Studying Like a Junior

Is that Chemistry that Olivia's studying? Maybe it's Spanish? Whatever it is, it's stuff that a Junior needs to study! Please pray for Olivia as she has the ACT coming up on Saturday, October 28th.

School Continues

Meredith worked on a poster for a school assignment in history. She's studying about the New World of America. Seems a little strange to be studying about the United States since we do live in Europe! But we are still Americans and we do love our heritage and our culture!

Update on the Riots

Thank you so much for the many emails and calls we got from you last week to check on us during the riots. We woke up on Tuesday morning last week to the news that there had been violent riots the night before in the city of Budapest. It caught many people by suprise, including us! Class was on Tuesday morning so we hoped that what had happened the night before wouldn't hinder anyone from coming to class. Everyone got to class safely and we were thankful.

All last week the protests continued and we stayed away from that part of the city. Ironically, one of the main areas that the people were rioting in was just across from the American Embassy which is located in what's called Freedom Square. We think that's an appropriate place for the American Embassy to be! Unfortunately, during the riots, over 250 people have been injured, many of them policemen. Some 200 people have been detained for questioning. After 3 days of violent protests, there have been several days of peaceful protests with thousands of Hungarians taking part. Many Hungarians have vowed to keep protesting until the Prime Minister resigns. At this point, he has refused to do that.

We recognize that we are guests in this country that we have grown to love and care about. What the Hungarians are concerned about are things we want to be concerned about. So, we pray for governmental stability so our visas will be secure, we pray for freedom and democracy to prevail, and we pray for the nation of Hungary to recognize the sovereignty of God over all things.

Thank you for your prayers for our safety and for your interest in this part of the world.

brannons@scsonline.com

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...

BSF Starts Soon!

Shay has returned from Amsterdam where she attended the BSF Area Workshop over the weekend. Yesterday was the Class Workshop and this coming Tuesday will be the first day of class. From September 5th through May 29th, we will study the book of Romans. Should be a year of change and transformation for all involved! A few prayer requests for the class beginning:

*New ladies and children to come and register for the study of Romans

*New leaders are needed for slots that we have open

*That God will honor His Word and allow His Word to radically change each member of the class

Thank you for your prayers and your concern for us! Hopefully, we'll have some pictures to post soon concerning the new year of BSF....

brannons@scsonline.com

St. Stephens Day 2006

Lots of vendors to shop from!


Checking out the beautiful view from Castle Hill over the Danube


We stopped by to eat at one of our favorite places


St. Stephens Day Holiday is today. But this year's holiday has been celebrated for the last 3 or 4 days. Reminds us of July 4th in the states. Hungarians celebrate the anniversary of the crowning of St. Stephens by the pope in 1000 A.D. We joined in the fun and had a great time!

An Eventful Week

When a phone rings, one just doesn't know what the person may say that will change a person's immediate plans. Have you ever had that experience? Probably so!

Without going into too many details, we have had the opportunity this week to minister to an American family going through a severe crisis. The phone rang last Saturday afternoon, Budapest time, and it was my sister calling to tell us of a young man living in Budapest that had fallen from a balcony. He is a brother-in-law of some BSF friends of ours in Alabama. We had never met this young man but we knew of him. He was in critical condition with head injuries and was fighting for his life, we were told. We were able to find the hospital he was in and went there to pray and to be available until the young man's dad could get to Budapest, from the states, on Sunday afternoon. Many have prayed for this situation throughout the last few days and it has been humbling to watch God graciously intervene and allow this young man to get a little bit better each day. He is still in critical condition but there is real hope that there is not severe brain damage and that he will survive this terrible accident. The young man's father is staying with us and is able to visit his son on a daily basis. If you're interested in more details or just want specifics to pray about, please email us. We thought we were coming to Budapest to serve Hungarians! But God has given us the privilege of serving those from our own nation in this foreign culture! God is in heaven and does as He pleases....

brannons@scsonline.com

P.S. This blog site that we use (blogger.com) has been having some maintenance issues for the last few days. We're not sure what's going on so our blogs might look a little different. Please bear with us!

Back In School!

School started for the girls on August 4th. We're all trying to get adjusted to a more structured schedule after a pretty crazy schedule in the states. Olivia is in the 11th grade and Meredith is an 8th grader.

General Information That Might Interest Some

We thought we would give some information to questions we got while we're in the states: Questions like how to contact us, do we have a prayer letter mailing list, where is there information about our sending organization, etc. So we thought we would try to give it to you in an organized manner. Please feel free to contact us any time with questions you may have!

Address in Hungary:
Tavasz Utca 4
Budaors 2040
Hungary
(It costs 84 cents to mail a letter to us)

Our American Contact Address
We use this address as a return address and for family business purposes. We also use this address while we're in the states and we can receive mail there during our visit. Family members check this PO Box regularly for us. Sometimes if the mail is very important and it needs our attention, they send it on to us in Budapest via a US Mail Global package that gets here in about 5 days or less. So, that's why you see this address sometimes as the return address for some of the letters we send to you from Budapest. If the letter to you ended up getting returned, it wouldn't come back all the way across the ocean but would go to our U.S. mailbox!

PO Box 1943
Madison AL 35758

Email Addresses to Contact Us
We've mentioned this before but we think it's important to keep mentioning it. We always answer our emails! If you take time out of your busy schedule and send us an email, the least we can do is answer you! So, if for some reason, you don't get a reply, please know that it is some kind of internet glitch. Our email is not always reliable and we have no idea sometimes of the information we might be losing or not responding to. So, if you don't get a reply from us, please resend your email again. We would love to hear from you!

brannons@scsonline.com (This is our family account and will go to the four of us.)
shaybrannon@hotmail.com (A good backup account that usually is pretty reliable.)

Prayer letter/Newsletter
We send out a BSF Newsletter on a quarterly basis. The letter is online at the Bible Study Fellowship website. If you're interested in reading those and have access to the web, we would appreciate you checking that out. If you would rather get a hard copy of the newsletter, please let us know and we'll add you to the mailing list.

www.bsfinternational.org (click on FRA Newsletters)

Turning Our Thoughts Back to Budapest

It will soon be a week since we've been back in Budapest. In that week since our return, we've been getting readjusted to life here, catching up on sleep, unpacking, and beginning our homeschool year. It's been a busy and productive week! Life almost seems to be back to "normal" in the sense that normal can be in another culture. But we know that these few days are the calm before the storm. After this week, a quiet schedule ends! We will then begin a schedule of travel, study, ministry, schooling, and planning that will keep us dependent on the Lord's grace to fulfill our commitments. But our greatest desire is that we won't allow our responsibilities here in Budapest to get in the way of a growing relationship with Christ. The work is never more important than our hearts before Him! We are sometimes amazed at how quickly we forget His faithfulness and how quickly we try to accomplish life in our own strength. Maybe you can relate?

And so with those thoughts in our heart, we humbly ask you for your prayers for the following requests. We are mindful that apart from Him, our work here counts for nothing! Thank you for your concern for us and for the people in this part of the world.

Please pray for:

*Safety in travel and productive ministry for Curt as he goes to the Czech Republic next week and for Shay as she goes to Amsterdam in about 3 weeks.

*Protected time for home-school requirements. (All 4 of us are involved in school as a teacher or a learner!)

*Preparation in planning and study as the new BSF year starts on September 5th. (We're studying Romans this year.)

*God's clear direction for what ministry the Brannons should be involved in over and above our BSF ministry.

brannons@scsonline.com

Brannon Family Reunion

Sid, Curt, and Meredith

Will, Wayne, and Curt (A Dad and 2 brothers)

The Vann Brannon Family

Nana and great-grandson, John

Olivia and Mary Owens (That's D-dad in the background!)

July 8th was a big celebration of the Brannon family. Julian and Grace Brannon (Curt's grandparents), or Nana and D-dad as we call them, were honored on this day. Family from all around came to Headland, Alabama, to celebrate the lives of Nana and D-dad and to spend time with lots of Brannon family members. We were so glad that we were going to be home in the states during this time and would be able to attend. Olivia had to get her wisdom teeth out a mere 2 days before the event so her attendance was a little bit in jeopardy! But her surgery went well and she was able to take part in the festivities. Our family stayed at the new Headland House Bed and Breakfast and found our time in Headland to be fun and relaxing. What a neat blessing to be a part of such a big family!

brannons@scsonline.com

Reflections On Our Visit

July 4th in the states! We love this holiday!

We arrived back in Budapest yesterday afternoon and we have spent these last hours sleeping, unpacking, and going to the grocery store. There are some things we've forgotten how to do! Six weeks is a long time to be gone.

But it was a WONDERFUL 6 weeks and we are counting our blessings for the many people we got to see and the things we got to do. We really haven't had much time to think and reflect on how much we needed and enjoyed our stateside visit. But we do know that it was like a breath of fresh air and a real encouragement to all of us. Thank you to those that went out of your way to make sure we were taken care of and that our time spent in the states was very meaningful.

Olivia was diligent to take a lot of pictures so you'll probably need to check her blog for U.S. pictures! We'll have some more thoughts about our trip in a future blog or two. So check back if you're interested.

Blessings and thanks to you all!

brannons@scsonline.com