December is here and we have almost finished our visiting of churches for this year of furlough. We have visited 31 so far this year and have one more to go. The Lord has kept us safe on all the many miles we have traveled and we thank Him for that constantly. We have only had one problem with the van this whole year (a tee that joins several radiator hoses broke in NY out in the middle of nowhere) and we only had a couple of hours delay. Thank you also to the many of you who prayed for our youth missions' trip to Puerto Rico. The students enjoyed the week and learned a lot.
We have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting all of our supporting churches this year and also meeting a few new ones. What a blessing it is to have the churches that make up our prayer, financial and emotional support team. Your prayers, financial support and encouraging words this year have been very appreciated. We thank the Lord for each one of you. Some churches have even asked about people from our prayer letters that we didn't even mention in our slide presentation. You don't know how encouraging that is. Thank you.
This fall Mike has stayed busy teaching Bible in Mentor Christian School. He was able to help out on several painting projects around the church as well as several other jobs. Faith has had her hands full with watching Matthew and Cherith during the days. She hasn't felt very well for the past several months. The reason is because she is expecting our seventh child. Her sciatic nerve has given her a good deal of discomfort during these beginning months. That is not a good sign for the more difficult later months to come. Please pray for her. We have both stayed very busy also getting Cristiana to and from her therapies for her dyslexia. We finally found someone who could deal with the reading problem and we started in October. There has been some small progress so we ask your prayers for some big breakthroughs.
Faith's mom went through a bout with pneumonia in October and then had some congestive heart failure in November. On November 30 she had a heart catheterization and the doctors could not find any blockages. Praise the Lord for that. We were able to spend Thanksgiving week with Faith's mom and dad and are planning on going back for Christmas. We have been able to spend a lot of time with Mike's mom as we have been living in her house this year. We are thankful to her for a place to stay right in our home base.
Our original plans were to leave to return to Mexico around December 21 when the kids' school vacation starts. However, we feel the need to wait one more month or so to give Cristiana another month of her therapy. Mike is planning on going back to Mexico for a week to ten days in January to get the vandalized plumbing fixed and ready for us to live there. We will probably leave near the end of January to drive back to Mexico City. (Think five days at least in the van with all the kids and Faith's legs hurting. Then after you get done thinking, pray for us.)
We continue to get good reports from Ruben and Heidi in Mexico. They have experienced many of the trials of the people that we have experienced and have also seen God work in great and wonderful ways in their hearts. Please pray for Heidi as her health has not been good. Pray that God would heal her in His perfect will or give her the grace to continually deal with the providential problems that He allows her to experience.
We wish all of a you a very Christ-centered Christmas and thank each one of you for your faithful prayers and support.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
Friday, December 1
Friday, July 7
Friday report
Friday morning we ate the French toast that we made on Thursday. It was sort of eggy. (But, I, Mike, think it was excellent and have ordered it again for Sunday morning.)
For work on Friday, the boys straightened up the upstairs of the school room that we have painted all week. Then, all of a sudden, they heard a scream downstairs. It was the girls cleaning the kitchen. Alyssa and Natalie had found the first . . . cockroach. They darted to the door—both the cockroaches and the girls. Joy cautiously approached one of the cabinets and slowly pulled out the tupperware until she found the cockroach. She picked up the first hard object near her and slew the five-inch long beast (Mike here again, it was about 1 1/2 inches if the truth be known). We continued to get out the tupperware pieces until we found two more big ones. The guys finally came to our rescue and Randall was the hero of the day. He helped us and when cleaning out another cabinet down below, he found a gigantic spider (Mike here again—they are not lying. I think it was the biggest spider that I have ever seen—that one may have had a five-inch diameter.) It had an egg sack that broke but fortunately by that time we had gotten it into a garbage can with about five inches of bleach water.
We were interrupted from our cleaning duties by lunch, American tacos. Alyssa and Natalie volunteered to make tacos in the other kitchen to get away from the cockroach kitchen. After lunch, Mr. Schmidt, the other missionary that the Pfaunmillers know here in Puerto Rico, came and made us a second round of Pina Coladas (without alcohol). They were made with pineapple juice, coconuts from his own trees and ice. They are very good. John Wiser used a machete to get the shell of the coconut down to the husk and then opened it to drink the milk and eat the meat.
After lunch we quickly finished cleaning the cockroach kitchen and left. We then travelled to a nearby park. A main attraction of this park is that it has various and sundry types of animals, but mainly iguanas. John tried to feed several of them pieces of his coconut.
After returning home and resting for about an hour, we prepared for the evening youth activity at the church. The games tonight were basketball and volleyball with several different twists. Joy, Zack, Alyssa and Randall beat a team of Puerto Ricans where only the boys could shoot, but they had to stay in one spot the whole game. The girls had to rebound and pass to get the ball to an open guy.
Twelve extra large pizzas were the fare for the refreshment time. Tonight we had 67 people present for the young people's meeting. Mike preached on justification, but because it was in Spanish, I didn't understand it. You'll have to ask him about it. Our group sang our special spanish song, "Solo Hay Paz en el Nombre De Cristo. " After the service, the team and the Puerto Riqueños played volleyball for about an hour. At the end, we had to say goodbye to a lot of new-found friends.
Dictated by the girls on the team and written by Mike (Dad)
For work on Friday, the boys straightened up the upstairs of the school room that we have painted all week. Then, all of a sudden, they heard a scream downstairs. It was the girls cleaning the kitchen. Alyssa and Natalie had found the first . . . cockroach. They darted to the door—both the cockroaches and the girls. Joy cautiously approached one of the cabinets and slowly pulled out the tupperware until she found the cockroach. She picked up the first hard object near her and slew the five-inch long beast (Mike here again, it was about 1 1/2 inches if the truth be known). We continued to get out the tupperware pieces until we found two more big ones. The guys finally came to our rescue and Randall was the hero of the day. He helped us and when cleaning out another cabinet down below, he found a gigantic spider (Mike here again—they are not lying. I think it was the biggest spider that I have ever seen—that one may have had a five-inch diameter.) It had an egg sack that broke but fortunately by that time we had gotten it into a garbage can with about five inches of bleach water.
We were interrupted from our cleaning duties by lunch, American tacos. Alyssa and Natalie volunteered to make tacos in the other kitchen to get away from the cockroach kitchen. After lunch, Mr. Schmidt, the other missionary that the Pfaunmillers know here in Puerto Rico, came and made us a second round of Pina Coladas (without alcohol). They were made with pineapple juice, coconuts from his own trees and ice. They are very good. John Wiser used a machete to get the shell of the coconut down to the husk and then opened it to drink the milk and eat the meat.
After lunch we quickly finished cleaning the cockroach kitchen and left. We then travelled to a nearby park. A main attraction of this park is that it has various and sundry types of animals, but mainly iguanas. John tried to feed several of them pieces of his coconut.
After returning home and resting for about an hour, we prepared for the evening youth activity at the church. The games tonight were basketball and volleyball with several different twists. Joy, Zack, Alyssa and Randall beat a team of Puerto Ricans where only the boys could shoot, but they had to stay in one spot the whole game. The girls had to rebound and pass to get the ball to an open guy.
Twelve extra large pizzas were the fare for the refreshment time. Tonight we had 67 people present for the young people's meeting. Mike preached on justification, but because it was in Spanish, I didn't understand it. You'll have to ask him about it. Our group sang our special spanish song, "Solo Hay Paz en el Nombre De Cristo. " After the service, the team and the Puerto Riqueños played volleyball for about an hour. At the end, we had to say goodbye to a lot of new-found friends.
Dictated by the girls on the team and written by Mike (Dad)
Thursday
We started out our day by eating eggs, toast, cereal, and ham. We then went to the church and had a devotional from Mr. Pfaunmiller. John, Randall, Nadine, Alyssa, Mikey, and Faith went around the streets passing out invitations to the youth activity. Everyone else stayed and breathed paint fumes while painting the kindergarten class room. The invitation passer-outers ran into a few that knew English. They even ran into some who didn't know Spanish. Lunch consisted of sub sandwiches. After lunch Christy, Carissa, and Mrs. Pfaunmiller joined in passing out invitations. After passing those out we all watched people cement the roof. We had Puerto Rican food. Some found it yummy some thought it otherwise. At the youth activity Mike gave a message on the Righteousness of God. Natalie and Joy played Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee. There were three girls that responded to the invitation and made professions of Faith. After the Youth activity the boys played basketball down the road from the Pfaunmillers with a few neighbors also playing on the court. One of the men had a massive afro. These guys knew English so it was fun. The girls went back and made over-night French toast for Friday morning. It was a great day of fun and activity. Pray for the girls that made professions that they would be genuine.
Given by Nadine
Given by Nadine
Wednesday, July 5
Day Three
hello everybody. We have completed the third day of our missions trip. We started the day off with half the team painting the floors of two of the Sunday school rooms in the church and the other half painting another school room. That took most of the morning. After lunch we cleaned up and passed out invitations for the youth rally this week. I went with Mike and Faith. We had a couple of good responses, but most of the people's children were already grown up. I got to go to the grocery store whith Mrs. Pfaunmiller. It was really exciting getting to see the differences between American and Puerto Rican grocery stores.
At 7:00 PM, we went to the church for a teen rally. There were about 45 people there tonight. We had a lot of neat experiences talking with the other young people. Many of them do not speak much English and most of us do not speak much Spanish, so we do lots of charades. It was fun to try to communicate with them and get to know them better. Mike gave a message on sin and we had snacks and played lots of neat games. One of the games we played tonight was having two teams and one person from each team was blindfolded. As they were blindfolded, there were two water guns that were hid on each half of the court. The teams had to call out to their person where to go to find the water gun. The first person to find it could take off the blindfold and go and shoot the other person. It was hard if the gun was placed close to the opposing line as the other team would shout out wrong directions and try to confuse the blindfoldee. It wasn't bad to be the one who got wet though.
Besides it being very warm, we are having an excellent time. We appreciate all your prayers. I love you, mom and dad.
Oh, by the way. Randall brought in a can today and it had a gigantic spider in it— the size of a tarantula. It almost gave Alyssa and me a heart attack. We almost gave the guys heart attacks when we screamed.
Ok, I'll close this epistle for tonight.
Love,
Natalie
P.S. from Alyssa— I love you mom, dad, Michael and Dave.
At 7:00 PM, we went to the church for a teen rally. There were about 45 people there tonight. We had a lot of neat experiences talking with the other young people. Many of them do not speak much English and most of us do not speak much Spanish, so we do lots of charades. It was fun to try to communicate with them and get to know them better. Mike gave a message on sin and we had snacks and played lots of neat games. One of the games we played tonight was having two teams and one person from each team was blindfolded. As they were blindfolded, there were two water guns that were hid on each half of the court. The teams had to call out to their person where to go to find the water gun. The first person to find it could take off the blindfold and go and shoot the other person. It was hard if the gun was placed close to the opposing line as the other team would shout out wrong directions and try to confuse the blindfoldee. It wasn't bad to be the one who got wet though.
Besides it being very warm, we are having an excellent time. We appreciate all your prayers. I love you, mom and dad.
Oh, by the way. Randall brought in a can today and it had a gigantic spider in it— the size of a tarantula. It almost gave Alyssa and me a heart attack. We almost gave the guys heart attacks when we screamed.
Ok, I'll close this epistle for tonight.
Love,
Natalie
P.S. from Alyssa— I love you mom, dad, Michael and Dave.
Tuesday, July 4
Cuatro de Julio
Happy Fourth of July, or should I say "Cuatro de Julio." We were allowed to sleep in till 8:30 because of our long day. We had a great breakfast of eggs, cereal, toast, and fried ham. It began raining and continued to rain for a few hours even though Mr. Pfaunmiller told us that the south side of the island rarely gets much rain. The clouds that brought the raining covered up the sun making it not too hot out, but the rain added to the humidity. We worked in the upstairs of the church and in some of the school classrooms painting and cleaning up the floors. We all had our own labeled water bottles which we refilled often. As long as we stayed inside the fans kept the rooms cool, but even when we were outside the humidity was fine, I thought. We all survived and got a lot of work done, and that is the important thing.
Having Pastor Goldfuss there really helped because he could show us how to paint the walls and make them nice looking. We all got to paint, and Natalie was the only one that made a real mess. We used light green paint, and she managed to get it on the walls, floor, her hair, clothes, and arms. We all got covered in paint, but Natalie was probably the most skilled at getting the paint on herself. Natalie also got attacked by fire ants, but she was fine after a while. After we got lots of work done, even though we couldn't get all the stains off the toilet bowls, We went back home to the Pfaunmillers where we created a waiting list for the shower. After a few hours of showers, we and the Pfaunmiller family left to have a Fourth of July cookout at the Schmidt's home. The Schmidts are missionaries that live about 15 minutes from the Pfaunmillers and hold church services at their home.
They had a banana tree, and some coconut trees. John and Stephen Pfaunmiller enjoyed climbing up the trees and tossing down old branches and coconuts. After our meal of burgers, hot dogs, and other picnic foods, we went into the inside of the house for more fellowship. Mr. Schmidt made Piña Coladas (non-alcoholic) for us to enjoy.
After talking in their family room for a while, Mr. Schmidt brought us a devotional that turned into a powerful message. He talked about what it means to be a Christian and the success of serving Jesus. He shared his testimony, and as he cried during different parts of his testimony, I'll be honest, I had tears in my eyes as well. He really showed his love for the Lord and his desire to live for and serve him. We then shared testimonies and sang hymns. On the ride home we broke out into various patriotic songs and hymns. We met together before bed to have a time of prayer and discussion.
From Puerto Rico,
Randall J. Flack
Having Pastor Goldfuss there really helped because he could show us how to paint the walls and make them nice looking. We all got to paint, and Natalie was the only one that made a real mess. We used light green paint, and she managed to get it on the walls, floor, her hair, clothes, and arms. We all got covered in paint, but Natalie was probably the most skilled at getting the paint on herself. Natalie also got attacked by fire ants, but she was fine after a while. After we got lots of work done, even though we couldn't get all the stains off the toilet bowls, We went back home to the Pfaunmillers where we created a waiting list for the shower. After a few hours of showers, we and the Pfaunmiller family left to have a Fourth of July cookout at the Schmidt's home. The Schmidts are missionaries that live about 15 minutes from the Pfaunmillers and hold church services at their home.
They had a banana tree, and some coconut trees. John and Stephen Pfaunmiller enjoyed climbing up the trees and tossing down old branches and coconuts. After our meal of burgers, hot dogs, and other picnic foods, we went into the inside of the house for more fellowship. Mr. Schmidt made Piña Coladas (non-alcoholic) for us to enjoy.
After talking in their family room for a while, Mr. Schmidt brought us a devotional that turned into a powerful message. He talked about what it means to be a Christian and the success of serving Jesus. He shared his testimony, and as he cried during different parts of his testimony, I'll be honest, I had tears in my eyes as well. He really showed his love for the Lord and his desire to live for and serve him. We then shared testimonies and sang hymns. On the ride home we broke out into various patriotic songs and hymns. We met together before bed to have a time of prayer and discussion.
From Puerto Rico,
Randall J. Flack
Monday, July 3
Monday Night, 10 pm
Our team has made it to humid Puerto Rico. It seems as though Randall and Nadine got the most sleep last night before leaving. They said they slept a couple of hours. The rest of the team said they slept about 20 minutes. Mike slept for an hour and 15 minutes and Faith didn't go to sleep at all. There was so much to do with getting packed for the team, and youth camp that is coming up right after this week. Our family had a very good meeting yesterday morning in Bellevue, Ohio and then drove home in the afternoon.
After church last night, we left Matthew and Cherith at the McLean home and went home. Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa each slept from about 10 until 2:30 AM. Faith had to finish packing the kids' suitcases and also have Mikey's suitcase all ready for camp. He will leave for camp about 20 minutes after we land in Cleveland next Monday morning at 11:30!
We were all up this morning and left at 2:50 to go to Grace Church in Mentor. They loaned us their 15-passenger van and we all packed up and made it to the airport by 3:20 AM. We had to wait as they said they weren't open for another 20 minutes. Then we easily got checked in, went through security to our gate.
Our plane was scheduled for departure at 6:30 AM, so everyone decided that Cinnabons would make the perfect breakfast. They seemed a little bit doughy but they were very very tasty. That was good as we only received a small bowl of Cheerios on the plane from Cleveland to Houston. We arrived on time in Houston at 8:55 and everyone was feeling tired. Our next flight was supposed to leave Houston at 10:30. However, due to storms in the area we taxied late from the gate and then sat on the runway for 1½ hours with no air circulating in the cabin area. They were trying to get the air conditioning fixed. It was very stuffy and difficult as the plane was full.
It felt very claustrophobic for everyone, but the team did a great job with no complaints. Faith said that at one point she was ready to jump up running and screaming through the aisle because she felt like she couldn't breathe, but she didn't think that would be a good example to the team. We finally took off from Houston for Puerto Rico about 1:15. The flight lasted over 4 hours. We arrived in San Juan around 5:30 and were able to find all of our luggage.
Natalie and Mikey have both been battling with some sinus congestion and the second flight was extremely difficult for both of them. The pain in their ears was excruciating. Praise the Lord that Natalie was fine after some aspirin, but Mikey's did not clear up until we landed. Then tonight Mikey had a pretty serious nose bleed. Pray for that to get cleared up quickly this week so that they both won't have to go through that again on the return trip.
Mr. Pfaunmiller, his son Stephen and another missionary and his wife, met us at the airport and brought us the 1½ hour trip home with all of our luggage. San Juan is on the north of the island and Ponce, where the Pfaunmillers are, is about 75 miles on the southern coast. We had a good meal tonight with both of the families. We were very hungry after not eating too much on the airplanes today.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are planning on being at the church to do some cleaning, painting, and anything else that they want us to do. Pray for our strength as we need to sleep well tonight after not sleeping hardly at all last night. Thank you so much for your prayers.
We had several praises! We arrived safely and every single piece of our luggage was accounted for. We just had a wonderful time taking silly pictures and really enjoying each other as we traveled. They are a great bunch of young people!!! They call us "mom and dad"— so I guess we now are parents of seven teenagers!
In Christ,
Mike for the team
======================================
Due to technical difficulties, these updates were not received until Friday.
After church last night, we left Matthew and Cherith at the McLean home and went home. Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa each slept from about 10 until 2:30 AM. Faith had to finish packing the kids' suitcases and also have Mikey's suitcase all ready for camp. He will leave for camp about 20 minutes after we land in Cleveland next Monday morning at 11:30!
We were all up this morning and left at 2:50 to go to Grace Church in Mentor. They loaned us their 15-passenger van and we all packed up and made it to the airport by 3:20 AM. We had to wait as they said they weren't open for another 20 minutes. Then we easily got checked in, went through security to our gate.
Our plane was scheduled for departure at 6:30 AM, so everyone decided that Cinnabons would make the perfect breakfast. They seemed a little bit doughy but they were very very tasty. That was good as we only received a small bowl of Cheerios on the plane from Cleveland to Houston. We arrived on time in Houston at 8:55 and everyone was feeling tired. Our next flight was supposed to leave Houston at 10:30. However, due to storms in the area we taxied late from the gate and then sat on the runway for 1½ hours with no air circulating in the cabin area. They were trying to get the air conditioning fixed. It was very stuffy and difficult as the plane was full.
It felt very claustrophobic for everyone, but the team did a great job with no complaints. Faith said that at one point she was ready to jump up running and screaming through the aisle because she felt like she couldn't breathe, but she didn't think that would be a good example to the team. We finally took off from Houston for Puerto Rico about 1:15. The flight lasted over 4 hours. We arrived in San Juan around 5:30 and were able to find all of our luggage.
Natalie and Mikey have both been battling with some sinus congestion and the second flight was extremely difficult for both of them. The pain in their ears was excruciating. Praise the Lord that Natalie was fine after some aspirin, but Mikey's did not clear up until we landed. Then tonight Mikey had a pretty serious nose bleed. Pray for that to get cleared up quickly this week so that they both won't have to go through that again on the return trip.
Mr. Pfaunmiller, his son Stephen and another missionary and his wife, met us at the airport and brought us the 1½ hour trip home with all of our luggage. San Juan is on the north of the island and Ponce, where the Pfaunmillers are, is about 75 miles on the southern coast. We had a good meal tonight with both of the families. We were very hungry after not eating too much on the airplanes today.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are planning on being at the church to do some cleaning, painting, and anything else that they want us to do. Pray for our strength as we need to sleep well tonight after not sleeping hardly at all last night. Thank you so much for your prayers.
We had several praises! We arrived safely and every single piece of our luggage was accounted for. We just had a wonderful time taking silly pictures and really enjoying each other as we traveled. They are a great bunch of young people!!! They call us "mom and dad"— so I guess we now are parents of seven teenagers!
In Christ,
Mike for the team
======================================
Due to technical difficulties, these updates were not received until Friday.
Wednesday, June 21
Goldfuss Prayer Letter - June 2006
We continue our travels on the road during this 2006 furlough. We have thoroughly enjoyed being with many of you so far, and we are looking forward to seeing many of the rest of you during the rest of the year. Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa are very happy to have finished school for the summer and we will be traveling most of the entire summer to come and visit all of you!
In the middle of all of the activities of the summer, we are going to Puerto Rico! Yes, you read correctly. We are taking a teen mission team from our home church and also taking our oldest three children along with us. We will be leaving for Puerto Rico on July 3 and returning from there at 3 AM on the 10th. The day we return home, Mikey gets to go to Camp Peniel for a week. Then the next Friday, we will leave and will not be back to Northeast Ohio for about a month and a half. So things will be busy! Please pray for wisdom in leading the team. We have been having meetings to prepare the teens for the trip by working on their Spanish, discussing the true gospel, and having devotionals on our attitudes, and giving tips for being servants and blessings to the Pfaunmillers in Puerto Rico. We have had many teams in Mexico, but this will be the first time for us on the other end of things. We appreciate your prayers for a week that glorifies the Lord.
Many have asked about Cristiana’s progress with her dyslexia treatments. She has made great progress in therapies that facilitate both right and left brain function simultaneously. These therapies should aid reading. This week she will begin new therapies tackling the actual reading problem. Because of our busy summer, she may get behind in her therapies. Please pray for her and for us to know how to help her while on the road.
We are thankful for the good reports from Mexico City from Ruben and Heidi Zartman. The church has gone through a very difficult time with the death of Marek. Marek was a young man who attended our church on and off again for over 9 years. For three of those years he was faithful to every service. He died in an apparent suicide. This was a tremendous blow to our church and to Ruben as Marek was a childhood friend. But the Lord as he always does, used this to His glory to unite the church, and to cause the entire church to reach out to Marek’s unsaved family in giving a memorial service and dinner.
The good reports have encouraged us so we thought that we would include Ruben’s latest update to continue giving you a report on the Padierna Bible Church.
Hello Everyone,
This week I was able to meet two people I had heard about who have caused their relations a good bit of anguish. It was a good reminder of the need to continue in prayer. The first was Roberto Ortiz, Silvia's son. I met him briefly when I went to her house to see how Luis was doing (fine, though with a lingering bladder infection). He has caused his family much conflict, pain and turmoil with his drug addiction and the irresponsible behavior that it breeds.
The second was Karina, Guille's daughter-in-law about whom I wrote in one of the earliest updates, who pretty frequently abandons her husband Memo for an adulterous fling. I went to Guille's house for a visit and she was there, with her two sons. Please remember to pray that God would touch her heart and convert her.
Saturday evening we had a young people's meeting where we had a very stimulating discussion of apologetics. They seemed pretty enthusiastic with the idea of continuing, so we are planning to tackle one apologetic scenario a month. They decided the first thing was to learn a little anti-RC polemics, so this coming month we will be dealing with that. It was very encouraging to see Abraham, Juana's (second) son who does not normally come to church show up and evidently enjoy himself.
This Sunday started out a bit slow, but by the time the service was well under way there was, I believe, only one empty chair. America, José, Rubén, Francisco (I mislabeled him Eduardo in the last update, because his middle name is Eduardo) and Blanca were back again. Francisco told me that his 87-year-old dad is changing, in that he asked for forgiveness a couple of days ago for the first time that Francisco (54 years old) can remember.
We had the regulars and most of the sporadic attendees there today, although Noemí has not been for the past two Sundays. It was a special treat to see Marek's mom, Josefina, walk in a little bit after the service had started. We were able to have her over to dinner afterwards, along with Erasmo and Matilde and their children. While I was fixing up the seating I overheard her confiding in Matilde. At church Sra. Ofelia talked with her and pointed her to God as the source of comfort. She stayed for about 4 hours, so obviously felt comfortable. Hopefully the sermons she has heard, and the wonderful kindness the church people have shown her will be used by God to open her heart.
I had wondered how attendance would be with father's day, but the only confirmed absence from that was Teresa, whose husband insisted that she help him celebrate largely and so did not allow her to come to church today. It would seem to be time to acquire some more chairs for the church, and this again emphasizes the need for a new place to meet. Please pray for the Lord's provision. Thanks for the prayers. I know many pray for us faithfully, and some daily. The Lord is, I believe, answering very richly.Ruben
As you can tell, the church seems to be growing in our absence. Please pray for each one to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
Wednesday, May 3
Goldfuss Update (May 3, 2006)
Dear praying partners,
It’s been a while since we sent out one of our prayer updates. We thank you for your faithful prayers anyway. We have been in the totally different (for us at least) school routine at Mentor Christian School. Each of our three oldest, Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa, all made the honor roll in their classes. Even Cristiana, is doing very well in all of the subjects that she can take. It is still very difficult for her to read on her own, but when others read to her, her comprehension is excellent. Her dyslexia has helped her to overcompensate by observing and listening— probably just to survive. She gets high A's when asked questions verbally. Cristi has done much of her work in school with the help of high school students who read to her while she answers the questions. We do see some small improvements in her reading skills also. We praise the Lord that she takes these challenges very maturely and seeks the Lord for help. Please continue to pray this year that it would be a help to get Cristi where she needs to be or at least well on her way there. Thank you.
We have been very busy in this first quarter of the year. With all the different changes, we have enjoyed being at our home church, Bible Community, for a good number of services. We have spent a lot of time getting our presentation put together for furlough— slide presentation, prayer cards, children’s poem, messages, etc. Faith has been overseeing all the kids’ activities and homework for school, has had the chance to speak for several ladies’ groups that are closer to home, and has been a traveling trooper on the weekends that we have been out in other churches. Mike has been to a pastors’ conference in NY, spoken several times in school chapels, tried to get caught up with some correspondence, taught several Spanish classes, helped in a Bible institute, etc.
We both are preparing a group of teens from Bible Community along with our three oldest children to go on a missions trip to Puerto Rico to help the Pfaunmiller family for a week in July. It is interesting to be on this side of the mission team experience after being the missionary that has received teams. Pray for us to have wisdom to help these young people. We consider it a challenge and a privilege to be able to guide these teens as they seek God’s will for their lives. The team will be from July 3rd to July 10th. It is a blessing to be able to help our home church in this way.
We have just finished putting our schedule together for the rest of this year. There is only one church left to schedule. We have 26 different churches that support us and we will be visiting 5 others churches also. This makes for a lot of traveling just about every weekend. We have been traveling up in the Erie, PA and Mayville, NY area for the last month visiting several supporting churches there. The good thing is that this area is actually closer to Mike’s mom’s house than many of our churches in Ohio. It is a challenge for the kids on Monday morning when we get back each Sunday night around 11 PM. Pray for the children as the busy schedule never ends. We praise the Lord that they are plugging along and have wonderful attitudes about serving the Lord together as a family.
We have heard excellent reports from Mexico of the church being faithful. Three new families have been faithfully attending. Praise the Lord! Ruben and Heidi Zartman have been doing an excellent job! One sad note is that our friend, Marek, who used to attend our church very faithfully, apparently committed suicide several weeks ago. Marek was Ruben Zartman’s best friend when Ruben was growing up in Mexico City. Ruben is now our furlough replacement. Ruben had about 8 or 9 opportunities to preach and present the gospel during the all night vigil and other times with Marek’s family who is unsaved. You can click here to read one of Ruben’s weekly updates to let you know how things are going from his perspective in Mexico City.
Thank you so much for praying,
We depend on you and thank you for all you do for us.
In Christ,
Mike for the rest of the Goldfii
It’s been a while since we sent out one of our prayer updates. We thank you for your faithful prayers anyway. We have been in the totally different (for us at least) school routine at Mentor Christian School. Each of our three oldest, Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa, all made the honor roll in their classes. Even Cristiana, is doing very well in all of the subjects that she can take. It is still very difficult for her to read on her own, but when others read to her, her comprehension is excellent. Her dyslexia has helped her to overcompensate by observing and listening— probably just to survive. She gets high A's when asked questions verbally. Cristi has done much of her work in school with the help of high school students who read to her while she answers the questions. We do see some small improvements in her reading skills also. We praise the Lord that she takes these challenges very maturely and seeks the Lord for help. Please continue to pray this year that it would be a help to get Cristi where she needs to be or at least well on her way there. Thank you.
We have been very busy in this first quarter of the year. With all the different changes, we have enjoyed being at our home church, Bible Community, for a good number of services. We have spent a lot of time getting our presentation put together for furlough— slide presentation, prayer cards, children’s poem, messages, etc. Faith has been overseeing all the kids’ activities and homework for school, has had the chance to speak for several ladies’ groups that are closer to home, and has been a traveling trooper on the weekends that we have been out in other churches. Mike has been to a pastors’ conference in NY, spoken several times in school chapels, tried to get caught up with some correspondence, taught several Spanish classes, helped in a Bible institute, etc.
We both are preparing a group of teens from Bible Community along with our three oldest children to go on a missions trip to Puerto Rico to help the Pfaunmiller family for a week in July. It is interesting to be on this side of the mission team experience after being the missionary that has received teams. Pray for us to have wisdom to help these young people. We consider it a challenge and a privilege to be able to guide these teens as they seek God’s will for their lives. The team will be from July 3rd to July 10th. It is a blessing to be able to help our home church in this way.
We have just finished putting our schedule together for the rest of this year. There is only one church left to schedule. We have 26 different churches that support us and we will be visiting 5 others churches also. This makes for a lot of traveling just about every weekend. We have been traveling up in the Erie, PA and Mayville, NY area for the last month visiting several supporting churches there. The good thing is that this area is actually closer to Mike’s mom’s house than many of our churches in Ohio. It is a challenge for the kids on Monday morning when we get back each Sunday night around 11 PM. Pray for the children as the busy schedule never ends. We praise the Lord that they are plugging along and have wonderful attitudes about serving the Lord together as a family.
We have heard excellent reports from Mexico of the church being faithful. Three new families have been faithfully attending. Praise the Lord! Ruben and Heidi Zartman have been doing an excellent job! One sad note is that our friend, Marek, who used to attend our church very faithfully, apparently committed suicide several weeks ago. Marek was Ruben Zartman’s best friend when Ruben was growing up in Mexico City. Ruben is now our furlough replacement. Ruben had about 8 or 9 opportunities to preach and present the gospel during the all night vigil and other times with Marek’s family who is unsaved. You can click here to read one of Ruben’s weekly updates to let you know how things are going from his perspective in Mexico City.
Thank you so much for praying,
We depend on you and thank you for all you do for us.
In Christ,
Mike for the rest of the Goldfii
Update from Ruben Zartman on the Work in Mexico City
Hello Everyone,
Attendance was a bit down on Sunday, but I felt that we had a good service nonetheless. Sra. Ofelia, of whom I have written before, brought an unsaved niece, Sonya Barragán. She is married to a Chilean man, but hopes to be able to come while he is away. As we were taking prayer requests tonight this woman was mentioned, and it seemed that the fact of her husband's chilleanness suffices as an explanation to people that she can only come while he is away. I rejoice in knowing that our God can save even a chileno. Sra. Ofelia also brought a younger lady called Alma, this evening. Supposedly she has just been saved (I got the impression that that was this afternoon) and has a very big but unspecified problem. I am planning to go see Alma tomorrow. Please pray about that, as well as for Sonya's salvation.
Please continue to pray for Silvia and Tere (two sisters, spoken of in Update # 5). On Sunday Silvia was in tears as she was telling me about all the turmoil in her family, and the burden she is carrying. Her son did something to her granddaughter, and somebody called the police; she arrives home, knowing nothing, and there is all this turmoil; her husband, in the meantime, had engaged in the tremendously useful activity of coming out to the bus stop to wait for her. As I said previously, she is a new believer and is under a huge amount of strain.
Tere was able to bring two of her grandsons to church the other Sunday (another one is a pretty open and aggressive homosexual) and seemed very pleased that I invited them to play squash (as soon as I find the squash court supposed to be located near the church: I looked today but it was not on the street I'd been told). Having spoken to several people about this, I think there will be much fruitful opportunity to spend time with kids and teens in that setting, and their relations seem very thrilled. Please pray that the times I have with various young people in the avenue will bear fruit. I don't expect them to be helped simply by standing in a court with me and hitting a ball. It is rather my hope that I will be able to establish and develop a relationship with them by hanging out together in a relaxed environment.
I have never before run into so many problems in so many families. The vicious cycle of sin has been unchecked for too long here. Please pray that God will work through His word to transform these situations, to redeem many of these young people out of the bondage of sin and enable them to establish godly families. I need prayer as well. I have never been so called upon to deal with so many extremely trying and complicated situations from a Biblical perspective. At the same time, though, that these people bear burdens that I can hardly imagine, they are filled with humility, gentleness and concern for others. Just tonight a couple ladies were assuring me of how highly they think of Heidi and how much they care about her and miss her when she isn't there, even if their communication with her is still limited by language constraints. The more I learn both of the burdens that these people carry and of what they have in their hearts, the more I am convinced that being useful to them in even a small way is an exceedingly great reward.
Ruben
Attendance was a bit down on Sunday, but I felt that we had a good service nonetheless. Sra. Ofelia, of whom I have written before, brought an unsaved niece, Sonya Barragán. She is married to a Chilean man, but hopes to be able to come while he is away. As we were taking prayer requests tonight this woman was mentioned, and it seemed that the fact of her husband's chilleanness suffices as an explanation to people that she can only come while he is away. I rejoice in knowing that our God can save even a chileno. Sra. Ofelia also brought a younger lady called Alma, this evening. Supposedly she has just been saved (I got the impression that that was this afternoon) and has a very big but unspecified problem. I am planning to go see Alma tomorrow. Please pray about that, as well as for Sonya's salvation.
Please continue to pray for Silvia and Tere (two sisters, spoken of in Update # 5). On Sunday Silvia was in tears as she was telling me about all the turmoil in her family, and the burden she is carrying. Her son did something to her granddaughter, and somebody called the police; she arrives home, knowing nothing, and there is all this turmoil; her husband, in the meantime, had engaged in the tremendously useful activity of coming out to the bus stop to wait for her. As I said previously, she is a new believer and is under a huge amount of strain.
Tere was able to bring two of her grandsons to church the other Sunday (another one is a pretty open and aggressive homosexual) and seemed very pleased that I invited them to play squash (as soon as I find the squash court supposed to be located near the church: I looked today but it was not on the street I'd been told). Having spoken to several people about this, I think there will be much fruitful opportunity to spend time with kids and teens in that setting, and their relations seem very thrilled. Please pray that the times I have with various young people in the avenue will bear fruit. I don't expect them to be helped simply by standing in a court with me and hitting a ball. It is rather my hope that I will be able to establish and develop a relationship with them by hanging out together in a relaxed environment.
I have never before run into so many problems in so many families. The vicious cycle of sin has been unchecked for too long here. Please pray that God will work through His word to transform these situations, to redeem many of these young people out of the bondage of sin and enable them to establish godly families. I need prayer as well. I have never been so called upon to deal with so many extremely trying and complicated situations from a Biblical perspective. At the same time, though, that these people bear burdens that I can hardly imagine, they are filled with humility, gentleness and concern for others. Just tonight a couple ladies were assuring me of how highly they think of Heidi and how much they care about her and miss her when she isn't there, even if their communication with her is still limited by language constraints. The more I learn both of the burdens that these people carry and of what they have in their hearts, the more I am convinced that being useful to them in even a small way is an exceedingly great reward.
Ruben
Sunday, March 19
Theology of Missions and Evangelism
This evening, Mike and Faith presented their ministry at their home church, Bible Community Church in Mentor, Ohio. The assistant pastor, Andy Rupert, posted a transcript of Mike's sermon on his blog.
Tuesday, March 7
Goldfuss Update (March 7, 2006)
Greetings to all of our prayer supporters,
We haven't been able to send you all a prayer update since Mike left Mexico City on February 6 because the computer that was causing us problems there is still causing us problems here. When you finally get this prayer update, you will know that we have the problem solved. :-)
Aaron Jaffee and Mike made the trip to Ohio from Mexico City (2600 miles) in about 3½ very long days. Thank you for praying. We had no incidents on the road and the Lord kept us safe and gave us a good time of fellowship.
It has been quite an adjustment time of getting the kids settled into school and adapting to a totally new schedule. They are doing fine and getting good grades— even Cristiana— with the things that she can do, she is getting good grades. The Lord is giving strength ad things are progressing nicely.
We have had good reports from Cristiana's doctors. She is doing neurotherapy exercises to try to make the right side of her brain function with her left side—she has been totally left brain dominant for all these years. These things include different manual exercises and stereo listening in addition to other things. The doctor last week told us that in this program, Cristiana is the first one that they have ever had make it into the fourth level. Please pray that these exercises will help Cristiana to be able to conquer the reading block that she has had.
The church in Mexico seems to be doing well under the leadership of Ruben Zartman. Heidi and Ruben had felt the Lord's leading to Mexico City last year and had already scheduled with us to come February 1 to live in our cabin and we were going to move into the house. When our plans for this year were totally changed by the Lord, we weren't sure what to do about the church at first, but then realized that the Lord had already answered that prayer before we even knew we had a need. Ruben has been doing the preaching and dealing with the people and we have heard excellent reports from both them and the church.
We have our first deputation meeting scheduled for March 19 at our home church, Bible Community Church in Mentor, Ohio. Please pray as we still have much work to do to get the slide presentation ready and everything else that goes into that. Please also pray as we try to schedule meetings. We would like to schedule the close churches during the school year and the farther away churches during the summer. Please pray for wisdom and strength. Thank you for your prayers.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
We haven't been able to send you all a prayer update since Mike left Mexico City on February 6 because the computer that was causing us problems there is still causing us problems here. When you finally get this prayer update, you will know that we have the problem solved. :-)
Aaron Jaffee and Mike made the trip to Ohio from Mexico City (2600 miles) in about 3½ very long days. Thank you for praying. We had no incidents on the road and the Lord kept us safe and gave us a good time of fellowship.
It has been quite an adjustment time of getting the kids settled into school and adapting to a totally new schedule. They are doing fine and getting good grades— even Cristiana— with the things that she can do, she is getting good grades. The Lord is giving strength ad things are progressing nicely.
We have had good reports from Cristiana's doctors. She is doing neurotherapy exercises to try to make the right side of her brain function with her left side—she has been totally left brain dominant for all these years. These things include different manual exercises and stereo listening in addition to other things. The doctor last week told us that in this program, Cristiana is the first one that they have ever had make it into the fourth level. Please pray that these exercises will help Cristiana to be able to conquer the reading block that she has had.
The church in Mexico seems to be doing well under the leadership of Ruben Zartman. Heidi and Ruben had felt the Lord's leading to Mexico City last year and had already scheduled with us to come February 1 to live in our cabin and we were going to move into the house. When our plans for this year were totally changed by the Lord, we weren't sure what to do about the church at first, but then realized that the Lord had already answered that prayer before we even knew we had a need. Ruben has been doing the preaching and dealing with the people and we have heard excellent reports from both them and the church.
We have our first deputation meeting scheduled for March 19 at our home church, Bible Community Church in Mentor, Ohio. Please pray as we still have much work to do to get the slide presentation ready and everything else that goes into that. Please also pray as we try to schedule meetings. We would like to schedule the close churches during the school year and the farther away churches during the summer. Please pray for wisdom and strength. Thank you for your prayers.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
Friday, February 24
Around the World in Nine Days — Aaron Jaffee
Okay, that title might be a bit of an exaggeration, but perhaps to Mike, who was anxious to get home to Faith, it might seem like a reality. I have never written an article for a blog before, so forgive me if I seem out of my element. I'm not even sure where to start, so I suppose I will start from the beginning. John 1:1...okay, maybe not that far back.
I was asked in late December if I would be interested in flying to Mexico, working on Mike’s house for a few days, and then driving from Mexico City back to Ohio. I was skeptical at first that this would be something that the Lord would have me do, but I told Pastor Brown that I would pray about it. With much prayer and the details all seeming to come together, by late January, it was a go.
The Lord worked it out that the Zartmans (Reuben and Heidi, the furlough replacements) and I would be on the same plane from Houston to Mexico City. Just one of the many ways the Lord showed His sovereignty and blessing during this trip. This saved Mike from making two trips to the airport that week. While on the plane from Houston to Mexico City, an interesting thing happened. I saw a rough looking Latino man with a spider tattooed to his neck. I could only see him from the shoulders up at first as he was inching forward down the aisle of people. As he got closer I noticed a book in his hand; Rick Warren’s "The Purpose Driven Life." While I in no way support that book, it did get me thinking that this man could have just as easily had a Bible in his hand. It was a reminder not to prejudge the Mexicans based on their appearance.
I am not crazy about flying, but that also was something that the Lord used to teach me. As I had much time to think on the plane, two thoughts kept echoing in my mind. The first is that Christ endured three hours of having the sin of the world (including my own) placed upon Him on the cross, so it is silly for me not to be willing to endure something unpleasant for Him for less than three hours. The second thought was that the Lord often uses unpleasant circumstances to fit us for a particular task. If we can endure that unpleasantness (flying in this case), God can put us in a great place of service, such as Mexico City.
Upon arrival in Mexico City, immediately after kissing the ground (I didn’t actually kiss the ground, but I could have), I found Reuben and Heidi. I was happy to have them to follow since I knew nothing of the procedure in the airport. Another blessing was that we all received green lights as we went through customs, and therefore we did not need to have our things more closely scrutinized.
When we left the airport in the van, and I got my first look at Mexico City, what struck me most was the sensuality that is paraded throughout the city. I couldn’t help thinking that this was either as openly immoral or even more so than the typical U.S. City. There are sinners that need the Lord everywhere. I did not have a lot of time to dwell on that thought fortunately, because the driving in Mexico City is enough to keep your mind off of these things. There seems to be no laws, and it was every man or woman for themselves. And I thought driving in Philadelphia was dangerous. Makes me want to pray more often for safety for our missionaries on the field (especially in Mexico).
I was blessed to attend two services at Iglesia Biblica de Padierna. Since I know very little Spanish, I wasn’t expecting to get much out of the preaching, however, God worked it out that Mike would be preaching two passages of which I am very familiar. On Wednesday night, he spoke on John 17 (Christ’s high-priestly prayer) and on Sunday he spoke on II Corinthians 4 (a chapter I have adopted as my life chapter). Because of the familiarity of the text, I was able to follow along and get something out of the Word. The Lord is good.
Another huge blessing was the hymns. It’s an encouragement to think of these folks singing the same hymns that we sing. The tie that binds Christians truly transcends language. Yes, the songs used words like El Salvador and Christo and Padre, but the message came through loud and clear. We all love the same Savior. I was especially thrilled to hear the brothers and sisters in Christ sing "I Gave My Life for Thee," one of my favorites.
I was also thinking about how when we meet in the air, our bond together will be so much more fully realized because there will no longer be a language barrier, or a sin barrier for that matter. What a day that will be. I often thought that I can be closer to someone from halfway around the world that knows Christ, than to those in my own family that do not. It’s a totally different relationship with a believer (Luke 8:19-21).
While working on Mike’s house, I learned what a cistern is. This will help me when I read Jeremiah (2:13) in that I will know what the purpose of a cistern is (although, I doubt it would be the exact same thing as the underground cisterns that we filled with water). We are blessed to have a cistern of living water that never runs dry (John 4:10). We then got to clean out the underground septic tank. It was just rain water, or so Mike tells me (wink). Mike filled up buckets and I dumped them on him while pulling them up from underground with a rope. By the end, I was almost brown enough to pass for a Mexican. Good thing there are no pictures.
From Mike’s roof, you can see out over Mexico City. It is very beautiful at night. There are more lights than anyone could possibly count. It seems somewhat ironic that with all of these lights throughout Mexico City that there is so little Gospel light there. Mexico City could sure use prayer for laborers as most places could (Matthew 9:37-38).
The final day of our stay in Mexico City included the Sunday School and church service hours and a comida (meal) afterwards. It was really great to see all of the people in the church (50+) getting along well and serving one another. As Mike and his family are on furlough, we really need to pray for the Lord’s protection of this work and His work in the people's hearts. Reuben and Heidi Zartman would covet your prayers as well.
The Lord had a few more things to teach me on the way home. I was introduced to an incredible preacher (Albert Martin) as we listened to a sermon series on the Contemporary Gospel. While I don't agree with his eschatological position (last things), I believe his soteriology (doctrine of salvation) is very respectable. I also learned that Mike is serious about a literal interpretation of Scripture. Hebrews 11:6 "But without Faith it is impossible to please him." So he married Faith. It shouldn’t have surprised me since he has spent some time with Pastor Perry, who I have often wondered if he took Exodus 38:26 "A bekah for every man..." literally too. I'm kidding of course.
As we were driving home, I mentioned to Mike that the Lord has been good on this trip and that everything has gone well. He responded "So if things went wrong the Lord wouldn’t be good?" It was a short answer and he may not even remember saying this, but it really got me thinking. The truth is the Lord is good no matter what. That is one of the great things about serving the God that we serve. He is always good. He always does what is right. It was a rebuke to me, but a well needed one.
Okay I have rambled long enough. It is my prayer that something that I have learned on this trip, might help someone else. That is the whole point in sharing these things. We all have different experiences. We need to learn from one another. The Lord was good in allowing me to have this opportunity, and the Lord would be good if He did not as well. Praise His holy name.
Aaron Jaffee
I was asked in late December if I would be interested in flying to Mexico, working on Mike’s house for a few days, and then driving from Mexico City back to Ohio. I was skeptical at first that this would be something that the Lord would have me do, but I told Pastor Brown that I would pray about it. With much prayer and the details all seeming to come together, by late January, it was a go.
The Lord worked it out that the Zartmans (Reuben and Heidi, the furlough replacements) and I would be on the same plane from Houston to Mexico City. Just one of the many ways the Lord showed His sovereignty and blessing during this trip. This saved Mike from making two trips to the airport that week. While on the plane from Houston to Mexico City, an interesting thing happened. I saw a rough looking Latino man with a spider tattooed to his neck. I could only see him from the shoulders up at first as he was inching forward down the aisle of people. As he got closer I noticed a book in his hand; Rick Warren’s "The Purpose Driven Life." While I in no way support that book, it did get me thinking that this man could have just as easily had a Bible in his hand. It was a reminder not to prejudge the Mexicans based on their appearance.
I am not crazy about flying, but that also was something that the Lord used to teach me. As I had much time to think on the plane, two thoughts kept echoing in my mind. The first is that Christ endured three hours of having the sin of the world (including my own) placed upon Him on the cross, so it is silly for me not to be willing to endure something unpleasant for Him for less than three hours. The second thought was that the Lord often uses unpleasant circumstances to fit us for a particular task. If we can endure that unpleasantness (flying in this case), God can put us in a great place of service, such as Mexico City.
Upon arrival in Mexico City, immediately after kissing the ground (I didn’t actually kiss the ground, but I could have), I found Reuben and Heidi. I was happy to have them to follow since I knew nothing of the procedure in the airport. Another blessing was that we all received green lights as we went through customs, and therefore we did not need to have our things more closely scrutinized.
When we left the airport in the van, and I got my first look at Mexico City, what struck me most was the sensuality that is paraded throughout the city. I couldn’t help thinking that this was either as openly immoral or even more so than the typical U.S. City. There are sinners that need the Lord everywhere. I did not have a lot of time to dwell on that thought fortunately, because the driving in Mexico City is enough to keep your mind off of these things. There seems to be no laws, and it was every man or woman for themselves. And I thought driving in Philadelphia was dangerous. Makes me want to pray more often for safety for our missionaries on the field (especially in Mexico).
I was blessed to attend two services at Iglesia Biblica de Padierna. Since I know very little Spanish, I wasn’t expecting to get much out of the preaching, however, God worked it out that Mike would be preaching two passages of which I am very familiar. On Wednesday night, he spoke on John 17 (Christ’s high-priestly prayer) and on Sunday he spoke on II Corinthians 4 (a chapter I have adopted as my life chapter). Because of the familiarity of the text, I was able to follow along and get something out of the Word. The Lord is good.
Another huge blessing was the hymns. It’s an encouragement to think of these folks singing the same hymns that we sing. The tie that binds Christians truly transcends language. Yes, the songs used words like El Salvador and Christo and Padre, but the message came through loud and clear. We all love the same Savior. I was especially thrilled to hear the brothers and sisters in Christ sing "I Gave My Life for Thee," one of my favorites.
I was also thinking about how when we meet in the air, our bond together will be so much more fully realized because there will no longer be a language barrier, or a sin barrier for that matter. What a day that will be. I often thought that I can be closer to someone from halfway around the world that knows Christ, than to those in my own family that do not. It’s a totally different relationship with a believer (Luke 8:19-21).
While working on Mike’s house, I learned what a cistern is. This will help me when I read Jeremiah (2:13) in that I will know what the purpose of a cistern is (although, I doubt it would be the exact same thing as the underground cisterns that we filled with water). We are blessed to have a cistern of living water that never runs dry (John 4:10). We then got to clean out the underground septic tank. It was just rain water, or so Mike tells me (wink). Mike filled up buckets and I dumped them on him while pulling them up from underground with a rope. By the end, I was almost brown enough to pass for a Mexican. Good thing there are no pictures.
From Mike’s roof, you can see out over Mexico City. It is very beautiful at night. There are more lights than anyone could possibly count. It seems somewhat ironic that with all of these lights throughout Mexico City that there is so little Gospel light there. Mexico City could sure use prayer for laborers as most places could (Matthew 9:37-38).
The final day of our stay in Mexico City included the Sunday School and church service hours and a comida (meal) afterwards. It was really great to see all of the people in the church (50+) getting along well and serving one another. As Mike and his family are on furlough, we really need to pray for the Lord’s protection of this work and His work in the people's hearts. Reuben and Heidi Zartman would covet your prayers as well.
The Lord had a few more things to teach me on the way home. I was introduced to an incredible preacher (Albert Martin) as we listened to a sermon series on the Contemporary Gospel. While I don't agree with his eschatological position (last things), I believe his soteriology (doctrine of salvation) is very respectable. I also learned that Mike is serious about a literal interpretation of Scripture. Hebrews 11:6 "But without Faith it is impossible to please him." So he married Faith. It shouldn’t have surprised me since he has spent some time with Pastor Perry, who I have often wondered if he took Exodus 38:26 "A bekah for every man..." literally too. I'm kidding of course.
As we were driving home, I mentioned to Mike that the Lord has been good on this trip and that everything has gone well. He responded "So if things went wrong the Lord wouldn’t be good?" It was a short answer and he may not even remember saying this, but it really got me thinking. The truth is the Lord is good no matter what. That is one of the great things about serving the God that we serve. He is always good. He always does what is right. It was a rebuke to me, but a well needed one.
Okay I have rambled long enough. It is my prayer that something that I have learned on this trip, might help someone else. That is the whole point in sharing these things. We all have different experiences. We need to learn from one another. The Lord was good in allowing me to have this opportunity, and the Lord would be good if He did not as well. Praise His holy name.
Aaron Jaffee
Wednesday, February 1
Goldfuss Update (February 1, 2005)
Dear Praying friends,
I (Mike) am still in Mexico City for the rest of this week. I have been very busy with ministry and house work. That’s why I didn’t have the opportunity to write this past weekend.
Last week was spent in much work on the house. Faith was here from Thursday, January 19 until Friday, January 27. It was wonderful to have her here with me and work along side her. Juana and Reme took Matthew and Cherith for about three whole days and it was quite a help to just be able to get lots of work done. Faith and I boxed up many things and got a good bit moved from the cabin to the house. The carpet was laid, two of the four closet/drawer/chests were delivered (they were due here on the 27th of December) and some more woodwork was done. Last week was the first time that Faith and I have been alone together in 3 ½ years and it was fun to work and be with just her for a change.
This week, the work goes on—it goes quite a bit slower without any help. We had a good Lord’s Day. Thirteen different people from our Ajusco neighborhood accompanied me down the mountain to our church. It seems as if the Lord is opening the doors for a church here also. We had our three-hour Bible study on Saturday night and then another one on Sunday night after our church services. On the way to take the three teens home, they asked if I would come one night and counsel their parents. I said that there was no night like the present. They invited me in—dirt floor, very cold, no hot water heater—they heat their water with a wood fire to take their baths. The man (Benjamin) has been drinking a lot and coming home abusive. The amazing power of the sinful heart to blind people to the seriousness of their sin is astounding. Please pray for him and for Matilde his wife to be saved—as well as the teens (Janet, Vanessa and Jain.) I was finally able to get home on Sunday night around 11:00 PM.
As the busyness of life goes on around each day, we often forget that people are dying. Margarita, (the store-owner in front of our house) just lost her mother to a sudden two-day illness last Friday. I went to pick up two 4x4’s today and the man who has delivered much of our building material during the last two years looked terrible. He informed me that his wife (33 years old) just died last week of an apparent heart attack in the night. Please pray for Juan that I would have more opportunity to speak with him before I leave this weekend after church to drive to Ohio.
Ruben and Heidi Zartman are arriving tomorrow to take over the work here for our time in the States. A young man from New Lexington Bible Church in Ohio (Aaron Jaffee) is arriving tomorrow also to work with me for three days and then accompany me on the 50 hour trip home. The best news of the day is that they all three arrive in Mexico City on the exact same flight. I don’t have to fight traffic to get to the airport two times—only once.
Another man, Vicente, has said that he would like to accompany me to Texas and just talk about many problems in his life. Pray that the Lord’s will would be done there and that he will be saved.
Pray for Faith and the children in Ohio at Mentor Christian School and Cristiana’s therapies. We have been getting very good reports on her. Thank you for praying.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
I (Mike) am still in Mexico City for the rest of this week. I have been very busy with ministry and house work. That’s why I didn’t have the opportunity to write this past weekend.
Last week was spent in much work on the house. Faith was here from Thursday, January 19 until Friday, January 27. It was wonderful to have her here with me and work along side her. Juana and Reme took Matthew and Cherith for about three whole days and it was quite a help to just be able to get lots of work done. Faith and I boxed up many things and got a good bit moved from the cabin to the house. The carpet was laid, two of the four closet/drawer/chests were delivered (they were due here on the 27th of December) and some more woodwork was done. Last week was the first time that Faith and I have been alone together in 3 ½ years and it was fun to work and be with just her for a change.
This week, the work goes on—it goes quite a bit slower without any help. We had a good Lord’s Day. Thirteen different people from our Ajusco neighborhood accompanied me down the mountain to our church. It seems as if the Lord is opening the doors for a church here also. We had our three-hour Bible study on Saturday night and then another one on Sunday night after our church services. On the way to take the three teens home, they asked if I would come one night and counsel their parents. I said that there was no night like the present. They invited me in—dirt floor, very cold, no hot water heater—they heat their water with a wood fire to take their baths. The man (Benjamin) has been drinking a lot and coming home abusive. The amazing power of the sinful heart to blind people to the seriousness of their sin is astounding. Please pray for him and for Matilde his wife to be saved—as well as the teens (Janet, Vanessa and Jain.) I was finally able to get home on Sunday night around 11:00 PM.
As the busyness of life goes on around each day, we often forget that people are dying. Margarita, (the store-owner in front of our house) just lost her mother to a sudden two-day illness last Friday. I went to pick up two 4x4’s today and the man who has delivered much of our building material during the last two years looked terrible. He informed me that his wife (33 years old) just died last week of an apparent heart attack in the night. Please pray for Juan that I would have more opportunity to speak with him before I leave this weekend after church to drive to Ohio.
Ruben and Heidi Zartman are arriving tomorrow to take over the work here for our time in the States. A young man from New Lexington Bible Church in Ohio (Aaron Jaffee) is arriving tomorrow also to work with me for three days and then accompany me on the 50 hour trip home. The best news of the day is that they all three arrive in Mexico City on the exact same flight. I don’t have to fight traffic to get to the airport two times—only once.
Another man, Vicente, has said that he would like to accompany me to Texas and just talk about many problems in his life. Pray that the Lord’s will would be done there and that he will be saved.
Pray for Faith and the children in Ohio at Mentor Christian School and Cristiana’s therapies. We have been getting very good reports on her. Thank you for praying.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Saturday, January 21
Changes, Changes! But All a Part of God’s Plan
Dear cherished prayer supporters,
Mike and Faith are ALONE right now in Mexico. What???? You say. That’s what we have said too. The Lord has made drastic changes. Even though life has been spinning, we know that every change and hectic day has been a part of God’s plan to draw us closer to Him and to be more effective in our service to Him in the future.
In early December, Mike’s sisters and mother headed up an incredible week of family fun at a family reunion on the beach in Charleston, SC. Mike is one of seven and there were 20 grandchildren! We even went to see Christmas lights in the church BUS! The special time there will not soon be forgotten.
We then headed up to Mentor, Ohio to our home church. We wanted to take the opportunity to see our home church and to have Faith’s second grade teacher evaluate our daughter Cristiana. The past year has been very difficult home schooling her. Some days Cristi seemed to read well. Other days, she could not. We had actually considered dyslexia; but then we knew that at times Cristi read well. It was Mrs. McCulloch that gave us the missing puzzle piece. She said that –"some days fine, some days not," could be the actual sign of some learning disabilities. Friends Tim and Rhonda Potter encouraged us to have her tested. So we continued with our plans to spend Christmas with Faith’s parents and had her tested in PA. The learning center in PA recommended a specialist called a clinical neurological psychologist. But their doctors had a 3 month waiting list. We then turned all of our attention to getting back to Mentor. There we could put the children in Mentor Christian School where we both grew up and have the help of our own church people. The learning center in Cleveland suggested a neurologist who would have just put Cristi on Ritalin. Wanting someone to deal with the whole problem, we called the PA specialist who verified that just neurology was not the way to go. He then found us a doctor in Cleveland who specialized in Cristi’s problems. Praise the Lord it is only 45 minutes away from us! The learning center also determined that Cristi had failed the hearing test. Cristi told us, "I can hear fine. It is just that sometimes I can’t get it." We chuckled inside because-- wasn’t that a hearing problem? Well, it turns out that Cristi was right. She was determined by the specialist to have dyslexia as well as an AUDITORY PERCEPTION problem which explained that sometimes she could hear well, but what she was hearing just sounded like ---blah, blah, blah. This also explained problems with immediate since she was two. The Lord was very gracious to reveal this to us at an early age, 8, before her condition became irreversible.
Words cannot explain all that has gone on since then. Mike traveled to Cleveland with Cristi for a week of testing while the rest of us stayed in PA, then he came back, got us, took us to his mom’s house, and left the next day. Kent Hobi drove down to Greenville with him while Mike’s brother, John Goldfuss met Mike in Atlanta. They both flew to Mexico City and waited while Mark Perry from Westerville Bible Church met them at the airport. The three of them spent over one week working feverishly on the house. Meanwhile, Faith was in Mentor trying the help the children get adjusted to a new home, church, school, and climate. We had little appropriate clothing, but the people of Bible Community have provided clothing, meals, and themselves to help us move into Mike’s mom’s home. Some have gone to the doctor’s appointments with Faith to help watch the children. Their help has been overwhelming. The people of Grace Church of Mentor have also helped by providing their van and taking the children to school. The Lord’s people are so gracious. It brings tears to our eyes when we think of all of the love that has been shown to us.
Grandma Goldfuss arrived from SC just in time as Mike had asked Faith to come to Mexico to help move things from the cabin to the new house. This will now free the cabin for Ruben and Heidi Zartman to come and fill in for us during furlough. Grandma is taking care of Cristi and Carissa, and the Houke family has Mikey. Faith brought Matthew and Cherith with her, but Juana and Reme quickly stole them away so that we could get more work done here. So we are alone!!! We have not been alone for even 1 hour in over 3 ½ years!
All three older children are at Mentor Christian School. Mrs. McCulloch (our 2nd grade teacher) has been invaluable to us in helping with Cristi. Cristi is presently involved in four different therapies tackling the auditory perception problem and beginning to deal with the dyslexia. Faith will return to Mentor on January 27th when she will have a big meeting with all of Cristi’s doctors to determine how to more intensely deal with the dyslexia. A dear friend, Susie Phillips, is taking over all of Cristi’s home exercises, and Cristi seems to be progressing well.
So what are our plans for 2006?
Mike and Faith are ALONE right now in Mexico. What???? You say. That’s what we have said too. The Lord has made drastic changes. Even though life has been spinning, we know that every change and hectic day has been a part of God’s plan to draw us closer to Him and to be more effective in our service to Him in the future.
In early December, Mike’s sisters and mother headed up an incredible week of family fun at a family reunion on the beach in Charleston, SC. Mike is one of seven and there were 20 grandchildren! We even went to see Christmas lights in the church BUS! The special time there will not soon be forgotten.
We then headed up to Mentor, Ohio to our home church. We wanted to take the opportunity to see our home church and to have Faith’s second grade teacher evaluate our daughter Cristiana. The past year has been very difficult home schooling her. Some days Cristi seemed to read well. Other days, she could not. We had actually considered dyslexia; but then we knew that at times Cristi read well. It was Mrs. McCulloch that gave us the missing puzzle piece. She said that –"some days fine, some days not," could be the actual sign of some learning disabilities. Friends Tim and Rhonda Potter encouraged us to have her tested. So we continued with our plans to spend Christmas with Faith’s parents and had her tested in PA. The learning center in PA recommended a specialist called a clinical neurological psychologist. But their doctors had a 3 month waiting list. We then turned all of our attention to getting back to Mentor. There we could put the children in Mentor Christian School where we both grew up and have the help of our own church people. The learning center in Cleveland suggested a neurologist who would have just put Cristi on Ritalin. Wanting someone to deal with the whole problem, we called the PA specialist who verified that just neurology was not the way to go. He then found us a doctor in Cleveland who specialized in Cristi’s problems. Praise the Lord it is only 45 minutes away from us! The learning center also determined that Cristi had failed the hearing test. Cristi told us, "I can hear fine. It is just that sometimes I can’t get it." We chuckled inside because-- wasn’t that a hearing problem? Well, it turns out that Cristi was right. She was determined by the specialist to have dyslexia as well as an AUDITORY PERCEPTION problem which explained that sometimes she could hear well, but what she was hearing just sounded like ---blah, blah, blah. This also explained problems with immediate since she was two. The Lord was very gracious to reveal this to us at an early age, 8, before her condition became irreversible.
Words cannot explain all that has gone on since then. Mike traveled to Cleveland with Cristi for a week of testing while the rest of us stayed in PA, then he came back, got us, took us to his mom’s house, and left the next day. Kent Hobi drove down to Greenville with him while Mike’s brother, John Goldfuss met Mike in Atlanta. They both flew to Mexico City and waited while Mark Perry from Westerville Bible Church met them at the airport. The three of them spent over one week working feverishly on the house. Meanwhile, Faith was in Mentor trying the help the children get adjusted to a new home, church, school, and climate. We had little appropriate clothing, but the people of Bible Community have provided clothing, meals, and themselves to help us move into Mike’s mom’s home. Some have gone to the doctor’s appointments with Faith to help watch the children. Their help has been overwhelming. The people of Grace Church of Mentor have also helped by providing their van and taking the children to school. The Lord’s people are so gracious. It brings tears to our eyes when we think of all of the love that has been shown to us.
Grandma Goldfuss arrived from SC just in time as Mike had asked Faith to come to Mexico to help move things from the cabin to the new house. This will now free the cabin for Ruben and Heidi Zartman to come and fill in for us during furlough. Grandma is taking care of Cristi and Carissa, and the Houke family has Mikey. Faith brought Matthew and Cherith with her, but Juana and Reme quickly stole them away so that we could get more work done here. So we are alone!!! We have not been alone for even 1 hour in over 3 ½ years!
All three older children are at Mentor Christian School. Mrs. McCulloch (our 2nd grade teacher) has been invaluable to us in helping with Cristi. Cristi is presently involved in four different therapies tackling the auditory perception problem and beginning to deal with the dyslexia. Faith will return to Mentor on January 27th when she will have a big meeting with all of Cristi’s doctors to determine how to more intensely deal with the dyslexia. A dear friend, Susie Phillips, is taking over all of Cristi’s home exercises, and Cristi seems to be progressing well.
So what are our plans for 2006?
- (Mike) Helping Ruben and Heidi Zartman get adjusted to Mexico. They are coming on February 1st and Mike will drive the van up and hope to be in Mentor, Ohio by February 10th.
- Going on furlough to our 25 supporting churches on the weekends. We want to also encourage the Lord’s people with the fact that trials are allowed by the Lord for His glory and our good. They may not be the easiest, but they are the best. We also want to present the need for more workers and share the blessings of dedicating yourself entirely to serving the Lord.
- Helping at our home church during the week. Mike will tend to our missions responsibilities primarily each day, and then he would like to make himself available to the church and the school as he is needed. This may give us a chance to give back a little of all that Bible Community has given to us.
- Going on a twelve-day trip as team leaders of high school students to Puerto Rico in July with the purpose of helping the Pfaunmillers who are also supported by Bible Community. We are thrilled to be able to help these young people in their Christian growth.
- Continuing Cristi’s intensive therapies.
- Visiting family and friends that we haven’t seen in almost six years.
- Giving our children the big picture of our ministry and encouraging them in their part of the ministry.
- And finally, getting back to Mexico as soon as possible after reaching all of the above goals.
We are looking forward to seeing all of you soon! Please continue to pray.
With much love, The Goldfusses
Monday, January 16
Check Out the Latest
For more pictures of the work in progress, check out http://www.obf.net/~obf.goldfuss/constr.htm.
Sunday, January 15
Prayer Update (January 15)
Dear Praying friends,
I (Mike) had a very good week here in Mexico City. My brother John and Mark Perry were here helping me do a lot of work on the house. They were a tremendous help and encouragement. The work that they got 
done in one week was substantial and much appreciated. Thank you John and Mark.
Faith and the kids still need much grace and prayer as they are getting settled into the routines of Mentor Christian School and a new culture. To make things just a little more interesting, Faith is going to be coming back probably on Thursday to get some things done here in Mexico City that need to be done before we go on our furlough. I am still planning on staying here until around February 5, and then driving all the way to Ohio with our van. Pray for these details. I will be very glad to see Faith.
We had a good Lord’s Day today. We were a little lower in attendance but there was a good spirit. We had two visitors—one, Raul, came from a city quite a ways from here. He is looking for a church but the logistics of our church are against him—he is about 2 1/2 hours from us. Another lady, Maria Elena, came because she found a tract just thrown on the bicycle path by her house that someone else had thrown there. The Lord works in His ways. Pray that she will become part of our church.
We continue to need your prayers. Thank you for praying.
In Christ,
Mike for the family
I (Mike) had a very good week here in Mexico City. My brother John and Mark Perry were here helping me do a lot of work on the house. They were a tremendous help and encouragement. The work that they got 
done in one week was substantial and much appreciated. Thank you John and Mark.Faith and the kids still need much grace and prayer as they are getting settled into the routines of Mentor Christian School and a new culture. To make things just a little more interesting, Faith is going to be coming back probably on Thursday to get some things done here in Mexico City that need to be done before we go on our furlough. I am still planning on staying here until around February 5, and then driving all the way to Ohio with our van. Pray for these details. I will be very glad to see Faith.
We had a good Lord’s Day today. We were a little lower in attendance but there was a good spirit. We had two visitors—one, Raul, came from a city quite a ways from here. He is looking for a church but the logistics of our church are against him—he is about 2 1/2 hours from us. Another lady, Maria Elena, came because she found a tract just thrown on the bicycle path by her house that someone else had thrown there. The Lord works in His ways. Pray that she will become part of our church.We continue to need your prayers. Thank you for praying.
In Christ,
Mike for the family
Wednesday, January 11
Sunday, January 8
Prayer Update (January 8)
Dear Praying friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers for our family. We had an eventful time in the USA. We had a wonderful first week in Charleston, SC for Mike’s family reunion. Mom Goldfuss, the 7 Goldfuss brothers and sisters, their spouses, and 20 grandchildren enjoyed the wonderful time that Mom and several sisters organized. It was an enjoyable week.
The children went to Mentor Christian School for two days when we got to Ohio for an evaluation. Cristiana’s teacher told us that she was 99% sure that Cristi has a learning disability after evaluating her. We then went to PA to visit Faith’s mom and dad and were scheduling appointments around the Christmas holiday. Mike had to take Cristi back for three days to Ohio for some testing and we found out from the doctors that while she is very intelligent, she has dyslexia and several other learning problems. It is such a relief to know the cause of the many problems we have had in homeschooling in the last two years.
To make a long story short, we are going to be taking an unscheduled furlough this year basing in Mentor, Ohio at Mike’s mom’s house. We will be mainly focusing on getting Cristi the help she needs and visiting our supporting churches.
The kids and Faith all stayed in Ohio and Mike had to go back to Mexico City for about 4-6 weeks to leave the work there in order and do some work on the house. Pray for much grace in this time of difficult transition. We will try to make contact with pastors for meetings as soon as possible. The Lord has allowed Mark Perry from Westerville Bible Church and John Goldfuss from Missouri to be here this week with Mike to help work on the house. That is a huge blessing. Pray that we’ll get much done.
We need your prayers. Thank you for praying.
In Christ,
Mike for the family
PS—this is a little short because our computer has not allowed anything to be done to it for about 5 days. I’ll try to send this before it turns off again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)