Goldfuss update (September 8)

Dear Praying Friends,

We had an interesting week that was anything but normal. Several things have happened this week that have made living here very difficult. We definitely appreciate your prayers.

On Tuesday night, we received a call from a Mexican friend with whom we attended BJU. He is a fine Christian man serving here in Mexico. He said that he was coming the next day on a bus and asked if we could pick him—but he first mentioned at the airport??? Then he mentioned at the bus station. In the next 10 minutes, it was very hard to understand him and there were not many things in the conversation that made sense. He said that we were to pick him up the next day at 10 AM and he would be staying with us for 15 days. I told Morgan that so much didn't make sense in what he was saying that to me he sounded drunk or on drugs. This was extremely hard to believe as this man has served the Lord faithfully here in Mexico for many years. I said, "Morgan, do not go and pick him up. Something isn't right."

The next day, the man called at 11:30 AM saying he had just gotten there. OK, so I was wrong. I told him to get a taxi to a place about ½ hour from our house and that Morgan would pick him up there. About 45 minutes later, he called again saying that the police had stopped the taxi that he was in and found the gun that he was bringing. WHAT!!!???????? "Why on earth are you bringing a gun?" His reply—"It's the one I'm bringing you." Oh Great. It is a felony offense to have a gun in Mexico. So, now the guy is being hauled off to jail and wants me to help get him out. It was a very worrisome situation. He teaches in a Bible School, has a wife and three children, and is coming to Mexico City for 15 days, with a gun, to do what??????????

Fortunately, Tuesday night after our first conversation by phone, I wrote an email to my friend stating that he we had received a call from him, it was hard to understand, but that he wanted Morgan to pick him up in the bus station the next morning at 10. If that was correct, he was to confirm by responding to the email. We prayed for this man on Wednesday night as a church and Morgan and I were going to go search in the different municipalities the next day to look for him. When we returned from prayer meeting, we had an email from my friend that said, "Mike, I haven't communicated with you for quite a while. It must have been a misunderstanding." Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been a bit unnerving though. It appears that the guy, whoever he was, was trying to extort money from us and how he found out our names is not clear. We ask that you continually pray for the Lord's safety for our family and other workers here in Mexico. We DON'T watch the news—if we did, we would never set foot out of our house. :-) The church family is in fear for us, but we are going about our normal duties telling them that we will be careful, but we need to live our lives. We cannot allow fear to curb the work here. The blessing is that our friend is still faithfully serving the Lord and that was the part of the situation that was the most disturbing about the whole situation.

2. Please pray for Erasmo who had his gall stones removed this week. He is home now but in a lot of pain. Juan Jesus had his hip replacement two weeks ago and is also home now and in much pain. Pray that the Lord would use these two physical trials to draw these two men—to Himself or closer to Himself. We know that Juan Jesus is definitely not saved.

3. We had a good men's meeting on Friday night with very good discussion about elders. Pray that the Lord will raise up men here, men who love each other, are unified in the Spirit and in doctrine, and men who will be able to faithfully lead the Lord's flock. We have another meeting this Saturday morning.

4. We started a series yesterday on the Gospel and our Evangelism. Please pray that we will be an evangelistic church that knows the gospel and is so consumed with our God and His glory that we can't keep it in to ourselves. Psalm 96:3—"Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." We want to be a mission church that is missions minded.

5. Faith gives some different people English lessons when the girls go for their PE classes in Gymnastics. A lady doctor, Josephina, who studies with Faith invited us to her birthday dinner party on Saturday. It was a first class event and we had the opportunity to meet her brother in law. Josephina's sister died several years ago of cancer and Mike had a really good opportunity during the dinner to speak with Gualberto about Christ. He has had some other experiences in the past with others who call themselves Christians but have no saving knowledge of Christ. Please pray that Saturday's conversation with Gualberto will plant the seed, that it will be watered and that God will graciously save him.

6. Marta was there yesterday after missing the last two weeks. Please continue to hold her up before the Lord. She seems so distraught with her family situation where her husband won't help with anything and uses the little bit of money that she earns for whatever he wants—even though he works too. The burden almost seems too great for her shoulders at times, but she seemed to be very encouraged in Christ from Heb. 9 in SS yesterday. Please pray that the Lord would bring some type of resolution to her difficulties in His perfect way.

Our electricity went out last night at 6 PM and as of this moment, 10 AM, it has not come back on. So I need to save this and close it down so that I can send it as soon as the electricity comes back. The problem is that we cannot pump water from the cistern to our tanks on the roof without electricity. School is also hectic without being able to do the children's DVD classes. We have just heard that a main transformer has blown. Pray for wisdom as we are considering getting a generator and want to only do this if it is a true necessity. The electricity does go out frequently, but it is USUALLY restored quickly.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii