January Update 2014

Greetings from lovely North Carolina!  We're pleased to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our lives and ministry.

The girls at Jesus' birthday party

Family: In December, we held a birthday party for Jesus.  Jennifer baked a cake, which we presented to Him with eight candles in a circle, representing eternity.  The children all presented gifts to the Lord that they had made, including poems and a drawing.  And we sang old time Christmas carols based on Scripture, like Silent Night, O Come All Ye faithful, Joy to the World, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  It was a really enjoyable time of fun and worship.

One Sunday afternoon at the end of December, Len was sitting in the living room alone, waiting for the family to join him for a worship meeting.  He decided to pick up the Evangecube and look at it.  And although there was no way Joseph could have known Len was going to do so at that moment, it was as if he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to come walking quickly, all the way from the dining room saying, "Can I watch?"  He had seen Len place it on the table beside himself earlier, and he seemed to know what Len was going to do before he did it.  So Len went through the entire Evangecube gospel presentation with him, and when it was finished, Joseph prayed the sinner's prayer to give his life to Jesus.  Then we prayed for him to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, and had a time of joyful thanksgiving to God for what He had done.  Praise the Lord for bringing Joseph into His kingdom!  And please pray that he will grow in His love and knowledge of Jesus now. If you are interested in knowing more about Evangecube, you can check out e3Resources, where they have children's and adult's versions.
 
More photos.     

One evening, the day after New Year's Day, we decided to go out to eat as a family to celebrate the completion of the children's first semester of school. Before we left home, we prayed for protection for ourselves on the journey. It was dark and rainy, as we made our way into the city, down a two-lane state highway out in the country.  We were traveling nearly 50 miles per hour, and so was the car coming toward us.  As we were just about to pass by the oncoming car, and only had what seemed like six feet between the front of our two vehicles going in opposite directions in our separate lanes, a deer jumped out from our left hand side of the road.  It dashed in front of the other car and in front of our van.  We did not even see it, except for a split second as it leaped across to the right side of the road in front of our passenger's side headlight.  All we caught was that quick flash image of it in front of the headlight and it was gone.  We all thanked the Lord profusely for saving us from what could have been a serious accident.  We never even had time to touch the brakes and probably the other car didn't either.

Had we been going one mile per hour faster or arrived at that spot a millisecond sooner, we would have collided with the deer.  Had the other vehicle hit the deer with his driver's side front end, it could have thrown the deer into our windshield.  Or another scenario could have caused that car to swerve into us.  There were any number of ways it could have resulted in great injury or loss of life, and damage to our vehicle.  But the Lord truly protected us.  We marveled at how fast that deer would have had to go!  The combined speed of our vehicle and the oncoming one was about 100 miles per hour, and the deer had only enough space to run between the two vehicles, but he made it through unscathed.  We don't know how the Lord did it, or if an angel yanked him out of our way at light speed, but we do know it was truly a miracle. Praise the Lord!

Speaking of close encounters, that same night our children started a blog called "A Brush with Life," which Len had spoken of with some of them earlier in the day.  We coined the name after the expression, "a brush with death," except that this refers to the artist's brush depicting scenes that glorify the Creator, who is Life Himself.  Len has put our fifteen-year old daughter, Charity in charge of it.

As part of Charity's home-based Christian education, she manages and maintains that blog, "A Brush with Life," under Len's training, direction, and guidance with a bit of assistance occasionally.  She collaborates with her siblings (her fellow artists), then she creates digital representations of the art – through scanning or photography, crops it, organizes it, uploads it, creates the gallery rooms, organizes them, adds accompanying text (including Scriptures that she and her siblings have selected for their art), and publishes them to the web.  She is learning responsibility, teamwork, administrative skills, and computer skills -- including some HTML (HyperText Markup Language) programming, a bit of graphic design, photography, website development, and website publishing.  In addition, this is a ministry that allows our children to lovingly share their artistic talents and the Scriptures with others, bringing glory to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Most importantly it leads them to meditate more on the Word of God. So we hope you browse their blog and enjoy it!  Feel free to share it with others, too.  Please pray that it will spread God's Word and the word about the ministry of DMI, which is mentioned in the footnote of the blog.

Ministry: We are continuing to watch the Lord bring about spiritual growth in the life of Christopher, our neighbor across the street.  He has stayed off the cigarettes, and is drawing close to God!  Praise the Lord!  Our interactions with him have been very encouraging, and mutually edifying.  We have not yet been successful at having his unchurched parents over for a visit.

In December, we established a new radio program called Preparing the Way, which is a worldwide radio broadcast via the Internet dedicated to preparing the way for the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ in repentance, preaching holiness, righteous, and truth.  As the Scripture says:

"A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.'" (Isa 40:3-5)

“And all flesh will see the salvation of God.'" (Luk 3:6)

"Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, 'Here is your God!' Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him."  (Isa 40:9-10)

“Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.  The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: ‘Say to Daughter Zion, “See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”’ They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.” (Isa 62:10-12)

"'Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts. 'But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.'" (Mal 3:1-3)

This will initially be a weekly or bi-weekly broadcast, but could increase in frequency as the Lord leads. Our target audience includes pastors, elders, and disciples laboring for the Lord in all nations, as well as those who are lost. In Jesus' Mighty Name and with God's help, we pray that this radio broadcast will reach the nations.

Secondarily, we also plan to use the broadcast to increase awareness of the ministry of Doulos Missions International, its "parent ministry," helping to make disciples in Eastern Europe. This is another means of proclaiming what God is doing in Eastern Europe and other regions of the world. Eventually, as the Lord provides, we hope to upgrade the program to a premium level that is free of any worldly ads, which do not glorify God. Please pray that this radio ministry will successfully accomplish the purposes for which it was established, for God's blessing upon it and provision, along with His anointing and guidance for Len.

The Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary

Some of you may be aware that Hungary has a large population of Jews. Today, the population of Jews living in Hungary is around 120,000,with 110,000 mostly concentrated in Budapest.  In fact, the Jewish synagogue in Budapest, known as the Dohány Street Synagogue, is Europe's largest.  Next to the nation of Israel itself, the countries with the highest population of Jews are first and foremost the United States, then France, Canada, Russia, Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Australia, and Ukraine.  Hungary is fairly high in the ranking beneath those countries.

We know from Scripture that the apostle Paul always preached the gospel first to the Jews when he entered a city.  And he wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." Therefore, since Len's visit with Charity to that synagogue in Budapest in June of 2012, Len has had an outreach to Jews in Hungary and throughout the world.

The primary tool for this outreach has been his blog called Yeshua the Messiah.  On this blog, Len shares his testimony, Why I Trust in Yeshua, and writes various evangelistic articles that help to show from Scripture that Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah.  Some example are Yeshua Ha'Maschiah in the Tanakh, The Brit Chadashah is Jewish, YHWH as Both Father and Husband to the Hebrews, Is the Trinity Originally a Hebrew or Christian Concept?, Yeshua is Yahweh, HaShem - The Name, and The Amazing Sign of Yonah. Although Len has tried to develop the blog in a way that is somewhat culturally relevant for Jews, using some of their linguistic expressions and preferred ways of writing the name of God, we would like to clarify that we ourselves have not become Messianic Jews.

Len and Charity at The Dohány Street Synagogue, June 2012

When interacting with Jews, Len is now able to refer them to this blog, which has already received a significant amount of traffic from people in approximately sixteen nations around the world, who are viewing it.  The countries with the highest traffic to the blog are the United States and Hungary, and then the other countries listed above, which we mentioned as having the world's largest populations of Jews.  Therefore, this outreach of ours seems to be reaching our target audience, and we assume Messianic Jews are probably reading it, too. Unfortunately there has been little traffic to the blog from within the nation of Israel itself.

Len has discovered that Jews are accustomed to antisemitism from Gentile people, which is racial prejudice against them.  In fact, Len was surprised to learn that antisemitism is quite common among Christians! Jews often seem surprised when Christians treat them with love and respect.  Yet that should not be! God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew, so why should we?  As the apostle Paul said, "For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen." (Rom 9:3-5).  The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Hebrew patriarchs. And of course, Jesus Himself is a Jew!  He loves the precious Jewish people and wants to save them, too.  For Paul also said, "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Eph 3:6).

Please pray that the Lord will use this evangelistic outreach for His glory and honor to bring many Jews to the saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the salvation of the Jewish people.  And please join us by using the Yeshua the Messiah blog yourself, as you share Jesus with your Jewish friends and loved ones.

One of Len's disciples in Hungary, Greg, has recently given us an update us on his life.  He is well, healthy and busy with projects. He continues to serve in his house group as a worship leader.   And beginning in January, he will also join the worship team at the same church where David (another of Len's disciples) serves, called Élő Ige or Living Word Church. Greg has now met a very nice Christian young lady named Fanni, who is part of the house group.  Please pray for the Lord to bless Greg, use him to multiply disciples, lead the people of God into the Lord's presence, and for His will to be done concerning Fanni.

Elizabeth (left) and her mother, Elizabeth (file photo)

Len spoke with Elizabeth (another of our Hungarian disciples, pictured left) by phone in January.  You may recall that she gave her life to the Lord Jesus in December 2012, while we were in Hungary, and received prayer for healing. She says that although the cancerous tumors on her body are smaller, she is not doing well.  She is taking a different and much stronger chemotherapy medicine at home, is in a lot of pain, and cannot eat or sleep.  Needless to say, she seems discouraged.  Please remember her in your prayers.

Len is still meeting with pastor Roger here locally, and helping him through training, as we prayerfully seek to find more open doors to serve. Regarding other Opportunities to Serve the Body of Christ, 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. And please consider posting a link to our Opportunities to Serve the Body of Christ invitation on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media accounts that you may have, as a way of helping us let more people know about this ministry.

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.  

Resources:  This month we would also like to suggest Len's blog called, Partaking of the Divine Nature. Len has posted several other new articles at Old News That's Still Fresh - January 2014, which we hope you don't miss! That includes A Brush with Life, the children's new art gallery. 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:

1. For bringing Joseph into His kingdom when he prayed the sinner's prayer to give his life to Jesus
2. For our enabling us to miraculously avoid hitting a deer at high speed.
3. For the new, children's blog, "A Brush with Life."
4. For the way the Lord is bringing about spiritual growth in the life of our neighbor, Christopher P.
5. For the new radio program, Preparing the Way.
6. For the lives of precious Jewish people being reached through the Yeshua Messiah blog.
7. For the testimony of Sarah B. and how the Holy Spirit fell so heavily on her, as she was reading.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For Joseph to grow in His love and knowledge of the Lord in his new relationship with Jesus.
2. For "A Brush with Life," the children's blog, to spread God's Word, and the word about DMI.
3. For the Lord to successfully accomplish the purposes for which this new radio ministry was established, for God's blessing upon it and provision, along with His anointing and guidance for Len.
4. For Christopher P. to maintain his deliverance from cigarettes and grow as a disciple.
5. For the Lord to help us make disciples of Christopher P.'s unchurched parents, Ron and Brenda, and his six-year old son, Noah.
6. For the Lord to bring salvation to thousands of Jews around the world through the Yeshua Messiah blog.
7. For the Lord to bless Greg, as well as use him to multiply disciples, lead the people of God into the Lord's presence, and for His will to be done concerning Fanni.
8. For the Lord to complete the healing work He started in Elizabeth over a year ago.
9. For the Lord to open doors of opportunity for ministry.
10. For the Lord to further expand the awareness of this ministry throughout the US, and raise up many new partners, who will sponsor us.
11. For our financial blessing.  

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

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

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