Goldfuss update 5/15

Praise the Lord we are in the new building!
After 4 1/2 months and work parties almost every Saturday, the Lord allowed us to have our first service in the new building. An excellent group worked from 9:30 AM until 7:30PM last night finishing and moving the church! The Lord gave us an incredible group, but we haven't had our official GRAND OPENING yet. We have a few more things to try to get finished, but we are in. We are going to have several weeks of rest on Saturdays hopefully, and then plan to spend a couple of Saturdays inviting people around the new building to our services. Then we will have a special GRAND OPENING THANKSGIVING service. This was an area where we previously lived, so we know so many of the people. Praise the Lord that all pitched in so much! We have included pictures. Thank you for supporting us with your prayers.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (April 12)

Dear Prayer Partners,

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

Goldfuss update (February 28)

Dear Praying Friends,

During the last 3 months, as a church we have been studying about spiritual warfare. We have seen our fight against our own flesh, the world and the devil. We have seen how our enemy has only hatred for us and his goal is to take us all to hell with him. How we praise God for the victory that was won for us through Christ and His cross and through union with Him.

Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. We have seen some extremely strong attacks in the past week--a week of intensive and difficult ministry. As you know from our updates last week, Jorge and Cecilia, our couple from Peru, went through some legal problems here due to being hoodwinked on a car sale (he ended up buying a car that had been stolen.) The Lord rescued him from having to do any jail time (except overnight on Sunday night.) During that trial, some other issues came to light about another family in our assembly. They have been with our church for almost 10 years. When I went to see them this past Thursday, they informed me that they will no longer be attending our church. This has been a great blow to us in several ways--we had hoped that the young man would especially use the gifts that God has given him to be a leader in Christ's church here. It is our prayer that the Lord would work in this family and even if it would never be in our assembly, please pray that the Lord would make them faithful servants to the Lord Jesus Christ somewhere else for His glory. Please also pray that the young man would be "useful to Him in the ministry," as Paul was able to say years later about John Mark. Please also pray that extended family would not be influenced to leave.

As much as we hate to lose anyone from a small church, and especially someone who has been a leader, the spirit was very good in our services yesterday. People were very sad about the circumstances, but there seemed to be a renewed love for each other. We had our monthly class for married couples (and even a few that aren't even married attended.) All in all, 50 people came to our house for a potluck meal and then Memo lead the class (let me give a quick plug for the book, "When Sinners Say I Do" by Dave Harvey.) There was very very good participation and excellent ideas put forth to help us in our marriages to remember that Christ is the only one who can make our marriages glorify Him. Even after the class was over, it was thrilling to see so many who have had problems in the past between them, stick around and talk amongst themselves.

We were also truly encouraged by our children. Cristi and Carissa planned a very detailed tea party for all the little girls to have during our study time. The little girls loved it! Mikey and another teen from the church, Yoltic took care of the boys outside. Yoltic, though only 16 has also been a real encouragement with his desire to serve the Lord. He is now burning all of the CDs of the messages as Jon Crocker is no longer here to do that.
Please pray that the Lord would raise up from this group, men who will faithfully be able to lead His local church here. We have experienced a setback in our plans, but it is not a setback in God's plans. God is faithful.

Thank you for your prayers,
Mike for all the Goldfii

Goldfuss update (February 22)

Jorge spent Sunday night in jail. Yesterday Morgan took Cecilia and I downtown to the the precinct where he was being held--it's called "the Bunker" here. Cecilia was not able to get a hold of one lawyer lady. Another 2 lawyers looked like they had just graduated from the CJ school of law (That would be Cracker Jack.) When you look at and are in the middle of situations like this one, things appear so helpless and hopeless except that we have almight God watching out for His own. Humanly speaking, it really was absolutely hopeless.

Cecilia and I spent from about 9 AM til 9:30 PM there. Jorge had to give a statement (It lasted 2 1/2 hours) to the police. The cracker jack lawyers were supposed to be there to accompany him at 1:30. His statement started at 2:15. They showed up at 2:35. Then they wanted Ceci to pay them. I said, "Cecilia, give me all the money you have. I will have it and you will have no money to pay them. They should have showed up to do their work and they could have gotten paid." So Cecilia was Jorge's lawyer during his statement. ?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was about 15 feet from where they were this whole time. I tried observing all around the office to see who the important men were. I figured out who one was and after about 1 1/2 hours, was able to talk to him. I said, "I'm not a lawyer, but I'm here to plead for Jorge." I told him the whole story, but at the end, he didn't give much hope.

When Jorge still had about 1/2 hour to go in his testimony/statement, the school where he is studying his doctorate sent their own lawyer. HE WAS EXCELLENT, PROFESSIONAL, AND A BLESSING FROM OUR GOD. However, around 6:30 PM, he came by me and said under his breath, "He's in," meaning that Jorge was going to be committed to the prison. I just prayed and said, "Lord, Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego heard the same line--You are going into the furnace--and you saved them--of course, they did get in their for a very short time, but YOU are the only one who can help us in this situation." For another three hours the lawyer talked to the head of everything and finally came over about 9:30 and said, "He's going to be set free." After a few papers were signed, Cecilia and I walked out with Jorge. They took all of his belongings the night before--shoe strings, socks, and everything else. It appears many people have committed suicide in the past when they get put in jail. So the owner of the school, her husband, Jorge and Cecilia, another lawyer's assitant and I all piled into this little tiny car for the ride home. Even at 9:30 traffic was tremendous and I got out feeling very pretzelly. We had really not eaten anything all day, so Jorge, Cecilia and I all enjoyed a supper of tacos. It was an exhausting day, but thank you SO MUCH for approaching the throne of grace with us through Christ for Jorge and Cecilia. They were so thrilled last night--as was I and they asked us to thank all of you who have prayed.

We live in a wicked world. Praise the Lord that He is sovereign and in control and that His children can trust in Him no matter what. Please pray for all the tracts that we were able to give out yesterday, that the Lord would continue to call out for Himself, more people from this wicked world, to the kingdom of His dear Son. Father, hallowed, exalted, sanctified, glorified, lifted up be your name today and forever.

In Christ,
mike for all the goldfii

Urgent Goldfuss update (February 20)

Dear Praying Friends,

We are asking you to pray for the young couple from Peru (Jorge and Cecilia) that lost the two babies. This time last week, Cecilia's body was not responding to any of the antibiotics. She was literally at the point of having the infection throughout her whole body. Our church pleaded with the Lord for her on Wednesday night that He would be glorified in her, and we asked specifically for Him to heal her. The Lord healed her. Today in church Jorge gave an excellent testimony of what they have been through and how surprised the doctors were at Cecilia's clean bill of health. They were totally praising the Lord.

Right after church, someone had an appointment at their home to buy a car that they had recently bought over the internet here in Mexico City. They had bought a minivan recently when Ceci's family came to visit and wanted to trade that for a smaller car, which they did about a month ago. They had had a lot of problems with their newer car and finally seemed to have gotten them fixed. So they decided to sell it. What they did not know was that the car was stolen and sold to them. The original owner saw it announced over the internet and came to test it today at Jorge's house. It was a sting operation and they were both taken to jail this evening. It's a long story but the end result is that the authorities said that all could be done with if Ceci would just make up a bill of sale that they were lacking and sign it. Ceci said that she would not lie--therefore it appears that her husband may face some substantial jail time, unless our Lord intervenes dramatically. They have done nothing wrong, except for mistakenly not getting a bill of sale. Even the owner who organized the sting today recognizes that they are not the ones who stole the car from him. But here, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. This couple has really been through the wringer the last few months. Please pray that the Lord would honor Jorge and Cecilia as they have sought to honor Him. The God who rescued Shadrac, Meshac and Abednego from the law of King Nebuchadnezzar is the same God of Jorge and Cecilia. Please pray that the Lord would honor and exalt His name in this. Please pray for the Lord's protection of Jorge in jail. Please pray that the Lord would intervene and allow Jorge to get out tomorrow. We covet and need your prayers desperately,

In Christ,
mike for all the goldfii