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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
As always, we appreciate your prayers and encouragement.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
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