October 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 October we celebrated Jennifer's birthday with cake, cards, gifts, and prayer. She also enjoyed a pleasant phone call with her parents. We thank the Lord for another year of her life.

Len and Jennifer have been making progress on our shoulders. We are both nearly pain free, except for certain movements and the fact that Len is still not able to sleep on his left shoulder. Regaining our original range of motion is still the big challenge, but Len has made a lot of progress with that lately through physical therapy and the Lord's healing power taking place. Thank you for praying. Please pray for the Lord to drive out all remaining pain, heal all muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and restore full range of motion to our shoulders.

We did get the urgent auto repairs in September that we had mentioned we needed when we published our last newsletter. Len also had the opportunity to witness to Roger our mechanic, who doesn't know Christ yet. Let's pray he comes to the Lord. Although we did manage to get a new kitchen appliance installed in October, we are still in need of some major home repairs that we have been waiting for a couple of years to do. The Lord has now provided the means to do so, for which we are grateful.

Hope finally took her standardized SAT college entrance exam in October. She thinks she probably did fairly, but we will find out when she eventually gets her scores.

Charity has been writing some new poems, one of which is called God Without Beginning. For years, she has been suffering from pain, numbness, and weakness in her arms, wrist, and hands, especially her right side, which interferes with her job. Lately it has been getting worse. She has begun doing physical therapy, taking medication, and seeing a doctor for it. The chiropractor says the problem is coming from her neck and shoulders. After Charity's recent adjustment of her neck, back, and wrists by the chiropractor, she is feeling much better. Of course, we are grateful to the Lord and are all praying for her complete healing.

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 the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Shadrach in Nigeria

In October, Len received the following testimony from Shadrach, one of our DTS students in Nigeria:

"Thank you so much sir. The DTS training has really been a blessing to boosting my spiritual life. God has been using the articles to direct and teach me on so many things that I was ignorant of. God bless your ministry and everyone that is a partner to it."

Praise the Lord!

More DTS Testimonies

A brother in Christ from Brazil named Jean has been corresponding with Len over the past couple months. In October he wrote to Len:

"Dear Len, I am your brother in Christ Jean Lucas! I'm sorry for not being fluent in English...I've been building a lot from your life and your teachings on the Eternal Destinations website. I am sure that I would grow a lot spiritually if I were in contact with you or studying in Doulos [Training School], as we would also be good friends! Your wise advice has been helpful to me!"

Praise the Lord for what He is doing in Jean's life.

Brother Deji wrote to Len to inform him that he and sister Hannah held a naming ceremony for their new baby in September, and named her Faith. He also sent us a photo of the baby, which we are including here, so you can see how cute she is. Deji said, "Faith is sleeping very well and we thank God for it. According to Hannah, Faith was 48 cm (19 in) long and weighed 2.8 kg (6 lbs 2.7 oz) at birth."

DTS Photo Album.

Brother Grace, who is one of our DTS students and a pastor in Uganda, sent us this testimony in October:

Grace Okurut in Uganda

"Praise the Lord, dear brother Len. I am so grateful to DTS, and above all to God to be part of what God is doing in my life; indeed it's a life changing course! We as a church here in Uganda are facing a big challenge about contraception. Many Church leaders have compromised and even gone to the media supporting it! I thank God this has come at the right time and what I have so far learnt from DTS about contraception has helped me to stand my ground. I am able also to sensitize and teach God's people what God's word says about this subject; glory be to God, for my life as well as others [He has] changed.

Blessings,

Grace Okurut"

Brother Grace is referring to Len's article called Is Contraception a Sin?, which explains from Scripture about God's love for children, His command to multiply, His hatred for the sin of Onan, who refused to procreate for his brother's widow, and the preciousness of children. It also explains how some forms of so-called contraception are actually acts of murder against unborn children.

Peter in Kenya

Len also received a rather long and encouraging praise report from one of our newest DTS students in Kenya named Peter. Here are some key excerpts below:

"I would love to present my sincere joy in conjunction with the courses I have been going through all this while. I've been wondering if all am learning is true to such an extent that I shiver sometimes, only to realise that God has been speaking in every piece of video and literature I've had my eyes on!"

"Your teachings have brought up some great understanding of who our God is, of His immense love towards mankind, and His promises that are acquired by faith and faith alone. Every scene has been mind blowing and made me think deeply about my relationship with my Maker...When I think of His holiness and great things He has prepared for us, and how He wants us to live above Satan and all his tricks, I can't [help] being filled with great joy and tranquility...I am in a state of introspection, thinking of Gods holiness and what I can do to spread the gospel as Jesus commanded."

"There's now a great thirst and hunger for God and for souls, because all is not well in this evil and darkened world! Brother Len, [you] also presented clearly how you can have a deep encounter with God and how you can also have a sweet relationship with Him on a daily basis, upon which God can reveal great and mighty things according to Jeremiah 33:3. I am also thinking of initiating some evangelistic programmes, going to hospitals and prisons to spread the gospel and show his love."

In a nutshell, I am one of the blessed people and highly favoured, because I never thought [of myself as] deserving all these [blessings], but God by the Holy Spirit has made it known to me. Thanks for everything, brother Len, and may God bless you so much."

Praise the Lord! What a wonderful testimony of what the Lord has been doing in Peter's life through his DTS training with us.

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

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest some articles Len has recently written called Boaz as a Type of Christ, Leaving Your Family for the Love of Christ, Ian McCormack's Testimony of Heaven and Hell, and Eternal Places Prepared by God. Len's latest articles are all available at Old News That's Still Fresh -- October 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 blessing Jennifer with another year to serve Him and allowing us to celebrate her birthday together.
2. For the measure of healing that we (Len and Jennifer) have received in our shoulders so far.
3. For helping Hope to take her SAT exam.
4. For giving Charity some new poems to write.
5. For the relief Charity has received from the pain and numbness in her arm, wrist, and hand.
6. For the testimonies of what the Lord is doing in the lives of brother Sharach in Nigeria, brother Grace in Uganda, and brother Peter in Kenya through the DTS.
7. For the healthy birth of Deji and Hannah's baby Faith, and the fact that she is sleeping well.
8. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
9. For the Lord's leading, guidance, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
10. 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 for the Lord to heal Len of the same thing in his left shoulder, as well as from the pain.
2. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
3. For complete healing for Charity in her spine, shoulders, arm, and wrist from numbness and pain.
4. For sister Collete to find permanent housing and join her brother's ministry in the village, as well as bless her with His presence on her graduation ceremony when the time comes for it.
5. For the Lord to bless Deji and Hannah as they enjoy their new baby girl, and give them guidance regarding ministry in Nigeria, Liberia, or wherever the Lord would have them serve.
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 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.

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