Monday, August 16, 2021

August Update -- 2021

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 July, we celebrated Faith's graduation from high school with a formal cap and gown ceremony, an official diploma, cake, cards, gifts, and prayer. The Lord blessed us with wonderful fellowship and a beautiful sunny evening for it. Thanks to those who prayed with us for good weather. And most of all, we thank the Lord.

Faith had applied for a job at a grocery store chain, got hired immediately, although she had no prior work experience, and started her first day on the same day as her graduation ceremony. But she didn't even get to work there for an hour before she had to quit, since they wanted to enforce a policy that we don't agree with. Needless to say, that was a big disappointment, as she had been very excited about starting her new job, and they really seemed to like her. Please pray that the Lord will provide her with a good job nearby.

In August we also celebrated Faith's nineteenth birthday with cake, candles, cards, a few small gifts, and prayer. It had been a beautiful summer day until about an hour before the party. Then a violent thunderstorm came through and knocked out the power. So we had to use backup power and battery-powered lights for the party, but we still had a blessed time together. We are thankful for putting Faith in our lives and giving her another year to serve Him.

Hope continues to work as an English language tutor online, training students around the world how to speak English as a second language. By the grace of God, she has received a rating from her students of 4.9 on a scale of 1 to 5, and is currently considered a "super tutor" by the company she works for. We are thankful to God for helping her and granting her success in her job. Please pray that she will continue to do well and be a light for Christ to everyone she comes in contact with.

Christopher received outstanding scores on his annual standardized tests that he took in June. By the grace of God, he is ranking very high nationally among his peers, and his grade scores correspond to someone in the thirteenth grade or higher, even though he is only sixteen years old and in the tenth grade. Praise the Lord. He also has a very good understanding of the Word of God, and an excellent ability to memorize it. Please pray the Lord would continue to give him and his brother Joseph an aptitude for every kind of learning and make them quick to understand (Dan 1:4).


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 six nations including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In August we finally held the graduation ceremony for brother Charles in Uganda, who had completed his three years of training at the end of May. The ceremony had been delayed due to illness in our family earlier this summer. 

We experienced technical difficulties with the conference call, but we were ultimately successful. The tangible presence of the Lord was there with us in a very special way, and it was glorious. Here is the testimony that brother Charles shared about the training that he received.

"I want to appreciate God for this great opportunity and this time that He has arranged for us…Praise the Lord! And I am very, very excited. I just don't know what to say, but my heart is just full of joy. I must say it has been three years—a life transforming three years. The transformation--not only in my personal life, but even the lives of others; in the life of the ministry, a lot of things have changed. I’m actually not the same person. The same person that opened the Bible three years ago and interpreted the Bible in a certain way is not the same man who does the interpretation of the Bible today, just because of the impact that this school has had in my life."

"So I'm forever grateful to God for this opportunity. Thank you! I want to appreciate you, brother Len, Jennifer, and all the other staff of the training school, together with all the sponsors, those who have been supporting and making sure that this program goes on. I'm very grateful from the depth of my heart, I want to say that I am very, very excited. And I'm very appreciative of what the Lord has directed you to do…This is a very rare opportunity that some people want to have, but they do not get the opportunity -- and especially an opportunity where the Word of God is being made real to us. I have attended many people who have been doing some preaching, Bible teachings, but this one is completely different. This one is very practical; this one is Christ-centered; this one is based on the Spirit of God. And for sure, from the first day I started on this journey, I just knew that God was up to something in my life. And I am very grateful—very grateful. Because the first day I started reading the notes, I just knew there was something different in this school...it’s so life transforming! You see, it awakens you. It awakens us to the reality that Christ is about to come. And whatever is happening today—the covid and all this—you just begin to see that things are unfolding according to the teaching that we have gone through. You see practically that these things are coming to being." 

"So I really want to appreciate you. And I also want to encourage some of the students who are still going on with their studies, that this is the right place to be—it is the right school for us to attend…It's so wonderful; so wonderful."

After he shared his testimony, Len presented him with his diploma, and we prayed for him. Please join us in congratulating brother Charles on his completion of the training, which was a major accomplishment.


Brother Richard in Uganda reported that he now understands more about the cult of Mormonism and their origin, because of the DTS, and he has more insight in the Word. He and his LTG partner have been doing door-to-door evangelism, and several people have given their lives to Jesus as a result, but the challenge is that communities are facing hunger there, which is a need for prayer.

Len received the following testimony from brother Stephen in Nigeria in August:

"Greetings in Jesus name, I want to appreciate God for introducing me to DTS. Now I understand how God operates and how he relates to us. I will ever remain grateful for this life changing program, just pray for more grace to keep the good work of bringing souls into the Kingdom."

DTS Photo Album.

We received the following testimony of deliverance in August from brother Grace, our DTS Facilitator for Uganda:

"Praise the Lord! The lady pictured with me here is Agnes whom the Lord delivered from madness. She has joined her husband and family. This is one among the many testimonies the Lord has for His people. 

We are very grateful to the Lord for what He is doing for the glory of His Name! I'm also grateful to the Lord for knowledge from DTS, I'm still being shaped and guided through DTS for ministry work.

Blessings to all in Jesus' Mighty Name!

Brother Grace Okurut. "

Praise the Lord for this wonderful testimony. Please pray that the Lord would continue to bless the healing and deliverance ministry of brother Grace there in Soroti, Uganda.


One of our students in Uganda, who is a pastor there, had a testimony of the Lord's provision. He had been riding his motorcycle, and when he stopped to take a phone call from someone, the police came and seized his motorcycle for driving after curfew. It was only two minutes after the curfew had started, but the policeman was unwilling to be flexible or show any grace. He impounded it, and the price to get it back was equivalent to seventy-five US dollars. Eventually after a few weeks, a couple of brothers he knows in Uganda shared with him out of their own means so that he could pay the fine to get his bike out of impound. Praise the Lord for His provision for brother Tom. May the Lord richly bless those who gave sacrificially to help him.

Brother Tom has also been blessed to have the opportunity recently to speak for the Lord on a Christian radio program in his area. 

A new student in Kenya named brother Nelson has enrolled in the DTS, after being referred to us by one of our students in Kenya named brother Stanley. Nelson was just recently saved this summer in June. He says, "I was convicted by a prophetic message, and the Holy Spirit came upon me, and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. After salvation I felt free [inside me] from all the burden of sins." He is enrolling for the stated purpose: "To know more about God and His Word." We would like to welcome him to our school, and look forward to serving him over the next three years.

Meanwhile brother John in Uganda has referred twenty-one prospective students to us in nine countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, France, South Sudan, India, South Africa, Burundi, and Rwanda. We have sent invitations to them and are awaiting their applications.

Resources: We would like to remind you that 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 enabling us to celebrate Faith's birthday.
  2. For allowing us to celebrate Faith's High School graduation and for giving us beautiful weather for it.
  3. For enabling us to celebrate brother Charles' graduation from the DTS and for the Lord's presence with us in the ceremony.
  4. For the testimony of brother Richard regarding how the Lord is impacting his life through the DTS.
  5. For the salvation of brother Nelson and for bringing him into the DTS.
  6. For brother Grace's testimony of the woman who was mad, whom the Lord delivered from demons.
  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.
Next steps and prayer needs:
  1. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
  2. For the Lord to provide a job for Faith right where he wants her.
  3. For the Lord to provide for all the needs of our DTS students in the hardships they're experiencing due to the lockdown, especially those in dire need in Uganda. 
  4. For the Lord to bless the healing and deliverance ministry of brother Grace.
  5. For the Lord to assist all our DTS students in any life challenges they may be experiencing.
  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), and help them finish all their course work for the current quarter by the end of this month. 
  8. For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.
  9. For the Lord 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

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Doulos Missions International
PO Box 5526
Manchester, NH 03108-5526


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