August Update 2013

Greetings from lovely North Carolina!  We’re delighted to give you the latest update.

Family: In July, we traveled from New Hampshire to North Carolina, visiting with our partners in Connecticut along the way and sharing what the Lord has done through our ministry in Eastern Europe.  We were so blessed when one of our partners treated us to a free overnight stay at a very nice hotel while we were there.  Further along on our trip, we took time out to stop in Virginia Beach for a little rest.  We stayed in a town about 30 minutes from the oceanfront, called Chesapeake, and got up very early to go out and walk on the beach while there were still relatively few people there. We all enjoyed walking along the shore with our feet in the water.

The family at Hampton Beach in NH

When we moved to the States, we did not realize we would need to learn a language, but we are having fun learning to understand the local, North Carolina dialect here where we live now.  On our first day, as we came into town, we asked for directions from a lady at a convenience store.  We heard her say to turn right onto "Home 'n Meal Road."  We figured there must be a restaurant there with home cooking or something. But as we followed her directions, we came to a road called, "Holman Mill Road." Then we realized that must be what she was talking about.

We are staying temporarily during our stateside furlough at a missionary housing community in North Carolina, which is a compassionate, non-denominational ministry, established especially for missionaries home on furlough, which are actively itinerant.  Here we are renting a three-bedroom home that meets all of our needs.  Jennifer's parents came from West Virginia to visit us for a couple days, and it was their first time seeing us in nearly five years, since we moved to Hungary.  They had never seen Joseph, since he was born in Hungary four years ago.  And needless to say, the other children had all grown considerably.  It was an emotional reunion, and everyone enjoyed the time together.

The family at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

One highlight since arriving here is that a Christian couple invited us to stay at their beach home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a few days. Although they don't know us and have never even met us, they allowed us to take the keys and go to their place by ourselves for free in August! All we had to pay for was a very small cleaning service fee.

The business man who owns the beach home was a missionary kid growing up, so he does this as a ministry to the missionaries living here in the community where we are in North Carolina.  He said, "Sharing our place with other people has been part of our 'giving back to the Lord' for His goodness to us." His condominium is right on a beautiful golf course with a perfect view of the fairway from the patio.  Although we did not do any golfing, we had a great time there.  Since the condo was only a mile from the oceanfront, one of the highlights was walking on the beach with our feet in the water, collecting seashells.  Praise the Lord for our time at the beach.

In August, we also celebrated Faith's eleventh birthday.  Since we had been in Myrtle Beach during her birthday, we celebrated the day after we returned home to North Carolina, by having a picnic together at a local city park, complete with birthday cake and playing a family game of "baseball."  We posted photos of this and our time at Myrtle Beach out on the album at the link below.

More photos.     

Both our desktop computer and laptop have recently experienced major technical problems, requiring Len to completely rebuild them, reinstalling the operating system and everything else. The laptop, which we use when we travel and share about our ministry, is still down with major issues.  Please pray that the Lord would provide the professional assistance we need to help us get it running perfectly once again.

Ministry:  In July, during our time in New Hampshire, at a home group meeting where were presented, a lady had a message for us that our times are in God’s hand, as it says in Psalm 31:15, "My times are in your hand."  Len told her that he has that Scripture on his desk clock.

Eight days later, while we were settling into our home in North Carolina, as Len was putting the battery back into his analog desk clock for the first time since we were in Hungary, he realized the hands on the clock were already set to the correct time at that moment.  It was the same time when he installed the battery as it was when he disconnected the battery in Hungary.  It was 9:45 PM, and this happened entirely by coincidence.  When the clock was reconnected in North Carolina, it was only off from the current time by four minutes or less, so there was no need to reset it. That was amazing!  Then he remembered the word from that sister in New Hampshire.  Our times are truly in the Lord's hand. Let this be an encouragement to you, too.

Since we moved to North Carolina, Len had a chance to speak to a group of adults and youth from a couple of local, Baptist churches, who volunteered their time to come and do some needed work here in the missionary housing community.  The chaplain here had asked Len to share briefly about our ministry and give an exhortation.  It was a good opportunity to share and build new relationships, as we interacted with the people, so we are grateful for that.

During our time here, we have been visiting churches in North Carolina.  At one church, the Lord led us to lay hands for healing on a man with lung cancer that had spread to his back, which we did after the service with the pastor's permission.  The sick man, named Bob, had not been to church in eight weeks, but decided to come on that one day when we visited.  We didn't know this until afterward, once the pastor told us.  Bob said the pain left his back when hands were laid on and the prayer of faith was offered in Jesus' name.

The family on the fairway beside the condo in SC

The pastor says he "knows beyond the shadow of a doubt" that the Lord led us there that Sunday. The night before we visited, Len had called the church telephone number to find the Sunday service times.  He called around 11:25 PM expecting to hear the service times on the church phone's greeting message, but instead the pastor's wife anwered the phone at home.  On Sunday morning, the pastor told the congregation that on the previous night, he had just been praying  that the Lord would send someone to the church the next morning. He said that was about fifteen minutes before Len called, so he sees our visit to the church as a direct answer to prayer.  He and his wife were very encouraged by our visit.

In fact, later that Sunday evening, he said, "I have rejoiced all day in the Lord because of your visit. [My wife] has been telling everyone about how God answered prayer today." Praise the Lord for the way He encouraged this pastor and his wife, and healed the man with cancer!  The pastor has invited us back again, and we're seeking the Lord's direction concerning this invitation. 

We have certainly been praying for the Lord to open doors.  Our desire would be to come to your church or Bible Study group to make a presentation of our work in Eastern Europe, while we are in the States.  Please pray about this.  It's a chance for us to encourage people to greater evangelism and commitment to completing the Great Commission globally, and we would be honored to come speak. The uniqueness of our presentation is that we present how the Lord has changed the lives of people in Eastern Europe, highlighted by our children singing a special worship song live in Hungarian.  We know you will enjoy the presentation.   So give us a call if we can come to speak to your group.

Please join us in praying for the Lord to open doors of opportunity for us, that we would be fruitful for Christ, and that the Lord would raise up additional partners. Also pray that the Lord will provide the many things we need, in order to make this furlough possible, as well as the necessary finances. 

Administrative Needs:  Our current bookkeeper, Emily, has notified us that her services to this ministry will end next January.  We really appreciate her giving us this notice, since it can take a long time to find the right person for this volunteer position.  Since this is a role that requires a high level of trust and integrity, we are prayerfully seeking the right person to fill it, whom the Lord has chosen. 

The position involves entering data pertaining to gifts into a user-friendly, accounting software, called QuickBooks, and printing out receipts to mail to our partners.  It also involves balancing the account, as well as generating monthly and annual reports, and sending annual giving summaries to our partners. If you or someone you know would be interested, please contact us.  The start date would be January 2, 2014, but we would like to identify the right person as soon as possible.

Resources:  This month we would also like to encourage you to read Len's latest blog called, Walking in the Perfect Will of God.  Please also read three of our daughter's most recent poems, I'll Follow You,  Worth My Praise, and The Hunter and the Hunted.  Len's entire collection of his most popular blogs are at "Writing for the Master".  We welcome your comments on this newsletter, so feel free to leave those below.

In closing, we have much to praise God for, and many opportunities for you to join us in prayer.

Praise the Lord with us for the many answers to prayer:

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness." (Ps 115:1)

1. For leading and guiding us in all of our travels, and His amazing timing.
2. For protecting us during our travels.
3. For the open door we received from the one church in NC, and for encouraging the pastor and his wife.
4. For the amazing way He touched and healed the man from cancer at the NC church we visited.
5. For the couple in NC who allowed us to stay in their beach home for a few days, and the wonderful time away we had there together as a family.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For the Lord to provide all that we need to make our Stateside furlough possible.
2. For the Lord to open doors of opportunity and give us safe travels as we travel around the States.
3. For the Lord to further expand the awareness of this ministry throughout the US, and raise up many new partners, who will sponsor us.
4. For the Lord to continue to move powerfully through the Word, our testimonies, and our ministry to those who come to hear us.
5. For the Lord to help Greg and Gyula to finally start meeting in a Life Transformation Group for discipleship. 
6. For the Lord to provide a new bookkeeper in time for next January, who will be faithful, reliable, and trustworthy, as Emily has been. 
7. For our financial blessing. 

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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PO Box 5526
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