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