Goldfuss update (August 24)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for a busy week.

This week promises to get busier. Home school starts bright and early tomorrow morning. The task seems overwhelming at this point (this year we will have five taking classes), so please pray for Faith and the kids for patience, strength and lots of work to get accomplished. We praise the Lord that on Friday Melissa Pate is coming to help with the home schooling. That will be a tremendous blessing.

Our men's meeting went very well on Friday night. We had 10 men present here at our home and had a good time continuing our study on elders. Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up men who will be faithful shepherd elders here in Mexico City.

On Saturday we had another creek walk with the young people. We had several more attend this month than last month and the new ones really enjoyed the cold water. There was one place where it's very slippery and you have to cross the creek there. The only place where the footing is not slick is right in the center of the rushing water. I planted myself there and helped each young person across one by one. They would put their feet against mine and get across. All was going well until one girl tried it by herself about 6 more feet upstream, fell and knocked the next guy who was about three feet away into me which in turn knocked me into about a 4 foot deep pool of FREEZING COLD WATER. Needless to say, it takes your breath away. The human bowling was successful as I was the only "pin" to get knocked into the gutter. :-) Our Bible study was on Daniel and his three Hebrew friends who were taken to a foreign country and remained faithful to their God when apparently all the other Hebrew captives capitulated to the pagan influences. Pray for the Lord to raise up faithful young people amidst the pagan influences of Mexico City also.

Today we finished Hebrews 8 in SS and also finished our 3rd and final study on Biblical modesty. There were some good comments and one young lady even asked Faith to help her after the service as she didn't even know that there was such a thing as immodesty. Praise the Lord for tender hearts and for a desire to please and glorify Him in order that the Word of God be not blasphemed.

Last week we asked you to pray for Marcos and Ruth as they had moved quite a ways away to be with her parents. Last Sunday they were not in attendance but that day they had a problem with Ruth's parents interfering with their discipline of their daughter Jimena. Ruth's father denounced them to some government officials on Monday. Marcos called on Monday night and asked if they might be able to move up to our cabin for a time. So, at 10 PM on Tuesday night, Gabriel (who owns a pick-up) and myself went with with several of Marcos' brothers to load up their stuff and bring it up to our cabin. We got them all moved in and into bed by 3 AM. So, Marcos and Ruth are attending much more faithfully then they were. :-) Thank you for praying. Pray for them as Ruth is 7 months pregnant now. They will have to change Jimena's school along with a few other changes, but praise the Lord they are closer and can attend all the services again. (As long as they are in the cabin, they have to. :-)

Matilde was not in the services today as she is again having kidney problems. She has suffered several severe kidney infections this year. Please pray if it would please the Lord that He would remove this thorn in her flesh and if not, that His grace would be evident in her life. Her husband Erasmo is to have his gall stone operation next Tuesday so please keep this family in your prayers.

We asked you to pray last week for Miguel, Nico and Liliana's son who left home--he's all of 12 years old. He returned again this past Friday. He is very very hard to the things of the Lord. Please pray for the Lord to arrest him and save him by His grace.

We covet your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 18)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers.

PRAISES

1. Some of our more mature women are beginning to lead our ladies' Bible Study each month. Currently they are going through the The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Teresa did a very good job on Saturday. Juana will be leading the next chapter next month.
2. The men have decided that they would like to meet twice a month for our studies about elders so this Friday night we will be meeting up here at our cabin at 7 PM.
3. Some of the children who are between 10-13 would like to help serve more in the children's SS class. They want to begin preparing the craft for the SS lessons each week. They will be Sunday school assistants and rotate. Praise the Lord for that desire to serve.
4. Fernando, who has come on and off for many years, was in attendance the last two weeks. He very much needs to be converted, but it was good to see him back again.
   

PRAYER REQUESTS

1. This Saturday we will be having another creek walk with the young people. It has been raining a whole lot lately so there should be plenty of COLD COLD water to walk in. :-) There are some monstrous trees along the side of the creek and we used that last month as an object lesson for Psalm 1 (He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.) Pray for the Lord's working in our Bible Study time Saturday.
2. Jesus and Analilia haven't been to church since our VBS ended over 3 weeks ago. He was supposed to go into the hospital again this past Friday for his hip replacement. We haven't heard if he was able to make it in yet. He mentioned to me about a week ago that they weren't able to attend church right now because he has to use Sundays to sell his dental hygiene products. His recovery for the hip replacement will be long and he is trying to financially prepare for that by working on the Lord's Day. Please pray for them to be saved. They have heard the gospel for a number of months now and sometimes we wonder if they are to the point of definitively rejecting it. Please pray for the Lord to have mercy on them, and pray for our church people to minister to them in their time of need.
3. Erasmo and Matilde. For years Erasmo and his brother have been at great odds over different personal family issues. Last week, the brother hired two men to kidnap Erasmo's oldest daughter Abigail who is 17. They had her from about 9AM til 7PM. Praise the Lord that He kept her safe. Pray for the issues to be resolved in the family and for the Lord to use this to bring Abby and others in that family to salvation.
4. Erasmo was also taken to the hospital on Saturday night with severe stomach pain. He has gall stones and has been scheduled for surgery on Sept. 2.
5. Two young couples--Marcos and Ruth and Uriel and Mildred--now live over an hour away from church (both with unsaved in-laws) and this is affecting their attendance. They have either been late or have not come these last few weeks. Pray for the Lord to work in their hearts.
6. Nico and Liliana--last week their 12 year old son left home and went to live with his grandmother. His story to her was that "his parents make him read the Bible." The truth is he doesn't want to obey and doesn't want God in his life at all. Please pray for Nico and Liliana for wisdom and for Miguel to be broken about his sin and to submit to Christ.
7. Some of our people have had different issues with modesty. Therefore we have been learning why it should be practiced (Because it's important to God and for His glory, because it affects our brothers in Christ and because it affects our presentation of the gospel.) We are having a three part series on modesty in our Sunday services. Most people have received it very well, but please pray for others to accept God's teaching on the subject and to submit to Christ in this area. We are not just stating do's and don'ts, but trying to demonstrate that this is a heart issue. Am I going to serve the Lord and others (by being modest and not wanting them to stumble) or myself (by wearing what I want to bring attention to myself)?
   

Thank you as always for your prayers,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 6)

Dear Praying Friends,

Greetings from cool (and sometimes cold) and rainy Mexico City. I'm sure most of you, when you think of Mexico, think of hot, sunny and dry. Standing in our driveway in front of our house, we are at 9,958 feet above sea level (we know because someone with a GPS system came a little while ago and told us what our elevation was). We are in our rainy season right now and there are many days when the sun doesn't come out at all or only for a very short time. We had a tremendous rain storm last night and probably had over three inches of rain in about an hour. Today we've probably had over an inch.

Pray that the Lord would pour us out showers of blessing also spiritually.

A blessing on Sunday was that Mauricio, his wife Susana, and their two children attended our services. They attended when the BJ Spanish team was here and she has come several Wednesday nights with the children. They really enjoyed the services and are part of the family of 20 possible attendees. :-) Praise the Lord for them.

A huge blessing when we showed up for our services on Sunday morning was to see Marcos and Elsa with their little baby, and Miguel and Alondra with their little Christofer. You may remember that we have prayed for years for these twin sisters. For a time they lived with us, then with Juana and then with Teresa. We occasionally see Miguel and Alondra but haven't seen Elsa for more than a year. Please continue to pray that the Lord would bring these two girls to Himself and the two young men with whom they live.

Morgan has been preaching on Wed. nights and is currently preaching on the 10 Commandments. The last several weeks have been extremely encouraging as we see him get the people's attention and proclaim God's Word Continue to pray for his development in this area.

Our men's meeting this past Saturday was our worst attended yet, but Humberto, Erasmo, Memo and Mikey all had some good discussion to add to our study on elders in the church. Please continue to pray that the Lord will raise up men to lead and oversee the church here.

Sra. Gloria and her mother Maria made it for SS this past Lord's Day. They had to leave for church though because Sra. Gloria feels dizzy from her diabetes and high blood pressure. Sylvia was not able to come due to more upheaval in her family. Please pray that the Lord would allow her to be a testimony to her family and at the same time not be so burdened down with all of their baggage. Teresa, Sylvia's sister, was able to make it Sunday, which recently, is a huge blessing anytime her husband will allow her to come.

Continue to pray for Jose and America. Her stitches opened up from her C-section on Saturday so they were not able to make it Sunday. Pray for quick healing in the Lord's will.

Faith is trying to get ready for another year of homeschooling which is coming up all too quickly. We are thankful that we will have a young lady, Melissa Pate, down to help Faith with that monumental task this fall. Please keep that undertaking in your prayers.

Thank you so much for praying for us,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii