November Update 2014

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

Family: In October, we had some beautiful weather, and one sunny day Jennifer took the children to a playground by the lake.  It was a blessing, because the weather turned cold right after that. They saw a turtle there and moved it off the road to safety.

In October, Len found a large, bumble bee face-down in the gravel driveway and helped the boys rescue it.  They put it in a plastic bowl, where they nursed it with clover flowers, which it sucked on, and it seemed to improve.

Although it was unable to fly, it could eventually buzz its wings and walk around.  There was no need to keep a cover on the bowl, since he could not fly, so that was his open air hospital where he remained alive the whole time.  They refreshed Buzzby's grass and flowers regularly and let him out of his home for exercise each day to walk around on a plastic bowl cover that they placed on the ground.  The children really enjoyed caring for it, and were praying for him to get well, so he could fly again and fulfill his purpose in life.  It was like a pet.

Buzzby immediately before flying away

After nine days, on one warm, sunny afternoon, they were outside checking on him, and Len advised them to move him out of the shade into the sunshine.  Then he decided to take a photo of him.  Just as soon as Len snapped the photo, Buzzby began to buzz his wings and lifted off into flight for the first time in over a week.  He flew two or three large circles away from us and back toward us, so we could see that he was perfectly fine, and then he flew up and away into some pine trees about thirty feet away.  It was an amazing sight to see him fly again, after being grounded for so long, and we praised God for answering our prayers and restoring him back to health again.  Afterward Joseph said, "It's a miracle!" It just goes to show how God cares about even the little things we pray for.  If He cares so much about the bees, how much more does He care for us!

More photos.    

In November we celebrated Hope's fourteenth birthday with a little party, at which she received some gifts and cards.  We also enjoyed homemade pumpkin cake that Jennifer made.

Among the gifts Hope received were two prints of artwork by Danny Hahlbohm, both of which she picked out herself.  One was the "Wise and Foolish Builders," which depicts a sandcastle at the ocean water's edge about to be destroyed in the surf, and another home built on the rock located high up on a cliff.  The other print was "All God's Children," depicting the Lord Jesus holding a little child while surrounded by other children, as well as one in the womb of an expectant mother.

The girls have formed an a Capella singing group called Harmony Girlz, and begun to record several albums.  They have already completed Shouts of Joy, Hungarian Songs (of worship), and Evening Melody.  Their upcoming albums are Song of the Bride, and a special collection of Christmas hymns called Celebrate the Messiah, featuring a solo by Hope in Latin.

Naturally the boys decided to form their own group called Little Lambs and plan to make a children's worship album called Sing to the Lord.

Charity continues to study French with the help of her tutor, Denise, in Belgium via Skype. In November, she received some encouraging feedback from Denise, who was able to understand her when she read sentences that were in her French language book.  Denise told her, "If you were to talk with someone who only speaks French, they would understand you." She was really surprised how Charity had progressed so much in only a few months, saying she is very satisfied with her pronunciation.

Ministry:  In October we received an email from a young, college graduate in Wisconsin named Jeffrey.  He said, "After reading many of brother Len's blogs and watching many christian DVDs, I want to give my life to Christ."  After Len spoke with him and explained how to repent and give his life to Christ, he did so. Afterward he wrote back to let Len know what happened, saying, "After I prayed and confessed all my sins, a wonderful feeling of peace of mind came over me. The room seemed brighter too. This confession was definitely the right move. I used to be a christian before, but I was completely phony."  Praise the Lord for saving Jeffrey!

We also received a comment in October from a preacher in the Democratic Republic of Congo, named Mapindu, whom we've mentioned before.  He wrote, "Dear Leonard Lacroix, My greetings in Jesus Name. Please, I  would like to inform you that your tools are useful and I am very happy for that because is the encouragement. It is a big help. May God bless you."

Pastor Dave and Beth Wenrich

We would like to mention that Len met again by phone in October with the board of directors for Doulos Missions International, and the board voted unanimously to appoint pastor David Wenrich from Boston, Massachusetts to serve on the board. Pastor Dave and his wife Beth have been in full time ministry since 1984.  Their ministry has included 18 years of pastoral ministry here in the U.S. in New Hampshire and currently in Boston. They have also directed a ministry to malnourished children & planted churches in the Philippines from 1996 – 2005.  In 2005 they returned to the US to work with the Convoy of Hope as International Directors, responding to disasters such as the tsunami in Indonesia, floods in Nicaragua, the Pakistan earthquake, and hurricane Katrina. During their time with Convoy of Hope, Dave was actively involved in the implementation of water filtration in several areas of the world. Since fall of 2006, they have been in Boston at Boston Harbor Community Church. Dave just recently returned from a ministry trip to Romania in October.  We are excited to have Dave join the team, since he shares our vision for multiplication, and brings a lot of ministry experience from which to contribute.

L to R: Gyuri, Marc, Anna, Mike, Livia, and David

During this month of November, Len is away in Budapest to meet with David Vadnai to encourage him and his disciples, and pray together.  He is also traveling to Vienna with David to meet with another board member there named Dennis Nederveen.   In Hungary, Len ministered to David and his disciples in a home group meeting, and the Lord confirmed His Word through the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. After the worship and preaching, those who wanted to receive an impartation of the holy fire of God did so, and the Lord moved gloriously.  As the Scripture says, “So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.” (2 Chr 5:14).

The testimonies afterward were all positive.  For example, one man named Mike, Len’s interpreter at the meeting, who is twenty five years old, said his life was changed forever by that experience with the Lord, and he will never be the same.  Also an elder man, named Gyuri, who had once pastored a church for several years in another town, said he came especially to receive the fire of God, and he was visibly overwhelmed when he received. He said it was similar to when he received impartations from the Holy Spirit in the past, one of which had resulted in the medically-documented, total healing of a lady in the church who had end-stage Muscular Sclerosis.  All glory goes to God!  Let no flesh glory in His presence.  Apart from Christ we can do nothing.

On another day, Len also met individually with Greg, who is one of Len’s Hungarian disciples.  Len has also been conducting evangelism to the lost in Hungary during the course of this trip, and one lady named Martha has made a decision for Christ.  Praise the Lord!  Please pray for Len during the remainder of his trip there that he will be most effectively used for God's kingdom and glory.

Resources:  This month we would also like to suggest two important articles Len has recently written called, Alcohol and Cigarettes -- Ten Divine Revelations and The Judgment Seat of Christ. All of Len's latest articles are available at Old News That's Still Fresh - November 2014. Len's entire collection of his most popular blogs are at Writing for the Master.

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 the celebration of Hope’s birthday.
2. For the beautiful fall day that Jennifer and the children had at the lake.
3. For the feedback from Belgium on Charity’s excellent progress with French.
4. For the way He restored the bee so that it could fly again after nearly dying, and especially for His even greater care for the righteous.
5. For helping our children to record their music “albums” to the glory of God, and putting it in their hearts to do so.
6. For the time that Len is spending with David and his disciples in Hungary this month, and the glorious way the Lord has already moved. 
7. For the addition of Pastor Dave Wenrich to the DMI board.
8. For the help and encouragement that Mapindu and others like him continue to receive from Len’s online written training tools.
9. For the salvation of Jeffrey in Wisconsin and Martha in Budapest, Hungary.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. That Jeffrey and Martha will receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and become powerful witnesses for the Lord, growing in their new relationship with Christ. 
2. For the Lord to draw to Himself and save the people we have been witnessing to.
3. For Len during the remainder of his trip to Hungary and Austria that he will be most effectively used for God's kingdom and glory, and for the Lord to guide him and provide for the trip.
4. For the Lord to give Len guidance and provision regarding the open door for short-term work in Burma.
5. For the Lord to open new doors of opportunity for ministry for us, and that we would be fruitful.
6. 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.
7. For the church to allow us to stay at least until the summer, so we wouldn't have to move during the school year.   Or else that He would provide another place for us to move to in February.

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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