Goldfuss update (December 31)

Dear praying friends,

Christmas time has been a whirlwind of activities, but praise the Lord---we have been able to use the extra time (without school) to spend time with our children meditating on the TRUE meaning of Christmas. We also have been able to just BE with the children--which in the normal year is very hard to do---with ministry.

Praises:

1. Some people are really responding to recent messages and taking their personal walk with the Lord more seriously. This is what it is all about.
2. After the Christmas Eve service, half of the church went to Christmas carol at Sra Gloria and Maria's. They had been sad all day because due to illness, they were not able to attend our service. We stayed a short time, but believe that we were a real encouragement. Sra. Gloria said that she cried all day because it was her birthday and she was not able to attend church. Then we came, and she cried for joy--not because of our singing. :-) The best part was that the church people saw how important it is to the people when we take the time to encourage those who are going through difficult times.
3. We told the kids to be really rambunctious in our yard--in the hopes that the would be robbers would not even attempt anything to our house. We have a fence around the property and the kids obeyed perfectly. With all of the noise in the yard, the robbers must have thought that 50 people live here. We praise the Lord that we have had no problems.
4. The Lord allowed us to pay the entire rent for the 2009 year for the church---This includes the (new to us) other side of the floor that we are on. Now we are concentrating on finishing those Sunday school rooms to be put to good use.
   

Prayer Requests:

1. Marta is in very serious condition in the hospital again with very low platelets. Morgan and Mike visited her for 2 hours yesterday. You would not believe the conditions that Mike saw at that hospital. Socialized medicine is not a great idea. She has been very discouraged with her health (this is the second time in a month that she is back in the hospital. Last year at this same time she was hospitalized for the same thing also. She also has tremendous problems with her unsaved husband who has a mistress, financial problems and other difficulties.) I had an excellent time with her being able to read Psalm 86 and really encourage her in her dependence on Christ. Pray for her strength, encouragement and faith to be strengthened. She did mention that she thinks that she very well may die (She is only 35 years old.) Please pray for Marta.
2. We are having over 30 people from church for a service tonight for New Year's Eve. Pray for the testimony service and that God would be glorified. After the service, we are going to have a big New Year's Eve supper.
3. We would like to see complete dedication to the Lord in 4 families that struggle to put Him first in their lives--salvation may very well be the root problem. Please pray for the Lord to open their eyes to their true need of Christ.
4. Pray as we are trying to meet with each family and each person to see what their spiritual goals are for the New Year. Pray that this would not be seen as "in your face"---but know that even though we are getting really personal, it is because we truly love them---and want the Lord to be exalted through their lives. The time is short, and we need to redeem it.
   

Thank you as always for praying!

Happy New Year.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update and prayer letter (December 18)

Dear Praying Friends,

We are making this a prayer update and an official prayer letter at the same time for those who do not receive our email updates.

The church seems to be moving forward in some areas---where others areas seem to be painfully slow.

1. Mike and Morgan left the house at 6 AM on Monday to go to three hours west of Mexico City to Michoacan. A man there who was saved in the States is very interested in beginning a Bible study in his home. His family doesn't appear to know much about the gospel but they have offered their home for services. Another missionary contacted us about another man in the area who may be interested in joining this Bible Study. If any of you have people in your churches that have family members near Zitacuaro, Michoacan---we would love to have them as contacts. Morgan is very excited about this opportunity and will begin going over there on Sundays starting in January. The only sad thing is that he will be gone all day on Sundays. We will miss him, but we are happy how the Lord is leading him. He was going to begin a teen Sunday school class, so now we need to replace him. There are two good possibilities for that position.
   Although the potential for a new work was wonderful, the trip was very eventful---they ran off the road once, got stopped by the corrupt police in Toluca, got lost a couple of times, and saw an accident that I'm sure they will never forget. It was a tractor trailer vs. a lady who was crossing the street on foot. Unfortunately, the lady did not win. It was a reminder of how temporary our times are on this earth. Please pray that these thoughts will not plague their minds.
2. Last Thursday night, our neighbors (from Holland) about two football fields length up the road were bound and robbed at 1:30 AM in the morning. The thieves filled up the neighbor's own car with valuables and drove off in their car. On Monday night, the same thing was done to some new neighbors right across the road. The owner there is the coach for one of Mexico's soccer teams so he is a high profile man. We now have police cars outside our front gate---all night long. They are writing down when we leave and return---supposedly for security sake. If you lived here you would know that that is not a comforting thought. I really hate to write that---but it is true. The police are notorious for planning these types of things also. Mike has said that the kids are not to go out the front gate by themselves. We have calmly explained to them what they are to do and not to do if people break into the house. (I could really see Mikey and Cristi taking forceful action---and getting themselves into bigger problems). Just preparing them has really calmed things---and they slept fine. Mikey and Matthew are planning traps for the criminals---oh, the adventure. Mike reassured all of us that our hope is only in the Lord. He alone is our only true source of protection.
3. There may be several people coming our way from the States to help. Pray for those to work out in the Lord's perfect plan and timing.
4. Victor LaBelle is a former missionary kid from Mexico. He has been moved here by his company--- and his family joined him in our services this past Sunday. He played the piano for us which was a real blessing. Please pray as the family gets adjusted to the newness of Mexico. Our kids tried to welcome them and make them feel at home by helping to translate the services.
5. While new opportunities may be moving forward, some of our regulars just seem to be very apathetic. It is like 1/2 of the church is excited to move forward---while 1/2 is coming later and avoiding Sunday School altogether. We are trying to finish the other side of the church to use for more Sunday school classes, and we need everyone's help to begin classes for the many children that we have.
6. Sra. Gloria and Sra. Maria need special prayer for their health. They are so depressed that they cannot attend services. Please prays for these ladies.
7. We do miss Melissa. The Lord has moved her to a different ministry this next semester, so she won't be able to be back with us for second semester. But, we are very happy that her desire to is serve the Lord. Pray for her as the Lord directs her paths. She is seriously considering full-time missions.
   

Soooooooooooo this is a commercial message for anyone who would like to come for any amount of time from January through April to help with homeschooling. If you could help or if you know of anyone else who could help, please let us know.

Any of you who receive this before Christmas, we trust that you will have a very blessed and Christ-centered Christmas. We trust that in spite of all the upheaval in the world at the moment that our focus will be continually fixed on our one and only real Treasure, Jesus Christ.

With much love and gratefulness for your daily prayers.

Faith for the family

Goldfuss update (December 8)

Dear Praying Friends,

I promised you a couple of pictures last week of the closing recital after Melissa had given piano lessons for three months. Then I didn't include them. I'm sorry. :-) Here they are.

On Thursday night, a bunch of people surprised Melissa here at our home with a going away supper. Melissa had gone with Faith to the girls' gymnastics class and when they returned, all the people were here. It was a nice time and we also got to have some good spiritual talks with a few people. Friday morning Melissa had a 6:20 AM plane to catch so Morgan arrived here in his taxi at 4AM and we took Melissa to the airport. She made her plane with plenty of time to spare so that was good for her and bad for us. She was a huge help in getting the kids caught up as were a good bit behind from last year's school year still. Please pray for the Lord to provide someone for our second semester for schooling in His plan and time. It is an overwhelming task for Faith by herself. We do thank the Lord for His grace and strength day by day to get done what needs to be done.

This past week Mike had some very good visits with different ones in the church. Jesus and Analilia haven't been back again for the past two weeks. Their oldest daughter, Luz, 11, is with them again after living with other family members in Acapulco. On Tuesday night Mike had the tremendous opportunity of giving the gospel to that whole family for about 1 1/2 hours. It was directed to Luz, but Jesus and Analilia were sitting right there also and listening intently. Luz asked some very good questions and it was a thrill again to share the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for the Lord to open the hearts of each person in this family.

Teresa has been struggling with her husband Alberto. He continues to make her life miserable. He ridicules her all the time, puts her down, yells at her and is just unbearable to live with most of the time. The first thing she said to me in our visit the other night was that she was meditating on a certain part of Scripture and that she realized how bad even her good works are most of the time and how much we need to do things just to honor our great Savior. In spite of all her difficulties in her family, it was so neat to see her meditating and thinking about Scripture and letting it work in her to change her to be more like Christ.

Martha had to be admitted to the hospital last Monday with a very low blood platelet count. She said that a person should normally have 150,000 platelets. After a blood test in the morning, she had 50,000 and by the afternoon it was down to 20,000. Since she is very susceptible to diseases, she was sent home. She went to her sister's house where she doesn't have to be outside and can rest more. Morgan and I went to see her on Thursday and she was very discouraged. We had the opportunity to encourage her though and the visit was very profitable. It was a blessing to see her come to church yesterday--she said she had to stop and sit down 3 times betwee the bus stop and church (only a two streets' walk) but she really enjoyed being there. It's always a blessing for everyone in church to see her.

Sra. Gloria continues to struggle with her diabetes. She and her mom (Sra. Maria) were not able to be there again yesterday. Pray for the Lord to touch her body and allow them to again be back in services.

We have been discouraged with several things during the past couple of weeks. Our Sunday School has been pretty sparsely attended right when we are trying to expand the classes because of past overcrowding. Sometimes it seems that many are so overwhelmed with their own problems that they don't have the time or energy to do extra work in the church. Most will come for an extra get together, but only a few will come to help work. Please pray that the Lord would put it in their hearts to get the work done and to attend SS.

If the Lord allows, Morgan and I are going to be travelling Thursday morning to Michoacan (about 2 hours away) to try to meet with a family that has no church. There is a possibility that Morgan could begin to go regularly there to work to raise up a local church by God's grace. Pray for wisdom and direction in that situation.

This Friday night we will have another men's meeting on Biblical Eldership. Please pray that the Lord would raise up faithful men to lead His church here.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Email update (December 3)

Dear Praying Friends,

We will send you a couple of pictures from our past week's activities.

Last Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving. We don't have any American friends in the city at the present due to furloughs and other things, so we invited a good number of our Mexican friends. Juana, Reme, Sarai, Elias, Ruth, Ximena, Gabriel, Liliana, Yoltic, Yolat and Yolotzin all joined us. We had a nice time telling them what Thanksgiving is about and they enjoyed thanking the Lord for His many blessings. We also all enjoyed a great turkey dinner. Matthew had been wanting to be an Indian for a while now so Mike gave him a mohawk. What do you think? :-)

Saturday evening was the piano recital with all of Melissa's students from the past 3 months. They had a very rough run-through beforehand, but the recital itself went wonderfully. There were a number of unsaved people present so Mike preached about 15 minutes on what it means to play and sing for God's Glory, why we would do that. The gospel was very clearly given. Pray for the salvation of those who heard. We are also including a couple of pictures of the recital.
Sunday's attendance was very down. We've had good visits and phone calls though with a good number of the missing.

• Please pray for Sras. Maria and Gloria. Gloria, the daughter is really struggling with her diabetes and shingles and has been very discouraged. Please pray for the Lord to give her some relief and for them to be able to be present in the services.
• Nico and family were not there on Sunday. He was struggling with gaining forgiveness of sin. We had an excellent talk and time of prayer on Monday morning though.
• Tere and Silvia--two sisters with unsaved husbands, were both unable to attend. Pray for salvation for their husbands and strength for them day by day.
• Jesus and Analilia--said last week that they were going to not be missing anymore. They were not there this past Sunday. I went to talk to them last night and ended up being able to proclaim the gospel to them and their children for about 1 1/2 hours. Their 11 year old daughter Luz, asked a few questions and that got the whole ball rolling. It was an EXCELLENT and encouraging opportunity. Please pray for their salvation.
  

This Friday, we are going to regretfully say goodbye to Melissa. She has been an incredible help and encouragement this past semester with her schoolteaching, piano playing in church and piano lesson giving. Please pray for the Lord's direction for Melissa in the future.

Please pray for the Lord will still open the door for us to have a ministry in the State of Michoacan in a place about 2 hours from here.

Thank you so much for your prayers,
in Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 25)

Dear Praying friends,

You may get tired of hearing it, but as always, but we do thank you for your prayers.

We forgot to mention it last week, but we were thrilled to Elsa and Alondra present again in our services. They are each living out of wedlock, with a child, and they each have brought their partners to church in the past. Last Sunday they showed up together, Elsa with her little boy and Alondra by herself. Elsa's little boy was not feeling well and screamed for a lot of both services, albeit in another room. Many of you have prayed for them throughout the years. They are unsaved, but it is still a blessing to see them come to church (they have to take public transportation to get to our church and it takes over 2 hours.) Please pray for the Lord to have mercy on these two young ladies and save them for His glory and honor and their good.

On Saturday, Nico, Marcos, Memo, Beto and I worked all day to get the other part of the divisions up for our new half of the building. Please pray that we would be able to finish it up to be able to use it. There was a good spirit and it was encouraging how some different spiritual topics came up and how the men conversed about those. Praise our great God for the spirit of fellowship and communion we have because of Christ.

On Friday night, Melissa invited two of the older girls from gymnastics, Brooke and Yorman, to sleep over with her in her room above the garage. Brooke was very tired and fell asleep, but Yorman asked many questions and Melissa had an excellent opportunity to give her the gospel. Please pray for their salvation. On Saturday afternoon, Brooke and Yorman's 2 sisters and 2 other cousins came to help our girls and Melissa bake and decorate Christmas cookies. It was an enjoyable time for all of them. Please pray for our girls' testimony and witness before these unsaved friends.

Last week we asked you to pray for Francisco's father who is gravely ill and probably on his deathbed. He asked me something similar to this: "Mike, if he feels better and I can give him a bath, what do you think about me trying to baptize him with the water, even if he doesn't know it?" That was an opportunity to speak with him about what baptism really is and how it does not save. Please pray that the Lord would remove the scales from his eyes to see the glorious face of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel.

This Sunday, we had an incredible blessing. Jesus, Analilia, and their four children arrived!!!!!!!!!!! Many of you know that Analilia left about 1 1/2 months ago because she couldn't stand the difficulties at home with Jesus' brother and his three boys. We honestly thought that they would never return again. Praise the Lord that we were wrong and that they did come. Please pray for them to repent and believe the gospel as well.

This Saturday night at 7 PM we are having a piano recital. Melissa has done an excellent job in teaching about 15 children and young people (and a few older ones as well.) They are going to be giving us a recital after three months of lessons. Please pray that the Lord will enable some of them to continue on so that they may even be able to help in the future in accompanying our hymns in church.

Thank you for all of your prayers,

Have a Happy and very Grateful Thanksgiving.

In Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 19)

Dear Praying Friends,

We apologize for not getting an email update out for the past several weeks. Things have been quite hectic. Thank you for your prayers during this time.

1. A family in our church has had some problems with Morgan about several different issues that are very legalistic. First of all, Morgan talked to the man, explaining his position biblically. Then, Morgan and I talked to the man, and then Morgan and I talked to the man and his wife. Each night was a conversation lasting about 3 or 4 hours. It was exhausting. The situation appears to have been resolved by God's grace. The wife appears to be trusting only in Christ for her salvation. The father appears to be trusting in his works and high morals for salvation. Please pray for the Lord to save Gabriel. Praise the Lord for Morgan's humility in dealing with the issues and admitting where he was wrong. After the second night of talking, things were not looking too promising as far as resolving the issues, but it was a tremendous blessing to leave their home after the third night and feel relief and gratitude to the Lord for working in the family and the situation.
2. That same week, Morgan dropped Mike and Mikey off at Mikey's basketball practice at 3:30 on Wed. afternoon. Morgan received a call in the parking lot from his dad asking him to go check on his grandmother who had fallen. Morgan has done this many times before and it's usually nothing. When we arrived at church at 6 PM, Ruth met us at the door telling us that Morgan's grandma had died and Morgan couldn't come. So Mike quickly prepared in 30 minutes to preach that night after our prayer service.
   When someone dies in Mexico, there is normally an all night vigil in the home with the burial the next day. Mike went to the home and for the second time that evening, was called on to be instant "in season and out of season." :-) At midnight, he was able to give about a 25 minute gospel message. A "spiritist" man was present and interrupted several times to give his opinion. The interruptions and Biblical answers caused people to really listen well. Morgan and Memo drove Mike back home around 1 AM, and when they returned to the house, the spiritist man had brought his "spiritual leader in also" and that man was speaking. Morgan said that it was very interesting how people were sleeping and didn't pay any attention to him. When he would go to the kitchen, people would get up and go to the living room. When the man would go back to the living room, people would return to the kitchen. It is amazing the difference between truth and error and how people with error really have nothing to offer. Pray for the Lord to use His Word to save some of the hearers from that all night vigil. Pray for Alejandro to be saved also. He has harbored a lot of bitterness throughout the years because of some terrible things that his mother did to him when he was a child.
   The next day, Mike accompanied Alejandro and his family to the cemetery where there is a crematorium. The body is delivered (in a rented casket no less) and the whole family waits around the cemetery for about 2 hours while the body is cremated. The ashes are then delivered to the family. Practices are definitely different from what we have grown up with.
3. Cristi, Carissa, Matthew and Cherith all take gymnastics classes. All of their friends there are unsaved. Cristi and Carissa especially have had some excellent opportunities to witness to their two friends (9 and 11 years old.) The friends are very openly opposed to the gospel and were stating their beliefs about the day of the dead in which the dead spirits of loved ones supposedly return to eat from altars with food that people have prepared in their homes. They were also asking Cristi and Carissa about why they want to be modest in gymnastics and not show off their bodies. The girls gave some excellent answers which is encouraging since we just recently had a 3 week study on glorifying Christ in our church and homes with modesty. Pray for the girls (and our boys) to truly be in Christ and that their answers would truly reflect the glory of God. It is easy to see the struggle between wanting to please friends and wanting to please our Savior and Lord. Please pray for Faith and I to have wisdom to shepherd and guide their hearts.
4. Last Monday Mikey and Mike went to Texas for our annual trip. We need to get our US car registration done as well as shop for things that may be cheaper there or things that we cannot get here in Mexico. It is about a 1,500 mile round trip. We left on Monday morning and arrived home on Friday night. It was a very busy and exhausting week, but we were able to get most everything that we needed. We praise the Lord for His protection as it is a grueling trip.
5. This Saturday we are to have another work party to try to get the divisions finished on the other side of our building. Please pray that we will have a good turnout and be able to get the job done.
6. Francisco called yesterday and said that his father is near death. Please pray for the Lord to use this in Francisco's life to truly save him. He has a profession of faith from past years, but very little desire to obey Christ. May God increase each of our desires to love, please and serve Christ in all that we do.
   

We thank you so much for your faithful prayers, encouragement and support. May the Lord richly bless you this week.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (October 28)

Dear Praying Friends,

This past week has brought some new and different challenges. One dear friend who prays for us, used the word "crisis". She said that we do not realize because we are right in the middle, but it seems like many of our families are struggling with very difficult things.

1. Please pray for the Lopez Family--Erasmo, Matilde, Abby, Vania and Usi. This past week Abby left home with a girlfriend. Fortunately the Lord allowed her parents to find her, and she is back home again. I was able to spend two nights last week talking to them and trying to get to the bottom of the problems. Please pray for each one in the family to do what is right before the Lord. For Erasmo to lead, for Matilde to submit to her husband and be an example for her daughters, and for Abby and the other two girls to submit to, honor and obey their parents. There are some definite salvation needs in that family also.
2. Martha fell this past week in her nursing job at the children's hospital. She has a neck and back injury. As a result of being on sick leave this past week, she was able to come to church yesterday for BOTH services--although in a great deal of pain and in a neck brace. She almost always has to leave before our second service and so rarely gets to sing. She loved being there to sing. Pray for her recovery as the Lord allows and for her continued growth in grace.
3. Analilia has left Jesus. She has taken all 5 of the children and gone to Alcapulco where her family is. Please pray as we minister to Jesus and seek to try to reunite this family. Their main need is salvation.
4. There is some continued frustration with financial problems in a good number of people in the church. Many have taken on debts that have chained them down so that they can't do what they need to do to provide for their families. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and patience and that the people would have the determination to seek to pay off their debts in order to owe no man anything. It is wonderful to see these same people growing in other spiritual areas of their lives, but it is devastating to see them not having a problem with spending money for birthday parties etc. when loved ones are ill and need medical attention.
5. We had a surprise: 5 guests arrived on Saturday evening. In the group were a couple from Singapore, a man from Columbia, and two men from Michoacan, Mexico. The Singaporean man is a retired teacher from BJ. He is helping with a church in Greenville. The man from Columbia also attends the church. They were all visiting the Mexican men. Apparently, one of the men was saved in Greenville and they were visiting to encourage him in the Lord. Since there is no good church where this man is, all came to the morning service to ask our church if we would go and start a mission work there about three hours away outside of the city. Please pray for this wonderful opportunity. Mike brought it to our church's attention and the men are going to pray. This would be wonderful for Mike to be able to take the men individually and train them to minister. Please pray for this along with the: men's meeting on Friday night and men's work meeting at the church 8AM Saturday morning. (They will be putting divisions in the other side of the church to create different classrooms).
6. On a lighter note, we are very thankful that we found the problem with our wood stove. The creosote and buildup in the chimney had fallen down by itself during the last 9 months and filled up the head of the chimney with about 6 solid inches of soot. That was making it impossible for the air to get by and so the fire would put itself out. We got that fixed and cleaned out last week and it is working like a new stove. That's a blessing as we have had some pretty cold nights and mornings---but for the most part here in the house we have been toasty and warm.
7. There is a possibility of several different people coming to help short term in the next year or two. Please pray for the Lord to open and close doors as He sees fit. Pray for us to have wisdom from the Lord as we seek to help place them in areas of service based on their gifts and interests.
8. Melissa only has 5 weeks left with us. All are studying like mad to make good use of our time with her. We hate to even think of her leaving, but are thankful for all of the help she has given in both homeschooling and piano lessons for the church.
9. Last night Gabriel went to talk to Morgan for about 4 hours. From that conversation, it is very obvious that he is trusting in his works for salvation and could possibly cause a good deal of trouble in the church. We ask that you would first of all pray for him to be saved and to truly understand God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. If that is not going to happen, we ask that you would pray for the men who have a good grasp of doctrine to understand and to be able to encourage him and refute his false ideas. Gabriel's wife Liliana and their three boys, Yoltic, Yolat and Yolotzin are all a blessing to have in our church. Please pray for the Lord to work in His perfect way in this situation.
   

Thank you again for praying!
We depend on your prayers!

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (October 20)

Dear Praying Friends,

Last week we asked you to pray Miguel Angel who Mike had met on a bus. At first he refused a tract, then took one, then asked some questions and talked for about 15 minutes. He showed up to our service on Wednesday night. He really seemed to enjoy the service and Morgan's preaching. Please pray for him to return.

Please pray for our own evangelism day by day--that we would seek to find opportunities to turn the conversations to Christ, that we would be bold in our witness, that we would give the gospel and that we would see fruit.

This past Tuesday night, Mikey and I went to church to paint the ceiling and walls. Mikey was a big help. On Thursday night, Morgan, Christian, Nico, Marcos and I all worked on getting the floor painted. It's the 4th time I've painted that floor and it was SOOO good to have help this time. The paint is a chlorinated rubber substance and it is strong stuff. It took us about an hour and a half to get the floor done. All five of us, a little woozy, went to a nearby taco stand to celebrate finishing.

In our men's meeting two weeks ago, we talked about helping Martha with some groceries since she makes $150 US dollars every two weeks and has two children and a husband who doesn't help her at all, but does expect her to cook for him. Last week Morgan and I went to Sam's club and bought 50 pounds of rice, 50 pounds of sugar, 40 pounds of black, pinto and lentil beans, salt, 5 gallons of cooking oil, lots of bleach and laundry soap, meat, hamburger, hot dogs, pastas, cereal, and some other things that I've forgotten. Martha was not home when we arrived and after waiting a while, two mechanics in the shop told us to "just leave it all in the office." Right. We found that the door to their small apartment was open up above so Morgan and I hauled everything up a small spiral staircase, and prayed that everything would be there when Martha returned home. I called her in the afternoon and she had gone to another state to see a sick sister but was planning on arriving that night with her two children (Frida-15 and Diego 9). We told her that we were worried about the food and she said, "It will be ok." I called her again the next day and she said that they arrived at 10:30 PM and her son said, "Mom, we can eat for a year. I've never seen so much food in all my life." She said that she was so thankful and was just overwhelmed and ready to cry after seeing it all. Praise the Lord that our church is looking for people who have needs and is trying to meet those needs in real ways. Please pray for Martha's husband Bruno to see Christ's love too. It would be easy for him to say, "Well, why should I provide for my wife if others will?", but please pray that he will see that we are Christ's disciples by our love for one another and that his heart will be turned toward our great God.

Martha had to work a double shift on Saturday afternoon and night at the hospital. She got off at 7:00 AM but was at SS at 11. She had to leave at 1 because she had to work again in the afternoon, but she said that our study in Heb. 9 about the superiority of Christ was exactly what she needed and was very encouraged and she didn't even feel sleepy. Praise the Lord for what He is doing in her life.

Nico has had a difficult week with Liliana his wife. It seems like she is developing a type of arthritis and is in a lot of pain. Please pray for Nico and his family. He is the only one saved there and faces many struggles with his wife and three children. He listened on my MP 3 player this morning two times to our SS class from yesterday and just returned saying that he had been encouraged. Praise the Lord for the power of His Word.

We had a good afternoon yesterday with Marcos and Ruth and their two children, Ximena (He-men-ah) and Joana their new baby. Marcos was around when Crystalyn died and is struggling with what would happen if their new little baby would die. We were able to encourage him with God's sovereignty and control of all things. It's an incredible thing to think that the Lord Jesus was born in the world's most unsanitary place, a stable, and He was preserved. Our lives and times are in God's hands. Please pray for Marcos' faith to increase.

We received a call from Analilia this morning, Jesus' wife. (He is the man with the recent hip operation.) She is really at her wit's end with her husband's brother who lives next door with his three boys. The brother is divorced and never there. The three boys (11, 8 and 6) have never been to school one day in their lives. They are always stealing what little Jesus and Analilia have. She has stated in the past that if he won't do anything to fix the situation, she is moving out. That day apparently has arrived. She is planning on leaving tomorrow and says that if Jesus will fix the situation, she will be back with him in no time. I do believe her. They are unsaved and have heard the gospel clearly. Pray for the Lord to work in their hearts.

Melissa took a couple of pictures of the family yesterday. I'll pass a couple along.

Thank you for praying for us,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (October 13)

Dear Praying Friends,

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for praying about our renting the other side of our little building. Morgan finalized the deal with the owner of the building, and we have paid through the end of the year. Everyone is very excited! On Friday night of last week, we had a men´s meeting and then again this past Saturday. There were good turnouts to both meetings with 8 men coming last week and 9 men coming this past Saturday. I just love the spirit among our men. It is such an encouragement to hear the men praying and discussing points in the book on Biblical Eldership that apply to us. We are seeing now the fruits of years of your praying. Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up qualified men with a desire to lead His church. After our men's meeting Saturday morning, a good number of the men stayed to help paint and get some other things done. It will probably be two weeks before it will be ready to use, but it is such a blessing to see the men encouraged and enthusiastic in wanting to help get it ready for the Lord's service. This will, Lord willing, enable us to divide all of our children and young people into four SS classes instead of just one.

CLIMBING WATERFALLS!!!!!! Last Saturday, we had a young people's meeting that was for anyone who felt like they were young. We had our third creek walk and this one was the coldest one yet. We had about 35 people attend--from as little as 2 months old all the way up to 70 years old. We had a very good devotional time on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from Daniel 3 and then ...........a hotdog roast!

We are continuing our study on the gospel and our evangelism. Please pray that those who are not saved would truly understand the gospel and be converted and that those who are saved will know it well and that it will continually be a part of our lives. We have personally had several very good conversations with others and been able to give them the Gospel in the last few weeks. Even today on a bus, after refusing a tract, Miguel Angel took one and asked all about it. We had a good 30 minutes to talk to him and explain the Gospel. He said he was a Christian, but with further discussion, he revealed that he is trusting in his obeying God's commandments to give him peace with God. Pray that he will come this Wednesday night as he said he would. Please pray that each individual in the church would take it upon himself to be a witness wherever he is---AND that we would be able to see the blessing of the Lord in the furtherance of the gospel though the Lord's church here in Mexico City.

Last week Mike had some pretty heavy and difficult visits. Jesus and Analilia (he of the hip replacement), Nico's family, and Martha all have been going through some very difficult trials. Even though there are some very pressing needs in all three families, it is amazing how dealing with those who are saved is so much easier because they have the Holy Spirit and respond to God's Word. Many times it's easy to leave a family that is suffering and does not have Christ and to feel total despair apart from God's intervening grace. At our men's meeting Saturday, they decided to take 200 dollars of our offering and give it to Martha. We are going to be giving her $150 for food and $50 for propane gas. This is a great gesture and really helps the men see the needs and seek to meet them.

UPCOMING EVENTS!

1. This Saturday's Ladies Meeting
2. Piano recital--18 young people are practicing fervently for their weekly lessons. Melissa is not only a wonderful homeschooling teacher for our children, but she is a wonderful piano teacher as well for the entire church. The students seem to have realized that she is only going to be with us for a short time and they are really progressing rapidly. Melissa has scheduled a piano recital for the end of November which will be right before she leaves us on December 5th. We praise the Lord for her hard work and sacrificial spirit.
   

Thank you so much for praying!

In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the rest of the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 29)

Dear Praying Friends,

To be very honest, this has been a difficult week. We got a horrible cold front which would have been no problem except that we kept losing electricity--once for 24 hours and once for 12 hours. This would not have been a problem either because we have our wonderful wood stove, but we have had a problem with the gasket not fitting right and smoke has been escaping into the house. So as of right now, no wood stove usage. It was so cold that we could see our breath. Everyone in the whole family was very sick and it just seemed like we were not able to get much accomplished. But before you all feel bad for us, we realized that this was very good for one and all. We are so used to ease and comfort and that may not be in any of our futures. We were able to help the children use their heads and make the best of everything and just keep going. The Lord allowed us to do school even without the electricity. We just wore tons of clothes, wrapped up in blankets and did our best. The Lord has given us much to be thankful for.

On the worst day, when it seemed like we were just barely maintaining instead of "accomplishing something for Christ", the Lord in his incredible love sent us 2 letters that were extremely encouraging. (The electricity came on for 10 minutes and we got them via e-mail). One was an extremely encouraging letter from a church that supports us. Another was a letter from a young man who we were able to lead to the Lord when we were in language school almost 13 years ago. His name was Rene. We lived on a ranch, and he was the nephew of the owners of the ranch. Faith and I have wondered about Rene for years---really hoping that his conversion was real. He wrote and said that he had asked his uncle about us and finally found our web site. He now is 28, married, has 3 children, and works for the border patrol. This is what his letter said, "I'll start first by giving all praise, honor, and glory and thanks to our heavenly Father for sending his Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, making it possible for us to go to heaven, when we deserve hell....I want to thank the Lord for using you to witness to me and 'sow the seed' in my younger years. I truly to this day believe that the Lord used you to change my life today. I use you and Faith as part of my testimony that God was calling me to Him at a very young age. It was me who wasn't listening to his voice. Some of my hobbies now are basically spending time with God..." We were thrilled to see that he is a godly father--leading his family in the Lord! AND actively witnessing to all around him. But we then again were overwhelmed.....Why would the God of the universe take the time to move this young man to write to us (truly nothing people) at a time when we really needed encouragement? It was a wonderful reminder that God is the One who does the work. We are just privileged to be the means to somehow get that truth to His people. We are merely the tools---and broken tools at that. It was an encouragement to just keep plugging along, loving the Lord, teaching that to our children, and allowing little difficulties to work their purposes in our lives.

On Sunday (yesterday), I was very sick and didn't feel at all well during the SS and preaching services. I thought that the delivery wasn't very good; but then again, it isn't about me. The people trickled in...many are also sick. All were wondering if we would ever again see the sun---AND the Lord blessed us with that on His Day.

Good news:

• Marcos and Ruth had their little baby--Joana (after Juana--the new grandma). She is beautiful and we went to see them yesterday after church to pray and rejoice with them.
• Teresa mentioned that her grandson Jonathan--who left after coming to church 3 weeks ago--is still not home. The Lord is using this situation greatly in the life of Teresa's daughter Vanessa. We have known her for years, but she has never wanted to bow the knee to the Lord. She told her mother--- in front of her very critical sister that the Lord has shown her her horrible sin--and that she has repented of her sin and asked Him to forgive her and be her Savior! We were thrilled. These are not just words because Vanessa is NOT the type of person that would just say something like that. Pray for her that she would come to our church or find a good church closer to her as she lives 2 hours away (still in the south of the city).
• Janet came after 3 months of not coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Janet had been dating an unsaved man for 3 months. She is still is struggling spiritually, but it was wonderful to see her with her sister Vanessa (another Vanessa). All of the church people hugged her and welcomed her with open arms!
  

Prayer Requests

• The owner of the church is now offering to rent us the other side for $200 more per month. (Thankfully his daughter's belly dancing business has gone belly-up!) Yet, the men need to meet to pray and decide whether we should take this next step. This would give us three extra rooms for more classes, another bathroom (really necessary), and another room for a stove and kitchen like area. Our total would be $500 per month. Pray with us for wisdom and the Lord's perfect will. We are not sure whether to keep renting there at all as some of the people who live there are being very mean to our people as they enter church. The wonderful thing is that it does not bother our people. The people who live there are normally kind to us gringos, but to their own, they treat them rudely.
• Normally, I make a yearly trip for supplies as some things are half price at the border. I usually do this in November, but may need to do it sooner as we decide about a generator or not. We want the Lord's perfect will on this matter--and don't want to purchase it if it is not really necessary.
  

Thank you so much for praying!!!!

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 22)

Dear Praying friends,

We haven't seen the sun for almost a week now. It has been cloudy, drizzly and rainy and pretty cold. The family is going through one of our pretty hard cycles of cough/sinus and throat problems. We appreciate your prayers for the Lord's grace in this time. We do have a wood stove but I recently replaced the door gasket and it is a bit too small so we can't use it right now as smoke comes out and fills the room. We hope to be able to get a new one from the States by the end of this week. A small request but it would be very helpful for our family.

Our communication has been a bit hampered also. We have been without telephone service for over a week and very limited internet. When you receive this email, you will know that our internet service is back--at least for a few seconds or minutes. :-) The telephone company told us that they will try to fix the problem today or tomorrow so we shall see.

Erasmo is still in some pain from his surgery. Please pray that he will be able to recover fully and quickly and be back to driving his taxi so that he can provide for his family.

Sra. Gloria and her mom Maria have been able to make it the last couple of months to our services but Gloria's shingles are still bothering her. The last couple of weeks she has only been able to stay for SS.

Martha missed last Sunday but was there yesterday. She is struggling with illness and the great burden of unsaved family at home and an abusive husband. He will not supply for any of the needs that his family has but still expects Martha to make food for him. She works as a nurse to make about $150 dollars a week. Things are extremely difficult for her physically and economically, BUT to see her in church as she hears about the Lord Jesus and what He has done and is doing for her is such a joy to see. You can actually see her face change during the service and when she hears a pertinent point about Christ, she just kind of closes her eyes, sighs deeply and smiles. It is such a blessing.

Another blessing is to see people whose lives are filled with physical difficulty and suffering actually in tears as they sing and worship during the service. Sometimes I am arrested with my own lack of worship or thought in the songs as I see someone who is actually so involved in their singing and the message of the words that they are brought to tears. May the Lord truly give us hearts to be filled and affected by what we say we believe.

This past Wed. night our longtime friend Pedro (unsaved) showed up for our Wed. evening service. He was with his bother Alejandro, and his wife, Norma with their little girl. Please pray for the Lord's saving work in each of their lives.

School continues to progress. Melissa has been a wonderful help to Faith and our family. Because of Cristi's intensive therapy last year, we were not able to begin school until October of last year. However, in two weeks Mikey should be completely caught up with school and Carissa should follow him very soon. We praise the Lord for allowing Melissa to be with us which has allowed us to get caught up. Cristi is doing so much better with her dyslexia challenges. Our monthly therapies continue. Thank you for praying.

Melissa is offering her piano playing abilities to the entire church. Eighteen people have signed up to take lessons. Only about 10 had their lesson last week. I announced that this next week is the last opportunity. Then we will revise the list if they do not come. Please pray that the church people would take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

Our next young people's meeting will be this coming Saturday. If the rains stay this week, we will have our third straight creek walk. The kids are hoping for that. We'll try to send some pictures next week.

Thank you for all of your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 8)

Dear Praying Friends,

We had an interesting week that was anything but normal. Several things have happened this week that have made living here very difficult. We definitely appreciate your prayers.

On Tuesday night, we received a call from a Mexican friend with whom we attended BJU. He is a fine Christian man serving here in Mexico. He said that he was coming the next day on a bus and asked if we could pick him—but he first mentioned at the airport??? Then he mentioned at the bus station. In the next 10 minutes, it was very hard to understand him and there were not many things in the conversation that made sense. He said that we were to pick him up the next day at 10 AM and he would be staying with us for 15 days. I told Morgan that so much didn't make sense in what he was saying that to me he sounded drunk or on drugs. This was extremely hard to believe as this man has served the Lord faithfully here in Mexico for many years. I said, "Morgan, do not go and pick him up. Something isn't right."

The next day, the man called at 11:30 AM saying he had just gotten there. OK, so I was wrong. I told him to get a taxi to a place about ½ hour from our house and that Morgan would pick him up there. About 45 minutes later, he called again saying that the police had stopped the taxi that he was in and found the gun that he was bringing. WHAT!!!???????? "Why on earth are you bringing a gun?" His reply—"It's the one I'm bringing you." Oh Great. It is a felony offense to have a gun in Mexico. So, now the guy is being hauled off to jail and wants me to help get him out. It was a very worrisome situation. He teaches in a Bible School, has a wife and three children, and is coming to Mexico City for 15 days, with a gun, to do what??????????

Fortunately, Tuesday night after our first conversation by phone, I wrote an email to my friend stating that he we had received a call from him, it was hard to understand, but that he wanted Morgan to pick him up in the bus station the next morning at 10. If that was correct, he was to confirm by responding to the email. We prayed for this man on Wednesday night as a church and Morgan and I were going to go search in the different municipalities the next day to look for him. When we returned from prayer meeting, we had an email from my friend that said, "Mike, I haven't communicated with you for quite a while. It must have been a misunderstanding." Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been a bit unnerving though. It appears that the guy, whoever he was, was trying to extort money from us and how he found out our names is not clear. We ask that you continually pray for the Lord's safety for our family and other workers here in Mexico. We DON'T watch the news—if we did, we would never set foot out of our house. :-) The church family is in fear for us, but we are going about our normal duties telling them that we will be careful, but we need to live our lives. We cannot allow fear to curb the work here. The blessing is that our friend is still faithfully serving the Lord and that was the part of the situation that was the most disturbing about the whole situation.

2. Please pray for Erasmo who had his gall stones removed this week. He is home now but in a lot of pain. Juan Jesus had his hip replacement two weeks ago and is also home now and in much pain. Pray that the Lord would use these two physical trials to draw these two men—to Himself or closer to Himself. We know that Juan Jesus is definitely not saved.

3. We had a good men's meeting on Friday night with very good discussion about elders. Pray that the Lord will raise up men here, men who love each other, are unified in the Spirit and in doctrine, and men who will be able to faithfully lead the Lord's flock. We have another meeting this Saturday morning.

4. We started a series yesterday on the Gospel and our Evangelism. Please pray that we will be an evangelistic church that knows the gospel and is so consumed with our God and His glory that we can't keep it in to ourselves. Psalm 96:3—"Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." We want to be a mission church that is missions minded.

5. Faith gives some different people English lessons when the girls go for their PE classes in Gymnastics. A lady doctor, Josephina, who studies with Faith invited us to her birthday dinner party on Saturday. It was a first class event and we had the opportunity to meet her brother in law. Josephina's sister died several years ago of cancer and Mike had a really good opportunity during the dinner to speak with Gualberto about Christ. He has had some other experiences in the past with others who call themselves Christians but have no saving knowledge of Christ. Please pray that Saturday's conversation with Gualberto will plant the seed, that it will be watered and that God will graciously save him.

6. Marta was there yesterday after missing the last two weeks. Please continue to hold her up before the Lord. She seems so distraught with her family situation where her husband won't help with anything and uses the little bit of money that she earns for whatever he wants—even though he works too. The burden almost seems too great for her shoulders at times, but she seemed to be very encouraged in Christ from Heb. 9 in SS yesterday. Please pray that the Lord would bring some type of resolution to her difficulties in His perfect way.

Our electricity went out last night at 6 PM and as of this moment, 10 AM, it has not come back on. So I need to save this and close it down so that I can send it as soon as the electricity comes back. The problem is that we cannot pump water from the cistern to our tanks on the roof without electricity. School is also hectic without being able to do the children's DVD classes. We have just heard that a main transformer has blown. Pray for wisdom as we are considering getting a generator and want to only do this if it is a true necessity. The electricity does go out frequently, but it is USUALLY restored quickly.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 1)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers in the past week.

We had an excellent first week of school. Melissa Pate arrived on Friday and that will help Faith out even tremendously. Faith has spent so much time getting things organized. She is such a great blessing to our family and our church. I don't know what we would do without her. Melissa has also been an encouragment already. We took her and our two birthday girls (Carissa, 9 on Saturday and Cherith 4 today) down to the horses on Saturday. I'm enclosing a few pix of the birthday girls, one of Caralyn on the roll cart in the kitchen, the kids in their school uniforms and the Mexican Fife and Drum Corp. :-)

Please keep praying for Juan Jesus and Analilia's family. He had his hip replacement last Tuesday morning and lost a LOT of blood. He hasn't been able to walk yet since the surgery. He has now been in the hospital for 17 days. Please pray for the Lord to really get a hold of their hearts and save them.

Tomorrow Erasmo has his gall bladder surgery. Please pray for their family. Matilde continues with a severe kidney infection and mentioned yesterday that her aunt has terminal cancer. Please pray for the Lord's grace in this family's life.

Saturday night/Sunday morning at 4:00 AM Faith said that someone was knocking on the door. I, of course said, "There is no one at the door." She got up to investigate and it was Miguel, Nico's son from next door who had been knocking for a half hour. Nico was terribly ill and was wondering if we had any more of the shots that we had to give the team when they were here. We had one for the infection and so Faith and I went next door to administer it. We were extremely surprised to see him at 10:30 AM with his family ready to head down the mountain to church with us. He ended up having to leave after SS to return home but praise the Lord that he wanted to be there. Please pray for him to recover quickly.

Jose and America's new little baby has a pretty bad infection also and America and the baby were not there yesterday. Please continue to pray for them to grow.

We had a very good time in Hebrews 9 in SS yesterday and followed that up with the preciousness of Christ from 1 Peter 2:1-8 which we followed up with the Lord's Supper. Several commented that it was a real blessing.

This coming Friday night we have another men's study in our book about Biblical Elders. Please pray for that.

Please pray for us to be shining lights in this dark city and that we would show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 24)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for a busy week.

This week promises to get busier. Home school starts bright and early tomorrow morning. The task seems overwhelming at this point (this year we will have five taking classes), so please pray for Faith and the kids for patience, strength and lots of work to get accomplished. We praise the Lord that on Friday Melissa Pate is coming to help with the home schooling. That will be a tremendous blessing.

Our men's meeting went very well on Friday night. We had 10 men present here at our home and had a good time continuing our study on elders. Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up men who will be faithful shepherd elders here in Mexico City.

On Saturday we had another creek walk with the young people. We had several more attend this month than last month and the new ones really enjoyed the cold water. There was one place where it's very slippery and you have to cross the creek there. The only place where the footing is not slick is right in the center of the rushing water. I planted myself there and helped each young person across one by one. They would put their feet against mine and get across. All was going well until one girl tried it by herself about 6 more feet upstream, fell and knocked the next guy who was about three feet away into me which in turn knocked me into about a 4 foot deep pool of FREEZING COLD WATER. Needless to say, it takes your breath away. The human bowling was successful as I was the only "pin" to get knocked into the gutter. :-) Our Bible study was on Daniel and his three Hebrew friends who were taken to a foreign country and remained faithful to their God when apparently all the other Hebrew captives capitulated to the pagan influences. Pray for the Lord to raise up faithful young people amidst the pagan influences of Mexico City also.

Today we finished Hebrews 8 in SS and also finished our 3rd and final study on Biblical modesty. There were some good comments and one young lady even asked Faith to help her after the service as she didn't even know that there was such a thing as immodesty. Praise the Lord for tender hearts and for a desire to please and glorify Him in order that the Word of God be not blasphemed.

Last week we asked you to pray for Marcos and Ruth as they had moved quite a ways away to be with her parents. Last Sunday they were not in attendance but that day they had a problem with Ruth's parents interfering with their discipline of their daughter Jimena. Ruth's father denounced them to some government officials on Monday. Marcos called on Monday night and asked if they might be able to move up to our cabin for a time. So, at 10 PM on Tuesday night, Gabriel (who owns a pick-up) and myself went with with several of Marcos' brothers to load up their stuff and bring it up to our cabin. We got them all moved in and into bed by 3 AM. So, Marcos and Ruth are attending much more faithfully then they were. :-) Thank you for praying. Pray for them as Ruth is 7 months pregnant now. They will have to change Jimena's school along with a few other changes, but praise the Lord they are closer and can attend all the services again. (As long as they are in the cabin, they have to. :-)

Matilde was not in the services today as she is again having kidney problems. She has suffered several severe kidney infections this year. Please pray if it would please the Lord that He would remove this thorn in her flesh and if not, that His grace would be evident in her life. Her husband Erasmo is to have his gall stone operation next Tuesday so please keep this family in your prayers.

We asked you to pray last week for Miguel, Nico and Liliana's son who left home--he's all of 12 years old. He returned again this past Friday. He is very very hard to the things of the Lord. Please pray for the Lord to arrest him and save him by His grace.

We covet your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 18)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers.

PRAISES

1. Some of our more mature women are beginning to lead our ladies' Bible Study each month. Currently they are going through the The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Teresa did a very good job on Saturday. Juana will be leading the next chapter next month.
2. The men have decided that they would like to meet twice a month for our studies about elders so this Friday night we will be meeting up here at our cabin at 7 PM.
3. Some of the children who are between 10-13 would like to help serve more in the children's SS class. They want to begin preparing the craft for the SS lessons each week. They will be Sunday school assistants and rotate. Praise the Lord for that desire to serve.
4. Fernando, who has come on and off for many years, was in attendance the last two weeks. He very much needs to be converted, but it was good to see him back again.
   

PRAYER REQUESTS

1. This Saturday we will be having another creek walk with the young people. It has been raining a whole lot lately so there should be plenty of COLD COLD water to walk in. :-) There are some monstrous trees along the side of the creek and we used that last month as an object lesson for Psalm 1 (He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.) Pray for the Lord's working in our Bible Study time Saturday.
2. Jesus and Analilia haven't been to church since our VBS ended over 3 weeks ago. He was supposed to go into the hospital again this past Friday for his hip replacement. We haven't heard if he was able to make it in yet. He mentioned to me about a week ago that they weren't able to attend church right now because he has to use Sundays to sell his dental hygiene products. His recovery for the hip replacement will be long and he is trying to financially prepare for that by working on the Lord's Day. Please pray for them to be saved. They have heard the gospel for a number of months now and sometimes we wonder if they are to the point of definitively rejecting it. Please pray for the Lord to have mercy on them, and pray for our church people to minister to them in their time of need.
3. Erasmo and Matilde. For years Erasmo and his brother have been at great odds over different personal family issues. Last week, the brother hired two men to kidnap Erasmo's oldest daughter Abigail who is 17. They had her from about 9AM til 7PM. Praise the Lord that He kept her safe. Pray for the issues to be resolved in the family and for the Lord to use this to bring Abby and others in that family to salvation.
4. Erasmo was also taken to the hospital on Saturday night with severe stomach pain. He has gall stones and has been scheduled for surgery on Sept. 2.
5. Two young couples--Marcos and Ruth and Uriel and Mildred--now live over an hour away from church (both with unsaved in-laws) and this is affecting their attendance. They have either been late or have not come these last few weeks. Pray for the Lord to work in their hearts.
6. Nico and Liliana--last week their 12 year old son left home and went to live with his grandmother. His story to her was that "his parents make him read the Bible." The truth is he doesn't want to obey and doesn't want God in his life at all. Please pray for Nico and Liliana for wisdom and for Miguel to be broken about his sin and to submit to Christ.
7. Some of our people have had different issues with modesty. Therefore we have been learning why it should be practiced (Because it's important to God and for His glory, because it affects our brothers in Christ and because it affects our presentation of the gospel.) We are having a three part series on modesty in our Sunday services. Most people have received it very well, but please pray for others to accept God's teaching on the subject and to submit to Christ in this area. We are not just stating do's and don'ts, but trying to demonstrate that this is a heart issue. Am I going to serve the Lord and others (by being modest and not wanting them to stumble) or myself (by wearing what I want to bring attention to myself)?
   

Thank you as always for your prayers,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 6)

Dear Praying Friends,

Greetings from cool (and sometimes cold) and rainy Mexico City. I'm sure most of you, when you think of Mexico, think of hot, sunny and dry. Standing in our driveway in front of our house, we are at 9,958 feet above sea level (we know because someone with a GPS system came a little while ago and told us what our elevation was). We are in our rainy season right now and there are many days when the sun doesn't come out at all or only for a very short time. We had a tremendous rain storm last night and probably had over three inches of rain in about an hour. Today we've probably had over an inch.

Pray that the Lord would pour us out showers of blessing also spiritually.

A blessing on Sunday was that Mauricio, his wife Susana, and their two children attended our services. They attended when the BJ Spanish team was here and she has come several Wednesday nights with the children. They really enjoyed the services and are part of the family of 20 possible attendees. :-) Praise the Lord for them.

A huge blessing when we showed up for our services on Sunday morning was to see Marcos and Elsa with their little baby, and Miguel and Alondra with their little Christofer. You may remember that we have prayed for years for these twin sisters. For a time they lived with us, then with Juana and then with Teresa. We occasionally see Miguel and Alondra but haven't seen Elsa for more than a year. Please continue to pray that the Lord would bring these two girls to Himself and the two young men with whom they live.

Morgan has been preaching on Wed. nights and is currently preaching on the 10 Commandments. The last several weeks have been extremely encouraging as we see him get the people's attention and proclaim God's Word Continue to pray for his development in this area.

Our men's meeting this past Saturday was our worst attended yet, but Humberto, Erasmo, Memo and Mikey all had some good discussion to add to our study on elders in the church. Please continue to pray that the Lord will raise up men to lead and oversee the church here.

Sra. Gloria and her mother Maria made it for SS this past Lord's Day. They had to leave for church though because Sra. Gloria feels dizzy from her diabetes and high blood pressure. Sylvia was not able to come due to more upheaval in her family. Please pray that the Lord would allow her to be a testimony to her family and at the same time not be so burdened down with all of their baggage. Teresa, Sylvia's sister, was able to make it Sunday, which recently, is a huge blessing anytime her husband will allow her to come.

Continue to pray for Jose and America. Her stitches opened up from her C-section on Saturday so they were not able to make it Sunday. Pray for quick healing in the Lord's will.

Faith is trying to get ready for another year of homeschooling which is coming up all too quickly. We are thankful that we will have a young lady, Melissa Pate, down to help Faith with that monumental task this fall. Please keep that undertaking in your prayers.

Thank you so much for praying for us,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (July 30)

Greetings to each of our praying friends,

Thank you so much for praying for our vacation Bible school last week. To see the people of the church get together to do so much of the work was an absolute blessing to our hearts and minds. Our pirate, Morgan, in full garb each day, explained different stories to each of the children about life aboard the Ship of Salvation with the great Captain, "I AM" as the leader of that ship. He taught his own lessons which he made up from different stories in the Scriptures--Noah, the Israelites, Jonah, Peter (walking on the water to Christ), and Paul who was shipwrecked.

For the last day, Morgan wrote a long story, in addition to the Bible story, in which he told a riveting story to the children about how he had lost an eye and an arm (all week long he had a patch and a hook for an arm) in a great battle several years earlier against a great evil captain named "Apollyon." It was along the lines of Pilgrim's Progress. I read the story and Morgan and his brother Christian acted it all out, complete with sword fighting and everything. Even in losing his arm and eye, Pirate Morgan still was able to summon the strength from his Great Captain to win the battle and send Apollyon running mortally wounded. The children were riveted to the story, even the very little ones.

We praise the Lord that we had about 38 different children attend with a high of attendance of 32. The gospel was clearly given and we pray for the Lord's work now in watering and bringing fruit from the spiritual endeavor of last week. Over half of the children who attended were not children who attend the church, so for many of them, it was the first time ever that they heard the gospel.

Liliana, Juana, Reme, Sarai, Abigail, Karina, Bethany, Morgan, Faith and I all had a good time working with the children. It is difficult since our building and rooms aren't really set up for a lot of children, but the Lord was very very good to us. Susana and Mauricio, who attended our special meetings with the BJ team about a month ago sent their two children as well as a few cousins and others the whole week. Susana has attended three or four of our Wednesday night prayer meetings as well. They haven't been on Sunday yet, but this past Sunday her sister and mother both attended. They both are named Ana Flor. They have another church that they have attended up the mountain but it apparently has mostly disbanded and they are thinking about attending on Sundays. They have many family members who also attend so we could have @20 new people on any Sunday. That would be a wonderful problem to have.

Last week we were very privileged to have Miss Cheryl Baker visiting with us. She came to Mentor Christian School and has taught sixth grade since Mike was in 7th grade and when Faith was in 5th grade. Because the week was so busy, we really weren't able to take her anywhere to see anything except VBS, but even there she pitched right in and helped. The kids even would go up and chatter at her in groups and she would just smile and say, "Oh, is that so. That's great." They really liked her. Unfortunately, she had to leave yesterday, the same day that Bethany had to leave. Bethany was a very big blessing to us this summer. There was so much going on that she didn't get to teach much school, but she helped greatly in everything else that was asked of her. The church family was really sorry to see her leave also. She was able to travel to many houses and church each week to give various children and older ones piano lessons. She was eager to pitch in and had a great spirit. Thank you Bethany for all you did for the Lord and us this summer.

Saturday we had a youth outing. It is rainy season right now and when we have torrential downpours, there is a dry creekbed nearby that turns into a stream. Twelve of us on Saturday took a hike in that COLD stream and went upstream. There are some small and not so small waterfalls and it was an exhilarating experience. They enjoyed it so much, and some didn't bring proper shoes or attire, so they all want to do it again next month for our youth meeting. Along side the creek in several places are some very very tall and wide trees. We noticed those and later back at home after lunch we studied Psalm 1 and noted that those who meditate in God's Word are like trees planted by rivers of water. Please pray that each of us would be daily meditating in God's Word and be like those trees to God's glory.

We were missing a lot of people on Sunday. America delivered their second baby (via C-section) on Saturday evening and they were home by Sunday afternoon. !!!!!!!!!!!! Their new little girl, America Priscilla, is really cute. As many of you know, they were married after 6 years last summer and America says that it is totally different now--Jose wasn't around when Ruben was born, but has been extremely helpful now. Please pray for the Lord to continue to work in their family and to make them more like Christ.

Nico's daughter, Laura, also delivered a baby on Friday. She has no husband and so we are trying to help minister to her in other ways also. She is not saved but has recently attended several of our services as well.

Sra. Gloria continues to struggle with the shingles and now neuropathy from her diabetes. Please pray for the Lord's continued grace in her life.

This past Sunday we were invited by Miss Baker to a restaurant for dinner. We met a Catholic lady sitting next to us who had a terrible experience with a "Christian" group last weekend. There was no gospel given and it was almost like a brainwashing time. We were able to give her the true gospel and she listened and thanked us. Please pray for Rosi as we seek to have more contact with her.

Yesterday, Monday, we were finally able to get our legal residency papers renewed (this has to be done every year.) On our way home in the taxi, we had an excellent opportunity to proclaim Christ again to a man named Antonio that Morgan had previously known. As we said goodbye, we gave him one of our tracts, "Are you a good person, a sinner or a saint," and he promised to read it.

Please pray that we will faithfully and constantly proclaim Christ whenever we have the opportunities. There are so many people in Mexico City that we can come up with excuses as to why we shouldn't witness at different times. Please pray that our goal would be to make Christ known all the time, at each and every opportunity. He is worthy.

Thank you for your prayers. We continue to constantly need and appreciate them.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (July 21)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers from the past week. We had an interesting and busy week.

1. Saturday was our monthly men's meeting and we had some very lively and spirited discussion about elders and what they should and should not be doing. We had some problems between some men that came out during the meeting. Pray for the men to deal with those issues in a Biblical and Christlike way. Praise the Lord for the 8 men who attended and for the Lord to continue to raise up men to lead His church here in the future.

2. We had a couple of surprise visitors over the weekend. We had never met them before, but Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Morrell stayed the weekend and were able to be in the cabin. They have a real heart for Jewish people and in our Sunday School hour they gave us a tremendous power point picture display of different places in Israel. Several commented on how that will help them when they read their Bibles and see some of those different places. They were a blessing and an encouragement.

3. Please pray for Marcos, Ruth and Jimena. Today, Ruth's mom was scheduled to have brain surgery to remove a tumor. We haven't heard yet how she did. It is a very intrusive surgery but has become very necessary. Please pray for her as she is unsaved.

4. Today was our very first day of VBS. We were expecting about 7-10 children. We had 26 present and about half of them were children who have never been to church before. What a blessing. Morgan is our teacher this year and he is the Pirate Morgan and he is showing children what the ship of salvation is and why it is needed. It was a very very good first day. We are enclosing some pictures also. There were also about 7 other ladies besides Faith and Bethany to help. Praise the Lord for the help of each person.

5. Tomorrow, (Tuesday), Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa return after being gone for 2 1/2 weeks. They have had a very nice time in Ohio and many from our home church have taken great care of them and spoiled them. They are returning with Faith's sixth grade teacher from MCS, Miss Baker. We are looking forward to her visit also this week. This will be our last week with Bethany here and we and the church people are really going to miss her. She's been a big help.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray for our VBS through the rest of the week.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (July 14)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers before the throne of grace on our behalf.

1. Of the visitors that we had for our special meetings, only Susana and their two children have come again. Please pray as we seek to follow up Don Rene and his wife Elvira also, the Catholic couple who seemed to really enjoy the preaching.

2. Please continue to pray for the church.

• Yesterday we were missing about 20 regular attenders. Even though it is vacation time, we do not need to have a vacation from the Lord's house.
• Please continue to pray for Janet as she is struggling with obeying Christ and dating an unsaved man.Jesus and Analilia have been attending now for about six months. Jesus is the man with rheumatoid arthritis and the one waiting for both hips and both knees to be replaced. Since they are unsaved, there have been some problems with some of the different people in the church. Several weeks ago, she asked if she could buy a cake for her two daughters' birthdays and have it after church this next Sunday. In God's providence, they were not present yesterday and I shared their request with the church. I mentioned that I know that some have had problems with them, but since they aren't saved, we should expect that. So we are planning not just the cake for them next Sunday after church, but the whole church is going to bring dinner and we are going to surprise them with that. Please pray that this gesture would show our love for them and that in the Lord's way He would allow us to reach them with Christ's love and salvation from sin.
• Lately we have noticed some underlying problems between faithful people in the church. We have been doing a series on Biblical and Sinful anger and yesterday was how to deal with Biblical anger from Matthew 18. We basically dealt with the first principle of going to people personally and reasons why we don't and what it takes for us to do it. It was encouraging to have several people say afterward, "That sounded like you were preaching right at me." :-) I wasn't, but praise the Lord that people are applying His Word to their lives. Please pray that they will take care of these issues personally, that those who are confronted would submit to God's Word and that there would be harmony and peace in the church among brothers and sisters in Christ.

3. We have a real need for more space. There are about 20 children from ages 0-12 in the children's class. We would like to divide into two or three classes but have only the small nursery room and the main room for the adults. We have investigated about renting another side of the building for two more classes, but the owner wants an exorbitant amount of money and we haven' been able to come to an agreement. Please pray that the Lord would open that door or that He would be clear in guiding us to a place that has more room and a decent price. It seems that he has just rented the other side to his daughter who is going to be giving belly dancing classes, but we aren't sure if that is set in stone or not. Lovely.

4. We had the wonderful opportunity to SURPRISE America with a baby shower. She was just thrilled, and her mother Blanca could not say enough about how thankful and happy she was for all of support that the 20 ladies showed on Saturday. (After 12 years here, we are still amazed by things. Blanca said that many times a baby shower is used to put down the person or for everyone to enjoy many laughs at the expense and humiliation of the mother-to-be! She went on and on about how Christ-centered everything was. Her comments were a great encouragement.)

5. We have missed Mikey, Cristi and Carissa terribly this past week. They have gone to Ohio for camp. The girls had a GREAT first week at camp and Mikey goes today. Please pray for their safety and for them to reflect well on our Lord while they are there, and in their lives always. Pray for the Word of God to have a great impact on them also. It's nice for them to be able to get to hear someone else preach besides Dad.

Also, we knew that they helped in the home and with the ministry, but we did not realize the magnitude of their help in both areas. Getting ready on Sunday mornings is much easier with 6 children than with 3 because they help one sibling get ready---and help with dishes. Everyone has commented to us that they cannot believe the difference in church without them. They help tremendously with the younger children. We praise the Lord for our children. They truly are a blessing from the Lord. We have used some of the extra time to do things with the little 3 children that we did with the big 3 children but that are too expensive (and dangerous being in the big city) to do with all 6. It has been fun but as Matthew put it, "Everything is just really boring without Mikey, Cristi, and Carissa---even the fun stuff." :)

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement,

In Christ,
Mike