Goldfuss update (December 31)

Dear praying friends,

Christmas time has been a whirlwind of activities, but praise the Lord---we have been able to use the extra time (without school) to spend time with our children meditating on the TRUE meaning of Christmas. We also have been able to just BE with the children--which in the normal year is very hard to do---with ministry.

Praises:

1. Some people are really responding to recent messages and taking their personal walk with the Lord more seriously. This is what it is all about.
2. After the Christmas Eve service, half of the church went to Christmas carol at Sra Gloria and Maria's. They had been sad all day because due to illness, they were not able to attend our service. We stayed a short time, but believe that we were a real encouragement. Sra. Gloria said that she cried all day because it was her birthday and she was not able to attend church. Then we came, and she cried for joy--not because of our singing. :-) The best part was that the church people saw how important it is to the people when we take the time to encourage those who are going through difficult times.
3. We told the kids to be really rambunctious in our yard--in the hopes that the would be robbers would not even attempt anything to our house. We have a fence around the property and the kids obeyed perfectly. With all of the noise in the yard, the robbers must have thought that 50 people live here. We praise the Lord that we have had no problems.
4. The Lord allowed us to pay the entire rent for the 2009 year for the church---This includes the (new to us) other side of the floor that we are on. Now we are concentrating on finishing those Sunday school rooms to be put to good use.
   

Prayer Requests:

1. Marta is in very serious condition in the hospital again with very low platelets. Morgan and Mike visited her for 2 hours yesterday. You would not believe the conditions that Mike saw at that hospital. Socialized medicine is not a great idea. She has been very discouraged with her health (this is the second time in a month that she is back in the hospital. Last year at this same time she was hospitalized for the same thing also. She also has tremendous problems with her unsaved husband who has a mistress, financial problems and other difficulties.) I had an excellent time with her being able to read Psalm 86 and really encourage her in her dependence on Christ. Pray for her strength, encouragement and faith to be strengthened. She did mention that she thinks that she very well may die (She is only 35 years old.) Please pray for Marta.
2. We are having over 30 people from church for a service tonight for New Year's Eve. Pray for the testimony service and that God would be glorified. After the service, we are going to have a big New Year's Eve supper.
3. We would like to see complete dedication to the Lord in 4 families that struggle to put Him first in their lives--salvation may very well be the root problem. Please pray for the Lord to open their eyes to their true need of Christ.
4. Pray as we are trying to meet with each family and each person to see what their spiritual goals are for the New Year. Pray that this would not be seen as "in your face"---but know that even though we are getting really personal, it is because we truly love them---and want the Lord to be exalted through their lives. The time is short, and we need to redeem it.
   

Thank you as always for praying!

Happy New Year.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update and prayer letter (December 18)

Dear Praying Friends,

We are making this a prayer update and an official prayer letter at the same time for those who do not receive our email updates.

The church seems to be moving forward in some areas---where others areas seem to be painfully slow.

1. Mike and Morgan left the house at 6 AM on Monday to go to three hours west of Mexico City to Michoacan. A man there who was saved in the States is very interested in beginning a Bible study in his home. His family doesn't appear to know much about the gospel but they have offered their home for services. Another missionary contacted us about another man in the area who may be interested in joining this Bible Study. If any of you have people in your churches that have family members near Zitacuaro, Michoacan---we would love to have them as contacts. Morgan is very excited about this opportunity and will begin going over there on Sundays starting in January. The only sad thing is that he will be gone all day on Sundays. We will miss him, but we are happy how the Lord is leading him. He was going to begin a teen Sunday school class, so now we need to replace him. There are two good possibilities for that position.
   Although the potential for a new work was wonderful, the trip was very eventful---they ran off the road once, got stopped by the corrupt police in Toluca, got lost a couple of times, and saw an accident that I'm sure they will never forget. It was a tractor trailer vs. a lady who was crossing the street on foot. Unfortunately, the lady did not win. It was a reminder of how temporary our times are on this earth. Please pray that these thoughts will not plague their minds.
2. Last Thursday night, our neighbors (from Holland) about two football fields length up the road were bound and robbed at 1:30 AM in the morning. The thieves filled up the neighbor's own car with valuables and drove off in their car. On Monday night, the same thing was done to some new neighbors right across the road. The owner there is the coach for one of Mexico's soccer teams so he is a high profile man. We now have police cars outside our front gate---all night long. They are writing down when we leave and return---supposedly for security sake. If you lived here you would know that that is not a comforting thought. I really hate to write that---but it is true. The police are notorious for planning these types of things also. Mike has said that the kids are not to go out the front gate by themselves. We have calmly explained to them what they are to do and not to do if people break into the house. (I could really see Mikey and Cristi taking forceful action---and getting themselves into bigger problems). Just preparing them has really calmed things---and they slept fine. Mikey and Matthew are planning traps for the criminals---oh, the adventure. Mike reassured all of us that our hope is only in the Lord. He alone is our only true source of protection.
3. There may be several people coming our way from the States to help. Pray for those to work out in the Lord's perfect plan and timing.
4. Victor LaBelle is a former missionary kid from Mexico. He has been moved here by his company--- and his family joined him in our services this past Sunday. He played the piano for us which was a real blessing. Please pray as the family gets adjusted to the newness of Mexico. Our kids tried to welcome them and make them feel at home by helping to translate the services.
5. While new opportunities may be moving forward, some of our regulars just seem to be very apathetic. It is like 1/2 of the church is excited to move forward---while 1/2 is coming later and avoiding Sunday School altogether. We are trying to finish the other side of the church to use for more Sunday school classes, and we need everyone's help to begin classes for the many children that we have.
6. Sra. Gloria and Sra. Maria need special prayer for their health. They are so depressed that they cannot attend services. Please prays for these ladies.
7. We do miss Melissa. The Lord has moved her to a different ministry this next semester, so she won't be able to be back with us for second semester. But, we are very happy that her desire to is serve the Lord. Pray for her as the Lord directs her paths. She is seriously considering full-time missions.
   

Soooooooooooo this is a commercial message for anyone who would like to come for any amount of time from January through April to help with homeschooling. If you could help or if you know of anyone else who could help, please let us know.

Any of you who receive this before Christmas, we trust that you will have a very blessed and Christ-centered Christmas. We trust that in spite of all the upheaval in the world at the moment that our focus will be continually fixed on our one and only real Treasure, Jesus Christ.

With much love and gratefulness for your daily prayers.

Faith for the family

Goldfuss update (December 8)

Dear Praying Friends,

I promised you a couple of pictures last week of the closing recital after Melissa had given piano lessons for three months. Then I didn't include them. I'm sorry. :-) Here they are.

On Thursday night, a bunch of people surprised Melissa here at our home with a going away supper. Melissa had gone with Faith to the girls' gymnastics class and when they returned, all the people were here. It was a nice time and we also got to have some good spiritual talks with a few people. Friday morning Melissa had a 6:20 AM plane to catch so Morgan arrived here in his taxi at 4AM and we took Melissa to the airport. She made her plane with plenty of time to spare so that was good for her and bad for us. She was a huge help in getting the kids caught up as were a good bit behind from last year's school year still. Please pray for the Lord to provide someone for our second semester for schooling in His plan and time. It is an overwhelming task for Faith by herself. We do thank the Lord for His grace and strength day by day to get done what needs to be done.

This past week Mike had some very good visits with different ones in the church. Jesus and Analilia haven't been back again for the past two weeks. Their oldest daughter, Luz, 11, is with them again after living with other family members in Acapulco. On Tuesday night Mike had the tremendous opportunity of giving the gospel to that whole family for about 1 1/2 hours. It was directed to Luz, but Jesus and Analilia were sitting right there also and listening intently. Luz asked some very good questions and it was a thrill again to share the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for the Lord to open the hearts of each person in this family.

Teresa has been struggling with her husband Alberto. He continues to make her life miserable. He ridicules her all the time, puts her down, yells at her and is just unbearable to live with most of the time. The first thing she said to me in our visit the other night was that she was meditating on a certain part of Scripture and that she realized how bad even her good works are most of the time and how much we need to do things just to honor our great Savior. In spite of all her difficulties in her family, it was so neat to see her meditating and thinking about Scripture and letting it work in her to change her to be more like Christ.

Martha had to be admitted to the hospital last Monday with a very low blood platelet count. She said that a person should normally have 150,000 platelets. After a blood test in the morning, she had 50,000 and by the afternoon it was down to 20,000. Since she is very susceptible to diseases, she was sent home. She went to her sister's house where she doesn't have to be outside and can rest more. Morgan and I went to see her on Thursday and she was very discouraged. We had the opportunity to encourage her though and the visit was very profitable. It was a blessing to see her come to church yesterday--she said she had to stop and sit down 3 times betwee the bus stop and church (only a two streets' walk) but she really enjoyed being there. It's always a blessing for everyone in church to see her.

Sra. Gloria continues to struggle with her diabetes. She and her mom (Sra. Maria) were not able to be there again yesterday. Pray for the Lord to touch her body and allow them to again be back in services.

We have been discouraged with several things during the past couple of weeks. Our Sunday School has been pretty sparsely attended right when we are trying to expand the classes because of past overcrowding. Sometimes it seems that many are so overwhelmed with their own problems that they don't have the time or energy to do extra work in the church. Most will come for an extra get together, but only a few will come to help work. Please pray that the Lord would put it in their hearts to get the work done and to attend SS.

If the Lord allows, Morgan and I are going to be travelling Thursday morning to Michoacan (about 2 hours away) to try to meet with a family that has no church. There is a possibility that Morgan could begin to go regularly there to work to raise up a local church by God's grace. Pray for wisdom and direction in that situation.

This Friday night we will have another men's meeting on Biblical Eldership. Please pray that the Lord would raise up faithful men to lead His church here.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Email update (December 3)

Dear Praying Friends,

We will send you a couple of pictures from our past week's activities.

Last Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving. We don't have any American friends in the city at the present due to furloughs and other things, so we invited a good number of our Mexican friends. Juana, Reme, Sarai, Elias, Ruth, Ximena, Gabriel, Liliana, Yoltic, Yolat and Yolotzin all joined us. We had a nice time telling them what Thanksgiving is about and they enjoyed thanking the Lord for His many blessings. We also all enjoyed a great turkey dinner. Matthew had been wanting to be an Indian for a while now so Mike gave him a mohawk. What do you think? :-)

Saturday evening was the piano recital with all of Melissa's students from the past 3 months. They had a very rough run-through beforehand, but the recital itself went wonderfully. There were a number of unsaved people present so Mike preached about 15 minutes on what it means to play and sing for God's Glory, why we would do that. The gospel was very clearly given. Pray for the salvation of those who heard. We are also including a couple of pictures of the recital.
Sunday's attendance was very down. We've had good visits and phone calls though with a good number of the missing.

• Please pray for Sras. Maria and Gloria. Gloria, the daughter is really struggling with her diabetes and shingles and has been very discouraged. Please pray for the Lord to give her some relief and for them to be able to be present in the services.
• Nico and family were not there on Sunday. He was struggling with gaining forgiveness of sin. We had an excellent talk and time of prayer on Monday morning though.
• Tere and Silvia--two sisters with unsaved husbands, were both unable to attend. Pray for salvation for their husbands and strength for them day by day.
• Jesus and Analilia--said last week that they were going to not be missing anymore. They were not there this past Sunday. I went to talk to them last night and ended up being able to proclaim the gospel to them and their children for about 1 1/2 hours. Their 11 year old daughter Luz, asked a few questions and that got the whole ball rolling. It was an EXCELLENT and encouraging opportunity. Please pray for their salvation.
  

This Friday, we are going to regretfully say goodbye to Melissa. She has been an incredible help and encouragement this past semester with her schoolteaching, piano playing in church and piano lesson giving. Please pray for the Lord's direction for Melissa in the future.

Please pray for the Lord will still open the door for us to have a ministry in the State of Michoacan in a place about 2 hours from here.

Thank you so much for your prayers,
in Christ,
mike for all the goldfii