We started off our week with a trip to the immigration office to report our address change. Debrecen is different, because it's the only immigration office that requires a pre-scheduled appointment. You would think that by scheduling an appointment, you would ensure that you are serviced at the time of your appointment....The key is that you would think that....Turns out, it's just the same as any other immigration office. 

Step 1: Walk in

Step 2: Wait in line

Step 3: Get a number 

Step 4: Repeat Step 2

Step 5: Hope that all of your paperwork is correct

Step 6: Profit

The only difference is that you can't get past step 2 without a reservation in Debrecen. 

Somewhere between steps 1 and 2 we met a student from Seoul, Korea named Ma. He was there to pick up a residency permit, but didn't schedule an appointment. There was a woman who was relentlessly turning people away and honestly being a jerk. When she got to Ma, she tore him apart for thinking he could just walk in willy-nilly and "quickly pick up his permit" and told him that they're so incredibly busy that they can't just squeeze in new appointments whenever they feel like it. Despite her condescending tone and rudeness, Ma just very calmly said, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I'll make a reservation and try again another time. Thank you!" We chatted for a little bit and he took off. I was super bummed that I didn't get any contact info from him.

About a half hour later, we overheard the cranky woman saying (in Hungarian) "This is a joke...You've got to be kidding me" We turned around to see Ma with a huge grin on his face, proudly showing the appointment he had scheduled on his phone hahahaha. He said, "You wanted an appointment, so I scheduled one!" 

I got his contact info this time and we had a good laugh about his witty work around. What a legend!

(Side note: I asked him what he does in his free time and he's like, "My free time? I GAME dude!" hahahaha. Turns out, he's Master Tier in League of Legends, or in other words ridiculously good... We had a good time talking about that)

The next day we had Zone Conference which was super awesome! We gave a training about making loving corrections of disobedience issues and speaking Hungarian at all opportunities. Elder Hess and I played a duet on guitar for a song we had never practiced together and it went pretty well, considering the circumstances. Now that Zone Conference is over, I feel like a pretty big burden has been lifted off of my shoulders.

Elder Seeley and I saw some awesome miracles this week. We received a referral for a man who lives in a little village just outside of Debrecen. We went to deliver a copy of the Book of Mormon to him, hoping to share the message of the Restoration with him and his family, but unfortunately he wasn't home. If there's one thing I've learned on my mission, it is that the Lord is constantly leading us, no matter what and no matter where we are. So long as we're trying our best, we will always be in the right place at the right time. We saw this first hand as we decided to go and tract some buildings around our referral. After some rejection, a man covered in tattoos answered his door. Before we could even get a sentence out, he goes, "Joseph Smith? Come in, come in!" This man's name is Zoltán. He had heard about the Church from some documentaries and books, but never had the opportunity to really learn about it. We taught him the Restoration and the Spirit that was present was incredible. Zoltán happily accepted the Book of Mormon as well as a commitment to read and pray about it. We are meeting with him again in 2 weeks (he will be out of town) and are very excited about it. I know that we were led to him!

It doesn't end there! We were burning with the Spirit after that lesson, which is the perfect time to keep going, so we pressed forward and tracted the next building over. Almost everyone was pretty rude to us, except for the last door. An older woman answered and we talked with her, bearing testimony and teaching simple truths. She was not religious, and looked physically uncomfortable throughout the conversation. She didn't close the door though, so we kept going. Eventually, we asked if she would be interested in learning more about God's plan for us through the Book of Mormon. She agreed and let us in! We talked with her, her husband, and her son and are meeting with them again next week.

Other Highlights:

-We met a stray dog who was actually really cute and nice. We named him Menyhért.

-It snowed again

-Went on exchanges again in Nyíregyháza and I met with Tár Tibor again (the guy who wants to start a band). I got really serious with him about his not coming to Church. We'll see if he decides to make changes in his life.

-We went to a Ukranian market that was one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. I felt like we were in a movie. Tons of clothes, knives, candies, bizarre foods, tools, electronics, and everything in between were on display. I felt like we were walking through a city made of iron sheds and tents. I tried to get a some pictures of some of the less crowded places (I didn't want to walk around taking pictures of random people and the goods that they're selling) so maybe you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

The market with no people...

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Szeretettel,

Elder Burnett