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
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