Dear Praying Friends,
During the last 3 months, as a church we have been studying about spiritual warfare. We have seen our fight against our own flesh, the world and the devil. We have seen how our enemy has only hatred for us and his goal is to take us all to hell with him. How we praise God for the victory that was won for us through Christ and His cross and through union with Him.
Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. We have seen some extremely strong attacks in the past week--a week of intensive and difficult ministry. As you know from our updates last week, Jorge and Cecilia, our couple from Peru, went through some legal problems here due to being hoodwinked on a car sale (he ended up buying a car that had been stolen.) The Lord rescued him from having to do any jail time (except overnight on Sunday night.) During that trial, some other issues came to light about another family in our assembly. They have been with our church for almost 10 years. When I went to see them this past Thursday, they informed me that they will no longer be attending our church. This has been a great blow to us in several ways--we had hoped that the young man would especially use the gifts that God has given him to be a leader in Christ's church here. It is our prayer that the Lord would work in this family and even if it would never be in our assembly, please pray that the Lord would make them faithful servants to the Lord Jesus Christ somewhere else for His glory. Please also pray that the young man would be "useful to Him in the ministry," as Paul was able to say years later about John Mark. Please also pray that extended family would not be influenced to leave.
As much as we hate to lose anyone from a small church, and especially someone who has been a leader, the spirit was very good in our services yesterday. People were very sad about the circumstances, but there seemed to be a renewed love for each other. We had our monthly class for married couples (and even a few that aren't even married attended.) All in all, 50 people came to our house for a potluck meal and then Memo lead the class (let me give a quick plug for the book, "When Sinners Say I Do" by Dave Harvey.) There was very very good participation and excellent ideas put forth to help us in our marriages to remember that Christ is the only one who can make our marriages glorify Him. Even after the class was over, it was thrilling to see so many who have had problems in the past between them, stick around and talk amongst themselves.
We were also truly encouraged by our children. Cristi and Carissa planned a very detailed tea party for all the little girls to have during our study time. The little girls loved it! Mikey and another teen from the church, Yoltic took care of the boys outside. Yoltic, though only 16 has also been a real encouragement with his desire to serve the Lord. He is now burning all of the CDs of the messages as Jon Crocker is no longer here to do that.
Please pray that the Lord would raise up from this group, men who will faithfully be able to lead His local church here. We have experienced a setback in our plans, but it is not a setback in God's plans. God is faithful.
Thank you for your prayers,
Mike for all the Goldfii
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