Thank you so much for praying for everything! Your prayers have been with us, and we have sensed them! May the Lord richly bless you for the time that you take uplifting the dear people here before the Lord.
- VBS!!!! The Lord answered your prayers! We had an average of 35 kids each day with 47 different children over the course of the week. The Lord also answered the prayer request of using our teens. They really stepped up to the plate and taught verses, organized the games outside, and helped wherever was needed. Our goal is to have them organize and run the whole entire VBS in a couple of years. Livia, Faith's friend from gymnastics, brought her daughter Alexia--and then asked many questions later. Please pray for her salvation. Victor taught the Bible stories and Lourdes did the missionary story. They did a wonderful job! Carina organized the entire craft of making a treasure chest. Twenty different people from church participated and worked hard to make the VBS run smoothly. Our children now want us to have 2 weeks of VBS next year like we did when we were children. We'll have to see. Adults were skeptical due to a potential for exhaustion, but praise the Lord for their desire to be there and learn!
- We had the Batorys from GFA near the end of the next week. Norma Helle and Diana Boss needed to get their paperwork done here in Mexico City and so they came from farther north to see the Batorys. It was so good to see them again. Dr. Batory gave an excellent message this last Sunday about viewing trials as a blessing from the Lord. He referred to the trials that they as a couple have passing during the past number of years. Since three of our church families are passing through serious difficulties, it was a tremendous blessing. Mrs. Batory was able to talk with Faith's friend Lorena from gymnastics. They have a common bond in an interest of nutrition. Mrs. Batory used that as a springboard to share with Lorena how the Lord has been guiding them as a couple. Lorena was very moved and opened up to Paula. We praise the Lord that she is now showing more of an interest in spiritual things. She is reading a book that Faith gave her and has called thanking her for the book. Pray for Lorena and her husband Pepe as we seek to help them with the only true help that they can have—God's Word.
- Teresa's husband Alberto died on Tuesday morning. This began a series of events that allowed us to give the Gospel to around 200 people! Early in the morning, when Alberto was fighting for every breath, Teresa said to him, "Honey, if you are trusting only in Christ for your salvation, it is ok, then you can relax and go to be with him." It was then that he stopped fighting and passed away. This gave Teresa a small glimmer of hope that he was truly trusting in Christ.
We arrived at their house at 10:30 am and stayed until after midnight for the wake--they bring the body the same day and family, friends, relatives and neighbors all come. Some come all day and stay all night with the casket right in the living room. Teresa is one of 10 brothers and sisters and Alberto was one of six. Almost all of those siblings are grandparents--so you can begin to see the quantity of people that the Lord brought our way. Teresa asked Mike to preach three times--at 2 pm, 6 pm, and at 10 pm. What was incredible was that these all have seen how the Lord has changed both Teresa and her sister Silvia. Some were very open. In between the services we had long conversations with more than 20 different people. Mike used those conversations to give him fuel for each time he spoke. People listened intently and respectfullly to those three different messages! Faith was sitting in the middle between Teresa's son Alan and Teresa herself when Alan expressed concern that most of the people there were probably expecting someone to do the rosary. Teresa's response: "Your father and I believe---in---the ---WORD, and THAT is suficient." She was kind but firm. When her little brother asked her if he could do the rosary, she said, "If you need to I will respect you, but it is not necessary. Nothing at all was done between the messages until we left. We felt God's presence and power as we were able to talk with so many. Oh, please continue to lift up these dear people before the Lord and ask Him to open hearts to respond to the gospel.
As I (Faith) was sitting there, I was overwhelmed with joy in thanking the Lord for this opportunity. Then I remembered that directly because of our baby Crystalyn's death, Teresa's relatives came to our church. I could honestly thank the Lord for taking Crystalyn to Himself. Her death began a chain reaction---nine years ago---that has allowed the Lord himself to look big in the eyes of man and in saving several for His glory. The praise goes to him. How can I begin to explain how exhausting yet how thrilling it was to be able to share the Gospel so freely for so many hours.
Many expressed to me how incredibly Teresa was responding and dealing with Alberto's death. I was able to say, "Tere is a wonderful person, but what you are seeing now is Tere's GOD sustaining her. His grace was so evident in Teresa that many were astounded.
In the midst of these two weeks since we last wrote to you, we were also able to put up a swing set that Westerville Bible Church (OH) and Trinity Bible Church (SC) went together to provide for both our children and our church family. We pray that this will be a tool used for the Lord. When we are counselling parents, our children know that their ministry is to take the children outside to play. We have a large window for the parents to be able to see exactly how their children are doing. This will give the children something extra to do while we are talking with the parents.
The other project that we were able to do was to install solar tubes that will heat our water. Gas costs about $100 per month. It is supposed to cut costs to $100 per year. Hopefully the solar tubes will pay for themselves in about 1 1/2 years. It is rainy season right now, so there isn't much sun, but the few days we have had sun, they have worked fabulously. We praise the Lord for this!
Please also pray for Nico. Last Thursday night he was in a very serious car accident in which he would have been killed except for God's obvious hand keeping him safe. He is in a neck collar at the present time and off of work. Please keep him and his unsaved family in your prayers. He's using this "forced vacation" to read and study God's Word even more. Praise the Lord.
Thank you again for your vital part in this ministry! We love you and thank the Lord for you!
Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii
