July 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 June we celebrated Charity's seventeenth birthday. It seems like just yesterday that she was a baby and now she'll be an adult in less than a year. She got cards and a few gifts, all of which were thoughtful. One of the gifts was acrylic oil paints and some drawing paper, as she has really been blossoming as a young artist.

The boys also each got brand new bikes with some birthday gift money they had saved up. The Lord blessed us with great deals on the two bikes.  The total cost of both bikes put together was less than what many of the individual bikes are selling for these days.  Praise the Lord! This is Joseph's very first bike.  And Christopher has been without one for two years since we left Hungary, so they are both thankful to the Lord.

The children all completed their standardized "Iowa Tests of Educational Development" (ITEDs) in June and began their summer break from home school.  On the first day of summer break, Faith led one of her friends from the neighborhood to Christ. Praise the Lord! The eleven-year old girl's name is "Quintessa."  Please pray that she will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and bring her family to the Lord, too.

In July we received the children's ITED scores back from the testing agency, and were pleased with the results. They were not perfect overall, and all have at least some areas needing improvement, but they showed excellent progress in their studies. (Note: Please skip to the last two paragraphs under the boys' photo below, unless you are interested in the details on the test results).

As expected, Charity excelled in reading, writing, vocabulary, and spelling.  Her Grade Equivalent (GE) for Core Subjects was 13+, which means she is in the equivalent of thirteenth year of education, or freshman in college. In reality, she is entering the eleventh grade in the fall. Her overall composite GE for all subjects was grade 12.7.

Hope also did very well. Her strengths are in the areas of vocabulary, language, usage and expression, conciseness (she does not take after Len in this area), and reading comprehension. She did well in science, critical thinking, and scored 100% in Economics. Like Charity, Hope's Core Total GE was grade 13+ as well! Her overall composite GE for all subjects was grade 12.1.  So her overall aptitude is that of a high school senior, although she is fourteen years old entering grade nine this fall.

Faith excelled, too. Although she is starting seventh grade in September and is turning thirteen years old next month, she is at the aptitude of Grade Equivalence (GE) 9, meaning high school freshman. Her strengths are in the areas of vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, language usage and expression, scoring 100% in nine of the sub-topics within these areas. She also did well in science, maps and diagrams, and critical thinking.

Christopher scored high by the grace of God. Although he is a ten-year old soon entering fifth grade, his Core Subject GE reflected a 7.7 or seventh grade aptitude.  Meanwhile his overall composite GE was 8.6, meaning that overall he demonstrates an eighth-grade aptitude.  He scored above average in every subject except Math, in which he was fairly average. He scored 100% in about fourteen different areas, including Economics. So his diligence with his studies is paying off.

We praise God for the strong test results the children have received, especially since they have always been home schooled and have moved around quite a bit.  As a side note, Hope and Faith are taking an online typing course this summer, so they are staying busy during summer break.  Joseph is slowly learning to read and write.  He often comes to us with little notes like, "Love One Another" or "Hope for You." He prays and listens to a chapter of the Bible daily, by the grace of God.

We mentioned last month we had been trying to find a mechanic that could replace our catalytic converter on our fourteen-year-old van.  The dealer's price for the work is around $1,500, but Len was able to purchase one online through eBay for only $280, and even after miscellaneous parts and labor were included we got the converter replaced for about $400! Praise the Lord! That was a great answer to prayer.

More photos.    

Ministry: As you know, we are now living in a mostly military community that is close to Fort Bragg, the largest military base of any country in the world!

We have continued to meet more of our new neighbors, and the Lord has given us opportunities to share Jesus with some of them. As you would expect, generally speaking they are mostly military servicemen, or their spouse is, or they are retired military. One neighbor who is a soldier, whom we will call "Wayne" for the sake of this letter, indicated an openness to the gospel as we shared with him. The Lord put a love for him in our hearts, as He has also done with others we have met here. Please pray that the Lord would open up the opportunity for Len to share further with him.

We have also done a prayerful reconnaissance of some strategic evangelism locations.  Without disclosing for the enemy where those are located exactly, we will say that we had opportunity to witness to a young lady outside a sleazy establishment one night, who was a backslidden Christian.  For the sake of this update, we'll call her "Mercy" and ask that you please pray for her to repent and give her life completely to the Lord Jesus.

We have been encouraged to see statistical data indicating that the online Christian literature ministry is having perhaps the greatest impact, in terms of the numbers of people being reached worldwide.  Len also continues to get encouraging feedback from those who are benefiting from it.

For instance, a reader named Gino commented on Len's article about Gabriel Doufle Kokou's Testimony of Heaven and Hell, saying, "Though these holiness messages are very unpopular in general in today's churches, they line up with God's Word and the Truth is (that) without holiness no one will see the Lord."

Len has also been in contact with the Burmese pastors about possible ministry opportunities in the upcoming months. Meanwhile a Hungarian brother in Hungary, named Balazs (BO'- lazh), has contacted Len to say he missed him and is asking if Len has any plans to return to that country.

"Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness." (Ps 115:1)

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest an article Len has recently written called Having a Servant's Heart and Tattoos and Body Piercing. All of Len's latest articles are available at Old News That's Still Fresh - July 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 new people we are meeting and the relationships we are building. 
2. For the help the Lord gave the children on their ITEDs.
3. For the celebration of Charity's seventeenth birthday.
4. For helping us get the van repaired for a fraction of the cost that was originally estimated.
5. For the opportunities the Lord has given us to be a witness to people along the way. 
6. For the salvation of the eleven-year old girl, "Qunitessa" in our neighborhood.
7. For the lives being touched for Christ around the world through our writing ministry.
8. For the words of encouragement we have received from people. 

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For the Lord to draw to Himself the neighbor, "Wayne," that we have been witnessing to.
2. For the Lord to help "Mercy" repent and commit her whole life to the Lord Jesus. 
3. For the Lord to help "Quintessa" to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and bring her family to the Lord, too.
4. For the Lord to place military people in our path who are ready for the gospel, and who will later be used by the Lord to reach many others for Christ here and in the uttermost parts of the earth.
5. For the Lord to give Len guidance and provision regarding his planned, short-term trip later this year to Malaysia. 
6. 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. 
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, including all the furniture we need.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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