Orphanage Visits

I have been visiting the orphanage near my home the last few weeks now since the quarantine was lifted. I have been going with my Ukrainian friend Anya and an American friend from school Amberly. The first day Anya and I went to the orphanage to see if they would allow us to come and work with the kids, I was amazed at how easy it was. The director immediately said yes and asked what we were interested in doing.



I've taught Sunday school classes occasionally and I used to babysit, but it's so different going to the orphanage. First of all, I can't speak to the kids too much because of the language barrier. Secondly, I've never been around kids who do not have parents and who live in country where Orthodox is the main religion.



Yesterday, we bought some apples, crackers, flavored spreads and some drinks. We took the kids outside and gave them frisbees to play with while we began preparing their snacks. Anya called them all over and she prayed with them before they ate. When we were leaving, Anya told me after the prayer a few kids started talking about believing in God and saying that they pray often. I was very excited about this and hope to build on those comments in the weeks to come. I want to find out what they know about God and the Bible.



After the kids had eaten their snacks, we wanted to kids to listen to a short story and then act it out. These kids do not have much attention span, especially outside, so there ended up being only one girl left standing with us. She is 12 years old and she asked me if she could read the story instead of me. The story is from a Russian/English children's bible and it was the story of the Tower of Babel. She read the whole story out loud. She had a lot of trouble reading; I was shocked that I could actually help her pronouce the words. I was worried about how bad my pronunciations were going to be and I ended up helping someone else. It was an awesome moment as I listened to Rosa read about God. I felt like in that moment, that was my purpose that day.

We said goodbye to our dear friends Lena and Julia. They passed through Kyiv on their way to flying to the U.S. to meet Lena's soon-to-be new husband, Ray in Oak Harbor, Ohio. We will miss them when we visit Sumy. We will see them ever now and then when they come for visits.

This is me preaching last Sunday at the Harkivska congregation. I talked about the importance of sharing our story of faith with our friends and neighbors.

This is Larissa, Serge, Serge, and Anya. Big Serge is the preacher at the Harkivska congregation. He has also been helping me with my Russian speaking skills, as I am helping him with his English speaking skills. Serge and Larissa visited us in our home a few nights ago and we had a good time dining and singing after dinner.

Dad in hospital

Prayers up for my dad, Charles White who had a heart attack this past weekend. Tuesday, March 13, he's scheduled to be moved from Valdosta's Smith Hospital to Moultrie where he will undergo a heart catherization and further procedure based upon the findings.

Update: Dad returned home on the 20th after a quadruple bypass. He's at home in recovery. We are thankful for Skype-- we have been able to call and keep up, and recieve updates very easily from our US based number that rings our computer. We are most thankful to the Lord who has all our lives in His big loving hands and we are glad we still have Dad. Mom and Dad are still going to face many changes and challenges in the future, so please keep praying for them. Mar 25-07

Roman Bryan

The Bryan Family

Brett and Alicia with the new Bryan boy, Roma

Roman Coleridge Bryan

We visited Grady and Lena last weekend and got to visit with the older boys and see the new baby! It was great seeing them all, and Grady sent some pictures to post and share.

Purposeful Encounters

I've purposefully tried to keep more pictures on here than writing-- however I don't want to go too long without saying something. I know many of you are checking up on us even if we don't hear from you all the time.

We got to visit the Bryans new baby Roman Coleridge this weekend. We'll have pictures of the family of six soon.

We were blessed to visit a "Street Kids" center Friday. A student from the school works there with his wife-- there are unbelievable numbers of homeless children in Ukraine, espcially in Kiev. But don't tell anyone I told you that, because they are truly persona non grata-- their very existence is virtually denied. No one possesses the burden to take care of someone who does not exist. It's no nicey-nice, sunshiney, happy-clappy ministry, either.


Alicia's regular trips to the orphanage have been delayed due to a city-wide, multi-organization quarantine.

Studies are going well... ever now and then, there are AHA! moments. We study hard every day. I didn't think "homework" would be part of my regualar personal vocabulary after grad school!

I've been meeting regularly with several different brothers to keep accountable for my personal walk. With Alan Beckett, I'm learning about saturation church planting. You should check it out if you're interested (click the pretty blue words). From Serge, I'm learning more about the Churches of Christ in Ukraine PLUS he's helping me hone my Russian skills. It's good to have purposeful encounters with people-- I think it's probably closest to what Jesus had with his disciples.

Love.