My Orchids

"Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart," I Peter 1:22
(Mary writes):
My husband surprised me on Valentine's Day with a bouquet. At least, he thought it was a bouquet. But here it was actually a plant! A beautiful yellow phalaenopsis orchid, also know as the moth orchid.

A regular Valentine's bouquet would soon wither and die away. But not mine! It is still in bloom; only a few flowers are fading now. And if I take good care of it, it will bloom again next winter.

Loving each other is a command of the Lord we want to obey. When we do obey Him in this, we will find that it is going to mean some "burning away" of selfishness. Our selfishness keeps us from loving purely and sincerely. When our love is pure, we will be able to love fervently. Fervent means intensely passionate, coming from a Latin word which means 'to boil'.  Does that describe out relationship with our Christian brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives and children?

"Oh Lord, I find I do not love others as I ought. Forgive me and help me to obey You. Purify my soul, take away the selfishness so I can truly love others as You have commanded. In Christ's name. Amen."

March Update

It seems like it has been awhile since we've communicated with the outside world!  We are excited to announce the birth of Priscilla Alethia. She arrived on January 20. Priscilla is a Bible name meaning "ancient".  Alethia, pronounced (uh-LAY-thee-uh), is a Biblical Greek word meaning "truth".  We are anxious to show our gratitude, first, of course, to God who caused everything to go well.  The roads were icy the morning she arrived, and the midwife and her assistant had some difficulty coming to our house.  That caused some anxious moments, but everything worked out beautifully with the midwife making it about 2 hours before the birth.  But we are also very anxious to thank everyone who has been thinking and praying and giving in this time.  A few months ago we didn't know how we were going to make it through being new to ministry and the city and expecting our second child.  But it was just marvelous how God moved on people's hearts to help us.  We were able to pay all the bills associated with the birth even before Priscilla arrived, Praise the Lord!

At Christmas time Mary made some cookies and we passed these out to most of the houses on our street. Several of our neighbors invited us inside and we had good visits with them.

We have a young lady Kaylee Shields visiting us from Idaho who feels called to Detroit.  She is interested in doing an internship with Victory Inner-city Ministries.  

We've had some interaction with a young black woman named Miss T. Miss T. walked by our house sometimes in the summer and fall and Daniel would try to strike up a conversation with her but she remained distant. But we believe God was working on her. She began a couple months ago to stop by our house for food. She was always ravenous. She spent an afternoon or two with us and twice went to Sunday evening church with us. Then one day she came to our door. Mary was home alone with the kids and Miss T. asked if it was a bad time. Mary said that it wasn't. Although inwardly Mary thought to herself, "It's always a bad time. You have to make time for people." As usual she asked for some food and in the conversation following it came out that she had been kicked out. She asked Mary if she knew of a place for women and kids, but not personally knowing any ministry of that kind Mary told her she could stay with us until we could figure out what to do. That night at supper Daniel asked why she got kicked out. "I don't wanna sell my body no more. I wanna get clean; quit drugs." After a couple days we realized that she needed more help than we could give her at this time. She really had no basic life skills and she had no ID. She had lost all of her papers. She was supposed to be on several different medications, one for seizures, but having no insurance or ID she could not get her medications, She was struggling with suicidal thoughts. We called the city's referral system and they contacted different ministries. Miss T. had tried to come clean before but quit and the one ministry wouldn't take her back. Finally a ministry on the east side of town said they would take her. We drove her there. The social worker we met said they would have a lot of work to do with her. Unfortunately,about a week later Daniel saw Miss T. on the street again as he was driving. We were very disappointed. But we hope there were some seeds sown which will someday take root. We are thankful that our God is merciful and longsuffering; we know He is not done with her yet  We pray that she finds Christ and can overcome her addiction before it's too late. She said while staying with us, "I'm only 32. I'm too young to die. I got too much to live for." The situation with Miss T. really opened our eyes to the horrible plight of those caught in the web of prostitution and addiction as well as the need for more people dedicated to running "safe houses" and rehabilitation programs.

A big praise has been that the house next door has been demolished! The house had partially burned over a year ago and could have been dangerous for our house should it have been set on fire again. The extra space next door opens up a lot of possibilities for the future.

A couple months ago I was asked to help a local ministry to Muslims. They have bought an old church in an Iraqi immigrant community which they are converting into a new ministry center.  I've been trying to oversee the renovation of the building.  They are giving us a monthly stipend.  This was part of how God has provided for our financial needs this winter.  It's also given me a chance to develop some leadership skills, learn new things, and use my construction experience. 

Prayer Requests:

Miss T.

Muslims in Dearborn

Kaylee Shields and other visitors/volunteers this summer

The summer activities/community gardening

Serving in Detroit,

Daniel, Mary, Noah and Priscilla Troyer