Wednesday, July 2

Goldfuss update (July 2)

Praying Friends,

Since Bethany was here last week with the team, we thought we'd let her give you her point of view of the past week and then I'll add a few more things at the end.

Hello!
This past week, we knew that many of you were praying for us. Thank you!
About 11:00 last Sunday night we were waiting at the house for the BJU missions team to arrive. It was raining and it had been a few hours since we had heard from them. As we were talking and waiting the power went out! It had been a long day and we had gotten back late. We couldn't help but laugh. The power going out seemed to add the final touch! We got the homemade, chocolate ice cream out of the freezer and ate it by candlelight. (I put nuts on mine.) We finally decided at about 15 minutes to 1:00 to see if we could get some sleep before they showed up. I took my candle up to my room and had just blown it out when they arrived about 1:20. That was the beginning of the week. :)
We had special evangelistic services Wednesday-Friday and Dr. Saldivar preached an excellent series of messages on Jonah while the college students went with the children for their own service. Each evening everyone stayed after the services for a meal provided by one of the church families. I enjoyed being able to spend time talking with the families in the church while we ate. It was a great way to get to know them better.
On Saturday there was an open invitation for the church (and anyone else) to come to the Goldfuss home for lunch, games, music and a devotional. Because of that on Friday we all worked hard around the house getting everything ready. On Saturday morning, two of the girls on the missions team had food poisoning of some sort--and we still aren't sure from what. We couldn't pin it down on one thing--someone in the church said that it could have been from the pollution. After that nothing really went the way it was planned. :) Those of us who were feeling well. . . and the numbers were dropping pretty quickly. . . set up for the giant lunch.
In the end about 10 of us had to stay home from church on Sunday for one reason or another (double ear infection, upper respiratory infection, food poisoning. (I was part of the latter group.) Thankfully Mrs. Goldfuss was here to nurse us all back to health! She had to give a number of shots. . . I had two. It wasn't much fun for anyone, but she did a great job! It was better to get the shots than to be miserably sick for days!
Please be in prayer for the Goldfuss family as a few seem to have cold like symptoms.
Becoming His Mirror,
Bethany Winchester for all the Goldfi

Thanks Bethany,

We really had a good week of meetings. We had three new families attend. Rogelio (two nights) and his wife Irene (one night) attend another church but said that they really enjoyed it. Mauricio (2 nights) and his wife (one night) Susana also said that they really enjoyed the preaching, but they also attend another evangelical church in our area. Rene and his wife Elvira attended all three nights, came to the church fellowship on Saturday and also came to the services on Sunday. He told us that they are Roman Catholic but don't feel comfortable in their church at all. It was really neat how a good number of people went out of their way to make them feel welcome and they didn't understand that at all. I mentioned to them that we aren't perfect in our church, but we are a group of people who have been wonderfully forgiven by God because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for them to return this week, for the Lord to open their eyes to the truth and to draw them to Himself in salvation. We also were privileged to have Cristi and Carissa's friends Cherrie and Atanea. I believe this was the third time they have been able to come to church with us. The big blessing about that was that the two girls' oldest sisters (Brooke and Sharon) also came after making friends with several of the BJ girls at the Saturday get together. Pray for the salvation of all four of these girls.

Our three nights of meetings started at 7 and usually ended about 9, after which we had a church supper each night. We arrived home each night around 11 PM or later. It was a very good time but very exhausting too. The weekend was pretty difficult with all the sickness. Pray for lasting fruit from the past week.

Cherith has gotten sick today with the vomiting and diarrhea that plagued so many. Please pray that she will be able to get over it and that no one else in the family will come down with it if the Lord so wills.

Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa are planning on leaving on Friday for Ohio for two weeks of camp. Please pray that they will be healthy and have safety in their travels. Pray that they will be a blessing and reflect our great Savior wherever they go.

Thank you for your prayers, we needed and continue to need them constantly,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

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