Goldfuss Update (March 12)

Dear Praying friends,

• Please pray for Teresa and Silvia as their aunt died earlier this week. Pray for them to have continued opportunities with their unsaved family.
• Teresa called for prayer for her unsaved husband Alberto who is very sick. Many have horrible colds and infections from the very dry dusty weather.
• The two elderly ladies—Maria and Gloria---again could not attend. I was able to visit them and the mother, Sra. Maria, is doing better. She has an appointment this week with a specialist to evaluate her condition. Please pray for some help with all of the swelling in her legs and left arm.
• The services today were very well attended.
• Pray for Cristian and Jose as they have spiritual needs.
• We invited Guille and Alejandro up to the house today and it is so encouraging to see the growth in their lives. Memo, their son, and Carina, his wife, came up also with their two sons. It is wonderful to see this family-- who before wanted NOTHING to do with the Lord-- being so faithful. There are still some salvation needs in the family, but we are so thankful that they are attending to the preaching of God’s Word. Please pray for Carina whose pregnancy is having some complications. Guille has been having some problems with depression. Please pray for her. She suffers with fibromyalgia. We believe that Satan is also attacking her because she has really become such a witness with her family. Faith suggested calling others in the church who suffer with chronic pain so that they can mutually encourage each other in the Lord and pray together. She really responded well to this idea.
• Juana and Fidel have officially lost their land dispute. We did not know that each face 3 ½ years in prison. They are appealing. Please pray for the Lord’s will to be done. Juana did feel like the Lord wanted her to begin a ladies prison ministry, but I’m sure she did not think that it would be by her being one of the prisoners. She just wants the Lord’s will to be done. They are in an appeals process right now, but things don’t look good.

As day to day living goes, it has been difficult. Mama (Faith) is basically out of commission. Although she went to church today and played the piano, it was very difficult. We still have about 25 boxes to unpack, but with mom not feeling well, the process is slow.

The three house conditions that have impeded unpacking are:

• Sewer gas coming up through the bathroom—making everyone feel nauseous.
• A water leak from the second floor to the first that has been difficult to repair.
• The cold from the wood stove not working properly.

We praise the Lord that Raul was able to finish the closets and that Alejandro gave some good ideas today in fixing some of the above problems that have slowed down our moving in process.

Without fail, we have to begin homeschooling tomorrow. The children have had a five-week break and are ready to begin. Pray for mom as she will be doing this from bed. Although all of this time off sounds horrible, it puts the kids at ending school in the beginning of July---which is right when all end school here in Mexico. So we should be alright.

One last thing. When mom was very sick with her double kidney infection, she was shaking. Matthew was so sweet that he brought down his favorite Micky mouse blanket to help to keep her warm. Then he went and got the space heater. Well, he put it very close to mommy on the couch. Soon she became very warm and turned it off. What she did not realize was that the heater had already burned a very large hole in the couch. If she had waited any time at all, mom soon would have become a “crispy critter”. We are trying to look at the big burnt mark as a sign of devoted love instead of just being a big ugly burnt mark.

One blessing that may seem small to you—it has drizzled on and off for the past three days. That may not sound like much, but with all the dust and pollution, it is a welcome relief if only for a few days.

As we serve the Lord here, we have to remember that the things that we deal with are life and death. We were reminded of that today as on our way home we saw a motorcycle that had crashed into a truck. The man on the motorcycle was lying under the truck, obviously dead. What was surprising to us after not being here for a year was that the Mexicans who were in our van were not shocked by the gruesomeness of the sight at all, whereas in the USA we are very sheltered from seeing such things on a daily basis. In this city of millions of people, pray that the Lord would enable us to give the gospel faithfully and that He would open people’s hearts to the truth and save them for His glory.

Thank you for praying for us. We covet your prayers.

In Christ,

Mike for all the Goldfi