Goldfuss update (1/3/2012)

Dear Prayer Partners,

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

During this past year, Mike preached about the Christian warfare, forgiveness, the Lord’s prayer, victory over sin, and glorifying God—thinking correctly about God and helping others to think correctly about God. This involves both soul-winning and discipleship of others. Lourdes, a lady in our church, showed us wonderful slides from her trip to Israel. This was such a blessing to all as we could clearly see the places referenced in the Bible.

As we begin the new year, we would like to share with you some of our goals for the church during 2012.

1.    To preach through 1 Corinthians which deals with our 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 and collectively forming our own church doctrinal statement.

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

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

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

6.    Beginning two more Bible studies.

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

1.    One young man, Beto, has volunteered to do the church calendars. He also volunteered to lead the song services. His willingness led to many of the men being put into a rotation to lead the services.

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

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

Some prayer requests for the church:

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

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

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

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

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

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

7.    Salvation

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

·      Luis: Carina’s brother who has been faithful for six months. 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 in Mexico has begun coming to church and has been faithful in just prayer meeting for about six months. This is truly the Lord’s working. Pedro understands many things—pray for his genuine conversion.

·      Lilliana: Nico’s wife.

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

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

Requests from the homefront:

1.    Homeschooling: Thanks to Lauren and Bethany, we finished half of the school year already! This is a first! They are both returning tomorrow to begin second semester. A special prayer request is that we are planning an art/Bible Club for the children in our neighborhood for Fridays. First semester Lauren gave an art class to our children and the children in our church. Now we are opening the class up to the children in the neighborhood with Bethany teaching the Bible class. Please also pray for Cristi’s continued progress with schoolwork regarding her dyslexia. The prayer request is for endurance. Cristi is reading well, but just gets tired after five or six pages. We think that teaching typing early to her might continue to help with her spelling which is much improved. Praise the Lord that learning the 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 we have had trouble doing household chores. Our generator sometimes helps, but at other times is not sufficient and is very expensive to run continually. Three loads of laundry has become an all day task. Also, the water trucks are way behind schedule. The government is running out of money to subsidize the water trucks. We have had to buy extra loads at over $100 per truck. The Lord has graciously provided the money, but please pray that this problem will be resolved before we will have to buy the five trucks that we normally need per month. (All shower and washing machine water are used for several different things.) Also, we just read that the “largest garbage dump in the world” has been closed. One problem. They have not opened another one. Apparently most people still have service, but others have had garbage piling up. With thirty plus million in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, these situations can become very serious in a hurry.
We still love living here, and even enjoy trying to ration and figure out how to improvise our situations. For example, the boys are trying to figure out how to catch the rain water from the roof, to filter it, and to be able to use it for laundry and for showers. All of this is an excellent education for the children, and we praise the Lord for it.

We end with the Lord’s wonderful mercy upon us. One day when we were not at home, a fire started in the dryer in the back of the cabin where Lauren and Bethany stay. We had been using that dryer because there was not enough electricity in the house. Reme saw the fire and then heard a big swoooosh. She thought the gas was going to blow up the cabin, yet she bravely turned off the gas! Then quickly the fire was mostly out. Reme was able to finish putting out the fire with several buckets of water. The swoosh ended up being water spraying everywhere from a burnt through water hose from the washing machine! The water put out the large fire under the cabin! Really, God put out the fire! We are reminded that our lives and belongings are always in his hands.

Thank you again for your loving prayers and support!

With much love,

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

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