The Fannin Facts
by Linda Fannin
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Can you believe another year has passed? I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration here in our beloved Hungary! During the holiday season some of the gifts we receive the most are the calendars that seem to find their way to our desks. One of the easiest gifts to present and the most practical! The pages for the New Year are already laid out before us helping us to do our best planning for the year. It won’t take long to fill in the spaces and prepare for the days ahead.
As we flick the calendar forward to a new year we can see that our days are numbered and that it won’t take long to come to the end of the next year! The psalmist wrote “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” No thoughtful person can approach the New Year without some introspection. We are reminded of the brevity of time. We also look back over our mistakes, failures, and missed opportunities, and vow that we will make better use of our time in the future.
I wonder if we can look back over this year and know that we did all that we knew to do in the best way we could. I hope this is the case for us this past year in Eastern Europe. We do forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead, but in order to understand where we are going it is good to reflect, not dwell, over the past year. Below are some of the highlights of 2015.
• January 2015 – April 2015: I had the privilege of serving as a staff member in Turkey for the program, Discipleship Beyond. Despite the fact that before I went to Turkey I was diagnosed with shingles, I still felt compelled to go. Since that time I have been diagnosed with PHN (Post Herpetic Neuralgia) and still ask for your prayers regarding this affliction. It will be one year on January 7, 2016, that it all began. It has slowed me down somewhat but trusting God for healing.
• April 2015: We had the privilege of going to the Szugli Church in Budapest to celebrate the day Pentecost fell on the members of the Free Christian Church in Hungary. The history of the church is very much like the history of the IPHC.
• May 2015: I met in Hong Kong for the 5th Global Conference hosted by the Kwing Wong church. The hospitality was superb. It was good to see all the many different people and leadership around the world during this time. We also had the chance of visiting the nearby mainland China Guangzhou.
• June 2015: I took a brief trip home to see my granddaughter’s graduation. It is hard to believe that she has left the nest already.
• I had the chance to visit New Zealand for the birth of my third grandson, little Ezra DeWitt Kelty. Shawna had a shaky start, but in the end everything was fine. While in New Zealand I had the chance to meet Alwyn and Diety, they are a connection in Rotorua and have connections with Chris Friend who is our representative for the IPHC in Australia.
• I am also pleased to announce that there was two leadership summits held in Europe. One was in Holland with Matt Helland and some of our leaders for F.E.E.D. (People to People), and the Emerging Leaders’ summit in Madrid, Spain. I am so happy that our young leaders are rising to the occasion to take the “baton” and carry the message of the gospel to their homelands and beyond!
• Two new adventures have begun here in Hungary. Krisztina Revesz is in charge of a new church plant in a nearby town. Please pray for this new group that God will extend it and use it to be a light in the community. Another venture is the opening of a juice bar/coffee bar at the church in Szigetszentmiklos.
We extend to all our supporters, family and friends a most joyous and prosperous New Year full of opportunity for the Kingdom of God. Also, a huge “thank you” to all who have supported me throughout the year!
Photo Credit: Linda Fannin