Serbia Update

Thank you to many of you for checking in with us about the Serbia/Kosovo situation and thank you for your prayers for Serbia and the believers there. Since the volitale situation started last week when Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, there have been riots and also some large peaceful demonstrations. Much of this unrest has been in Belgrade and Novi Sad but there have been problem spots throughout Serbia and parts of north Kosovo.

We have checked in with the believers we know and work with in Serbia and all of them are safe. But they do continue to ask us for our prayers and to ask other believers to pray for them and for their country. They ask us to pray for protection but also to pray for opportunities during this difficult time to share the gospel of Christ.

Curt is still scheduled to go to Serbia in a couple of weeks and will be near and in Belgrade. Please pray for safety for him and that he will accomplish the work he needs to do.

A BIG praise that we have from Serbia is that the picture Bible translation project that Curt has worked on for months with a Serbian publisher and a very generous family from our home church is COMPLETED! We told you about this project in an earlier blog back in the fall. There have been many obstacles to the completion of this important project but God graciously allowed it to be finished. Please pray for this picture Bible to be used for eternal good and that many would come to know Christ through reading the pages of this precious book.

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Car For Sale!

*2000 Chevy Mini-Van

*Miles: Over 100,000!

*Clean? Sort of

*Automatic (Shay's favorite part. Stick shifts the norm in Eastern Europe)

*Cost to fill up: 90 USD

*Remote Doors Work? No

*Power Windows All Work? Sporadically, at best.

*Heater and AirConditioning: Not bad. Especially the air conditioner in summer!

*Well Traveled? Absolutely! Italy, Austria, Poland, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia

Know anybody that might want this well-loved car?? Believe it or not, this car will be hot property in the missionary community here. :) We won't have any trouble selling it. We're leaving in May so it's time to start thinking about selling, giving away, and throwing away stuff. Having this van the last 4 years has been such a gift. It has worked well although the transmission did have to be changed about 2 years ago. But hey, that's not too bad. This van has hauled people, furniture, luggage, pets, and when it was on our container that shipped over here, the van was packed full of clothes.

It does still have the Dixie Alabama plates on it, though. And we have gotten a lot of funny looks and stares! Especially crossing country borders.

"Blue Bessie" has been a blessing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We send our love to all of you from Budapest! In Hungary,Valentine's Day is a holiday that is gaining a little more in importance each year. When we were first here in Hungary, we saw very few things in the stores that advertised for Valentine's Day. Now, 4 years later, we see a lot more. Flower shops have their front windows decorated with balloons and red roses. Grocery stores have large stack-outs of heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates. And even the restaurants are getting in on the act by advertising specials like free desserts and special musical entertainment. So, more Hungarians understand us when we say Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you have someone to tell you today that they love you. And hope you have someone to say "I love you" to. But even more important for us to know and be joyful over is that God loves us! In a real, eternal way, He loves us. And that's something to be celebrated everyday. Celebrate with us and thank Him for His love!

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Lost Fabric and a Trip to Serbia

58 pounds of fabric

Maybe some of you remember the story of the "Lost Fabric for Serbia"?! It's really not as dramatic and mysterious as it may sound. But it was sort of a strange thing that happened last summer on our trip back to the states.

If you're a First Bible Church member, you know of the work that has been done on the church plant in Erdevik, Serbia. Several First Bible Church men have come and worked on this church with Curt. What a precious congregation and they have appreciated the interest and care for their church by First Bible Church. The Erdevik church is getting close to completion and will be dedicated this fall.

One of the needs this new church had was fabric for their church pews. Access to quality fabric and in large quantities is a challenge in this part of the world. So, Curt was able to work with a company in the states that graciously DONATED all the fabric for the pews. How excited we were to hear of this BUT we did know it would be a challenge to get the fabric across the ocean and then to Serbia. So, last summer, we smashed, pushed, rammed about 80 yards of fabric into our suitcases for the trek across the ocean. Unfortunately, through a series of events (late planes, missed connections, unusual interest in our bags by customs, etc), half of the fabric was lost. And we do mean LOST. The airline never found that bag of fabric. We were disappointed, of course.

Curt took the fabric we did have to Erdevik last summer. They were grateful for this and we all hoped that somehow we could get some more of the same fabric and then get that fabric across the ocean again. Well, while we were back for Christmas, Curt worked with the fabric company again and offered to pay for the replacement fabric for Erdevik. Incredibly, the fabric company DONATED the fabric again! Amazed we were. Then the process started again. Smash, push, ram fabric into our suitcases to get them across the ocean. Many thanks to Mark Elder for his help with that in weighing and packing! The picture is of the fabric wrapped tightly to go in our suitcases. Those bundles sort of look like bodies or like we're disguising drug running, don't they??! We're glad to say that the fabric, this time, arrived safely to Budapest.

This week, Curt and Shay went to Serbia to drop off the fabric with someone that could get it to Erdevik. We were a little concerned that crossing the border into Serbia could be interesting if they decided to open our hatch and see those strange bundles! But we prayed that the guard would be uninterested and he was. Didn't even bother to look. In fact, our car got checked on the WAY BACK. And, of course, we had nothing in our car that was unusual. All those things had been left in Serbia.

This fall when the Erdevik church is dedicating their building to God and praising God, they'll be sitting on beautiful fabric from the United States that had a long journey to arrive.

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Braces Off!!!

BRACES ON

BRACES OFF!!!

One of the big events during our trip to the states was Meredith and her cousin, Kaitlin, getting their braces off. Meredith and Kaitlin are very close in age and it's amazing to us how similar they are. We think they look a lot alike. Plus, there have been some events that happen to one and remarkably a little while later, the same thing happens to the other one. A few years ago, they broke their right arms within a few days of each other. They got their braces on at virtually the same time. And they got their braces OFF almost the same week even though Kaitlin's weren't scheduled to be off until a month later. Amazing girls! Amazing "sisters"!

We love you, Kaitlin and Meredith!

New Residence Permit

A great day today! Well, maybe not to the Hungarians that live around us. :) But we returned to the Hungarian Immigration Office today to pick up our Residence Permit. We had started the renewal process back in October. In the picture above, that's Curt with our Hungarian friend, Julianna, that helped us submit our papers. She was terrific! Knew exactly how to navigate the Hungarian system and to get all our documents in order. In the background of the picture is the Immigration Building. Quite an experience to observe that whole operation!

We were hoping for at least a 2 year extension to our permit but had ambitiously asked for 5 years. Why not? Maybe they would give it to us. We are happy to report that we did get a TWO YEAR extension which is still very good. Recently, some missionaries had only gotten a year. So, we are legal to stay in Hungary until January 3, 2010.

Some of that time of our extension we will be in the states for several months. We are returning in mid-May for several months to get Olivia in college in the fall and to address several other personal things that have come up in the 4 years we have been overseas. But it will be good to know that we can easily return to Hungary if God leads us back to live here again. We plan to stay in the states at least through the end of this year and some into 2009. Then, we're asking God to direct us where to go next. Stay in the states permanently? Return to Budapest? Live overseas on a part time basis? Your prayers for our decisions are needed! Thank you for praying with us. We will keep you updated on how things progress.

brannons4christ@yahoo.com