July Update
Greetings from Budapest! It’s time again for an update from us on what’s been happening here on the field.
Health and Wellness: Many of you have asked about Jennifer's back and legs. We appreciate your prayers and concern! Everything is about the same. Her pain is somewhat under control. She has good days and bad days, but still more good days than bad ones. We hope the trend will continue.
Hope, Christopher, Charity, Joseph, Faith, and Piros
Faith saw the rheumatoid specialist in mid-June for a follow up examination regarding the arthritic pain in her ankle and possible Lyme disease. There was no inflammation and all the blood and uric tests were normal, except that she had an elevated serum level showing an early response to Lyme disease. The pain had stopped just prior to her doctor’s visit, but she has since had a couple occasions where her ankle has been hurting. Overall she has been fine. Praise the Lord for that, and let’s trust that the Lord has given her a complete healing. Please pray with us for Jennifer and Faith’s complete healing.
We continue to watch Christopher’s eyes, and since the problem has not been consistent, we have not brought him for any additional testing. We are just praying and trusting the Lord to heal whatever is wrong. We also have plans to bring Charity for an orthodontic consultation soon, since she needs urgent intervention. This is yet another matter for prayer for the Lord’s provision.
In July, Len caught a terrible head cold, and eventually Christopher and Faith got it. They have all mostly recovered from it. But now Joseph has it. Thankfully Jennifer, Charity and Hope have not been affected by it.
Charity, Joseph, Hope, Faith, and Christopher
Everyone knows that bugs and missionaries go together. But we had a real plague of tiny flies that infested our home beginning in mid June. It was so bad that they were coming out of the cracks in the floor and they were crawling over each other in swarms. This lasted for a few weeks. Len had to vacuum them up a few times a day. When they are crushed by hand or by being sucked into the vacuum cleaner, they give off a very foul odor. They kept multiplying by the thousands, so this was quite time consuming and annoying. Len spent a lot of time dealing with this. He eventually did some grouting and silicon calking between the cracks in the floor and woodwork. He also hired someone to repair the crumbling foundation on the home we rent, and these repairs sealed everything off, completely eradicating that particular infestation problem. The mosquitoes have also been especially bad this year due to all the rain we’ve had. The children have been bitten up pretty bad all over their bodies including their faces. This is in spite of the nets we have over their beds. Len has spent a lot of time trying to drive back the swarms that attack the children at night, and this can be very time consuming. We’ve found that the vacuum cleaner is our friend and serves more purposes than just cleaning up dirt. We can only hope that as the summer continues that we will see the mosquito population decrease.
But the major gnat infestation problem we had and the associated repairs to the home led to some new issues with the landlord. This coupled with a recent rent increase notification from the landlord has led us to prayerfully look for another place to live. This has been time consuming, since the places we looked at were far from where we live now, so there was two hours of driving roundtrip plus the time spent looking at the homes each time we went out.
Please pray for this major decision, which has now become a top priority for us this summer. In the natural, it is impossible in many ways, but with God all things are possible. We need the Lord's guidance, abundant provision, and help.
Family: In June we went to Aqua World as a family and had fun on the water slides. This was our first time swimming since before we moved to Budapest in the summer of 2008. We all had a great time. Later we went out for fast food and we all enjoyed ourselves.
Charity about to blow out twelve candles
We celebrated Charity’s twelfth birthday. For her birthday, we had her best friend in Hungary (pictured at the top of the page on the far right) stay overnight at our home. The next day we all went to a public swimming pool and had another great time together.
We were also privileged to attend a Hungarian wedding of a young couple in our church. It was beautiful and wonderful to see this precious Christian couple wed. Since we were not invited to the reception, we took the opportunity to go out to eat as a family afterward.
We are continuing to pray that the Lord would give us a little vacation time together this summer. It would be great to take 4 to 6 days off, but we have not had time to unplug and take that time off for more than these two occasions yet.
Len and Jennifer
More photos.
Ministry in Hungary: Len continues to meet with and disciple David and Greg (pictured below), and that is going well. The stories they each share about how the Lord is changing them and working through them are wonderful. For example, they both report that people who know them have noticed how they’ve changed in a good way. They are testifying to others for the glory of Jesus by their words and actions and experiencing God in their lives. It’s so encouraging to see their dedication to Christ, progress and zeal for Him. At the writing of this newsletter they are both away at an annual, national worship conference here in Hungary. Please pray the foundation of Christ will continue to be laid in them and that they will continue on in this good direction with the Lord. And pray also for David to be victorious in the trials he is currently experiencing.
David, Len, and Greg
Len met with Dr. Maté Kerekes, the leader of our church’s youth group. Following the leadership training Len did with him in March, Maté expressed a desire for additional training on the nature of a well-functioning church. So they met to discuss this in June, and it went very well. Maté said it was inspiring, and asked for Len’s input regarding a situation he is currently dealing with in the church, so it was a great opportunity to serve.
Hopefully you recall Dima (pictured below), the disciple from Ukraine that Len was meeting with in 2009. We had mentioned to you in a previous newsletter that Dima and his family are here in Hungary as international refugees from Ukraine. They escaped over a decade ago from terrible persecution and the government here has been denying them refugee immigration status. They had been given a final decision in December that they needed to leave the country. So they appealed. It took six months to do so. Many people have been praying for them all these years and through this appeal process. In the meantime, the Lord brought about a sweeping change in the Hungarian government. Corrupt people have been ousted and are being held accountable.
Dima
In July they finally won a major victory in their long legal battle for immigration status in Hungary! A fifteen-year prayer of theirs has been answered and they have been given internationally recognized refugee status! When the judge made the decision in the courtroom, she was surprised that the immigration department had not given them permission when they previously requested it. In fact, she issued an official statement that put the Immigration Department to shame. When she issued the verdict in favor of Dima and his family, the presence of the Lord swept through the courtroom and there was weeping for joy. Now they finally have their freedom and they are walking in a whole different level. They are now “Internationally Recognized Refugees.” A whole world of new possibilities has opened for them, and we are rejoicing with them. They plan to invite us and other friends to celebrate with them. Please join us in praising God for this great answer to prayer. Pray for Dima to receive clear direction from the Lord on what he should do next and then to follow that direction.
Ministry in West Africa: A pastor in Liberia named Adolphus (pictured below) has been in contact with Len for about eleven moths now. Last month we reported on some wonderful things that have been happening with him. As you recall, Adolphus had gone to Ghana to conduct a leaders conference and then returned to Liberia briefly. He was scheduled to go next to a planned leaders conference in Nigeria. Leaders from Nigeria had already begun to travel to Lagos the conference location, yet Adolphus still had no way to get there. We prayed and believed God with him for a miracle to allow him to get to the conference.
Len got a call from Adolphus in June. He reported that he made it to Nigeria for the conference. He raised some funds and went by train. While he was there, he met a village chief who translated Len’s book “God’s Word is Not Chained” into sixteen dialects. Adolphus said this was a “miracle of God”. There are 30 different dialects in Nigeria and this chief translated Len’s book into 16 of them. The church there took up an offering for Adolphus to get him a plane ticket and raised over $600 USD so he could fly home.
After he returned home, he said Liberia was experiencing very bad rainstorms and flooding. In fact, the people were very late for church because of the floods. They had to put their Sunday clothes into plastic bags and carry them to church and change when they arrived. But Adolphus got very sick after returning from Nigeria due to something he picked up on his trip. We prayed for him to be healed, as did his church. Praise God that he is starting to feel better, but he says he is not too strong yet. So we need to keep praying.
Adolphus wants to help one of the seven branch churches he oversees that collapsed in a rainstorm while he was gone. It’s made from mud and sticks and they need to put the roof back on. We have also prayed that the Lord would enable them to do that.
Adolphus Summerville, a Liberian pastor and overseer of churches
Administrative Needs: We had to get our van inspected for safety and emissions in July and it was many times more expensive than a US safety inspection. Thankfully we passed without needing more repairs. But we need to get a crack in the windshield fixed and the check engine light is back on. The mechanic’s diagnostic computer indicates it’s a very expensive “air flow sensor” that is causing this. Apparently it is the part that controls fuel air mixture. So the saga continues with the van.
Language Acquisition: We have put our private Hungarian language lessons on hold until we can deal with all our other projects concerning the home and the van. We may not resume until September due to our instructor’s vacation schedule. If we do move as planned, we are not certain if he will be able to continue giving us lessons, since we will be living so far away. Hopefully we can work something out with Andras or else find another teacher as good as him. That will not be an easy task, we are sure, but the Lord will meet our need.
Resources: Please take a moment this week to visit the Encouragement Room on this site, where we hope you will be blessed with some of the things Len has written. He has recently written some blogs on The Sun of Righteousness and Entering the Kingdom of God. If you are interested in reading these, you will find them on his list of blogs.
In closing, we have much to praise God for and many opportunities for you to join us in praying about, if you can.
Join us in praising God for the ways He has already helped us:
1. For the improvements in Jennifer’s lower back and legs.
2. For the improvements in Faith’s ankle.
3. For Adolphus’ successful Nigeria trip
4. For the great reception to Len’s teaching materials in Nigeria.
5. For an excellent follow up training with the youth leader, Mate.
6. For the wonderful growth we are seeing in David and Greg’s lives.
7. For the major immigration victory in the lives of Dima’s family.
8. For helping us pass the vehicle safety inspection.
9. For some rest and relaxation at the water park and swimming pool.
Next Steps and Prayer needs:
1. For complete recovery for Jennifer from sciatic nerve pain and leg pain.
2. For the complete healing in Faith’s ankle.
3. For Joseph to be healed from a head cold.
4. For David and Greg to grow in the walk that they each have with the Lord and begin to multiply.
5. For the Lord to direct Dima in the next step for his life.
6. For a mini vacation this summer.
7. For the Lord to restore Adolphus’ health and multiply him.
8. For the Lord to help the Liberian church replace their roof.
9. For provision for the additional van repairs we need.
10. For the Lord to provide for this move to another home.
Please pray that the Lord will help us and guide us in all of these areas, as well as provide for every need.
Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.
Love from all of us,
The Lacroixs
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