Discipleship Group

An essay by Olivia that explains a little bit about her new Discipleship Group that will be starting in October. If she comes to mind, please pray for her. Thank you!

I have been given the privilege of working with one of my dearest friends, Lauren, to start a discipleship group this year for 5 freshmen girls. Lauren and I have spent our high school years working with Fek, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. We have been taught, encouraged and trained to make Biblical evangelism a part of our daily lives. We’ve gone from being scared beyond belief to wanting to share our faith with our peers. We have learned the value of our faith and now we’ve reached the point where we want to pass along all that we have learned to another generation of young believers.

First of all, we know that evangelism needs to be a part of our lives. Normally there are people that work on a short term basis with Campus Crusade. These people take students like Lauren and me out in Budapest to share our faith. This year, however, there are no short term workers. So we were posed with the problem of meeting our evangelism requirements and needs. So Lauren and I began thinking about what we could do that would challenge us and involve evangelism.

The possibility of leading a discipleship group is something that I have been thinking and praying about over the last few months. I have gotten to the point that I feel that I have been given and taught so much that I need to be doing my part of returning the favor by passing it on to others. I continued to consider the idea and mentioned it to Lauren while we were working at an English camp this summer. It “just so happened” that God was speaking to her heart about working with a group of girls, too. We talked about the possibility of leading the group together and made the commitment to keep praying and seeking where the Lord would lead.

Lauren and I discussed having a discipleship group with Kelly Butts, the women’s university and high school director of Fek. (my Hungarian ministry) She loved our idea and prayed and met with us to help plan our approach. We then spoke with the girls and plans are in order to start the discipleship group here in the next two weeks.

My desire is that the girls would learn to treasure and explain their faith. I want the importance of evangelism to grow in their hearts and minds. I want them to learn to share their testimonies but mostly I want them to grow in their relationships with God and with the understanding of who they were made to be. I cannot wait to see all that God can and will do in these beautiful freshmen girls.

Puppy Anouncement!

I am proud to announce that Tessa gave birth to three girls and a boy today! They are only an hour or two old in this picture. There are two white girls, a black girl, and a black boy! Awww!

P.S. I will be putting up pictures of Tessa and her babies on my blog, www.meredithbrannon.blogspot.com, for the next few weeks while the puppies grow up!

Meredith

A New Home

A new home for our church, that is. It's time to move on to the next phase of our spiritual growth as a church by looking for a building that looks like it might grow with us---physically, that is.

The building we currently are in has worked pretty well for us for the last 3 years or so. But if our hope and desire is to be a firm presence in Budapest for years to come, we've got to start thinking about a building that works better for our needs. Obviously, our OWN building would be wonderful! But that's something that will probably stay on our "wish list" for a while until it makes sense to go down that path. So, the next step in our church life needs to be a different rental facility with accomodating rental management, better rooms for our children's program, more privacy and less distractions during the actual worship service, and more storage for things we need to leave during the week.

Curt has the huge task of finding this building in Budapest! Not as easy as one might think in a city full of 2,000,000 people and many buildings. He's got a great guy working with him, Andras, a really neat young Hungarian guy. Andras is Danube's new worship intern and he has already been a blessing and a big help to our congregation.

Please pray that a new facility will be found for a new church home. Also, please pray that we will be open to the possibility that God might want us to stay where we are for a while and just continue to search for the new building in the coming weeks, months, years.

Thank you!

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Street Ball Fever

Curt was asked to join a 3 member basketball team to participate in the annual Street Ball Competition that happened yesterday in downtown Budapest. There were at least 70 or so 3 member teams made up of all ages including guys and gals. The teams played simultaneously on one goal courts with double elimination rules. It was neat to watch so many games going on at once. The event last all day and there were also free throw competitions along with a fancy hoops competition.

Curt's other team members included an American and a Hungarian. Great relationships have been made through Curt's basketball contacts. Curt agreed to participate just for the fun of it and the experience. But his team ended up winning in the category they entered!

After his part in the competition was done, Curt and Olivia raced off to participate in another invitation that Curt had received through a different group of Hungarian guys he plays with. It was a garden party with his teammates and some of their family members. A very busy day of continuing critical relationships and waiting for opportunities to share Christ.

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Remembering 9/11

Curt and Shay got the opportunity yesterday to represent Danube International Church at a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony. It was by invitation from the American Embassy with Ambassador April Foley hosting the event. The ceremony was held in a unique Catholic chapel on the Pest Side near Hero's Square--the Jaki Chapel. It was an "interfaith" ceremony with a Catholic speaking, a Muslim, and a Jew.

Some of the remarks from the Cardinal: ..."Almighty God. We are unable to accept hatred and aggression. Please, behold mankind suffering from wars and the victims of the terrorist attacks. Strengthen the hope in the heart of your people so that peaceful and happy days will dawn upon them through your assistance....."

The Jew said: ...."We now have learned that history repeats itself and if we do not put an end to hate speech, then sooner or later we will be hit by war again.....We can never be safe when hate speech emerges anywhere in the world...."

The Muslim said:..."Only those who nurture a feeling of true love towards others are the ones who work together and strive to know each other better. Prophet Muhammad-peace be with him-who was sent by the Creator to all creatures of the world as a sign of his mercy, talks about unselfish love in a way familiar to both Christians and Jews....."

Ambassador Foley said: ..."As human beings and citizens of the world, the similarities between us are greater than the issues that divide us. We share a common humanity. We share a commitment to social justice, compassion, concern for the poor, love of family and community..."

Although it was a solemn and moving ceremony, we were struck by the fact that at no point was the name of Christ lifted up as the only hope that the world has for eternal peace and salvation. The name of Christ was not spoken at the ceremony as the answer to all the questions and fears that the world has. Only Christ can protect us ultimately from the evil in the world.

At the end of the speaking and the music, we were asked to light candles and to bring them to the front of the chapel to commemorate those that had lost their lives on 9/11. We filed quietly out after that where Ambassador Foley greeted each person as they left the chapel.

We were thankful to represent America and we were thankful to represent a church that names the Name of Christ as the only way to salvation and eternal life. How different the ceremony would have been had we been in charge! Glory be to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ.

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Pictures from Adult Sunday School and Childcare

Adult Sunday School

This morning at church, Adult Sunday School begins. This is really a big deal because we don't have an Adult Sunday School. It's difficult logistically to make Sunday School work in our rental facility. Plus, our childcare situation can be a little tricky. Plus, Adult Sunday School is not necessarily a concept that a lot of people understand or really think might be advantageous to them. Why get up earlier on Sunday morning if you don't have to?

But we do have a really good teacher that felt led to start Sunday School for the adults. We'll be studying the book of Matthew. Hopefully, we'll have several adults that will begin today and we'll add to our numbers as we go along. Please pray for people to make the commitment to attend Sunday School and to desire to grow spiritually in the study of God's Word. Another wonderful benefit of all of this is community among the believers. Attending Sunday School builds up the body of Christ as we move and work together.

We'll report back on how Sunday School is going. Enjoy the Lord's Day today wherever you may be worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ!

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

Excursion to the American Embassy

Over the girls' left shoulder is a beautiful yellow building that houses the American Embassy.

Iguana's

Looking like autumn in Budapest already

A few days ago, we headed to the city for the afternoon. It turned out to be a rainy, overcast afternoon but the temp was so much cooler and we were grateful. The main event of the afternoon was to get Olivia and Meredith's passport renewed. Their passport doesn't expire until April 2008 but we will need to start the process very soon of applying for a renewed residence permit. Hungarian law requires the passport to extend the length of the residence permit and the girls' passport didn't allow that. So, off to the American Embassy!

We enjoy being on that small "patch" of American soil. Although most of the employees there are Hungarian! But we do get to be in a place that understands the needs of American citizens. Not to mention that we get to see the American flag displayed!!

Before we went to the Embassy, we went to our favorite (and only!) Mexican restaurant in Budapest for lunch. It's called Iguana's and there we enjoyed chips, salsa, tacos, and burritos. Almost like Rosie's! Well, not exactly. But we pretended. Then just across the square from Iguana's is the American Embassy.

We didn't have any problems getting into the embassy thanks to the wonderful privilege of an American passport. The actual process of getting the passports renewed didn't take long but we did run into a little bit of a glitch of when we can pick the passports up. Long story but we'll need to come back to the Embassy in a few months to pick up the passports. They'll be ready for us and prepared in order for the residence permit application process to start.

As we left the Embassy, we looked back at the American flag displayed on the front of the building. It caused us to break into the Pledge of Allegiance along with the first couple of lines of the Star Spangled Banner!

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

And to the republic for which it stands, One nation, Under God.....

brannons4christ@yahoo.com

A Big Announcement From Meredith

I am happy to announce that Tessa is going to be a mother! We bred her a month ago and were not sure of the result. We took her to the vet yesterday and he informed us that she is pregnant! We expect the puppies at the end of September. Tessa is very tired these last few days and always hungry, but she is healthy and up to date on her vacinations, so I don't think there should be any complications. Just thought I would inform any Tessa fans out there about this news!

Love,

Meredith