December Update 2014

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

Len and Jennifer on Thanksgiving Day

Family: In November, while Len was in Hungary, Jennifer took the children to see the Natural Science Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, which was free, and they enjoyed it.  They saw many mounted animals that had been taxidermised.  They also saw some live ones, too.  So they all enjoyed seeing and learning about God's creation in nature.

A week after Len returned from Hungary, we all went to the North Carolina History Museum and enjoyed just being together for some family time.  The best part about the museum was that it was free.

More photos.    

We enjoyed a peaceful Thanksgiving Day, and before the meal each of us took time to give thanks to the Lord for His manifold blessings in our lives.  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (Js 1:17).

Also in November, the African Children's Choir (ACC) arrived at the other Guest House next door to the one we are living in.  That is their US residence while they are traveling in the States.  These are orphans from Uganda, who have been taken into the care of the ACC ministry, and who go on music tours.  They were only here for about one week, but the children enjoyed meeting them during that short time.

The Children on Thanksgiving Day

We have some good news to report in that we have been given an extension of two more months by King's Park International Church to rent their guest house, so that means we can stay until the end of April. Praise the Lord! However, we have been told that is a firm date, so we need to begin now looking for another place to stay. We're praying the Lord will provide other housing at that time, since currently we are financially not able to return to the mission field and we are waiting on the Lord for direction. The direction we have so far is to be based in the US and make short term trips overseas, while continuing the Christian literature ministry online.  So please pray with us for housing, which is a big need right now, and let us know if you become aware of any opportunities for us to stay as guests temporarily someplace.  We know the Lord will provide as He always has, and we will not be homeless, so we trust in Him to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.

The children have now finished recording their music albums, which we mentioned last month.  They have also been creating some great, new artwork lately.  Some of the new ones include "Beautiful Jesus", "Sun of Righteousness", "An Ever-Present Help", and "Children of the Lord", all of which are posted on Jesus; as well as "Walking on the Narrow Way" and "The Four Seeds", all of which are posted on Salvation.  Joseph has even made a special contribution called, "Jesus is Coming Soon!" -- a prophetic message he chose on his own, and the artwork is posted on Rapture. Charity has also written some new poems called Heaven's Dweller and Smoldering Flame.

Adam, Domonkos, Eva, Vilmos, and Len in Hungary

Ministry:  In November, Len was away in Budapest to meet with David Vadnai to encourage him and his disciples, and pray together.  The Lord blessed that time, as we reported last month, and there was good fruit from his trip.  Len noticed that it seemed like people in Budapest were more closed to the gospel than we had observed when we were there. However, one young man that Len evangelized to, named Csaba (pronounced "chaw-baw"), responded with many sincere questions about the gospel, which Len answered, and he promised to consider giving his life to Christ. At first he had rejected the gospel tract that Len handed him, but then he pursued Len and called out in Hungarian, "Uram!" ("Sir!"), wanting to speak with Len about the gospel, so that he could know how to be saved. Praise the Lord for his openness.

On another occasion, a man on a bus immediately burst forth with curses and the satanic horns hand signal against Len when he tried to hand the man a gospel tract.  The man didn't even know what the tract said inside, but depicted on the front was Christ Jesus on the cross, bleeding, and the words printed "All This I Did for Thee."  Len just returned his cursing with a blessing and continued to stand right beside him.  Please pray with us that the Lord would get a hold of that man's life and he would become a warrior for Christ.

Len also traveled to Vienna by train with David to meet with another board member there named Dennis Nederveen. They shared a time of prayer, seeking the Lord and discussing the future of this ministry.

At a church service in Vienna, where Dennis was preaching, Len was given the opportunity to share his testimony, which he did and encouraged the saints there.

Mihály "Mike" Merényi

In Budapest, Len met with Vilmos (William), who is an elder he knows in Hungary at the church we once attended.  Len had trained him in the past on evangelism and discipleship, and this was a time of fellowship to encourage one another, eat dinner with him and his family, and pray together.

On another day, Len also met individually with Mihály "Mike" Merényi, (who had interpreted for Len at a recent house meeting), to train him on sharing Jesus in personal evangelism.

We reported last month that Len ministered at a home group meeting that met at David's apartment. We mentioned a elder brother, named Gyuri, who used to be a pastor.  Gyuri knows some of the dark secrets regarding the wicked things happening within the Hungarian government.  He shared some of those things with Len.  He told about all the idolatry in Hungary.  For example, there is something known as the golden Sacred Crown, kept under glass at the Parliament building in Budapest. Gyuri says it is a shaman crown welded together into one with a Catholic Crown, and it is actually considered a "pubic servant" in the constitution.

For those who don't know, "a shaman is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing" (Wikipedia). Hungarians who invaded the Carpathian basin in 895-896 AD were pagans. It has been said that they sacrificed horses, prayed to boulders and streams and participated in shaman drumming rituals. According to Gyuri, not long ago, the Hungarian government also hired a shaman dancer for 50 million Hungarian Forints (over $200,000) to perform a spiritual dance around the crown inside the Parliament.

Gyuri also told about the time when the Dalai Lama visited Budapest in September 2010, and was welcomed by the mayor. At that time, he taught about Tibetan Buddhism in Hungary and consecrated a mandala inside the Parliament building, which was a model of a boat. "A mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the Universe" (Wikipedia). Also the Hungarian government sent someone to the Czech Republic to obtain power from the Black Madonna idol and bring that power back to Hungary to help the government be successful.  And each year they rededicate the country to Mary. These are evil practices that some Hungarians do not even know about. As you think of Hungary and pray for the nation, pray that the Lord will bring down all the spiritual strongholds, especially those in the Parliament.

On the last Sunday in October, we shared Jesus with a man named Eddie here in the States, who lived at a old house, down the street from where we live. Although he claimed Jesus as his Lord, he thought God would let him into heaven because he helps people and does good.  Len preached the gospel to him, reminding him that we cannot trust in our own good works to save us, and that it is only by repenting and trusting in His blood, and having a relationship with Him that we can be saved. Len also reminded him that it is a narrow road to heaven and that if we claim He is our Lord, we cannot go on living in sin.  If He is our Lord, we must obey Him. We then prayed for him to be healed of the flu like symptoms he had been having for the past few days prior to that, and prayed for his knees, which were bothering him from all his years as an auto mechanic. It was a good visit, and we had planned to go back at a later time to share the Scriptures with him.

Once Len returned from his trip to Hungary in November, he was thinking about how we need to go back and share the Scriptures with Eddie.  However, during his first week back home, Eddie collapsed dead on his couch before we had another chance to speak with him. He was only sixty years old, and it came as a surprise to his whole family!  We don't know what happened to Eddie. We can only hope he repented fully of all his sins, and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ before his life ended so suddenly.  He died only four weeks and one day after we preached the gospel to him. Len has posted the full story about this man on Now is the Day of Salvation.  Pray that we will be able to reach his wife Melanie with the gospel.

On the flight back from Hungary, Len also had the opportunity to share Jesus with a young American man named Kai, who had been on vacation in Budapest.  Although he was raised in a Christian home by a pastor, he himself is a humanist.  Pray that Kai will come to know Jesus.

In December, Len received an invitation from a pastor in Punkab Pakistan to come and help them there. He specifically invited Len to help him with the upcoming Pastors Leadership Conference and Healing Crusade in Pakistan. He seems to be doing a wonderful work there among the poor, conducting preaching, evangelical meetings, church planting, and leadership conferences in Pakistan, as well as in the Middle East.  But Len advised him that we need to hear from the Lord about such an opportunity.  He also informed him that he is not able financially to do such a missions trip unless the Lord provides for it, and we are still waiting on the Lord about the opportunity in Burma. As you recall, the two Burmese pastors contacted Len separately in 2013 and 2014, asking for help.  We continue to keep in touch with them and pray for direction, as well as the Lord's provision, if indeed He wants Len to walk through that open door for ministry.

Although several financial partners have ended their giving to our ministry this month and last month, we are so blessed for all the years they were able to support us.  And furthermore, we are grateful for the three new partners in England and New England (including one church) that have begun to support us this year without our even asking, as well as those existing partners who have been led to give above and beyond their pledged amount!  That has truly helped us.  We are also grateful for those of you partners that know our situation well, and have continued to give faithfully throughout the years, even since our return to the States.  We continually pray the Lord's blessings upon all of our partners.

Administrative Need: Our volunteer bookkeeper Denis has informed us that he will need to resign in April due to changes in his workload at his job. So we are praying the Lord will provide someone to replace him.  Please join us in praying for this special need, and let us know if you would like us to consider you for this volunteer position.

Resources:  This month we would also like to suggest some very important articles Len has recently written called, Michael Shigaba's Encounter with Jesus, A Warning for Married Christian Couples, and Ask for the Ancient Paths. Charity has also written three new poems called A Pleasing Sacrifice, Wait for the Lord, and Smoldering Flame. All of Len's latest articles are available at Old News That's Still Fresh - December 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 family time we had together when Len returned from Hungary in November.
2. For a wonderful Thanksgiving Day giving thanks to God for His many blessings.
3. For the lives the Lord touched for Jesus through Len in Hungary last month, like Csaba, Martha, "Mike," Marci, Gyuri, and Kai.
4. For the opportunity to train "Mike" in Hungary in sharing Jesus without fear.
5. For the two-month extension we received from King's Park International Church to continue renting the guest house until the end of April.
6. For the face to face meeting and prayer time Len had in Vienna with the European board members.
7. For the new financial partners that have joined in supporting us this year without our even asking, and for all of our existing partners who continue giving faithfully, even above and beyond their pledge.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. That Martha will become a disciple, receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and become a powerful witness for the Lord in Hungary, growing in her new relationship with Christ. 
2. For the Lord to draw to Himself and save the people we have been witnessing to, especially Kai and Csaba, as well as the violently angry man on the bus. 
3. That we will be able to reach Eddie's wife Melanie with the gospel.
4. For the Lord to give Len guidance and provision regarding the open door for short-term work in Burma, which is the next big opportunity.
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 raise up new faith partners.
7. For the Lord to provide for us, including another place for us to move to at the end of April.
8. For the Lord to provide someone to replace Denis our bookkeeper by April 1.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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