bigmexicocity

Goldfuss update (1/17/2012)

2012-01-17T23:12:00.001-06:00

Praises:

Mike's trip—he went and arrived safely and enjoyed the time at the conference in Westerville, Ohio. Thank you for praying.
All was well on the homefront. Mikey really stepped up to the plate, taking care of the water truck, water pump, the wood stove, chopping wood and being in charge.
Sunday's services went very well and all did a great job—Memo did SS, Beto lead the service, Jason preached and Jorge led the married couples' class. Two families visited with Jason and Danielle. The men had the leadership of everything and made wise decisions. The meal between the service and the married couple's class went very well. They all brought enough food (that has been a problem in the past,) and the spirit was good.

Requests:

Jonathan, 17, Tere's grandson, is addicted to drugs. We found him a Christian rehab home where the Word of God, and not psychology, is used. Pray that he would hit bottom and be willing to go as those who can enroll must voluntarily enter on their own.
Nico—he and his family were not in attendance on Sunday. He is the only one saved in his family. This was a disappointment to the men on Sunday as he is one of our leaders. They did well without him, but pray that the Lord's grace will enable Nico to be a humble servant to our church. There have recently been some struggles with pride. We are working in our men's classes on humble service. Pray.
Salvation—Pedro, Luis, Fernando, Lili and Marbella. Each of these men attended on Sunday but neither of the two women did.
Bethany's piano classes and Lauren's art classes. Pray that these would continue to be helpful for people in our church and as outreach to the unsaved.
Plans to soon start a Bible club in our neighborhood with Bethany and Lauren.
Gabriel is preaching tomorrow night (Wednesday).
Services this coming Sunday.
Mikey's unsaved friend Diego who fell and hit his head in basketball the other day. He is still dizzy three days later and on bed rest. Pray for us to have more opportunities to give him and his family the gospel.

Thank you so much for your prayers.
In Christ,
Mike and Faith for the rest of the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (1/9/2012)

2012-01-09T00:10:00.000-06:00

Dear Prayer Partners,
Thank you for praying after last week's prayer letter.
Praises:

Friday men's meeting---went very well with 11 men. Some important problems were dealt with and much progress was made. The new man, Alberto, also attended.
Well attended church services today---Marbella was there with her 4 children after not attending for more than 3 months.

Requests:

Salvation---Pedro, Luis, Fernando, Lilli, and Marbella.
2 ladies who have not been faithful--Silvia and Gabby.
Wed. prayer meeting
Thursday---Monday--Mike being away for a conference in Ohio/ Faith holding down the fort with potential electricity and water problems.------Safety for Mike flying and for Faith, children, and teachers. (Two bricks were thrown at the van when Faith was driving home on Thursday evening. No damage was done as they missed the windows---and Faith kept going.)
Sunday---SS-Memo. Jason, who just started a church, will be bringing his people to our church, and he will be preaching. Married couples class (in the afternoon)--Jorge---after a combined potluck.

Thank you for praying,Mike and Faith

Goldfuss update (1/3/2012)

2012-01-02T22:33:00.001-06:00

Dear PrayerPartners,

Happy 2012!!! Weare so thankful for your support during this last year, and we are praying thatthe Lord will enable all of us to put as our first priority—knowingHim intimately. In 2011, the Lord allowed us to finish our new churchbuilding in five months. The Lord also allowed some serious difficulties andtrials for many of the men in the church this past year. This has been a causeof much heartache and sadness, but also, much maturity for some. Please prayfor them for daily wisdom.

During this pastyear, Mike preached about the Christian warfare, forgiveness, the Lord’sprayer, victory over sin, and glorifying God—thinking correctly about God andhelping others to think correctly about God. This involves bothsoul-winning and discipleship of others. Lourdes, a lady in our church, showedus wonderful slides from her trip to Israel. This was such a blessing to all aswe could clearly see the places referenced in the Bible.

As we begin thenew year, we would like to share with you some of our goals for the churchduring 2012.

1. To preach through 1 Corinthians which deals withour sin vs. what we are called to be as saints in Christ.

2. In Sunday school, we will be doing a class on Christian doctrine andcollectively forming our own church doctrinal statement.

3. In the men’s meeting, we will be focusingon preaching and sermon preparation.

4. The ladies will be combining fellowship withservice by beautifying the church as well as having devotional timescombined with special prayer for the needs of our people.

5. We will continue to teach the childrensystematically through the Bible while training teacher’s assistants who arebetween the ages of 10–18. We are hoping to add our sixth Sunday school teacherwho rotates teaching the children’s class. There are eight teacher’s assistantswho are both helping while learning how to be teachers.

6. Beginning two more Bible studies.

We have beenencouraged by the willingness of our people to see needs and then do the work.

1. One young man, Beto, hasvolunteered to do the church calendars. He also volunteered to lead the songservices. His willingness led to many of the men being put into arotation to lead the services.

2. Another young couple, Jorge and Cecilia, have decidedthat they would arrive early on Sunday mornings to invite people who werepassing by the church. They have been able to give out a great number of tractsthis way. This has been a great encouragement to us.

3. Jason andDanielle Boyle, a former intern, just yesterdaybegan services in their home (about 30 minutes away) with 11 inattendance! We are greatly encouraged by this new church plant. We are happythat they will still be able to be with us during our mid-week service.

Some prayerrequests for the church:

1. Individualfinances of our people. Most have made less moneythis year, but have seen the Lord provide and do more with less money. Theirfaith has been challenged, but we can see how these families have put theLord first—and he has provided! While this is a praise, we would ask youto continue to pray for stable work for our men.

2. Salvation offamily members. Lala, Lourdes, Teresa, Silvia, Vanessa,and Nico all are the only ones in their homes that are saved. Prayfor the Lord to encourage their hearts and for their testimonies and boldness.

3. Two families whowill be leaving. The LaBelles have been with us for 2½ years. Victor,the father, is a former MK from Cuernavaca. During their time withus, Victor has played the piano and held training classes for all of theSunday school teachers and the assistants. Shelley has been such a blessingsupplying the Sunday school teachers with craft supplies as well as bakingtreats for our break in between our services.

4. Jorge andCecilia Vergara are returning to Peru for six months of classes. Jorgehas been working on his doctorate here for 1½ years. They are now returning toPeru and then coming back with us for another year of studies.

5. Three couples inour little church who would love to be able to have children.

6. Two new couples. Lenin and Mariana havebeen relocated to Mexico City by his company. They have been waiting severalmonths for their things to be relocated from the States. Please pray as theysettle in. They have a desire to serve. Sr. Alberto, who visited just lastSunday, is interested in coming with his wife and child. He seems to have aclear testimony. He was drawn by our new sign out front. They have beenattending a church in the north of the city where he grew up. That church isthree hours away.

7. Salvation

· Fernando has been faithful attending for the last threemonths. He has come to our church in years past, but his main problem is not believinga fundamental doctrine—that Jesus is God. The Lord seems to be working in hisheart.

· Luis: Carina’s brother who has been faithful for sixmonths. Along with reading his Bible, he has been reading The Christ-Centered Life and a book about humility.

· Pedro: One of the very first people who we met here inMexico has begun coming to church and has been faithful in just prayermeeting for about six months. This is truly the Lord’s working. Pedrounderstands many things—pray for his genuine conversion.

· Lilliana: Nico’s wife.

· Erasmo and Matilde: who after manyyears still want to work for their salvation.

8. Jon and Andrea Crocker who are on deputation to come back to Mexico Cityand plant a church in the center of the city.

Requests fromthe homefront:

1. Homeschooling: Thanks to Lauren and Bethany, we finished half of the schoolyear already! This is a first! They are both returning tomorrow to begin secondsemester. A special prayer request is that we are planning an art/Bible Club for the children in our neighborhoodfor Fridays. First semester Lauren gave an art class to our children and thechildren in our church. Now we are opening the class up to the children in theneighborhood with Bethany teaching the Bible class. Please also pray for Cristi’scontinued progress with schoolwork regarding her dyslexia. The prayer requestis for endurance. Cristi is reading well, but just gets tired after fiveor six pages. We think that teaching typing early to her might continue to helpwith her spelling which is much improved. Praise the Lord that learningthe material, taking tests, and applying the knowledge are not a problem.

2. Homesteading: We have been having problems in three areas: electricity,water, and garbage. The electricity has been so low that wehave had trouble doing household chores. Our generator sometimes helps, but atother times is not sufficient and is very expensive to run continually. Threeloads of laundry has become an all day task. Also, the water trucks areway behind schedule. The government is running out of money to subsidize thewater trucks. We have had to buy extra loads at over $100 per truck. TheLord has graciously provided the money, but please pray that this problem willbe resolved before we will have to buy the five trucks that we normally needper month. (All shower and washing machine water are used for severaldifferent things.) Also, we just read that the “largest garbage dump in theworld” has been closed. One problem. They have not opened another one. Apparentlymost people still have service, but others have had garbage piling up. Withthirty plus million in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, thesesituations can become very serious in a hurry.
We still love living here, and even enjoy trying to ration and figure out howto improvise our situations. For example, the boys are trying to figureout how to catch the rain water from the roof, to filter it, and to beable to use it for laundry and for showers. All of this is an excellenteducation for the children, and we praise the Lord for it.

We endwith the Lord’s wonderful mercy upon us. One daywhen we were not at home, a fire started in the dryer in the back of the cabinwhere Lauren and Bethany stay. We had been using that dryer because therewas not enough electricity in the house. Reme saw the fire and then heard a bigswoooosh. She thought the gas was going to blow up the cabin, yet she bravelyturned off the gas! Then quickly the fire was mostly out. Reme was able tofinish putting out the fire with several buckets of water. The swooshended up being water spraying everywhere from a burnt through waterhose from the washing machine! The water put out the large fire under thecabin! Really, God put out the fire! We are reminded that our livesand belongings are always in his hands.

Thank youagain for your loving prayers and support!

With much love,

TheGoldfusses: Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew,Cherith, and Caralyn—Lauren and Bethany too.

P.S. Pray for Mike as hewill be preaching at the Ohio Bible Fellowship Winter Conference and willbe gone from January 12–16. Faith will be manning the homefront. Your prayersare appreciated for both.

Goldfuss prayer update (11/3/2011)

2011-11-04T19:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We are sorry that we have been extremely lax in the last few months about writing. We went through about 2 months where our internet service was very bad. It would take hours to send a simple email. There have also been a number of discouragments, but the Lord has been showing Himself strong and faithful in spite of each difficult circumstance. The Lord has been using difficulties to strengthen the men in the church here and mold them into leaders. Just in the past several weeks, they have made some big spiritual decisions for the church and two of them, Nico and Gabriel, have preached for us. Pray for the Lord to continue to raise up men to lead His church here. A few interesting ministry opportunities have presented themselves recently.

Mike had the chance to preach at an Alcoholics Anonymous anniversary group several weeks ago. There were 200 people in attendance. During Mike's message, probably around 1/3 of the people just kept on talking and laughing at their tables, totally disregarding what was being said. There was a lot of noise as well from kids running around. Praise the Lord though that the gospel was given--three folks from our church handed out tracts to everyone as soon as the message was done. Pray for the Lord to bring an increase from this sowing of the seed of His Word. Last night at our midweek service, we had a lady visit for the first time due directly to the fact that she was at that meeting. Please pray for Jessica and many spiritual needs.
The past several days in Mexico have been the "days of the dead." There are altars set up in many homes, schools, streets and cemeteries to honor the dead. Food and drink are placed at these different altars. Supposedly on these nights, the souls of the dead people come back to eat of the food that is offered to them. Just on Monday alone, we had the opportunity to speak to three people about why death exists and to use that as a springboard into giving the precious gospel of Christ who came that He might deliver those who through fear of death, have all their lifetime been subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14,15).
Faith takes the kids down the mountain for their different activities normally 4 afternoons per week. She has recently begun English studies with a good number of ladies and has had several good opportunities with some of them. Please pray that in all of our family's activities our highest goal would be to think correctly about Christ and to have other people think correctly about Him as well through our words and actions.
The following little letter was written by Carissa and given to the Hearts and Hands ladies at our home church, Bible Community in Ohio. These ladies wanted to hear/read about the ministry through the eyes of one of our children. We really enjoyed the letter, and we think that it would be a good primer on our family and ministry here in Mexico City, so we would like to share her letter with you also.

"I want to thank all of you for praying for us as we serve Christ here in Mexico. I, Carissa Goldfuss, on behalf of my family write to inform you about our ministry. Mikey is 15, Cristi is 13, I'm 12, Matthew is 8, Cherith is 7, Caralyn is 4, and as for my parents, they would rather I not say. The church is in an area called Padierna. We have a total of about eighty people. The church is growing spiritually, even through the some serious trials that God has sent. A few weeks ago, a man in the church that my dad has trained, preached for him while he spoke at a different meeting of unbelievers. It's amazing how God is opening doors for us to minister to the people. We live about a half hour from the church next to a mountain (still in the city) that is called "El Pico del Aguila," which means, the beak of the eagle. It is called that because it looks like an eagle with it's wings spread out, flying. Because we are basically on the mountain, it gets about 10° C cooler than down in the city. In the winter, sometimes it gets cold enough to get a small amount snow on the top of the mountain. But even then, in the city in the summer, it can get to the into the high 70's or even 80's. When it gets like that, the weather is beautiful for us because we are up in the mountains.Most of the people are very open to the gospel and are friendly. Sometimes the people think that they are lower than Americans because they are darker and for that reason, they hesitate to look you in the eye and give short answers and act as if they are unworthy to speak to you. We are accepted by them because we talk to them and they feel happy that we want to talk to them. My favorite things about being a missionary are being able to speak and understand Spanish. Being able to speak the language allows me to tell others about Christ and what he has done for us by sending us his Son to die for our sins on the cross. I have been 12 years on the mission field, and our church is 15 years old.One of the challenges that we face is the traffic. On Wednesday's, we go from our sports to church. It's only about ten minutes away, but with traffic, it can be up to a half hour or more! I have lots of favorite verses, but my favorite one is 1Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you." It is my favorite one because we don't have to worry because God has everything under control and He cares for us.If you would, please pray for the church, that it would truly grow spiritually and in number. As well, please pray for the men, that they would continue to take more leadership. As well, pray for more Bible studies to be established. Also, pray that God would supply a godly man to take control of the church so we can move on and start a new one. And finally, please pray for a man that was in our church and was a leader, that he would come to repentance, and may God let him see his sin. I want to thank all of you for praying for us as missionaries in Mexico and that God would keep using us to plant the seeds of the Gospel and we will wait and pray for the Lord to send the rain and fruit.Thank you all for your support and prayers,

Love,The Goldfuss Family (Carissa)

Prayer update (8/15)

2011-08-15T01:11:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

It has been quite a full and busy summer. We praise the Lord for His safety, blessing and guidance throughout each activity, blessing and trial that He has brought our way.

We were very blessed to have Mike's mom visit in May. The whole family enjoyed her visit as it's been about 3 years since she got down to our neck of the woods. :-)

Also in May, a single girl in our church, Vanessa, was able to leave to go to a Christian university in Monterrey for 3 months. She just arrived back 2 weeks ago. We greatly missed her and her ministry to our church for those three months, but trust that the Lord has taught her many things that she will be able to use the rest of her life in our Lord's service.

Our new building has been a blessing. We have had several new visitors for which we praise the Lord. A wonderful blessing is that Pedro and Veronica have been attending almost every Wednesday night since we moved in. Pedro helped Mike when we first arrived in Mexico by correcting all of the grammar in his sermons. Please pray that the Lord would graciously save them.

For the first time, thanks to Rachel and Jessica, everyone was able to finish school in May. We were wondering if it would be a possibility to go to Houston, Texas to visit with Faith's mom and dad. Due to their schedule and ours, there was only about a 1 week window where it would work out for both of us. We were waiting for our Mexican residency papers to be renewed and were not sure if we would get them in time for that one week window. The Lord worked everything out and we were able to all meet in Houston (Faith's parents live in PA.) We were able to spend a very nice week with them. Greenwood Village Baptist Church in Houston has an apartment that they loaned to us for the whole week. It was wonderful and they were very kind to us. The weather was over 100 degrees each day, and the air conditioned apartment was perfect.

On our trip back down to Mexico City, we stopped in Monterrey and were able to visit Vanessa. That was a blessing for us and hopefully for her as well. As many of you know, the situation in Mexico with the drug lords and violence is very dangerous. The Lord allowed us to pass 6 army caravans all headed north as we drove up to the border and we were thankful for the added protection. On our way back down, we had an equally uneventful trip. We are truly thankful to the Lord for His protection.

Many of you may remember that we had major plumbing problems back in February. We were waiting to get the funds and helpful workers for a number of months to try to get that fixed. As soon as we arrived back home from Houston, we found out that the construction worker had been able to come. He had torn out the whole floor in our bathroom and about 1/2 the floor in the kids bathroom. One of the copper pipes had a fairly good sized hole in it--hence the gallons and gallons of water that poured through down into Mike's study for several MONTHS. After about 3 or 4 weeks, we were finally able to get the pipes fixed, the concrete repoured and new tile laid again. Thank the Lord that we are back to being able to use those two bathrooms upstairs after almost 6 months of them being out of commission.

On July 7, a team of teens from our home church visited for 1 week, lead by the Wickmans. They were a big help with some projects around the house, with putting labels on tracts, passing out tracts and just being friends with our kids. It was challenging because our two bathrooms upstairs were out of order. Then one of the other bathrooms had a breakdown as well. But we all managed, without complaining, and the Lord helped us to get many things done that He wanted us to get done.

On July 14, our three oldest, Mikey, Cristiana, and Carissa accompanied the team back to Mentor, Ohio for camp at Peniel Bible Camp. They were not able to attend last year, so they were very excited for camp this year and for the chance to see friends that they have made there throughout the years. It is great to have them back home again though.

Two weeks ago we had our VBS. We started on Monday with 22, Tuesday with 35, Wednesday with 37 and ended on Thursday with 43. It was great to be able to proclaim the gospel to our church children as well as a good number of children who had never heard it before. Please pray as we seek to follow up on the new families.

The last two Lord's days brought us a good bit of unwanted excitement. Last Sunday, during our Sunday school hour (and a half), a taxi backed right up to our van (out of sight of the church) and stole our full size extra spare tire--right out from under the van. Mikey and Elias walked out right as they had loaded the tire in their taxi and when they got down to look under the van, the taxi drove off with the tire. That's when they realized it was ours. This morning we arrived at church to find our offering box outside, broken into and ruined. Someone late yesterday afternoon or last night broke into the church and was obviously looking for money. There were a number of things strewn about but praise the Lord the microwave and our small sound system were still there. The thief or thieves made off with only about 20 dollars and the electric keyboard that the children's class uses. Please pray that the Lord would give us protection, wisdom in how to make things a bit more secure and faith and trust in Him. These situations have been very unifying for the church. I wish you could have heard Nico's prayer this morning as he prayed for the thieves and for ourselves to not become bitter. Mike also made us realize that we still have our salvation---and that, no one can steal away from us!

We praise the Lord for two school teachers again to help Faith this year. Lauren and Bethany have arrived and are all ready to begin the new school year with Faith tomorrow. I think most of the kids are even ready. :-) Pray for a good beginning to the school year and for our children to learn and be prepared for whatever our great God has for them to do.

We greatly appreciate and depend on your prayers.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update 5/15

2011-05-15T23:42:00.001-05:00

Praise the Lord we are in the new building!
After 4 1/2 months and work parties almost every Saturday, the Lord allowed us to have our first service in the new building. An excellent group worked from 9:30 AM until 7:30PM last night finishing and moving the church! The Lord gave us an incredible group, but we haven't had our official GRAND OPENING yet. We have a few more things to try to get finished, but we are in. We are going to have several weeks of rest on Saturdays hopefully, and then plan to spend a couple of Saturdays inviting people around the new building to our services. Then we will have a special GRAND OPENING THANKSGIVING service. This was an area where we previously lived, so we know so many of the people. Praise the Lord that all pitched in so much! We have included pictures. Thank you for supporting us with your prayers.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (April 12)

2011-04-12T15:52:00.001-05:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

The work on the new church building continues to progress. When all the work is with cement, brick and concrete, not to mention construction workers who don't show up, extreme makeover in one week is impossible. :-) We have been working now for over 4 months almost every Saturday and a good number of the church people have helped just about every possible time. This is a big drain on a lot of the people as of course it's their only day off for the week. Praise the Lord for the good attitudes of many helpers. The new place is right around the corner from where we first lived when we came to Mexico City 15 years ago. We still have a lot of contacts, friends and acquaintances from that area where the seed was sown for several years. Some have already told us to let them know when we move in to the building there. They said they would come and visit. Pray for the Lord to be preparing hearts and drawing more people to Him for His glory. Pray for this physical work to be useful for a spiritual harvest.

At the beginning of January, we moved out of the building we had been in for over 10 years. We moved into Sra. Gaby's good sized living and dining room. Due to many trials in her own family, they, and consequently we as a church, are going to have to move out of her house. We still have several weeks of work left in the new building before we can move everything over there. Pray that we will be able to finish up the work quickly.

The believers here have a saying that Satan does not just sit around with his arms crossed. This is true. We have been studying the Christian's War in this world and the armor that God has provided. This warfare has been raging in the church here. There are many problems in the church as well as much spiritual growth among the believers. We have really felt a sifting in the past several months. Some people did not receive our last prayer update in which we mentioned that Morgan and his family have left the church. It has been an extremely difficult time for several, including us. Pray that the Lord would grant them repentance to make things right. The intensity of the many problems has a two fold effect--it is refining those who are true believers, and it is also weeding out those who may have just a false profession of faith. Please pray for the Lord's protection and care for His flock here. We need your prayers so much.

On a postitive note, Vanessa is going to be going to a Christian university in Monterrey for 3 or 4 months. We are going to miss her greatly in the work here. Pray for her to grow and be a testimony of Christ's grace in her life as she is away from us. She will be leaving us on the night of Resurrection Sunday. Faith will be accompanying her for 2 or 3 days. I am going to fly them up due to the violence in that area---and also to get Faith back here sooner. :) Please pray for grace, strength and protection for both of them.

Over a month ago we had more leaking in my office ceiling. It got progressively worse throughout Sunday and Monday. Monday night I finally took a drill and drilled through about 5 inches of concrete and rebar to release all the water that was collecting up there. When I finally made it through that layer, water came out like a faucet had been turned on full force. We filled up a 5 gallon bucket in less than two minutes. We have had over 100 gallons of water come through the ceiling. The pipes to that section have been shut since the day after the drilling, but we continue to have constant drips (over 4 weeks later) due to so much water collecting there. To our horror, the leaking became worse when the toilets were used! So somehow the leak involves everything in both bathrooms! Having sewer water dripping around all of my wonderful books is not a real blessing. BUT the Lord is in control, and I have had some good salvation conversations with the worker that will be helping us try to deal with this problem. We are going to have to break up tile again and try to find out where the leak is coming from. Hopefully the worker will be able to come this Thursday and begin the task. (Please pray for his salvation--Jose Luis.) Pray that we won't have to break up both bathroom floors entirely to find the source of the problem--There is tile on top, several inches of concrete, then the pipes in some light stone/gravel, and underneath, the other level of concrete and rebar. We haven't been looking forward too much for what is next.

Thank you for your prayers. We covet and appreciate them.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (February 28)

2011-02-28T11:18:00.001-06:00

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

Goldfuss update (February 22)

2011-02-22T09:44:00.001-06:00

Jorge spent Sunday night in jail. Yesterday Morgan took Cecilia and I downtown to the the precinct where he was being held--it's called "the Bunker" here. Cecilia was not able to get a hold of one lawyer lady. Another 2 lawyers looked like they had just graduated from the CJ school of law (That would be Cracker Jack.) When you look at and are in the middle of situations like this one, things appear so helpless and hopeless except that we have almight God watching out for His own. Humanly speaking, it really was absolutely hopeless.

Cecilia and I spent from about 9 AM til 9:30 PM there. Jorge had to give a statement (It lasted 2 1/2 hours) to the police. The cracker jack lawyers were supposed to be there to accompany him at 1:30. His statement started at 2:15. They showed up at 2:35. Then they wanted Ceci to pay them. I said, "Cecilia, give me all the money you have. I will have it and you will have no money to pay them. They should have showed up to do their work and they could have gotten paid." So Cecilia was Jorge's lawyer during his statement. ?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was about 15 feet from where they were this whole time. I tried observing all around the office to see who the important men were. I figured out who one was and after about 1 1/2 hours, was able to talk to him. I said, "I'm not a lawyer, but I'm here to plead for Jorge." I told him the whole story, but at the end, he didn't give much hope.

When Jorge still had about 1/2 hour to go in his testimony/statement, the school where he is studying his doctorate sent their own lawyer. HE WAS EXCELLENT, PROFESSIONAL, AND A BLESSING FROM OUR GOD. However, around 6:30 PM, he came by me and said under his breath, "He's in," meaning that Jorge was going to be committed to the prison. I just prayed and said, "Lord, Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego heard the same line--You are going into the furnace--and you saved them--of course, they did get in their for a very short time, but YOU are the only one who can help us in this situation." For another three hours the lawyer talked to the head of everything and finally came over about 9:30 and said, "He's going to be set free." After a few papers were signed, Cecilia and I walked out with Jorge. They took all of his belongings the night before--shoe strings, socks, and everything else. It appears many people have committed suicide in the past when they get put in jail. So the owner of the school, her husband, Jorge and Cecilia, another lawyer's assitant and I all piled into this little tiny car for the ride home. Even at 9:30 traffic was tremendous and I got out feeling very pretzelly. We had really not eaten anything all day, so Jorge, Cecilia and I all enjoyed a supper of tacos. It was an exhausting day, but thank you SO MUCH for approaching the throne of grace with us through Christ for Jorge and Cecilia. They were so thrilled last night--as was I and they asked us to thank all of you who have prayed.

We live in a wicked world. Praise the Lord that He is sovereign and in control and that His children can trust in Him no matter what. Please pray for all the tracts that we were able to give out yesterday, that the Lord would continue to call out for Himself, more people from this wicked world, to the kingdom of His dear Son. Father, hallowed, exalted, sanctified, glorified, lifted up be your name today and forever.

In Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Urgent Goldfuss update (February 20)

2011-02-22T09:03:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We are asking you to pray for the young couple from Peru (Jorge and Cecilia) that lost the two babies. This time last week, Cecilia's body was not responding to any of the antibiotics. She was literally at the point of having the infection throughout her whole body. Our church pleaded with the Lord for her on Wednesday night that He would be glorified in her, and we asked specifically for Him to heal her. The Lord healed her. Today in church Jorge gave an excellent testimony of what they have been through and how surprised the doctors were at Cecilia's clean bill of health. They were totally praising the Lord.

Right after church, someone had an appointment at their home to buy a car that they had recently bought over the internet here in Mexico City. They had bought a minivan recently when Ceci's family came to visit and wanted to trade that for a smaller car, which they did about a month ago. They had had a lot of problems with their newer car and finally seemed to have gotten them fixed. So they decided to sell it. What they did not know was that the car was stolen and sold to them. The original owner saw it announced over the internet and came to test it today at Jorge's house. It was a sting operation and they were both taken to jail this evening. It's a long story but the end result is that the authorities said that all could be done with if Ceci would just make up a bill of sale that they were lacking and sign it. Ceci said that she would not lie--therefore it appears that her husband may face some substantial jail time, unless our Lord intervenes dramatically. They have done nothing wrong, except for mistakenly not getting a bill of sale. Even the owner who organized the sting today recognizes that they are not the ones who stole the car from him. But here, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. This couple has really been through the wringer the last few months. Please pray that the Lord would honor Jorge and Cecilia as they have sought to honor Him. The God who rescued Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego from the law of King Nebuchadnezzar is the same God of Jorge and Cecilia. Please pray that the Lord would honor and exalt His name in this. Please pray for the Lord's protection of Jorge in jail. Please pray that the Lord would intervene and allow Jorge to get out tomorrow. We covet and need your prayers desperately,

In Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (January 20)

2011-01-20T18:10:00.001-06:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for your prayers. The people are working well together on the new place of worship. (Kid-power is a wonderful resource rarely used in this day. We are making good use of it, and the men are amazed with all that the children can accomplish!) We are enjoying the non-permanent home that Sra. Gaby is providing for us. There has been pretty good attendance and wonderful fellowship.
On a very sad note, Jeorge and Cecilia lost the other baby that she was expecting. This has been very sad for all, but it has also helped to unite the church as several have sent food and a few ladies have spent the entire day with Cecilia (on different days). Jorge needed to leave her alone to attend his classes as he is working on his doctorate.
The Lord has opened doors through the use of MP3 players! First of all, the Lord began burdening Mike's heart to purchase several MP3 players for our church people. As many travel on buses sometimes as much as 3 hours one way to work, he thought that it would be an excellent way for them to listen to Scripture and / or messages. It has been a tremendous tool. We have a steady stream of people coming by the house to get more messages downloaded onto their MP3s. Well, it occured to us to try this with our unsaved friends. The idea was to loan and not give them the MP3s; and then if they wanted more messages, we could keep putting more on for them. If not, then they could just give us the MP3 player back for us to use with someone else. We were surprised at the results! We have been so happy that we wanted to share this idea with you so that you could do the same with your co-workers and friends. People's problems can lead them to the Person who is the solution to their greatest --a Savior from sin! Please pray for Lorena and Jadiel, 2 unsaved friends who are listening to messages. Pray especially for Jadiel who came to the house with several specific comments last Friday night--several questions about the messages and about salvation.
We are plowing along with school. Rachel and Jessica are worth their weight in gold--they actually aren't very heavy! Rachel has taken over the Crockers' school responsabilities and Jessica is helping the older 3---especially Cristi. This leaves Faith free to mainly help the little ones. We are really enjoying their joyful personalities, and Mikey enjoys teaching them about Mexican culture although they are not sure whether they should always follow his advice.
The last 8 days have been difficult for Cristi. She has not be sleeping well. We are sure that it has to do with the dyslexia, growing, and possibly trying so hard. A childhood friend and also a missionary here in Mexico, Deborah (Gassman) Perez is helping us get some supplements that have really helped her son with his neurological problems. We pray that this will work! Please pray that she will be able to sleep in the meantime.
We have taken over the Crocker's couples ministry. We had an excellent turnout on Sunday with eight couples present and we started the book When Sinners Say I Do. Please pray for a new couple, Josue and Lupita. Josue grew up in our church, but has not attended for about 3 years. The other couples were very welcoming. Pray that the Lord would meet all of the spiritual needs there.
In the Crockers absence there have been more responsibilities. Adding to the work days on the church, there have been different problems that have been draining. The constant need can be overwhelming if we don't keep our eyes on the Lord. For example, two nights ago, a lady arrived at our home with her two children. She had been living out of her car for several days. Her extended family locked her out of her house because she is helping her father who is dying of cancer. Evidentally, he abandoned the family when they were young. She does attend our church, but is still in need of salvation. Please pray for Lydia. We have opened our school room to her when she needs a place to stay.

We have another work day on Saturday and please remember to pray for the Crockers as they are on deputation to come back here to Mexico. We have felt their absence. Although we are very tired, it is wonderful to know that, as Mike preached last night, we do serve the King of Kings! This is a humbling privilege!

In Christ,
Faith for the family------Mike, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, Caralyn ----Jessica and Rachel.

p.s. The pictures are from last Saturday's work on the new church and of our new school teachers.

Goldfuss update (January 6)

2011-01-06T21:59:00.001-06:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

We have two serious prayer requests:

Marta Garcia----(the nurse who attends our church and has had health issues). She called yesterday morning and her brother, who was a policeman in Cuernavaca, was shot to death by one of the cartels. (Cuernavaca is a city about an hour south of us.) Please pray for the family---and pray for Marta --that the Lord would use this even in her life to make her more faithful to Him.
Jorge and Cecilia----are a lovely couple who has come to us from Peru. He is getting his doctorate here in Mexico. The church was so excited to hear last month that they were expecting. Well, today was a very sad day for all of us when we heard that the baby's heart had stopped. She was 8 1/2 weeks pregnant.
As she was arriving at the hospital, she did miscarry. They were then planning on doing a complete D&C. Evidently the hospital has a policy of doing their own ultrasound before any procedure, Jorge asked them NOT to waste their time because she had already had 2 ultrasounds---but the hospital insisted. Well, they found ANOTHER baby! This baby is over 5 1/2 weeks old and already they can see a strong heartbeat! How unusual! Please bathe these dear ones in prayer--as they have really been through it today. Praise the Lord for his preserving of this new little one---and please continue to pray as Cecilia is still very weak and things are still unstable.

Our work meeting last night was not well attended as many were sick or otherwise busy. But the ones who came worked hard (all 22 of us) and joyfully. We finished at 11:15 pm with all of the work completed and we are completely out of our former location. We will be temporarily meeting at Senora Gabby's home until the new location is finished. Please pray for all who are working---for wisdom and endurance.

Praise: the girls that the Lord has sent our way---Jessica and Rachel --are joys to have. The first week of school has gone really well!

Thank you so much for uplifting us in prayer,
The Goldfi
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Cari, Matt, Cheri, Cara, Rachel, Jessica, and Shadow:)

Goldfuss update (January 3)

2011-01-03T11:27:00.001-06:00

Dear praying friends,

The meeting with the men about the building situation/move/fixing up did NOT take place. The main men did not come to the service. Several of them have been really struggling.

One man's family (wife and children) stopped coming entirely. We know the wife is unsaved, but she has come pretty faithfully with her husband. Now she and the oldest son (about 15) are being openly antagonistic. Needless to say, this man has been very discouraged. We were thankful for the opportunity to have him for dinner yesterday and to be able to talk and encourage him with God's Word. (This really has nothing to do with the building project.) :-)
Another man is shirking the responsibilities of leadership--that does have to do with the building project.

We had good services yesterday. We have mentioned several times our series on Spiritual Warfare and can constantly see this in our own lives and in the lives of the people to whom God has called us to minister. The atmosphere yesterday was a bit uneasy due to the work to be done and the lack of leadership. We could very easily do this ourselves and have everything look very good--and we have at times in the past. BUT, that is not the point. Please pray for the men to step up and lead this project as they offered to in the beginning. They are more than capable of taking leadership in this. Pray that they will by God's grace. Please also pray that the Lord will give Mike much wisdom as he seeks to train faithful men to train and teach others faithfully. The progress seems painfully slow at times, but we know that God's church here is His, He has started a good work ,and He will continue to perform it. Please keep praying for His work to progress in His way and His time.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (December 29)

2010-12-29T11:41:00.001-06:00

"Mexico is the world's 2nd market for job related stress, following China. Economic factors, social environments, violence, transportation challenges and family problems all contribute to the stress of most workers" (Reforma, page 2).

This quote was no surprise to us when we read it yesterday. We know of people who get up at 5:00 AM to leave their homes by 6:00AM to take between 3 and 4 hours to get to work. One young lady in our church does this only to arrive at 10:00 AM! When she leaves work, she sometimes arrives as late as 10:00PM depending on the return traffic! Thankfully, for her, this is not every day. Some are not as fortunate. Most also work a half of a day on Saturday.

Working in the world's largest city is very challenging which is why finding extra time to work on the new church building could be equally as challenging. BUT WE HAVE A LORD IN HEAVEN THAT CAN MAKE THE DIFFICULT POSSIBLE! The men have had an excellent spirit facing this daunting task. Please pray for a very essential and important meeting that the men will be having tonight after prayer meeting to decide how we can rotate the work between all to be the most efficient.

Our illness still continues. We may be on the mend. Mike has lost over 10 pounds. Cheri is the worst now.

We depend upon your prayers,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Caralyn Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (December 21)

2010-12-21T13:34:00.001-06:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

Many praises!

The Lord gave Mike and Carissa a very busy, but safe trip to the border. As Mike wrote the following on Facebook:
On our round trip to Texas and back:
# of crashed semi-trucks in accidents--6
# of dollars spent for a year's supplies--too many
# of bullets heard or taken--0
3 1/2 days with Carissa ----------------priceless"

Mike had the privilege of preaching at Lala's 90th birthday party on Saturday. He was able to preach to over 70 relatives, the majority of them unsaved. We sought to honor Lala and even more, Lala's Lord. Because of this, we were not able to participate in the church's first work party. This, we are sure, was of the Lord because the people dug right in and began doing the work without us.
All Saturday, many of our church people worked at a new location for the church. One problem is that it is going to cost more than what the men of the church originally thought. All expenses will be taken off the rent---so that is a big help. The men feel that one major advantage of the move is that we will be able to put up a big sign and have our own location. (Our present landlord has never allowed that in the past). Please pray for wisdom for the men. They reported that the work party had a good spirit and that all worked well together. You can see in some of the pictures that they had to move a whole pile of red stone up to the second floor (in buckets) to fill in so that the floor will be one solid level instead of two.
The next work meeting is Saturday---Christmas day. Since Mexico celebrates Christmas in the evening of the 24th, there is no conflict for them. So that our family will be able to help, we will be celebrating our American Christmas with our family on the 24th, then the Mexican Christmas with them on the evening and night of the 24th. Then there will be another big work party during the day of the 25th.---And finally church on Sunday with a baptismal service, a meal together, and a Christian video following the usual services. Please pray for the great spirit to continue. You all can think of us on Christmas day when we have our work party; and please pray for unity, love, and wisdom for our church people. ***I almost forgot to ask for prayer at the special Christmas service on Thursday evening the 23rd!!! (pictures are included from the 1st work party). So that means activities with the church people from Thursday through Sunday!
Mike was invited to preach at another church in the city for their Christmas service on Sunday evening. What a great opportunity as there were many visitors. How we miss Jon to help with all of the preaching. Please pray for stamina for Mike.

Thank you so much for faithfully praying for the ministry here in Mexico City and for our family. How thankful we are to have a Savior from all of our sin! Thank you Lord for sending your Son! And how thankful we are to have you standing behind us in prayer!

With much love, the Goldfusses
(Faith) for all the rest of us--Mike, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn

Goldfuss quick update (December 12)

2010-12-12T22:21:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Please pray:

Tomorrow morning, (right now in about 5 hours) Carissa and I are leaving to accompany Jon and Andrea and family to Texas. Please pray as this trip is much more dangerous here in Mexico now.
Quickly, we just found out this week that our church is going to be moving to another place to meet. The new place has a ton of work that needs to be done, but the people are excited about doing it. Please pray that this would draw us closer in the bonds of love and that we would all pitch in and help for the Lord's glory and the good of His people.
This coming Saturday, I will be preaching at Sra. Lala's 90th birthday party--in front of many of her unsaved family members. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and the ability to give the gospel clearly and glorify the Lord for Lala's life.
Many opportunities for preaching this Christmas season. Please pray for the Lord's wisdom and for the gospel to be presented clearly.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
mike for us all

Goldfuss update (December 6)

2010-12-06T11:59:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying friends,

We had a wonderful time in Florida at the family reunion that Mike's mom put together for the whole family. Mom flew us there and back and paid for our whole time together. Everyone had a WONDERFUL time. The kids all got to see their cousins--all 22 were able to spend 8 days together, and about 1/2 of them got to spend another 5 days together after several others had to leave for left for their homes. All of my brothers and sisters and spouses were able to be together too with Mom.

We have just recently started a new SS theme on why the Bible is trustworthy. Last Sunday I asked several of the people in the discussion time how old they were the first time they ever picked up a Bible and tried to read it. One lady said that she was 63 years old, a few people mentioned that they were in their 30's, and another lady who has attended for about 2 years said that she had never read or opened a Bible until she came to our church. Please pray that this study would increase our faith in and obedience to God's Word. Please also pray that Padierna Bible Church will be and remain faithful to God's Word. Pray that all of us will make it our lamp and light for our daily lives.

We have also been three weeks in a new study on the spiritual war that we are in with our own flesh, the world and the devil. There is no shortage of the enemy around and within us, and some folks have really been feeling that battle. The last few weeks, our attendance has been ravaged by a number of people sick and a number of other people just really struggling in their spiritual lives. Please pray for the Lord to give us much wisdom in dealing with different situations each day. Since the rains have gone, it seems like in the past 3 or 4 weeks, MANY are dealing with sinus, cough, cold and congestion due to pollution. Please pray for the Lord's grace to sustain us physically and spiritually day by day.

For the past year and a half, we have been privileged to have the Crocker Family, Jon, Andrea, Paul and Timothy, living in the cabin on our property. Sadly, they have to leave on December 13, a week from today. We are really really going to miss them. They have been a super tremendous blessing to our family and our church in the past year and a half. They have helped in the ministry in many many ways and will be very much missed here. Please pray for them as they will begin full time deputation to come back to Mexico City in the Lord's time. They would be a great missionary couple to support. :-) The church had a going a way dinner for them yesterday. Pray for Jon as he will be preaching and doing the SS hour this coming Sunday for the last time.

Jon and Andrea have helped greatly in our homeschooling for the past year and a half as well. They will be missed in that area as well. We are very thankful that the Lord has provided two young ladies to come and help for second semester--Rachel Steffensmeier and Jessica Snell. We trust that they will be a blessing to our family in homeschooling and that we will be a great blessing to them as well. Jon and Andrea haven't even left, Rachel and Jessica haven't even arrived, but it's probably not too early to mention that we will also need someone to come help with school in the fall. If you know anyone who would like to have that opportunity on a missionfield, please let them know that we would love to hear from them.

We have had a few more opportunities recently to give the gospel clearly. Pray especially for a lady who visited our home last Saturday--Elisabet.

Please pray for Mike and Carissa as they will accompany Jon and Andrea up next Monday to the Texas border. As you may have noticed in the recent months, the drug lords in Mexico have caused much unrest and violence throughout much of the country as they battle for the best drug routes. We would appreciate greatly your prayers for the Lord's protection of us as we travel next week.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We could not be here if you were not upholding us before the throne of grace--that grace that we all so desperately need.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii (Faith, Mikey, Cristiana, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith and Caralyn)

Goldfuss update (October 19)

2010-10-19T22:15:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying friends,

We haven't written for a couple of weeks. Sometimes it seems like there is a sameness and routine--not too much seems new. However, in reviewing the last couple of weeks, I'm sure "sameness" and "not new" are two terms that you won't think fit after you read this. When you are living day by day, some things just seem to not be as big a deal, but we are thankful for blessings and protection.

About 6 weeks ago I received an email from a missionary lady in Peru who said that she knew a couple that was coming to Mexico City where the man was going to study, and could I send directions to our church. Since this city is soooooo big, we have heard things like that before and the people have ALWAYS lived very far away from where we are located. She did mention the school where the man would be studying. I have heard of that place, (if it's the one I had seen before) and it's about 3 minutes down the mountain from our church. Two weeks went by and one Wednesday night there was a knock on the door at church--Jorge and Cecilia, the couple from the email were there. They came right in and haven't missed a service since--including ladies' and mens' meetings. They had not checked their email to get the news and our church address from the other missionary lady until that night and decided to go look for our church. They live one street over and 3 streets down from our church and can come walking. :-) What a blessing they have been in the short time that they have been with us. Praise the Lord with us for them. They have been an encouragement, and we pray that we will be an encouragement to them.

We have been having two men's meetings per month--meeting before our SS hour. Please pray that the book that we are studying on preaching would be a help to the 7 or 8 men who are attending faithfully.

This past Sunday for dinner we had 2 of our church couples for lunch (actually, it was dinner, we ate "lunch" at 6:00 PM.) It was a very encouraging time as they were interested in how we as a church can be more of a family. We talked about being honest with each other, really loving others where they are, and dealing with problems honestly. Praise the Lord for this interest. Pray for us to all put it into practice.

Reme and Juana and their family have moved up to within about 1/2 mile of where we live now. They are living in a house that Sylvia has on her property. About a week and a half ago, they were awakened at 2:30 AM to what they first thought were fireworks. Then they realized it was the sound of gunshots. There was a shootout right behind their home. The bullets were kicking up dirt and they could hear the dirt coming down on their roof. The shootout lasted 1 1/2 hours. Machine guns, pistols and some other kind of high powered gun were all used. The next day, the big news was that 15-20 men had stormed the nearby house. The people in the house had weapons and fought back. That's why it lasted so long. The father died in the home while the wife and 3 of the children (all older) were taken in a car and found shot to death about 1 mile from us. The family that was all killed was into drug trafficking, so it appears that it was all drug-related. Things in Mexico as a whole have been in great upheaval, but closer to Mexico City, things have been pretty quiet on the drug front. Please pray that the Lord would continue to protect us as He so faithfully has up until now. (Jon Crocker said that he heard it that night from our cabin across the yard.)

Mike's mom has been planning and saving up for a family reunion for the last several years. The fruits of her labors have finally come to fruition. We all will be leaving on Thursday for Florida for the reunion. The countdown has been pretty excruciating for all these kids in school--and mom the teacher along with the Crockers who have had to put up with the excited kids :-) Mom Goldfuss will be present, Mike's 6 other brothers and sisters with their spouses, and 22 cousins/grandkids, etc. Please pray that we will have a nice time of rest, relaxation and spiritual refreshment and encouragemente together. Please pray for Jon and Andrea as they hold down the fort at home and church.

Thank you for all your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 21)

2010-09-21T15:53:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying friends,

It's wonderful when the Lord brings back people from the past.

During the past month, the Lord has given us good contact again with Esther and her three children and Alejandrina. Both have come back to church. Please pray for the Lord in His grace to work in both of them and to make them faithful, Christ-like believers. Both have had some very difficult times and would appreciate your prayers.

Tere has had a rough month since her husband died, but it's a blessing to see her continue to seek to trust in the Lord day by day. She is also having some health issues.

We have almost finished 3 months of messages on forgiveness. Many have commented on the help that they have been and others are still struggling with forgiving others who have offended them. It is always a wonderful truth to remember that no one has ever sinned more against me, than I have against God. So, if He has forgiven me ALL my sins, there is no one that I should not be able to forgive as well. Pray that the Lord will continue to use them for His honor and glory. If anyone has spanish neighbors who would perhaps benefit from this series, we would be glad to supply some cd's for you to give to them.

Some in the church are still struggling financially. Please pray for them not to get their eyes off of Christ and to be controlled by these debts. As well, please pray that we would all have wisdom in our finances so as not to become enslaved in the first place.

Please pray for two ladies in the church who have some friction between them. Pray that the Lord will empower both to be Christlike in their words and responses.

School has gotten started. We praise the Lord for the Crockers and their help in school each day. Please pray for the Lord to provide a helper/s for second semester in His perfect will.

Last Wed/Thursday, Mexico celebrated its Bicentennial. We got to go to Alejandro, Guille and Morgan's home to enjoy some of the best tacos in all of Mexico--around 11 PM. 11 tacos at 11 PM doesn't help one sleep the best, but they sure tasted good. Pray that God in His grace would truly give the independence that only comes through faith in His Son to Mexico.

In our children's SS classes, we have one adult who teaches and one of the young people who assist with verses and crafts. Cristi recently worked on different clay scenes for her activity in the class. I've enclosed some pictures so that you can see her handiwork. Please note the intricate flowers and even the braids in Pharoah's daughter's hair. Man, I would have the patience to do about 1/4 of one of her fruits or flowers before I went crazy. She is VERY talented in art. Hope you enjoy them.

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

Goldfuss update (August 19)

2010-08-19T15:15:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying friends,

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

Goldfuss update (August 1)

2010-08-01T21:42:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Our biggest request is VBS this week from 3:00–6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The church people have done a lot of work to get things in order. Pray that we will do the Lord's will in each and every aspect of the week.

Teresa didn't come today for about the 4th week in a row. Please pray for her as she battles with discouragement in her struggle to help her husband.

Martha often makes it to SS, but has to leave to work. She was able to stay through for our worship service today. It was wonderful to have her and it was wonderful to see her spirit in the service. Please pray as she recently had some radiation treatment.

We do have a significant praise. The main books that Cristi needs to read for her coming school year from BJU press have already been recorded through Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic!!!! This will help her immensely and she'll be able to do a great deal more of her schoolwork by herself and it will also free up Faith to be able to teach other subjects to the little ones. Praise the Lord for helping us find this tremendous rescource.

Thank you for praying,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (July 27)

2010-07-27T21:53:00.002-05:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

You might be shocked, but we are freezing down here!!!! We have had to light the woodstove three times this week. In Mexico????? Well, we live in Mexico City where we are just about 10,000 feet--almost twice that of Denver. The rains have been very cold and the sun hadn't come out before today for about 6 days. We praise the Lord for a cozy home where we can take refuge from the downpours.

Praise:

We had a very good teacher training sesson last Saturday where 5 teachers received positive constructive criticism on their presentations by Victor Labelle and the rest of the listeners. We appreciate Victor's hard work helping our teachers develop their abilities. We are scheduling more training sessions so that the other 15 teachers and assistants can give their presentations and benefit from all of the feedback.

Prayer requests:

Wisdom in dealing with two difficult church situations.
Teresa--who is very discouraged. Her husband Alberto has a very serious lung condition. Teresa has been doing everything for him. He is very depressed and will not speak to her. He is also refusing to take his medicine. Pray for the Lord to give Teresa endurance as it is hard for her to sleep at night with his care giving. Pray also for her as she struggles because she so wants the Lord to save her huband. And lastly, please pray for Alberto's salvation. They are only in their late 50's. Alberto's brother died about 2 months ago from the same rare lung condition.
Jason and Danielle Boyle--as they are looking for a permanent home in the city. Right now they are staying with us above our garage. Their goal is to begin language school this fall. (In the meantime we are putting them to work in VBS!)
Reme and Juana as they have to move again. This will again be a temporary situation. Pray for permanent housing.
Jon and Andrea Crocker---(Our missionary co-workers that live in our cabin) They will be leaving tomorrow for about two weeks, travelling to California for Andrea's sister's wedding. Pray for Mike as he has additional preaching responsibilities. **Also, another church just called and needs a preacher for Sunday---so Mike will be going over there on Sunday evening. Please pray for endurance and wisdom in helping this church as they have had problems in the past.
Two of our teens who are helping in VBS---that the Lord would develop a love for teaching and serving Him.

Coming dates:

July 31: VBS final preparation meeting from 2–4 p.m. We will also be giving out invitations in the neighborhood.
August 2–5: VBS
August 9: the Crockers come back
August 11–17: Visit from the Batorys-our GFA director
August 23: school starts
September 4: teacher presentations

Family news: We are trying to be able to download some of Cristi's textbooks to be able to listen to audibly. She is reading well, but the amount that she now needs to do with entering junior high will be exhausting and give her a headache. Pray that we will be able to figure out exactly what she needs to study well on her own. We thank the Lord that BJU press is helping us in this process.

Thank you again for your prayers. We depend upon them.

In Christ,

Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristiana, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (July 22)

2010-07-22T23:22:00.003-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

This has been a very busy time.

We were privileged to have good friends of ours, Dave and Marie Wickman, from our home church, visit us for an entire week. They were a great encouragement and a huge blessing in helping get some projects done and also just talking. Praise the Lord for great friends.

Please pray for a number of people who are discouraged about debt problems that they are having. Because of this, it is affecting other areas of their lives, including their worship and walk with the Lord. Please pray for encouragement and wisdom for them and for us.

Thank you for praying for the church discipline issue a couple weeks ago. The Lord worked in that situation and both parties appear to be seeking to do what God wants them to do in the situation. Keep praying.

Our Vacation Bible School is coming up quickly--it will be August 2-5. Please keep this spiritual endeavor in your prayers. Pray for visitors, and for God's Word to work in the hearts of our own church children who are able to attend.

You may have heard about recent violence here in Mexico. Mostly, Mexico City has stayed free of the drug violence that has been rocking much of the country (that is apart from all the normal everyday violence that is characteristic of a big city). :-)

However last week, Teresa, from our church, told us about the federal police agents/SWAT agents in front of her house. They told her to stay inside while they arrested her next door neighbor who has been involved in some kind of drug activity. She just thought he was a normal next door neighbor.
Just this morning as Mikey was on his way with Morgan to basketball practice, they were detained about ten minutes as three police trucks passed their taxi, stopped a man in a car, pulled him out, threw him down and stomped on him. Mikey said it was right before him. He came home talking non-stop about what they had seen.
Monday, Mike and Cristi made a border trip (735 miles) to McAllen, TX to pick up Jason and Danielle Boyle. Jason was our first intern about 10 years ago. They now have all their support and are coming down to live permanently now. We made it up Monday evening. Jason and Danielle came on Tuesday and we left McAllen for Mexico City yesterday (Wed.) morning about 6:30 AM. The Mexican border city with McAllen is Reynosa, Mexico where there has been a lot of drug violence in the past year. We praise the Lord that He kept us safe and that we made it home here last night about 9:30 PM. We got to stop in Monterrey to have breakfast with our wonderful friends the Zartmans. This morning Mrs. Zartman wrote with the news headlines from yesterday morning. I'll just give you the translation:

Three Die in Shootout in Reynosa
A heavy shootout between two groups of organized crime members left a total of at least 3 people dead and also paralyzed traffic on the Reynosa-Monterrey Highway around kilometer 21.
According to witnesses, the shootout happened about 8:00 AM and lasted about 45 minutes . . . dozens of people who were going to Monterrey or Gustavo Diaz Ordas were direct witnesses to the confrontation between the two armed groups.

From our calculations, we only missed that by 5-10 minutes—we went right through there. If you were praying for us on Wednesday, thank you very much. The Lord is good. When we get to heaven, it will be very interesting to see how many times He spared our lives here on earth because He was not yet done conforming us to Christ's image.

There continues to be a heavy amount of violence in Mexico. Please continue to pray for the Lord's protection and that we would be faithful witnesses of our Lord Jesus.

Please pray for Esteban, a tremendous contact that Faith and I had an opportunity to witness to in a taxi last week for about two and a half hours. Also pray for Olivia, a friend who execises with Faith. She had opportunity to witness to her today for about two hours as well. May the Lord find us faithful.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (June 24)

2010-06-24T23:25:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

The team left early on Monday morning. We have enclosed some pictures from our church get together with them on Saturday. We had a good number of visitors on Saturday and Sunday at church. Pray for the visitors to return.

Please pray also as Friday night several men in the church will be following the second step of Matthew 18 in church discipline for the family who has been loaning money with interest. Please pray for repentance for the family, for the truth to come out, for the church to see the seriousness of sin, and for all of us to grow through this situation.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (June 19)

2010-06-19T00:22:00.002-05:00

Dear praying friends,

Thank you again for all of your prayers.

Please pray for the many new people that have been coming. All are in need of salvation.

Luis----a friend of the Gabriel and Lilliana. He has come out of that sect "the perfects."
Betty and Yolanda cousins of Lilliana --they both want to bring their families.
Silvia---friend of Eric and Delilah
Miguel and Ester---friends of Marta (who has had trouble with her health)
Ivan and Claudia and family---friends of Juana and Reme

Others who are not so new, but still in need of salvation

Eric and Delilah---Morgan's brother and sister-in-law
Cristian---Morgan's brother
Marbella and family
Ester, Lydia-- and families
Sr. Juan and Sra. Angelica

Two families who need encouragement right now.

Nico and Lilliana--They have not been faithful in church. *****(After I wrote this, Nico was almost in an accident where there were 3 tractor trailers involved. He said that literally it was either hit the semi or go off of the cliff. Somehow the car stayed on the road. He said it was literally like the Lord held his vehicle on the road. Because of this, Nico came to talk with Mike and was at the special services that we had on Wednesday night. Pray that this is not just a passing emotion but truly the Lord's work in him.)
Marcos and Ruth--Ruth has gone back to work to help with the family's needs. Now Marcos has been able to quit his nighttime taxi job--which means that they get to see him in the evenings. Pray as Ruth's working is still a big strain on the family, and Juana (the grandmother) is taking care of the girls during the daytime.

We have a serious problem that we would like you to bring before the Lord. There is a family that has been coming to our church for a very long time. They have been "helping" people from the church who have financial needs by connecting them with two rich ladies who then give them loans. The loans are at 10% interest per MONTH and basically strap the people because they don't realize what that implies. Then the church people can barely pay the monthly interest. We have asked this family to stop being the middle people between the church people and the ladies, but they will not. We asked to go and talk with the ladies who loaned the money with one who received the money, but they would not take us to meet them. The one who borrowed the money has never met these ladies. They eventually had Mike meet 8 hours later with 2 ladies who we later found out were really their neighbors instead of the ladies that they originally said lived in a very rich section of Mexico City. There have been so many lies. The situation is very sad and confusing because of all of the lies. Please pray. It appears that there are no ladies and that this church family is loaning other believers money at a tremendous rate of interest.

There is much more information which gives reason to suspect them and also to suspect them as being the ones who took the offering last fall, possibly to loan to others, but we have no concrete proof. What makes the situation worse is that this family is going to other church people and turning them against the one who owes the money and against Mike. In this case, the person has already paid 3x what he owed and he still needs to pay more because of the ridiculous interest. This family knows that it is not biblical to charge a brother interest. The brother also realizes that he gave his word to pay. So it is a very difficult situation. We now believe that a family who left the church over 4 years ago may have left because they ended up paying 4x what they borrowed from the "ladies" that this family "helped" them find. We were not fully aware of that situation at the time. So as you can see, this is affecting the church.

The Lord helped us get through the situation about two months ago where the men were not wanting to help the new growing Christians. We are so much better as a church now even though that situation was very hard. We have all grown because of it, and the people are wanting to be patient and help all of the new people that are coming into the church. ---SO we know that the Lord can also use this situation for his honor and glory.

GOOD NEWS: We had 20 different people come to the TEACHER'S TRAINING CONFERENCE that Victor LaBelle gave to our church people. The response was wonderful!!! And because of that, we are having another practice session in 5 weeks at the end of July where each teacher and assistant can teach for 5-10 minutes and Victor will give helpful feedback to help all who participate. To thank all who have been teaching and will be teaching, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, and Carissa held a small banquet. (Pictures are included). This also gave Faith a chance to teach our kids how to host an elegant occasion. Everyone had fun----even Mikey who kept running into the other room to check the score between England and the United States in the World Cup. Praise the Lord we had such a wonderful response----and for the desire to serve the Lord through teaching!

Happy and sad news: We have talked about Victor Ramirez Aguirre. He is a young man who began coming to our church around Thanksgiving and was saved, and grew like a weed. He was planning on living here, but a job fell through and then his parents asked him to go home to Spain because both of them are having health problems. Last Wednesday,Victor preached and then Carissa made 2 farewell cakes that we enjoyed with the church. We are sad to see him go, but he is excited to tell all of his friends and family what he has found in the Lord. He is now living in Logrono, Spain. If anyone knows of any missionaries that live near there, please write us. We are only familiar with missionaries that are in the Barcelona area.

NEED FOR A TEACHER: We are now beginning to advertize for a need for a teacher for SECOND semester. The Crockers are able to stay until Christmas before they need to go back to the States to raise full-time support. Although we are trying to figure out a way to keep them here, we want to cover the possibility that they will not be with us second semester. Our need is great. We need to cover 5 students (5 of our 6 children) for 40 classes. Each child will be taking 8 classes. Of course Faith will be teaching the students full-time along with the needed teacher.

Thank you again for upholding us before the throne of grace. We depend upon your prayers!

How could I have almost forgotten?????

We are in the middle of having the BJU team. I wrote most of this on Sunday evening right before they came, but our internet was not working---so we could not send this letter. We had a special service on Wednesday that was wonderful. The team has visited many sites in the city while passing out literally thousands of tracts. Pray for fruit from that endeavor. We will be having a Saturday afternoon cookout---at our home, and a full day on Sunday. The team will then be leaving next Monday. Please pray for the Lord's working in all of our lives.

In Christ,

The Goldfusses---Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn

Goldfuss update (June 8)

2010-06-07T23:17:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

The Wedding. Sarai and Humberto were married on Saturday. Thank you for your prayers. It was a very difficult week or two leading up to the wedding, but that was probably because we had some OUTSTANDING opportunities to give the gospel during the reception. Please pray for Isaac and Sylvia--not married and living together, a doctor and his wife, Liliana Olivares' 2 cousins, Bety and Yolanda, and Hilario and Sandra. It was an exhausting day but very very profitable. Praise the Lord that Yolanda came to church yesterday. She had said that she was not interested at all in a Christian church, but she wanted to see a wedding. After the wedding, she came to our services yesterday and said she really enjoyed being there. Please pray for the Lord to save each one of these people. (We are including some pictures from the wedding Saturday that Lourdes from our church took. The family one has a not so nice-looking green tarp over us all.)
This Saturday at 2 pm we are planning two teacher training sessions for our SS teachers and the young people who help them. It is also open for anyone else who would like to teach in the future. Faith and the girls are doing a sit-down lunch for all of them--about 25 people total are expected.
A week from this evening, the BJU Spanish team will be arriving. We have a lot to do to get ready for that this week.
Pray for one of the kids who is still finishing up school. Please pray for endurance to finish.
Andrea delivered Timothy Wesley Crocker a week ago this past Friday. Things were a bit hectic, and he came 3 weeks early, but praise the Lord that they are both doing well and back here in the cabin again.
As many of you might remember, we had an extended period of time in this past year where men were not showing any patience or love toward others. There is a new man who has been coming recently, Luis, who comes from a cult named "The Perfects." We have a few other people who have been attending for a few years who have come out of that group--they have joined us, "The Unperfects." :-) Anyway, in our SS class right now we are going through sanctification and the flesh. Morgan asked a question yesterday that he would not have asked if Luis had been there. The questions, answers and comments back and forth throughout the class were a tremendous blessing as no one was prideful or overbearing in their answers. It underscored God's grace to us in these last few months in seeing how He has brought some of the men along tremendously in their love, charity and humility in their answers to and treatment of others. To give you just an idea of the kind of discussion we had yesterday, Galatians 5:24 states: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." If Luis had been there, he would definitely have taken that verse to say that if someone is in Christ, they then don't sin because the passions and desires have been crucified. So we tried to honestly search out the verse and it's meaning and understand it in relation to other verses that talk about the fight in the believer. Liliana Olivares had a great statement yesterday. It even rhymes in English--"So before I was saved, sin was my delight; Now it's my fight." Praise the Lord for His work in teaching us through difficult times. Praise the Lord for the patience he is teaching each one of us with others, when He is and has been so patient with us.

We thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 24)

2010-05-24T11:49:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Prayer Partners,

The last couple months have been filled with challenges. It has been extremely busy and we aren't sure sometimes if we've been meeting ourselves coming or going.

Helping other churches
A church about an hour away has asked for help and advice because their pastor resigned. Then the pastor returned to his position, so we are praying for them and the Lord's direction. Morgan has been helping once a month in preaching for another church where the missionary is on furlough. Jon filled in for him one Sunday. That Sunday between Jon and I, we preached in 4 different places in the city. We really felt like our heads were spinning that day, but we were thankful to be busy serving the Lord in many places throughout the city.

We had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday as the Lord brought about 60 people for our sunrise service in the living room and 81 for the regular worship service in the garage. The early service was followed by a full breakfast and the regular service was followed by a full taco lunch. We had about 15 visitors that day and were missing about 15 regular people. It was a happy and blessed day. (We've enclosed some pictures.)

Growth

We've seen much growth in Victor. He has come from Spain to live with his aunt and uncle here in Mexico City, and has asked great questions, helped with answers to different questions in SS, has agreed to prepare a message to preach on a Wednesday, and attends Jon and Andrea's Bible study on Sunday nights at the Olivares home. The Bible study has been a great learning and growing experience for all who attend there as Jon has been preaching through Bible Doctrines.
Martha has returned for about 4 of the last 6 weeks after not having attended for several months. She has been bringing two friends--Esther and Miguel, whom she has known for years at a Neurotics Anonymous group. She has only been able to attend for our SS class as she is a nurse who has to work in the afternoons, but we are grateful that the Lord has brought her back again. Please pray for her continued health problems with extremely low blood platelets.
Luis--used to attend the Olivares church (actually, instead of "church" we should say "cult"), where they taught all types of false doctrine, including perfectionism. In fact, their group was called "The Perfects." He recently met up with Gabriel Olivares from our church and has been attending pretty faithfully for the last month and a half. Many of you remember that we had some problems for several months between several of the men and their unwillingness to love and be patient with others in the church. Luis is another opportunity for them to show patience and love toward someone who has been woefully taught in the past and comes with much baggage. Please pray that the Lord will give us all patience and love toward men like him, as we remember how much patience and love the Lord has showed to us.
5 different ladies (Liliana, Vanessa, Reme, Sarai and Ruth) take turns teaching the children's classes. We have 10 young people who take turns assisting the main teachers. Lourdes is going to be added to the teaching schedule soon, so that is another blessing. Faith and Andrea are preparing the 0-3 year olds so that they will be able to be in the older children's classes and be a blessing, not a distraction.

Struggles

There is a family in the church who apparently has been loaning money to other people in the church with interest. They have denied that over and over, by saying that some other "ladies" that they know loan the money and they are just the go betweens. It has caused some serious problems that have been a tremendous drag on the church. It has been difficult to get to the bottom of the situation because of so many lies. Please pray that the Lord will give wisdom, repentance to this family and restoration. If not, pray that the discipline necessary will cause us all in the church to fear and understand how the Lord views and treats sin.

Nico missed four straight Sundays due to some conflicts with different people in the church. He returned with his family yesterday. Please pray that the Lord will help him to resolve these conflicts and to keep his eyes fixed on Christ. He struggles greatly as Liliana and his three children are all unbelievers.

Upcoming Events

Humberto and Sarai will be getting married on June 5. There will be many unsaved people present. There has been some friction between the two families over different issues for the wedding. Please pray that they will all show the love of Christ to each other and that the wedding will truly glorify our Savior, reflect His love for His church, and the church's submission to the Savior.
BJU mission team June 14-21.
June 12??--Teacher's Training Session
VBS--August 2-5.

We praise the Lord for Jon, Andrea and Paul Crocker being with us this year. They have been a great help and encouragement in the ministry. And we praise the Lord for the Labelles: Victor, Shelley, and their four children (Rachel, Victor, Michael and Sarah) who have also been a great encouragement and help in the ministry. Victor is here on a work assignment with Chase bank and we are hoping that they get extended an extra year if the Lord wills. Victor is the one who will be leading the teacher's training session.

School is ending this week. We praise the Lord that with the help of the Crockers (and Bekah Buccio during first semester)--that Cristi has been able to get totally caught up--completing two years of math and science this year. She will be completing elementary school on time and beginning junior high in the fall. The only thing that she will be behind in then is the spelling, which we will try to deal with this summer with the dyslexia therapist. We are also praying for endurance in reading. She can read 5 or 6 pages beautifully, but easily gets tired after that. Pray that the Lord will supply a teacher for the fall in His perfect will or at least a teacher for second semester as this need is urgent.

Urgent Prayer Request
Andrea Crocker woke up Saturday at 6 AM with severe pain in her lower abdomen. Around 9:30 or so, Faith had dentist appointments with all the kids so we decided to drop Faith and the kids off and Mike would take Jon and Andrea to their hospital about an hour away. About 15 minutes down the mountain, however, the pain was so intense that we decided to go to a closer hospital. After being examined, the doctors aren't sure what's causing all the pain--she's not in labor, no contractions. The doctors have done ultra sounds and X-rays, but still aren't sure as to the cause. Please pray that they will find the cause and be able to alleviate the pain. Right now they are just trying to alleviate the pain, but don't know what's causing it. They have had several ideas that it could be a kidney stone, but haven't found anything to prove that on the tests. The baby is still about a month away from the due date. Please pray for the Lord's perfect will. (A side note--Their insurance ends today and they need to renew, so pray that there will not be any problems with that with Andrea being admitted to the hospital on Saturday.) (Update to the update--Jon just called. The doctor says that they can come home and that he will just give her something for the pain. It could be that a ligament has just been very stretched. Andrea said that the pain has been worse than being in labor. So I am going to get them now.)

We appreciate greatly your prayers. We need them constantly. We will try to get back to writing more frequently.

In Christ

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (April 1)

2010-04-01T21:23:00.002-06:00

Just a quick note to let you all that we made it through the border crossing without any incidents yesterday and made it to the Zartmans in about 2 1/2 hours. Stayed overnight and left this morning and made it back home here about 6:30 this evening.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (March 30)

2010-03-30T21:20:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We had a wonderful time this past week in Houston with Faith's mom and dad. The church apartment where we stayed was just perfect for our whole family. The weather was beautiful and it was wonderful to just spend time with family with no other responsibilities.

We have heard good reports about little Cristofer from last week. When we wrote last week, he was down to the use of about 1/2 of one lung. He has a staph infection, but praise the Lord he is now improving and doing much better. Pray for his Dad and Mom, Miguel and Alondra, that the Lord would use this in their lives to draw them to Himself.

We drove down here to McAllen, Texas today from Houston. We have heard that there was a big drug lord shootout in Reynosa today for several hours and the army closed off all roads in and out for several hours. Reynosa is where we have to cross over tomorrow to head to Monterrey where we are planning on staying with the Zartmans overnight and then on Thursday plan on driving the rest of the way to Mexico City. We do appreciate your prayers for the Lord's will and our safety.

Sunday we are planning our third Resurrection sunrise service followed by breakfast and then our regular service followed by lunch--at our home for the whole day. We are looking forward to this wonderful highlight to our year.

Thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (March 22)

2010-03-22T22:10:00.001-06:00

Hello All,

Thank you to some of you who knew to pray for our trip from Mexico City to the border. We are travelling to Houston today (Monday) to meet with Faith's parents as they have not seen the children in three years. So this should be a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa.

There have been drug wars around the border, especially between Monterrey and Reynosa, the last 2 1/2 hour leg of our trips to the border. Last week there was a two hour shoot-out between the army and drug lords. The drug people have taken over in this area and have been stopping cars to take whatever they want. (This we found out after making the trip). We did drive by the shoot-out place, and the Lord kept us safe the entire trip.

We stayed with the Zartman's for Saturday night and Sunday service, and then made it safely to our friends Jack and Mollie at the border in McAllen. It was a sweet time with both and we are so thankful for their hospitality.

Even though we are looking forward to a wonderful time with grandparents, our hearts are in pain. When we were at the Zartman's, Jon Crocker called to say that Miguel and Alondra's little boy Cristopher is in very serious condition. They went to the socialized medicine and the doctors said that little Cristopher was fine. He was not getting better however, and now now he has a collapsed lung and the other is working at 50% capacity. All of this due to pneumonia. The doctors give him little hope for survival. We beg you to pray for this young couple. We have three little ones in our nursery that were all born within 2 weeks of each other: Alejandra, our baby Caralyn, and little Cristopher will all be turning 3 in the next 2 weeks. Our hearts are heavy that we cannot be with them at this time. For many of you that might remember, Alondra was one of the twins that our church people were able to help for about 3 years. Now both twins are married. Miguel and Alondra have desired to move closer to the church as they come a couple of times every 3 months or so because they live 2 hours away. Please pray for the Lord's perfect working in their lives ---however hard that might be---even though our hearts cry out for the Lord to completely heal little Cristopher. We must remember that our ways are not HIS ways and we must submit to his loving divine will as He knows how this perfect picture is being painted.

The men are leading in our absence. Morgan is preaching and Jon is teaching Sunday school. Both Marcos and Memo will be leading the services. Praise the Lord all of the men are working together and two are reaching out to have newer less established people into their homes for the purpose of discipleship and encouragement in the Lord. Only the Lord can take the fighting that happened for several months and make us all better for it. He is a marvelous Lord. Please again remember little Cristopher. We love you and thank you so much for upholding our people and ourselves in your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn Goldfuss

PS--We received word this evening that little Cristofer has become more stable. Please continue to pray.

Goldfuss update (March 2)

2010-03-02T17:46:00.001-06:00

Dear praying friends,

Thank you so much for praying for our church. The only thing that we can say right now is that God is answering your prayers. His power has been so overwhelming that even though we are in the middle, we can only stand back in awe and praise the Lord. This situation has involved five different men. After dealing with the situation for over three weeks now, in the last three days, four of the five men have explained how the Lord has showed them through His Word of their need to change. One other man has been changing gradually as well. This is only a result of your prayers. Mike still needs to talk to one more man, but praise the Lord for His work. The last three nights, one with each man, have been physically exhausting. But praise the Lord for His work and His strength. It is so obvious that it is not our work nor our strength. Please continue to pray that the meeting will go well. It very well may be tonight. Pray for humility and a biblical Christ-like response.

We are grateful to each of you who have prayed and ask that you continue to do so. Thank you so much for holding the ropes. The Lord has worked, is working and will continue to work and build His church.

Praise His name,

Mike for us all

Goldfuss update (February 26)

2010-02-26T23:39:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Several weeks ago, we had extremely high winds and rain--way out of season for that. There were many trees down and our electricity was out for about 5 days. Then when it did come back on it was extremely low. Praise the Lord that for the last week or so we have had it at the correct voltage and strength. The little things in life that we take for granted are certainly nice to have after not having them for several weeks. This is one reason that we have been unable to write---very little or low electricity.

We really need serious prayer for some difficult situations in the church. There are several men who have really had some divisions over different issues. We prayed for years for men. Now that we have some good ones, there has been a great deal of division during the last two months. Some of the things have been corrected and repented of, but there are still some things causing division--most of it is different preferences and personalities, not anything over sound doctrine. We really need you to pray for a Christ-like love in each of our men for each other. Please pray that we will be patient with each other and recognize how much our Savior has put up with us. Then pray that that would transfer to our attitudes and actions toward each other. These men, Lord willing, will be the future leaders of this church. They have to love and care for others, not only be concerned for their own opinions. Please pray for the Lord's working.

I will admit, this has probably been the most difficult and heart-wrenching month of ministry that we have ever experienced here in Mexico City. Pray that Satan would not have a foothold, that we would all be Christlike in our attitudes and actions, and that we would bring glory to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ through it all. We are thankful that HE has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church.

Thank you for your prayers,
mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (February 5)

2010-02-05T13:52:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We have received extremely high winds and rain this past week. That is absolutely abnormal for this time of year. We are without electricity and telephone/internet and aren't sure when it will be back up. I came down around the church today to connect to see if we had any new messages. If you need to contact us, please write an email and we'll respond as soon as we can--as soon as our phone service is resotred--and that could possibly be a long time. We can get by a good bit with the generator, but that does not help the telephone situation.

Thank you for your prayers for us and the church here. There are several problems that people are communicating about and trying to get taken care of. Please pray that we would all confront and respond in humility and love.

Thanks for praying,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (January 24)

2010-01-24T23:03:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

People we have been trying to reach for awhile now:

Thank you for praying for Citlali and Lorena. They have both accepted study Bibles and devotional books gratefully. Please pray that they would both desire to have a Bible study and time with Faith. Both of their lives are very hectic and unstable.
Eric and Delilah are still coming faithfully to church, but have not been able to come for a study on marriage yet. Continue to pray for the Lord to work in their hearts.
Victor has been coming faithfully and seeking to learn. What a blessing. He is studying his Bible on his own and showing some good signs of life.

Growth Among our church people:

It is such a blessing to see men who are seeking to follow the Lord. Nico has been going out on Saturdays on his own to different parks in Mexico City. He has been doing an evangelistic questionnaire for people and giving out tracts and speaking to people about their need of the gospel. He has also been inviting different families to his house on Sundays and seeking to encourage and exhort them. It is neat to see people seeking to show hospitality to others.
Memo has been seeking to witness faithfully to several of his co-workers. We were able to have dinner with their family today and were able to talk about a few issues that they were wondering about in the church. Memo could be a major leader in the church. We have been trying to persuade him to try to preach on some Wednesday nights. Please bathe him in prayer. His wife Karina is already getting excited about VBS and has volunteered to participate in a major part. (We have not even brought this up to the church yet!)
We had a nice visit yesterday, complete with wonderful food brought by our visitors, the Olivares family. They brought chicken, pork and beef and grilled tacos out in the front yard. They are really growing by inviting friends and relatives and striving to please the Lord in what they do.

Recent Newcomers:

Bettie and her son Gabriel--came today. Bettie has come about three times throughout the last three years and today was the first day her son came with her.
And we will end this week with a real encouragement. Tania showed up to church last week. She has been praying for a good church to attend as she recently left a cult. Through some people in Monterrey who know the Zartmans, she made it to our church and the first people she met were the Olivares--who also previously had been in the same sect. She is very confused about a lot of things but has enjoyed preaching from God's Word the last two weeks. Please pray for the Lord to really show her His truth. She plans to bring her parents next week.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn

P.S. Pray for Ruth and Marcos. Ruth broke her foot and it is difficult for her to take care of their two little ones.

Goldfuss update (January 4)

2010-01-04T09:59:00.001-06:00

Dear praying friends,

The Lord is working in Eric and Dalilah's hearts. They came to church yesterday and agreed to come tonight to talk with us again. Please pray for salvation in both of them. It was an incredible surprise and blessing to see Dalilah's sister, Aurora, in attendance yesterday. We got to talk with her first about a year ago and we saw her again on Christmas Eve. She has two daughters who also attended with her--Samantha and Andrea. Please pray that they will return and also that God will open their hearts as He opened Lydia's heart in Acts 17.

Victor, who we mentioned last week, came on Wednesday night to our testimony and special hymn night. He was eager to give a testimony. The Lord is obviously working in his heart and life. Please pray as we seek to follow up with Victor as well.

Please pray for the Frutos family that has been struggling with a time of marital infidelity in the family. They were absent today. Also absent for the second straight week was the Lopez family. Please pray for the power of the gospel to work mightily in both of these families.

School has started back up again today. Our distinguished staff of Peniel Christian Academy, Jon, Andrea, Reme and Faith are all upping their load this semester in helping teach. We do ask that you would continue to pray for the Lord to provide another school teacher for this semester if He so wills it. Our distinguished staff is also very thankful for another teacher this semester--Mikey will be proctoring Matthew in 1st grade Science. We are very thankful for the great start that Bekah helped us achieve during our first semester, and we will miss her a lot.

Some have asked about the resolution of the money problem that we had with our offering situation. No one has come forward to confess that, so please keep praying to that end so that there may be restoration.

Thank you for all of your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (December 29)

2009-12-29T23:35:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for praying. As with all of your holidays, there has been much to do here and many opportunities. Of these we will give you three main requests:

Citlali is a friend that Faith has known for 4 years. In September, without any warning, her husband just left her. This has been extremely difficult for Citlali. We have been praying for her. Two weeks ago, she finally opened up to Faith about her situation. Through it all, she surprisingly and gladly received a study Bible from Faith as a Christmas gift. Please pray for more open doors and for comfort for her two young girls who are very sad and bitter.
The Lord has brought a good number of visitors along with Lourdes' family. One such visitor is Lourdes' nephew, Victor, from Spain, who is visiting Mexico and staying with his relatives while he attempts to get a job here. He is a 22 year old man who has been extremely apathetic to the things of the Lord. The last three weeks he has been coming to church, asking questions, attending Jon and Andrea's Bible study at the Olivares home, and doing his Sunday School lesson. It is obvious that the Lord is doing a work in Victor. Pray that the Holy Spirit would bring that work to bear the fruit of a truly converted man.
Eric is Morgan's younger brother. His family has been faithful for the past 8 years, although Eric hasn't attended church during the past 3 years. Eric, and his live in girlfriend, Delilah, have been attending church for about a month now. Eric appears to want to please the Lord with his life. Delilah has said before that she would never attend church. The fact that she is coming even though she is receiving ridicule from her parents is only the Lord moving in her heart. Pray for the many issues there and for great wisdom from the Lord in dealing with them.

On a more humorous note, while Bekah was still here, Mike ran down the stairs amidst wild screams in the kitchen. Several of the girls said that they had seen about a 2 foot rat walking outside our kitchen window on the ledge. While Cristi, Carissa, and Bekah were quite frantic, Cherith sat at the island calmly chomping on a peanut butter sandwich--very relaxed. Faith asked Cheri if she had seen the rat and she quietly responded, "Yes, Mommy, he had a pink nose." Perplexed about the pink nose, we decided to try to wait and see it again. It turns out that our "rat" was an opossum. He now no longer exists as daddy took care of him.

We will be starting school, second semester, next week again. We still haven't found a school teacher to help for second semester. If you know anyone who would love to serve (or maybe not even love to do it, but could), :-), we'd love to hear from them.

Adventures surround us and opportunities abound. Please pray that we will use every opportunity for the Lord's glory.

In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristiana, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (December 8)

2009-12-08T15:47:00.003-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Our first semester is winding down in school. Bekah has to leave on Dec. 19 and that will be the end of our first semester. We praise the Lord for her willingness to be here this semester, for her good spirit, and her patience with everyone. She has been a great blessing, and we have seen good progress with Cristi. Please EARNESTLY pray with us for someone to be able to come during the second semester in January to help with the homeschooling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also please continue to keep the Frutos family in your prayers. Marital unfaithfulness has created many problems in their family at the moment. They have been to church for three weeks in a row and even brought a visitor this week. Pray for the visitor, Sra. Adriana, whose husband left her that she would return.

This Friday evening, we are having a number of unsaved contacts over to make Christmas cookies. Pray for more opportunities to proclaim Christ to them.

Saturday there is a Christmas ladies' meeting. Pray for our ladies to become more like Christ in their marriages and homes.

We would also ask you to continue to pray with us for the Lord to work in the person who took the money from the offering--not so much for the money, but for that person's own spiritual good.

We thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 24)

2009-11-24T21:45:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We thank you for your prayers. As you pray for us, pray also that the Lord would make us to be a praying people as well.

The Lord gave Mike, Mikey and the Crockers a safe trip up and back down from Texas last week. Praise the Lord for His protection.
We also thank the Lord for Morgan. He preached this past Wednesday night and also our Sunday morning service. Please continue to pray for the Lord's direction in his life and for his continued growth in studying and teaching and preaching God's Word.
God has answered your prayers. The family that Mike has been dealing with who had marital problems came this past Sunday (almost every member of that extended family!) They seemed to listen well and said that they will return and bring some other people with them. Praise the Lord. Keep the Frutos family in your prayers.
This coming Friday night, we have another men's meeting. One thing on our agenda is to seek the best way in handling our offerings and money as a church. Pray for the Lord's direction. No one has admitted to taking the money. Therefore, we are assuming that it was someone outside of the church family. If it was anyone in the church, we are committing that person to the Lord.
Please still pray with us about having someone come to help with school for our second semester. Much has been accomplished, and Bekah is a wonderful worker. She knew at the beginning of the semester that she would need to return home for the second semester. Matthew is already finishing History tomorrow! She has also really helped with Cristi. We have been blessed to have had Bekah her with us. Pray for a good last month with her.
Thursday is Thanksgiving, and we are having a houseful with 39 people! (also 2 turkeys and a ham have been invited). We thank the Lord for sending his Son AND we thank the Lord for faithful prayer partners like you.

Thank you for all your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 18)

2009-11-17T23:12:00.003-06:00

Dear prayer partners,

This last week has been unusually difficult. We covet your prayers at this time.

First of all, Mike spent much time this week with a family whose father had left them. We first had contact with this family the second year that we were here. So we have known them for many years, but they only visited our church two or three times. Praise the Lord that the father has now returned home and the wife has accepted him back. Two of the grown up children are really suffering--and are having problems with forgiving their father. Please pray that they will begin attending church as they promised and that they will see their need of a Savior.

Second, on Friday, we were saddened and shocked to find out that someone has been stealing money from the church offering. More than 30,000 pesos has been taken. The amount was equivalent to about $3000 US Dollars. We are unsure exactly who could be at fault---whether it was someone inside our church or someone who lives very close to where we meet. The church people were understandably very saddened by the news as the amount for next year's rent had already been met AFTER we had spent money to remodel the new Sunday school rooms. We were so much farther ahead of any other year even during this economic recession. We were also looking forward to using our excess funds to further the Gospel. Therefore, this is a great disappointment to many. Yesterday was extremely difficult.

So many of you are very tender to any needs that we have had in the past, yet we would really like to make it clear that this is in no way a plea for funds for our church. We however DO need your prayers so that the people can see the Lord working through them in this situation. They have done such a beautiful job on their church and have given so faithfully. We are confident that the Lord will give the grace needed to see us all through this seemingly devastating time---and make us better for it.

Mike gave a very soul-searching message to all of us on our hypocrisy and how we all need to be willing to forgive whoever has taken the money because we are ALL capable of any sin. We are praying that the Lord will bring that person to repentance. If no one has returned the money by next week, Mike is planning to lead the church in assuming that the culprit is outside the church so that we are not consumed with accusing our brethren. We will then ask the Lord to deal with that person. I ask you to remember 5 things when praying for this situation:

That the Lord will bring the person to repentance.
That we as a church will wholly forgive and love the repentant person.
That we will not speculate or mentally accuse anyone.
That several young families who are struggling to work two jobs to meet their needs (literally working 7AM to midnight) and taking time off for the Lord's house will not become bitter.
And that three new families that have been very faithful in the last 6 months will not become disheartened and leave the church.

Mike and Mikey left at 3 AM this morning to accompany Jon and Andrea Crocker to the border to renew the car papers. Please pray for a safe trip and that the Lord will encourage all of their hearts as they travel and listen to messages.

As for us: Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, Cara, Bekah, and I are all holding down the fort doing school.

Thank you so much for praying!

In Christ, Faith

Goldfuss update (October 20)

2009-10-21T10:08:00.003-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

In our last update, we mentioned that Faith's cousin, Cyndi Grover was going to be visiting. She is also a GFA missionary, currently on deputation to Zambia. Our church really really enjoyed her presentation during our SS hour. Jon Crocker did an excellent job, spending about 10 hours to subtitle her DVD video presentation. We watched it twice during the hour and 15 minutes that we had for Sunday School. Once before her verbal presentation and then again after the congregation was able to ask questions. That really was a first for our church here, and the people really enjoyed it and asked some very good questions as well. What would you think if you just had seen your FIRST missionary presentation? I have probably seen several hundred during my lifetime. The believers here were very challenged toward missions. One young lady even said to a family member, "I'd like to go with her."

Morgan continues to be a blessing to the Garwoods in Uruguay. We have all missed him here, but have had tremendous reports from South America about his ministry there and the great needs that they are facing. He returns to Mexico on November 6.

Friday we will be officially 1/4 of the way through the school year. Pray for Faith, Bekah, Jon and Andrea as they are all involved in some of the teaching. The Lord has been so good to give us Bekah to help in school this year as well as Jon and Andrea for not only school but also many other ministries. They have been a tremendous encouragement. We are still looking for someone to come during second semester to help in school as the Lord directs.

This coming Sunday, we will be having a baptismal service. Memo and Karina as well as Vanessa are all planning on being baptized. Pray for a Christ-honoring time of testimony and fellowship.

Please continue to pray for Martha. She is the nurse whose husband has another woman and is abusive to Martha, she works at a very low paying job, and also seeks to provide for her two children, Frida (15) and Diego (10). Another man has shown her much affection and this has affected her. This past week she was again in the hospital with no platelets at all showing in her blood. She had three straight days of transfusions. Please pray for her and ask our God to preserve her in His paths for His glory and to increase her (and also our) love for Christ.

Humberto and Sarai are officially engaged. There is so much that both have seen growing up that has not been healthy in their own families. Please pray for wisdom in talking to them and seeking to prepare them as well as possible to glorify the Lord in their engagement, wedding, and married lives. Mike is meeting with them each Thursday evening. They are planning a June wedding.

Last week a young man that we know attempted suicide two times. The Lord enabled Mike to go and speak with him about Christ and the gospel 3 different times and each time was very very encouraging. Please pray for this young man and his family. The father is also unsaved and we had some very good opportunites to present the gospel again to him as well.

This past Sunday we finished our very detailed indepth study of Hebrews--almost two years. It has been an incredible learning experience to see how great, awesome, matchless, and superior is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ to everything and everyone else in this universe. We had several testimonies at the end of our class on Sunday morning and several people mentioned how much of a blessing it has been to study Hebrews and to really realize that when God the Father looks at us, He does not see sinners but Christ. What an amazing God!!!!!!!!! What an amazing Savior!!!!!!!! What amazing thoughts!!!!!!

Please pray that the Lord would open our understanding to see the glories and riches that we have in Jesus Christ.

Please keep Faith's mom in your prayers. She spent a couple days in the hospital last week as she was dizzy and had high blood pressure. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom to be able to find and treat the problem.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We'll include again Morgan's latest prayer update from Uruguay below.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Update from Pando, Uruguay
October 19, 2009

Three weeks have gone by since the first update on my stay here in Uruguay. The longer I am here, the more worrisome it is to see how kids, teenagers and young people are being lost because of sin in different forms. It also worries me to see how indifferent the adults are towards the younger generation, and I see that there is also a great need to continue ministering actively to the adults.

Many of these young people live with step-parents, or with a single parent: most of them live in very precarious situations, and they receive only a very limited education. For the older ones, work is very scarce. and so many of them are just on the street wasting time, stealing, doing drugs. Drugs, like everywhere else in the world, have come to be a very severe problem, and have come here to this city in force. There's a lot of violence and theft, but according to the older people and even the news media, that only began a couple of years ago.

Girls are getting pregnant from the time they're twelve years old. This place is in itself a whole world full of problems. There are some adults, but there are mostly teenagers, young people, and kids, and so that is the main field for labor, at least in this town of Pando.

The pastor and his wife have done a gigantic work drawing so many young people to the church, but as the pastor said to one of them this week: "Are you coming to church? I can't play with you guys because I'm old, but he can" - speaking about me.

The church is mostly made up of women. They face a lot of things alone, with sickness and the economy, since a lot of them are single mothers or their husbands don't work. There's a lot of sickness as well, I suppose because of ignorance in conjunction with the extreme poverty in which many of them live. A little while ago a mother lost her daughter who had just been born; a three-year old boy has leukemia; another girl, also three years old, lost part of a lung through illness; a boy was sexually abused by his own dad; a 14-year old lives with his grandmother because his mother and stepfather hate him.... Notwithstanding, many of these women and children remain faithful. But men are needed for the work to advance. I hope someone knows of an individual or a couple who can come here to this place to work, because the need is great. And so I ask that you would please pray earnestly for the work here in Uruguay, that God would save His people, sending someone or raising someone up in this place for the church to grow.

As I said, Pastor Garwood and his wife have done an enormous work here. But Pastor Garwood is up in years, and he himself told me, that like every Christian he wants to see God, but if God permits wants to stay here in this world until he can leave someone here in the church to teach good doctrine so that the church would continue to grow. It is hard for him as well, as continuing to preach is a difficult task. And so as he says, there is need for a young person to take his place and carry on the work. Last Saturday, the pastor had an accident while we were at the house: he tripped on the computer chair, fell, and banged his left ear against the closet door, so his ear split and he bled heavily. We went to the hospital right away and he had to receive stitches. Thank the Lord that everything came out OK, but it is very important that someone come to minister in this church.
Please

Goldfuss update (October 1)

2009-10-01T13:53:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Our big blessing of the past week was seeing Morgan off from the airport on Thursday morning for his missionary trip to Uruguay. He arrived safe and sound and very tired. There was a 3 1/2 hour flight to Panama, with only 20 minutes to get his next plane. How long would you guess a flight from Panama to Uruguay takes? 9:45 minutes. Check out a map to see how far away it really is. That was a surprise to me too. We'll include his first update below. The church family gave him a wonderful send off on Wednesday night. We all miss him.

We had two firstime visitors on Sunday, both the direct result of a tract or a direct witness/invite from someone in the church. It was very encouraging. The family of Sr. Pedro and Sra. Leticia has been coming sporadically throughout the summer. Their son in law, Luis, was one that received a tract this past week---so he joined the family! It was wonderful to see the Lord's working. We praise Him for seeing fruit from labors. Please pray for Luis and Eduardo to be saved.

Victor and Shelley Labelle have been down here since January. Victor grew up as a MK in Cuernavaca and now is working in Mexico City for at least two years for his bank in the USA. Sarah Grace Labelle made her arrival on Friday evening! Both Shelley and Sarah are doing well. Needless to say, the other 3 children are very excited. The people in the church got together a very nice basket full of things for the new baby. It is great to see our church people's concern for their family.

Faith's cousin, Cyndi Grover, is coming for a week beginning today!. She is also a GFA missionary, is going on deputation to Zambia, and we are looking forward to seeing a missionary presentation in SS this Sunday. This will be a wonderful opportunity for our church people as they have never before seen a missionary presentation.

Saturday we are having another one of our COLD creek walks with the church family and then a nice dinner at our home afterward. We are also planning a baptismal service for October 11. Please pray for the Lord to work out all of the details for a Christ honoring service.

We were without electricity since this past Saturday night until Wednesday afternoon. We want to thank the Lord for those of you who helped us purchase our generator last year. What an incredible blessing! The generator saved all of our food in the freezer---and without it, our poor children would not have been able to do their school videos! They are so grateful! (HA HA). Really, we could basically go on as usual with our daily routine because of your kindness. (Only poor Mike has been running around trying to keep everything running.) Thank you so much. You can only imagine the scene these last few days: (we have 4 extension cords to hook up different items) "Mike, can I do a load of laundry?" "Mommy, I need to do history now, but Mikey has the cord." "Mom, I'm done, should I haul the big electric cord into Matthew's room so that he can do his Phonics?" "There's no water. Let's unplug the kitchen cord so that we can plug in the pump to pump the water up to the roof." "If you do that, then when you are done let Bekah know so that she can do History with Cristi." It has been a mental challenge to keep the family running well, but an adventure. The lights came back on yesterday, but we are not so sure if the problem is completely fixed. Because of a problem with the electric company, we were prepared for being without electricity for a very long time. The wonderful blessing was that we have met several more of our neighbors through all of this.

Bekah Buccio has been such a tremendous help. We knew at the beginning of the year that she was only able to stay for first semester. If there is a young person (or old person ;) who would be interested in dedicating second semester to the Lord to help with homeschooling, please contact us. Every day is an interesting adventure and the Lord will teach you many things as he stretches you! (Just an added commercial)

I know that Morgan's letter is long also. Sorry for that, but it is such a joy to see how he is learning and growing through this experience. We want to share that with you.

Thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii

Update from Uruguay
Monday, September 28, 2009

The time difference from Mexico to Uruguay is 2 hours, so while in Mexico it it 3:00 PM in Uruguay it is 5:00 PM. The plane trip was very long and tiring. Before this trip I wanted to fly on a plane, but now I dread the return to Mexico! Thursday I arrived in the Montevideo airport, which is very small compared to the Mexico City airport, but larger than the Panama City airport. Uruguay has a very cold climate; they say we are coming out of winter into spring. In Panama the heat was terrible. At the Montevideo airport, Pastor Garwood and his wife, Pat, were there to meet me. Finding them was easy and they are very friendly and hospitable. Pastor Garwood looks like he's about 70-75 years old, and his wife in between 50-60, but I'm not really sure. They work very hard to give out the Gospel and to bring people to church, even though they somewhat elderly and it's difficult for them to be doing so much, nonetheless their love for the souls of people overcomes their aches and pains and age.

So then Friday I officially got to work. We went to visit church people. First of all was Señor Efraín, his wife Ana, and his grandsons Gonzalo and Sebastián. After I was introduced and we spent some time talking Pastor Garwood gave a short devotional. The grandson's mother does not go to church with the rest of them. Then we went to see Julia, who is between 40 and 50 years old. She has two children, Pablo (18) and Leila (21), her husband is named Gustavo, and only Julia is a believer. Sometimes her husband mistreats her, not hitting her or anything like that, but using harsh words. He had an operation recently for tumors in his head, but was left with some side effects and symptoms. Her children also mistreat her, not a lot, but enough. Julia had a son, steopson to Gustavo, who died: it appears he committed suicide, and it looks like it was Gustavo's fault, since he called him "illegitimate" and similar things, so the boy became depressed and maybe that was why he kiled himself. The words of Christ that the world will hate us were very applicable. After that we went downtown to do some shopping for household items, and went back to eat. In the afternoon we went out again to visit more people, one of whom was Susana, who is a single mother, about 40 years old, and she is now living with a man who is not at all Christian. The pastor says she attended very faithfully, but now she doesn't want to go anymore, since she doesn't want to leave the man she's living with who draws her away from church. After that we went to see some more people, but they were not at home.

Saturday afternoon there was the young people's meeting, which is where the pastor and his wife really have a great ministry. The group is made up of kids from 3 up to young people about 20 years old. In all there are about 30 or more in this group. It is interesting to see that though most of their parents don't go, that notwithstanding they are mostly faithful in coming. It seems to be a part of the culture here that kids are very much left alone by their parents to make important decisions, without the parents taking much interest. Here young people and kids have a lot of protection from the government, and so since parents can't "abuse" them with discipline, the young people are more rebellious towards their parents, compared to Mexicans. Here there is no law to prevent that, and besides that, most of these kids and young people don't go to school, because 1.) the cultural mindset is that they don't go anymore, 2.) extreme poverty prevents many from going to school, and 3.), like everywhere, poverty and ignorance contribute to troubled youth. There are a lot of girls who at 19 or 20 already have two or more kids, and drugs are another big problem in these areas. But I have noticed that a lot of them are pretty grounded. Pastor Garwood has told me that a lot of the young people ask him and his wife for permission to do or not do things that they really should be asking their parents, and that when he has scolded them they have responded well, and aren't rebellious towards him. I think that's because they can tell that the pastor and his wife care about them, but they can't see that with their parents.

So then Saturday the pastor asked me to give a devotional for them. It was only 25 minutes, and it was fine. I played soccer with them, which is the favorite sport here. Everybody lives and dies by soccer, even the women are entranced. Then we went to drop everyone off at their houses. Mrs. Garwood has to go drop everyone off because the whole neighborhood, the whole town of Pando is very dangerous. As I said, because of poverty, drugs, and the lack of education. So a few years aho, when they didn't go for the young people but everyone came on their own, one of them was run over by a bus, because the roads are very narrow and big busses go by. So this young man died. They say it's dangerous to go out walking as well, because they would get mugged (even though they don't have much). So that's why the Garwoods drop them all off at their houses, because otherwise the parents wouldn't let them come (which is ironic, that this is the only thing the parents oppose strongly: one mother told Mrs. Garwood that going to church a lot atrophied your brain, and that's why her son goes on Saturdays and no other day). Saturday night after the young people's meeting we went to a family dinner with the pastor's son, Daniel, because they were having a party for his 12-year old daughter, Florencia. We were there for a long time and I got to meet a lot of very nice people. Don Mario is Daniel's father-in-law, he told me about their culture. I met Señora Docila and Julia, they go to another church here in Pando: that church and Pastor Garwood's church are the only churches in Pando with sound doctrine. There I also got to eat the best meat I'd ever had - the flavor of beef in Uruguay is supremely delicious: the meat here is real meat.

On Sunday the morning meeting, which is Sunday school, starts very early, at 9:30, and they sing a few songs for the young people. Then they have the classes, broken down by age. Mrs. Garwood, the pastor, and Daniel, the pastor's son, each one has a certain age range. He also asked me to give a devotional, and that was fast too, I wasn't prepared, but I said something about Samson, which was fine. We went back to the house, after dropping everyone off at home, we ate, and at 3:30 we had to go out again because the afternoon service starts at 4:30, but once again you have to go get everyone, young people and adults, from their houses one by one.

So we started the service, and it was very cold. Pando, like all Uruguay, is nothing but open plains, so the wind blows very hard and very cold. They said that the cold that day was unusual and surprising. It would seem that's why a few people, about 5 ot 6, didn't make it. We sang some hymns, and then the pastor asked me to give my testimony for about 15 or 20 minutes. So I did, and then he preached, we finished the meeting and all said good bye and went home. The people were very welcoming to me.

That's the most newsworthy stuff so far. There is a great need here: the people have a lot of problems and difficulties. A lot of bad things happen to people here. One lady told us that a little while ago they broke into her house and stole almost everything. A boy was raped by his dad. Gustavo has that mental problem because of the tumors and can't work well. Poverty attacks a lot of them very strongly, and many other things - I wouldn't know how to finish such a big list. Please pray for God to provide somebody, or a couple, so that the pastor can have help. The pastor and his wife, as I said, are of an advanced age, and at some point they're going to have to stop working. So the people here need someone with more energy to preach to them and evangelize and teach God's word. The pastor's son works, so he doesn't have time to do everything in this work.

God bless you all in Christ
Morgan Bernal

Goldfuss update (September 21)

2009-09-21T12:16:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying friends,

It was great to have Jason and Danielle here for three weeks. They will be getting married in December and then Lord willing, during the next year returning to do language study. Please pray for the Lord to guide them and bring them in His perfect time.

We are planning a baptismal service in several weeks. We have had four people mention that they would like to get baptized. Please pray for them as they write out their testimonies this week and that we would have wisdom in dealing with them.

We have a place where we go to get fresh fruits and vegetables. Faith has had some excellent opportunities to speak with Jasmine. She is married to Jorge and they have a ltitle baby. She really wants to come to church and says that she needs a lot of spiritual help. Jorge is not very open to the idea though. Please pray for the Lord to open hearts and doors there.

This Friday night, we have a men's meeting to meet again to study our book on Biblical eldership. Please pray for a good spirit.

Morgan will be leaving this Thursday at 7:00 AM for a 3 hour flight to Panama and then about a 9 hour flight to Uruguay. He will be assisting the Garwoods there for 7 weeks in their ministry. He has never flown before, so that part of the trip is a little bit daunting. In our service yesterday, we had a time of explaining what a missionary does from Acts 13, mainly, proclaiming God's Word, and then a time of dedication and prayer for Morgan to the Lord's service in another country. It was a real blessing to see the church here be able to send one of our own out in to another part of the world. We would like to share the following letter that Morgan wrote several weeks back in preparation for his trip:

hi every ones!!

I want to communicate with and keep up to date the people God has allowed me to know in the years I've been saved, as a blessing to me, though in His providence they are living far away and in other places. And that is why by this means I want to share with you all another event in my life, which is an opportunity to serve God away from my native country. So I can't stop asking myself why God saved me, and even more, why God has decided to use me in His service.

And therefore it is that "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." The fact is "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."

Some of you perhaps already know, whether from me or my pastor or someone else, that I have served God for some time in my church, preaching or teaching, not wholly or perfectly, but I have done it with all my heart, not to earn God's favor, or salvation, but from love and gratitude for His free election and His great salvation, in showing me His grace in the work of Christ on the Cross for me, the chief of sinners. So then God, through some of His servants, like my pastor, first of all, and later another great friend, and many other preachers and books, but above all and primarily by means of His holy word, God has given me a little bit of knowledge for His work, not so that I would be proud, but that "as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the LORD." (1 Corinthians 1:31.) So may all the glory be for the Lord for all ages. Amen.

So then my friends and brothers in Christ, it is my great pleasure to share with you this important news: God has called me to go to Uruguay to help in the ministry of a missionary, Pastor Donald Garwood. In addition I want to share with you this great blessing from my God, and a great opportunity to announce the Gospel of Christ. I also write and share this news so that, as the Apostle Paul says: "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." (Ephesians 6:18-20).

Of course I'm not in chains, or a prisoner (not yet anyway), but I do hope that in all your prayers you will remember this insignificant servant of God, and I will be able to announce the Name of Christ and His glorious Gospel with boldness. I would also like for the following petitions to be included in your prayers for me:
That I would avoid profane and vain discourses that will lead to more and more ungodliness.
That I would depart from iniquity because I invoke the name of Christ, because thus I will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, useful to God, and prepared for every good work.
That I would be sober in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill my ministry.
Some of you should already know that God had already sent me to another state here in my country (the State of Michoacán) to take the Gospel to a family. However, they didn't want me to come anymore because they decided to work Sunday: still, I continue speaking to them by phone and communicating with them. I will add some pictures of that experience also. And now God takes me out of my country to proclaim His glorious Gospel.

I will keep up a weekly report, so that you will be up to speed with what happens in Uruguay, and also pictures and videos.I will travel to Uruguay on September 24.

Whoever does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, be anathema. The Lord is coming. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love in Christ Jesus be with you all. Amén.

Morgan Bernal

Thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 25)

2009-08-25T22:31:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

At the beginning of our time here in Mexico, we were super anxious to see God's work being done in a very quick manner. In our eagerness, we probably pushed where we should have waited. Now, years later, it seems at times that we cannot handle all of the opportunities. These blessings come at some of the busiest times in our lives, and I am sure that is because there is no way that we can receive the glory. The Lord is doing wonderful things down here in Mexico City. It is truly exciting, but it really seems that we are just the spectators. Some of these blessings come after seeds have been planted years ago.

It has been stated to us by a few of our people that many come on teams, but none come back to help. We always said --"Just wait for the Lord's timing". Now, they cannot say that anymore. Jon and Andrea Crocker continue to be a big blessing and help in the ministry here. They came on a BJU team about 5 years ago. Gabriel and Liliana Olivares, a couple in our church with three boys, have begun a Bible Study in their home and Jon has been preaching on Sunday evenings there. Please pray for the Lord's direction for this study as to whether they can become incorporated into the church here or if it would be the beginning of another church there. Jon and Andrea were a huge help in VBS, and they have just been a joy to be around period.

Jason Boyle, who has been here several times throughout the years, first came to us as a BJU intern seven years ago. He now came back this week with Danielle DenHollander. The Lord has brought them together and their future plans are to come serve Him here in Mexico City as well. Just this past Saturday night on top of the Latin American Tower which overlooks the city (very romantic), Jason asked her to marry him and she accepted. Pray for them as their plans are to return, Lord willing, in January to begin further language training. Please also pray for us as we help them get established here in Mexico City.

Morgan has been asked to help in the ministry of another missionary couple, the Garwoods, in Uruguay. Mrs. Garwood will be going to the States for the birth of a grandaughter, so Morgan will be needed in helping with teaching, preaching and visiting. We trust that it will be a growing time for Morgan in many ways. Please pray for the Lord to work and bless him while he is there. He will be in Uruguay from September 24 through part of November.

We have had some visitors who have returned after not attending in years. Janet has come the last two Sundays with her younger sister and her little daughter. Pray that she will continue. Mauricio and Susana have attended a different church, but have come off and on the last two years. They have had some bad experiences in other churches and Mauricio especially is not gung ho on getting into another church. Pray that the Lord would add them to the work here in His perfect will.

Last week, Jon and I had a great opportunity to give the gospel to Sra. Leticia's husband (Pedro) and son (Cesar) for about 1 1/2 hours. They listened and asked some questions. Pray for the Lord to open their eyes.

During the first part of August, Faith was able to go visit her mom and dad in Pennsylvania for about 9 days. It was nice that she could go and spend some time with them, but we really missed her here. I was able to guide the children in working hard and getting projects done around the house to surprise her. We stopped leaks, painted the bedroom, totally cleaned out the garage, and tarred places where the roof has leaked. Now it's only leaking in one area. They were messy but fun jobs with the kids, and Faith was very happy when she saw the results of all of the hard work.

Speaking of hard work, school has started today for a new year. We are blessed to have Bekah Buccio with us this semester helping teach. Praise the Lord for her willing spirit and cheerful attitude. Jon and Andrea are helping in the mornings with Math. This is an enormous task. Could you please pray for the spiritual development of our children? On Monday, the Lord allowed for about a weeks worth of work in one day with everybody helping to get ready for another year.

It is amazing to us---how when you become tired and weary, the Lord in his sweet love, brings help and encouragement. The Lord has brought loved ones into our lives again just this past week, and it has been a sweet blessing.

The Lord is growing his church! We need more chairs--again! But this growth is not only numerical. We praise the Lord that people have been communicating and several problems have been nipped quickly and that is a blessing. May our communities here know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ by our love one to another. John 13:34 and 35 are our verses for this year--both in school and in our church.

I wish you could be here. We have many people here and the children are loving it. Somehow everything is getting done, and it is how we dreamed the house would be.......organized to help others come to the mission field and a help to the ministry continually while being functional for our daily needs. We are also mainly praying that He would raise up nationals to do the work.
The Lord has and is doing all of this. We praise His name!

Love In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cherith, and Caralyn Goldfuss (with Jon and Andrea Crocker, Jason Boyle and Danielle DenHollander, Rebecca Buccio, and Reme Hernandez-------and Shadow.)

Goldfuss update (July 26)

2009-07-26T22:18:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

It's been a while since we've written.

I was in Ohio preaching at the Jr. 2 camp week at Peniel Bible Camp. I was able to preach on 5 doctrinal words from Romans 3--sin, the righteousness of God, justification, redemption and propitiation. It was fun to try to put all that on the Jr. 2 level, (with practical illustrations). All were very attentive and seemed to keep right up. I pray that these truths will sink deep into their hearts. I was away from our church here for two Sundays. Jon taught SS and Morgan preached the first Sunday. Last Sunday they reversed the roles. We heard very good comments for both Sundays. That is such a blessing that I can be away without worry. Praise the Lord. That would not have happened just a short time ago. Morgan has been doing a great job this month on Wednesday nights. Jon preached in June on the Psalms and it was a great blessing to all who were there to hear him.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Faith and the whole church were organizing VBS. The cooperation this year has been absolutely phenomenal. Everybody has contributed and even asked what more that they could do. Therefore, the load on Faith and the others who normally prepare has been greatly lessened. That is a tremendous blessing and another step forward for our church. We thanked them profusely this morning. Just because all the physical things are ready does not mean everything is ready. We need your prayers. The theme is: A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It is about fortresses, castles and such. There will also be an acted out part of Pilgrim's Progress daily. We will have our VBS from Mon-Thurs this week. Please pray for the Lord to work in hearts.

We have had a good number of returning visitors in the past 2 months--Marbella and 4 children; Leticia and daughter, Maria Elena and her family, her sister Lourdes, and their mother, Lala. They come from a very different ministry but are eating up the preaching. Maria Elena's family is more upper class, but the people in church have been welcoming to them and the feeling seems to be mutual. That is such a blessing to see--that in Christ there is neither rich nor poor. Please pray for the Lord to continue to work.

Today, for the first time since Easter, Martha came. Praise the Lord. Many of you have prayed often for her. There are still some definite needs in her life with an unsaved abusive husband (she doesn't live at home,) problems at work, and a man who is after her romantically. She is very drawn to him. Please pray that she will be drawn more to Christ.

Miguel and Alondra came today with their little boy Cristofer again. They are the couple that lives very far away but come anyway when they can. They told us today that Elsa, (sister) is very depressed. Pray that we will soon have a chance to speak with her. Pray for them also to be saved.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated and needed. There is much spiritual warfare. Thank you for all you do for us.

In Christ,
Mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (July 9)

2009-07-06T11:26:00.002-05:00

Dear praying friends,

Thank you for praying! We had the team here June 13-22nd. It was a nice time and because of all of their efforts, we had 10 visitors. Lately, things have been busy with four new families coming regularly. So that is a big praise.

Please pray for:

Alejandro and Maria Elena--they have been coming and are bringing some relatives. Maria Elena's sister, Lourdes, stated that she would make this her home church and came back yesterday. This family is a result of our prayer as a church to bring us people from churches that have bad doctrine. We met this family through Mikey's basketball. He and the son Hugo are good friends.
Susana and Mauricio--have been coming since a week before the team came. Their church disbanded several months ago and Susana is concerned about her husband's desire for God since then. They have also brought many family members--brothers and sisters with their children and their parents, but Suzanna and Mauricio remain the ones that have come the last three weeks faithfully.
Leticia and her daughter, Avat, also have come since the team. Her husband is an alcoholic and they need much prayer. We do not believe that they are true believers.
Marbella and her four children are unbelievable. She gets all of these children ready and sneaks out to come to church. The problem is not her husband, who allows her to come, but her mother- in- law. They live under her roof and do not pay rent so the mother-in-law insists that she stays away from Christians. She sometimes arrives a little late and has to leave early to get back before the mother-in-law does. Her prayer request is that they can find a place of their own so the mother- in-law has no influence over their family. We cannot go and visit her because of her situation. Please pray for this family. The children are unusually attentive and very happy to be there.

Yesterday, we were full and squished. So that was wonderful!

Yet, one of our faithful faithful families is moving farther away---Juana and her sister Reme. They will still be able to come on Sundays, but not on Wednesdays because of the increased distance. That means that Wednesday nights will be rather sparse in attendance even though Sundays are full. Many work from very early (7) until 8 or 9 and make it to church there late or not at all. This is so different from just a few months ago when we had almost as many people at prayer meeting as Sunday morning.

Even though the dynamics change, it is comforting to know that our Lord never changes.

Two people have promised to come to church, but haven't yet: 1. Aide, the girls' gymnastics coach. Her grandma is very ill and has asked all to pray. 2. The people at the fruit stand.

We had a 3 hour talk with Erasmo and Matilde about Abigail, their daughter who has left home again. We left after a good conversation. They had been trying everything to get her to come back. They now really seem to see--that even though the situation is very dangerous for Abby, they need to take their hands off and allow the Lord to deal with her. This is a very hard and heart-breaking situation. Praise for the Lord's upholding grace in their lives and that Abby would be saved and not continue to try to manipulate them and make Matilde feel guilty. We were also able to talk separately with Mildred, their daughter- in- law, about her salvation. Uriel, their son, was unsure about taking the Lord's supper. So it was a really profitable visit. Praise the Lord!

Carissa, 9, left last week to go to Camp Peniel--by herself. We just talked with her this morning and she is very excited. Please pray for the Lord's working in her life through the messages.

We are getting Mikey, Cristi, and MIKE(!) ready to go this week. Mike will be preaching at Junior 2 and appreciates your prayers for eternal changes in the lives of the campers. Cristi will be attending with him that week. Mikey will be going to Teen I the following week.

When the cat is away, the mice will play!!! I (Faith) have fun things planned for the three little ones while the older ones are away. It should be a really special time with them.

The church is preparing for VBS upcoming--July 27th-30th. I need wisdom in organizing that.

Mike has been preparing for his absence for the last 2 weeks. Morgan will be preaching the first week with Jon Crocker the next. Morgan is also preaching on Wednesday nights and Jon will be leading the VBS. Please pray for these men! We are very happy to have Jon and Andrea working with us, and of course, we are always thankful for Morgan. :)

Mike has an opportunity to give some English classes to a group of 5 or 6 men and women. Please pray for the Lord to really use that as an open door for the gospel.

We have had two people who came to us asking how to go about getting some problems right with others that they had offended. What a blessing. They went and talked and the Lord has really blessed.

We do truly depend upon your prayers! Thank you!
In Christ,

Faith for the Family

Goldfuss update (June 2)

2009-06-02T13:30:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Last week, Mike and Carissa left at 3:45 AM on Monday to go to the border to meet Jon, Andrea, and Paul Crocker to drive back in with them. What a whirlwind trip! The Lord protected us as we came upon a horrible accident with two tractor trailers. We followed a path made by another truck over rugged terrain to go off the road and around the accident. All of this was an hour and a half delay with another hour delay at the border. We don't have AC in our van since it is not needed at 10,000 feet. The AC has a leak, and we never bothered to fix it. That was a mistake. The official temperature in Texas---99 degrees. :-) On Monday night, Carissa and I were able to buy almost everything that we needed and then took a much needed dip in the pool around 11 PM before going to bed. On Tuesday, we finished our shopping early, cleaned the van, packed, and headed over the border with the Crockers. We arrived at fellow GFA missionaries, the Zartmans in Monterrey about 9:30 PM. The next day we traveled all day to get to Mexico City by 9:00 pm. Usually there is terrible traffic getting into the city. We have waited 3 hours before, but the traffic never stopped and we made it home in an hour! That was such a wonderful blessing after a long, hard trip.

The Crockers are getting situated in the cabin and it is a real joy to be able to share that with people.

Friday and Saturday were occupied in a conference on evangelism, organized by another missionary here in Mexico City. It was an excellent conference; and I was able to take Jon Crocker, Morgan, and Humberto both days. Memo attended with us on Saturday. What an excellent reminder and challenge of what our evangelistic content and faithfulness should include.

We were missing about 30 people on Sunday who are regular attenders. Pray that the Lord would work in different hearts and meet specific needs. There are some who need to make things right between each other in the church. I don't believe that it is an accident that our SS lesson the last two weeks from Hebrews 13 has dealt with: "Let brotherly love continue." Pray that the Lord would work in all of our hearts and produce in us brotherly love for each in our church.

Sunday was an excellent opportunity for Faith to help Nico and Liliana with their little boy and discipline during her Sunday school class in the nursery. Even though that has been a subject of preaching and teaching, sometimes plain examples (using our own little cherubs) have to be demonstrated. There is so much history of abuse in people's pasts that it is extremely hard for them to discipline without thinking that they are abusing. Please pray for the Lord enable them to understand the difference and to truly discipline in love.

Abigail, Erasmo and Matilde's daughter, had left home several weeks ago but returned several days later. She left again this past Thursday and has not come back. Please pray for the Lord to save her and for wisdom for Erasmo and Matilde. Martha has not been for several MONTHS now, not weeks. She will not answer my phone calls. She answered one of Morgan's calls, so please pray that he will have wisdom in trying to talk with her again. She is living in sin and needs to leave a relationship with a man who is not her husband.

Please pray for Faith and two of our children who will be finishing school this week. Summer activities are right around the corner, so we need prayer for them to be able to finish. We need desire, patience and ability.

We are very happy to have the Crockers with us, and we were very surprised at their Spanish abilities. Jon is going to be incorporated into preaching some Wednesday nights. Morgan will be taking over the Teen meetings once a month as well as starting a teen Sunday school class. Jon and Andrea will be starting a Young Couples meeting one time per month. So our Saturdays will be something like this:

1st Sat.--Men's meeting
2nd --Women's meeting
3rd--Teen's meeting
4th--Young couple's meeting

Pray as the men plan and prepare.

June 13---22 we will be having the BJU Spanish team. There is much to be done between now and then. We are planning on having three nights of special evangelistic services. Please pray that the Lord would guide us to people whose hearts He is preparing. There is one particular couple, Rene and Elvira, who attended the three special services last year with the team. They never returned. Please pray that they would come back again this year.

We thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement and financial support.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 13)

2009-05-13T13:43:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

You should see the cabin!!! That's why we have attached pictures. Some men came and sanded and gave 4 coats of varnish. The floor should be dry soon so that we can move the furniture back into the cabin. Then it will have its last clean-over before the Crockers come at the end of the month. Please pray as the Crockers get everything packed up and ready to head for the border. Mike is planning on driving to Texas to help them on the 15 hour or so trip to Mexico City.

Praises:

Marbella and her children came back to church on Sunday!
Sr. Alejandro and Sra. Maria Elena and their family also came back--this was their second Sunday. This is the family we have met at Mikey's basketball.The ladies are teaching the younger ladies with love and humility, and the younger women seem to be responding well.

Prayer Requests:

13 year old Miguel—Nico and Liliana's son is still away from home—probably with relatives.
Matilde and Erasmo's daughter,Abigail, 18, just left home on Monday. Please pray for these families.
For those in the church who are struggling under debt.

Home news: Mikey has started a newspaper. It is called the Daily Goldfi. Sometimes Mikey puts his slant on the news. We are trying to teach him just to report the news and to leave out the "editorializing." One time this week Faith was talking with Reme and she thought she saw someone behind her. It was Mikey with a pencil and a small notepad saying, "Could you please repeat that?" It can be a little annoying having a reporter in the house, but mostly it is just fun.

Here are some of his articles:

Matthew Loves to Draw
Matthew draws and draws and draws. "I love to draw", said Matthew. Please see Matthew's bed for the results.

Cristi Does Her Best
Cristi Goldfuss, who began school this morning at 7AM finished by 1 o'clock. We here at the Daily Goldfi want to congratulate her on a job well done.

Matthew's Day With Dad
Matthew, who got to go with dad visiting the people, got to spend a whole day with dad. "I saw a boy who got sick by the bicycle path", said Matthew. "His mother was comforting him" noted Matthew who was present at the scene.

Car Gets Stolen At Gymnastics
Paviola's mother was held up with a gun as she waited outside gymnastics in her car. We are glad to report that Paviola's mother was unhurt, but only a little shaken up. Carissa said, "I was getting ready to do a roundoff when one of the workers ran in and whispered to the owner of the gym. Then they both ran out. I was getting ready to do it again when 5 year old Natalia (one of Cheri's friends) ran in and screamed, 'There's a man out there with a gun and they just stole Paviola's car.' (of course, in Spanish) ". When asked if gymnastics class was cancelled, Cristi said, "No, we just kept right on going after we saw that she was alright."

Mikey even puts announcements in his paper: "ANNOUNCING EVERYONE--Brush your teeth. We are going to the dentist on Saturday."

THERE is NEVER A DULL MOMENT—NEVER.

Please pray for all of us to know Christ Jesus better and to understand His great love. Pray that this would be a wonderful deterrent to sin in our daily lives.

In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 3)

2009-05-03T23:56:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

A lady from a supporting church just asked Faith for some specific prayer requests so we are pretty much copying her letter for our update this week.

So much is going on that my head is spinning! All churches were to be closed and they were giving out fines to those who did not comply. Our neighborhood has had 2 very large fiestas through all of this swine flu epidemic. (I guess drinking reunions are permitted, but not worshiping reunions.) We prayed about what to do. Mike decided to close the church and to open our home. If anyone wanted to come we were worshiping with our family. Over 40 people showed up. This is about 2/3 of the church. We were happy with the turnout . Then we had a meal with everyone here. There were 4 visitors. One was Gabriel's unsaved Mormon mother.

Prayer requests:

We just helped a couple move out of the cabin (Marcos and Ruth) and into an apartment. We miss them. Pray for Cheri and Caralyn as Ximena is their very sweet friend and they are going to really miss her.
We are getting the cabin ready for new missionaries, Jon and Andrea Crocker, to come at the end of May. Mike has a man coming tomorrow to sand and varnish the wood floor. Pray for wisdom for us to help the Crockers in the best way so that they can get a good start at being missionaries. Pray that we will remember everything that would really be a big help for them to get settled. (Sometimes it is easy to forget how they might feel since it is home to us.) And that we would forget anything that wouldn't be helpful to them spiritually.
Pray for Juana as they need to get out of where they are and the only place that they could find to live is rather far away.
Pray for us as we finish homeschooling. Matthew and Cheri are done. Carissa has only Science to finish and Mikey and Cristi should be done within the month. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please continue to pray for Cristi as she will continue to have therapy throughout the summer. She is doing very well.
Pray as we try to influence our children and our people to truly love God with their whole hearts. Pray that we would love Him with our whole hearts and that the everyday chores would not make us grow cold.
Pray for Jason Boyle who is with us now and may be coming to Mexico very soon as a missionary. He will be traveling back to the US this next Friday. Pray that we would be able to help him get established here in Mexico very soon.
Pray for the Victor LaBelle family (who are working here from the States. He is a former missionary kid). Pray as they just returned to Mexico from a business trip to the States--that the Lord would keep the family free from the flu.
Pray for Rebekah Buccio as she prepares to help us teach school and piano for 1st semester next year. Pray that we would find another teacher for second semester.
Pray for Reme (our Spanish teacher for the children and all around wonderful helper). She may need to stay with us during the week as her family is moving farther away. This is Juana's sister (see above #3). It would take her 1 hour and 45 minutes in public transportation to get to our home each day. Pray for decisions that she needs to make.

Thank you for praying!!!!!!!!!

Faith for the Family

Goldfuss update (April 29)

2009-04-29T13:52:00.001-05:00

Dear praying friends,

We have been asked by some to give an update before prayer meeting tonight.

The baby Hezrael---is doing fine and has recovered. He did not have the swine flu, but a bad respiratory infection.
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.
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)

2009-04-27T02:00:00.001-05:00

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!

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.)
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)

2009-04-15T11:59:00.001-05:00

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

Goldfuss update (March 31)

2009-03-31T15:12:00.003-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

As in any ministry, the last couple of weeks have been filled with blessings and trials.

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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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)

2009-03-18T15:24:00.001-06:00

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)

2009-03-06T16:32:00.001-06:00

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

Goldfuss update (February 23)

2009-02-23T21:03:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We hear a lot in the news, at least the news that we get from the States, how there is much upheaval in Mexico. The USA has declared Mexico the second most unstable country in the world due to the fight of the Mexican government against the drug lords. Last year over 6000 people died here due to drug violence. Many people are concerned because they see the violence spreading and people making a mass exodus to the US. We just heard last week that the violence has even spread to the USA as Phoenix has become the city with the second largest amount of kidnappings in the whole world with 430 last year, and much of it by the Mexican drug lords--the most kidnappings per year in the world do happen in Mexico City. It was very interesting yesterday, in preaching on Naaman, to realize that Naaman's little servant girl had been kidnapped from her home and taken to Syria. While there, when Naaman contracted leprosy, she didn't say, "It serves him right," or "I know a cure, but I'm never going to tell him." Instead, she pointed him to the place where he could be healed and saved. That brought some interesting discussion from the children after the service. Mikey and Cristi both said that they would be fighting, and if someone was trying to kidnap them, we hope that they would, but they did mention also that it was really something that that little girl was a testimony even after being kidnapped and taken to a foreign country. Pray for the Lord to work continually in our children also. It's easy to become too involved in others' lives that we can forget about the needs in our own childrens' lives. Please pray that the Lord would be gracious and save each one of our children for His glory.

Yesterday in our services, there were present only about half of the people who come regularly to church. A couple of people were sick, but many were away for different reasons. Please pray for the Lord to work in lives and for us each to submit to His Lordship day by day. Sometimes, when there is a low attendance, it is easy to be discouraged from the lack of people. However, the Lord blessed us by helping us focus on worshipping Him no matter how many people were there, and it was a real blessing. Praise the Lord.

Morgan has not gone to Zitacuaro for the past 3 weeks due to the family there having "other things to do." One of them has gotten a job that really bites into his Sundays and the other three haven't been too interested in carrying on. Please pray for the Lord to encourage Morgan and for a church to be started in Zitacuaro according to the Lord's will.

Please keep Faith in your prayers with homeschooling. That is an extremely busy and taxing job for her. Pray for the children's attitudes and work to be glorifying to Christ as well.

We had an excellent time of fellowship and food with Memo and Karina and their family as well as with Vanessa yesterday afternoon. Please pray for growth in grace and for their love for our great God to increase day by day.

Praise the Lord that the new SS rooms and the nursery have been finished. It's been a blessing to see different ones get behind the physical labor and get it done. It has been a blessing to use the new rooms now for 2 weeks. Praise the Lord with us.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (February 9)

2009-02-09T13:13:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We would ask you to pray this morning especially for Ruth. Many of you know that her mom has had a brain tumor. They operated on it about 6 months ago, but it grew back. They were going to operate again in a couple of days, but Ruth just received word about 30 minutes ago that her mom passed away early this morning. From all indications, she was not a believer, although Ruth has had several opportunities in the past month to really give her the gospel. Please pray for Marcos, Ruth, and their two daughters for them to be a real testimony of God's grace to Ruth's unsaved family.

The conference this past Friday and Saturday in a church downtown was excellent. We heard challenges on taking heed to ourselves and our doctrine and about different topics that help us to have a healthy church. It was excellent. Morgan, Nico, Humberto, Memo, Gabriel and Mike were able to attend both days. They were very long days as we would leave very early and take public transportation 2 hours to get there and two hours to return at night, but each man said that it was very very profitable--even if it was very painful in many applications that were given.

Martha, Sylvia, Teresa, Gloria and Maria were not present yesterday. Martha has been forced to work earlier on Sunday mornings for the past 3 weeks. She told me last night that she really wants to talk to them and let the hospital know that that is no acceptable. Sylvia has been very sick for a couple of weeks and is just starting to feel a little better. Gloria and Maria continue to have to miss due to Gloria's very difficult diabetes. Tere has just been diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever. Please pray for each one of these ladies and the different difficulties--the Lord's healing, grace, and continued trust and confidence in Him.

In the last couple of months, Francisco, Blanca and Jonatan as well as Jose, America and their two children, Jose Ruben and Priscilla have really really fallen off in their attendance. Please pray for the Lord to give much wisdom in dealing with them. It really appears that in most cases in these two families, the new birth is the main need.

Thank you so much for your prayers,
In Christ,
mike for us all

Goldfuss update (February 5)

2009-02-05T19:48:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,
This past Saturday, the men were not able to work on the other side of the church because Nico had to work. He is the main organizer and has the tools and know how for the rest of us. Tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, a good number of the men (6 or 7 of us) will be attending a conference downtown that is hosted by another missionary here in Mexico City. Please pray that this will be a good time of learning and growing and that the Lord will help us be able to finish the other side next week.

We need prayer in talking with a specific couple. It will be an important discussion and we need wisdom. Please pray for Jose and America.

Marcos and Ruth are looking for another place to live as we have been housing them in our cabin since their little baby was born. (They had been part of the family that was kicked out of their house). Ruth's mother is near death with a brain tumor. We are expecting Jon and Andrea Crocker to come and help us in March and they will be able to use the cabin. Please pray for the Lord's direction to Marcos and Ruth as to where to live.

Mike has been preaching on 5 great doctrinal words from Romans 3:9-27 for about 2 months. Sin, the Righteousness of God, Justification, Redemption and Propitiation have been a wonderful blessing on which to preach and meditate. Many have expressed that they have also been blessed by this wonderful study. Please pray for us as we finish that study up this week and for the Lord's guidance as to where to go from here in preaching. Mike is thinking about a series on Matthew.

On the home front, Spirit week in Peniel Christian Academy was crazy! If you care to see, we have the winners of some of the days! (These are put in specifically for the Grandmas).

Monday: bad hair day
Tuesday: sports
Wednesday: backwards day
Thursday: clash day
Friday: old (oops-mature) people's day

Believe it or not, we still got all of our work done and the children did a great job! Monday was Mexican Constitution day, so we took off also and went about four hours away where the Monarch butterflies winter. It was an absolutely incredible experience. Please, please go to the following link and take a look at our incredible trip to Michoacan, Mexico. I've posted some of the pix and videos we were able to take of the great creation by our even greater Creator. Please take a look and see where we were able to visit on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Thank you for all of your prayers and faithful support and encouragement.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Monarchs flying

2009-02-05T15:24:00.012-06:00

Our family has not been able to just get away together for over a year, so we took this past Monday and Tuesday to go to Michoacan, Mexico to visit the famous monarch butterfly sanctuary.
The story of these insects is incredible. Both Faith and I had seen them growing up in Mentor, Ohio all the time. I guess that I just figured that they would die in the fall/winter from the cold and then in the spring their eggs would hatch and then they would "come out again." Little did we know that they fly all the way from Canada/Great Lakes/Northern USA regions all the way down here to Michoacan. The place that we went to visit was only 25 minutes from where Morgan has been starting a new church in Zitacuaro.
When you arrive at the bottom of the mountain, there are many local men and boys with their horses, eager to earn about 10 dollars for taking visitors to the top of the mountain. The picture is of a rather easy part of the trail, but most of it is not easy by any means. It is mostly steep uphill and with many many rocks. Believe me, after 1 1/2 hours of riding up that mountain, I could hardly walk. When arriving at an elevation of 10,400 feet above sea level, we dismounted from the horses and walked another 300 yards or so upward. There we saw the incredible sight of the monarchs, all bunched up in pine and fir trees.

From the picture, it appears that the tree just has some sort of nest, but those are all monarch butterflies. Each Monarch is approximately the weight of a paper clip and with all of those monarchs, it is absolutely amazing how much each of the pine boughs are bent down toward the ground. Some of the men said that it is not unusual for a big branch to break and send a whole cluster of thousands of Monarchs crashing to the ground.

It takes about 3 or 4 minutes in direct sunlight for the Monarchs to be warm enough to fly--they warm up through their wings. The sun kept coming out for several minutes and then it would go behind the clouds again just when the butterflies would start to fly around again. That would cause them to all land and wait for the sun again. This went on for about an hour and a half off and on and we really thought that we wouldn't get to see them really flying all over the place. We prayed and the Lord brought the sun out again to stay out for about 1/2 hour. That was really an incredible thing to see. (See below for several other videos.)

When we were ready to leave, a man mentioned to us that up above there were even more butterflies so Faith and I with Matthew hiked up another 200 yards and were greeted by thousands more. The dark branches are from a giant fir tree and those dark spots are not squirrel's nests but all Monarchs. One of the videos further down the page shows just a cloud of monarchs flying around. The sound is not water or wind--it is the sound of millions of Monarch butterflies flapping their wings. Whoever would have thought that they made so much noise. They even were friendly little fellows (and gals.)

The incredible thing is that the Monarchs will mate here in Michoacan, Mexico and all the males will then die. The females will head north and make it as far as Texas where they will lay their eggs and die. Once the full metamorphosis is completed, the Monarchs will head north again and make it to the middle section of the USA, where they will again lay their eggs and die. After this metamorphosis is complete, the butterflies will head north again and make it to the Northern USA and Canada. The process is completed once more there. In the fall, the fourth generation from Mexico will head south and make it all the way to Mexico again. There is no explanation as to why the generations that head north all live for only 1 or 2 months, and then the generation that heads south, makes it all the way to Mexico and lives a total of 7 months. But we know that our Great Creator has a perfect plan and reason. These beautiful little insects have been fascinating to learn about this week. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament definitely showeth His handiwork.

In this video, you can see a little bit of how high we were. The monarchs are about 10,400 feet above sea level here. They need to be in the sun for about 3 or 4 minutes to warm their wings up and then they all start flying. There were several times where the sun would peak out for about 2 or 3 minutes and a few would fly, but then the sun would hide again behind the clouds. Toward the end of this video, you can see a little bit of the pine tree and clumps of monarchs hanging on the branches. That's where they all hang out until they warm up. I will try to get more pictures posted so that you can see other aspects of it.

More butterflies

2009-02-05T14:16:00.003-06:00

After a little while, the sun came out, warmed up the butterflies' wings and they came out en masse. Really amazing.

Incredible Monarch Butterflies in Michoacan, Mexico

2009-02-05T13:18:00.003-06:00

Goldfuss update (January 26)

2009-01-26T15:03:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers.

On Saturday, we had our men's work day. Memo, Marcos, Nico, Humberto and I all were able to work on getting different things done. We made some good progress. Most of the men who are coming to do the work, leave for work about 8 in the morning and return home about 8 at night. The fact that they would come to work for most of Saturday when they haven't been with their families all week is a real testimony. Please pray for other men who could also do some work but put other things first.

We do excuse Morgan from coming to the work days as he is preaching in our church on Wednesday nights and also at the new work in Zitacuaro, Michoacan on Sundays. Yesterday was their second service and the four people again were very interested in God's Word. Please keep this fledgling work in your prayers for:

Morgan's faithfulness.
Morgan's strength.
Continued interest in the Word of God and for God to save them.

We have really missed Morgan and his mother (Guille), father (Alejandro), and brother (Christian), but we are thrilled that they are going to try to help this new work to be started. Continue to pray for Alejandro and Christian's salvation.

Yesterday the women reacted to all of the men's work by volunteering to bring the last of the needed items for the church. I suggested that we wait a week or two with the men to finish the work so that they could spend some time with their families, but they said that they want to get the work DONE so that we can use the new SS rooms. Praise the Lord for their desire.

Please continue to pray for:

Martha--her health and family problems. Martha was not present yesterday and we aren't sure why.
Sra. Gloria---she found out last week that her eye problems are from two cataracts and she needs surgery. She also has other complications from her diabetes.
Uriel and Mildred are a young couple in our church who are going through some difficult times. Uriel was unjustly fired from his job. Mildred has had interest in spiritual things, but currently is fighting with Uriel over the leadership in the family and has not been attending regularly. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to open her understanding of the gospel.

This week our homeschool Peniel Christian Academy is copying Mentor Christian School (where we grew up)-- and we are having Spirit Week. Today is bad hair day--pictures included.

Thank you so much for praying,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (Januar y 23)

2009-01-23T15:52:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

The family's health has been much better this past week. Thank you for praying. Last week was very cold and drizzly and this week the sun has returned.

Saturday's ladies' meeting included a very good 1 1/2 hour study and then all the ladies pitched in cleaning and getting a lot of things done. The church building is looking very nice. Now tomorrow, the men are going to be doing some more work so that we can get the other side hopefully finished soon to be able to use for our extra Sunday School rooms. Please pray for a good group of men to come and work so that we can get done quickly.

This past Sunday Martha came. She had missed almost a month with different health issues. It was so good to see her and it was a blessing to see what the Lord had for us in SS that morning--perseverance in the face of afflictions and persecutions from Hebrews 10. She does struggle with depression with the great difficulties she has with her husband, family and sickness. Continue to pray for Martha.

Sra. Gloria had a doctor's appointment this week and needs to have cataract surgery in both eyes. Her sugar level has been very high still so please pray for some relief for her. It has been more than two months now since they (she and her Mom, Sra. Maria) have been able to be in church.

Thank you for praying for Morgan's first Sunday last week. He will normally go in a bus to get to Zitacuaro, but this week his Dad said that he wanted to drive down there with him. So, Alejandro and Guille, drove with him the two hours down to Michoacan for the first meeting in the interested family's home. Morgan reported that they were extremely attentive and that they studied for 2 hours on the theme of the gospel. Alejandro (who is unsaved) was even helping one of the two brothers in finding the different references. He even said that they should open the door to the house in case someone came along and wanted to hear. (Missionary Alejandro. Please pray that the Lord would use this in his life too to save him.) The whole family is definitely interested in continuing their Sunday meetings. Please pray that this would be the beginning of a local church. Pray for Morgan's sermon preparation and for his encouragement in the ministry there that will bring highs and lows. It is encouraging to see that we as a mission church are beginning to be able to send out missionaries from here. May this only be the first of many in the Lord's mercy and grace.

There are some underlying problems in our church here right now that come from a lack of love for one another. Please pray that the Lord will help people to see this and to get it right with those who have offended or have been offended.

Thank you so much for praying,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (January 15)

2009-01-15T14:27:00.004-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We have had about 2 weeks here where much of the family has been struggling with some different ailments and sicknesses. Please pray for the Lord's grace and strength to endure and seek to be a glory to His name in spite of most not feeling well.

Morgan was supposed to start last week in the new ministry with the family in another state who wants to begin services. The main man has been working on Sundays, and so we were feeling like perhaps nothing was going to come of it after all. After talking with them on Sunday night, the man has stopped working on Sundays, and Morgan will be going this Sunday for the first time to preach to them. Please pray for the Lord to open a church in Zitacuaro, Michoacan for His honor and glory. Pray for Morgan's strength to continue on there and for safety as he travels each Sunday. It was neat two Sundays ago to dedicate Morgan before the whole church to the Lord for this service. That is something that we have never been able to do before.

This coming Saturday there is a ladies' meeting. They are going to be studying for 1 hour and then seeking to work for the second hour on different things that need to be done for the other side of the church to be useable. Please pray as there are several people who have promised to get some things done for the church, but they have not done them yet. They are holding up other things from getting done.

Sra. Gloria is not doing well with her diabetes. She said that last week she was not able to see out of her left eye and her right eye has been causing her problems. She is not scheduled to see the social medicine doctor until March. Please pray for the Lord to intervene on her behalf.

Martha was not in church again this past Sunday. She has many problems with her health, family and work that are a great discouragement to her. Please pray for her to not forsake the assembling of herself together with her brothers and sisters in Christ. Please pray for her to have great wisdom in dealing with the different problems that she faces each day. Pray that our church would be burdened to exhort her with much love.

Last week Mike was able to renew contact with Chucho, Miguel and Raul, three men that we haven't seen much in recent years but who were great friends when we first arrived. Miguel and Chucho listened again to the gospel. Please pray for their salvation.

Thank you for your faithful prayers, support and encouragement for us here. We greatly appreciate all of you who have a part in the Lord's work here.

Love in Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (December 31)

2008-12-31T12:20:00.001-06:00

Dear praying friends,

Christmas time has been a whirlwind of activities, but praise the Lord---we have been able to use the extra time (without school) to spend time with our children meditating on the TRUE meaning of Christmas. We also have been able to just BE with the children--which in the normal year is very hard to do---with ministry.

Praises:

Some people are really responding to recent messages and taking their personal walk with the Lord more seriously. This is what it is all about.
After the Christmas Eve service, half of the church went to Christmas carol at Sra Gloria and Maria's. They had been sad all day because due to illness, they were not able to attend our service. We stayed a short time, but believe that we were a real encouragement. Sra. Gloria said that she cried all day because it was her birthday and she was not able to attend church. Then we came, and she cried for joy--not because of our singing. :-) The best part was that the church people saw how important it is to the people when we take the time to encourage those who are going through difficult times.
We told the kids to be really rambunctious in our yard--in the hopes that the would be robbers would not even attempt anything to our house. We have a fence around the property and the kids obeyed perfectly. With all of the noise in the yard, the robbers must have thought that 50 people live here. We praise the Lord that we have had no problems.
The Lord allowed us to pay the entire rent for the 2009 year for the church---This includes the (new to us) other side of the floor that we are on. Now we are concentrating on finishing those Sunday school rooms to be put to good use.

Prayer Requests:

Marta is in very serious condition in the hospital again with very low platelets. Morgan and Mike visited her for 2 hours yesterday. You would not believe the conditions that Mike saw at that hospital. Socialized medicine is not a great idea. She has been very discouraged with her health (this is the second time in a month that she is back in the hospital. Last year at this same time she was hospitalized for the same thing also. She also has tremendous problems with her unsaved husband who has a mistress, financial problems and other difficulties.) I had an excellent time with her being able to read Psalm 86 and really encourage her in her dependence on Christ. Pray for her strength, encouragement and faith to be strengthened. She did mention that she thinks that she very well may die (She is only 35 years old.) Please pray for Marta.
We are having over 30 people from church for a service tonight for New Year's Eve. Pray for the testimony service and that God would be glorified. After the service, we are going to have a big New Year's Eve supper.
We would like to see complete dedication to the Lord in 4 families that struggle to put Him first in their lives--salvation may very well be the root problem. Please pray for the Lord to open their eyes to their true need of Christ.
Pray as we are trying to meet with each family and each person to see what their spiritual goals are for the New Year. Pray that this would not be seen as "in your face"---but know that even though we are getting really personal, it is because we truly love them---and want the Lord to be exalted through their lives. The time is short, and we need to redeem it.

Thank you as always for praying!

Happy New Year.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update and prayer letter (December 18)

2008-12-18T11:42:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We are making this a prayer update and an official prayer letter at the same time for those who do not receive our email updates.

The church seems to be moving forward in some areas---where others areas seem to be painfully slow.

Mike and Morgan left the house at 6 AM on Monday to go to three hours west of Mexico City to Michoacan. A man there who was saved in the States is very interested in beginning a Bible study in his home. His family doesn't appear to know much about the gospel but they have offered their home for services. Another missionary contacted us about another man in the area who may be interested in joining this Bible Study. If any of you have people in your churches that have family members near Zitacuaro, Michoacan---we would love to have them as contacts. Morgan is very excited about this opportunity and will begin going over there on Sundays starting in January. The only sad thing is that he will be gone all day on Sundays. We will miss him, but we are happy how the Lord is leading him. He was going to begin a teen Sunday school class, so now we need to replace him. There are two good possibilities for that position.
Although the potential for a new work was wonderful, the trip was very eventful---they ran off the road once, got stopped by the corrupt police in Toluca, got lost a couple of times, and saw an accident that I'm sure they will never forget. It was a tractor trailer vs. a lady who was crossing the street on foot. Unfortunately, the lady did not win. It was a reminder of how temporary our times are on this earth. Please pray that these thoughts will not plague their minds.
Last Thursday night, our neighbors (from Holland) about two football fields length up the road were bound and robbed at 1:30 AM in the morning. The thieves filled up the neighbor's own car with valuables and drove off in their car. On Monday night, the same thing was done to some new neighbors right across the road. The owner there is the coach for one of Mexico's soccer teams so he is a high profile man. We now have police cars outside our front gate---all night long. They are writing down when we leave and return---supposedly for security sake. If you lived here you would know that that is not a comforting thought. I really hate to write that---but it is true. The police are notorious for planning these types of things also. Mike has said that the kids are not to go out the front gate by themselves. We have calmly explained to them what they are to do and not to do if people break into the house. (I could really see Mikey and Cristi taking forceful action---and getting themselves into bigger problems). Just preparing them has really calmed things---and they slept fine. Mikey and Matthew are planning traps for the criminals---oh, the adventure. Mike reassured all of us that our hope is only in the Lord. He alone is our only true source of protection.
There may be several people coming our way from the States to help. Pray for those to work out in the Lord's perfect plan and timing.
Victor LaBelle is a former missionary kid from Mexico. He has been moved here by his company--- and his family joined him in our services this past Sunday. He played the piano for us which was a real blessing. Please pray as the family gets adjusted to the newness of Mexico. Our kids tried to welcome them and make them feel at home by helping to translate the services.
While new opportunities may be moving forward, some of our regulars just seem to be very apathetic. It is like 1/2 of the church is excited to move forward---while 1/2 is coming later and avoiding Sunday School altogether. We are trying to finish the other side of the church to use for more Sunday school classes, and we need everyone's help to begin classes for the many children that we have.
Sra. Gloria and Sra. Maria need special prayer for their health. They are so depressed that they cannot attend services. Please prays for these ladies.
We do miss Melissa. The Lord has moved her to a different ministry this next semester, so she won't be able to be back with us for second semester. But, we are very happy that her desire to is serve the Lord. Pray for her as the Lord directs her paths. She is seriously considering full-time missions.

Soooooooooooo this is a commercial message for anyone who would like to come for any amount of time from January through April to help with homeschooling. If you could help or if you know of anyone else who could help, please let us know.

Any of you who receive this before Christmas, we trust that you will have a very blessed and Christ-centered Christmas. We trust that in spite of all the upheaval in the world at the moment that our focus will be continually fixed on our one and only real Treasure, Jesus Christ.

With much love and gratefulness for your daily prayers.

Faith for the family

Goldfuss update (December 8)

2008-12-08T10:43:00.002-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

I promised you a couple of pictures last week of the closing recital after Melissa had given piano lessons for three months. Then I didn't include them. I'm sorry. :-) Here they are.

On Thursday night, a bunch of people surprised Melissa here at our home with a going away supper. Melissa had gone with Faith to the girls' gymnastics class and when they returned, all the people were here. It was a nice time and we also got to have some good spiritual talks with a few people. Friday morning Melissa had a 6:20 AM plane to catch so Morgan arrived here in his taxi at 4AM and we took Melissa to the airport. She made her plane with plenty of time to spare so that was good for her and bad for us. She was a huge help in getting the kids caught up as were a good bit behind from last year's school year still. Please pray for the Lord to provide someone for our second semester for schooling in His plan and time. It is an overwhelming task for Faith by herself. We do thank the Lord for His grace and strength day by day to get done what needs to be done.

This past week Mike had some very good visits with different ones in the church. Jesus and Analilia haven't been back again for the past two weeks. Their oldest daughter, Luz, 11, is with them again after living with other family members in Acapulco. On Tuesday night Mike had the tremendous opportunity of giving the gospel to that whole family for about 1 1/2 hours. It was directed to Luz, but Jesus and Analilia were sitting right there also and listening intently. Luz asked some very good questions and it was a thrill again to share the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for the Lord to open the hearts of each person in this family.

Teresa has been struggling with her husband Alberto. He continues to make her life miserable. He ridicules her all the time, puts her down, yells at her and is just unbearable to live with most of the time. The first thing she said to me in our visit the other night was that she was meditating on a certain part of Scripture and that she realized how bad even her good works are most of the time and how much we need to do things just to honor our great Savior. In spite of all her difficulties in her family, it was so neat to see her meditating and thinking about Scripture and letting it work in her to change her to be more like Christ.

Martha had to be admitted to the hospital last Monday with a very low blood platelet count. She said that a person should normally have 150,000 platelets. After a blood test in the morning, she had 50,000 and by the afternoon it was down to 20,000. Since she is very susceptible to diseases, she was sent home. She went to her sister's house where she doesn't have to be outside and can rest more. Morgan and I went to see her on Thursday and she was very discouraged. We had the opportunity to encourage her though and the visit was very profitable. It was a blessing to see her come to church yesterday--she said she had to stop and sit down 3 times betwee the bus stop and church (only a two streets' walk) but she really enjoyed being there. It's always a blessing for everyone in church to see her.

Sra. Gloria continues to struggle with her diabetes. She and her mom (Sra. Maria) were not able to be there again yesterday. Pray for the Lord to touch her body and allow them to again be back in services.

We have been discouraged with several things during the past couple of weeks. Our Sunday School has been pretty sparsely attended right when we are trying to expand the classes because of past overcrowding. Sometimes it seems that many are so overwhelmed with their own problems that they don't have the time or energy to do extra work in the church. Most will come for an extra get together, but only a few will come to help work. Please pray that the Lord would put it in their hearts to get the work done and to attend SS.

If the Lord allows, Morgan and I are going to be travelling Thursday morning to Michoacan (about 2 hours away) to try to meet with a family that has no church. There is a possibility that Morgan could begin to go regularly there to work to raise up a local church by God's grace. Pray for wisdom and direction in that situation.

This Friday night we will have another men's meeting on Biblical Eldership. Please pray that the Lord would raise up faithful men to lead His church here.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Email update (December 3)

2008-12-03T15:48:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We will send you a couple of pictures from our past week's activities.

Last Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving. We don't have any American friends in the city at the present due to furloughs and other things, so we invited a good number of our Mexican friends. Juana, Reme, Sarai, Elias, Ruth, Ximena, Gabriel, Liliana, Yoltic, Yolat and Yolotzin all joined us. We had a nice time telling them what Thanksgiving is about and they enjoyed thanking the Lord for His many blessings. We also all enjoyed a great turkey dinner. Matthew had been wanting to be an Indian for a while now so Mike gave him a mohawk. What do you think? :-)

Saturday evening was the piano recital with all of Melissa's students from the past 3 months. They had a very rough run-through beforehand, but the recital itself went wonderfully. There were a number of unsaved people present so Mike preached about 15 minutes on what it means to play and sing for God's Glory, why we would do that. The gospel was very clearly given. Pray for the salvation of those who heard. We are also including a couple of pictures of the recital.
Sunday's attendance was very down. We've had good visits and phone calls though with a good number of the missing.

Please pray for Sras. Maria and Gloria. Gloria, the daughter is really struggling with her diabetes and shingles and has been very discouraged. Please pray for the Lord to give her some relief and for them to be able to be present in the services.
Nico and family were not there on Sunday. He was struggling with gaining forgiveness of sin. We had an excellent talk and time of prayer on Monday morning though.
Tere and Silvia--two sisters with unsaved husbands, were both unable to attend. Pray for salvation for their husbands and strength for them day by day.
Jesus and Analilia--said last week that they were going to not be missing anymore. They were not there this past Sunday. I went to talk to them last night and ended up being able to proclaim the gospel to them and their children for about 1 1/2 hours. Their 11 year old daughter Luz, asked a few questions and that got the whole ball rolling. It was an EXCELLENT and encouraging opportunity. Please pray for their salvation.

This Friday, we are going to regretfully say goodbye to Melissa. She has been an incredible help and encouragement this past semester with her schoolteaching, piano playing in church and piano lesson giving. Please pray for the Lord's direction for Melissa in the future.

Please pray for the Lord will still open the door for us to have a ministry in the State of Michoacan in a place about 2 hours from here.

Thank you so much for your prayers,
in Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 25)

2008-11-25T14:46:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying friends,

You may get tired of hearing it, but as always, but we do thank you for your prayers.

We forgot to mention it last week, but we were thrilled to Elsa and Alondra present again in our services. They are each living out of wedlock, with a child, and they each have brought their partners to church in the past. Last Sunday they showed up together, Elsa with her little boy and Alondra by herself. Elsa's little boy was not feeling well and screamed for a lot of both services, albeit in another room. Many of you have prayed for them throughout the years. They are unsaved, but it is still a blessing to see them come to church (they have to take public transportation to get to our church and it takes over 2 hours.) Please pray for the Lord to have mercy on these two young ladies and save them for His glory and honor and their good.

On Saturday, Nico, Marcos, Memo, Beto and I worked all day to get the other part of the divisions up for our new half of the building. Please pray that we would be able to finish it up to be able to use it. There was a good spirit and it was encouraging how some different spiritual topics came up and how the men conversed about those. Praise our great God for the spirit of fellowship and communion we have because of Christ.

On Friday night, Melissa invited two of the older girls from gymnastics, Brooke and Yorman, to sleep over with her in her room above the garage. Brooke was very tired and fell asleep, but Yorman asked many questions and Melissa had an excellent opportunity to give her the gospel. Please pray for their salvation. On Saturday afternoon, Brooke and Yorman's 2 sisters and 2 other cousins came to help our girls and Melissa bake and decorate Christmas cookies. It was an enjoyable time for all of them. Please pray for our girls' testimony and witness before these unsaved friends.

Last week we asked you to pray for Francisco's father who is gravely ill and probably on his deathbed. He asked me something similar to this: "Mike, if he feels better and I can give him a bath, what do you think about me trying to baptize him with the water, even if he doesn't know it?" That was an opportunity to speak with him about what baptism really is and how it does not save. Please pray that the Lord would remove the scales from his eyes to see the glorious face of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel.

This Sunday, we had an incredible blessing. Jesus, Analilia, and their four children arrived!!!!!!!!!!! Many of you know that Analilia left about 1 1/2 months ago because she couldn't stand the difficulties at home with Jesus' brother and his three boys. We honestly thought that they would never return again. Praise the Lord that we were wrong and that they did come. Please pray for them to repent and believe the gospel as well.

This Saturday night at 7 PM we are having a piano recital. Melissa has done an excellent job in teaching about 15 children and young people (and a few older ones as well.) They are going to be giving us a recital after three months of lessons. Please pray that the Lord will enable some of them to continue on so that they may even be able to help in the future in accompanying our hymns in church.

Thank you for all of your prayers,

Have a Happy and very Grateful Thanksgiving.

In Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Goldfuss update (November 19)

2008-11-19T13:01:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We apologize for not getting an email update out for the past several weeks. Things have been quite hectic. Thank you for your prayers during this time.

A family in our church has had some problems with Morgan about several different issues that are very legalistic. First of all, Morgan talked to the man, explaining his position biblically. Then, Morgan and I talked to the man, and then Morgan and I talked to the man and his wife. Each night was a conversation lasting about 3 or 4 hours. It was exhausting. The situation appears to have been resolved by God's grace. The wife appears to be trusting only in Christ for her salvation. The father appears to be trusting in his works and high morals for salvation. Please pray for the Lord to save Gabriel. Praise the Lord for Morgan's humility in dealing with the issues and admitting where he was wrong. After the second night of talking, things were not looking too promising as far as resolving the issues, but it was a tremendous blessing to leave their home after the third night and feel relief and gratitude to the Lord for working in the family and the situation.
That same week, Morgan dropped Mike and Mikey off at Mikey's basketball practice at 3:30 on Wed. afternoon. Morgan received a call in the parking lot from his dad asking him to go check on his grandmother who had fallen. Morgan has done this many times before and it's usually nothing. When we arrived at church at 6 PM, Ruth met us at the door telling us that Morgan's grandma had died and Morgan couldn't come. So Mike quickly prepared in 30 minutes to preach that night after our prayer service.
When someone dies in Mexico, there is normally an all night vigil in the home with the burial the next day. Mike went to the home and for the second time that evening, was called on to be instant "in season and out of season." :-) At midnight, he was able to give about a 25 minute gospel message. A "spiritist" man was present and interrupted several times to give his opinion. The interruptions and Biblical answers caused people to really listen well. Morgan and Memo drove Mike back home around 1 AM, and when they returned to the house, the spiritist man had brought his "spiritual leader in also" and that man was speaking. Morgan said that it was very interesting how people were sleeping and didn't pay any attention to him. When he would go to the kitchen, people would get up and go to the living room. When the man would go back to the living room, people would return to the kitchen. It is amazing the difference between truth and error and how people with error really have nothing to offer. Pray for the Lord to use His Word to save some of the hearers from that all night vigil. Pray for Alejandro to be saved also. He has harbored a lot of bitterness throughout the years because of some terrible things that his mother did to him when he was a child.
The next day, Mike accompanied Alejandro and his family to the cemetery where there is a crematorium. The body is delivered (in a rented casket no less) and the whole family waits around the cemetery for about 2 hours while the body is cremated. The ashes are then delivered to the family. Practices are definitely different from what we have grown up with.
Cristi, Carissa, Matthew and Cherith all take gymnastics classes. All of their friends there are unsaved. Cristi and Carissa especially have had some excellent opportunities to witness to their two friends (9 and 11 years old.) The friends are very openly opposed to the gospel and were stating their beliefs about the day of the dead in which the dead spirits of loved ones supposedly return to eat from altars with food that people have prepared in their homes. They were also asking Cristi and Carissa about why they want to be modest in gymnastics and not show off their bodies. The girls gave some excellent answers which is encouraging since we just recently had a 3 week study on glorifying Christ in our church and homes with modesty. Pray for the girls (and our boys) to truly be in Christ and that their answers would truly reflect the glory of God. It is easy to see the struggle between wanting to please friends and wanting to please our Savior and Lord. Please pray for Faith and I to have wisdom to shepherd and guide their hearts.
Last Monday Mikey and Mike went to Texas for our annual trip. We need to get our US car registration done as well as shop for things that may be cheaper there or things that we cannot get here in Mexico. It is about a 1,500 mile round trip. We left on Monday morning and arrived home on Friday night. It was a very busy and exhausting week, but we were able to get most everything that we needed. We praise the Lord for His protection as it is a grueling trip.
This Saturday we are to have another work party to try to get the divisions finished on the other side of our building. Please pray that we will have a good turnout and be able to get the job done.
Francisco called yesterday and said that his father is near death. Please pray for the Lord to use this in Francisco's life to truly save him. He has a profession of faith from past years, but very little desire to obey Christ. May God increase each of our desires to love, please and serve Christ in all that we do.

We thank you so much for your faithful prayers, encouragement and support. May the Lord richly bless you this week.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (October 28)

2008-10-28T17:24:00.001-06:00

Dear Praying Friends,

This past week has brought some new and different challenges. One dear friend who prays for us, used the word "crisis". She said that we do not realize because we are right in the middle, but it seems like many of our families are struggling with very difficult things.

Please pray for the Lopez Family--Erasmo, Matilde, Abby, Vania and Usi. This past week Abby left home with a girlfriend. Fortunately the Lord allowed her parents to find her, and she is back home again. I was able to spend two nights last week talking to them and trying to get to the bottom of the problems. Please pray for each one in the family to do what is right before the Lord. For Erasmo to lead, for Matilde to submit to her husband and be an example for her daughters, and for Abby and the other two girls to submit to, honor and obey their parents. There are some definite salvation needs in that family also.
Martha fell this past week in her nursing job at the children's hospital. She has a neck and back injury. As a result of being on sick leave this past week, she was able to come to church yesterday for BOTH services--although in a great deal of pain and in a neck brace. She almost always has to leave before our second service and so rarely gets to sing. She loved being there to sing. Pray for her recovery as the Lord allows and for her continued growth in grace.
Analilia has left Jesus. She has taken all 5 of the children and gone to Alcapulco where her family is. Please pray as we minister to Jesus and seek to try to reunite this family. Their main need is salvation.
There is some continued frustration with financial problems in a good number of people in the church. Many have taken on debts that have chained them down so that they can't do what they need to do to provide for their families. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and patience and that the people would have the determination to seek to pay off their debts in order to owe no man anything. It is wonderful to see these same people growing in other spiritual areas of their lives, but it is devastating to see them not having a problem with spending money for birthday parties etc. when loved ones are ill and need medical attention.
We had a surprise: 5 guests arrived on Saturday evening. In the group were a couple from Singapore, a man from Columbia, and two men from Michoacan, Mexico. The Singaporean man is a retired teacher from BJ. He is helping with a church in Greenville. The man from Columbia also attends the church. They were all visiting the Mexican men. Apparently, one of the men was saved in Greenville and they were visiting to encourage him in the Lord. Since there is no good church where this man is, all came to the morning service to ask our church if we would go and start a mission work there about three hours away outside of the city. Please pray for this wonderful opportunity. Mike brought it to our church's attention and the men are going to pray. This would be wonderful for Mike to be able to take the men individually and train them to minister. Please pray for this along with the: men's meeting on Friday night and men's work meeting at the church 8AM Saturday morning. (They will be putting divisions in the other side of the church to create different classrooms).
On a lighter note, we are very thankful that we found the problem with our wood stove. The creosote and buildup in the chimney had fallen down by itself during the last 9 months and filled up the head of the chimney with about 6 solid inches of soot. That was making it impossible for the air to get by and so the fire would put itself out. We got that fixed and cleaned out last week and it is working like a new stove. That's a blessing as we have had some pretty cold nights and mornings---but for the most part here in the house we have been toasty and warm.
There is a possibility of several different people coming to help short term in the next year or two. Please pray for the Lord to open and close doors as He sees fit. Pray for us to have wisdom from the Lord as we seek to help place them in areas of service based on their gifts and interests.
Melissa only has 5 weeks left with us. All are studying like mad to make good use of our time with her. We hate to even think of her leaving, but are thankful for all of the help she has given in both homeschooling and piano lessons for the church.
Last night Gabriel went to talk to Morgan for about 4 hours. From that conversation, it is very obvious that he is trusting in his works for salvation and could possibly cause a good deal of trouble in the church. We ask that you would first of all pray for him to be saved and to truly understand God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. If that is not going to happen, we ask that you would pray for the men who have a good grasp of doctrine to understand and to be able to encourage him and refute his false ideas. Gabriel's wife Liliana and their three boys, Yoltic, Yolat and Yolotzin are all a blessing to have in our church. Please pray for the Lord to work in His perfect way in this situation.

Thank you again for praying!
We depend on your prayers!

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (October 20)

2008-10-20T14:07:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Last week we asked you to pray Miguel Angel who Mike had met on a bus. At first he refused a tract, then took one, then asked some questions and talked for about 15 minutes. He showed up to our service on Wednesday night. He really seemed to enjoy the service and Morgan's preaching. Please pray for him to return.

Please pray for our own evangelism day by day--that we would seek to find opportunities to turn the conversations to Christ, that we would be bold in our witness, that we would give the gospel and that we would see fruit.

This past Tuesday night, Mikey and I went to church to paint the ceiling and walls. Mikey was a big help. On Thursday night, Morgan, Christian, Nico, Marcos and I all worked on getting the floor painted. It's the 4th time I've painted that floor and it was SOOO good to have help this time. The paint is a chlorinated rubber substance and it is strong stuff. It took us about an hour and a half to get the floor done. All five of us, a little woozy, went to a nearby taco stand to celebrate finishing.

In our men's meeting two weeks ago, we talked about helping Martha with some groceries since she makes $150 US dollars every two weeks and has two children and a husband who doesn't help her at all, but does expect her to cook for him. Last week Morgan and I went to Sam's club and bought 50 pounds of rice, 50 pounds of sugar, 40 pounds of black, pinto and lentil beans, salt, 5 gallons of cooking oil, lots of bleach and laundry soap, meat, hamburger, hot dogs, pastas, cereal, and some other things that I've forgotten. Martha was not home when we arrived and after waiting a while, two mechanics in the shop told us to "just leave it all in the office." Right. We found that the door to their small apartment was open up above so Morgan and I hauled everything up a small spiral staircase, and prayed that everything would be there when Martha returned home. I called her in the afternoon and she had gone to another state to see a sick sister but was planning on arriving that night with her two children (Frida-15 and Diego 9). We told her that we were worried about the food and she said, "It will be ok." I called her again the next day and she said that they arrived at 10:30 PM and her son said, "Mom, we can eat for a year. I've never seen so much food in all my life." She said that she was so thankful and was just overwhelmed and ready to cry after seeing it all. Praise the Lord that our church is looking for people who have needs and is trying to meet those needs in real ways. Please pray for Martha's husband Bruno to see Christ's love too. It would be easy for him to say, "Well, why should I provide for my wife if others will?", but please pray that he will see that we are Christ's disciples by our love for one another and that his heart will be turned toward our great God.

Martha had to work a double shift on Saturday afternoon and night at the hospital. She got off at 7:00 AM but was at SS at 11. She had to leave at 1 because she had to work again in the afternoon, but she said that our study in Heb. 9 about the superiority of Christ was exactly what she needed and was very encouraged and she didn't even feel sleepy. Praise the Lord for what He is doing in her life.

Nico has had a difficult week with Liliana his wife. It seems like she is developing a type of arthritis and is in a lot of pain. Please pray for Nico and his family. He is the only one saved there and faces many struggles with his wife and three children. He listened on my MP 3 player this morning two times to our SS class from yesterday and just returned saying that he had been encouraged. Praise the Lord for the power of His Word.

We had a good afternoon yesterday with Marcos and Ruth and their two children, Ximena (He-men-ah) and Joana their new baby. Marcos was around when Crystalyn died and is struggling with what would happen if their new little baby would die. We were able to encourage him with God's sovereignty and control of all things. It's an incredible thing to think that the Lord Jesus was born in the world's most unsanitary place, a stable, and He was preserved. Our lives and times are in God's hands. Please pray for Marcos' faith to increase.

We received a call from Analilia this morning, Jesus' wife. (He is the man with the recent hip operation.) She is really at her wit's end with her husband's brother who lives next door with his three boys. The brother is divorced and never there. The three boys (11, 8 and 6) have never been to school one day in their lives. They are always stealing what little Jesus and Analilia have. She has stated in the past that if he won't do anything to fix the situation, she is moving out. That day apparently has arrived. She is planning on leaving tomorrow and says that if Jesus will fix the situation, she will be back with him in no time. I do believe her. They are unsaved and have heard the gospel clearly. Pray for the Lord to work in their hearts.

Melissa took a couple of pictures of the family yesterday. I'll pass a couple along.

Thank you for praying for us,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (October 13)

2008-10-13T23:26:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for praying about our renting the other side of our little building. Morgan finalized the deal with the owner of the building, and we have paid through the end of the year. Everyone is very excited! On Friday night of last week, we had a men´s meeting and then again this past Saturday. There were good turnouts to both meetings with 8 men coming last week and 9 men coming this past Saturday. I just love the spirit among our men. It is such an encouragement to hear the men praying and discussing points in the book on Biblical Eldership that apply to us. We are seeing now the fruits of years of your praying. Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up qualified men with a desire to lead His church. After our men's meeting Saturday morning, a good number of the men stayed to help paint and get some other things done. It will probably be two weeks before it will be ready to use, but it is such a blessing to see the men encouraged and enthusiastic in wanting to help get it ready for the Lord's service. This will, Lord willing, enable us to divide all of our children and young people into four SS classes instead of just one.

CLIMBING WATERFALLS!!!!!! Last Saturday, we had a young people's meeting that was for anyone who felt like they were young. We had our third creek walk and this one was the coldest one yet. We had about 35 people attend--from as little as 2 months old all the way up to 70 years old. We had a very good devotional time on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from Daniel 3 and then ...........a hotdog roast!

We are continuing our study on the gospel and our evangelism. Please pray that those who are not saved would truly understand the gospel and be converted and that those who are saved will know it well and that it will continually be a part of our lives. We have personally had several very good conversations with others and been able to give them the Gospel in the last few weeks. Even today on a bus, after refusing a tract, Miguel Angel took one and asked all about it. We had a good 30 minutes to talk to him and explain the Gospel. He said he was a Christian, but with further discussion, he revealed that he is trusting in his obeying God's commandments to give him peace with God. Pray that he will come this Wednesday night as he said he would. Please pray that each individual in the church would take it upon himself to be a witness wherever he is---AND that we would be able to see the blessing of the Lord in the furtherance of the gospel though the Lord's church here in Mexico City.

Last week Mike had some pretty heavy and difficult visits. Jesus and Analilia (he of the hip replacement), Nico's family, and Martha all have been going through some very difficult trials. Even though there are some very pressing needs in all three families, it is amazing how dealing with those who are saved is so much easier because they have the Holy Spirit and respond to God's Word. Many times it's easy to leave a family that is suffering and does not have Christ and to feel total despair apart from God's intervening grace. At our men's meeting Saturday, they decided to take 200 dollars of our offering and give it to Martha. We are going to be giving her $150 for food and $50 for propane gas. This is a great gesture and really helps the men see the needs and seek to meet them.

UPCOMING EVENTS!

This Saturday's Ladies Meeting
Piano recital--18 young people are practicing fervently for their weekly lessons. Melissa is not only a wonderful homeschooling teacher for our children, but she is a wonderful piano teacher as well for the entire church. The students seem to have realized that she is only going to be with us for a short time and they are really progressing rapidly. Melissa has scheduled a piano recital for the end of November which will be right before she leaves us on December 5th. We praise the Lord for her hard work and sacrificial spirit.

Thank you so much for praying!

In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the rest of the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 29)

2008-09-29T13:19:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

To be very honest, this has been a difficult week. We got a horrible cold front which would have been no problem except that we kept losing electricity--once for 24 hours and once for 12 hours. This would not have been a problem either because we have our wonderful wood stove, but we have had a problem with the gasket not fitting right and smoke has been escaping into the house. So as of right now, no wood stove usage. It was so cold that we could see our breath. Everyone in the whole family was very sick and it just seemed like we were not able to get much accomplished. But before you all feel bad for us, we realized that this was very good for one and all. We are so used to ease and comfort and that may not be in any of our futures. We were able to help the children use their heads and make the best of everything and just keep going. The Lord allowed us to do school even without the electricity. We just wore tons of clothes, wrapped up in blankets and did our best. The Lord has given us much to be thankful for.

On the worst day, when it seemed like we were just barely maintaining instead of "accomplishing something for Christ", the Lord in his incredible love sent us 2 letters that were extremely encouraging. (The electricity came on for 10 minutes and we got them via e-mail). One was an extremely encouraging letter from a church that supports us. Another was a letter from a young man who we were able to lead to the Lord when we were in language school almost 13 years ago. His name was Rene. We lived on a ranch, and he was the nephew of the owners of the ranch. Faith and I have wondered about Rene for years---really hoping that his conversion was real. He wrote and said that he had asked his uncle about us and finally found our web site. He now is 28, married, has 3 children, and works for the border patrol. This is what his letter said, "I'll start first by giving all praise, honor, and glory and thanks to our heavenly Father for sending his Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, making it possible for us to go to heaven, when we deserve hell....I want to thank the Lord for using you to witness to me and 'sow the seed' in my younger years. I truly to this day believe that the Lord used you to change my life today. I use you and Faith as part of my testimony that God was calling me to Him at a very young age. It was me who wasn't listening to his voice. Some of my hobbies now are basically spending time with God..." We were thrilled to see that he is a godly father--leading his family in the Lord! AND actively witnessing to all around him. But we then again were overwhelmed.....Why would the God of the universe take the time to move this young man to write to us (truly nothing people) at a time when we really needed encouragement? It was a wonderful reminder that God is the One who does the work. We are just privileged to be the means to somehow get that truth to His people. We are merely the tools---and broken tools at that. It was an encouragement to just keep plugging along, loving the Lord, teaching that to our children, and allowing little difficulties to work their purposes in our lives.

On Sunday (yesterday), I was very sick and didn't feel at all well during the SS and preaching services. I thought that the delivery wasn't very good; but then again, it isn't about me. The people trickled in...many are also sick. All were wondering if we would ever again see the sun---AND the Lord blessed us with that on His Day.

Good news:

Marcos and Ruth had their little baby--Joana (after Juana--the new grandma). She is beautiful and we went to see them yesterday after church to pray and rejoice with them.
Teresa mentioned that her grandson Jonathan--who left after coming to church 3 weeks ago--is still not home. The Lord is using this situation greatly in the life of Teresa's daughter Vanessa. We have known her for years, but she has never wanted to bow the knee to the Lord. She told her mother--- in front of her very critical sister that the Lord has shown her her horrible sin--and that she has repented of her sin and asked Him to forgive her and be her Savior! We were thrilled. These are not just words because Vanessa is NOT the type of person that would just say something like that. Pray for her that she would come to our church or find a good church closer to her as she lives 2 hours away (still in the south of the city).
Janet came after 3 months of not coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Janet had been dating an unsaved man for 3 months. She is still is struggling spiritually, but it was wonderful to see her with her sister Vanessa (another Vanessa). All of the church people hugged her and welcomed her with open arms!

Prayer Requests

The owner of the church is now offering to rent us the other side for $200 more per month. (Thankfully his daughter's belly dancing business has gone belly-up!) Yet, the men need to meet to pray and decide whether we should take this next step. This would give us three extra rooms for more classes, another bathroom (really necessary), and another room for a stove and kitchen like area. Our total would be $500 per month. Pray with us for wisdom and the Lord's perfect will. We are not sure whether to keep renting there at all as some of the people who live there are being very mean to our people as they enter church. The wonderful thing is that it does not bother our people. The people who live there are normally kind to us gringos, but to their own, they treat them rudely.
Normally, I make a yearly trip for supplies as some things are half price at the border. I usually do this in November, but may need to do it sooner as we decide about a generator or not. We want the Lord's perfect will on this matter--and don't want to purchase it if it is not really necessary.

Thank you so much for praying!!!!

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 22)

2008-09-22T13:31:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying friends,

We haven't seen the sun for almost a week now. It has been cloudy, drizzly and rainy and pretty cold. The family is going through one of our pretty hard cycles of cough/sinus and throat problems. We appreciate your prayers for the Lord's grace in this time. We do have a wood stove but I recently replaced the door gasket and it is a bit too small so we can't use it right now as smoke comes out and fills the room. We hope to be able to get a new one from the States by the end of this week. A small request but it would be very helpful for our family.

Our communication has been a bit hampered also. We have been without telephone service for over a week and very limited internet. When you receive this email, you will know that our internet service is back--at least for a few seconds or minutes. :-) The telephone company told us that they will try to fix the problem today or tomorrow so we shall see.

Erasmo is still in some pain from his surgery. Please pray that he will be able to recover fully and quickly and be back to driving his taxi so that he can provide for his family.

Sra. Gloria and her mom Maria have been able to make it the last couple of months to our services but Gloria's shingles are still bothering her. The last couple of weeks she has only been able to stay for SS.

Martha missed last Sunday but was there yesterday. She is struggling with illness and the great burden of unsaved family at home and an abusive husband. He will not supply for any of the needs that his family has but still expects Martha to make food for him. She works as a nurse to make about $150 dollars a week. Things are extremely difficult for her physically and economically, BUT to see her in church as she hears about the Lord Jesus and what He has done and is doing for her is such a joy to see. You can actually see her face change during the service and when she hears a pertinent point about Christ, she just kind of closes her eyes, sighs deeply and smiles. It is such a blessing.

Another blessing is to see people whose lives are filled with physical difficulty and suffering actually in tears as they sing and worship during the service. Sometimes I am arrested with my own lack of worship or thought in the songs as I see someone who is actually so involved in their singing and the message of the words that they are brought to tears. May the Lord truly give us hearts to be filled and affected by what we say we believe.

This past Wed. night our longtime friend Pedro (unsaved) showed up for our Wed. evening service. He was with his bother Alejandro, and his wife, Norma with their little girl. Please pray for the Lord's saving work in each of their lives.

School continues to progress. Melissa has been a wonderful help to Faith and our family. Because of Cristi's intensive therapy last year, we were not able to begin school until October of last year. However, in two weeks Mikey should be completely caught up with school and Carissa should follow him very soon. We praise the Lord for allowing Melissa to be with us which has allowed us to get caught up. Cristi is doing so much better with her dyslexia challenges. Our monthly therapies continue. Thank you for praying.

Melissa is offering her piano playing abilities to the entire church. Eighteen people have signed up to take lessons. Only about 10 had their lesson last week. I announced that this next week is the last opportunity. Then we will revise the list if they do not come. Please pray that the church people would take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

Our next young people's meeting will be this coming Saturday. If the rains stay this week, we will have our third straight creek walk. The kids are hoping for that. We'll try to send some pictures next week.

Thank you for all of your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 8)

2008-09-08T21:16:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

We had an interesting week that was anything but normal. Several things have happened this week that have made living here very difficult. We definitely appreciate your prayers.

On Tuesday night, we received a call from a Mexican friend with whom we attended BJU. He is a fine Christian man serving here in Mexico. He said that he was coming the next day on a bus and asked if we could pick him—but he first mentioned at the airport??? Then he mentioned at the bus station. In the next 10 minutes, it was very hard to understand him and there were not many things in the conversation that made sense. He said that we were to pick him up the next day at 10 AM and he would be staying with us for 15 days. I told Morgan that so much didn't make sense in what he was saying that to me he sounded drunk or on drugs. This was extremely hard to believe as this man has served the Lord faithfully here in Mexico for many years. I said, "Morgan, do not go and pick him up. Something isn't right."

The next day, the man called at 11:30 AM saying he had just gotten there. OK, so I was wrong. I told him to get a taxi to a place about ½ hour from our house and that Morgan would pick him up there. About 45 minutes later, he called again saying that the police had stopped the taxi that he was in and found the gun that he was bringing. WHAT!!!???????? "Why on earth are you bringing a gun?" His reply—"It's the one I'm bringing you." Oh Great. It is a felony offense to have a gun in Mexico. So, now the guy is being hauled off to jail and wants me to help get him out. It was a very worrisome situation. He teaches in a Bible School, has a wife and three children, and is coming to Mexico City for 15 days, with a gun, to do what??????????

Fortunately, Tuesday night after our first conversation by phone, I wrote an email to my friend stating that he we had received a call from him, it was hard to understand, but that he wanted Morgan to pick him up in the bus station the next morning at 10. If that was correct, he was to confirm by responding to the email. We prayed for this man on Wednesday night as a church and Morgan and I were going to go search in the different municipalities the next day to look for him. When we returned from prayer meeting, we had an email from my friend that said, "Mike, I haven't communicated with you for quite a while. It must have been a misunderstanding." Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been a bit unnerving though. It appears that the guy, whoever he was, was trying to extort money from us and how he found out our names is not clear. We ask that you continually pray for the Lord's safety for our family and other workers here in Mexico. We DON'T watch the news—if we did, we would never set foot out of our house. :-) The church family is in fear for us, but we are going about our normal duties telling them that we will be careful, but we need to live our lives. We cannot allow fear to curb the work here. The blessing is that our friend is still faithfully serving the Lord and that was the part of the situation that was the most disturbing about the whole situation.

2. Please pray for Erasmo who had his gall stones removed this week. He is home now but in a lot of pain. Juan Jesus had his hip replacement two weeks ago and is also home now and in much pain. Pray that the Lord would use these two physical trials to draw these two men—to Himself or closer to Himself. We know that Juan Jesus is definitely not saved.

3. We had a good men's meeting on Friday night with very good discussion about elders. Pray that the Lord will raise up men here, men who love each other, are unified in the Spirit and in doctrine, and men who will be able to faithfully lead the Lord's flock. We have another meeting this Saturday morning.

4. We started a series yesterday on the Gospel and our Evangelism. Please pray that we will be an evangelistic church that knows the gospel and is so consumed with our God and His glory that we can't keep it in to ourselves. Psalm 96:3—"Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." We want to be a mission church that is missions minded.

5. Faith gives some different people English lessons when the girls go for their PE classes in Gymnastics. A lady doctor, Josephina, who studies with Faith invited us to her birthday dinner party on Saturday. It was a first class event and we had the opportunity to meet her brother in law. Josephina's sister died several years ago of cancer and Mike had a really good opportunity during the dinner to speak with Gualberto about Christ. He has had some other experiences in the past with others who call themselves Christians but have no saving knowledge of Christ. Please pray that Saturday's conversation with Gualberto will plant the seed, that it will be watered and that God will graciously save him.

6. Marta was there yesterday after missing the last two weeks. Please continue to hold her up before the Lord. She seems so distraught with her family situation where her husband won't help with anything and uses the little bit of money that she earns for whatever he wants—even though he works too. The burden almost seems too great for her shoulders at times, but she seemed to be very encouraged in Christ from Heb. 9 in SS yesterday. Please pray that the Lord would bring some type of resolution to her difficulties in His perfect way.

Our electricity went out last night at 6 PM and as of this moment, 10 AM, it has not come back on. So I need to save this and close it down so that I can send it as soon as the electricity comes back. The problem is that we cannot pump water from the cistern to our tanks on the roof without electricity. School is also hectic without being able to do the children's DVD classes. We have just heard that a main transformer has blown. Pray for wisdom as we are considering getting a generator and want to only do this if it is a true necessity. The electricity does go out frequently, but it is USUALLY restored quickly.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (September 1)

2008-09-01T12:11:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers in the past week.

We had an excellent first week of school. Melissa Pate arrived on Friday and that will help Faith out even tremendously. Faith has spent so much time getting things organized. She is such a great blessing to our family and our church. I don't know what we would do without her. Melissa has also been an encouragment already. We took her and our two birthday girls (Carissa, 9 on Saturday and Cherith 4 today) down to the horses on Saturday. I'm enclosing a few pix of the birthday girls, one of Caralyn on the roll cart in the kitchen, the kids in their school uniforms and the Mexican Fife and Drum Corp. :-)

Please keep praying for Juan Jesus and Analilia's family. He had his hip replacement last Tuesday morning and lost a LOT of blood. He hasn't been able to walk yet since the surgery. He has now been in the hospital for 17 days. Please pray for the Lord to really get a hold of their hearts and save them.

Tomorrow Erasmo has his gall bladder surgery. Please pray for their family. Matilde continues with a severe kidney infection and mentioned yesterday that her aunt has terminal cancer. Please pray for the Lord's grace in this family's life.

Saturday night/Sunday morning at 4:00 AM Faith said that someone was knocking on the door. I, of course said, "There is no one at the door." She got up to investigate and it was Miguel, Nico's son from next door who had been knocking for a half hour. Nico was terribly ill and was wondering if we had any more of the shots that we had to give the team when they were here. We had one for the infection and so Faith and I went next door to administer it. We were extremely surprised to see him at 10:30 AM with his family ready to head down the mountain to church with us. He ended up having to leave after SS to return home but praise the Lord that he wanted to be there. Please pray for him to recover quickly.

Jose and America's new little baby has a pretty bad infection also and America and the baby were not there yesterday. Please continue to pray for them to grow.

We had a very good time in Hebrews 9 in SS yesterday and followed that up with the preciousness of Christ from 1 Peter 2:1-8 which we followed up with the Lord's Supper. Several commented that it was a real blessing.

This coming Friday night we have another men's study in our book about Biblical Elders. Please pray for that.

Please pray for us to be shining lights in this dark city and that we would show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Thank you for your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 24)

2008-08-24T23:50:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for a busy week.

This week promises to get busier. Home school starts bright and early tomorrow morning. The task seems overwhelming at this point (this year we will have five taking classes), so please pray for Faith and the kids for patience, strength and lots of work to get accomplished. We praise the Lord that on Friday Melissa Pate is coming to help with the home schooling. That will be a tremendous blessing.

Our men's meeting went very well on Friday night. We had 10 men present here at our home and had a good time continuing our study on elders. Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up men who will be faithful shepherd elders here in Mexico City.

On Saturday we had another creek walk with the young people. We had several more attend this month than last month and the new ones really enjoyed the cold water. There was one place where it's very slippery and you have to cross the creek there. The only place where the footing is not slick is right in the center of the rushing water. I planted myself there and helped each young person across one by one. They would put their feet against mine and get across. All was going well until one girl tried it by herself about 6 more feet upstream, fell and knocked the next guy who was about three feet away into me which in turn knocked me into about a 4 foot deep pool of FREEZING COLD WATER. Needless to say, it takes your breath away. The human bowling was successful as I was the only "pin" to get knocked into the gutter. :-) Our Bible study was on Daniel and his three Hebrew friends who were taken to a foreign country and remained faithful to their God when apparently all the other Hebrew captives capitulated to the pagan influences. Pray for the Lord to raise up faithful young people amidst the pagan influences of Mexico City also.

Today we finished Hebrews 8 in SS and also finished our 3rd and final study on Biblical modesty. There were some good comments and one young lady even asked Faith to help her after the service as she didn't even know that there was such a thing as immodesty. Praise the Lord for tender hearts and for a desire to please and glorify Him in order that the Word of God be not blasphemed.

Last week we asked you to pray for Marcos and Ruth as they had moved quite a ways away to be with her parents. Last Sunday they were not in attendance but that day they had a problem with Ruth's parents interfering with their discipline of their daughter Jimena. Ruth's father denounced them to some government officials on Monday. Marcos called on Monday night and asked if they might be able to move up to our cabin for a time. So, at 10 PM on Tuesday night, Gabriel (who owns a pick-up) and myself went with with several of Marcos' brothers to load up their stuff and bring it up to our cabin. We got them all moved in and into bed by 3 AM. So, Marcos and Ruth are attending much more faithfully then they were. :-) Thank you for praying. Pray for them as Ruth is 7 months pregnant now. They will have to change Jimena's school along with a few other changes, but praise the Lord they are closer and can attend all the services again. (As long as they are in the cabin, they have to. :-)

Matilde was not in the services today as she is again having kidney problems. She has suffered several severe kidney infections this year. Please pray if it would please the Lord that He would remove this thorn in her flesh and if not, that His grace would be evident in her life. Her husband Erasmo is to have his gall stone operation next Tuesday so please keep this family in your prayers.

We asked you to pray last week for Miguel, Nico and Liliana's son who left home--he's all of 12 years old. He returned again this past Friday. He is very very hard to the things of the Lord. Please pray for the Lord to arrest him and save him by His grace.

We covet your prayers,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 18)

2008-08-18T15:23:00.002-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers.

PRAISES

Some of our more mature women are beginning to lead our ladies' Bible Study each month. Currently they are going through the The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Teresa did a very good job on Saturday. Juana will be leading the next chapter next month.
The men have decided that they would like to meet twice a month for our studies about elders so this Friday night we will be meeting up here at our cabin at 7 PM.
Some of the children who are between 10-13 would like to help serve more in the children's SS class. They want to begin preparing the craft for the SS lessons each week. They will be Sunday school assistants and rotate. Praise the Lord for that desire to serve.
Fernando, who has come on and off for many years, was in attendance the last two weeks. He very much needs to be converted, but it was good to see him back again.

PRAYER REQUESTS

This Saturday we will be having another creek walk with the young people. It has been raining a whole lot lately so there should be plenty of COLD COLD water to walk in. :-) There are some monstrous trees along the side of the creek and we used that last month as an object lesson for Psalm 1 (He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.) Pray for the Lord's working in our Bible Study time Saturday.
Jesus and Analilia haven't been to church since our VBS ended over 3 weeks ago. He was supposed to go into the hospital again this past Friday for his hip replacement. We haven't heard if he was able to make it in yet. He mentioned to me about a week ago that they weren't able to attend church right now because he has to use Sundays to sell his dental hygiene products. His recovery for the hip replacement will be long and he is trying to financially prepare for that by working on the Lord's Day. Please pray for them to be saved. They have heard the gospel for a number of months now and sometimes we wonder if they are to the point of definitively rejecting it. Please pray for the Lord to have mercy on them, and pray for our church people to minister to them in their time of need.
Erasmo and Matilde. For years Erasmo and his brother have been at great odds over different personal family issues. Last week, the brother hired two men to kidnap Erasmo's oldest daughter Abigail who is 17. They had her from about 9AM til 7PM. Praise the Lord that He kept her safe. Pray for the issues to be resolved in the family and for the Lord to use this to bring Abby and others in that family to salvation.
Erasmo was also taken to the hospital on Saturday night with severe stomach pain. He has gall stones and has been scheduled for surgery on Sept. 2.
Two young couples--Marcos and Ruth and Uriel and Mildred--now live over an hour away from church (both with unsaved in-laws) and this is affecting their attendance. They have either been late or have not come these last few weeks. Pray for the Lord to work in their hearts.
Nico and Liliana--last week their 12 year old son left home and went to live with his grandmother. His story to her was that "his parents make him read the Bible." The truth is he doesn't want to obey and doesn't want God in his life at all. Please pray for Nico and Liliana for wisdom and for Miguel to be broken about his sin and to submit to Christ.
Some of our people have had different issues with modesty. Therefore we have been learning why it should be practiced (Because it's important to God and for His glory, because it affects our brothers in Christ and because it affects our presentation of the gospel.) We are having a three part series on modesty in our Sunday services. Most people have received it very well, but please pray for others to accept God's teaching on the subject and to submit to Christ in this area. We are not just stating do's and don'ts, but trying to demonstrate that this is a heart issue. Am I going to serve the Lord and others (by being modest and not wanting them to stumble) or myself (by wearing what I want to bring attention to myself)?

Thank you as always for your prayers,

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (August 6)

2008-08-05T22:19:00.001-05:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Greetings from cool (and sometimes cold) and rainy Mexico City. I'm sure most of you, when you think of Mexico, think of hot, sunny and dry. Standing in our driveway in front of our house, we are at 9,958 feet above sea level (we know because someone with a GPS system came a little while ago and told us what our elevation was). We are in our rainy season right now and there are many days when the sun doesn't come out at all or only for a very short time. We had a tremendous rain storm last night and probably had over three inches of rain in about an hour. Today we've probably had over an inch.

Pray that the Lord would pour us out showers of blessing also spiritually.

A blessing on Sunday was that Mauricio, his wife Susana, and their two children attended our services. They attended when the BJ Spanish team was here and she has come several Wednesday nights with the children. They really enjoyed the services and are part of the family of 20 possible attendees. :-) Praise the Lord for them.

A huge blessing when we showed up for our services on Sunday morning was to see Marcos and Elsa with their little baby, and Miguel and Alondra with their little Christofer. You may remember that we have prayed for years for these twin sisters. For a time they lived with us, then with Juana and then with Teresa. We occasionally see Miguel and Alondra but haven't seen Elsa for more than a year. Please continue to pray that the Lord would bring these two girls to Himself and the two young men with whom they live.

Morgan has been preaching on Wed. nights and is currently preaching on the 10 Commandments. The last several weeks have been extremely encouraging as we see him get the people's attention and proclaim God's Word Continue to pray for his development in this area.

Our men's meeting this past Saturday was our worst attended yet, but Humberto, Erasmo, Memo and Mikey all had some good discussion to add to our study on elders in the church. Please continue to pray that the Lord will raise up men to lead and oversee the church here.

Sra. Gloria and her mother Maria made it for SS this past Lord's Day. They had to leave for church though because Sra. Gloria feels dizzy from her diabetes and high blood pressure. Sylvia was not able to come due to more upheaval in her family. Please pray that the Lord would allow her to be a testimony to her family and at the same time not be so burdened down with all of their baggage. Teresa, Sylvia's sister, was able to make it Sunday, which recently, is a huge blessing anytime her husband will allow her to come.

Continue to pray for Jose and America. Her stitches opened up from her C-section on Saturday so they were not able to make it Sunday. Pray for quick healing in the Lord's will.

Faith is trying to get ready for another year of homeschooling which is coming up all too quickly. We are thankful that we will have a young lady, Melissa Pate, down to help Faith with that monumental task this fall. Please keep that undertaking in your prayers.

Thank you so much for praying for us,
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii