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
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