Merry Christmas Eve to all of our praying friends,
Thank you so much for praying for our family.
We have been very blessed to have a very good measure of health it seems like for at least the last month and a half. The pollution has been very bad but our health has been very good. Thank you for praying.
On Friday the Christmas and New Years vacations began here and traffic is NOTICEABLY less and it's actually not too bad getting around in the city. We wish it were always like this but alas, it is not. (If it were like this all the time, Mexico City wouldn't be the largest city in the world and there would not be as many souls to reach. So we are thankful for all of the opportunities around us.) We will still enjoy the next week and a half as much as possible. :-)
Faith was able to get one more week of homeschooling in last week. She is happy for a break. If anybody out there would love the chance to serve the Lord in Mexico helping with teaching piano in the church, homeschooling with us, helping with people in the church, etc., please feel free to contact us. That would lighten Faith's load considerably and be very helpful. A young man would actually be the best as he could travel by himself and help families in the church, but we would be pleased with whoever the Lord calls to help us.
We have a dating couple in our church that has never seen what a Christian dating couple should be like. Last week we needed to encourage and exhort them about some things that we had noticed and they both responded in an excellent Christian manner. What a blessing.
In downtown Mexico City in the big Zocalo plaza, the government has set up the "world's largest ice skating rink." It will hold 1200 people at a time. The children were really asking about having a day out so we decided to drive to a metro station (about 1 hour from us) and then take the subway to downtown. 5 other young people (most of them in their 20's) also went with us and so each person was able to hang onto one of the kids and that made things much easier. We arrived at 12:30 PM, and stood in line to get our free tickets for 1 hour. Our hour to skate was at 4 PM. So, we went and had lunch at a Burger King, (standing in line there for almost an hour too :-), and got back to stand in another line about 200 yards long for the skating rink. It was the most organized thing we have ever seen here in Mexico City in our 12 years here. It was really neat. Probably 2/3 of the 1200 people in our group had never skated before in their lives, even on roller skates, and so there was a solid line around the outside of the rink of people who were just trying to get around one time. It was a lot of fun and our kids and the church young people really enjoyed it. Every time we go downtown, we always try to take a lot of tracts with us. We were all able to give out about 300 or so on Monday during our day. We made it home at 8 that night, all exhausted but having had a very nice day together.
For a number of months we have heard about the "Museum of Torture and the Inquisition" here in Mexico City. We were finally able to locate it and Saturday 8 of us young people in the young people's group (Mike writing here :-) made another trip by van to the subway for another trip downtown. We were able to give out about 500 tracts on Saturday. The museum was not exactly "enjoyable" but it was very informative and very sobering to see how many of our Christian forefathers were tortured and persecuted for their faith.
Yesterday was a very different Lord's day for us. We didn't start our services yesterday until 5 PM. We began with all the children of the church doing a Christmas play of the birth of our Lord. It was great for our little group. Then we had a regular service and we examined the great interruption in the night by the angels to the shepherds. We had a communion service and then in a circle all around the church we lit candles and sang Silent Night. To finish everything off, we all enjoyed 120 tamales. :-) Yummy. We ended after 9:30 pm.
We desperately need your prayers right now for Martha, the lady who made a profession of faith with Ruben several months ago and has been very faithful in our services. She has been in the hospital since Friday night with a problem with blood platelets and hemorrhaging. Right now it appears to even be a life-threatening problem. Please pray for her as it's Christmas Eve, she is very discouraged, her children are not allowed in to see her, and her husband has been out getting drunk. I was able to pray with her over the phone---and will try to see if they will let me see her tomorrow.
In Mexico, the big Christmas happening is on Christmas Eve when most families get together and have "supper" at 12 midnight. We are going to be going to Guille and Alejandro's for supper tonight but are planning on eating around 10. Faith is making the Turkey and they are doing the rest, which normally is a whole lot more.
So, we want to wish all of you a very Christ-centered Christmas and a very happy time with your friends and families.
We would appreciate your prayers as we prepare for a mission team from Trinity Bible Church in Greenville SC that is coming this coming Friday for a week. We are looking forward to their visit and pray that we will be a blessing to them and that they will be the same to our church family here.
Well, we are back from our "Mexican Christmas". We did eat at 12 midnight after all. LATE!! We were able to see Guille's sister Maricella and her husband Manuel. They had been faithful for a good while about three years ago. Please pray for them. We were also able to see Eric and his new wife Delilah. Eric attended for 4 years with his family. All of these people need to be saved. It was a nice time with Guille and Alejandro's family---Our kids were able to enjoy 4 pinatas!!
Well, it is very very late---or early----and the kids will be up soon for the "American Christmas."
Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Tuesday, December 25
Thursday, December 13
Goldfuss update (December 12)
Dear Praying friends,
Today (Dec. 12) is the famous "day of the Virgin of Guadalupe" here in Mexico. It is the day that supposedly 400 years ago in the north of Mexico City, the Virgin appeared to the patron saint of Mexico, Juan Diego. He went to the local priest with a message from her, the priest didn't believe him and he left disappointed. Again on the road she appeared to him, and told Juan Diego to give some roses to the priest with his message. When he returned to the priest, again he was met with unbelief. (And rightly so we might add.) The legend says that when he reached into his cloak to bring out the roses, the Virgin's image was embedded there and of course the priest believed him. Now every 12th of December Mexico worships the Virgin with drinking alcohol, special offerings and often much immorality. (Kind of reminds me of Corinth.)
Please pray for Martha, the nurse who was recently saved. She was discouraged on Sunday because her husband and mother-in-law were trying to force her to make a big meal for the Virgin and Martha would not. She is really having to take a stand quickly.
Sylvia told us in church on Sunday that she had to forcibly put her son back into drug rehab for three months last Friday. She said he did not want to go and that they literally had to tie him up and take him kicking and screaming to the rehab place. Now she is feeling guilty again. Please pray for encouragement for both of these ladies.
Janet and Vanessa, 2 young ladies from up here where we live who attend our church also faced some persecution on Monday night. Their father came home drunk and really got on them about why they would say that the Virgin is not their mother.
A blessing on Sunday was that Carlos, his wife Cecilia and two children came to church. Carlos was the first person we ever met here in Mexico 12 years ago. During our first year here, he made a precipitous decision to trust Christ and was faithful for about 3 months. It appears that his decision was for some other reason other than for salvation from his sin. We have maintained contact off and on with him over the years, but this is the first time he's been back to church in about 6 years. It's obvious that they have many problems. Please pray that they would continue coming, that the Lord would give us many opportunities with them, and that they would truly be saved for His glory.
There has been a situation brewing between 3 ladies in the church for about a month and a half. We have faithfully encouraged them to go to each other to get it fixed. Last night after church the three ladies talked, but after about 10 minutes, one of them stormed out and right past me. I went outside to see her and she was crying and said that nothing was wrong. I continued to try to help her but she kept insisting nothing was wrong. Faith was able to come and she talked to us, then again the three ladies talked, and it appears, (we hope, trust and pray) that they did get things finally worked out between them and that there is peace again. We constantly encourage people to get things right and not hold grudges for anything and to constantly meditate on God's forgiveness to them. Noone has ever sinned more against us than we have sinned against God and if He has forgiven us in Christ, we have to recognize that we must forgive those who have offended us. If we don't, we call into question our own forgiveness in Christ. (Mt. 6:12-15; Eph. 4:32.) It appears that these ladies did that last night. Please pray that it would be so and that love and unity would be restored there.
We always take a number of people home from church. After our situation last night, it was late and about 10 people were waiting for us. We all piled in the van, but when trying to start, it was deader than a doornail. A man came to try to help us jump the battery, but nothing. So, we had to leave the van there and pray that nothing happened to it in the night. Our whole family and another young man that we bring home all piled into a little 4 door taxi and made the trip up the mountain. I am getting ready to leave this morning hopefully to have it fixed quickly and inexpensively. It seems that it will be some kind of electrical problem. We were going to finish this last night, but got home very late. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. It is always greatly appreciated.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Today (Dec. 12) is the famous "day of the Virgin of Guadalupe" here in Mexico. It is the day that supposedly 400 years ago in the north of Mexico City, the Virgin appeared to the patron saint of Mexico, Juan Diego. He went to the local priest with a message from her, the priest didn't believe him and he left disappointed. Again on the road she appeared to him, and told Juan Diego to give some roses to the priest with his message. When he returned to the priest, again he was met with unbelief. (And rightly so we might add.) The legend says that when he reached into his cloak to bring out the roses, the Virgin's image was embedded there and of course the priest believed him. Now every 12th of December Mexico worships the Virgin with drinking alcohol, special offerings and often much immorality. (Kind of reminds me of Corinth.)
Please pray for Martha, the nurse who was recently saved. She was discouraged on Sunday because her husband and mother-in-law were trying to force her to make a big meal for the Virgin and Martha would not. She is really having to take a stand quickly.
Sylvia told us in church on Sunday that she had to forcibly put her son back into drug rehab for three months last Friday. She said he did not want to go and that they literally had to tie him up and take him kicking and screaming to the rehab place. Now she is feeling guilty again. Please pray for encouragement for both of these ladies.
Janet and Vanessa, 2 young ladies from up here where we live who attend our church also faced some persecution on Monday night. Their father came home drunk and really got on them about why they would say that the Virgin is not their mother.
A blessing on Sunday was that Carlos, his wife Cecilia and two children came to church. Carlos was the first person we ever met here in Mexico 12 years ago. During our first year here, he made a precipitous decision to trust Christ and was faithful for about 3 months. It appears that his decision was for some other reason other than for salvation from his sin. We have maintained contact off and on with him over the years, but this is the first time he's been back to church in about 6 years. It's obvious that they have many problems. Please pray that they would continue coming, that the Lord would give us many opportunities with them, and that they would truly be saved for His glory.
There has been a situation brewing between 3 ladies in the church for about a month and a half. We have faithfully encouraged them to go to each other to get it fixed. Last night after church the three ladies talked, but after about 10 minutes, one of them stormed out and right past me. I went outside to see her and she was crying and said that nothing was wrong. I continued to try to help her but she kept insisting nothing was wrong. Faith was able to come and she talked to us, then again the three ladies talked, and it appears, (we hope, trust and pray) that they did get things finally worked out between them and that there is peace again. We constantly encourage people to get things right and not hold grudges for anything and to constantly meditate on God's forgiveness to them. Noone has ever sinned more against us than we have sinned against God and if He has forgiven us in Christ, we have to recognize that we must forgive those who have offended us. If we don't, we call into question our own forgiveness in Christ. (Mt. 6:12-15; Eph. 4:32.) It appears that these ladies did that last night. Please pray that it would be so and that love and unity would be restored there.
We always take a number of people home from church. After our situation last night, it was late and about 10 people were waiting for us. We all piled in the van, but when trying to start, it was deader than a doornail. A man came to try to help us jump the battery, but nothing. So, we had to leave the van there and pray that nothing happened to it in the night. Our whole family and another young man that we bring home all piled into a little 4 door taxi and made the trip up the mountain. I am getting ready to leave this morning hopefully to have it fixed quickly and inexpensively. It seems that it will be some kind of electrical problem. We were going to finish this last night, but got home very late. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. It is always greatly appreciated.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Tuesday, December 4
Goldfuss update (December 4)
Dear Praying Friends,
Sorry for no update last week. On Monday, I was doing some extra repairs on the house.
I appreciate so much the married ladies in our church whose husbands are unsaved. The trials and difficulties that they face on a constant and daily basis and the faith that they have in our Lord Jesus Christ is truly humbling to us and a testimony to God's daily grace in their lives. Two of those ladies are having some health problems at the moment. Teresa has been bedridden for the last week with serious back pain. She has one or two herniated discs that are also causing her sciatic nerve pain. Please pray for the doctors to be able to help her and for the Lord to give her relief from the pain also. Guille has been having some serious headaches again. I was able to visit both of them last week and the difference that Christ has made in their lives and the growth that they both are showing is a challenge to our own lives.
Memo (Guille's oldest son) has also been showing some tremendous growth in leading his wife Karina and three children, David, Adriel and new baby Alejandra. Yesterday they were asked to go somewhere else by a cousin and missed our services. Please pray that the Lord will continue to guard and strengthen them in His Word and way and that he will accept loving admonition as I talk with him.
Jose and America were able to come for dinner yesterday with their 6 year old son Jose Ruben. This is the couple that was married about 5 months ago and the Lord has also greatly changed both of them. When we first had them up at the beginning of this year, our time talking was spent mostly about both of them and salvation. Yesterday the conversation really was spiritual and they were asking questions about rearing their son Biblically. Jose is applying for a different job that would be a major upgrade economically for his family. Pray for the Lord's will to be done and for consistent application of Biblical discipline.
Nico and Lilliana also came over last week for dinner. It is very evident that Lilliana is not saved. She was miserable when she talked with us---and stated honestly that she does not want to come back to church and doesn't even know if she believes that there is a God. She has had some physical trials as well lately and on Monday we were able to help her get to a doctor as they have had no money for that. That effected her tremendously. She was happily in church on Sunday. At least now she was better able to concentrate on the message. There are still real problems in their home AND jelousy with Nico's first wife (who lives next door). Reina (Nico's first wife) and their daughter Laura came this week so that Faith could give Laura three antibiotic injections. We were able to visit with them. Please pray for more opportunities with them, for their salvation and for Lilliana to be saved.
Sarai, now 19, came to our church 10 years ago with her family (Juana and Fidel.) Nicolas' son Humberto, 22, has been attending for about 3 years now. Both of these young people show definite fruit of being regenerated and both want to please the Lord. There is definitely a romantic interest on both parts. They are both seeking the Lord's will and are trying to be God honoring in everything that they do. This last week, they came to me asking if they could see each other as boyfriend and girlfriend (that's a first). I gave them counsel from God's Word---and found out that Sarai had not asked her father's permission. I guess she thought that I would do instead of her father as he is very hot tempered. Humberto, on the other hand, was more than willing to go to Fidel---which is wonderful to see how above board he wants to be. Well, last week, Sarai talked with her father. She was amazed at his cool response. In other times he would have thrown the TV remote at her and she was fully expecting that. He knows God's Word and gave her almost the same counsel that I had given. Fidel seems to be changing slowly. Please pray that the Lord will save him and bring him back to church. He has not be attending anywhere.
In two weeks, the children will be doing a small Christmas story play. They are working hard in SS and getting ready. Pray that the Lord would use His Word in their hearts and in those who watch their play.
There is one family in the church that seems to constantly be offended with others in the church over little issues that should never even be a problem. Please pray for us as we seek to deal with them and help them to deal with problems in a godly way.
Many of our families have financial problems due to incurring debts that they shouldn't have. This has been a great strain on many. Please pray for the Lord to provide for each need, for the people to be wise in what they purchase and for contentment in all things---and for them to accept loving admonition regarding these issues. They are sometimes so strapped that they do not have money for food or medicine. This effects others as we try to help---but then we all need wisdom in deciding when and where to help.
We have had very good responses to the family series. We have had 8 messages so far and have a good ways to go still. We have a small voice recorder that we use that plugs right into the USB port on the computer. After taping the messages, I put them on the computer and then burn them on CD's. I made 10 CD's of the message last week and they were all gone yesterday before church even started. Some people take them for themselves and others take them for family members and friends. Pray that the Word of the Lord would have free course and and the Holy Spirit would apply it, even long after it has been preached.
This past Wednesday we had 6 visitors at our prayer meeting. Morgan preached and did his best job yet. He would like to be more involved in the church and we would also like that too, but he also has some debts that need to be taken care of before he can do more. Pray for the Lord to give him the strength to work in his taxi and get those debts removed. He is making good progress. (And Faith will be thrilled when and if he can take over more of her organizing responsibilities as homeschooling is more than a full time job.) Cristi is making excellent progress in reading and spelling, but needs more attention than an average child.
As of right now, our family is enjoying a good measure of health. Praise the Lord for that as the pollution has been extremely "thick" with another day of thermal inversion. Probably in the States this would be a great emergency, but it is par for the course here. Sometimes we even don surgical masks when going further down into the city.
(This would have gotten to you last night, but the electricity went out (also par for the course many times) and we had to wait til this morning.)
Thank you for praying,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
Sorry for no update last week. On Monday, I was doing some extra repairs on the house.
I appreciate so much the married ladies in our church whose husbands are unsaved. The trials and difficulties that they face on a constant and daily basis and the faith that they have in our Lord Jesus Christ is truly humbling to us and a testimony to God's daily grace in their lives. Two of those ladies are having some health problems at the moment. Teresa has been bedridden for the last week with serious back pain. She has one or two herniated discs that are also causing her sciatic nerve pain. Please pray for the doctors to be able to help her and for the Lord to give her relief from the pain also. Guille has been having some serious headaches again. I was able to visit both of them last week and the difference that Christ has made in their lives and the growth that they both are showing is a challenge to our own lives.
Memo (Guille's oldest son) has also been showing some tremendous growth in leading his wife Karina and three children, David, Adriel and new baby Alejandra. Yesterday they were asked to go somewhere else by a cousin and missed our services. Please pray that the Lord will continue to guard and strengthen them in His Word and way and that he will accept loving admonition as I talk with him.
Jose and America were able to come for dinner yesterday with their 6 year old son Jose Ruben. This is the couple that was married about 5 months ago and the Lord has also greatly changed both of them. When we first had them up at the beginning of this year, our time talking was spent mostly about both of them and salvation. Yesterday the conversation really was spiritual and they were asking questions about rearing their son Biblically. Jose is applying for a different job that would be a major upgrade economically for his family. Pray for the Lord's will to be done and for consistent application of Biblical discipline.
Nico and Lilliana also came over last week for dinner. It is very evident that Lilliana is not saved. She was miserable when she talked with us---and stated honestly that she does not want to come back to church and doesn't even know if she believes that there is a God. She has had some physical trials as well lately and on Monday we were able to help her get to a doctor as they have had no money for that. That effected her tremendously. She was happily in church on Sunday. At least now she was better able to concentrate on the message. There are still real problems in their home AND jelousy with Nico's first wife (who lives next door). Reina (Nico's first wife) and their daughter Laura came this week so that Faith could give Laura three antibiotic injections. We were able to visit with them. Please pray for more opportunities with them, for their salvation and for Lilliana to be saved.
Sarai, now 19, came to our church 10 years ago with her family (Juana and Fidel.) Nicolas' son Humberto, 22, has been attending for about 3 years now. Both of these young people show definite fruit of being regenerated and both want to please the Lord. There is definitely a romantic interest on both parts. They are both seeking the Lord's will and are trying to be God honoring in everything that they do. This last week, they came to me asking if they could see each other as boyfriend and girlfriend (that's a first). I gave them counsel from God's Word---and found out that Sarai had not asked her father's permission. I guess she thought that I would do instead of her father as he is very hot tempered. Humberto, on the other hand, was more than willing to go to Fidel---which is wonderful to see how above board he wants to be. Well, last week, Sarai talked with her father. She was amazed at his cool response. In other times he would have thrown the TV remote at her and she was fully expecting that. He knows God's Word and gave her almost the same counsel that I had given. Fidel seems to be changing slowly. Please pray that the Lord will save him and bring him back to church. He has not be attending anywhere.
In two weeks, the children will be doing a small Christmas story play. They are working hard in SS and getting ready. Pray that the Lord would use His Word in their hearts and in those who watch their play.
There is one family in the church that seems to constantly be offended with others in the church over little issues that should never even be a problem. Please pray for us as we seek to deal with them and help them to deal with problems in a godly way.
Many of our families have financial problems due to incurring debts that they shouldn't have. This has been a great strain on many. Please pray for the Lord to provide for each need, for the people to be wise in what they purchase and for contentment in all things---and for them to accept loving admonition regarding these issues. They are sometimes so strapped that they do not have money for food or medicine. This effects others as we try to help---but then we all need wisdom in deciding when and where to help.
We have had very good responses to the family series. We have had 8 messages so far and have a good ways to go still. We have a small voice recorder that we use that plugs right into the USB port on the computer. After taping the messages, I put them on the computer and then burn them on CD's. I made 10 CD's of the message last week and they were all gone yesterday before church even started. Some people take them for themselves and others take them for family members and friends. Pray that the Word of the Lord would have free course and and the Holy Spirit would apply it, even long after it has been preached.
This past Wednesday we had 6 visitors at our prayer meeting. Morgan preached and did his best job yet. He would like to be more involved in the church and we would also like that too, but he also has some debts that need to be taken care of before he can do more. Pray for the Lord to give him the strength to work in his taxi and get those debts removed. He is making good progress. (And Faith will be thrilled when and if he can take over more of her organizing responsibilities as homeschooling is more than a full time job.) Cristi is making excellent progress in reading and spelling, but needs more attention than an average child.
As of right now, our family is enjoying a good measure of health. Praise the Lord for that as the pollution has been extremely "thick" with another day of thermal inversion. Probably in the States this would be a great emergency, but it is par for the course here. Sometimes we even don surgical masks when going further down into the city.
(This would have gotten to you last night, but the electricity went out (also par for the course many times) and we had to wait til this morning.)
Thank you for praying,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
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