Hungarian Hero

Shay and the girls took a field trip to hear a Hungarian hero speak about his involvement during the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Hungary. Dr. Janos Horvath was a fascinating man to listen to. He has dedicated much of his life to the Hungarian people. During the Nazi rule and then the Soviet rule of Hungary, he was tortured, beaten and imprisoned for his involvement with the Freedom Fighters. He and his fellow countrymen wanted freedom and democracy for Hungary. They were willing to risk their lives to speak out boldly for this form of government. Dr. Horvath was part of the famous October 1956 Hungarian uprising that held off the Soviet military for 3 weeks. The "rebellion" was crushed by the Soviet army and after that the Hungarians begin years of suffering under communist rule.

After fleeing to the United States, Dr. Horvath lived there for many years and was an economics professor at a university. During his time in the states, he had many conversations with then governor, Ronald Reagan, about the Hungarian people and their desire for democracy. Dr. Horvath holds Reagan in high esteem for Reagan's part in bringing down communism.

In the early 1990s, after the wall of communism came down, Dr. Horvath repatriated to Hungary with his wife. He successfully ran for the Hungarian Parliament and has been elected for 3 terms. He was recently re-elected in January 2006. Although 85 years old, his energy and enthusiasm for making sure that Hungarians "know their history" is incredible. He's committed to making sure that young people know the important role that Hungary has played in world events.

Shay and the girls thoroughly enjoyed hearing Dr. Horvath speak and it gave us a renewed appreciation for the country we now live in. Please pray that the Hungarian people will be awakened to the truth of their history. More importantly, please pray that the Hungarian people will recognize God's hand in their history and how He has spared them through the years.

brannons@scsonline.com

Family Happenings

Just a general update on what has been going on with the 4 of us these last few days:

Curt: Finished up 6 1/2 weeks of serving Tim and his family while they were here in Budapest during Tim's accident. He got all the family members to the airport when it was time for each of them to fly out. Two of the family members flew out at different times. Also, the men's group that he helps lead has resumed successfully with a large group of men. They meet at the Brannon house each Thursday. Curt's usual trip to Serbia will be soon and plans are being made for that. Of course, can't leave out homeschool responsibilities each day. Curt will also be preaching at our Budapest church on October 8th. Please pray for that!

Shay: BSF and homeschool are the main things she's involved with. The study of Romans is proving to be as exciting as she had hoped! Each Monday is leaders meeting and each Tuesday the class meets. Homeschooling with the girls is such a joy. Both girls stay on course despite Mom and Dad's busy schedules.

Olivia: Her FEK leadership responsibilities consume most of her extra time. She meets on Tuesday nights for a leadership meeting and then Friday nights are the coffee house ministry for high-schoolers. She also meets every other week with her FEK mentor to do evangelistic surveys. She enjoys being a part of our church youth group and hosted that group at our home this past Sunday night.

Meredith: You might have read from Meredith's blog about her new drama part in the school play. She goes each Tuesday and Thursday for practice. The play is upcoming and she's really had a lot of fun with this new experience. Of course, she takes care of Tessa and the rest of the pets!

Check out all the blogs that family writes! You can click on the right side of this blog to go to their blog.

brannons@scsonline.com

Headed to the States

Good news about Tim! He and his father left early this morning from the trauma hospital for the airport. Leaving Budapest behind, they are flying to California where Tim will enter a excellent rehabilitation facility to continue his remarkable recovery. We are praising the Lord because Tim has experienced clear progress even in the last few days. Tim's sister arrived last Saturday. Tim's brother was supposed to have arrived this past Monday but it didn't make much sense for him to come to Budapest and then 2 days later Tim would leave the country! A good reason not to come--Tim has gotten better more quickly than we all thought! So Tim's brother plans to visit Tim in California in the near future.

Tim's sister will leave for the states on Saturday and Tim's mom will leave for the states on Tuesday. It was a challenge to get everyone's tickets changed with such short notice.

Thank you for your prayers throughout this amazing situation. We never thought when we saw Tim that first night in the hospital that he would recover and go home in less than six weeks. Only God could have allowed this to happen.

"For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate...." Luke 15:24

brannons@scsonline.com

What's Going On in the Front Yard??

Major construction is going on out our front door and down the street! We're told that for at least the next 2 months, we will contend with all this heavy equipment, new pipes, and workers. They're putting in drainage systems and filling in some of the ditches along our road. Our garage door has already been blocked a few times and both ends of our street have been blocked. Plus it has rained a lot and mud is everywhere. At least we don't have our windows open as much anymore and we don't hear all the noise! Never a dull moment!

"Advertisement" for BSF! :-)

Have you ever considered attending a BSF class? There probably is a class near you. We just have to encourage you to get involved in this awesome study of Romans! It's only the 3rd week and we're just finishing up the first chapter. But, as a family, we have already gotten so much out of the study. Curt and the girls are following along with Romans by using the Home Discussion Pages that BSF provides. Makes for terrific family discussion! If you're not sure where to find a class, go to the BSF website (www.bsfinternational.org) and you'll get all the info you need. What better way to spend your time than studying Romans each week for the next 32 weeks? If you do decide to go, let us know and we'll look forward to talking with you about how God is using Romans in your life.

brannons@scsonline.com

Medical Update on Tim

Just wanted to update you on the young man that fell from the balcony here in Budapest. It's hard to believe that it's been 4 weeks today since his accident happened. God has been so gracious and kind to allow Tim to survive and to make steady progress toward recovery! It just didn't look that way 4 weeks ago. When we saw him a few hours after the accident and just coming out of surgery, we were not sure that he would live through the night. One of our prayers for Tim was that he would live until his dad arrived from the states the next day. That prayer and so many more have been answered! He has come out of his coma, has had several successful surgeries, and he has begun interacting and responding to the people around him. A miracle! Tim's mom and dad have been here in Budapest with him and have spent many hours at his bedside. The plan is to move Tim, as soon as he is able, back to the states for therapy and rehabilitation. That could happen in the next 2-3 weeks. The doctors are amazed. We are amazed at our amazing God!

Thank you for your interest in what's going on here and for the prayers said on Tim's behalf. Please keep praying and we'll let you know when he's headed back to the states. Tim's brother and sister will be arriving in Budapest in a few days and that will be a real encouragement for their parents. Please pray for their travel safety.

The picture is of the Budapest Trauma Hospital where Tim is being well cared for.

Class Beginning

A good start to the new BSF class year! We started yesterday, which is a week ahead of the U.S. classes. Prayers were answered and new ladies DID come. We are thankful! Thank you for those that prayed and for those that sent encouraging emails.

It was a beautiful day, another answered prayer, and we even avoided a potential catastrophe. On Monday, the day before class, there was not any water in the church building. Not a good thing with women and no ladies' rooms! Nearby construction work on the public transportation system caused the temporary outage. We prayed for water on the inside of the building for class day but not water on the outside of the building in the form of rain! God provided the water where needed and we had another opportunity to thank Him!

Please keep praying for the Budapest Day Women class. We desire spiritual change and numerical growth. Check back for periodic updates on the class.

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!" Romans 11:36

New Friends

God keeps bringing us new American friends to know and love in Budapest! Second from the left is Laura Beth who has come to teach English to Hungarian students. She's from Oklahoma. We're praying that God will work out her schedule so she will be able to be a children's leader in the ladies' BSF class. The two people on the far right are Paul and Jacque. They're our new friends from California who have come to Budapest to care for their son after his fall from a balcony 3 weeks ago. You may have read about that in a previous blog. This picture was taken after we enjoyed a morning of worship at church and then lunch together. It's always wonderful to talk with someone who speaks "American English"! :-)

The Weather?

We got an email from someone kidding us that we haven't done a blog recently on the weather in Budapest! What they're referring to is one of our blogs last Spring apologizing for always talking about the weather here. It did seem for a while there that we were regularly reporting on the status of the weather! But weather DOES seem to be an issue for us because the places we need to get to are usually by public transportation and we're out in the weather catching buses and trams.

Sooooo here goes the report: Until the last couple of days, it's been quite cool here. This past Thursday it was so windy and blustery that we had to wear more than a mid-weight jacket. That was August 31st! Something we're not used to in the south. But yesterday and today warmed up some and was just beautiful. It's going down into the 50s and high 40s in the evenings. We know that cold and snow are not too very far off so we're thanking the Lord for these pretty days we have.

Tuesday's weather for the first day of BSF is supposed to be pretty and sunny. That's good! Bad weather tends to give too many of us an excuse not to come to Bible study!

This will be our third winter here in Budapest and we actually seem to be getting the hang of this "snow thing". It does get a little old after about the 4th or 5th snow--unless, of couse, it snows on Christmas! But then that's a few months off...