Correct Mailing Information

Just in the last few days, we've gotten some email traffic from people trying to clarify our mailing address and the process to mail a letter to Hungary. Thanks for your interest in the mail! We LOVE mail!!

You can address it to any of us by name. Sample address:

Olivia Brannon
Tavasz Utca 4
Budaors 2040
Hungary

Please be sure to put the country! We just got a Christmas card in the mail and it didn't have the country name on it. Don't know how that arrived here!

It costs 84 cents to mail a letter to our address. You don't have to go to the post office for a special stamp. Just plop about 3 U.S. stamps on there and drop it in a mailbox! We would love to hear from you and we're pretty good about sending a reply, too. :) Thanks so much. You all are the greatest!

brannons@scsonline.com

Things We Like About Budapest

Goodness, we heard from a lot of you concerning the recent blog about little things we missed! Thanks for reading our blogs and responding. It was fun to hear about things that YOU loved about the United States.

But to make it balanced, we thought we would come up with a few things that we DO have here in Budapest that we particularly appreciate and thank God for:

*A BSF ladies' class that has the privilege of studying Romans
*An International church to worship with on Sundays
*Electricity! We rarely have problems with this and we know other missionaries in other parts of the world sometimes do.
*The Internet
*A garage to put our car. This is wonderful during cold months!
*Plenty of food. A little different than what we're used to but we're not starving.
*A good landlord
*Wonderful ministry teammates to work with here
*A reliable car that gets us anywhere we need to go
*A great public transportation system

Just a few things but our list could be longer. We do feel the Lord's grace and protection here and we know that is because of your prayers for us. Thank you!

brannons@scsonline.com

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Thanksgivings here are obviously a little different. But this year will be especially different since Curt and Meredith are in the states. We're so glad to know that Curt and Meredith are getting to go to Headland, Alabama, to be a part of the big Thanksgiving celebration there. This is Curt's side of the family and he has many relatives there that mean so much to all of us. Every Thanksgiving, anyone connected to the Brannon family that's within driving distance of Headland, will come and celebrate together. Many times in the past, we've attended this event. So much food! So much talking and visiting! So much fun! It's a blessing to be with family members that we rarely have the opportunity to see. Curt and Meredith will stay with his grandparents, Nana and D-daddy. We know from past history that Curt and Meredith will be treated like royalty at their house. So, hello from Shay and Olivia to everyone in Headland! We love and miss you and send hugs by Curt and Meredith. Eat some turkey and dressing for us!

brannons@scsonline.com

Little Things

Shay and Olivia were thinking today about little things that we love and used to take SO for granted when we lived in the states! Would you like to know some of those things?? Maybe you have little things you love, too, and appreciate about life in America!

Things we had there but not here:

*Mail on Saturday
*Chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookies
*Two cars
*Walmart and Target
*Newspapers in English
*Clothing using American sizing and not European sizing
*Waffle makers
*HGTV
*Reliable mail system
*Beautiful Christian church buildings
*Christian bookstores (we have one little one here)
*Central heating
*Magnolia trees for Christmas decorating
*Large ovens and strong microwaves
*English measuring system instead of metric

Oh, well. Nothing to lose sleep over and nothing that keeps us from finding joy in living here and serving God here! The most important thing we appreciate about America is YOU--our family and friends!!!

brannons@scsonline.com

U.S. Visit

Curt and Meredith will be leaving tomorrow for a 2 week visit to the states. Shay and Olivia will stay in Budapest and hold the fort down here. Hopefully, Curt and Meredith will get to see many of you to thank you for your support of us. Please pray for their safety in their travel and for protection for Shay and Olivia in Budapest. Thanks so much for caring about us!

brannons@scsonline.com

So Much Fun!

Shay's working on Meredith's hair before the performance. Lots and lots of hairspray to last!

Not a great shot but one of the few taken during the actual performance and Meredith's solo.

Check out Meredith's blog later in the week for more pictures and how she felt about the opportunity to be in the Cinderella play. About 260 people came the first night and about 250 the second night. Meredith didn't seem nervous at all performing in front of all those people!

Cinderella

Meredith has her Cinderella play this weekend. She's really been working hard attending practice, learning her lines, and singing the parts she's responsible for. These pictures are from one of the Saturday practices they had. We're really excited that she's been given this fun opportunity and she's had a terrific time being a part of the production. The International Christian School of Budapest is putting the play on with the middle school students. Although Meredith is homeschooled, they were very gracious to allow her to audition for one of the parts. She plays the godmother in the play. We'll let you know how it goes!

brannons@scsonline.com

Dr. Hannah

Dr. John Hannah is in Budapest this week teaching at a Campus Crusade event. He also preached at our home church here, Danube International Church. Shay had the opportunity to sit under Dr. Hannah's teaching while she was at BSF Institute this summer. She found out during that time that Dr. Hannah would be in Budapest in November. So, we got an opportunity to meet him again and greet him on behalf on the BSFers here in Budapest.