The children used their gift money to buy a used laptop for educational purposes that Len found on eBay for a hundred dollars. We felt it was necessary with all the educational things they can do with it. And since we are conducting a home school, it is actually more of a necessity, rather than a luxury. They've really been enjoying the freedom of having their own computer now for the first time.
There were some problems with it initially that Len fixed, after spending many hours one night trying to find a solution. The program fixes worked, and we did not have to return it, but the seller wanted to give Len a partial refund of twenty dollars for the time and trouble. This was a great blessing, since it paid for the twenty-dollar mouse he had just purchased online for the children to use with the laptop. Praise the Lord!More photos.
Ministry: In late September, Len had the unexpected privilege of spending time with an evangelist, named Freddy Clark. He knew brother Freddy from his days in Bible school, when Freddy would come and minister in chapel. The Lord uses him in the word of knowledge very accurately, as well as miracles. Len had a desire to meet him personally, and contacted him. Brother Freddy has ministered as a traveling evangelist for forty-six years and raised thirteen children with his wife Sylvia. Even now at seventy years of age he keeps an extremely busy tour schedule. So he only had one day off that week, yet he invited Len to drop by his farm and see him on that one day that he would be home in Virginia.
Len got to spend an afternoon with this precious man of God in his humble home, just the two of them talking together in the living room. He invited Len to stay in his guest house overnight, but Len declined as he had already planned to return home the same evening. Afterward, brother Freddy laid hands on and prayed for Len, and gave him a copy of his gifts of the Spirit seminar on DVD, along with a generous love offering. The whole visit was a great experience, and Freddy encouraged Len to stay in touch with him. This brother is a real gem from heaven, as someone put it, and this was an unforgettable day.
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| David with our son (file photo) |
Len did need to correct a doctrinal issue with David that came up in one of their discussions. He had been telling people that disciples of Christ are little "gods" based on his understanding of Scripture. In case you are not aware, this erroneous teaching is quite popular among certain popular preachers in America, but he says he did not learn it from anyone. He assured Len he understands that he is not God, and is not even a "god" in the sense of the mythical Greek gods. But he would use the term essentially to mean that we are God's offspring (Gen 1:26; Ac 17:28), a kingdom of priests on earth -- or as some translation say, kings and priests (Rev 1:6; 5:10). David did respectfully receive the correction with thankfulness from Len, and we pray that it will no longer continue to be an issue. Please stand in agreement on this with us.
One night in September, as we were leaving the Golden Corral restaurant on our weekly date night, there was a waitress outside smoking a cigarette, who began to talk to us. Her name is Jan, and she was joking about getting cancer from smoking, so Jennifer replied that she knew someone who could help her quit. Jan asked who it was that could help her, and Jennifer said, “Jesus.” She said, “Really?” So we began to talk with her about the Lord. She said she knew “someone was up there,” because her life had been miraculously spared twice.
Once she had gotten a deadly MRSA infection in her brain and they had to cut her skull to treat it. The doctors gave her no hope to survive and she was healed. She also told us that after someone very close to her died, she began using drugs to deal with the emotional trauma. But she became addicted to the drugs, and one night while walking by a church, she made the decision she did not want to continue using drugs. So she cried out to God in prayer all night to be set free from drugs, and she never used them again after that.
Another time Jan was hit from behind on the highway, and her car rolled four times. The man next to her in the car was holding her hand as the car rolled, saying, “You’re going to be alright.” When a lady came to the car to help, the man handed her hand over to the lady that came to the window. The lady told her that help was on the way for the two of them and would be there shortly. Later at the hospital, that lady asked the waitress where the man was, who had been in the passenger’s seat with her in the accident. But she replied that she did not know who that man was, since she was traveling alone, and there was no passenger in the car until the vehicle started to roll out of control. We explained to her that he was an angel of God, a ministering spirit sent to help her, because God loves her and has a plan for her life.
Then we discovered she had never been born again, and after we explained the gospel, she said she wanted to give her life to Jesus. So she prayed right there outside the restaurant, and we also prayed for her. She wept as the presence of the Lord came upon her. When Jennifer checked on her a week later, she was very excited and said that her whole life had now changed.
In September and October, Len continued meeting regularly with a local pastor here, named Roger. This is the pastor we wrote about last month, who felt the Lord sent us in answer to prayer. Len continues to pray with him and equip him, which is going very well.
Meanwhile another local pastor, named Wayne, came to visit Len at our home with his brother Rodney. The pastor said he feels God has put Len in his life for a reason, and wants to get equipped for ministry. He also invited Len to come and preach at the church this coming Sunday.
Regarding other opportunities to serve, our desire would be to come to your church or Bible Study group to preach and minister to you, while we are in the States. If you would like us to do so, we can also make a presentation of our work in Eastern Europe. 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. So give us a call if you would like us to 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.
Resources: This month we would also like to suggest Len's latest blogs called, The Holy Spirit Speaks and The Name of Jesus and Jesus is Yahweh. Other recent articles of Len's may be found at Old News That's Still Fresh - October 2013. Len's entire collection of his most popular blogs are at Writing for the Master.
We mentioned previously that we were interviewed on a Christian radio program in September. If you have not yet heard it, and would like to listen to the interview via podcast, it is available online by clicking this link. We welcome your comments regarding 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)
- For the salvation of Jan, the waitress at Golden Corral.
- For the way the Lord is ministering to and equipping the local pastors here with whom Len is meeting.
- For healing those of us who were sick with head colds.
- For the progress that David is making and his ministry for the Lord.
- For helping us get a laptop for the children and get it running properly, along with a partial refund.
- For giving Len the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Freddy Clark.
- For the Lord to help Jan to grow in her new faith in Jesus.
- For the Lord to provide all that we need to make our Stateside furlough possible.
- For the Lord to open doors of opportunity for ministry, and give us safe travels as we travel around the States.
- For the Lord to further expand the awareness of this ministry throughout the US, and raise up many new partners, who will sponsor us.
- For the Lord to continue to move powerfully through the Word, our testimonies, and our ministry to those who come to hear us.
- For the Lord to help David to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ accurately.
- For our financial blessing.
with love from all of us,
The Lacroixs
There are two ways to donate to Doulos Missions International. You may either send a check or money order by mail to:
Doulos Missions International
PO Box 5526
Manchester, NH 03108-5526
Doulos Missions International
PO Box 5526
Manchester, NH 03108-5526
