Happy Fourth of July, or should I say "Cuatro de Julio." We were allowed to sleep in till 8:30 because of our long day. We had a great breakfast of eggs, cereal, toast, and fried ham. It began raining and continued to rain for a few hours even though Mr. Pfaunmiller told us that the south side of the island rarely gets much rain. The clouds that brought the raining covered up the sun making it not too hot out, but the rain added to the humidity. We worked in the upstairs of the church and in some of the school classrooms painting and cleaning up the floors. We all had our own labeled water bottles which we refilled often. As long as we stayed inside the fans kept the rooms cool, but even when we were outside the humidity was fine, I thought. We all survived and got a lot of work done, and that is the important thing.
Having Pastor Goldfuss there really helped because he could show us how to paint the walls and make them nice looking. We all got to paint, and Natalie was the only one that made a real mess. We used light green paint, and she managed to get it on the walls, floor, her hair, clothes, and arms. We all got covered in paint, but Natalie was probably the most skilled at getting the paint on herself. Natalie also got attacked by fire ants, but she was fine after a while. After we got lots of work done, even though we couldn't get all the stains off the toilet bowls, We went back home to the Pfaunmillers where we created a waiting list for the shower. After a few hours of showers, we and the Pfaunmiller family left to have a Fourth of July cookout at the Schmidt's home. The Schmidts are missionaries that live about 15 minutes from the Pfaunmillers and hold church services at their home.
They had a banana tree, and some coconut trees. John and Stephen Pfaunmiller enjoyed climbing up the trees and tossing down old branches and coconuts. After our meal of burgers, hot dogs, and other picnic foods, we went into the inside of the house for more fellowship. Mr. Schmidt made Piña Coladas (non-alcoholic) for us to enjoy.
After talking in their family room for a while, Mr. Schmidt brought us a devotional that turned into a powerful message. He talked about what it means to be a Christian and the success of serving Jesus. He shared his testimony, and as he cried during different parts of his testimony, I'll be honest, I had tears in my eyes as well. He really showed his love for the Lord and his desire to live for and serve him. We then shared testimonies and sang hymns. On the ride home we broke out into various patriotic songs and hymns. We met together before bed to have a time of prayer and discussion.
From Puerto Rico,
Randall J. Flack
Tuesday, July 4
Monday, July 3
Monday Night, 10 pm
Our team has made it to humid Puerto Rico. It seems as though Randall and Nadine got the most sleep last night before leaving. They said they slept a couple of hours. The rest of the team said they slept about 20 minutes. Mike slept for an hour and 15 minutes and Faith didn't go to sleep at all. There was so much to do with getting packed for the team, and youth camp that is coming up right after this week. Our family had a very good meeting yesterday morning in Bellevue, Ohio and then drove home in the afternoon.
After church last night, we left Matthew and Cherith at the McLean home and went home. Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa each slept from about 10 until 2:30 AM. Faith had to finish packing the kids' suitcases and also have Mikey's suitcase all ready for camp. He will leave for camp about 20 minutes after we land in Cleveland next Monday morning at 11:30!
We were all up this morning and left at 2:50 to go to Grace Church in Mentor. They loaned us their 15-passenger van and we all packed up and made it to the airport by 3:20 AM. We had to wait as they said they weren't open for another 20 minutes. Then we easily got checked in, went through security to our gate.
Our plane was scheduled for departure at 6:30 AM, so everyone decided that Cinnabons would make the perfect breakfast. They seemed a little bit doughy but they were very very tasty. That was good as we only received a small bowl of Cheerios on the plane from Cleveland to Houston. We arrived on time in Houston at 8:55 and everyone was feeling tired. Our next flight was supposed to leave Houston at 10:30. However, due to storms in the area we taxied late from the gate and then sat on the runway for 1½ hours with no air circulating in the cabin area. They were trying to get the air conditioning fixed. It was very stuffy and difficult as the plane was full.
It felt very claustrophobic for everyone, but the team did a great job with no complaints. Faith said that at one point she was ready to jump up running and screaming through the aisle because she felt like she couldn't breathe, but she didn't think that would be a good example to the team. We finally took off from Houston for Puerto Rico about 1:15. The flight lasted over 4 hours. We arrived in San Juan around 5:30 and were able to find all of our luggage.
Natalie and Mikey have both been battling with some sinus congestion and the second flight was extremely difficult for both of them. The pain in their ears was excruciating. Praise the Lord that Natalie was fine after some aspirin, but Mikey's did not clear up until we landed. Then tonight Mikey had a pretty serious nose bleed. Pray for that to get cleared up quickly this week so that they both won't have to go through that again on the return trip.
Mr. Pfaunmiller, his son Stephen and another missionary and his wife, met us at the airport and brought us the 1½ hour trip home with all of our luggage. San Juan is on the north of the island and Ponce, where the Pfaunmillers are, is about 75 miles on the southern coast. We had a good meal tonight with both of the families. We were very hungry after not eating too much on the airplanes today.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are planning on being at the church to do some cleaning, painting, and anything else that they want us to do. Pray for our strength as we need to sleep well tonight after not sleeping hardly at all last night. Thank you so much for your prayers.
We had several praises! We arrived safely and every single piece of our luggage was accounted for. We just had a wonderful time taking silly pictures and really enjoying each other as we traveled. They are a great bunch of young people!!! They call us "mom and dad"— so I guess we now are parents of seven teenagers!
In Christ,
Mike for the team
======================================
Due to technical difficulties, these updates were not received until Friday.
After church last night, we left Matthew and Cherith at the McLean home and went home. Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa each slept from about 10 until 2:30 AM. Faith had to finish packing the kids' suitcases and also have Mikey's suitcase all ready for camp. He will leave for camp about 20 minutes after we land in Cleveland next Monday morning at 11:30!
We were all up this morning and left at 2:50 to go to Grace Church in Mentor. They loaned us their 15-passenger van and we all packed up and made it to the airport by 3:20 AM. We had to wait as they said they weren't open for another 20 minutes. Then we easily got checked in, went through security to our gate.
Our plane was scheduled for departure at 6:30 AM, so everyone decided that Cinnabons would make the perfect breakfast. They seemed a little bit doughy but they were very very tasty. That was good as we only received a small bowl of Cheerios on the plane from Cleveland to Houston. We arrived on time in Houston at 8:55 and everyone was feeling tired. Our next flight was supposed to leave Houston at 10:30. However, due to storms in the area we taxied late from the gate and then sat on the runway for 1½ hours with no air circulating in the cabin area. They were trying to get the air conditioning fixed. It was very stuffy and difficult as the plane was full.
It felt very claustrophobic for everyone, but the team did a great job with no complaints. Faith said that at one point she was ready to jump up running and screaming through the aisle because she felt like she couldn't breathe, but she didn't think that would be a good example to the team. We finally took off from Houston for Puerto Rico about 1:15. The flight lasted over 4 hours. We arrived in San Juan around 5:30 and were able to find all of our luggage.
Natalie and Mikey have both been battling with some sinus congestion and the second flight was extremely difficult for both of them. The pain in their ears was excruciating. Praise the Lord that Natalie was fine after some aspirin, but Mikey's did not clear up until we landed. Then tonight Mikey had a pretty serious nose bleed. Pray for that to get cleared up quickly this week so that they both won't have to go through that again on the return trip.
Mr. Pfaunmiller, his son Stephen and another missionary and his wife, met us at the airport and brought us the 1½ hour trip home with all of our luggage. San Juan is on the north of the island and Ponce, where the Pfaunmillers are, is about 75 miles on the southern coast. We had a good meal tonight with both of the families. We were very hungry after not eating too much on the airplanes today.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are planning on being at the church to do some cleaning, painting, and anything else that they want us to do. Pray for our strength as we need to sleep well tonight after not sleeping hardly at all last night. Thank you so much for your prayers.
We had several praises! We arrived safely and every single piece of our luggage was accounted for. We just had a wonderful time taking silly pictures and really enjoying each other as we traveled. They are a great bunch of young people!!! They call us "mom and dad"— so I guess we now are parents of seven teenagers!
In Christ,
Mike for the team
======================================
Due to technical difficulties, these updates were not received until Friday.
Wednesday, June 21
Goldfuss Prayer Letter - June 2006
We continue our travels on the road during this 2006 furlough. We have thoroughly enjoyed being with many of you so far, and we are looking forward to seeing many of the rest of you during the rest of the year. Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa are very happy to have finished school for the summer and we will be traveling most of the entire summer to come and visit all of you!
In the middle of all of the activities of the summer, we are going to Puerto Rico! Yes, you read correctly. We are taking a teen mission team from our home church and also taking our oldest three children along with us. We will be leaving for Puerto Rico on July 3 and returning from there at 3 AM on the 10th. The day we return home, Mikey gets to go to Camp Peniel for a week. Then the next Friday, we will leave and will not be back to Northeast Ohio for about a month and a half. So things will be busy! Please pray for wisdom in leading the team. We have been having meetings to prepare the teens for the trip by working on their Spanish, discussing the true gospel, and having devotionals on our attitudes, and giving tips for being servants and blessings to the Pfaunmillers in Puerto Rico. We have had many teams in Mexico, but this will be the first time for us on the other end of things. We appreciate your prayers for a week that glorifies the Lord.
Many have asked about Cristiana’s progress with her dyslexia treatments. She has made great progress in therapies that facilitate both right and left brain function simultaneously. These therapies should aid reading. This week she will begin new therapies tackling the actual reading problem. Because of our busy summer, she may get behind in her therapies. Please pray for her and for us to know how to help her while on the road.
We are thankful for the good reports from Mexico City from Ruben and Heidi Zartman. The church has gone through a very difficult time with the death of Marek. Marek was a young man who attended our church on and off again for over 9 years. For three of those years he was faithful to every service. He died in an apparent suicide. This was a tremendous blow to our church and to Ruben as Marek was a childhood friend. But the Lord as he always does, used this to His glory to unite the church, and to cause the entire church to reach out to Marek’s unsaved family in giving a memorial service and dinner.
The good reports have encouraged us so we thought that we would include Ruben’s latest update to continue giving you a report on the Padierna Bible Church.
Hello Everyone,
This week I was able to meet two people I had heard about who have caused their relations a good bit of anguish. It was a good reminder of the need to continue in prayer. The first was Roberto Ortiz, Silvia's son. I met him briefly when I went to her house to see how Luis was doing (fine, though with a lingering bladder infection). He has caused his family much conflict, pain and turmoil with his drug addiction and the irresponsible behavior that it breeds.
The second was Karina, Guille's daughter-in-law about whom I wrote in one of the earliest updates, who pretty frequently abandons her husband Memo for an adulterous fling. I went to Guille's house for a visit and she was there, with her two sons. Please remember to pray that God would touch her heart and convert her.
Saturday evening we had a young people's meeting where we had a very stimulating discussion of apologetics. They seemed pretty enthusiastic with the idea of continuing, so we are planning to tackle one apologetic scenario a month. They decided the first thing was to learn a little anti-RC polemics, so this coming month we will be dealing with that. It was very encouraging to see Abraham, Juana's (second) son who does not normally come to church show up and evidently enjoy himself.
This Sunday started out a bit slow, but by the time the service was well under way there was, I believe, only one empty chair. America, José, Rubén, Francisco (I mislabeled him Eduardo in the last update, because his middle name is Eduardo) and Blanca were back again. Francisco told me that his 87-year-old dad is changing, in that he asked for forgiveness a couple of days ago for the first time that Francisco (54 years old) can remember.
We had the regulars and most of the sporadic attendees there today, although Noemí has not been for the past two Sundays. It was a special treat to see Marek's mom, Josefina, walk in a little bit after the service had started. We were able to have her over to dinner afterwards, along with Erasmo and Matilde and their children. While I was fixing up the seating I overheard her confiding in Matilde. At church Sra. Ofelia talked with her and pointed her to God as the source of comfort. She stayed for about 4 hours, so obviously felt comfortable. Hopefully the sermons she has heard, and the wonderful kindness the church people have shown her will be used by God to open her heart.
I had wondered how attendance would be with father's day, but the only confirmed absence from that was Teresa, whose husband insisted that she help him celebrate largely and so did not allow her to come to church today. It would seem to be time to acquire some more chairs for the church, and this again emphasizes the need for a new place to meet. Please pray for the Lord's provision. Thanks for the prayers. I know many pray for us faithfully, and some daily. The Lord is, I believe, answering very richly.Ruben
As you can tell, the church seems to be growing in our absence. Please pray for each one to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfusses
Wednesday, May 3
Goldfuss Update (May 3, 2006)
Dear praying partners,
It’s been a while since we sent out one of our prayer updates. We thank you for your faithful prayers anyway. We have been in the totally different (for us at least) school routine at Mentor Christian School. Each of our three oldest, Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa, all made the honor roll in their classes. Even Cristiana, is doing very well in all of the subjects that she can take. It is still very difficult for her to read on her own, but when others read to her, her comprehension is excellent. Her dyslexia has helped her to overcompensate by observing and listening— probably just to survive. She gets high A's when asked questions verbally. Cristi has done much of her work in school with the help of high school students who read to her while she answers the questions. We do see some small improvements in her reading skills also. We praise the Lord that she takes these challenges very maturely and seeks the Lord for help. Please continue to pray this year that it would be a help to get Cristi where she needs to be or at least well on her way there. Thank you.
We have been very busy in this first quarter of the year. With all the different changes, we have enjoyed being at our home church, Bible Community, for a good number of services. We have spent a lot of time getting our presentation put together for furlough— slide presentation, prayer cards, children’s poem, messages, etc. Faith has been overseeing all the kids’ activities and homework for school, has had the chance to speak for several ladies’ groups that are closer to home, and has been a traveling trooper on the weekends that we have been out in other churches. Mike has been to a pastors’ conference in NY, spoken several times in school chapels, tried to get caught up with some correspondence, taught several Spanish classes, helped in a Bible institute, etc.
We both are preparing a group of teens from Bible Community along with our three oldest children to go on a missions trip to Puerto Rico to help the Pfaunmiller family for a week in July. It is interesting to be on this side of the mission team experience after being the missionary that has received teams. Pray for us to have wisdom to help these young people. We consider it a challenge and a privilege to be able to guide these teens as they seek God’s will for their lives. The team will be from July 3rd to July 10th. It is a blessing to be able to help our home church in this way.
We have just finished putting our schedule together for the rest of this year. There is only one church left to schedule. We have 26 different churches that support us and we will be visiting 5 others churches also. This makes for a lot of traveling just about every weekend. We have been traveling up in the Erie, PA and Mayville, NY area for the last month visiting several supporting churches there. The good thing is that this area is actually closer to Mike’s mom’s house than many of our churches in Ohio. It is a challenge for the kids on Monday morning when we get back each Sunday night around 11 PM. Pray for the children as the busy schedule never ends. We praise the Lord that they are plugging along and have wonderful attitudes about serving the Lord together as a family.
We have heard excellent reports from Mexico of the church being faithful. Three new families have been faithfully attending. Praise the Lord! Ruben and Heidi Zartman have been doing an excellent job! One sad note is that our friend, Marek, who used to attend our church very faithfully, apparently committed suicide several weeks ago. Marek was Ruben Zartman’s best friend when Ruben was growing up in Mexico City. Ruben is now our furlough replacement. Ruben had about 8 or 9 opportunities to preach and present the gospel during the all night vigil and other times with Marek’s family who is unsaved. You can click here to read one of Ruben’s weekly updates to let you know how things are going from his perspective in Mexico City.
Thank you so much for praying,
We depend on you and thank you for all you do for us.
In Christ,
Mike for the rest of the Goldfii
It’s been a while since we sent out one of our prayer updates. We thank you for your faithful prayers anyway. We have been in the totally different (for us at least) school routine at Mentor Christian School. Each of our three oldest, Mikey, Cristiana and Carissa, all made the honor roll in their classes. Even Cristiana, is doing very well in all of the subjects that she can take. It is still very difficult for her to read on her own, but when others read to her, her comprehension is excellent. Her dyslexia has helped her to overcompensate by observing and listening— probably just to survive. She gets high A's when asked questions verbally. Cristi has done much of her work in school with the help of high school students who read to her while she answers the questions. We do see some small improvements in her reading skills also. We praise the Lord that she takes these challenges very maturely and seeks the Lord for help. Please continue to pray this year that it would be a help to get Cristi where she needs to be or at least well on her way there. Thank you.
We have been very busy in this first quarter of the year. With all the different changes, we have enjoyed being at our home church, Bible Community, for a good number of services. We have spent a lot of time getting our presentation put together for furlough— slide presentation, prayer cards, children’s poem, messages, etc. Faith has been overseeing all the kids’ activities and homework for school, has had the chance to speak for several ladies’ groups that are closer to home, and has been a traveling trooper on the weekends that we have been out in other churches. Mike has been to a pastors’ conference in NY, spoken several times in school chapels, tried to get caught up with some correspondence, taught several Spanish classes, helped in a Bible institute, etc.
We both are preparing a group of teens from Bible Community along with our three oldest children to go on a missions trip to Puerto Rico to help the Pfaunmiller family for a week in July. It is interesting to be on this side of the mission team experience after being the missionary that has received teams. Pray for us to have wisdom to help these young people. We consider it a challenge and a privilege to be able to guide these teens as they seek God’s will for their lives. The team will be from July 3rd to July 10th. It is a blessing to be able to help our home church in this way.
We have just finished putting our schedule together for the rest of this year. There is only one church left to schedule. We have 26 different churches that support us and we will be visiting 5 others churches also. This makes for a lot of traveling just about every weekend. We have been traveling up in the Erie, PA and Mayville, NY area for the last month visiting several supporting churches there. The good thing is that this area is actually closer to Mike’s mom’s house than many of our churches in Ohio. It is a challenge for the kids on Monday morning when we get back each Sunday night around 11 PM. Pray for the children as the busy schedule never ends. We praise the Lord that they are plugging along and have wonderful attitudes about serving the Lord together as a family.
We have heard excellent reports from Mexico of the church being faithful. Three new families have been faithfully attending. Praise the Lord! Ruben and Heidi Zartman have been doing an excellent job! One sad note is that our friend, Marek, who used to attend our church very faithfully, apparently committed suicide several weeks ago. Marek was Ruben Zartman’s best friend when Ruben was growing up in Mexico City. Ruben is now our furlough replacement. Ruben had about 8 or 9 opportunities to preach and present the gospel during the all night vigil and other times with Marek’s family who is unsaved. You can click here to read one of Ruben’s weekly updates to let you know how things are going from his perspective in Mexico City.
Thank you so much for praying,
We depend on you and thank you for all you do for us.
In Christ,
Mike for the rest of the Goldfii
Update from Ruben Zartman on the Work in Mexico City
Hello Everyone,
Attendance was a bit down on Sunday, but I felt that we had a good service nonetheless. Sra. Ofelia, of whom I have written before, brought an unsaved niece, Sonya Barragán. She is married to a Chilean man, but hopes to be able to come while he is away. As we were taking prayer requests tonight this woman was mentioned, and it seemed that the fact of her husband's chilleanness suffices as an explanation to people that she can only come while he is away. I rejoice in knowing that our God can save even a chileno. Sra. Ofelia also brought a younger lady called Alma, this evening. Supposedly she has just been saved (I got the impression that that was this afternoon) and has a very big but unspecified problem. I am planning to go see Alma tomorrow. Please pray about that, as well as for Sonya's salvation.
Please continue to pray for Silvia and Tere (two sisters, spoken of in Update # 5). On Sunday Silvia was in tears as she was telling me about all the turmoil in her family, and the burden she is carrying. Her son did something to her granddaughter, and somebody called the police; she arrives home, knowing nothing, and there is all this turmoil; her husband, in the meantime, had engaged in the tremendously useful activity of coming out to the bus stop to wait for her. As I said previously, she is a new believer and is under a huge amount of strain.
Tere was able to bring two of her grandsons to church the other Sunday (another one is a pretty open and aggressive homosexual) and seemed very pleased that I invited them to play squash (as soon as I find the squash court supposed to be located near the church: I looked today but it was not on the street I'd been told). Having spoken to several people about this, I think there will be much fruitful opportunity to spend time with kids and teens in that setting, and their relations seem very thrilled. Please pray that the times I have with various young people in the avenue will bear fruit. I don't expect them to be helped simply by standing in a court with me and hitting a ball. It is rather my hope that I will be able to establish and develop a relationship with them by hanging out together in a relaxed environment.
I have never before run into so many problems in so many families. The vicious cycle of sin has been unchecked for too long here. Please pray that God will work through His word to transform these situations, to redeem many of these young people out of the bondage of sin and enable them to establish godly families. I need prayer as well. I have never been so called upon to deal with so many extremely trying and complicated situations from a Biblical perspective. At the same time, though, that these people bear burdens that I can hardly imagine, they are filled with humility, gentleness and concern for others. Just tonight a couple ladies were assuring me of how highly they think of Heidi and how much they care about her and miss her when she isn't there, even if their communication with her is still limited by language constraints. The more I learn both of the burdens that these people carry and of what they have in their hearts, the more I am convinced that being useful to them in even a small way is an exceedingly great reward.
Ruben
Attendance was a bit down on Sunday, but I felt that we had a good service nonetheless. Sra. Ofelia, of whom I have written before, brought an unsaved niece, Sonya Barragán. She is married to a Chilean man, but hopes to be able to come while he is away. As we were taking prayer requests tonight this woman was mentioned, and it seemed that the fact of her husband's chilleanness suffices as an explanation to people that she can only come while he is away. I rejoice in knowing that our God can save even a chileno. Sra. Ofelia also brought a younger lady called Alma, this evening. Supposedly she has just been saved (I got the impression that that was this afternoon) and has a very big but unspecified problem. I am planning to go see Alma tomorrow. Please pray about that, as well as for Sonya's salvation.
Please continue to pray for Silvia and Tere (two sisters, spoken of in Update # 5). On Sunday Silvia was in tears as she was telling me about all the turmoil in her family, and the burden she is carrying. Her son did something to her granddaughter, and somebody called the police; she arrives home, knowing nothing, and there is all this turmoil; her husband, in the meantime, had engaged in the tremendously useful activity of coming out to the bus stop to wait for her. As I said previously, she is a new believer and is under a huge amount of strain.
Tere was able to bring two of her grandsons to church the other Sunday (another one is a pretty open and aggressive homosexual) and seemed very pleased that I invited them to play squash (as soon as I find the squash court supposed to be located near the church: I looked today but it was not on the street I'd been told). Having spoken to several people about this, I think there will be much fruitful opportunity to spend time with kids and teens in that setting, and their relations seem very thrilled. Please pray that the times I have with various young people in the avenue will bear fruit. I don't expect them to be helped simply by standing in a court with me and hitting a ball. It is rather my hope that I will be able to establish and develop a relationship with them by hanging out together in a relaxed environment.
I have never before run into so many problems in so many families. The vicious cycle of sin has been unchecked for too long here. Please pray that God will work through His word to transform these situations, to redeem many of these young people out of the bondage of sin and enable them to establish godly families. I need prayer as well. I have never been so called upon to deal with so many extremely trying and complicated situations from a Biblical perspective. At the same time, though, that these people bear burdens that I can hardly imagine, they are filled with humility, gentleness and concern for others. Just tonight a couple ladies were assuring me of how highly they think of Heidi and how much they care about her and miss her when she isn't there, even if their communication with her is still limited by language constraints. The more I learn both of the burdens that these people carry and of what they have in their hearts, the more I am convinced that being useful to them in even a small way is an exceedingly great reward.
Ruben
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