March Update 2014

Greetings from warm and sunny North Carolina, where spring has arrived!  We're pleased to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our lives and ministry.

Len prepares to blow out twelve candles!

Family: In March we celebrated Len's forty-eighth birthday.  It was a beautiful, sunny day in the seventies, which was exactly the kind of day Len asked the Lord to grant him on his birthday.  It came after a long stretch of cold weather that culminated the day before his birthday when we were hit with a severe ice storm, which knocked out the electrical power of nearly half a million customers in North Carolina.

Thank the Lord, we only lost power for about four hours the day after the storm, on Len's birthday, and it was restored in time for our celebrations.  That, too, was an answer to our prayers, that we would not lose power during the storm, since it had been around thirty-three degrees, and our heat pump runs on electricity.  It was a miracle, since countless trees and limbs were knocked down due to the heavy ice and the waterlogged soil, bringing down many power lines in the process. While others in the towns around us were without power for days after the storm, we experienced only a minimal impact.  Meanwhile, on that warm day after the storm, Len received some homemade cards, lots of love, prayer, and a delicious homemade pumpkin pie, which he shared with the rest of the family.
 
More photos.     

In February, our oldest daughter, Charity, recommitted her life to Christ, and we have seen the Lord doing some wonderful things in her heart.  It's been great to watch her get set free in areas where she had been bound and begin to walk in a new freedom in Christ.  Praise the Lord!  We plan to celebrate with a party, according to Luke 15:24, on the following day after this newsletter is published.  Since this wonderful new change has taken place, she has written a new poem called He Loved Us First, which seems to be very inspired and is a direct result of what has happened within her. 

In home school, all of the children are doing well, so we are very pleased with their progress.  Some of us are fighting spring time head colds to some degree, except for Hope, Len, and Joseph, some with just a light touch of it, and others with more severe symptoms.  In addition, we are trusting the Lord to heal Hope from a small, pea-sized lump in her left ear lobe.  Len has also been experiencing sciatic pain.  Please agree with us for healing in these areas.

Michael Thomas Sambo

Ministry:  In February, we continued producing our new radio program called Preparing the Way, which we mentioned last month.  Len interviewed brother Michael Thomas Sambo, who received divine visitations and revelations while undergoing his course in veterinary medicine at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.  In 2003, he was given these revelations at 23 years of age.  While attending a Christian retreat camp, he died three times in two days, which was confirmed by a doctor, and he was dead for a total of over twenty-four hours.  There were two thousand witnesses to this account, who witnessed all that happened with him, and he had amazing encounters with the Lord during that time.  He saw the Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face at the gates of heaven, and God in His mercy chose to use him to convey this life-changing message to mankind.

He is the same Nigerian preacher that Len has written about, who had a recent, Angelic Escape from Terrorist Assassins.  Last October, during Michael’s ministry travels, he was the target of an assassination attempt by terrorists in Nigeria.  However, the Lord sent the angel Michael to rescue him, and he was miraculously delivered from close range gunfire and from being forced to drink poison.  Not a bullet touched him, and he escaped alive with several witnesses who testified to the incident.  We hope you don't miss the archived recording of his radio interview with Len.  Even though Len encountered unusually bad technical problems that caused choppy audio while airing the program, the recording came out amazingly clear in answer to prayer! Praise the Lord.

Most of you have probably heard by now about the movement of Russian military troops within Ukraine.  Due to the complicated nature of the situation, as well as the misinformation and disinformation surrounding it on all sides, it is difficult to get at the truth of what is really happening on the ground.  Some people have asked us about how this situation could affect its bordering neighbor, Hungary, where we serve as missionaries.  While we do not profess to know the answer to that, we do know that the Cold War is not over.  Beyond that, we prefer not to comment on politics in this newsletter.

However, spiritually speaking, there was a prophecy given in 1974 by Pastor David Wilkerson that the doors of the gospel would open up for a short time in the communist bloc countries, but then they would close again later.

Pastor Wilkerson prophesied: "Those who have lived under terrible, religious persecution will enjoy a limited period of freedom. God's Holy Spirit will split the Iron and Bamboo Curtains and will seek out and find hungry hearts in Russia, China, and Eastern Europe.  God is bringing to pass a temporary truce between the East and the West for the express purpose of getting the gospel into these Communist countries. After a short period of freedom and spiritual awakening among many, the doors will suddenly close, and the persecution madness will begin with intensity and engulf all those nations."

Note that the Lord gave this prophecy fifteen years before the iron curtain came down, and it was fulfilled in 1989, followed immediately by the great spiritual awakening that He foretold.  In that same prophecy that has been accurately fulfilled thus far, He said there would be a limited period of freedom for the sake of the gospel, but that the doors would later close "suddenly." We do not know if the Russian military movements in Ukraine could be the beginning of that closure.  We certainly hope not, but we do know that the initial spiritual awakening in that part of the world has long since waned from its highest peak in the early 90's.

David holding Joseph (file photo)

Len recently asked one of his beloved, Hungarian disciples, David (pictured left), to give us an update on the general feeling among those in Hungary about the Ukrainian situation.  He gave us hope when he indicated that a prophet named Stefan Driess gave a prophecy in Budapest nearly three years ago on April 16, 2011, saying: "The LORD will allow that a threat would reach the borders of Hungary, because there are some who say: 'Here we have peace, what kind of threat could reach us. Europe will help us.'  In these days, I declared: Eastern-Europe will again see the old 'bear', Russia arise. But the prayer warriors in this country, the watchers on the wall, will be able to raise the LORD's flag to defend this country against communism, which wants to rise up again."

David went on to say that some of the Hungarians are afraid, while others are unconcerned. He said, "I trust the LORD. His will be done! But I pray that He would save us from this threat."  Let's agree with David's prayer, for the sake of our beloved brethren in Hungary and Ukraine, and the whole Eastern European region, but especially for the sake of the gospel.

David also indicated some of the good things the Lord has been doing through his life. He described how it began with his own disappointment with the low spiritual condition in his church and in other churches, and he said, "...I just prayed that God would make a change through me. I gave Him my life again as a living sacrifice. He anointed me with the Spirit. I was the leader of the youth group worship team. And I went to lead this team, but God told me not to conduct worship practice that day. So I invited them into a little room, and I started to talk about true repentance and being ready for the coming of Christ. And I encouraged them to pray in the Spirit to God. And I noticed that one guy did not speak in tongues. I stopped them and asked this guy if he would like to get this gift. He said, 'Yes.' And then I asked them if anyone else wanted to get any other gifts of the Holy Spirit, because I would pray and they would get it immediately. One girl said, 'I want to get the gift of healing.' I replied, 'You will get it today. Anyone else?' And there was no other response, so I prayed and prophesied over every one of them, and laid my hands upon them. These two brethren got what they asked. One of them started to speak in tongues, and the other started to minister in healing. Praise God!  In our next meeting, we started to pray, and we felt Heaven coming down in our presence. And later that day we worshiped at church, and it was so powerful that I hardly could open my eyes during my ministry."

Praise the Lord for what he is doing in David's life!  He also described some attacks and trials that occurred immediately following this great victory, but he seems to be in a very good place with the Lord. He said, "Through these attacks I got closer to the Father, the righteous Judge. I grew in Spirit, praise God, and learned what grace really means." So please join us in praying for David's continued growth, and for the Lord to keep him through his trials.

As we mentioned last month, Len recently wrote an article entitled Messages from the Lord for Catholics Worshiping Idols, which he sent to a large group of pastors, elders, and disciples of Christ that we know across Eastern Europe, asking for their input.  We have since received some good feedback about it.  One of our Hungarian translators, who is the daughter of one of the pastors Len trained, and is now married to a youth pastor, stated:

Greg (file photo)

"Dear Len, I have read your article about idolatry. I agree that so many people are not aware of idolatry. However, as you have written in your testimony that you yourself used to be a Catholic and worshiped idols, [yet] His grace found you, and rescued and set you free (smile).  Glory to The Lord! I know some people in Hungary -- and I believe the number are growing -- who used to be a Catholic who worshiped idols (unconsciously), but they repented from this sin.  So God is moving and convincing the hearts (smile). Our prayers play a very crucial part! Thank you Len! I send my love to the whole family!"

Another one of our Hungarian translators wrote: "Dear Len, Greetings with love in Jesus. I think you touched a very important issue in this message. Catholicism is very strong in Hungary and in the surrounding countries and few Christians know in detail the level of heresies this denomination proclaims. Of course, we Protestants are not perfect in our theology either, but Catholic beliefs can be frighteningly far fetched. It is amazing at the same time there are many among them who are true followers of Christ. The fact that even they can't see the deception they are victims of shows the power of the deception.  Blessings, Csilla."

On a more positive note, another one of Len's Hungarian disciples, Greg (pictured above), is now leading the home group, where he had previously been leading worship.  Praise the Lord for the wonderful growth He is bringing about in Greg's life.

Len and Gábor (file photo)

Another one of Len's disciples, Gábor (pictured left),  recently sent us a wonderful praise report.  He wrote, "I'm happy to hear about your daughter.  Our son David is also repentant, so I can feel your happiness. We're all doing fine, too. Yes, I'm still in Germany although I spent three months at home..."

"I invited Sanyi (the guy who painted your house in Diosd) to help during [our own home] renovations. Sometimes we [had] worked together before, and of course spoke about God [during those times]. He hasn't show much interest, but told [me] a few things about [his personal life and struggles]. Those days [more recently] when we were working together [on my home], we started to talk. I felt that he is really deep down. So each day we spoke for hours. A week later we recognized that he is honestly repentant [for his sins]. Since then he has started to repair his life!"  Praise the Lord!

He then shared about his son, whom Len knows, saying, "David is studying in Vajta, which is the Bible school of Golgotha Church. Two weeks ago, he took three of his fellow [classmates home to see us in] Tököl, and we went to the prison to have a [worship] service together with prisoners.  In the end, seven guys came forward to give their lives to Jesus!! Glory to GOD! That's all for now from Europe. Say 'hello' to everyone who knows me. God bless you all! Gábor."  This is amazing news about Gábor’s son, David, who had aspired to a career in the special police force.  And praise the Lord for all those prisoners who were saved.

Regarding Opportunities to Serve the Body of Christ, we have not had any open doors, which resulted in speaking about our ministry at churches, since we moved to North Caroline last July.  Therefore, we are not any closer to being able to return to the mission field now than we were when we first began our furlough last June.  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.   

Administrative: We have been reaching out to speak personally by phone with all our faith partners (financial supporters), and plan to continue doing so. If you are a faith partner and we have left you a message or have not contacted you yet, please give us a call at your earliest convenience.  Thank you!

Resources:  This month we would also like to suggest Len's blogs called, God's Supernatural Provision Using People and The Top Ten Things Jesus Taught. Len has also posted some other new articles at Old News That's Still Fresh - March 2014, which we hope you don't miss! Also see his Radio Interview with Michael Thomas Sambo. Len's entire collection of his most popular blogs are at Writing for the Master.

Note: Some quotes in this newsletter have been edited for clarity without changing the meaning.

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 leading Charity to recommit her life to Christ, and for her new freedom in Him. 
2. For the new poem the Lord gave her.
3. For the fact that we only lost electrical power for four hours the day after the major ice storm, and we only experienced minimal impact.
4. For the beautiful day we had to celebrate Len's birthday.
5. For what God has been doing in the life of Len's disciple, David.
6. For the wonderful growth the Lord is bringing about in Greg's life, and his new role as house group leader.
7. For leading Sanyi to repent, give his life to Jesus, and repair his life.
8. For the seven prisoners who repented and gave their lives to Jesus through the ministry of Gabor and his son, David.
9. For the successful radio interview with Michael Thomas Sambo, in spite of major technical problems.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For the Lord to heal Hope from that lump in her ear lobe, and those who have head colds.
2. For the Lord's will to be done concerning Russia, and to protect both Ukraine and Hungary from the threat.
3. For many in Eastern Europe and around the world to be awakened spiritually before it is too late and they perish in their sin. 
4. For the Lord to help Charity to follow through on her decision and walk in victory in Jesus, overcoming every attack of the enemy.
5. For David's continued spiritual growth and for the Lord to keep him through his trials.
6. For the Lord to open new doors of opportunity for ministry for us, and that we would be fruitful.
7. 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.
8. For the new DMI Infomercial on Youtube and BlogTalkRadio to help raise awareness of this ministry.
9. For the Lord to further expand the awareness of this ministry throughout the US, and raise up many new faith partners, who will sponsor us.
10. 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

Donate Online