Goldfuss update (January 21)

Dear Praying Friends,

Today's family message was on children obeying their parents and I had about 13 children bring their chairs right up front close to the pulpit and much of the message was directed right at them. The Lord is working in our young families. Praise the Lord that several have asked for CDs. The Lord has completely changed Lilliana's attitude about the things of the Lord in the last three weeks. Thank you for praying. She called very early this morning asking for a CD. In just a very short time God has changed her heart from hitting Adrianita for singing Sunday school songs to desiring to be in church and asking for the CDs so that she can listen to them again. Please continue to pray for Lilliana's salvation.

Two families that have been tested financially are Francisco and Blanca and Erasmo and Matilde. Francisco hasn't been in church for three straight Sundays. Pray that we will be able to talk to him this week. Erasmo and Matilde were there today and are struggling mightily with their new taco stand. They haven't been making much money but in spite of all their neighbors saying that Sunday is the day with the most sales, they continue to close their stand on Sunday and want to be in the Lord's house. Please pray that the Lord will bless their honoring Him.

Silvia and Teresa both continue to face very difficult home situations. Teresa was there today, but Silvia was sick.

Marta's health is much better. Her job as a nurse is very stressful and she needs continued prayer for that. She is still seeking to get her job changed so that she doesn't have to leave after SS and can attend both of our Sunday services. Her boss is supposed to give his verdict on her schedule change this Wednesday. Please pray that God will move in his heart to allow her to have the schedule change.

A blessing today is that Alejandro came. He has missed several Sundays again so it was a real blessing to see him.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. I'm going to be talking to Jose tomorrow, helping him with his car. He and America are doing very well, but they have much work to do with their son, Jose Ruben. He really is a young child with a very obvious bent against God in many ways. Another blessing with this family is that Jose was in a car accident several weeks back. Part of his trunk was damaged and he needed to buy a new one. He told me several weeks ago that the very best day to buy auto parts is on Sunday, but that that was the day the Lord wanted him to be in church. He found several used trunks that were 1800 and 1600 pesos. In God's providence this week, he went somewhere where they "just happened" to have a brand new one and it was 1200 pesos. The Lord really honored him for honoring Him.
2. Morgan is going to be starting a new series on Wednesday nights on the Ten Commandments. Pray for the Lord to give Him wisdom as he preaches God's Word to the body of believers here.
3. Humberto, 23, is going to be preaching once a month on Wednesday nights too. Pray for me to have wisdom and discernment in helping him.
4. Francisco and his family to be faithful and for us to be able to discern the problem and to be able to help them.
5. We have a young people's meeting on Saturday at 3PM. We are going to make a giant sundae together. Pray as we disciple and try to meet the spiritual needs of each of these young people.
6. For the Lord to bless the study of His Word to my own heart so that the preaching will exalt Christ and be applicable to the daily needs of each person.
   

As always, we appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi

Goldfuss update (January 13)

Dear Praying friends,

Praises:

• Liliana (Nico's wife): After last week, Nico went home and tried to apply being a loving husband. The result was that Liliana wanted to come to the ladies' meeting with Faith yesterday for the first time. She asked Faith lots of questions on the way home and really seemed to want to be in church today. She also asked that we tape all the hymns so that she can listen to them and learn them at home since she can't read. This is a direct contrast to two weeks ago when she smacked her little girl Adriana for singing SS songs at home. Thank you for your prayers.
• Silvia: She has admitted in the ladies' meetings that she has always been the leader of her home as she was reared in a home like that. She is applying what she is learning from God's Word and says that this is a very big change for her, but the Lord is really helping her.
• Memo: He has really been leading his family and learning enthusiastically everything he can to guide his family in God's Word. Memo's wife Karina seems very excited to be able to help Liliana. It appears that the Lord is enabling us to equip people to disciple other people and that is very exciting.
• Mike's mom arrived safely on Thursday for about 2 1/2 weeks. She has already been such a blessing and a great help to the family.
  

Today's message was on a "Problem in Many Marriages" and it was about money and why we should be giving to the Lord and helping others in need--because that is what Christ did for us when we were helpless. Many people made comments about how helpful things were. That was a blessing.

Prayer Requests:

• The Lopez family opened their taco restaurant two weeks ago and missed church last Sunday, Wednesday night and today. Morgan was able to talk to them yesterday and encourage them to not let the Lord take second place in their lives.
• Francisco has missed the last two weeks also due to working in his taxi on Sunday. Please pray for these men to trust the Lord to meet their needs. We have invited Francisco and his wife Blanca and son Jonathan for dinner next week. Pray that the Lord will really allow us to communicate Biblical truth to them and that the Holy Spirit will apply it to their hearts.
  

We appreciate your prayers so much. Thank you.
Mike for all the Goldfi

Goldfuss update (January 7)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you as always for your continued and faithful prayers.

We had an excellent week with the mission team that came from Trinity Bible Church in Greenville, SC with Dr. and Mrs. Greg Mazak. Greg was a great encouragement to Mike, Nancy was a great encouragement to Faith, and the team pitched in with many things, gave out many tracts, saw some different sights, and had tremendous attitudes. Stephanie Capoccia had come before on another team and was a great help to Faith in the kitchen---Faith said she was overwhelmed that the Lord would burden Stephanie to desire to come as He knew just what Faith needed. Praise the Lord.

During the week of busyness with the team, we had a few extra issues. On New Year's night Silvia's son-in-law, Luis, passed away. Silvia called and Greg and I went to the hospital. The hearse took the body back to Silvia's house where there was to be an all night vigil. The casket is placed in the living room for family and friends to come by and see. They sit and drink coffee all night while several men watch over the body to supposedly guard it from evil spirits. I had the opportunity to preach for about a half an hour to the family and friends who were there around midnight. We made it home around 2 AM, if I remember correctly. The next day was the burial and Morgan was able to accompany Silvia and Teresa to the burial. Silvia also has a granddaughter that had to have an emergency appendectomy the next day. Please keep Silvia in your prayers.

Martha, who was in the hospital over Christmas week, is now home. The doctors have put her on steroids and that has helped her but they don't know the cause of her low platelets. We heard from Silvia at church yesterday that Martha has been discouraged and angry about her very difficult situation at home.

Erasmo and Matilde have opened a little restaurant that sells tacos. We took the whole team there for lunch one day last week and everyone loved it. Please pray for the Lord's blessing as they have said that they will close early on Wed.'s so that they can be in church and will not open on Sundays. They had two very bad days of sales on Friday and Saturday so they are being tested.

Nico and Liliana are having some problems. She is becoming more openly defiant of Nico and his leadership in the family, even telling him last week that she wasn't going to church. Please pray for her salvation. She was hitting her daughter Adriana last week because Adriana was singing some SS songs in the house. I had an excellent talk with Nico telling him that he's not alone in all this. There are many ladies in our church in his situation with an unsaved spouse. However, they have to submit to their husbands. At least he's in the position of leadership. He said that he was very encouraged with our talk and, Praise the Lord, his whole family was in church yesterday.

Yesterday we were missing our two older ladies, Sra. Maria and Sra. Gloria. They have been through some hard sicknesses lately. Pray for their health. January 6 is the Day of the Three Kings in Mexico when all the children receive their presents--no Santa Claus, just the three kings, I suppose because of the wise men bringing gifts. Anyway, many people sell in local markets all night long on the 5th. Gabriel and Jose were two who did that and were not in church yesterday, although they have been very faithful recently.

Today starts back up with homeschooling. Please pray for Faith to have the strength that she needs. We just heard on Sat. night from a young lady who may be interested in coming next fall to begin the next school year, and perhaps another one this summer to help us finish up this year. I know we may be greedy, but we'd love to have someone for right now. :-) With Cristi's extra needs and therapies, help even right now would be a huge blessing. Any volunteers? Even for one or two months?

We do appreciate all of your prayers.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi