Greetings from Hungary! It’s time for another update on our progress.
We’re enjoying a summer-like September with lots of blue skies and sunshine, which is normal for Hungary at this time of year.
Family: The children resumed home school at the beginning of September, so Jennifer is back to teaching. Christopher is in first grade now, but already reads proficiently at a second grade level. He’s been faithful about reading through the gospel of John during the summer break.
Faith has experienced a flare up of seborrhea dermatitis on her scalp, which we have been treating with prayer, dietary changes, moisturizers, and frequent washes. We’re seeing a progressive healing take place, and she is doing much better! It's amazing. Please pray for the Lord to completely heal her.
Len has spent a lot of time at the dentist and that has been going well. He still needs a lot more work done, including a couple crowns.
Faith has experienced a flare up of seborrhea dermatitis on her scalp, which we have been treating with prayer, dietary changes, moisturizers, and frequent washes. We’re seeing a progressive healing take place, and she is doing much better! It's amazing. Please pray for the Lord to completely heal her.
Len has spent a lot of time at the dentist and that has been going well. He still needs a lot more work done, including a couple crowns.
We recently watched the movie, called “Candle in the Dark,” about the life of William Carey, which was excellent. He said, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” His motto was: Begin with prayer, asking God to do great things in your own life and in the lives of others. Then act on those prayers, attempting great things for God as you expect great things from Him. He taught that in order to reach other countries for Christ, we must cooperate, get ourselves organized and plan strategically for these ventures. It was a big encouragement for us in our work here. We’re so grateful for each of you who have chosen to cooperate with us in reaching the nations of Eastern Europe for Christ.
In the summertime in Hungary, everything moves at a very slow pace. Most people are away on vacations, some lasting for as long as four to six weeks. So during the lull, we decided to take a day trip to Lake Balaton (pictured above) in August for the national holiday known as Saint Stephen’s Day. Each year on August 19, everything shuts down for the weekend in honor of the country’s first king. And Lake Balaton is perhaps the largest lake in Europe. People come from all over Europe to visit this area.
It was our first time there, after living here for three years! People kept telling us we should visit it, so we finally did. The day started off well when we got a 90% discount on train tickets, instead of the expected 50% discount. So we paid only fifteen dollars for the whole family to take a two and a half hour train ride! It was a "large family" discount, and really beat driving the van there, burning up all that fuel. It was very beautiful at the lake, and the children got to dip there feet in the water.
Altogether, we spent six hours there in a scenic little town called Tihány. We ran out of time at Lake Balaton and had to rush to get dinner. Without our van, we were on foot, and had to rush to catch some dinner. We ended up at a fast food stand, where we ate burgers, fries and gyros.
In our rush to get back to the train station, so we wouldn't miss our train back to Budapest, we were out of good options. We ended up on an open-air, street trolley on wheels. The driver told us it would only take 10 minutes to get us to within 600 meters of the train station and we could walk from there. But he headed right into a major rain and thunderstorm. As it turned out, he dumped us off far from the train station. The crazy part was that he went right by the train station and didn't stop to drop us off, even though he knew we needed to go there. He then proceeded to meander around town farther and farther away from the train station, and further and further into the dark storm. We ended up stranded at a grocery store in the rain, minutes before our train was scheduled to leave, and no way to get there.
Thankfully we found a young man who spoke English, who got his friend to call a taxi for us. Two taxis came to pick us up at the grocery store in the rain, and then got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. They pulled some rather unsafe maneuvers, passing, and cutting through gas stations, braking hard once to avoid an accident. Thank God we made it safely to the train station without getting soaked or injured, and caught our train back to Budapest!
Ministry: With most others away on vacation during these past weeks, we have had very little opportunity to meet together. But Len has continued to meet with Greg (pictured below) for discipleship, as well Ferenc (“FER’-ens”) and Tamás (“TAW’-mush”).
Len also met with Sándor to mediate a contentious matter, and the Lord worked everything out for good. Peace has been restored in that situation, and there is complete reconciliation between the people involved.
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| Greg |
The pastor’s daughter, Dora, who is in her mid-twenties, is Len’s translator. You can imagine what a difficult task it was for her to translate in this impartial mediator role for Len in such an emotionally heated situation. Recently, after the Lord resolved this contentious situation within the church, she was speaking to Len about it. She was giving God the glory with such joy and happiness. He asked her if she would put what she said to him into a brief, written testimony that we could share in our newsletter. She gladly agreed to do so and wrote, “Approximately two months ago, a division occurred in the church between one brother and the pastor. Exactly at that time, Len and his family started to come to our church. I felt it was a godly timing. Len saw the seriousness of the issue, and the Lord put on his heart to help us to resolve it. I felt from the beginning that it must be from the Lord, because this could not stay like this among Christians.”
She recounted how she felt in the final meeting Len held with the people involved. “Finally, in the last meeting, which took place, everything turned upside down. During the meeting, I felt the presence of the Lord, and I got so much joy and peace during the whole meeting. In the beginning it seemed impossible to resolve this issue, so for me to see those people speaking without bitterness and pain was a miracle for me. God was working in their hearts. During that meeting, there was forgiveness and reconciliation, and the Lord was there, confirming everything. At the end of the meeting, we all acknowledged that the Lord was leading Len in this situation, and we were so thankful for his obedience to God.”
She then described the reaction in the church meeting, when Sándor announced to everyone what had happened. She said, “Last Saturday, my father announced in the church that they are reconciled, and that this couple is welcome once again in the church. People were shocked in a good way by hearing this news. You could tell that everyone was happy about the news. Everyone was happy, and it felt like a burden was taken away. One lady even said, ‘Finally! This is from the Lord!’ I'm so thankful that the Lord had His way in their lives and in the church.” Praise the Lord! Please join us in giving God the praise for what He has done in the lives of these precious people.
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| Tamás |
We mentioned in our last newsletter that Len loaned the Jesus Film to Ferenc. After watching it in English, he commented, “It is a great film, but at the end it made me sad. Why are people so cruel that kill such a true person? I think life and love should be honored by us.” But he only understood about half of it, so Len found a Hungarian version of the film for him to watch. After he watches it with his wife in their mother tongue, he and Len plan to discuss it. Please pray that the Lord will speak to them through this powerful film, and that the discussion Len has with Ferenc afterward will be used by the Holy Spirit to lead him to Christ.
Len has also shared the film with Tamás (pictured above), and is looking forward to discussing it with him after he watches it.
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| Zsofi and Barnabás with their son, Miklos |
We also mentioned last time that Len met a worship leader at a Baptist church named Barnabás (pictured above). He and Len had been praying about possible training. Len has since begun training Barnabás. The first meeting went very well, and Barnabás had good feedback about it.
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| Greg’s father, Zsolt, with his granddaughter |
Last month we mentioned that Greg’s father, named Zsolt (pictured to the left), was recovering from back surgery, and some of his muscles weren’t yet working like they should. Although he still has pain, he has returned to work as a medical doctor, seeing ninety patients a day. Additionally, while his back is still healing, he has just learned that his pancreas is not functioning. This is very serious. Thank you for your prayers for Zsolt.
Administrative Needs: You may have noticed that we're trying out a new blog and format for our newsletter. The Jesus Reigns site will remain online, as well as the Doulos Missions International site. If this works out well, we may continue to post our newsletters here. Feel free to give us your feedback.
We have been making plans for Len to make a trip to the US this fall. Currently it looks as though November and December are the best months to go. But we are prayerfully seeking to be led by the Lord, and watching for open doors. If you know of a church that would be interested in having him come and share about our ministry, please let us know as soon as possible.
We have been making plans for Len to make a trip to the US this fall. Currently it looks as though November and December are the best months to go. But we are prayerfully seeking to be led by the Lord, and watching for open doors. If you know of a church that would be interested in having him come and share about our ministry, please let us know as soon as possible.
Resources: We hope you'll take a moment to check out the side bar of this blog, where you'll find a number of resources including a video, a link to the official DMI website, newsletter archives, how to connect with us on Facebook, and a slideshow featuring the people in Eastern Europe whose lives we have touched, as well as our board and US staff. You can also subscribe to this blog, in order to receive notifications when it is updated.
Len has recently written a blog called “Candle in the Dark”. It is about William Carey (1761 – 1834), the father of modern missions, who went to India as a missionary with his wife and children. Through his sacrifice, faith, endurance, and love, he has become an inspiration to us all. Len has also written one called “Hiding Place” about Corrie Ten Boom, who spent time in a prison camp for hiding Jews from the Nazis. Both of these blogs will encourage you in your walk with God. If you would like to read these or any others he has written, you can find them at “Writing for the Master.” Additionally, you can now view our past newsletters online here.
Len has recently written a blog called “Candle in the Dark”. It is about William Carey (1761 – 1834), the father of modern missions, who went to India as a missionary with his wife and children. Through his sacrifice, faith, endurance, and love, he has become an inspiration to us all. Len has also written one called “Hiding Place” about Corrie Ten Boom, who spent time in a prison camp for hiding Jews from the Nazis. Both of these blogs will encourage you in your walk with God. If you would like to read these or any others he has written, you can find them at “Writing for the Master.” Additionally, you can now view our past newsletters online here.
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 our overall health and wellness.
- For the progressive healing of Faith’s scalp.
- For the way Len’s dental care has been going so far.
- For blessing us with a relaxing day off as a family in August at the lake.
- For the good feedback from Barnabás following his first meeting with Len.
- For the way the Lord brought about reconciliation in the Erd church.
- For the fruitfulness in David's life.
- For the good response from Ferenc after viewing the Jesus Film in English.
- For the good report that Greg’s father, Zsolt, is back to work and healing.
Next steps and prayer needs:
- For complete healing for Faith’s scalp.
- For Greg and David to grow in his walk with the Lord and continue to multiply.
- For Greg’s father, Zsolt to recover completely from back surgery and pancreatic dysfunction.
- For the Lord to reveal Himself to Ferenc and Tamás, the businessmen Len has been training, so that they would come to know Jesus personally.
- For the Lord’s help in training Barnabás.
- For divine direction regarding opportunities to help the pastor in Romania, named Dr. Ceuta.
- For the Lord to continued to anoint us and lay the foundation in the Erd church.
- For divine appointments wherever we go. Pray that the Lord would help us make key connections with people all along the way, develop relationships and be a blessing.
- For our financial blessing. That the Lord would continue to raise up partners to help us with special gifts and monthly partners, so that we will be able to focus on the ministry in Eastern Europe and accomplish all that He has put in our hearts to do.
Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.
Love from all of us,
The Lacroixs
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You may send your tax-deductible check or money order made payable to Doulos Missions International to the following address:
Doulos Missions International
PO Box 5526
Manchester, NH 03108-5526
Donate Online
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