Goldfuss update (December 29)

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for praying. As with all of your holidays, there has been much to do here and many opportunities. Of these we will give you three main requests:

1. Citlali is a friend that Faith has known for 4 years. In September, without any warning, her husband just left her. This has been extremely difficult for Citlali. We have been praying for her. Two weeks ago, she finally opened up to Faith about her situation. Through it all, she surprisingly and gladly received a study Bible from Faith as a Christmas gift. Please pray for more open doors and for comfort for her two young girls who are very sad and bitter.
2. The Lord has brought a good number of visitors along with Lourdes' family. One such visitor is Lourdes' nephew, Victor, from Spain, who is visiting Mexico and staying with his relatives while he attempts to get a job here. He is a 22 year old man who has been extremely apathetic to the things of the Lord. The last three weeks he has been coming to church, asking questions, attending Jon and Andrea's Bible study at the Olivares home, and doing his Sunday School lesson. It is obvious that the Lord is doing a work in Victor. Pray that the Holy Spirit would bring that work to bear the fruit of a truly converted man.
3. Eric is Morgan's younger brother. His family has been faithful for the past 8 years, although Eric hasn't attended church during the past 3 years. Eric, and his live in girlfriend, Delilah, have been attending church for about a month now. Eric appears to want to please the Lord with his life. Delilah has said before that she would never attend church. The fact that she is coming even though she is receiving ridicule from her parents is only the Lord moving in her heart. Pray for the many issues there and for great wisdom from the Lord in dealing with them.

On a more humorous note, while Bekah was still here, Mike ran down the stairs amidst wild screams in the kitchen. Several of the girls said that they had seen about a 2 foot rat walking outside our kitchen window on the ledge. While Cristi, Carissa, and Bekah were quite frantic, Cherith sat at the island calmly chomping on a peanut butter sandwich--very relaxed. Faith asked Cheri if she had seen the rat and she quietly responded, "Yes, Mommy, he had a pink nose." Perplexed about the pink nose, we decided to try to wait and see it again. It turns out that our "rat" was an opossum. He now no longer exists as daddy took care of him.

We will be starting school, second semester, next week again. We still haven't found a school teacher to help for second semester. If you know anyone who would love to serve (or maybe not even love to do it, but could), :-), we'd love to hear from them.

Adventures surround us and opportunities abound. Please pray that we will use every opportunity for the Lord's glory.

In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristiana, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (December 8)

Dear Praying Friends,

Our first semester is winding down in school. Bekah has to leave on Dec. 19 and that will be the end of our first semester. We praise the Lord for her willingness to be here this semester, for her good spirit, and her patience with everyone. She has been a great blessing, and we have seen good progress with Cristi. Please EARNESTLY pray with us for someone to be able to come during the second semester in January to help with the homeschooling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also please continue to keep the Frutos family in your prayers. Marital unfaithfulness has created many problems in their family at the moment. They have been to church for three weeks in a row and even brought a visitor this week. Pray for the visitor, Sra. Adriana, whose husband left her that she would return.

This Friday evening, we are having a number of unsaved contacts over to make Christmas cookies. Pray for more opportunities to proclaim Christ to them.

Saturday there is a Christmas ladies' meeting. Pray for our ladies to become more like Christ in their marriages and homes.

We would also ask you to continue to pray with us for the Lord to work in the person who took the money from the offering--not so much for the money, but for that person's own spiritual good.

We thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 24)

Dear Praying Friends,

We thank you for your prayers. As you pray for us, pray also that the Lord would make us to be a praying people as well.

1. The Lord gave Mike, Mikey and the Crockers a safe trip up and back down from Texas last week. Praise the Lord for His protection.
2. We also thank the Lord for Morgan. He preached this past Wednesday night and also our Sunday morning service. Please continue to pray for the Lord's direction in his life and for his continued growth in studying and teaching and preaching God's Word.
3. God has answered your prayers. The family that Mike has been dealing with who had marital problems came this past Sunday (almost every member of that extended family!) They seemed to listen well and said that they will return and bring some other people with them. Praise the Lord. Keep the Frutos family in your prayers.
4. This coming Friday night, we have another men's meeting. One thing on our agenda is to seek the best way in handling our offerings and money as a church. Pray for the Lord's direction. No one has admitted to taking the money. Therefore, we are assuming that it was someone outside of the church family. If it was anyone in the church, we are committing that person to the Lord.
5. Please still pray with us about having someone come to help with school for our second semester. Much has been accomplished, and Bekah is a wonderful worker. She knew at the beginning of the semester that she would need to return home for the second semester. Matthew is already finishing History tomorrow! She has also really helped with Cristi. We have been blessed to have had Bekah her with us. Pray for a good last month with her.
6. Thursday is Thanksgiving, and we are having a houseful with 39 people! (also 2 turkeys and a ham have been invited). We thank the Lord for sending his Son AND we thank the Lord for faithful prayer partners like you.

Thank you for all your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 18)

Dear prayer partners,

This last week has been unusually difficult. We covet your prayers at this time.

First of all, Mike spent much time this week with a family whose father had left them. We first had contact with this family the second year that we were here. So we have known them for many years, but they only visited our church two or three times. Praise the Lord that the father has now returned home and the wife has accepted him back. Two of the grown up children are really suffering--and are having problems with forgiving their father. Please pray that they will begin attending church as they promised and that they will see their need of a Savior.

Second, on Friday, we were saddened and shocked to find out that someone has been stealing money from the church offering. More than 30,000 pesos has been taken. The amount was equivalent to about $3000 US Dollars. We are unsure exactly who could be at fault---whether it was someone inside our church or someone who lives very close to where we meet. The church people were understandably very saddened by the news as the amount for next year's rent had already been met AFTER we had spent money to remodel the new Sunday school rooms. We were so much farther ahead of any other year even during this economic recession. We were also looking forward to using our excess funds to further the Gospel. Therefore, this is a great disappointment to many. Yesterday was extremely difficult.

So many of you are very tender to any needs that we have had in the past, yet we would really like to make it clear that this is in no way a plea for funds for our church. We however DO need your prayers so that the people can see the Lord working through them in this situation. They have done such a beautiful job on their church and have given so faithfully. We are confident that the Lord will give the grace needed to see us all through this seemingly devastating time---and make us better for it.

Mike gave a very soul-searching message to all of us on our hypocrisy and how we all need to be willing to forgive whoever has taken the money because we are ALL capable of any sin. We are praying that the Lord will bring that person to repentance. If no one has returned the money by next week, Mike is planning to lead the church in assuming that the culprit is outside the church so that we are not consumed with accusing our brethren. We will then ask the Lord to deal with that person. I ask you to remember 5 things when praying for this situation:

1. That the Lord will bring the person to repentance.
2. That we as a church will wholly forgive and love the repentant person.
3. That we will not speculate or mentally accuse anyone.
4. That several young families who are struggling to work two jobs to meet their needs (literally working 7AM to midnight) and taking time off for the Lord's house will not become bitter.
5. And that three new families that have been very faithful in the last 6 months will not become disheartened and leave the church.

Mike and Mikey left at 3 AM this morning to accompany Jon and Andrea Crocker to the border to renew the car papers. Please pray for a safe trip and that the Lord will encourage all of their hearts as they travel and listen to messages.

As for us: Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, Cara, Bekah, and I are all holding down the fort doing school.

Thank you so much for praying!

In Christ, Faith

Goldfuss update (October 20)

Dear Praying Friends,

In our last update, we mentioned that Faith's cousin, Cyndi Grover was going to be visiting. She is also a GFA missionary, currently on deputation to Zambia. Our church really really enjoyed her presentation during our SS hour. Jon Crocker did an excellent job, spending about 10 hours to subtitle her DVD video presentation. We watched it twice during the hour and 15 minutes that we had for Sunday School. Once before her verbal presentation and then again after the congregation was able to ask questions. That really was a first for our church here, and the people really enjoyed it and asked some very good questions as well. What would you think if you just had seen your FIRST missionary presentation? I have probably seen several hundred during my lifetime. The believers here were very challenged toward missions. One young lady even said to a family member, "I'd like to go with her."

Morgan continues to be a blessing to the Garwoods in Uruguay. We have all missed him here, but have had tremendous reports from South America about his ministry there and the great needs that they are facing. He returns to Mexico on November 6.

Friday we will be officially 1/4 of the way through the school year. Pray for Faith, Bekah, Jon and Andrea as they are all involved in some of the teaching. The Lord has been so good to give us Bekah to help in school this year as well as Jon and Andrea for not only school but also many other ministries. They have been a tremendous encouragement. We are still looking for someone to come during second semester to help in school as the Lord directs.

This coming Sunday, we will be having a baptismal service. Memo and Karina as well as Vanessa are all planning on being baptized. Pray for a Christ-honoring time of testimony and fellowship.

Please continue to pray for Martha. She is the nurse whose husband has another woman and is abusive to Martha, she works at a very low paying job, and also seeks to provide for her two children, Frida (15) and Diego (10). Another man has shown her much affection and this has affected her. This past week she was again in the hospital with no platelets at all showing in her blood. She had three straight days of transfusions. Please pray for her and ask our God to preserve her in His paths for His glory and to increase her (and also our) love for Christ.

Humberto and Sarai are officially engaged. There is so much that both have seen growing up that has not been healthy in their own families. Please pray for wisdom in talking to them and seeking to prepare them as well as possible to glorify the Lord in their engagement, wedding, and married lives. Mike is meeting with them each Thursday evening. They are planning a June wedding.

Last week a young man that we know attempted suicide two times. The Lord enabled Mike to go and speak with him about Christ and the gospel 3 different times and each time was very very encouraging. Please pray for this young man and his family. The father is also unsaved and we had some very good opportunites to present the gospel again to him as well.

This past Sunday we finished our very detailed indepth study of Hebrews--almost two years. It has been an incredible learning experience to see how great, awesome, matchless, and superior is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ to everything and everyone else in this universe. We had several testimonies at the end of our class on Sunday morning and several people mentioned how much of a blessing it has been to study Hebrews and to really realize that when God the Father looks at us, He does not see sinners but Christ. What an amazing God!!!!!!!!! What an amazing Savior!!!!!!!! What amazing thoughts!!!!!!

Please pray that the Lord would open our understanding to see the glories and riches that we have in Jesus Christ.

Please keep Faith's mom in your prayers. She spent a couple days in the hospital last week as she was dizzy and had high blood pressure. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom to be able to find and treat the problem.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We'll include again Morgan's latest prayer update from Uruguay below.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Update from Pando, Uruguay
October 19, 2009

Three weeks have gone by since the first update on my stay here in Uruguay. The longer I am here, the more worrisome it is to see how kids, teenagers and young people are being lost because of sin in different forms. It also worries me to see how indifferent the adults are towards the younger generation, and I see that there is also a great need to continue ministering actively to the adults.

Many of these young people live with step-parents, or with a single parent: most of them live in very precarious situations, and they receive only a very limited education. For the older ones, work is very scarce. and so many of them are just on the street wasting time, stealing, doing drugs. Drugs, like everywhere else in the world, have come to be a very severe problem, and have come here to this city in force. There's a lot of violence and theft, but according to the older people and even the news media, that only began a couple of years ago.

Girls are getting pregnant from the time they're twelve years old. This place is in itself a whole world full of problems. There are some adults, but there are mostly teenagers, young people, and kids, and so that is the main field for labor, at least in this town of Pando.

The pastor and his wife have done a gigantic work drawing so many young people to the church, but as the pastor said to one of them this week: "Are you coming to church? I can't play with you guys because I'm old, but he can" - speaking about me.

The church is mostly made up of women. They face a lot of things alone, with sickness and the economy, since a lot of them are single mothers or their husbands don't work. There's a lot of sickness as well, I suppose because of ignorance in conjunction with the extreme poverty in which many of them live. A little while ago a mother lost her daughter who had just been born; a three-year old boy has leukemia; another girl, also three years old, lost part of a lung through illness; a boy was sexually abused by his own dad; a 14-year old lives with his grandmother because his mother and stepfather hate him.... Notwithstanding, many of these women and children remain faithful. But men are needed for the work to advance. I hope someone knows of an individual or a couple who can come here to this place to work, because the need is great. And so I ask that you would please pray earnestly for the work here in Uruguay, that God would save His people, sending someone or raising someone up in this place for the church to grow.

As I said, Pastor Garwood and his wife have done an enormous work here. But Pastor Garwood is up in years, and he himself told me, that like every Christian he wants to see God, but if God permits wants to stay here in this world until he can leave someone here in the church to teach good doctrine so that the church would continue to grow. It is hard for him as well, as continuing to preach is a difficult task. And so as he says, there is need for a young person to take his place and carry on the work. Last Saturday, the pastor had an accident while we were at the house: he tripped on the computer chair, fell, and banged his left ear against the closet door, so his ear split and he bled heavily. We went to the hospital right away and he had to receive stitches. Thank the Lord that everything came out OK, but it is very important that someone come to minister in this church.
Please

Goldfuss update (October 1)

Dear Praying Friends,

Our big blessing of the past week was seeing Morgan off from the airport on Thursday morning for his missionary trip to Uruguay. He arrived safe and sound and very tired. There was a 3 1/2 hour flight to Panama, with only 20 minutes to get his next plane. How long would you guess a flight from Panama to Uruguay takes? 9:45 minutes. Check out a map to see how far away it really is. That was a surprise to me too. We'll include his first update below. The church family gave him a wonderful send off on Wednesday night. We all miss him.

We had two firstime visitors on Sunday, both the direct result of a tract or a direct witness/invite from someone in the church. It was very encouraging. The family of Sr. Pedro and Sra. Leticia has been coming sporadically throughout the summer. Their son in law, Luis, was one that received a tract this past week---so he joined the family! It was wonderful to see the Lord's working. We praise Him for seeing fruit from labors. Please pray for Luis and Eduardo to be saved.

Victor and Shelley Labelle have been down here since January. Victor grew up as a MK in Cuernavaca and now is working in Mexico City for at least two years for his bank in the USA. Sarah Grace Labelle made her arrival on Friday evening! Both Shelley and Sarah are doing well. Needless to say, the other 3 children are very excited. The people in the church got together a very nice basket full of things for the new baby. It is great to see our church people's concern for their family.

Faith's cousin, Cyndi Grover, is coming for a week beginning today!. She is also a GFA missionary, is going on deputation to Zambia, and we are looking forward to seeing a missionary presentation in SS this Sunday. This will be a wonderful opportunity for our church people as they have never before seen a missionary presentation.

Saturday we are having another one of our COLD creek walks with the church family and then a nice dinner at our home afterward. We are also planning a baptismal service for October 11. Please pray for the Lord to work out all of the details for a Christ honoring service.

We were without electricity since this past Saturday night until Wednesday afternoon. We want to thank the Lord for those of you who helped us purchase our generator last year. What an incredible blessing! The generator saved all of our food in the freezer---and without it, our poor children would not have been able to do their school videos! They are so grateful! (HA HA). Really, we could basically go on as usual with our daily routine because of your kindness. (Only poor Mike has been running around trying to keep everything running.) Thank you so much. You can only imagine the scene these last few days: (we have 4 extension cords to hook up different items) "Mike, can I do a load of laundry?" "Mommy, I need to do history now, but Mikey has the cord." "Mom, I'm done, should I haul the big electric cord into Matthew's room so that he can do his Phonics?" "There's no water. Let's unplug the kitchen cord so that we can plug in the pump to pump the water up to the roof." "If you do that, then when you are done let Bekah know so that she can do History with Cristi." It has been a mental challenge to keep the family running well, but an adventure. The lights came back on yesterday, but we are not so sure if the problem is completely fixed. Because of a problem with the electric company, we were prepared for being without electricity for a very long time. The wonderful blessing was that we have met several more of our neighbors through all of this.

Bekah Buccio has been such a tremendous help. We knew at the beginning of the year that she was only able to stay for first semester. If there is a young person (or old person ;) who would be interested in dedicating second semester to the Lord to help with homeschooling, please contact us. Every day is an interesting adventure and the Lord will teach you many things as he stretches you! (Just an added commercial)

I know that Morgan's letter is long also. Sorry for that, but it is such a joy to see how he is learning and growing through this experience. We want to share that with you.

Thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii

Update from Uruguay
Monday, September 28, 2009

The time difference from Mexico to Uruguay is 2 hours, so while in Mexico it it 3:00 PM in Uruguay it is 5:00 PM. The plane trip was very long and tiring. Before this trip I wanted to fly on a plane, but now I dread the return to Mexico! Thursday I arrived in the Montevideo airport, which is very small compared to the Mexico City airport, but larger than the Panama City airport. Uruguay has a very cold climate; they say we are coming out of winter into spring. In Panama the heat was terrible. At the Montevideo airport, Pastor Garwood and his wife, Pat, were there to meet me. Finding them was easy and they are very friendly and hospitable. Pastor Garwood looks like he's about 70-75 years old, and his wife in between 50-60, but I'm not really sure. They work very hard to give out the Gospel and to bring people to church, even though they somewhat elderly and it's difficult for them to be doing so much, nonetheless their love for the souls of people overcomes their aches and pains and age.

So then Friday I officially got to work. We went to visit church people. First of all was Señor Efraín, his wife Ana, and his grandsons Gonzalo and Sebastián. After I was introduced and we spent some time talking Pastor Garwood gave a short devotional. The grandson's mother does not go to church with the rest of them. Then we went to see Julia, who is between 40 and 50 years old. She has two children, Pablo (18) and Leila (21), her husband is named Gustavo, and only Julia is a believer. Sometimes her husband mistreats her, not hitting her or anything like that, but using harsh words. He had an operation recently for tumors in his head, but was left with some side effects and symptoms. Her children also mistreat her, not a lot, but enough. Julia had a son, steopson to Gustavo, who died: it appears he committed suicide, and it looks like it was Gustavo's fault, since he called him "illegitimate" and similar things, so the boy became depressed and maybe that was why he kiled himself. The words of Christ that the world will hate us were very applicable. After that we went downtown to do some shopping for household items, and went back to eat. In the afternoon we went out again to visit more people, one of whom was Susana, who is a single mother, about 40 years old, and she is now living with a man who is not at all Christian. The pastor says she attended very faithfully, but now she doesn't want to go anymore, since she doesn't want to leave the man she's living with who draws her away from church. After that we went to see some more people, but they were not at home.

Saturday afternoon there was the young people's meeting, which is where the pastor and his wife really have a great ministry. The group is made up of kids from 3 up to young people about 20 years old. In all there are about 30 or more in this group. It is interesting to see that though most of their parents don't go, that notwithstanding they are mostly faithful in coming. It seems to be a part of the culture here that kids are very much left alone by their parents to make important decisions, without the parents taking much interest. Here young people and kids have a lot of protection from the government, and so since parents can't "abuse" them with discipline, the young people are more rebellious towards their parents, compared to Mexicans. Here there is no law to prevent that, and besides that, most of these kids and young people don't go to school, because 1.) the cultural mindset is that they don't go anymore, 2.) extreme poverty prevents many from going to school, and 3.), like everywhere, poverty and ignorance contribute to troubled youth. There are a lot of girls who at 19 or 20 already have two or more kids, and drugs are another big problem in these areas. But I have noticed that a lot of them are pretty grounded. Pastor Garwood has told me that a lot of the young people ask him and his wife for permission to do or not do things that they really should be asking their parents, and that when he has scolded them they have responded well, and aren't rebellious towards him. I think that's because they can tell that the pastor and his wife care about them, but they can't see that with their parents.

So then Saturday the pastor asked me to give a devotional for them. It was only 25 minutes, and it was fine. I played soccer with them, which is the favorite sport here. Everybody lives and dies by soccer, even the women are entranced. Then we went to drop everyone off at their houses. Mrs. Garwood has to go drop everyone off because the whole neighborhood, the whole town of Pando is very dangerous. As I said, because of poverty, drugs, and the lack of education. So a few years aho, when they didn't go for the young people but everyone came on their own, one of them was run over by a bus, because the roads are very narrow and big busses go by. So this young man died. They say it's dangerous to go out walking as well, because they would get mugged (even though they don't have much). So that's why the Garwoods drop them all off at their houses, because otherwise the parents wouldn't let them come (which is ironic, that this is the only thing the parents oppose strongly: one mother told Mrs. Garwood that going to church a lot atrophied your brain, and that's why her son goes on Saturdays and no other day). Saturday night after the young people's meeting we went to a family dinner with the pastor's son, Daniel, because they were having a party for his 12-year old daughter, Florencia. We were there for a long time and I got to meet a lot of very nice people. Don Mario is Daniel's father-in-law, he told me about their culture. I met Señora Docila and Julia, they go to another church here in Pando: that church and Pastor Garwood's church are the only churches in Pando with sound doctrine. There I also got to eat the best meat I'd ever had - the flavor of beef in Uruguay is supremely delicious: the meat here is real meat.

On Sunday the morning meeting, which is Sunday school, starts very early, at 9:30, and they sing a few songs for the young people. Then they have the classes, broken down by age. Mrs. Garwood, the pastor, and Daniel, the pastor's son, each one has a certain age range. He also asked me to give a devotional, and that was fast too, I wasn't prepared, but I said something about Samson, which was fine. We went back to the house, after dropping everyone off at home, we ate, and at 3:30 we had to go out again because the afternoon service starts at 4:30, but once again you have to go get everyone, young people and adults, from their houses one by one.

So we started the service, and it was very cold. Pando, like all Uruguay, is nothing but open plains, so the wind blows very hard and very cold. They said that the cold that day was unusual and surprising. It would seem that's why a few people, about 5 ot 6, didn't make it. We sang some hymns, and then the pastor asked me to give my testimony for about 15 or 20 minutes. So I did, and then he preached, we finished the meeting and all said good bye and went home. The people were very welcoming to me.

That's the most newsworthy stuff so far. There is a great need here: the people have a lot of problems and difficulties. A lot of bad things happen to people here. One lady told us that a little while ago they broke into her house and stole almost everything. A boy was raped by his dad. Gustavo has that mental problem because of the tumors and can't work well. Poverty attacks a lot of them very strongly, and many other things - I wouldn't know how to finish such a big list. Please pray for God to provide somebody, or a couple, so that the pastor can have help. The pastor and his wife, as I said, are of an advanced age, and at some point they're going to have to stop working. So the people here need someone with more energy to preach to them and evangelize and teach God's word. The pastor's son works, so he doesn't have time to do everything in this work.

God bless you all in Christ
Morgan Bernal

Goldfuss update (September 21)

Dear Praying friends,

It was great to have Jason and Danielle here for three weeks. They will be getting married in December and then Lord willing, during the next year returning to do language study. Please pray for the Lord to guide them and bring them in His perfect time.


We are planning a baptismal service in several weeks. We have had four people mention that they would like to get baptized. Please pray for them as they write out their testimonies this week and that we would have wisdom in dealing with them.


We have a place where we go to get fresh fruits and vegetables. Faith has had some excellent opportunities to speak with Jasmine. She is married to Jorge and they have a ltitle baby. She really wants to come to church and says that she needs a lot of spiritual help. Jorge is not very open to the idea though. Please pray for the Lord to open hearts and doors there.


This Friday night, we have a men's meeting to meet again to study our book on Biblical eldership. Please pray for a good spirit.


Morgan will be leaving this Thursday at 7:00 AM for a 3 hour flight to Panama and then about a 9 hour flight to Uruguay. He will be assisting the Garwoods there for 7 weeks in their ministry. He has never flown before, so that part of the trip is a little bit daunting. In our service yesterday, we had a time of explaining what a missionary does from Acts 13, mainly, proclaiming God's Word, and then a time of dedication and prayer for Morgan to the Lord's service in another country. It was a real blessing to see the church here be able to send one of our own out in to another part of the world. We would like to share the following letter that Morgan wrote several weeks back in preparation for his trip:

hi every ones!!

I want to communicate with and keep up to date the people God has allowed me to know in the years I've been saved, as a blessing to me, though in His providence they are living far away and in other places. And that is why by this means I want to share with you all another event in my life, which is an opportunity to serve God away from my native country. So I can't stop asking myself why God saved me, and even more, why God has decided to use me in His service.

And therefore it is that "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." The fact is "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."

Some of you perhaps already know, whether from me or my pastor or someone else, that I have served God for some time in my church, preaching or teaching, not wholly or perfectly, but I have done it with all my heart, not to earn God's favor, or salvation, but from love and gratitude for His free election and His great salvation, in showing me His grace in the work of Christ on the Cross for me, the chief of sinners. So then God, through some of His servants, like my pastor, first of all, and later another great friend, and many other preachers and books, but above all and primarily by means of His holy word, God has given me a little bit of knowledge for His work, not so that I would be proud, but that "as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the LORD." (1 Corinthians 1:31.) So may all the glory be for the Lord for all ages. Amen.

So then my friends and brothers in Christ, it is my great pleasure to share with you this important news: God has called me to go to Uruguay to help in the ministry of a missionary, Pastor Donald Garwood. In addition I want to share with you this great blessing from my God, and a great opportunity to announce the Gospel of Christ. I also write and share this news so that, as the Apostle Paul says: "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." (Ephesians 6:18-20).

Of course I'm not in chains, or a prisoner (not yet anyway), but I do hope that in all your prayers you will remember this insignificant servant of God, and I will be able to announce the Name of Christ and His glorious Gospel with boldness. I would also like for the following petitions to be included in your prayers for me:

• That I would avoid profane and vain discourses that will lead to more and more ungodliness.
• That I would depart from iniquity because I invoke the name of Christ, because thus I will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, useful to God, and prepared for every good work.
• That I would be sober in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill my ministry.

Some of you should already know that God had already sent me to another state here in my country (the State of Michoacán) to take the Gospel to a family. However, they didn't want me to come anymore because they decided to work Sunday: still, I continue speaking to them by phone and communicating with them. I will add some pictures of that experience also. And now God takes me out of my country to proclaim His glorious Gospel.

I will keep up a weekly report, so that you will be up to speed with what happens in Uruguay, and also pictures and videos.I will travel to Uruguay on September 24.

Whoever does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, be anathema. The Lord is coming. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love in Christ Jesus be with you all. Amén.

Morgan Bernal

Thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 25)

Dear Praying Friends,

At the beginning of our time here in Mexico, we were super anxious to see God's work being done in a very quick manner. In our eagerness, we probably pushed where we should have waited. Now, years later, it seems at times that we cannot handle all of the opportunities. These blessings come at some of the busiest times in our lives, and I am sure that is because there is no way that we can receive the glory. The Lord is doing wonderful things down here in Mexico City. It is truly exciting, but it really seems that we are just the spectators. Some of these blessings come after seeds have been planted years ago.

It has been stated to us by a few of our people that many come on teams, but none come back to help. We always said --"Just wait for the Lord's timing". Now, they cannot say that anymore. Jon and Andrea Crocker continue to be a big blessing and help in the ministry here. They came on a BJU team about 5 years ago. Gabriel and Liliana Olivares, a couple in our church with three boys, have begun a Bible Study in their home and Jon has been preaching on Sunday evenings there. Please pray for the Lord's direction for this study as to whether they can become incorporated into the church here or if it would be the beginning of another church there. Jon and Andrea were a huge help in VBS, and they have just been a joy to be around period.

Jason Boyle, who has been here several times throughout the years, first came to us as a BJU intern seven years ago. He now came back this week with Danielle DenHollander. The Lord has brought them together and their future plans are to come serve Him here in Mexico City as well. Just this past Saturday night on top of the Latin American Tower which overlooks the city (very romantic), Jason asked her to marry him and she accepted. Pray for them as their plans are to return, Lord willing, in January to begin further language training. Please also pray for us as we help them get established here in Mexico City.

Morgan has been asked to help in the ministry of another missionary couple, the Garwoods, in Uruguay. Mrs. Garwood will be going to the States for the birth of a grandaughter, so Morgan will be needed in helping with teaching, preaching and visiting. We trust that it will be a growing time for Morgan in many ways. Please pray for the Lord to work and bless him while he is there. He will be in Uruguay from September 24 through part of November.

We have had some visitors who have returned after not attending in years. Janet has come the last two Sundays with her younger sister and her little daughter. Pray that she will continue. Mauricio and Susana have attended a different church, but have come off and on the last two years. They have had some bad experiences in other churches and Mauricio especially is not gung ho on getting into another church. Pray that the Lord would add them to the work here in His perfect will.

Last week, Jon and I had a great opportunity to give the gospel to Sra. Leticia's husband (Pedro) and son (Cesar) for about 1 1/2 hours. They listened and asked some questions. Pray for the Lord to open their eyes.

During the first part of August, Faith was able to go visit her mom and dad in Pennsylvania for about 9 days. It was nice that she could go and spend some time with them, but we really missed her here. I was able to guide the children in working hard and getting projects done around the house to surprise her. We stopped leaks, painted the bedroom, totally cleaned out the garage, and tarred places where the roof has leaked. Now it's only leaking in one area. They were messy but fun jobs with the kids, and Faith was very happy when she saw the results of all of the hard work.

Speaking of hard work, school has started today for a new year. We are blessed to have Bekah Buccio with us this semester helping teach. Praise the Lord for her willing spirit and cheerful attitude. Jon and Andrea are helping in the mornings with Math. This is an enormous task. Could you please pray for the spiritual development of our children? On Monday, the Lord allowed for about a weeks worth of work in one day with everybody helping to get ready for another year.

It is amazing to us---how when you become tired and weary, the Lord in his sweet love, brings help and encouragement. The Lord has brought loved ones into our lives again just this past week, and it has been a sweet blessing.

The Lord is growing his church! We need more chairs--again! But this growth is not only numerical. We praise the Lord that people have been communicating and several problems have been nipped quickly and that is a blessing. May our communities here know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ by our love one to another. John 13:34 and 35 are our verses for this year--both in school and in our church.

I wish you could be here. We have many people here and the children are loving it. Somehow everything is getting done, and it is how we dreamed the house would be.......organized to help others come to the mission field and a help to the ministry continually while being functional for our daily needs. We are also mainly praying that He would raise up nationals to do the work.
The Lord has and is doing all of this. We praise His name!

Love In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn Goldfuss (with Jon and Andrea Crocker, Jason Boyle and Danielle DenHollander, Rebecca Buccio, and Reme Hernandez-------and Shadow.)

Goldfuss update (July 26)

Dear Praying Friends,

It's been a while since we've written.

I was in Ohio preaching at the Jr. 2 camp week at Peniel Bible Camp. I was able to preach on 5 doctrinal words from Romans 3--sin, the righteousness of God, justification, redemption and propitiation. It was fun to try to put all that on the Jr. 2 level, (with practical illustrations). All were very attentive and seemed to keep right up. I pray that these truths will sink deep into their hearts. I was away from our church here for two Sundays. Jon taught SS and Morgan preached the first Sunday. Last Sunday they reversed the roles. We heard very good comments for both Sundays. That is such a blessing that I can be away without worry. Praise the Lord. That would not have happened just a short time ago. Morgan has been doing a great job this month on Wednesday nights. Jon preached in June on the Psalms and it was a great blessing to all who were there to hear him.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Faith and the whole church were organizing VBS. The cooperation this year has been absolutely phenomenal. Everybody has contributed and even asked what more that they could do. Therefore, the load on Faith and the others who normally prepare has been greatly lessened. That is a tremendous blessing and another step forward for our church. We thanked them profusely this morning. Just because all the physical things are ready does not mean everything is ready. We need your prayers. The theme is: A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It is about fortresses, castles and such. There will also be an acted out part of Pilgrim's Progress daily. We will have our VBS from Mon-Thurs this week. Please pray for the Lord to work in hearts.

We have had a good number of returning visitors in the past 2 months--Marbella and 4 children; Leticia and daughter, Maria Elena and her family, her sister Lourdes, and their mother, Lala. They come from a very different ministry but are eating up the preaching. Maria Elena's family is more upper class, but the people in church have been welcoming to them and the feeling seems to be mutual. That is such a blessing to see--that in Christ there is neither rich nor poor. Please pray for the Lord to continue to work.

Today, for the first time since Easter, Martha came. Praise the Lord. Many of you have prayed often for her. There are still some definite needs in her life with an unsaved abusive husband (she doesn't live at home,) problems at work, and a man who is after her romantically. She is very drawn to him. Please pray that she will be drawn more to Christ.

Miguel and Alondra came today with their little boy Cristofer again. They are the couple that lives very far away but come anyway when they can. They told us today that Elsa, (sister) is very depressed. Pray that we will soon have a chance to speak with her. Pray for them also to be saved.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated and needed. There is much spiritual warfare. Thank you for all you do for us.

In Christ,
Mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (July 9)

Dear praying friends,

Thank you for praying! We had the team here June 13-22nd. It was a nice time and because of all of their efforts, we had 10 visitors. Lately, things have been busy with four new families coming regularly. So that is a big praise.

Please pray for:

1. Alejandro and Maria Elena--they have been coming and are bringing some relatives. Maria Elena's sister, Lourdes, stated that she would make this her home church and came back yesterday. This family is a result of our prayer as a church to bring us people from churches that have bad doctrine. We met this family through Mikey's basketball. He and the son Hugo are good friends.
2. Susana and Mauricio--have been coming since a week before the team came. Their church disbanded several months ago and Susana is concerned about her husband's desire for God since then. They have also brought many family members--brothers and sisters with their children and their parents, but Suzanna and Mauricio remain the ones that have come the last three weeks faithfully.
3. Leticia and her daughter, Avat, also have come since the team. Her husband is an alcoholic and they need much prayer. We do not believe that they are true believers.
4. Marbella and her four children are unbelievable. She gets all of these children ready and sneaks out to come to church. The problem is not her husband, who allows her to come, but her mother- in- law. They live under her roof and do not pay rent so the mother-in-law insists that she stays away from Christians. She sometimes arrives a little late and has to leave early to get back before the mother-in-law does. Her prayer request is that they can find a place of their own so the mother- in-law has no influence over their family. We cannot go and visit her because of her situation. Please pray for this family. The children are unusually attentive and very happy to be there.
   

Yesterday, we were full and squished. So that was wonderful!

Yet, one of our faithful faithful families is moving farther away---Juana and her sister Reme. They will still be able to come on Sundays, but not on Wednesdays because of the increased distance. That means that Wednesday nights will be rather sparse in attendance even though Sundays are full. Many work from very early (7) until 8 or 9 and make it to church there late or not at all. This is so different from just a few months ago when we had almost as many people at prayer meeting as Sunday morning.

Even though the dynamics change, it is comforting to know that our Lord never changes.

Two people have promised to come to church, but haven't yet: 1. Aide, the girls' gymnastics coach. Her grandma is very ill and has asked all to pray. 2. The people at the fruit stand.

We had a 3 hour talk with Erasmo and Matilde about Abigail, their daughter who has left home again. We left after a good conversation. They had been trying everything to get her to come back. They now really seem to see--that even though the situation is very dangerous for Abby, they need to take their hands off and allow the Lord to deal with her. This is a very hard and heart-breaking situation. Praise for the Lord's upholding grace in their lives and that Abby would be saved and not continue to try to manipulate them and make Matilde feel guilty. We were also able to talk separately with Mildred, their daughter- in- law, about her salvation. Uriel, their son, was unsure about taking the Lord's supper. So it was a really profitable visit. Praise the Lord!

Carissa, 9, left last week to go to Camp Peniel--by herself. We just talked with her this morning and she is very excited. Please pray for the Lord's working in her life through the messages.

We are getting Mikey, Cristi, and MIKE(!) ready to go this week. Mike will be preaching at Junior 2 and appreciates your prayers for eternal changes in the lives of the campers. Cristi will be attending with him that week. Mikey will be going to Teen I the following week.

When the cat is away, the mice will play!!! I (Faith) have fun things planned for the three little ones while the older ones are away. It should be a really special time with them.

The church is preparing for VBS upcoming--July 27th-30th. I need wisdom in organizing that.

Mike has been preparing for his absence for the last 2 weeks. Morgan will be preaching the first week with Jon Crocker the next. Morgan is also preaching on Wednesday nights and Jon will be leading the VBS. Please pray for these men! We are very happy to have Jon and Andrea working with us, and of course, we are always thankful for Morgan. :)

Mike has an opportunity to give some English classes to a group of 5 or 6 men and women. Please pray for the Lord to really use that as an open door for the gospel.

We have had two people who came to us asking how to go about getting some problems right with others that they had offended. What a blessing. They went and talked and the Lord has really blessed.

We do truly depend upon your prayers! Thank you!
In Christ,


Faith for the Family

Goldfuss update (June 2)

Dear Praying Friends,

Last week, Mike and Carissa left at 3:45 AM on Monday to go to the border to meet Jon, Andrea, and Paul Crocker to drive back in with them. What a whirlwind trip! The Lord protected us as we came upon a horrible accident with two tractor trailers. We followed a path made by another truck over rugged terrain to go off the road and around the accident. All of this was an hour and a half delay with another hour delay at the border. We don't have AC in our van since it is not needed at 10,000 feet. The AC has a leak, and we never bothered to fix it. That was a mistake. The official temperature in Texas---99 degrees. :-) On Monday night, Carissa and I were able to buy almost everything that we needed and then took a much needed dip in the pool around 11 PM before going to bed. On Tuesday, we finished our shopping early, cleaned the van, packed, and headed over the border with the Crockers. We arrived at fellow GFA missionaries, the Zartmans in Monterrey about 9:30 PM. The next day we traveled all day to get to Mexico City by 9:00 pm. Usually there is terrible traffic getting into the city. We have waited 3 hours before, but the traffic never stopped and we made it home in an hour! That was such a wonderful blessing after a long, hard trip.

The Crockers are getting situated in the cabin and it is a real joy to be able to share that with people.

Friday and Saturday were occupied in a conference on evangelism, organized by another missionary here in Mexico City. It was an excellent conference; and I was able to take Jon Crocker, Morgan, and Humberto both days. Memo attended with us on Saturday. What an excellent reminder and challenge of what our evangelistic content and faithfulness should include.

We were missing about 30 people on Sunday who are regular attenders. Pray that the Lord would work in different hearts and meet specific needs. There are some who need to make things right between each other in the church. I don't believe that it is an accident that our SS lesson the last two weeks from Hebrews 13 has dealt with: "Let brotherly love continue." Pray that the Lord would work in all of our hearts and produce in us brotherly love for each in our church.

Sunday was an excellent opportunity for Faith to help Nico and Liliana with their little boy and discipline during her Sunday school class in the nursery. Even though that has been a subject of preaching and teaching, sometimes plain examples (using our own little cherubs) have to be demonstrated. There is so much history of abuse in people's pasts that it is extremely hard for them to discipline without thinking that they are abusing. Please pray for the Lord enable them to understand the difference and to truly discipline in love.

Abigail, Erasmo and Matilde's daughter, had left home several weeks ago but returned several days later. She left again this past Thursday and has not come back. Please pray for the Lord to save her and for wisdom for Erasmo and Matilde. Martha has not been for several MONTHS now, not weeks. She will not answer my phone calls. She answered one of Morgan's calls, so please pray that he will have wisdom in trying to talk with her again. She is living in sin and needs to leave a relationship with a man who is not her husband.

Please pray for Faith and two of our children who will be finishing school this week. Summer activities are right around the corner, so we need prayer for them to be able to finish. We need desire, patience and ability.

We are very happy to have the Crockers with us, and we were very surprised at their Spanish abilities. Jon is going to be incorporated into preaching some Wednesday nights. Morgan will be taking over the Teen meetings once a month as well as starting a teen Sunday school class. Jon and Andrea will be starting a Young Couples meeting one time per month. So our Saturdays will be something like this:

• 1st Sat.--Men's meeting
• 2nd --Women's meeting
• 3rd--Teen's meeting
• 4th--Young couple's meeting
  

Pray as the men plan and prepare.

June 13---22 we will be having the BJU Spanish team. There is much to be done between now and then. We are planning on having three nights of special evangelistic services. Please pray that the Lord would guide us to people whose hearts He is preparing. There is one particular couple, Rene and Elvira, who attended the three special services last year with the team. They never returned. Please pray that they would come back again this year.

We thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement and financial support.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 13)

Dear Praying Friends,

You should see the cabin!!! That's why we have attached pictures. Some men came and sanded and gave 4 coats of varnish. The floor should be dry soon so that we can move the furniture back into the cabin. Then it will have its last clean-over before the Crockers come at the end of the month. Please pray as the Crockers get everything packed up and ready to head for the border. Mike is planning on driving to Texas to help them on the 15 hour or so trip to Mexico City.

Praises:

1. Marbella and her children came back to church on Sunday!
2. Sr. Alejandro and Sra. Maria Elena and their family also came back--this was their second Sunday. This is the family we have met at Mikey's basketball.The ladies are teaching the younger ladies with love and humility, and the younger women seem to be responding well.
   

Prayer Requests:

1. 13 year old Miguel—Nico and Liliana's son is still away from home—probably with relatives.
2. Matilde and Erasmo's daughter,Abigail, 18, just left home on Monday. Please pray for these families.
3. For those in the church who are struggling under debt.
   

Home news: Mikey has started a newspaper. It is called the Daily Goldfi. Sometimes Mikey puts his slant on the news. We are trying to teach him just to report the news and to leave out the "editorializing." One time this week Faith was talking with Reme and she thought she saw someone behind her. It was Mikey with a pencil and a small notepad saying, "Could you please repeat that?" It can be a little annoying having a reporter in the house, but mostly it is just fun.

Here are some of his articles:

Matthew Loves to Draw
Matthew draws and draws and draws. "I love to draw", said Matthew. Please see Matthew's bed for the results.

Cristi Does Her Best
Cristi Goldfuss, who began school this morning at 7AM finished by 1 o'clock. We here at the Daily Goldfi want to congratulate her on a job well done.

Matthew's Day With Dad
Matthew, who got to go with dad visiting the people, got to spend a whole day with dad. "I saw a boy who got sick by the bicycle path", said Matthew. "His mother was comforting him" noted Matthew who was present at the scene.

Car Gets Stolen At Gymnastics
Paviola's mother was held up with a gun as she waited outside gymnastics in her car. We are glad to report that Paviola's mother was unhurt, but only a little shaken up. Carissa said, "I was getting ready to do a roundoff when one of the workers ran in and whispered to the owner of the gym. Then they both ran out. I was getting ready to do it again when 5 year old Natalia (one of Cheri's friends) ran in and screamed, 'There's a man out there with a gun and they just stole Paviola's car.' (of course, in Spanish) ". When asked if gymnastics class was cancelled, Cristi said, "No, we just kept right on going after we saw that she was alright."

Mikey even puts announcements in his paper: "ANNOUNCING EVERYONE--Brush your teeth. We are going to the dentist on Saturday."

THERE is NEVER A DULL MOMENT—NEVER.

Please pray for all of us to know Christ Jesus better and to understand His great love. Pray that this would be a wonderful deterrent to sin in our daily lives.

In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 3)

Dear Praying Friends,

A lady from a supporting church just asked Faith for some specific prayer requests so we are pretty much copying her letter for our update this week.

So much is going on that my head is spinning! All churches were to be closed and they were giving out fines to those who did not comply. Our neighborhood has had 2 very large fiestas through all of this swine flu epidemic. (I guess drinking reunions are permitted, but not worshiping reunions.) We prayed about what to do. Mike decided to close the church and to open our home. If anyone wanted to come we were worshiping with our family. Over 40 people showed up. This is about 2/3 of the church. We were happy with the turnout . Then we had a meal with everyone here. There were 4 visitors. One was Gabriel's unsaved Mormon mother.

Prayer requests:

1. We just helped a couple move out of the cabin (Marcos and Ruth) and into an apartment. We miss them. Pray for Cheri and Caralyn as Ximena is their very sweet friend and they are going to really miss her.
2. We are getting the cabin ready for new missionaries, Jon and Andrea Crocker, to come at the end of May. Mike has a man coming tomorrow to sand and varnish the wood floor. Pray for wisdom for us to help the Crockers in the best way so that they can get a good start at being missionaries. Pray that we will remember everything that would really be a big help for them to get settled. (Sometimes it is easy to forget how they might feel since it is home to us.) And that we would forget anything that wouldn't be helpful to them spiritually.
3. Pray for Juana as they need to get out of where they are and the only place that they could find to live is rather far away.
4. Pray for us as we finish homeschooling. Matthew and Cheri are done. Carissa has only Science to finish and Mikey and Cristi should be done within the month. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please continue to pray for Cristi as she will continue to have therapy throughout the summer. She is doing very well.
5. Pray as we try to influence our children and our people to truly love God with their whole hearts. Pray that we would love Him with our whole hearts and that the everyday chores would not make us grow cold.
6. Pray for Jason Boyle who is with us now and may be coming to Mexico very soon as a missionary. He will be traveling back to the US this next Friday. Pray that we would be able to help him get established here in Mexico very soon.
7. Pray for the Victor LaBelle family (who are working here from the States. He is a former missionary kid). Pray as they just returned to Mexico from a business trip to the States--that the Lord would keep the family free from the flu.
8. Pray for Rebekah Buccio as she prepares to help us teach school and piano for 1st semester next year. Pray that we would find another teacher for second semester.
9. Pray for Reme (our Spanish teacher for the children and all around wonderful helper). She may need to stay with us during the week as her family is moving farther away. This is Juana's sister (see above #3). It would take her 1 hour and 45 minutes in public transportation to get to our home each day. Pray for decisions that she needs to make.
   

Thank you for praying!!!!!!!!!

Faith for the Family

Goldfuss update (April 29)

Dear praying friends,

We have been asked by some to give an update before prayer meeting tonight.

1. The baby Hezrael---is doing fine and has recovered. He did not have the swine flu, but a bad respiratory infection.
2. Marta---for whom we have been asking much prayer--now has a bad stomach infection. They did not want her in the hospital because of all of the flu symptoms. Her defenses are very low.
3. Many unsaved friends have called to see how we are. One is my friend and is a doctor at one of the best hospitals here. She has moved her office from that hospital to another office because someone came to the emergency room with swine flu. He later was transferred and died at another hospital. We have just tried to call our doctor and no one answers at that very good hospital. It seems that many of the rich people have left the city for their vacation homes on the coast.
   

Things here are very very calm. Our people in the church are really trusting in the Lord. So that is good.

It was very interesting. After many phone calls on Monday morning, I tried to get everyone settled for school. "Ok, everyone-- lets forget about the swine flu and use all of this time at home to really study". Then one minute later I began to feel very dizzy. Immediately I thought--Oh no, am I getting sick? --when Mikey yelled from upstairs. Earthquake!!!! O good, we all thought. It is only an earthquake. ONLY!!!!!!!!!

Mike spent yesterday with Jason visiting several of the families---especially the shutins---fully equipped with masks.

Thank you so much for praying!
Faith for all

Goldfuss update (April 27)

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you so much for all of the letters of concern for us. Swine flu???? Yes! Many things in the whole city have been shut down. All schools are closed--public and private. They have canceled over 500 events. Libraries, museums, soccer games, and movie theaters are all closed down. Mikey was watching a soccer game----with no fans in the stands! You could hear the players calling for the ball on TV in the empty stadium. All the Roman Catholic masses were canceled today. Several of our people called us to see if we would have services. Growing up, church was never cancelled; so, we had services. The government has recommended that everyone should wear surgical masks. Many all over the city are wearing them. So Faith bought masks for everyone in church. You can see by our pictures that it was a very interesting service. We were missing 3 families--all with toddlers, but we had 3 visitors!

1. Please pray for Mildred and Uriel's one year old baby--Hezrael. We think he has the flu. They have been trying to get his fever down since Wednesday, and they were not there at the service today. (This is the very young couple that was married last year.)
2. Morgan's brother Eric also is reported to have had the flu, but he is doing better now.
   
   I am sure that you have heard that this flu is different ---a combination of pig, bird, and human viruses. They believe that it has been spreading since about the middle of March. This flu may very well be what we had that made us so ill a little over a month ago. Why is it affecting everyone so much down here? Because from what we have experienced, any flu is very rare here. We have never had the flu before while in Mexico. We have had every other bacterial illness, but not viral flu---and it is hitting hard. We may have very well been one of the very few--if not the only church having services today!
   

This whole week has been very strange. On Wednesday night prayer meeting, Sra. Hilaria accidentally locked herself in the bathroom. She is almost 80 and began to panic. This was all during our prayer time---and there she was banging furiously on the metal door. We all had to stop and try to get her out. You have never seen anyone fly out of a bathroom faster--once the door was finally open.

Good news: Several want to be baptized.
Bad news: Both Janet and Marta were not there today. Of course this could be because of the flu, but both did not come last Sunday, and have not returned our calls. We are hoping that they are not involved with the unsaved men for whom we have asked you to pray.

Family news: The kids are finishing different school subjects left and right. Now that their sporting activities are cancelled, , maybe even until May 6th, we will have even more time to focus on school. We will see what happens this week. I'm sure the kids will be thrilled.

Thank you for your concern and prayers. Please pray for our church family's safety and health.
In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (April 15)

Dear Praying Friends,

We have been blessed to have several visitors lately. Two Sundays ago, Miguel, Alondra (one of the twin girls who attended our church regularly several years ago and who lived with us for several months) and their little boy Cristofer came after not being present for about 4 months. It was great to have them again. Please pray for their salvation. Lydia and her two sons live about 2 hours away but come every once in a while to see her mom who lives near the church. She was encouraging as she said that the last time she came, she took ten CD's of our recorded messages and had listened to them all and wondered if she could have some more. :-) Please pray for Sra. Oliva to come again and also for Marbella. She has been faithful each Sunday for about a month now with her 4 children. Her husband, as with many women in our assembly who have unsaved husbands, seeks to put many obstacles in her path so that she won't be able to come. Please pray for this family.

Our Easter weekend was a real blessing. On Friday night, we had our first Good Friday service. It was very well-attended. We had 5 or 6 visitors. Alejandro, Maria Elena and their two children--Hugo and Keryn attended for the first time. The two children play basketball with Mikey and we've gotten to know the parents. During that Friday service, 6 different men in the church had prepared a short message on the 7 sayings of Jesus on the cross, with 5 taking one saying and 1 taking two sayings. Although most of them were nervous, each one had some things that were very encouraging and challenging as we thought about Christ's great sacrifice for sin. After the preaching we had the Lord's Supper together.

Saturday was a busy day getting ready for our Easter Sunday. Hadiel, Matthew's gymnastics teacher (20 years old) came on Saturday night and stayed with us til Monday afternoon. Our two services on Sunday, Bible reading in John on Sunday night and Monday morning were the first time he's ever been exposed to the gospel. Please pray for his salvation. He seemed to have a very nice time here at the house.

Sunday morning at 7 AM we had our second annual sunrise service. We went through the resurrection account in Luke 24 and sang several hymns interspersed throughout. Then we had breakfast all together here complete with waffles, egg casseroles, fruit salads, (LOTS OF) coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, and french toast strips. It was a lot of fun. There were about 60 for the sunrise service. There were about 70 for our regular worship service which we had outside in the garage and front patio with most of us being able to be in the shade that way. We didn't have a pulpit so we turned a 55 gallon drum upside down and put a board and a nice covering over it. After our service, we fired up two grills and we had beef tacos, cactus and many other goodies that the church people had brought. It was excellent and a good time of fellowship for many. People mixed well with the visitors and it was just a really good spirit. What was also a real blessing was that ---while our family served and made the breakfast, they completely organized and did the lunch. Everyone was helping --and we just had to fit in and help wherever they said to go. This is a big step forward. After lunch, our kids loaned all the kids who came some play clothes, and we hooked the pump from our cistern up to our sprinkler and ran it back and forth across the trampoline. They all had a wonderful time, although the trampoline is a bit the worse for wear after about 25 children.

There were about 10 opportunities to speak in depth with about 10 different people. There are a lot of needs. Please pray for the Lord to be glorified by each one doing what they should do in their lives. Please pray for the Lord's grace and strength for them to put into practice what needs to be there.

We ask you to continue to pray for Martha. We mentioned last time that she is being tempted greatly to be going out with another man who is very kind to her, when her husband has been a jerk for several years--having an ongoing affair, won't help her financially or with their two children, etc. She came Sunday for the first time in several weeks. We weren't able to talk with her in depth because of so many people being around, but it does appear obvious that there are some problems. Sometimes you can just tell by a person's face or the way they carry themselves that they aren't doing well spiritually and that is how Martha appears right now.

We are happy that Jason Boyle, our intern back in 2002, has come back for about 4 weeks right now. He is planning on coming back to Mexico City as a missionary in the future. He will be preaching the 4 Wed. nights that he is here. It will be good experience for him, and a nice little break for Morgan. Pray for the Lord to give Jason wisdom in what he preaches and ability in Spanish.

On Monday evening, we had a major hail storm. It was a far cry from our very hot Sunday. We are glad the hail came Monday though and not on Sunday.

As always, we thank you so much for your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (March 31)

Dear Praying Friends,

As in any ministry, the last couple of weeks have been filled with blessings and trials.

1. We have a couple of people in the church who are very "communistic." They don't like to work and those in their family who do work are penalized. Pray for these situations. They create much heartache and many secondary problems.
2. Martha, who has suffered through low blood platelets and hospital stays, poor work conditions, and an unsaved husband who cares nothing for the family, is being tempted greatly by another unsaved man. Please pray for the Lord to strengthen her, to keep her from falling and to preserve her in His way.
3. Marcos and Ruth are the couple that has been living in our cabin since August. Ruth's mom died about a month ago. She also has a policeman for an uncle who lives in one of the northern states of Mexico where there has been major unrest over the drug traffickers and cartels. Last Tuesday he left his house with his twelve year old son to go to a little local store about 5 blocks away -and when he arrived there, he was shot in the back and killed (They left the son unharmed). Please pray for comfort for Ruth's family and for Ruth to have more opportunities to continue sharing the gospel with her unsaved family. (This uncle was her mother's younger brother.)
4. We had a good men's meeting on Friday night, again about Biblical Eldership. Please pray for the Lord to continue raising up men for his glory and leadership of the church here. On Sunday we announced a few needs for cleaning supplies for the church. In the past, all who responded would have been women. Sunday, all who responded to bring different items were men. Even though this seems little, we think it is huge. Praise the Lord.
5. We had 2 different ladies visiting on Sunday. Juana brought Oliva, a lady who has been exposed to Christianity before but has had some very bad experiences. Pray that she would be saved. Marbella, with an unsaved husband as well, has been visiting now for three Sundays and has brought three children. Please pray for these dear ladies. The nursery has been a huge help for new families with little ones who can't sit still for very long. They have come back to listen. Praise the Lord for this new blessing.
6. We have some special events coming soon. April 10--we are going to be having a Good Friday service for the first time. 6 of us men in the church--Nico, Morgan, Memo, Beto, Marcos and Mike are going to be expounding the 7 sayings of Christ from the cross. Please pray for the men to study well, to be able to communicate clearly and to be a blessing to the church. We will then have the Lord's Supper together. Please pray that Sra. Gloria and her mom, Sra. Maria will be able to attend that service. They have not been able to be at church for a number of months now. Sra. Gloria is now almost completely blind--and very sick from the medications that she has to take. There are also some other people that we know that have indicated a desire to come to that special service.
   
   Then on Easter Sunday, we are going to be having another sunrise service with breakfast here at our home, a tradition we started last year and was a great blessing to all of us. We are also going to be having our worship service here and then lunch afterward, so it will be a busy but hopefully blessed day.
   

FAMILY NEWS:
We are entering a new phase of family life. On March 21, Mikey turned 13 and is officialy a teenager. On April 2, Caralyn turns two and that means we will be out of the baby stage. That sounds good. :-)

Thank you so much for your prayers,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (March 18)

Dear praying friends,

We apologize for not getting an update out last week. Our family was very much under the weather--with dad and mom being the two sickest. There were coughs, colds, dizziness, headaches,--the works. It was one of the hardest times we've been hit in 13 years of living in Mexico. Some of it is still hanging on this week, but we seem to be over the hardest part of it. Thank you for praying and please ask that the Lord would keep us healthy. It really has been a while since we've all had a bout with sickness so we are very thankful. The pollution has been very very concentrated the past few weeks. Last week one lady mentioned to us that it was the worst that she'd ever seen it in 20 years of coming and going and living in Mexico City. Although it is not rainy season right now, we have had 2 or 3 little showers just to clean out the air a little bit for which we are VERY grateful. Please pray for the Lord's work and protection in us.

Due to all of the coughing, Morgan said that he would teach SS and preach on Sunday. That was a blessing as Mike wouldn't have been able to get very far without coughing. Please pray for Morgan to continue to develop in his teaching and preaching and to be used of the Lord mightily. Please also pray for his Bell's Palsy as his partial facial paralysis is still there--although it is getting somewhat better.

We have been very happy to have Janet back in our services more regularly. Last Sunday she came to our home for dinner with her sister Vanessa. About 8 months ago Janet was very tempted to be going out with a man who is unsaved. We strongly counseled against that, but she really wanted to do her own thing. She is now 4 months pregnant. The man (she later found out) is married and has a family. She really seems to be broken about her sin and wants to go further in her walk with Christ. This past Sunday she wanted to stand before the church and confess that to them, ask their forgiveness and their support for going forward. Please pray that this situation will show God's great grace again in Janet's life, that it will draw people together in love for Janet and for each other, and serve as another grave reminder that sin is not something with which to be trifled.

Since talking with Jose and America 3 weeks ago now, they have not been back to church. It appears that her dad and mom (Francisco and Blanca) want them to go to this other charismatic/pentecostal church. Please intercede that the Lord would intervene and bring all of them back to His church here.

Martha was present for two straight Sundays but missed this past Sunday. We also had a lady (Marbella) with two children visit a week ago. Many of you remember praying for Jesus and Analilia and their 4 children. Jesus is the one who has had the hip replacement and needs one more as well as two knee replacements. They really had just dropped off the map during the past three or four months, but Analilia showed up, without Jesus, but with their four children for the last two Sundays. Praise the Lord and pray that He would save this family for His honor and glory.

We appreciate your prayers,
Please pray that we can get back on top of things healthwise.
In Christ,
The Goldfii

Goldfuss update (March 6)

Dear Praying Friends,

This past Sunday we had a much better attendance than we have had for several weeks. A number of people who have been sick were back and able to be present.

Martha was back in the hospital last week with her low blood platelet count, but she was there on Sunday for the first time in about a month. Our first hymn of the day was "I know whom I have believed" and she had her eyes shut and the sweetest smile on her face as she sang that hymn. That was very encouraging as she has struggled so much lately.

Many of you have prayed for Teresa, a saved lady in our church. She has many health problems and an unsaved husband, Alberto. Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Alberto for about 1 1/2 hours about the gospel. Someone had given his daughter a CD on hell. He started listening to it while I was there and that opened the door for some very good conversation. Please pray for Alberto's salvation.

Sunday, Morgan arrived at church with facial paralasis on one side of his face. It appears to be some type of Bell's palsy. He has been struggling with that all week, is on medication, but it hasn't improved too much to date. He has had some different stressful things lately that may have contributed to this. Morgan has not been able to go to Zitacuaro for the past 4 weeks because the group (family) there is no longer interested in having Sunday services. We know that this is no fault of Morgan's, but they just do not want to continue having services. Pray for their salvation and for Morgan. He grew to really love this family and is grieved over their spiritual needs. Please pray for the Lord's will. Morgan has continued preaching on Wed. nights and his preaching has been very very good. It was especially touching to see that he continued to preach even with the paralysis. He truly has a servants heart and a desire to preach the Word---and serve the Lord in whatever way that he can.

Two Sunday's ago, Francisco advised me that his family (Blanca and Jonathan) will not be attending any more. He said that they will be helping another church that they previously attended. This comes after I had a serious talk with them about being faithful in the Lord's house. Please pray for the Lord's working in their family. They are trying to get their daughter, America, and son-in-law (Jose) and their little family not to attend---and to leave with them. Last week I was able to speak to both Jose and America. Pray that they would both focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and not just problems that they see in other people. We all have that temptation, but praise our great God that He was focused on His glory when He came to save us and not just "us."

We had another good men's meeting about biblical eldership last week. Pray for the Lord to grow and mature men through His Word to lead His church here. There is much more going on, but I believe I gave you the highlights. Pray for much wisdom in daily counselling and witnessing.

Family News:
We are in our dry season at the present and it is definitely warming up for us. The pollution has increased and just this week several members of the family have come down with sinus and throat infections. Please pray for the Lord's strength for each one of us. The good news is that some of the children are finishing some of their minor subjects already. That gives more time for the other subjects. Melissa sure gave us a good start, and praise the Lord we are progressing well. Cristi, in spite of her dyslexia, is now doing over half of the subjects completely by herself---that is an enormous praise. THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!!!!!

We thank you for your prayers, encouragement, emails and financial support.

We could not do this without you,

In Christ,
Mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (February 23)

Dear Praying Friends,

We hear a lot in the news, at least the news that we get from the States, how there is much upheaval in Mexico. The USA has declared Mexico the second most unstable country in the world due to the fight of the Mexican government against the drug lords. Last year over 6000 people died here due to drug violence. Many people are concerned because they see the violence spreading and people making a mass exodus to the US. We just heard last week that the violence has even spread to the USA as Phoenix has become the city with the second largest amount of kidnappings in the whole world with 430 last year, and much of it by the Mexican drug lords--the most kidnappings per year in the world do happen in Mexico City. It was very interesting yesterday, in preaching on Naaman, to realize that Naaman's little servant girl had been kidnapped from her home and taken to Syria. While there, when Naaman contracted leprosy, she didn't say, "It serves him right," or "I know a cure, but I'm never going to tell him." Instead, she pointed him to the place where he could be healed and saved. That brought some interesting discussion from the children after the service. Mikey and Cristi both said that they would be fighting, and if someone was trying to kidnap them, we hope that they would, but they did mention also that it was really something that that little girl was a testimony even after being kidnapped and taken to a foreign country. Pray for the Lord to work continually in our children also. It's easy to become too involved in others' lives that we can forget about the needs in our own childrens' lives. Please pray that the Lord would be gracious and save each one of our children for His glory.

Yesterday in our services, there were present only about half of the people who come regularly to church. A couple of people were sick, but many were away for different reasons. Please pray for the Lord to work in lives and for us each to submit to His Lordship day by day. Sometimes, when there is a low attendance, it is easy to be discouraged from the lack of people. However, the Lord blessed us by helping us focus on worshipping Him no matter how many people were there, and it was a real blessing. Praise the Lord.

Morgan has not gone to Zitacuaro for the past 3 weeks due to the family there having "other things to do." One of them has gotten a job that really bites into his Sundays and the other three haven't been too interested in carrying on. Please pray for the Lord to encourage Morgan and for a church to be started in Zitacuaro according to the Lord's will.

Please keep Faith in your prayers with homeschooling. That is an extremely busy and taxing job for her. Pray for the children's attitudes and work to be glorifying to Christ as well.

We had an excellent time of fellowship and food with Memo and Karina and their family as well as with Vanessa yesterday afternoon. Please pray for growth in grace and for their love for our great God to increase day by day.

Praise the Lord that the new SS rooms and the nursery have been finished. It's been a blessing to see different ones get behind the physical labor and get it done. It has been a blessing to use the new rooms now for 2 weeks. Praise the Lord with us.

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

Goldfuss update (February 9)

Dear Praying Friends,

We would ask you to pray this morning especially for Ruth. Many of you know that her mom has had a brain tumor. They operated on it about 6 months ago, but it grew back. They were going to operate again in a couple of days, but Ruth just received word about 30 minutes ago that her mom passed away early this morning. From all indications, she was not a believer, although Ruth has had several opportunities in the past month to really give her the gospel. Please pray for Marcos, Ruth, and their two daughters for them to be a real testimony of God's grace to Ruth's unsaved family.

The conference this past Friday and Saturday in a church downtown was excellent. We heard challenges on taking heed to ourselves and our doctrine and about different topics that help us to have a healthy church. It was excellent. Morgan, Nico, Humberto, Memo, Gabriel and Mike were able to attend both days. They were very long days as we would leave very early and take public transportation 2 hours to get there and two hours to return at night, but each man said that it was very very profitable--even if it was very painful in many applications that were given.

Martha, Sylvia, Teresa, Gloria and Maria were not present yesterday. Martha has been forced to work earlier on Sunday mornings for the past 3 weeks. She told me last night that she really wants to talk to them and let the hospital know that that is no acceptable. Sylvia has been very sick for a couple of weeks and is just starting to feel a little better. Gloria and Maria continue to have to miss due to Gloria's very difficult diabetes. Tere has just been diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever. Please pray for each one of these ladies and the different difficulties--the Lord's healing, grace, and continued trust and confidence in Him.

In the last couple of months, Francisco, Blanca and Jonatan as well as Jose, America and their two children, Jose Ruben and Priscilla have really really fallen off in their attendance. Please pray for the Lord to give much wisdom in dealing with them. It really appears that in most cases in these two families, the new birth is the main need.

Thank you so much for your prayers,
In Christ,
mike for us all

Goldfuss update (February 5)

Dear Praying Friends,
This past Saturday, the men were not able to work on the other side of the church because Nico had to work. He is the main organizer and has the tools and know how for the rest of us. Tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, a good number of the men (6 or 7 of us) will be attending a conference downtown that is hosted by another missionary here in Mexico City. Please pray that this will be a good time of learning and growing and that the Lord will help us be able to finish the other side next week.

We need prayer in talking with a specific couple. It will be an important discussion and we need wisdom. Please pray for Jose and America.

Marcos and Ruth are looking for another place to live as we have been housing them in our cabin since their little baby was born. (They had been part of the family that was kicked out of their house). Ruth's mother is near death with a brain tumor. We are expecting Jon and Andrea Crocker to come and help us in March and they will be able to use the cabin. Please pray for the Lord's direction to Marcos and Ruth as to where to live.

Mike has been preaching on 5 great doctrinal words from Romans 3:9-27 for about 2 months. Sin, the Righteousness of God, Justification, Redemption and Propitiation have been a wonderful blessing on which to preach and meditate. Many have expressed that they have also been blessed by this wonderful study. Please pray for us as we finish that study up this week and for the Lord's guidance as to where to go from here in preaching. Mike is thinking about a series on Matthew.

On the home front, Spirit week in Peniel Christian Academy was crazy! If you care to see, we have the winners of some of the days! (These are put in specifically for the Grandmas).

• Monday: bad hair day
• Tuesday: sports
• Wednesday: backwards day
• Thursday: clash day
• Friday: old (oops-mature) people's day
  

Believe it or not, we still got all of our work done and the children did a great job! Monday was Mexican Constitution day, so we took off also and went about four hours away where the Monarch butterflies winter. It was an absolutely incredible experience. Please, please go to the following link and take a look at our incredible trip to Michoacan, Mexico. I've posted some of the pix and videos we were able to take of the great creation by our even greater Creator. Please take a look and see where we were able to visit on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Thank you for all of your prayers and faithful support and encouragement.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii