May Update 2018

Greetings 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 May we celebrated Christopher's thirteenth birthday with prayer, cake, gifts, and cards. He is now officially a teen. One of the gifts he received was a new mountain bike, as well as a set of binoculars. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to celebrate another year of his life.

Also on one beautiful sunny day in May, Jennifer took the children for a field trip locally in the historic district of a nearby village here that was once the southern province for the Moravian Christians immigrating to America from Germany. They saw a few historic artifacts and two buildings from the eighteenth century, including a Moravian Church that is still in use, as well as an old farm house from that period. They also walked on some trails through the woods to a creek that once provided water to that village. The fields they saw were once part of the original agricultural parcels farmed by the eighteenth century residents. See the link below for photos of the trip.

Len is still experiencing knee pain, as well as lower back and sciatic pain, so we continue to trust the Lord for a total healing for him. Faith is still experiencing eczema and so is Len, from which we are continuing to pray for healing. The Lord is faithful and He will do it.

More photos.    

Ministry:  As we continue to administer our discipleship training school (DTS), we'd like to update you on the good things that God is doing with it. By the grace of God, we currently have sixteen disciples in five nations including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Mali, and now India. Altogether these students speak a total of sixteen different languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Igbo, Idoma, Hausa, Teso, Yoruba, Darkarchi, Bette, French, Kiswahili, Lubukusu, Bambara and Luo. All of them speak English.

Brother Albin in India

A young man in northern India named Albin gave his life to the Lord at the end of April after corresponding with Len for a few weeks, and also enrolled in our DTS. He is from Uttar Predesh (UP), which is located in the northern part of India, just south of Nepal, and is the most populated state in India. If it were its own country, it would be one of the top ten most populated countries in the world. Only 0.13% of the population has been recorded as Christians there! Of those, half are Catholic, so it is a very dark place spiritually. In fact, UP is the strategic center of heathen worship and practice in India. Around 80% are Hindu and 19% are Muslim. Safety for women is also an issue. In 2016, UP was on record for having the most murders and rape cases in the country. In fact, it has the highest number of crimes overall among any state in India. Moreover, about 40% of the population there lives below the poverty line. If ever there was a place that truly needs the gospel, it is Uttar Predesh.

After Albin had prayed to invite Jesus into his heart, he wrote in part:

"Dear Len,

Thank you so much for helping me and putting up with me. And thanks to Lord Jesus for the same.

I really felt a few changes and feel something more has been added to me. It's like my sixth sense is activated.

Also, thanks for the admission to the discipleship program. And I too look forward to this Journey.

Stay blessed,

Albin"

In a subsequent email, he stated, "Most of all thanks to the Lord for [connecting] me [with] you and then helping me through you to be born again. All glory to God." Praise the Lord for saving Albin's soul and bringing him into the kingdom of God. We look forward to continuing to serve him as a disciple in our DTS. He will be starting his DTS training when the next quarter begins in just two weeks on June 1st. Please pray that the Lord will set him free from every chain of darkness that remains in his life.

Brother Grace in Uganda

One our DTS students named Grace in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, who is a pastor there shared a wonderful testimony with us via email in May. The following excerpts are taken from two emails he wrote:

"Praise the Lord, my dear brother Len! I want to thank God for what He is doing through this training! I'm one of God's children who is really zealous for God's work. Pray with me that I may fulfill what the Lord has called me for before I go back home.

This training is opening my eyes to know and understand more about God just like Aquila and Priscilla explained God's way to Apollos more accurately. This training counts to me and is a gift more than whatever any one could offer to me. I say in my soul I need more of God, His Word, ways, power etc.

There are quite many things to testify of this training, but just...to mention a few: The study of the bodily forms of God the Father,the Son, and the Holy Spirit has greatly touched and inspired me! It's as if in me has been put a new mind to understand the things of God and the old has gone! Today when studying about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and reading through the testimonies of the bodily form of the Holy Spirit and the teaching, I'm over zealous and need more of the Holy Spirit experience.

I recall an instance in my early days [after] conversion when one of our renowned evangelists here...one day was invited to minister in an Anglican church not far from our home. While ministering, the people outside -- both believers and non believers -- saw a dove fly into the church where this brother was ministering at that moment. Immediately [when] the dove entered, there was much noise heard in the church of the evidence of speaking in tongues. That was the first of its kind in that church that started revival in that church. I thank God and I have understood the teaching. It is really great and there is quite a lot I would share if time and space would allow.

Brother Len, thanks for the opportunity, and I'm sure my ministry will never be the same again -- more so, my personal life that has been touched through the training...I count it a blessing to be part of what the Lord is doing through it! Since the training started I totally feel free, relieved, joyous!
There were also things which were a mystery to me [previously]. I thank God for [the] enlightenment [I have received]; more so, it has helped me to master the Bible and I preach with much confidence.

Reading about the 'presence of the Lord ' has changed my life as I often encounter His presence. Sometimes when reading the word, meditating, praying, or singing, I break down with tears and feel much of the Holy Spirit upon me. I have much to share, but generally my life is changed as I'm more conscious about the end times because of this training, so God bless, brother Len and others.

Blessings,
Brother Grace Okurut"

Praise the Lord for that wonderful testimony of how God is transforming brother Grace through the discipleship he is receiving.

James in Uganda teaching the DTS courses to other pastors

Another one of our DTS students James, in Lira, Uganda, who is a pastor located about five-hours drive from brother Grace, has been teaching the other pastors in his church what he is learning in his training with us during his first quarter. He wrote to Len in May to express his appreciation for what he is learning, and to let us know he is imparting it to others. He remarked that he wished he had met Len before he began his ministry. Praise the Lord. As the apostle Paul said to Timothy, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Tim 2:2).

We received an email in April from one of our DTS students in Nigeria named Blessing with a praise report about her father. She stated:

"Good day sir,

It's been a while... I hope and believe you are doing fine.. I want to specially thank the Lord for a very successful surgery on my Daddy (for kidney stone) although he is still recovering.

Eze Blessing"

Praise the Lord for getting her father successfully through surgery. We pray in Jesus' name that he will make a full recovery.

Please click here to see the full DTS Photo Album.

Another one of our students in Nigeria that we asked you to pray for recently is David, who is attending medical school at the University of Jos. He had been having severe abdominal pain. In the latest update he gave to Len he said the intensity and frequency of the pain has subsided, but not been completely eliminated. Praise the Lord for some progress as we continue to pray for his complete healing.

One of our Board members, brother Olugbenga "Gbenga" Oladejo, who is a British pastor, is currently abroad on a trip to Nigeria. Although he is there on business, he has met with one of our DTS students Deji in Lagos and reports that he is doing well in the Lord. Praise the Lord! We hope you will join us in praying for the Lord to provide gainful employment for Deji and enable him to get married soon.

Len sent out his monthly edition of Old News That's Still Fresh in May to pastors, elders, and laborers in the harvest in the US, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Although we are not based overseas any more, we are still missionaries and still need your financial and prayer support of our ministry. Please pray and ask the Father if He would have you give.

"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 some articles Len has recently written called Multiplying Your Talents, To Sin or Not to Sin, and Keys to Prayer. Len's latest articles are all available at Old News That's Still Fresh -- May 2018. His 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 helping us to celebrate Christopher's thirteenth birthday
2. For blessing Jennifer and the children with a fun and interesting field trip to an old Moravian village.
3. For the significant measure of healing from abdominal pain that brother David in Nigeria has experienced.
4. For the wonderful testimony of sister Blessing about her father's successful kidney surgery.
5. For saving brother Albin in India and leading him to enroll in our DTS.
6. For the report that brother James in Uganda is teaching the leaders in his church what he is learning in the DTS.
7. For the wonderful testimony of brother Grace in Uganda about what the Lord is doing in his life through the DTS training.
8. For enabling brother Gbenga from our DMI Board to meet with brother Deji in Nigeria and the good report that Deji is doing well in the Lord.
9. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
10. For the Lord's leading, guidance, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
11. For the lives being touched for Christ around the world through our writing ministry.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For the Lord to heal Len's knee, as well as the lower back and sciatic pain.
2. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
3. For the Lord to heal David at the University of Jos from any remaining abdominal pain.
4. For the Lord to provide a good job for Deji and help him and Hannah to get married soon, as well as help him to pastor the campus church.
5. For the Lord to bring about a mighty revival among the students at the University of Jos, Nigeria. 
6. For the Lord to assist us with the administration of the Doulos Training School (DTS), as well as develop through it many disciples who multiply disciples. 
7. For the Lord to help all of our DTS students to find LTG partners (another Christian to meet with weekly for discipleship in a Life Transformation Group). 
8. For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.
9. For the Lord to send His angels with Len’s written messages to those who need them, and for an open heaven over them when they receive his messages. 
10. For the Lord to move mountains to raise up new faith partners, including those who would sponsor our students, and for Him to provide for all our needs -- not only ours personally, but also those of the ministry -- as He releases a financial miracle.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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