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.
As we mentioned last month, our son Christopher (pictured left on right side) was hired in November by an IT company for a new IT help desk job, which he began on December 1st. He has been in job training at that company for the past two weeks, and is doing very well, catching on quickly to the things he is learning. He enjoys the company, the people he works with, the management, and the kind of work he is doing.
Our
son Joseph (picture above to the right) is continuing his advanced
studies in Commercial Locksmithing, which is going well by
the grace of God. Meanwhile he is continuing with his regular homeschool studies.
In December, we (Len and Jennifer) left the boys alone at home and went away for an overnight stay not too far from home about a half hour from where we live. That was a nice getaway for us to work on our marriage. Although it was brief, it was a memorable time.
Ministry: As we continue to administer our discipleship training school (DTS), now in its tenth year, 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 actively training in four nations including Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda.
As mentioned in our November update, we are working closely with three of our graduates in South Sudan, Uganda, and Nigeria, as they labor in the harvest, in order to follow up with the people who recently came to Christ in their outreaches. This is a period of baptizing new believers, teaching and discipling them, organizing them into Life Transformation Groups for discipleship, baptizing them in water, praying for them to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, praying for deliverance for those who need it, establishing fellowships, and eventually planting churches and appointing elders. Their testimonies of what God is doing are found at the following links, a few highlights of which we'll share below in this newsletter:
Uganda Highlights
Our brother Grace in Uganda has seen the Lord doing amazing things. He wrote:
"Hi dear brother Len,
"While in Mbale for follow up, we had an urgent call from Pallisa to go and carry out water baptism for the Christians I had led to the Lord more than a year ago! We didn't hesitate but came here at once.
"Yesterday and today, as we shared and taught people about water baptism and deliverance, more crowds from the village were attracted, and more than 100 received the Lord, were water baptized, delivered, and Holy Spirit baptized. Catholics, too, came to the Lord; and the Chairman of the River came wanting to know what was happening. After I explained, he commended us and thanked God!
"Praise the Lord! Children happily received the Lord! We are praying for the Lord to provide a big need for Bibles for them.
"Blessings,
Bro Grace."
Praise the Lord! Brother Grace has also had a third, new, water well drilled in the district of Kalaki. He also reported that during his recent travels, a lady named Celina visited their room with her newly born baby testifying that the Lord gave her natural delivery. The delivery happened the same day brother Grace's daughter Mercy and his mission team prayed for her. Celina had been losing babies and facing delivery challenges. We thank God she is free from those issues now after receiving prayer, and she is born again
Brother Grace spent a few days in focused prayer for his life due to various unknown people, who have been trying during the past ten years to take his life before God's time. Once years ago, they tried to break into his rented house in the capital city, when he lived there, but the Lord intervened; they tried to poison him and his family, but failed. When they moved years ago to where they live now, certain people had been spying, prowling at night with guns, but their attempts also failed. Several attempts to kidnap brother Grace have failed. Sometimes strangers call his phone arranging for meetings with him in a hotel with baits. At the various rented homes that they have lived in (and kept moving from for their safety) their neighbors have also testified to seeing them surround Grace's house with weapons. Sometimes they have come driving toward him in vehicles to kill him, where he goes for garden work. There he's more worried since he sleeps in a grass thatched house. He has sensed danger many times, but the Lord rescues him. Please stand in agreement with us in prayer for the Lord's angelic protection over him and his family.
South Sudan Highlights
The Lord provided for Brother Henry in South Sudan to purchase more than half of a one-acre parcel of land that he had been cheated out of four years ago. At that time, he had paid about $20,000 for the entire acre, but he paid it to people living on the land who pretended to be the rightful owners of it. Afterward (once those people had left with his money) he was stopped by the real landowner from building the framework for a church building on it. At that time, he lost his inheritance money that he had used to buy the land. However, the landowner still allowed him to live in a mud hut on the land until now, and to build a smaller church structure that the church he pastors has since outgrown.
Recently the Lord provided for brother Henry to purchase sixty percent of the acre for the church that he pastors, so the church now legally owns that portion of the land, and still has the option to purchase the remaining forty percent of it at a later time. The Lord also provided him with an attorney who worked for him pro bono (free of charge) to help with the negotiation and legal aspects of the deal. The Lord provided for everything, including the fifteen-percent property transfer fee and the taxes. During the meeting with the landowner to purchase the property, the landowner was accompanied by about seven associates or relatives, who were in a good mood, very happy, and even giving the history of the property. They also said they fear God and expressed how pleased they were that the church was getting the property. They also pledged their support to stand behind brother Henry and the church in the community as the church assumes ownership. Brother Henry said he could see the Holy Spirit working in that meeting for the purchase. Praise the Lord!
All of that took up a few weeks of his time and kept him from his Phase II follow up ministry activities, but he is right back at it now that the purchase has been completed. One of the first things he did was travel on his new motorcycle to a remote town called Bor, where a new believer named Ivan, who came to Christ during brother Henry's fall harvest outreach, had already led twenty people to the Lord. That was his first long-distance ministry trip on the bike. He gave the following praise report in mid-December:
"Dear bro Len,
"I thank God for journey mercies. I traveled with one other minister to check on the disciples of a new believer named Ivan, in order to know how phase II is progressing, and also to take the [Arabic language] Bibles. I also carried with me LTG cards to guide them in formation of LTG groups in order to multiply disciples.
"However I found that the new converts had already scattered and others went back to their former lifestyle. For easier mobilization, I had to conduct an open-air meeting in the evening with teaching from 02:00pm to 4:30, and then we concluded with an open air meeting in the evenings for three days. I thank God that by the time I was leaving, I managed to reach and minister to those who had given their lives to Jesus previously in our harvest crusade. [I believe most of the people who got saved during the original outreach were brought back into the fold during this second visit, but not all]. However, others received salvation in the course of my stay there. I am praying to God to give me grace to continue checking on them.
"I reached Juba today (Saturday, December 13th), and I thank God who brought me back safely. Let's remember bro Felix and Deng in prayers, who really surrendered their lives to follow Jesus Christ for the few days I was there, and I believe God they will forever be for Jesus.
"Yours faithfully,
Bro Henry."
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for what He is doing in brother Henry's ministry. He also gave a praise report of some people who got saved on December 15th through a burial he officiated for a five-year old girl who died the previous day. He wrote:
"At the time of burial, I taught about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. One woman by the name of Stella, came and confessed Jesus. She requested that I should go and teach in the area where the church she is fellowshipping in is located. She said they're not teaching anything to do with the coming of Jesus Christ, but are only teaching prosperity.
"When we were coming back from the field, that same day we reached a certain center and evangelized there. One woman welcomed us and said there's no Pentecostal church in the area. She was desperately requesting that we establish one there. I told her to put it in prayers, as nothing is impossible with God; let God make her the door for the gospel to come to that town."
Glory to God. These are all prayer points that you could remember as the Lord leads.
Update: Amazingly, while Len was publishing this newsletter, brother Henry wrote to him at around 12:30 midnight (Juba time) saying, "I am at the funeral place evangelizing, and souls are receiving salvation. I give God the glory." Then he wrote to Len at 3:34 AM (Juba time) saying, "I give God the glory. Over 20 people now have fully surrendered their lives to Jesus after hearing the gospel of end times (coming of our Lord Jesus Christ). I was filled with much joy when I saw people throwing away cigarettes, packets of alcohol, and one who confessed to having a personal witch doctor (she was delivered immediately when she was confessing). I saw people shedding tears as they were confessing their sins before the Lord." Hallelujah! (Photos: one, two, three, four).
Nigeria Highlights
Brother John in Nigeria shared the following praise report in December:
"I am still very much committed to the work we are doing together.
"By God’s grace, I have been able to obtain more Bibles and share them with the inmates. The testimonies coming from them are truly powerful. Many of these men are genuinely repenting through LTG, and their transformation is becoming evident.
"The Betukwel fellowship has been successfully formed, and we have already met twice. Our meeting day is now fixed for Wednesdays. Another remarkable development is my connection with a sister who has gathered many widows in Betukwel for fellowship every Sunday. One of my disciples introduced me to the group, and last Sunday I visited to observe what they were doing. Honestly, the lady is doing a great work.
"During the meeting, time was given for questions and contributions, and when I stood up to share what God laid in my heart, the whole place became silent. After I finished, the widows were amazed, and the sister leading the group testified that God is truly with them because He has begun sending people to minister to them. I noticed that many of them are Catholics, so I gently taught them about the error of believing in purgatory, and they listened with humility. I am now working to gain more access so I can guide them further in the truth.
"Fellowships in other communities are also progressing by God’s special grace. It is not easy, because almost every day of the week is filled with ministry work. We (I and my ministry team) are constantly rotating between communities and sharing responsibilities as the Lord gives us strength. For now, I am personally handling the Betukwel fellowship myself. The good news is that the testimonies of what God is doing in the lives of these people are positive and encouraging.
"At this moment, my focus is to concentrate on the souls God has entrusted to us—teaching them to observe everything Jesus commanded.
"Please pray especially for the prisoners. Today, three of them shared with me similar dreams:
• One said he saw himself preaching in his community, healing the sick and raising the dead.
• Another saw himself in a Christian gathering in his community where he prophesied that a pregnant woman would give birth to a baby boy, and immediately the woman delivered the child.
• A third person had a similar dream.
"God is doing something deep among them, and many are now opening up to me and sharing hidden secrets. I believe God has given many of them into my hands for discipleship.
"Please continue to pray for us.
"Thank you,
Bro. John."
Glory to God. These are more things that you and we can be praying about to help support what God is doing through brother John in Nigeria.
More Testimonies
Our sister Catherine in England gave the following praise report from there in Manchester, UK:
"Dear broth Len and sis Jennifer,
"Three people got saved and joined our Bible study group. So we are studying John chapter 4 on Wednesday...
"I had a dream a few nights ago. I met Jesus, and He said “A big revival is coming and I shall pour out My Spirit." Then I woke up.
"Thank you so much for your support and prayers. I am praying for you all. Bless you all.
"With love in Jesus our Lord
Sister Catherine."
%20Medium%20Web%20view.jpg)
Len sent out his monthly edition of the Old News That's Still Fresh in December, as he usually does each month. We hope you'll take a moment to read the content that he has published.
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:
- For helping Christopher with his new IT job training, and that he enjoys it so much.
- For providing Len and Jennifer with an overnight getaway together.
- For providing for brother Henry in South Sudan to purchase more than half of the land he was previously cheated out of.
- For healing sister Amani.
- For the amazing testimonies of brothers Grace, Henry, and John about what the Lord is doing through their ministries.
- For providing for a third new water well that has been drilled in Kalaki, Uganda.
- For sister Catherine's praise report of people getting saved, joining her Bible study, and her dream.
- For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings.
- For the Lord's leading, guidance, wisdom, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
Prayer needs:
with love from all of us,
The Lacroixs
- For the blessed Thanksgiving holiday we enjoyed together as a family.
- For the Lord to help our son, Christopher, as he continues his new job training.
- For the Lord to provide a new job for brother William in South Sudan.
- For the prisoners that brother John is ministering to weekly in Nigeria, and the rest of his many ministry activities, including overseeing the Betukwel fellowship.
- For the Lord to continue using our brothers Grace, John, and Henry as they continue conserving the harvest from their evangelistic campaigns in their respective countries, and that the Lord would provide for all the ongoing ministry that is necessary to do so.
- For brother Felix and Deng in South Sudan, who are serious new believers, that they will always follow Jesus. The same goes for all the new believers in S Sudan, Nigeria, and Uganda.
- For the Lord to continue multiplying disciples through all of our students and graduates.
- For the Lord to give us wisdom and assist us with the administration of the Doulos Training School (DTS), as well as develop through it many disciples who multiply disciples.
- For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.
- For the Lord to open new doors of ministry opportunity.
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
Doulos Missions International
PO Box 5526
Manchester, NH 03108-5526
Donate Online
