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