Goldfuss update (February 10)

Dear Praying prayer warriors,

We had much blessing this week.

1. Fernando came!--He is a young single man who has come on and off 2 or 3 times throughout the years. He is very kind and a hardworker, but he left our church last year while we were gone because he was clinging to what he had been taught in a former "christian" church---that Jesus was the son of God, but not God. Last year, Morgan and Ruben really tried to help him see his error, but he left very angry. He is Humberto's brother. We have asked you to pray for Humberto and Ortencia who stopped coming about 4 months ago. Fernando said that Ortencia would be calling Faith---so that is a good step in the right direction as they have not been willing to talk with anyone in the church. (Many have tried to help them, but they haven't wanted to talk since leaving).
2. Praise the Lord it was a full house today. We are going to buy 10 more new chairs!
3. Uriel and Mildred did get married on Wednesday in the civil ceremony. It was a very short 3 minute service with the judge. Truthfully, it was a sad and happy time. Sad and disappointing, because they did not do things in God's order, but happy because they are trying to do what is right now. We had many opportunities to give tracts to Mildred's unsaved family. That was also sad because we felt that under the circumstances the Lord's name was tarnished in front of the unsaved because Uriel is a Christian. However, the wonderful thing about our Lord is that He can use any situation for His glory---and even bring some of her family members to the Lord. We were happy to be there to support Uriel's parents, Matilde and Erasmo
   During the tense time of the ceremony, Uriel's older brother, Ulysses called his parents from Minnesota where he has been working for about three years. He called to send his blessings on his brother and to tell his parents that he had trusted Christ that same morning. There is a Spanish church near where he lives. We rejoiced so much because this is an answer to a 6 year long prayer. Also, how wonderful of the Lord to allow them to hear of the news right when they were going through a stressful time. We praise the Lord that both Uriel and Mildred were in church this morning. Pray for Mildred's pregnancy as she is 6 months along. They are both 18.
4. The ladies meeting yesterday went very well with 12 in attendance. It was very helpful as several are up and down like rollercoasters due to very hard circumstances. The ladies also celebrated America and Guille's birthday.
5. Janet and Vanessa were back today. It seems that Janet has cut things off completely with the unsaved man. Thank you so much for praying.
6. Yesterday afternoon, we got to meet much of Jose and America's families at a birthday party for America. While we were there, it was evident that just their hosting a party for their families was a huge testimony. A year ago, Jose did not even want to marry America, but they had a 7 year old son. Now, he is a changed man. He has built her a house, married her, and is providing for her. They are very happily married and are trying to rear their son, Jose Ruben, in the Lord. They are faithful in church---and it is such a joy to see. Before, he would not take ANY responsability for anything ---and now they had their families to their home with lots of wonderful food, but NO ALCOHOL. Our children had a wonderful time playing with all the cousins and relatives. Praise the Lord, HE has blessed them and they are expecting again!
7. People are taking the family series and relistening to the messages in their homes and giving them to other people. Pray that the Word would have free course in many ways and that the Lord would use it greatly.
   

With all of the blessings, of course there are prayer requests:

1. Alejandro, Guille's husband to be saved and come back to church.
2. Silvia--to be encouraged in the Lord through all of her family trials. (She was at the ladies meeting.)
3. Marta--to be faithful to church and to grow in the Lord--she hasn't been to church now for 3 weeks and it's very difficult to get a hold of her by telephone.
4. Josue--Juana's son who has helped with making up the church calendars, but is not constant in his attendance.
5. We have a men's meeting this coming Saturday and we are continuing our study on Biblical Eldership.
   

Please pray for our family. With the blessings of the church, we have also felt pressures in 5 different areas. Please pray for strength and endurance. It has seemed strange, but some in our family are having trouble with bad dreams. The uncanny thing is that they always come on Saturday nights. Please pray against any Santanic oppression.

On Friday afternoon we were a little worried. Nicolas' mom came looking for Nico our neighbor. She had just seen the news and saw that a young man had been killed downtown and they had found a wallet next to him with an ID. The dead young man's name was Humberto Castro. Nico's son works downtown and his name is Humberto Castro. He is the young man in our church who preached two Wednesdays ago. Anyway, Nico was very shaken when I went next door to see him. He called the office where Humberto was working, but Humberto wasn't there. He had another telephone number to call where Humberto may have been with another man. Praise the Lord that Nico's son Humberto was with this other man and very much alive. It was nice to be able to do another message on the family today instead of a funeral service. Praise the Lord for His protection day by day.

We appreciate your prayers always,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi

Goldfuss update (February 4)

Dear Praying Friends,

I'm sorry we missed getting an update out last week. Last Monday Carissa was on the second to top step. She bent down to help Cherith who was on the fourth to top step---and they both fell down all of our stairs sumersaulting over each other. I took them to get an X-ray on Wed. morning. Praise the Lord there were no broken bones. We arrived home from the x-rays to find out that Cristi had fallen head first off the top of the girls triple bunk bed and also landed on her wrist. I told the girls that it would be nice if they could injure themselves at the same time or at least work it out so that we could all go get their x-rays together. Praise the Lord that none were seriously hurt. Faith had walked into the room to check on Cristi after she heard her "boom" from her fall and mentioned that she was going to have to wrap all the kids in pillows. As she turned to walk out of the room with Caralyn, she banged Caralyn's head on the door. :-( Maybe we should all go to bed for about a week and not get up. :-) In spite of all the calamities, no one had any broken bones---just sprains and bruises. Praise the Lord for His safety and protection each day. We serve a great God.

Praises:

1. Our family series continues to go very well with many people asking for additional help and asking questions during the week to try to put the biblical help into practice. Jose told us two weeks ago after the message on children obeying their parents that that afternoon, their son Jose Ruben was playing and Jose called him. Jose Ruben tossed what he was playing with aside, ran to his dad, and right in front of him said, "Yes, Dad. I'm here." If you knew Jose Ruben you would say that that was a miracle. Please continue to pray for all of the children in the church and for us as adults to not only obey, but to obey from hearts of love to Christ.
2. I have spoken twice recently with Francisco who has missed 4 straight Sundays trying to earn money to pay off a loan he has. Challenging him to remember that the Lord honors those who honor him, I met with some pretty stiff resistance. I had doubts as to whether he would be there yesterday, but praise the Lord he was. We invited them to eat with us and had a very good afternoon/evening of talking about the things of the Lord. Pray for the Lord to continue to work in that family.
3. Erasmo and Matilde continue to have struggles at their new taco stand, but have continued to be faithful in their attendance. I was able to have an excellent talk with them this past week. Please pray that the Lord will clearly show them whether they should continue on or close their taco stand.
4. A great blessing of this past week is that Humberto preached on Wednesday night. He preached on the first 3 verses of James 4. He is soft-spoken and was pretty short, but several people made the comment that he really challenged them with his message. Please pray for him to continue to serve the Lord and be faithful. He is going to be continuing his preaching about once a month.
5. Last Saturday's young people's meeting seemed to be fun for all!!! I made two huge tubs of ice cream and we had a giant sundae party. I will attach several pictures so that you can see how much fun and later agony we had from eating all of the ice cream. The entire table length sundae was gone in 6 minutes flat! Our young people face tremendous challenges and temptations in their daily lives in their public schools. Please pray that they will make Christ their all in all.
6. Senora Maria turned 82 this week. She was praising the Lord for her health and the years that He has given her to serve Him.
7. It was such a great blessing to have Mike's mom with us for about 2 1/2 weeks. She was a real encouragement and a blessing in helping with the younger "distractors" as Faith was trying to work on school with the older ones. She had to leave last Tuesday and everyone is missing grandma now.
   

Prayer Requests:

1. Janet and Vanessa have been very sporadic in their attendance the last month. In talking to them last week, Janet is struggling with a relationship with a young man that she used to know. He is now living with another girl and has a child with her. Please pray for Janet to leave off totally with this young man and follow Christ.
2. Silvia had a good talk with Faith last night, but has been very stretched in her family relationships. Pray for her to love her unsaved husband. Pray also for her son Roberto--who is in drug rehab-- to be saved.
3. Teresa is having back trouble. It is very painful---and she needs to use a pillow even in church. Praise the Lord that she is a shining example of a growing Christian and faith in Christ even with all of the difficulties of her heath and with a completely unsaved family.
4. On Wednesday our family, Uriel's immediate family (he is the son of Erasmo and Matilde), and Mildred's immediate family will be present at Uriel and Mildred's civil marriage ceremony. They have willingly submitted to not having a church wedding. Please pray for us to be an encouragement to all as they begin their lives together. They will be having their baby in 3 months. We dealt with their sin last fall in church discipline---and have been trying to restore them with a spirit of love. Pray as it would be very easy for them to just move in with Mildred's family so that they would not have to pay rent or food. These extended families are very normal and cause many problems---especially since Mildred's parents are Catholic. Pray for Uriel to take a stand and to provide for his new family as well as lead them in the way of the Lord.
   

The Lord has greatly convicted, challenged, and encouraged my own heart recently with a book entitled, My Heart For Thy Cause by a man named Brian Borgman. It is a compilation of pastoral theology from a pastor named Albert Martin who has been a real challenge to me throughout the years. The book deals with a pastor's call, duties and relationship to the Lord, his family and his church. It is the best book I've ever read on the subject, but it has been very painful at the same time. Praise the Lord for the correction and encouragement He gives and allows us as His children day by day. We pray that the Lord will make us more like Him day by day and that we will be useful in leading our children and the church here to be the same.

As always, we appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi