Dear Praying friends,
Well, it was another busy week trying to recover from the team last week and getting ready for Faith and three of the kids to go to the States. Mikey and Cristiana are each going to be attending a week of camp at Peniel Bible Camp the next two weeks. I suggested to Faith that it would be nice if she could accompany them and spend most of the two weeks at her mom and dad's house in PA.
I'll give a few details about the preparations to get them home. We found out about 1 1/2 months ago that Mikey's passport had expired last year. On June 2 we called the US embassy here to get our appointment for Mikey and Caralyn's passport applications. They said that the first date available was July 6, one day before their departure. We told them about the next day travel plans and they said that we would be able to get a temporary/emergency passport the same day—no problem. Going Friday to the embassy was an absolute disaster. They told us that there was no way to give us that kind of passport as the trip wasn't an emergency. :-( They said we should have come in during the past five weeks to renew Mikey's passport. I told them that we did exactly what they told us to do on the phone—come on July 6. They said that it was our fault. The passport applications were approved and we paid for them, but we were told that they would take two weeks to get to us. So we came home and I spent almost three hours on the phone talking to different airlines, embassy people, etc., to try to come to some resolution. Finally we got one person to say that they had called the airlines and that the physical receipt from the embassy would be enough to get them all on the plane. Saturday we went early to the airport and the ticket counter man gave us absolutely no problems. When we had to say goodbye, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, Jason and I all came home.
I found out last night that the ticket taker at the plane was very difficult and had radioed to take all of Faith and the kids' luggage off of the plane and that they were NOT going to let them get on and fly. However, Faith stood her ground well and argued that it was not our fault, that we had express permission from the airline to fly and that she was not going to lose all the money for the tickets for something that was not her fault. Praise the Lord they ended up in Cleveland last night (Saturday) about 11:30 PM.
Please pray for the Lord to work greatly in Cristi and Mikey's hearts during the next two weeks of camp. They have a good head knowledge of the things of the Lord but we are very concerned for them to internalize those things and to have real hearts and love for our Lord and His glory. Please pray for Faith to have a very relaxing time with her mom and with Caralyn in PA.
This week here in Mexico I've had some good opportunities. On Thursday night, I was able to speak with Roberto, Sylvia's drug-addicted son for two hours. He told me that he had no desire to give up the drugs and that he enjoyed it. He doesn't fear any consequences. I was feeling pretty hopeless for a time, but prayed and asked the Lord to help me make some headway with him. I tried to really get him to see that he has offended God by his sin and what the consequences of that sin are if he continues in it, dies in it and goes to judgment before Christ still in those sins. Only the Holy Spirit can convince Roberto of his sin. Only our God can draw him to the Son. After talking Thursday night, Roberto went out and got high again on Friday. Sylvia was able to get him into a rehab place on Saturday. Please pray that he will read God's Word there and and that God would graciously grant him the faith and repentance to be saved.
Today we were down a good bit in the church attendance. It is often common to have a big group and lots of excitement and then to be very down the next week. Please pray that the people wouldn't be depending on a "high" from last week with the team to get them through their lives spiritually. I have been preaching lately on the necessity of continuing in and meditating on the gospel of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ for daily victory. It has been a great challenge to my own heart. Pray that the Lord would help each of us in the Padierna Bible Church to put these truths into practice.
Jason has been a blessing to have here this whole week. Unfortunately he has to leave tomorrow. Please pray for Carissa, Matthew, Cherith and I as we hold down the fort here at home. We certainly will miss mom and the other kids the next two weeks.
We covet your prayers for the work here that the Lord would empower us to do His will day by day. We long to see Him open the windows of heaven and pour out His Spirit savingly on multitudes of people in this city. Pray that we will be prepared, useful and clean vessels that He can use mightily. We want to see the Lord work here because of us, not in spite of us. Pray that we will be faithful in our daily walk with the Lord. Just because we are missionaries doesn't mean that we don't struggle with that too.
Thank you so much for your prayers and for your faithful financial support and encouragement. We appreciate you all very very much.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
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