July Update 2019

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

Family: In June we celebrated Charity's twenty-first birthday with cake, gifts, cards, and prayer. You can see photos of it at the link below.

We also celebrated Hope's graduation from High School after she successfully completed twelve years of home school education. We invited some friends to join us for the formal ceremony in our back yard, which included worship, special music by our children who sang a hymn, a message that Len shared from the Word of God, awarding the diploma, and prayer for Hope. Afterward we gave her gifts and cards, then had hors d'oeuvres and fellowship for the rest of the evening. The weather was perfect in answer to prayer and the event was memorable. If you would like to see a video of her receiving her diploma, click here. The video of the special music by our children is at this link.

Hope healed up completely from her wisdom teeth extraction with no complications at all. Praise the Lord.

Faith received a letter in the mail from President Trump responding personally to her letter that she wrote to him regarding her concern that he use his authority to protect unborn babies. He assured her that he is dedicated to protecting their lives. If you would like to see a full copy of the letter, then click here.

Faith, Christopher, and Joseph received the results of the standardized scholastic Iowa tests they took last month. They all did fine by the grace of God. Faith, who just finished tenth grade, scored with grades equivalent to someone in thirteenth grade or higher. She is in the eighty-third percentile nationally. Christopher, who just completed eighth grade, also scored overall equivalent to someone in thirteenth grade or higher. His composite score was in the ninety-ninth percentile, meaning he scored better than ninety-nine percent of all eighth-grade students who took the exam nationally. Praise the Lord.

We're also continuing to pray for our shoulders to be healed. Jennifer has experienced a significant level of healing from the shoulder pain she was having and has regained some range of motion, but still needs the Lord to restore full range of motion. Len is still in pain, as he is only four months or so into this injury, and has quite limited range of motion in the left shoulder.

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 disciples in five nations including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, and Mali.

Collete in Mali

One of our DTS students named Collete in Africa needs our prayers right now, as she is going through a major challenge. She wrote:

"Dear brother Leonard,

I am undergoing a very serious challenge. My late husband left an estate, and for the past ten years we have been in and out of the courts with my step son and the family.  It became worse the last one month, after I had almost reached a conclusion, except [that when I went] to give him his share he again contested [it]. This was really a big blow to me, because I have incurred too much cost and debts and was expecting to resolve them.

Right now I am six months arrears in rent, and the landlord has given me [an eviction] notice.  After the fall [when I broke my leg two years ago], I stopped working. My husband's bank account is also blocked. It is the grace of God that has been carrying me through.

I need time to organise myself.  This situation has really taken me a back.  But I believe that there is nothing that is impossible  for God. I am still hoping for a solution.

It us not easy when you are dealing with non believers, especially Muslims. Their reasoning is far too different from us.  Anyway God is in control.

Be blessed

Sister Collete"

We have been lifting our sister Collete in prayer, and would like to ask you to join us in prayer for her dire need. She asked that we pray the Lord would help her step son to act in love. She was supposed to graduate at the end of May from our DTS, but that has been delayed due to this crisis.

Len received the following email in June from Sam, one of our DTS students in Uganda:

Sam in Uganda

"Powerful. Since I became a student of DTS, my life is changing every time I sit down to read my notes. One amazing thing is the simplicity and the clarity of the Word of God as handled by Len. Scales are falling off my eyes.  I am growing in the knowledge and Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN.

Thanks.

Sam"

In July Len received an email from brother Daniel in Nigeria, who wrote:

"I thank God for today's [Sunday] service. It went well and powerful. And I thank God for my life, and I thank God for the love he brought in to my family, and I want this love to reign till Jesus Christ comes. Amen.

In Nigeria many are dying. Fulani are killing people any how they like. Even in my area, Bariga Lagos, the young boys, little boys that join cults kill themselves. But still I work on the road as if nothing is going to happen, and God always protects me.

I thank God for everything He has done."

More DTS Testimonies

Grace in Uganda

Len wrote to brother Grace, one of our students who is a pastor in Uganda, and asked him how his right arm is doing that had been broken in a motorcycle accident. You may recall that when they removed the cast after several weeks, his arm was bent, and he was experiencing pain trying to do the physical therapy he needed to do to restore it. Len received the following reply from him saying:

"Thanks dear brother Len for your prayers! In fact, the Lord has seen me through! The hand has started some functions though some pain.It has straightened and is a process to heal completely. Blessings."

Hallelujah! We praise God and thank God for every little bit of healing brother Grace has received thus far. We thank Him for 10%, for 15%, for 20% and the Lord will continue to increase until it is 100% healed. He will complete the healing. Amen!

DTS Photo Album.

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

He received the following email from one reader who wrote:

"I've read your article on Andy Stanley and thank you for opening my eyes and taking a stand when we see or hear a false Gospel preached. Apostle Paul said, 'Don't be a peddler of the Gospel.' Church hymns and rock music are not the same, secular music does not glorify God. I will keep you in my prayers and pray all our brothers and sisters in Christ stand firm in the faith and for continued blessings over our nation and government. May God continue His blessings upon you keep up the good work as we remain diligent for the Lord. God bless you all. 3 John 4."

Praise God for that encouraging feedback. The Scripture that sister referenced in her email says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." (3 Joh 4).

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.

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest some articles Len has recently written called David as a Type of Christ, The High Priest as a Type of Christ, Joseph as a Type of Christ, and Manna as a Type of Christ. Len's latest articles are all available at Old News That's Still Fresh -- July 2019. 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 enabling Hope to graduate from high school, and for completely healing her from her surgical wounds following the wisdom teeth extraction.
2. For nearly eliminating the pain that Jennifer was experiencing in her right shoulder.
3. For the significant degree of healing from eczema that Len has experienced recently.
4. For the testimonies of what the Lord is doing in the lives of brothers Daniel in Nigeria and Sam in Uganda.
5. For the healing that our brother Grace in Uganda has received thus far in his arm where it was broken.
6. For God's grace that has been carrying sister Collete through her dire straits.
7. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
8. For the Lord's leading, guidance, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
9. 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 Jennifer from limited range of motion in her right arm, and to heal Len from the same thing in his left shoulder and arm, as well as the pain he is experiencing from what appears to be a torn rotator cuff.
2. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
3. For the Lord to help Hope get full time hours where she works, now that she has graduated, and help her this summer as she prepares to take the SAT test in the fall.
4. For the Lord to protect brother Daniel from danger in the area where he lives in Nigeria.
5. For the Lord to touch sister Collete's step son and help him to act in love toward her, so that she could resolve the dispute over her late husband's estate and pay off all her debts.
6. For the Lord to complete the healing for brother Grace in Uganda from his remaining pain, and restore full functionality to his hand and arm from where he broke it a few months ago.
7. 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. 
8. 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). 
9. For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.
10. For the Lord to move mountains to raise up new faith partners, 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

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

Donate Online