Goldfuss update (June 2)

Dear Praying Friends,

Last week, Mike and Carissa left at 3:45 AM on Monday to go to the border to meet Jon, Andrea, and Paul Crocker to drive back in with them. What a whirlwind trip! The Lord protected us as we came upon a horrible accident with two tractor trailers. We followed a path made by another truck over rugged terrain to go off the road and around the accident. All of this was an hour and a half delay with another hour delay at the border. We don't have AC in our van since it is not needed at 10,000 feet. The AC has a leak, and we never bothered to fix it. That was a mistake. The official temperature in Texas---99 degrees. :-) On Monday night, Carissa and I were able to buy almost everything that we needed and then took a much needed dip in the pool around 11 PM before going to bed. On Tuesday, we finished our shopping early, cleaned the van, packed, and headed over the border with the Crockers. We arrived at fellow GFA missionaries, the Zartmans in Monterrey about 9:30 PM. The next day we traveled all day to get to Mexico City by 9:00 pm. Usually there is terrible traffic getting into the city. We have waited 3 hours before, but the traffic never stopped and we made it home in an hour! That was such a wonderful blessing after a long, hard trip.

The Crockers are getting situated in the cabin and it is a real joy to be able to share that with people.

Friday and Saturday were occupied in a conference on evangelism, organized by another missionary here in Mexico City. It was an excellent conference; and I was able to take Jon Crocker, Morgan, and Humberto both days. Memo attended with us on Saturday. What an excellent reminder and challenge of what our evangelistic content and faithfulness should include.

We were missing about 30 people on Sunday who are regular attenders. Pray that the Lord would work in different hearts and meet specific needs. There are some who need to make things right between each other in the church. I don't believe that it is an accident that our SS lesson the last two weeks from Hebrews 13 has dealt with: "Let brotherly love continue." Pray that the Lord would work in all of our hearts and produce in us brotherly love for each in our church.

Sunday was an excellent opportunity for Faith to help Nico and Liliana with their little boy and discipline during her Sunday school class in the nursery. Even though that has been a subject of preaching and teaching, sometimes plain examples (using our own little cherubs) have to be demonstrated. There is so much history of abuse in people's pasts that it is extremely hard for them to discipline without thinking that they are abusing. Please pray for the Lord enable them to understand the difference and to truly discipline in love.

Abigail, Erasmo and Matilde's daughter, had left home several weeks ago but returned several days later. She left again this past Thursday and has not come back. Please pray for the Lord to save her and for wisdom for Erasmo and Matilde. Martha has not been for several MONTHS now, not weeks. She will not answer my phone calls. She answered one of Morgan's calls, so please pray that he will have wisdom in trying to talk with her again. She is living in sin and needs to leave a relationship with a man who is not her husband.

Please pray for Faith and two of our children who will be finishing school this week. Summer activities are right around the corner, so we need prayer for them to be able to finish. We need desire, patience and ability.

We are very happy to have the Crockers with us, and we were very surprised at their Spanish abilities. Jon is going to be incorporated into preaching some Wednesday nights. Morgan will be taking over the Teen meetings once a month as well as starting a teen Sunday school class. Jon and Andrea will be starting a Young Couples meeting one time per month. So our Saturdays will be something like this:

• 1st Sat.--Men's meeting
• 2nd --Women's meeting
• 3rd--Teen's meeting
• 4th--Young couple's meeting
  

Pray as the men plan and prepare.

June 13---22 we will be having the BJU Spanish team. There is much to be done between now and then. We are planning on having three nights of special evangelistic services. Please pray that the Lord would guide us to people whose hearts He is preparing. There is one particular couple, Rene and Elvira, who attended the three special services last year with the team. They never returned. Please pray that they would come back again this year.

We thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement and financial support.

In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 13)

Dear Praying Friends,

You should see the cabin!!! That's why we have attached pictures. Some men came and sanded and gave 4 coats of varnish. The floor should be dry soon so that we can move the furniture back into the cabin. Then it will have its last clean-over before the Crockers come at the end of the month. Please pray as the Crockers get everything packed up and ready to head for the border. Mike is planning on driving to Texas to help them on the 15 hour or so trip to Mexico City.

Praises:

1. Marbella and her children came back to church on Sunday!
2. Sr. Alejandro and Sra. Maria Elena and their family also came back--this was their second Sunday. This is the family we have met at Mikey's basketball.The ladies are teaching the younger ladies with love and humility, and the younger women seem to be responding well.
   

Prayer Requests:

1. 13 year old Miguel—Nico and Liliana's son is still away from home—probably with relatives.
2. Matilde and Erasmo's daughter,Abigail, 18, just left home on Monday. Please pray for these families.
3. For those in the church who are struggling under debt.
   

Home news: Mikey has started a newspaper. It is called the Daily Goldfi. Sometimes Mikey puts his slant on the news. We are trying to teach him just to report the news and to leave out the "editorializing." One time this week Faith was talking with Reme and she thought she saw someone behind her. It was Mikey with a pencil and a small notepad saying, "Could you please repeat that?" It can be a little annoying having a reporter in the house, but mostly it is just fun.

Here are some of his articles:

Matthew Loves to Draw
Matthew draws and draws and draws. "I love to draw", said Matthew. Please see Matthew's bed for the results.

Cristi Does Her Best
Cristi Goldfuss, who began school this morning at 7AM finished by 1 o'clock. We here at the Daily Goldfi want to congratulate her on a job well done.

Matthew's Day With Dad
Matthew, who got to go with dad visiting the people, got to spend a whole day with dad. "I saw a boy who got sick by the bicycle path", said Matthew. "His mother was comforting him" noted Matthew who was present at the scene.

Car Gets Stolen At Gymnastics
Paviola's mother was held up with a gun as she waited outside gymnastics in her car. We are glad to report that Paviola's mother was unhurt, but only a little shaken up. Carissa said, "I was getting ready to do a roundoff when one of the workers ran in and whispered to the owner of the gym. Then they both ran out. I was getting ready to do it again when 5 year old Natalia (one of Cheri's friends) ran in and screamed, 'There's a man out there with a gun and they just stole Paviola's car.' (of course, in Spanish) ". When asked if gymnastics class was cancelled, Cristi said, "No, we just kept right on going after we saw that she was alright."

Mikey even puts announcements in his paper: "ANNOUNCING EVERYONE--Brush your teeth. We are going to the dentist on Saturday."

THERE is NEVER A DULL MOMENT—NEVER.

Please pray for all of us to know Christ Jesus better and to understand His great love. Pray that this would be a wonderful deterrent to sin in our daily lives.

In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (May 3)

Dear Praying Friends,

A lady from a supporting church just asked Faith for some specific prayer requests so we are pretty much copying her letter for our update this week.

So much is going on that my head is spinning! All churches were to be closed and they were giving out fines to those who did not comply. Our neighborhood has had 2 very large fiestas through all of this swine flu epidemic. (I guess drinking reunions are permitted, but not worshiping reunions.) We prayed about what to do. Mike decided to close the church and to open our home. If anyone wanted to come we were worshiping with our family. Over 40 people showed up. This is about 2/3 of the church. We were happy with the turnout . Then we had a meal with everyone here. There were 4 visitors. One was Gabriel's unsaved Mormon mother.

Prayer requests:

1. We just helped a couple move out of the cabin (Marcos and Ruth) and into an apartment. We miss them. Pray for Cheri and Caralyn as Ximena is their very sweet friend and they are going to really miss her.
2. We are getting the cabin ready for new missionaries, Jon and Andrea Crocker, to come at the end of May. Mike has a man coming tomorrow to sand and varnish the wood floor. Pray for wisdom for us to help the Crockers in the best way so that they can get a good start at being missionaries. Pray that we will remember everything that would really be a big help for them to get settled. (Sometimes it is easy to forget how they might feel since it is home to us.) And that we would forget anything that wouldn't be helpful to them spiritually.
3. Pray for Juana as they need to get out of where they are and the only place that they could find to live is rather far away.
4. Pray for us as we finish homeschooling. Matthew and Cheri are done. Carissa has only Science to finish and Mikey and Cristi should be done within the month. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please continue to pray for Cristi as she will continue to have therapy throughout the summer. She is doing very well.
5. Pray as we try to influence our children and our people to truly love God with their whole hearts. Pray that we would love Him with our whole hearts and that the everyday chores would not make us grow cold.
6. Pray for Jason Boyle who is with us now and may be coming to Mexico very soon as a missionary. He will be traveling back to the US this next Friday. Pray that we would be able to help him get established here in Mexico very soon.
7. Pray for the Victor LaBelle family (who are working here from the States. He is a former missionary kid). Pray as they just returned to Mexico from a business trip to the States--that the Lord would keep the family free from the flu.
8. Pray for Rebekah Buccio as she prepares to help us teach school and piano for 1st semester next year. Pray that we would find another teacher for second semester.
9. Pray for Reme (our Spanish teacher for the children and all around wonderful helper). She may need to stay with us during the week as her family is moving farther away. This is Juana's sister (see above #3). It would take her 1 hour and 45 minutes in public transportation to get to our home each day. Pray for decisions that she needs to make.
   

Thank you for praying!!!!!!!!!

Faith for the Family

Goldfuss update (April 29)

Dear praying friends,

We have been asked by some to give an update before prayer meeting tonight.

1. The baby Hezrael---is doing fine and has recovered. He did not have the swine flu, but a bad respiratory infection.
2. Marta---for whom we have been asking much prayer--now has a bad stomach infection. They did not want her in the hospital because of all of the flu symptoms. Her defenses are very low.
3. Many unsaved friends have called to see how we are. One is my friend and is a doctor at one of the best hospitals here. She has moved her office from that hospital to another office because someone came to the emergency room with swine flu. He later was transferred and died at another hospital. We have just tried to call our doctor and no one answers at that very good hospital. It seems that many of the rich people have left the city for their vacation homes on the coast.
   

Things here are very very calm. Our people in the church are really trusting in the Lord. So that is good.

It was very interesting. After many phone calls on Monday morning, I tried to get everyone settled for school. "Ok, everyone-- lets forget about the swine flu and use all of this time at home to really study". Then one minute later I began to feel very dizzy. Immediately I thought--Oh no, am I getting sick? --when Mikey yelled from upstairs. Earthquake!!!! O good, we all thought. It is only an earthquake. ONLY!!!!!!!!!

Mike spent yesterday with Jason visiting several of the families---especially the shutins---fully equipped with masks.

Thank you so much for praying!
Faith for all

Goldfuss update (April 27)

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you so much for all of the letters of concern for us. Swine flu???? Yes! Many things in the whole city have been shut down. All schools are closed--public and private. They have canceled over 500 events. Libraries, museums, soccer games, and movie theaters are all closed down. Mikey was watching a soccer game----with no fans in the stands! You could hear the players calling for the ball on TV in the empty stadium. All the Roman Catholic masses were canceled today. Several of our people called us to see if we would have services. Growing up, church was never cancelled; so, we had services. The government has recommended that everyone should wear surgical masks. Many all over the city are wearing them. So Faith bought masks for everyone in church. You can see by our pictures that it was a very interesting service. We were missing 3 families--all with toddlers, but we had 3 visitors!

1. Please pray for Mildred and Uriel's one year old baby--Hezrael. We think he has the flu. They have been trying to get his fever down since Wednesday, and they were not there at the service today. (This is the very young couple that was married last year.)
2. Morgan's brother Eric also is reported to have had the flu, but he is doing better now.
   
   I am sure that you have heard that this flu is different ---a combination of pig, bird, and human viruses. They believe that it has been spreading since about the middle of March. This flu may very well be what we had that made us so ill a little over a month ago. Why is it affecting everyone so much down here? Because from what we have experienced, any flu is very rare here. We have never had the flu before while in Mexico. We have had every other bacterial illness, but not viral flu---and it is hitting hard. We may have very well been one of the very few--if not the only church having services today!
   

This whole week has been very strange. On Wednesday night prayer meeting, Sra. Hilaria accidentally locked herself in the bathroom. She is almost 80 and began to panic. This was all during our prayer time---and there she was banging furiously on the metal door. We all had to stop and try to get her out. You have never seen anyone fly out of a bathroom faster--once the door was finally open.

Good news: Several want to be baptized.
Bad news: Both Janet and Marta were not there today. Of course this could be because of the flu, but both did not come last Sunday, and have not returned our calls. We are hoping that they are not involved with the unsaved men for whom we have asked you to pray.

Family news: The kids are finishing different school subjects left and right. Now that their sporting activities are cancelled, , maybe even until May 6th, we will have even more time to focus on school. We will see what happens this week. I'm sure the kids will be thrilled.

Thank you for your concern and prayers. Please pray for our church family's safety and health.
In Christ,
Mike and Faith for all the Goldfii