Dear Prayer
Partners,
Happy 2012!!! We
are so thankful for your support during this last year, and we are praying that
the Lord will enable all of us to put as our first priority—knowing
Him intimately. In 2011, the Lord allowed us to finish our new church
building in five months. The Lord also allowed some serious difficulties and
trials for many of the men in the church this past year. This has been a cause
of much heartache and sadness, but also, much maturity for some. Please pray
for them for daily wisdom.
During this past
year, Mike preached about the Christian warfare, forgiveness, the Lord’s
prayer, victory over sin, and glorifying God—thinking correctly about God and
helping others to think correctly about God. This involves both
soul-winning and discipleship of others. Lourdes, a lady in our church, showed
us wonderful slides from her trip to Israel. This was such a blessing to all as
we could clearly see the places referenced in the Bible.
As we begin the
new year, we would like to share with you some of our goals for the church
during 2012.
1.
To preach through 1 Corinthians which deals with
our sin vs. what we are called to be as saints in Christ.
2.
In Sunday school, we will be doing a class on Christian doctrine and
collectively forming our own church doctrinal statement.
3.
In the men’s meeting, we will be focusing
on preaching and sermon preparation.
4.
The ladies will be combining fellowship with
service by beautifying the church as well as having devotional times
combined with special prayer for the needs of our people.
5.
We will continue to teach the children
systematically through the Bible while training teacher’s assistants who are
between the ages of 10–18. We are hoping to add our sixth Sunday school teacher
who rotates teaching the children’s class. There are eight teacher’s assistants
who are both helping while learning how to be teachers.
6.
Beginning two more Bible studies.
We have been
encouraged by the willingness of our people to see needs and then do the work.
1.
One young man, Beto, has
volunteered to do the church calendars. He also volunteered to lead the song
services. His willingness led to many of the men being put into a
rotation to lead the services.
2.
Another young couple, Jorge and Cecilia, have decided
that they would arrive early on Sunday mornings to invite people who were
passing by the church. They have been able to give out a great number of tracts
this way. This has been a great encouragement to us.
3.
Jason and
Danielle Boyle, a former intern, just yesterday
began services in their home (about 30 minutes away) with 11 in
attendance! We are greatly encouraged by this new church plant. We are happy
that they will still be able to be with us during our mid-week service.
Some prayer
requests for the church:
1.
Individual
finances of our people. Most have made less money
this year, but have seen the Lord provide and do more with less money. Their
faith has been challenged, but we can see how these families have put the
Lord first—and he has provided! While this is a praise, we would ask you
to continue to pray for stable work for our men.
2.
Salvation of
family members. Lala, Lourdes, Teresa, Silvia, Vanessa,
and Nico all are the only ones in their homes that are saved. Pray
for the Lord to encourage their hearts and for their testimonies and boldness.
3.
Two families who
will be leaving. The LaBelles have been with us for 2½ years. Victor,
the father, is a former MK from Cuernavaca. During their time with
us, Victor has played the piano and held training classes for all of the
Sunday school teachers and the assistants. Shelley has been such a blessing
supplying the Sunday school teachers with craft supplies as well as baking
treats for our break in between our services.
4.
Jorge and
Cecilia Vergara are returning to Peru for six months of classes. Jorge
has been working on his doctorate here for 1½ years. They are now returning to
Peru and then coming back with us for another year of studies.
5.
Three couples in
our little church who would love to be able to have children.
6.
Two new couples. Lenin and Mariana have
been relocated to Mexico City by his company. They have been waiting several
months for their things to be relocated from the States. Please pray as they
settle in. They have a desire to serve. Sr. Alberto, who visited just last
Sunday, is interested in coming with his wife and child. He seems to have a
clear testimony. He was drawn by our new sign out front. They have been
attending a church in the north of the city where he grew up. That church is
three hours away.
7. Salvation
· Fernando has been faithful attending for the last three
months. He has come to our church in years past, but his main problem is not believing
a fundamental doctrine—that Jesus is God. The Lord seems to be working in his
heart.
· Luis: Carina’s brother who has been faithful for six
months. Along with reading his Bible, he has been reading The Christ-Centered Life and a book about humility.
· Pedro: One of the very first people who we met here in
Mexico has begun coming to church and has been faithful in just prayer
meeting for about six months. This is truly the Lord’s working. Pedro
understands many things—pray for his genuine conversion.
· Lilliana: Nico’s wife.
· Erasmo and Matilde: who after many
years still want to work for their salvation.
8.
Jon and Andrea Crocker who are on deputation to come back to Mexico City
and plant a church in the center of the city.
Requests from
the homefront:
1.
Homeschooling: Thanks to Lauren and Bethany, we finished half of the school
year already! This is a first! They are both returning tomorrow to begin second
semester. A special prayer request is that we are planning an art/Bible Club for the children in our neighborhood
for Fridays. First semester Lauren gave an art class to our children and the
children in our church. Now we are opening the class up to the children in the
neighborhood with Bethany teaching the Bible class. Please also pray for Cristi’s
continued progress with schoolwork regarding her dyslexia. The prayer request
is for endurance. Cristi is reading well, but just gets tired after five
or six pages. We think that teaching typing early to her might continue to help
with her spelling which is much improved. Praise the Lord that learning
the material, taking tests, and applying the knowledge are not a problem.
2.
Homesteading: We have been having problems in three areas: electricity,
water, and garbage. The electricity has been so low that we
have had trouble doing household chores. Our generator sometimes helps, but at
other times is not sufficient and is very expensive to run continually. Three
loads of laundry has become an all day task. Also, the water trucks are
way behind schedule. The government is running out of money to subsidize the
water trucks. We have had to buy extra loads at over $100 per truck. The
Lord has graciously provided the money, but please pray that this problem will
be resolved before we will have to buy the five trucks that we normally need
per month. (All shower and washing machine water are used for several
different things.) Also, we just read that the “largest garbage dump in the
world” has been closed. One problem. They have not opened another one. Apparently
most people still have service, but others have had garbage piling up. With
thirty plus million in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, these
situations can become very serious in a hurry.
We still love living here, and even enjoy trying to ration and figure out how
to improvise our situations. For example, the boys are trying to figure
out how to catch the rain water from the roof, to filter it, and to be
able to use it for laundry and for showers. All of this is an excellent
education for the children, and we praise the Lord for it.
We end
with the Lord’s wonderful mercy upon us. One day
when we were not at home, a fire started in the dryer in the back of the cabin
where Lauren and Bethany stay. We had been using that dryer because there
was not enough electricity in the house. Reme saw the fire and then heard a big
swoooosh. She thought the gas was going to blow up the cabin, yet she bravely
turned off the gas! Then quickly the fire was mostly out. Reme was able to
finish putting out the fire with several buckets of water. The swoosh
ended up being water spraying everywhere from a burnt through water
hose from the washing machine! The water put out the large fire under the
cabin! Really, God put out the fire! We are reminded that our lives
and belongings are always in his hands.
Thank you
again for your loving prayers and support!
With much love,
The
Goldfusses: Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew,
Cherith, and Caralyn—Lauren and Bethany too.
P.S. Pray for Mike as he
will be preaching at the Ohio Bible Fellowship Winter Conference and will
be gone from January 12–16. Faith will be manning the homefront. Your prayers
are appreciated for both.
