Serbia Pictures

A view of the church that the guys spent the week building in Erdevik, Serbia.


Some of the church people that the guys had the privilege of interacting with during the week.

A Couple of Updates

*Curt and the FBC team are still in Serbia and will return tomorrow. We haven't had a lot of communication from them because of where they're located. But what communication we have gotten is that they are doing well. We are thankful for that! No one has been injured on the work site and apparently no one has gotten sick. They have a full day today and and a full morning on Friday. Then they head back to Budapest in the afternoon. They will be exhausted! Hopefully, the FBC guys will feel up to a little sightseeing and shopping in Budapest on Saturday. They leave very early on Sunday to return to the states. Thank you for your prayers for them! Please keep praying....

*The Ladies Bible Study Fellowship class has ended for the year. We had our last class day this past Tuesday and we are rejoicing in God's faithfulness. The book of Genesis proved to be a life-changing study for the leaders and for the class members. In the last couple of days, we have heard from many of you telling us that you had prayed for the Budapest class all year. How grateful we are for your prayers! You will be amazed to hear how God has answered those prayers. Hopefully, we'll get a chance this summer to tell you of His goodness to the Budapest class.

brannons@scsonline.com

Mission Team

Our 3 guy mission team arrived safely in Budapest. Tomorrow, the three of them and Curt will leave for Serbia to help build a church in Erdevik. We were glad to see the guys arrive! They brought greetings and love from First Bible Church. They are: Barry Keith, Phil Olinger, and Scottie Hubbard. Please continue to pray for the men as they serve!

Birthday Cake

We're always looking for ways to celebrate around our house! So the girls decided to surprise Shay with a "BSF Birthday" cake today. Today was the last class for Genesis and next week is a wrap-up session with praise and sharing with class members and leaders. So, Olivia and Meredith thought that we needed to celebrate the official one year birthday of BSF in Budapest! God has been so faithful to us in BSF this year!

Mission Trip

Three men from our home church (First Bible Church) in Decatur will be arriving in Budapest this coming Saturday. These men have committed time and money to come to this part of the world to help build a church in Serbia. They arrive on Saturday and then will leave with Curt on Sunday to travel to Serbia. They'll be gone a week. We'll post pictures here of their adventures on the trip! Your prayers for these guys and their work would be greatly appreciated. Please pray for:

*Safety in travel
*Safety on the work site
*Good rapport with the church members that they will be working with
*That the First Bible team would be spiritually encouraged and blessed because of their sacrifice
*Protection for Shay, Olivia, and Meredith while Curt is gone

Thank you!

brannons@scsonline.com

A New Decatur Friend

Through some mutual friends in Decatur, we met a new Decatur friend, right here in Budapest! Her name is Carrie Beth (that's her on the far left) and she's from Decatur, like we are. Her parents also live there and live not too far from where we used to live. Carrie Beth is teaching English to college and secondary level students in a city that is close to Budapest. She has been here for a few months and will return to Decatur in July.

After a few emails connecting with her, we hooked up for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Budapest. She was a delight! We had a lot to talk about and it was so much fun to talk to someone with a Southern accent that knew exactly where Pointe Mallard was! We have just a few more weeks to enjoy her before we leave for the states. She'll be gone before we get back from there. But then we can see her in Decatur in the future!

Some Of Our Favorite Links

We thought we would use one of our blog postings to give you an opportunity, if you like, to hit a few of our favorite web links. We'll give the weblink and a brief description.

MINISTRY LINKS

www.fbc.org First Bible Church
www.danubechurch.org Danube International Church
www.bsfinternational.org Bible Study Fellowship International
www.the-cokers.blogspot.com A blog for some fellow missionaries in Guatemala

BUDAPEST

www.budapestsun.com Local English paper/website that we hit often for updates
www.usembassy.hu American Embassy in Budapest
www.bpgospel.hu Budapest Gospel site. We have Rebecca St. James coming soon!
www.hungary.com Hungary Tourism

A Ministry To and For Students

Curt and Shay had the opportunity of attending a year-end bar-b-que for the leadership of Olivia's FEK ministry here in Hungary. As most of you know, this is a terrific ministry that unites American and Hungarian youth for evangelism opportunities and leadership training. We are so impressed with this very effective Campus Crusade for Christ ministry. Dan and Kelly Butts are the main coordinators for FEK.

Last night, Dan and Kelly hosted a family banquet for the student leadership team and their parents. We were encouraged to see American and Hungarian parents coming together to see and hear about the past year of accomplishments. These high school leaders (of which Olivia is a part) are just amazing! They are committed to interacting with the Hungarian youth of this culture and meeting them wherever they are in their spiritual walk with the Lord. And while they are doing this, they are being mentored and trained by college-age leaders in how to deepen their faith in the Lord and how to be a true, Christ-like leader among their peers. Curt and Shay just wish that something like this had been available when they were in high school!

We believe, as Olivia's parents, that this FEK ministry has encouraged Olivia in developing a more Biblical world view of the nations. She has grown in her spiritual relationship with God and she has become bolder in sharing her faith. We are proud of her!

Olivia will be back in the states with us this summer and plans to share with others about the wonderful opportunities for ministry here in Hungary. If you're interested in hearing her or maybe just have some questions about her work here, then email our family address and we'll forward the questions on to her.

brannons@scsonline.com

Prayer Needs

We received another email today asking for updated prayer requests. Please forgive us for not getting these out on a timely basis! In the future, we'll try to do a better job of letting you know some prayer needs that we have. Of course, we don't mind emails from you asking about those needs! :-) It's good to hear from you anytime.

These prayer requests should take us through the end of May and on into the first part of our furlough in the states this summer. We will be in the states for 6 weeks this time. That will be the longest visit yet for any of us. We arrive on June 15 and leave on July 31. Hope to see many of you while we're there!

Please pray for:

*A strong registration for our fall BSF Romans class. Ladies will be registering over the next 3 weeks and making a commitment to return in the fall to begin the study of Romans. Please pray for moms to register their children, too, for the children's program.
*A fully completed homeschool year by the end of May.
*Wise planning and decision making for our trip home this summer.

*A fruitful and safe mission trip to Serbia for the 3 men that are coming from First Bible Church to join Curt. They will help build a church in Erdevik, Serbia, during the week of May 22-26. This is an exciting opportunity for all of us to see God's faithfulness throughout this trip. We'll give you more information about the work the closer we get to the men's arrival on May 20.



Thank you!
brannons@scsonline.com