Goldfuss update

Dear Prayer Partners,

 

Please remember a few upcoming events in prayer.

 

1.  Friday night sleepover for girls ages 13-16.  There will be about 8 girls here at our house.  Pray for Sarai, who is 23, who will be giving the devotional for the first time.  Pray that these girls will have a happy time together, and that this will be a time where they grow so that they can be better and more used by our Lord. 

 

2.  Sunday--church anniversary.

 

3.  February 26th- Lauren comes to stay with us for over a month while she gets extra practice with Spanish with Reme and Juana- and helps us in school.

 

4.  March 2nd--Mikey finishes his History of Civ. class.

 

5.  March 5th -- Grandma comes!  Mike's mom will be coming to stay with us for 3 weeks!  That should be a lot of fun as well as a help with school!

 

6.  Much planning is being done for our Easter Sunrise service and all day at our home.  Faith's mom was able to get a lot of decorations while we were in the States---so we will have beautiful table coverings and napkins all in purple for Easter.

 

We had visitors on Wednesday night--Sergio's sister and husband.  It turns out that she knew of us from a friend many years ago.  Please pray that they would return on Sunday.  Pray for the seed that has been planted in the past and recently to bear fruit.

 

Thank you for praying!

 

Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (2/11/2013)

Dear Prayer Partners,
Again, we are so thankful that you take the time to remember us in prayer!
Prayer requests:
1. Unsaved people who are coming: Francisco, Maricela, Sophia, Pedro, Sergio, Erica, Carmelita, Carlos, Eusebio, and 6 relatives that Bris brought.
2. Our people are facing serious trials just this week.
A.) Luis and Claudia are a faithful older couple: his father, 97, passed away. He had a profession of faith.
B.) A young boy in our church, 10, fell and had to have surgery to put 2 pins in his arm.
C.) We have a young brother and sister, Eduardo and Norma, who are studying here from Oaxaca. Their older brother, 25 years old, was coming to visit them by bus and the bus was in a terrible accident. The brother died—and poor Eduardo, 19, had to go identify the body. Please pray for the whole family. They said that he was a believer.
D.) Ceci and Jorge (the young couple from Peru who are studying here), Ceci had surgery on Friday. Mike was able to be with them at the hospital.
E.) Sergio's wife Erica is still in the psychiatric hospital.
May the Lord be glorified in all of these difficult situations. The spirit has been down. Faithful ones are burdened with the heavy needs of their own families. Pray that all of us will look to Christ for the needed strength and comfort and that we will also look to help each other. We need the more mature believers to step up and help. Pray for the men to be leaders. Please pray for us to have the wisdom to help them become those leaders. Pray that we would have understanding where needed and be able to pinpoint sinful excuses when necessary.
If any church might have an extra or old communion tray with little cups, it would be very helpful here. Please let us know.
Thank you so much for praying for our family and our church family! We depend on those prayers!
In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss

Goldfuss update (1/31/13)

Dear Prayer Partners,
Thank you for praying for us!

1. We are happy to report that the Lord has been bringing MANY NEW PEOPLE during the last few weeks! Last week we were very full and this week even bought some more chairs.
2. While we were happy about all of this, we are also saddened because FOUR OF OUR FAITHFUL FAMILIES WERE NOT THERE. The husbands of two of these families are two of the three leaders in the church. Reme has a saying that she often reminds me. She says, "When the Lord is working mightily, Satan is not going to sit around with his arms crossed." Right now there are family problems in all three of the leaders’ families. Please pray for wisdom in directing them to Christ for the strength that they (and we) all need for daily living. We are at the point to where probably around 30 of the people are mature enough to be able to be discipling and helping others who are coming.
3. Pray for the new ones---Maricela, Sophie, Francisco, Sergio, Erica, Cristian, Moises, Fernando and some others.
4. God seems to be working in FRANCISCO AND SERGIO's hearts. Francisco is a young man (around 30 years old) who plays basketball with Mikey. Many years ago he played basketball with Rhett Mortland --- who is the son of another GFA missionary family--they are now serving the Lord in Maine. So the seed was planted back then. Mike feels that Francisco may not be far from salvation.
   Sergio's story is very interesting. One Sunday in early November on our way to church, we saw a couple fighting in the park. Their fight ended up exactly in front of our church. Some of the church people intervened because the woman was screaming for help. The police came and hauled the man (Sergio) to jail while the lady (Erika) went home. Then this same couple showed up at church only three weeks ago. We were so happy to see them, but we did not know their whole story. The police put Sergio in jail for a whole week. He got out the next Saturday evening and went straight to his brother's house to tell him that he was sorry that he did not meet him the Sunday evening before as planned. When he got to his house, there was a black ribbon on the door meaning that someone had died. Whatever Sergio’s brother had planned to do with Sergio went horribly wrong (again, while Sergio was in jail.) Sergio’s brother was stabbed 45 times the day that Sergio was put in jail and missed his appointment. When this couple showed up at church three weeks ago, Sergio quietly related to us what had happened. He sadly stated that he wished he could have been there to protect his brother. All of us stated that perhaps the Lord was preserving his life to live for Him. He paused and said that through this whole situation, he had come to our church so that he could get help to change the direction of his life and know the Lord. Many people say things like this, but we write all of this because he has been faithful to every service since. He has even brought his very little children even though his wife has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. We need a lot of prayer for wisdom to help her. Sergio realizes that her problems are spiritual.
5. YOUNG COUPLE IS MOVING-- Please pray for Lenny and Mariana who will be moving back to the USA to New Mexico because of a new job in his same company. Although we are extremely sad that they are leaving, we know that this is probably the best decision due to the fact that his job is very dangerous. During his auditing, he has found that many are stealing LOTS of money from his company. Typically here in Mexico, they usually do not take kindly to being squealed on and many are not afraid to fix the situation their own way. Pray also for them to find a really good church in Albuquerque (if you know of one, please tell us) and for the birth of their first baby in three months. 

Praises:

1. All of the new people who are coming to hear God's Word!!!!!
2. Our water truck arrived on January 29, yesterday. We only ordered it on November 20. Now we are waiting for a truck that we ordered on Dec. 7 and Jan. 6. Faith's unsaved friend's husband still has not found the stolen semi-truck that was loaded with supplies for a large job that he needs to do. He did not have insurance. 

Thank you so much for praying for our family and our church family! We depend on those prayers! 

In Christ,
Mike, Faith, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara Goldfuss 

P.S. As Faith was writing this at the children's PE classes, she could hear the sirens of all of the vehicles due to an explosion. Her friend, Alma, told everyone what had happened. Mati, another friend, was understandably concerned. Her husband works at the Pemex headquarters where the explosion took place. Thirty minutes later she was able to hear from him and found out that he was alright but needed to be evacuated from the building. Even though the explosion was 15 miles away from where Faith was, many of the injured were being brought to the Pemex hospital which is 1/2 mile away from our church. They are saying that it was an electrical explosion???? Many here doubt that story.

Deaf Bible App

A number of people responded today asking about the deaf Bible app.
Mikey found it on Bible.is. I've provided the app address if anyone
else would like to try it.

http://www.bible.is/ASL

I actually don't know anything about it--just that Mikey downloaded it
and wants to use it with his friend. Trust that it'll be a help in many
places in the Lord's work.
Mike

Goldfuss update

Dear Prayer Partners, Happy New Year!
Our new year got off to a bang as well as I am sure yours did. Ours has begun with many ministry opportunities. In church, Mike has paused our series in 1 Corinthians and begun with three New Year’s messages from 1 Timothy 6. Our Wednesday evenings we have been working through the book of Ezra, and in Sunday School we are going through a systematic study of doctrines. Right now we are studying the Holy Spirit.
Prayer Requests: 

1. NEW PEOPLE: Maricella, Luis, Lourdes, Monica and Francisco. Please pray that they would understand salvation and that God would open their hearts to understand and see the glory of Jesus.
2. POLICE OFFICER: Please pray for him—we aren’t sure of his salvation. In his job as a police officer, they are expecting him to do things that he feels are not right before the Lord. Please pray for direction for him and for faithfulness at church.
3. 3 FAMILIES: Please pray for three families who come to our worship services faithfully, but would profit much from Sunday School as well.
4. YOUNG COUPLE MAY BE MOVING: Please pray for Lenny and Mariana who may be moving back to the States because of his job. Pray for decisions and the birth of their first baby. 
5. SERIOUS SITUATION: Please continue to pray for a serious situation in one family—for the Lord to grant true repentance and restoration.
6. UNSAVED LOVED ONES: If you were to ask any one of our faithful members for prayer requests, almost always their greatest desire for 2013 is to see their loved ones brought to salvation. This is a great burden especially for Lala (Our 91-year-old member), Clara, Lourdes, and Juana.

Praises:

1. Mikey, our oldest, who is in eleventh grade, began his first college course, History of Civilization via Internet through BJU online. The great thing is that this will count as dual credit for both high school and college. So far he is really enjoying it. Please pray as this is an intense six-week class that he will have alongside his other six classes and basketball. 
2. Mikey has found a video Bible for deaf people online and will be trying to use it to help his deaf friend, Elias. Elias has come to church with Juana, his mother, for years. All of us are concerned for his salvation. Even his mother is unsure if he truly understands. Please pray that this new tool will help to clear up any questions that Elias might have. 

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST: An unsaved friend of Faith’s (C.) has asked prayer for her husband. First he had a large semi-truck of material stolen—quite a large sum of money for which he’s responsible. Then the next week, people from a drug cartel contacted him and are threatening his family if they will not pay money. Please pray for their protection and that these situations may drive their entire family to Christ.
We have seen on the American Internet news that Mexico City has been in the world news quite a bit lately. Earthquakes, the cartel wars, gun problems (no one is allowed to own a gun, so only the criminals have them. And we know that Mexico’s crime is soooo low!) Now we just heard that rabid dogs have killed 4 people in a park not too far from us, and there is a water crisis in Mexico City as well. Of all these things, only the water problem has really affected us. We are content and happy serving the Lord here, but sometimes I have to cringe for our poor mothers who have always totally entrusted us to the Lord. Please do continue to pray for our family’s safety, and for the water situation. So far we have been able to contract trucks to bring us water, but it has been a struggle.
Thank you so much for praying for our family! We depend on those prayers!
In Christ,
Faith, for all the rest of the Goldfii, Mike, Mikey, Cristi, Carissa, Matthew, Cheri, and Cara