blessed with increased access to Heavenly help. Who doesn't need more of that?

Legyen jó hetetek!

Elder Burnett