April Update 2015

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.

Family: In March and April, we continued diligently with our search for another place to live. At the time of this newsletter, we have less than two weeks to move out of the guesthouse we are living in. We actually should move within one week from now, in order to allow for last minute follow up tasks that may occur after our move!

It has been challenging to find a place, but our application was just approved for a specific rental property located within twenty minutes of Fort Bragg, which is three quarters of an hour's drive from where we live now. It has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, plus a bonus room, and a huge back yard. It certainly seems like it would meet our basic requirements, and we sense the Lord wants us in that specific neighborhood for His glory.

We also hope to negotiate with the owner on the monthly rate, as well as other aspects of the lease, now that we have received approval on our application. So we continue with packing for the move, as well as house cleaning, while we negotiate for a better deal.  Please pray the Lord will help us to get this home under the best possible arrangements that can be negotiated, according to His perfect will.

Meanwhile, we are to a certain extent also shopping out furniture and appliances.  We were blessed to receive some gifts of towels and a dinnerware set from a deacon and his wife that are part of the church, which rents the guesthouse to us. And a pastor's wife who manages the guesthouse has offered to let us take the pillows and buy us a couple sets of bed linen. Praise the Lord!

In March Len did have that painful tooth extracted, so thanks for your prayers about that, as everything went well.  Thank the Lord for that!

More photos.    

Ministry:  You may remember one of Len's Hungarian disciples, named Gabor, had moved to Germany without his wife and children, in order to try to make a better living for his family. He did that around the same time we were returning to the States in May 2013.  He visits his wife and children in Hungary for one week per month plus some extra weeks for an extended period during the winter.  They also visit him occasionally in Germany. Well, we have some good news to report. He wrote to Len in March and stated in part: "I'm in Germany at the moment, till next Friday! Kriszti and Bendi will join me in the end of May!...With love, Gabor."  So this is great news. Praise the Lord that their long awaited reunion will soon take place next month. Please pray that it will go smoothly and nothing will interfere with it.

Len received an encouraging note from brother Mapindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa.  he wrote:

"Dear Leonard Lacroix, I greet you in Jesus' Name. Are you in a good health? I would like to inform you that your emails are useful in evangelism. We hope we will continue to share the Good News with you because it is for us an encouragement. May God bless you. Reverend Mapindu Kibibi Jean Pierre."

Len continues to write articles and minister to those who reach out to him for help through the blogs, such as the backslidden man who indicated he wanted to return to Christ.  Unfortunately, that man in Texas, named Dan, never did speak with Len in spite of his attempts to reach him. It seems that he doesn't have the willpower to take the first step towards repentance and returning to the Lord.

We also continue to touch lives for Jesus by witnessing to people locally. We did get to witness to Melanie, the widow of the man we witnessed to last fall, named Eddie, who died four weeks after we had spoken to him. In response to our attempts to reach out to her, we observed that she has been rather evasive.  So Len only briefly shared the gospel with her, and she politely listened, but showed no interest unfortunately.  We also had the opportunity to share at length with a realtor, named Linda, who showed us a home.  She is one of many who has been deceived by the corrupted New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, and their false teachings.

On a more strategic note, we believe we are receiving some new direction from the Lord in terms of the next step for our ministry, in addition to what we have already reported to you in the "Ministry" section of our February Update 2015. This new direction pertains to stateside ministry to a targeted people group in North Carolina, during the periods when Len is not traveling on short-term trips. The Lord seems to be confirming what we received in prayer, as we take steps of simply obedience. So we will report on that later as it develops further.  Please continue to pray for the Lord's will to be done and for Him to help us transition into the next phase of our ministry.  We seek to be led by the Holy Spirit.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Ro 8:14)

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest some articles Len has recently written called Philosophy and Empty Deception, Hope for You, Rachael Mushala Third Testimony of Hell, Gabriel Doufle Kokou Testimony of Heaven and Hell, and Is it a Sin to Take Medicine?  All of Len's latest articles are available at Old News That's Still Fresh - April 2015. 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 successful extraction of Len's tooth.
2. For the good health the Lord has blessed us with.
3. For the opportunity to trust Him for another home and the one we have found that could meet our needs. 
4. For the lives being touched for Christ around the world through our writing ministry.
5. For the many words of encouragement we have received from people. 
6. For the Lord's strategic direction.
7. For the gifts of towels and a dinnerware set we have received from a deacon and his wife, as well as the pillows and bed linen we have been offered.
8. Praise the Lord that Gabor's long awaited reunion with his wife and son will soon take place next month.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For the Lord to help us to get this rental home, which we have applied for, under the best possible arrangements that can be negotiated, according to His perfect will (There are currently some onerous provisions in the lease). Or else, if this is not the one, then for another four-bedroom, two-or-more-bath home for rent within our price range.
2. For the Lord to provide us with all the various accouterments we will need to furnish and equip it. 
3. For the Lord to give Len guidance and provision regarding his planned, short-term trips later this year to Malaysia and the United Kingdom. 
4. For the Lord to send his angels with Len’s messages to those who need them, and for an open heaven over them when they receive his messages. 
5. For the Lord to help Gabor move his family to Germany smoothly and that nothing will interfere with those plans.
6. For the Lord to put a hedge of protection around our ministry president, Dr. Stenhouse, and multiply to him an abundance of grace, mercy, peace, and wisdom, as well as grant him good health. 
7. For the Lord to open new doors of opportunity for ministry for us, and that we would be fruitful.
8. For the Lord to continue to raise up new faith partners.
9. For the Lord to provide for us.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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