Dear Praying Friends,
We had quite another exhausting and grueling week. We thank you for your prayers for the Lord's sustaining grace day by day.
Three straight Sundays have brought a new person each Sunday to church with a cast on. We may soon be known as the "Hard Cast Bible Church." Pray for Francisco, Liliana and Adriana to be able to heal quickly and for them to learn the spiritual lessons that the Lord has for them right now.
We found out on Wednesday that Juana and Reme and their family has officially lost their property case. They will be finding out this week when they will have to move out of their property that they have lived in for 35 years. The case has been unjustly handled in the Mexican court system and it seems that other party bought out Juana and Reme's lawyers. They will probably have to move out at the beginning or middle of next week. We aren't sure where they are going to go, but we have offered them the use of our cabin and extra room over the garage if they need some time to find another place. That would be eight new people so pray for that. The Lord could still also work a miracle to allow this family to not have to uproot if it is His will.
We have had a situation of immorality in the church that has resulted in a pregnancy outside of marriage. The young couple wanted to stand before the church today and ask forgiveness from all. I was able to use Galatians 6:1 after their public apology to encourage the church to not think that any of us are above sin and to show ourselves spiritual in restoring in meekness the publicly repentant couple.
Angel and Mayra, the couple who lost the baby, returned today for a second straight Sunday. Pray for them to be saved. We also had three other first time visitors. One lady looked familiar but I didn't recognize her. She said that her husband had known me about seven years ago through playing basketball. He said that he didn't want to go to a Pentecostal church as it was a fraud, but wanted to come to our church. He didn't come but his wife (Alejandra) did.
Heidi Zartman had to leave on Thursday. We, and Ruben, were very sad to see her go. Pray for the Lord to work in Heidi and allow a doctor in Indiana to be able to relieve much of her physical problems if the Lord will permit it. It has been a blessing to have Ruben here helping in the ministry. The people love him so much and it will be very sad when he also has to leave in 1 1/2 weeks. It was a blessing to have him preach today and to lead us in the Lord's Supper.
Faith had an interesting ladies' meeting yesterday. One lady brought up an issue in the church with another lady right in front of the whole group. So, Faith had to biblically deal with the situation right there with all the ladies right there. She said it was an exhausting time. This Saturday we are planning another young people's meeting. The second Saturday in October we are planning our first men's meeting to study the requirements for elders and deacons in the church. Please pray that the Lord will use this for his glory in the future of this little church and also to give men a goal that they can seek to reach.
Many of you have prayed for Memo and Karina. This is the family that several years ago was an absolute disaster and we even questioned and doubted (sad to say) whether it was possible for the Lord to rescue them. He has done an incredible work in them. Karina told us this week that Memo bought one of our new little family devotional books for the whole year last week and is reading it with their children each night. What an encouragement.
Tonight after we had dinner here at home, we received a call from a lady in the church who wanted Ruben and I to come and talk to a lady to whom she rents. She is a Muslim from Jordan who speaks Arabic and English, no Spanish. Fatima is in Mexico for just two months doing research on different Muslim religious groups. Ruben and I sat fascinated for about three hours as she told us of her beliefs. We had some tremendous opportunities to present the gospel to her. She listened well and answered our many questions about her religion. She left the door open for us to return and speak further with her. Please pray that the Lord would open her heart to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well, due to exhaustion, both physical and mental, we are going to go for five days starting tomorrow to the coast for a short getaway that is very needed. Please pray that Caralyn's persistent cough will improve and be removed due to the the sea air.
We thank you so much for your prayers and support.
In Christian Love,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Monday, September 24
Monday, September 17
Goldfuss update (September 17)
Dear Praying friends,
This has been a grueling and exhausting week. On Monday, I went to visit Erasmo and Matilde who hadn't been to church on Wednesday nor last Sunday. Erasmo (the man who had several of his fingers cut off this past year) had to go to the hospital on Sat. night at 11 PM with serious stomach pain. It turned out to be gastritis and he wasn't able to get out until Sunday afternoon.
Their family is going through a very serious problem right now that will affect our church here. Please pray for them.
They were able to come up on Thursday this week for lunch and stayed til 10 PM. While we were trying to talk to them, Carlos, a friend from long ago called, Pedro, an old friend showed up for lunch also, unexpected, and we received several other phone calls during our time of trying to help them. Please pray that each family member will do what the Lord wants them and requires of them and also that God's name will be glorified in all of this situation.
Ruben and Heidi arrived on Thursday night from Panama. They were down there helping another GFA missionary family, the Mavars, who have been on furlough. It was such a blessing to have them back in the Padierna Bible Church today. The church people were thrilled to see them. I taught our SS class and Ruben led the worship service and preached. We followed up the services today with a "Welcome back" meal for Ruben and Heidi. Please pray for Heidi. As many of you know, Heidi has suffered in the past here from altitude sickness. She's only been here for three days now and is not doing well again. Their plan was for her to leave this coming Thursday but she may have to leave as early as Tuesday. Ruben is planning on staying until October 4. Please pray for both Ruben and Heidi and their future plans. The people here are really really going to miss them a lot.
Today's services were very well attended again. We had nine visitors and no extra chairs. America and Jose have a little school supply store and have been giving out tracts. Today, Cesar, and two of his children came because of receiving a tract there. His wife left him with the two children and took the littlest one with her. He said he enjoyed it and would really like to come back. Juana invited two other ladies and they also attended. A young lady from our church, Mildred, also attended today with her mother who came for the first time. One of the greatest blessings was that Angel, Myra and Myra's brother Manuel all came today. Angel and Myra are the couple who had the baby die last week. We picked them up for church this morning. They worked at their taco stand last night until 3:30 AM so it was no easy task to get up for church this morning, especially for coming for the first time. All the visitors stayed for the meal that we had after church. Please pray for the Lord to work in the hearts of each of these nine people so that they would think about what they heard from God's Word today. Please pray for them to be saved.
We'll end tonight with an incredible blessing for our family. Cristi had a full week of therapy this week. She is READING. She is also SPELLING. It was like a switch flipped on for her. We aren't done and have a few more days of the therapy. Also, they are really just giving Faith tools to use to keep on teaching Cristi. It will still be about a two year process for Faith in dealing with her.
We thank you for all that you do for us in praying for and supporting us. We appreciate your prayers greatly. Please pray for us a lot in this coming week. There is an upcoming ladies' meeting this Saturday.
Mike for all the Goldfi
This has been a grueling and exhausting week. On Monday, I went to visit Erasmo and Matilde who hadn't been to church on Wednesday nor last Sunday. Erasmo (the man who had several of his fingers cut off this past year) had to go to the hospital on Sat. night at 11 PM with serious stomach pain. It turned out to be gastritis and he wasn't able to get out until Sunday afternoon.
Their family is going through a very serious problem right now that will affect our church here. Please pray for them.
They were able to come up on Thursday this week for lunch and stayed til 10 PM. While we were trying to talk to them, Carlos, a friend from long ago called, Pedro, an old friend showed up for lunch also, unexpected, and we received several other phone calls during our time of trying to help them. Please pray that each family member will do what the Lord wants them and requires of them and also that God's name will be glorified in all of this situation.
Ruben and Heidi arrived on Thursday night from Panama. They were down there helping another GFA missionary family, the Mavars, who have been on furlough. It was such a blessing to have them back in the Padierna Bible Church today. The church people were thrilled to see them. I taught our SS class and Ruben led the worship service and preached. We followed up the services today with a "Welcome back" meal for Ruben and Heidi. Please pray for Heidi. As many of you know, Heidi has suffered in the past here from altitude sickness. She's only been here for three days now and is not doing well again. Their plan was for her to leave this coming Thursday but she may have to leave as early as Tuesday. Ruben is planning on staying until October 4. Please pray for both Ruben and Heidi and their future plans. The people here are really really going to miss them a lot.
Today's services were very well attended again. We had nine visitors and no extra chairs. America and Jose have a little school supply store and have been giving out tracts. Today, Cesar, and two of his children came because of receiving a tract there. His wife left him with the two children and took the littlest one with her. He said he enjoyed it and would really like to come back. Juana invited two other ladies and they also attended. A young lady from our church, Mildred, also attended today with her mother who came for the first time. One of the greatest blessings was that Angel, Myra and Myra's brother Manuel all came today. Angel and Myra are the couple who had the baby die last week. We picked them up for church this morning. They worked at their taco stand last night until 3:30 AM so it was no easy task to get up for church this morning, especially for coming for the first time. All the visitors stayed for the meal that we had after church. Please pray for the Lord to work in the hearts of each of these nine people so that they would think about what they heard from God's Word today. Please pray for them to be saved.
We'll end tonight with an incredible blessing for our family. Cristi had a full week of therapy this week. She is READING. She is also SPELLING. It was like a switch flipped on for her. We aren't done and have a few more days of the therapy. Also, they are really just giving Faith tools to use to keep on teaching Cristi. It will still be about a two year process for Faith in dealing with her.
We thank you for all that you do for us in praying for and supporting us. We appreciate your prayers greatly. Please pray for us a lot in this coming week. There is an upcoming ladies' meeting this Saturday.
Mike for all the Goldfi
Monday, September 10
Goldfuss update (September 10)
Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers this past week. We always appreciate them very much.
Last Sunday I began a two part series on Isaiah's vision from Isaiah 6, basically on the holiness of God and how it affected Isaiah. We heard that last Sunday afternoon/evening, Memo, the young man who is married to Karina and has the three children, David, Adriel and Alejandra, went home and took his secret collection of pornographic DVD's and broke every one of them. I'd never talked about that to him as I never knew about it. His wife said, "Why don't you turn those in and exchange them for something good?" Memo said, "If they aren't good for us, they aren't good for anybody." What a blessing to see God work in great ways in people through His Word. That was an absolute joy and blessing.
One Wednesday, Teresa had her wallet stolen when she was on a public transit bus. She went to file a report on Thursday and met a young man who was at the same station as she was trying to file a report about his sister's little girl of 1 year 4 months who died in the night. Instead of being preoccupied with only her own difficulties, Tere helped the young man get a hearing. She came home and called me. That night she went with Morgan to their home and they shared Christ with the family.
On Friday morning, Morgan and I went to visit one of the new families who came to church last week. We had an excellent visit with them and they said that they would be at church yesterday. They were. Pray for Constantino and Juliana. After visiting their family, Morgan said that the couple who lost the little girl was going to be waiting for us. Angel (32) and Myra (18) had their little baby die in her sleep the day before. I walked into their little one room home and there was a little casket, open and with the little girl there with many candles around. Teresa was there also. What a blessing Morgan and Teresa have become in seeing needs and seeking to meet them as much as is possible. Myra's parents are separated and live in different states and had no plans to come. Angel's parents live below but the mother is almost blind and the father has to constantly care for her. So, it was Angel and Myra, one aunt, Myra's brother that Tere met at the police station, and 2 little neighbor girls along with Morgan, Tere and me. I gave about a 10 minute "funeral message" from Job and heavily emphasizing the responsibilities that we have in this life to repent and believe the gospel. Morgan and Tere accompanied the family to the burial site and I came home and we made a meal for their family for that evening. Mikey and I took it back to them and we were able to have a very good time with that couple and their aunt and brother. Angel cried when we finally had to leave and said "Thank you so much for all that you have done for us. We have nobody to help us in such a time as this." We are going to follow them up. Angel especially seemed interested in coming to church. Myra, understandably so, has great grief at this time. It's amazing how the trials that the Lord allows in our own lives in the past prepares us to help meet the needs of others in His service. Teresa also lost a 22 year old son about 6 years ago.
Yesterday in church we were missing a few people. Sylvia was back which was a great praise. She told me on Saturday night that yesterday was her birthday and that she asked her husband for only one present--"Please let me go to church, and not only go, but please take me." Her birthday wish was granted.
We were able to spend a lot of the afternoon and evening last night with Humberto, Orthencia and their daughter Carolina. They are coming from an "evangelical" cult where they have been taught that Jesus is not God. The others we know from there are charismatic/pentecostal people. However, they don't believe in Jesus' deity so it has nothing to do at all with true Biblical Christianity. The leader also has been involved in adultery and many other sins. The people who have seen the issues and tried to confront the "pastor" have been labeled as "rebellious" and "divisive" while the leader denies all of the problems and sin. Humberto and Orthencia finally left and have been coming to our church for the last 4 months. Please pray that they would have the veil lifted so that they would see Christ and trust in Him alone for salvation from their sin. You may remember in the past that we prayed for a friend, Fernando. He is Humberto's brother and has continued in this cult. We have a number of folks in our church that have come from this group and are now believers--i.e., Juana and Reme. Praise the Lord for this.
Cristi has started her therapy again this week. She has 5 days this week and then one more next week. Please pray for this to really work for her as it is very costly and it's about our last hope for the dyslexia. Thank you so much for praying for us.
We are trying to prepare a men's class (since Faith has a ladies' class now) and are going to study the qualifications of elders and deacons. We don't have any yet, but need to set the standard so that the men will know what they need to be reaching for. There is a good interest so far in trying to get that class going. Pray for planning.
Morgan and I were able to purchase last week some devotional books for families, young people and children. There was a tremendous interest in those books yesterday after church. We are going to need to go get more.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Thank you so much for your prayers this past week. We always appreciate them very much.
Last Sunday I began a two part series on Isaiah's vision from Isaiah 6, basically on the holiness of God and how it affected Isaiah. We heard that last Sunday afternoon/evening, Memo, the young man who is married to Karina and has the three children, David, Adriel and Alejandra, went home and took his secret collection of pornographic DVD's and broke every one of them. I'd never talked about that to him as I never knew about it. His wife said, "Why don't you turn those in and exchange them for something good?" Memo said, "If they aren't good for us, they aren't good for anybody." What a blessing to see God work in great ways in people through His Word. That was an absolute joy and blessing.
One Wednesday, Teresa had her wallet stolen when she was on a public transit bus. She went to file a report on Thursday and met a young man who was at the same station as she was trying to file a report about his sister's little girl of 1 year 4 months who died in the night. Instead of being preoccupied with only her own difficulties, Tere helped the young man get a hearing. She came home and called me. That night she went with Morgan to their home and they shared Christ with the family.
On Friday morning, Morgan and I went to visit one of the new families who came to church last week. We had an excellent visit with them and they said that they would be at church yesterday. They were. Pray for Constantino and Juliana. After visiting their family, Morgan said that the couple who lost the little girl was going to be waiting for us. Angel (32) and Myra (18) had their little baby die in her sleep the day before. I walked into their little one room home and there was a little casket, open and with the little girl there with many candles around. Teresa was there also. What a blessing Morgan and Teresa have become in seeing needs and seeking to meet them as much as is possible. Myra's parents are separated and live in different states and had no plans to come. Angel's parents live below but the mother is almost blind and the father has to constantly care for her. So, it was Angel and Myra, one aunt, Myra's brother that Tere met at the police station, and 2 little neighbor girls along with Morgan, Tere and me. I gave about a 10 minute "funeral message" from Job and heavily emphasizing the responsibilities that we have in this life to repent and believe the gospel. Morgan and Tere accompanied the family to the burial site and I came home and we made a meal for their family for that evening. Mikey and I took it back to them and we were able to have a very good time with that couple and their aunt and brother. Angel cried when we finally had to leave and said "Thank you so much for all that you have done for us. We have nobody to help us in such a time as this." We are going to follow them up. Angel especially seemed interested in coming to church. Myra, understandably so, has great grief at this time. It's amazing how the trials that the Lord allows in our own lives in the past prepares us to help meet the needs of others in His service. Teresa also lost a 22 year old son about 6 years ago.
Yesterday in church we were missing a few people. Sylvia was back which was a great praise. She told me on Saturday night that yesterday was her birthday and that she asked her husband for only one present--"Please let me go to church, and not only go, but please take me." Her birthday wish was granted.
We were able to spend a lot of the afternoon and evening last night with Humberto, Orthencia and their daughter Carolina. They are coming from an "evangelical" cult where they have been taught that Jesus is not God. The others we know from there are charismatic/pentecostal people. However, they don't believe in Jesus' deity so it has nothing to do at all with true Biblical Christianity. The leader also has been involved in adultery and many other sins. The people who have seen the issues and tried to confront the "pastor" have been labeled as "rebellious" and "divisive" while the leader denies all of the problems and sin. Humberto and Orthencia finally left and have been coming to our church for the last 4 months. Please pray that they would have the veil lifted so that they would see Christ and trust in Him alone for salvation from their sin. You may remember in the past that we prayed for a friend, Fernando. He is Humberto's brother and has continued in this cult. We have a number of folks in our church that have come from this group and are now believers--i.e., Juana and Reme. Praise the Lord for this.
Cristi has started her therapy again this week. She has 5 days this week and then one more next week. Please pray for this to really work for her as it is very costly and it's about our last hope for the dyslexia. Thank you so much for praying for us.
We are trying to prepare a men's class (since Faith has a ladies' class now) and are going to study the qualifications of elders and deacons. We don't have any yet, but need to set the standard so that the men will know what they need to be reaching for. There is a good interest so far in trying to get that class going. Pray for planning.
Morgan and I were able to purchase last week some devotional books for families, young people and children. There was a tremendous interest in those books yesterday after church. We are going to need to go get more.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Monday, September 3
Goldfuss update (September 2)
This past week was extremely busy in getting ready for our big weekend church get together at our home for Carissa's birthday and our "fall festival." Cristiana began her two weeks of therapy last week. Please pray for this. She is still needing a great deal of help for reading. The teacher had to go to a conference from this past Friday throughout this next whole week, so Cristi has some homework to do this week and will do her second week next week.
Nico and Lilliana welcomed their new baby boy into this world on Monday. She is home now next door and we are trying to help them with meals and help in their home while she is trying to recover.
Sylvia was able to go and visit her son Roberto, in the drug rehab for the first two times last week and this week. The only problem is that the visits are only on Sunday and she has missed the last two Lord's days. Please pray for her to be able to work her schedule to be able to be in the the church services each week. She came on Wednesday --and that is a praise.
Teresa has had very high blood pressure and has felt miserable the last 3 weeks. She has also missed the last two Lord's day services.
Miguel--Nico's 12 year old son who has caused some very very difficult problems for his parents. I was able to go to their home about a week ago and seek to give some very stern and biblical counsel to both parents and son. Nico said that the next day Miguel disobeyed. Nico didn't want to but knew that he needed to apply scriptural discipline. He did, then hugged Miguel and Miguel hugged him. He went the whole last week a happy boy. Pray for Miguel to understand that he can't just reform his life but that he needs a new birth. On Friday, Mikey and Miguel helped me move many things from our neighbor's (Tent, tables, chairs, etc.,) to our home. It was drizzly but Miguel really wanted to help and he was a real blessing. So also was Mikey. Please pray for these two young men to experience God's saving grace in Christ.
Birthday Party/Church get-together. We had a "western" theme for the church get together and it was amazing how many people came who dressed the part.
There were approximately 85 people present.
We had two horses attend. :-) We had them for 3 hours. The children all loved that. In the meantime we had other games and fun.
Ivan (the young man that had his hand caught in a tortilla maching last week) and his wife Claudia and their little girl Carolina came! Many people in our church, although they didn't know them personally, said things like, "Oh, you are Ivan. We have been praying for you!" It was such a blessing. They were amazed at how many people cared. As a result, they came on Sunday to both of our services. Praise the Lord and thank you for praying for them!
NO RAIN. The forecast was for thundershowers all day long and it rained about 10 minutes before we were supposed to start and then stopped. It remained cloudy and then the SUN actually came out for a while. From what we understand, the whole rest of the city was getting heavy rain. We may have been the only place in our whole big city where there was no rain and even a little sun. :-) Praise the Lord.
It started to sprinkle when Mike gave the devotional and that cut things short. Going along with the theme, the point was that---" some trust in horses and some in chariots, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." Please pray for several neighbors who also attended who have not heard the gospel before.
Sunday: we were missing about 12 normal people but we were unbelievably full. Again, Ivan and his family came, Martha's family who came several years ago but we haven't seen them since also came. There were probably about 7 or 8 of them. They escaped quickly after church and I wasn't able to speak with them. Please pray that they will return, be saved, and be a part of Christ's church in this part of Mexico City.
Between SS and church, someone told me that there were some people out in front of our church who wanted to speak to me. It was a man, Constantine, his wife Juliana, and daughter (Cristina) with her friend from school (Damaris). The man is an acquaintance of ours from a favorite taco place. He knew that we were Christians. His daughter and friend needed to interview an English speaking person for a project for school and video tape it. So, I answered the questions in about three minutes. They offered to pay something but I mentioned to them that the only payment acceptable was to stay for church. They agreed although the dad had to leave after our hymns because he had to work. We found out that they live very close to us up here on the mountain. I told them we would bring them home, but they took off quickly after church. Then, they came back when we were all loading into the van. They had accidentally taped something else after church and taped over our conversation. I said we could do it up at our house so we invited them to dinner along with Juana and Reme and their whole family.
We had a tremendous opportunity with them over lunch and they have been attending a New Life Christian (or not so Christian) church five streets from our church but are very upset over the constant appeals for money and the disorder with rock music. We have been praying as a church for believers in other churches which are preaching false doctrine to find us and for us to find them. This may be an answer to that prayer. :-)
Morgan, Gabriel and Francisco all have indicated recently a desire to serve the Lord more. Please pray for us to have wisdom in dealing with each one of these men.
The people are excited about all of the new opportunities for witnessing; yet as in every place, all isn't perfect in Mexicolandia. There are four people in the church that need some personal loving Biblical admonition and exhortation. Please pray for them to receive these things well and to respond Biblically.
Erasmo is somewhat discouraged--he was turned away from 4 hospitals when he had several of his fingers run over and cut off back in December. Seeing Ivan yesterday and realizing that he had his fingers saved made him think that he lost his fingers because he had no money to pay for the operation in a private hospital whereas Ivan's father was able to do that. Pray for the Lord to continue healing Erasmo's fingers that he still has and for him to accept this as from the Lord.
Alberto (Teresa's husband), Alejandro (Guille's husband), Roberto (Sylvia's husband), Octavio (Martha's husband), Fidel (Juana's husband.)--all these men are unsaved husbands of believing ladies in our church. Pray for their salvation.
We have enclosed some pictures of the fall festival. We also celebrated Cherith's 3 year old birthday yesterday. There is a tradition of sticking the birthday person's head in the cake (just a little bit) here in Mexico. So that is why you will see our two daughters covered in frosting. We appreciate greatly all of your prayers. God is answering in miraculous ways!
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
Nico and Lilliana welcomed their new baby boy into this world on Monday. She is home now next door and we are trying to help them with meals and help in their home while she is trying to recover.
Sylvia was able to go and visit her son Roberto, in the drug rehab for the first two times last week and this week. The only problem is that the visits are only on Sunday and she has missed the last two Lord's days. Please pray for her to be able to work her schedule to be able to be in the the church services each week. She came on Wednesday --and that is a praise.
Teresa has had very high blood pressure and has felt miserable the last 3 weeks. She has also missed the last two Lord's day services.
Miguel--Nico's 12 year old son who has caused some very very difficult problems for his parents. I was able to go to their home about a week ago and seek to give some very stern and biblical counsel to both parents and son. Nico said that the next day Miguel disobeyed. Nico didn't want to but knew that he needed to apply scriptural discipline. He did, then hugged Miguel and Miguel hugged him. He went the whole last week a happy boy. Pray for Miguel to understand that he can't just reform his life but that he needs a new birth. On Friday, Mikey and Miguel helped me move many things from our neighbor's (Tent, tables, chairs, etc.,) to our home. It was drizzly but Miguel really wanted to help and he was a real blessing. So also was Mikey. Please pray for these two young men to experience God's saving grace in Christ.
Birthday Party/Church get-together. We had a "western" theme for the church get together and it was amazing how many people came who dressed the part.
There were approximately 85 people present.
We had two horses attend. :-) We had them for 3 hours. The children all loved that. In the meantime we had other games and fun.
Ivan (the young man that had his hand caught in a tortilla maching last week) and his wife Claudia and their little girl Carolina came! Many people in our church, although they didn't know them personally, said things like, "Oh, you are Ivan. We have been praying for you!" It was such a blessing. They were amazed at how many people cared. As a result, they came on Sunday to both of our services. Praise the Lord and thank you for praying for them!
NO RAIN. The forecast was for thundershowers all day long and it rained about 10 minutes before we were supposed to start and then stopped. It remained cloudy and then the SUN actually came out for a while. From what we understand, the whole rest of the city was getting heavy rain. We may have been the only place in our whole big city where there was no rain and even a little sun. :-) Praise the Lord.
It started to sprinkle when Mike gave the devotional and that cut things short. Going along with the theme, the point was that---" some trust in horses and some in chariots, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." Please pray for several neighbors who also attended who have not heard the gospel before.
Sunday: we were missing about 12 normal people but we were unbelievably full. Again, Ivan and his family came, Martha's family who came several years ago but we haven't seen them since also came. There were probably about 7 or 8 of them. They escaped quickly after church and I wasn't able to speak with them. Please pray that they will return, be saved, and be a part of Christ's church in this part of Mexico City.
Between SS and church, someone told me that there were some people out in front of our church who wanted to speak to me. It was a man, Constantine, his wife Juliana, and daughter (Cristina) with her friend from school (Damaris). The man is an acquaintance of ours from a favorite taco place. He knew that we were Christians. His daughter and friend needed to interview an English speaking person for a project for school and video tape it. So, I answered the questions in about three minutes. They offered to pay something but I mentioned to them that the only payment acceptable was to stay for church. They agreed although the dad had to leave after our hymns because he had to work. We found out that they live very close to us up here on the mountain. I told them we would bring them home, but they took off quickly after church. Then, they came back when we were all loading into the van. They had accidentally taped something else after church and taped over our conversation. I said we could do it up at our house so we invited them to dinner along with Juana and Reme and their whole family.
We had a tremendous opportunity with them over lunch and they have been attending a New Life Christian (or not so Christian) church five streets from our church but are very upset over the constant appeals for money and the disorder with rock music. We have been praying as a church for believers in other churches which are preaching false doctrine to find us and for us to find them. This may be an answer to that prayer. :-)
Morgan, Gabriel and Francisco all have indicated recently a desire to serve the Lord more. Please pray for us to have wisdom in dealing with each one of these men.
The people are excited about all of the new opportunities for witnessing; yet as in every place, all isn't perfect in Mexicolandia. There are four people in the church that need some personal loving Biblical admonition and exhortation. Please pray for them to receive these things well and to respond Biblically.
Erasmo is somewhat discouraged--he was turned away from 4 hospitals when he had several of his fingers run over and cut off back in December. Seeing Ivan yesterday and realizing that he had his fingers saved made him think that he lost his fingers because he had no money to pay for the operation in a private hospital whereas Ivan's father was able to do that. Pray for the Lord to continue healing Erasmo's fingers that he still has and for him to accept this as from the Lord.
Alberto (Teresa's husband), Alejandro (Guille's husband), Roberto (Sylvia's husband), Octavio (Martha's husband), Fidel (Juana's husband.)--all these men are unsaved husbands of believing ladies in our church. Pray for their salvation.
We have enclosed some pictures of the fall festival. We also celebrated Cherith's 3 year old birthday yesterday. There is a tradition of sticking the birthday person's head in the cake (just a little bit) here in Mexico. So that is why you will see our two daughters covered in frosting. We appreciate greatly all of your prayers. God is answering in miraculous ways!
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
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