Goldfuss update

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for praying for:

 

1.  The Friday night sleepover for girls ages 13-16.  Seven girls came and they had a wonderful time based on all of the noise we heard through the wall.  Sarai gave the devotional about "true love" and the girls said that it was really good.  Cristi organized and prepared the whole thing -- from the cookie baking to the shirt painting to all of the hilarious games.  They asked when we could have another sleepover while they were doing some of the games.  After all of the work, Cristi responded laughing, "Let's just enjoy this one!"  She did agree however, to plan another one for May 24 th.  The girls are also inviting two more girls who come occasionally to church.  It will be a "Pizza Party" this time with making their own pizzas.  Many people do not know how to bake--so we know that it will be a big "hit".  This new ministry is so important.  The girls’ peers want to teach them that the only way to have fun is to be immoral.  Through this ministry they can see first hand that Christians can have fun in a Christ-honoring way. 

 

2.  Our church anniversary Sunday.  Sunday was nice with a special dinner, an anniversary cake, and the couples’ class.  Pray for 3 couples that are struggling with each other and with their relationship with the Lord.

 

Prayer Requests:

 

1.  We need wisdom in meeting the needs of such a wide diversity of people.  We have people from 3 very distinct classes (which is not really a big deal) in our church.  The bigger challenge is helping people whose practices range from very liberal to very legalistic.  Pray that we would be able to teach and model Christ-likeness, holiness and grace to all of our people.  Pray also that we would grow in these attributes ourselves.

 

2.  Teaching and molding our own children.  This involves a world of prayer requests.  Pray that we would teach them to be friendly, evangelistic, bold and pure in their friendships in the world around them. 

 

3.  February 26th- Lauren comes to stay with us for over a month while she gets extra practice in Spanish with Reme and Juana- and helps us in school.

We are so excited to have her come back!   As I write this we only have 4 more school days until she comes.  Everyone has been plugging away and doing a very good job, but her extra guidance will help us to get finished quicker and without everyone waiting so much time for help.

 

4.  Prayer for several of us as we plan upcoming events---please pray that the events will honor The Lord, and that we would see many more saved and growing.

 

5. Please pray for a working of the Holy Spirit where we all want to be Christ like no matter what. 

 

6.  Unsaved who attend:  Francisco, Pedro, Carmelita, Roberto, Luis, Marbella, Gaby, Justino, don Pedro, Sra. Hilaria, Lilliana, and many more.

 

7.  A huge problem is that we have various husbands that do not come that are unsaved.  This week Bris' husband has forbidden her and her daughter from coming to church.  The mother in law is very catholic.  This has affected many people who were just beginning to come with Bris.  Two young girls in their 20s came on Sunday.  We welcomed them, but were sad to see them leave when they did not see Bris.  Marbella's husband has also started to forbid their 4 children from coming to Sunday school.  Roberto and Carlos also do not come with their wives Silvia and Carmelita.

 

Thank you again for praying!  We have felt a lot of real spiritual resistance, and we depend upon your prayers.

 

Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss

Goldfuss update

Dear Prayer Partners,

 

Please remember a few upcoming events in prayer.

 

1.  Friday night sleepover for girls ages 13-16.  There will be about 8 girls here at our house.  Pray for Sarai, who is 23, who will be giving the devotional for the first time.  Pray that these girls will have a happy time together, and that this will be a time where they grow so that they can be better and more used by our Lord. 

 

2.  Sunday--church anniversary.

 

3.  February 26th- Lauren comes to stay with us for over a month while she gets extra practice with Spanish with Reme and Juana- and helps us in school.

 

4.  March 2nd--Mikey finishes his History of Civ. class.

 

5.  March 5th -- Grandma comes!  Mike's mom will be coming to stay with us for 3 weeks!  That should be a lot of fun as well as a help with school!

 

6.  Much planning is being done for our Easter Sunrise service and all day at our home.  Faith's mom was able to get a lot of decorations while we were in the States---so we will have beautiful table coverings and napkins all in purple for Easter.

 

We had visitors on Wednesday night--Sergio's sister and husband.  It turns out that she knew of us from a friend many years ago.  Please pray that they would return on Sunday.  Pray for the seed that has been planted in the past and recently to bear fruit.

 

Thank you for praying!

 

Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (2/11/2013)

Dear Prayer Partners,
Again, we are so thankful that you take the time to remember us in prayer!
Prayer requests:
1. Unsaved people who are coming: Francisco, Maricela, Sophia, Pedro, Sergio, Erica, Carmelita, Carlos, Eusebio, and 6 relatives that Bris brought.
2. Our people are facing serious trials just this week.
A.) Luis and Claudia are a faithful older couple: his father, 97, passed away. He had a profession of faith.
B.) A young boy in our church, 10, fell and had to have surgery to put 2 pins in his arm.
C.) We have a young brother and sister, Eduardo and Norma, who are studying here from Oaxaca. Their older brother, 25 years old, was coming to visit them by bus and the bus was in a terrible accident. The brother died—and poor Eduardo, 19, had to go identify the body. Please pray for the whole family. They said that he was a believer.
D.) Ceci and Jorge (the young couple from Peru who are studying here), Ceci had surgery on Friday. Mike was able to be with them at the hospital.
E.) Sergio's wife Erica is still in the psychiatric hospital.
May the Lord be glorified in all of these difficult situations. The spirit has been down. Faithful ones are burdened with the heavy needs of their own families. Pray that all of us will look to Christ for the needed strength and comfort and that we will also look to help each other. We need the more mature believers to step up and help. Pray for the men to be leaders. Please pray for us to have the wisdom to help them become those leaders. Pray that we would have understanding where needed and be able to pinpoint sinful excuses when necessary.
If any church might have an extra or old communion tray with little cups, it would be very helpful here. Please let us know.
Thank you so much for praying for our family and our church family! We depend on those prayers!
In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (1/31/13)

Dear Prayer Partners,
Thank you for praying for us!

1. We are happy to report that the Lord has been bringing MANY NEW PEOPLE during the last few weeks! Last week we were very full and this week even bought some more chairs.
2. While we were happy about all of this, we are also saddened because FOUR OF OUR FAITHFUL FAMILIES WERE NOT THERE. The husbands of two of these families are two of the three leaders in the church. Reme has a saying that she often reminds me. She says, "When the Lord is working mightily, Satan is not going to sit around with his arms crossed." Right now there are family problems in all three of the leaders’ families. Please pray for wisdom in directing them to Christ for the strength that they (and we) all need for daily living. We are at the point to where probably around 30 of the people are mature enough to be able to be discipling and helping others who are coming.
3. Pray for the new ones---Maricela, Sophie, Francisco, Sergio, Erica, Cristian, Moises, Fernando and some others.
4. God seems to be working in FRANCISCO AND SERGIO's hearts. Francisco is a young man (around 30 years old) who plays basketball with Mikey. Many years ago he played basketball with Rhett Mortland --- who is the son of another GFA missionary family--they are now serving the Lord in Maine. So the seed was planted back then. Mike feels that Francisco may not be far from salvation.
   Sergio's story is very interesting. One Sunday in early November on our way to church, we saw a couple fighting in the park. Their fight ended up exactly in front of our church. Some of the church people intervened because the woman was screaming for help. The police came and hauled the man (Sergio) to jail while the lady (Erika) went home. Then this same couple showed up at church only three weeks ago. We were so happy to see them, but we did not know their whole story. The police put Sergio in jail for a whole week. He got out the next Saturday evening and went straight to his brother's house to tell him that he was sorry that he did not meet him the Sunday evening before as planned. When he got to his house, there was a black ribbon on the door meaning that someone had died. Whatever Sergio’s brother had planned to do with Sergio went horribly wrong (again, while Sergio was in jail.) Sergio’s brother was stabbed 45 times the day that Sergio was put in jail and missed his appointment. When this couple showed up at church three weeks ago, Sergio quietly related to us what had happened. He sadly stated that he wished he could have been there to protect his brother. All of us stated that perhaps the Lord was preserving his life to live for Him. He paused and said that through this whole situation, he had come to our church so that he could get help to change the direction of his life and know the Lord. Many people say things like this, but we write all of this because he has been faithful to every service since. He has even brought his very little children even though his wife has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. We need a lot of prayer for wisdom to help her. Sergio realizes that her problems are spiritual.
5. YOUNG COUPLE IS MOVING-- Please pray for Lenny and Mariana who will be moving back to the USA to New Mexico because of a new job in his same company. Although we are extremely sad that they are leaving, we know that this is probably the best decision due to the fact that his job is very dangerous. During his auditing, he has found that many are stealing LOTS of money from his company. Typically here in Mexico, they usually do not take kindly to being squealed on and many are not afraid to fix the situation their own way. Pray also for them to find a really good church in Albuquerque (if you know of one, please tell us) and for the birth of their first baby in three months. 

Praises:

1. All of the new people who are coming to hear God's Word!!!!!
2. Our water truck arrived on January 29, yesterday. We only ordered it on November 20. Now we are waiting for a truck that we ordered on Dec. 7 and Jan. 6. Faith's unsaved friend's husband still has not found the stolen semi-truck that was loaded with supplies for a large job that he needs to do. He did not have insurance. 

Thank you so much for praying for our family and our church family! We depend on those prayers! 

In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss 

P.S. As Faith was writing this at the children's PE classes, she could hear the sirens of all of the vehicles due to an explosion. Her friend, Alma, told everyone what had happened. Mati, another friend, was understandably concerned. Her husband works at the Pemex headquarters where the explosion took place. Thirty minutes later she was able to hear from him and found out that he was alright but needed to be evacuated from the building. Even though the explosion was 15 miles away from where Faith was, many of the injured were being brought to the Pemex hospital which is 1/2 mile away from our church. They are saying that it was an electrical explosion???? Many here doubt that story.