Merry
Christmas and Anjo Kinya u'di si(Happy New Year) to you!
After a long absence in the blogger world, we are back! It has been a busy year for us! In addition to keeping up with our energetic and growing kids, we took a road trip to Pennsylvania to visit friends.
After that, a more somber, but also hopeful trip for the funeral of my Grandmother (92 years old) in Minnesota after Thanksgiving. It was blessing to reconnect with family and celebrate the life of Betty Mae Lueken, who was reunited with her Savior and Grandpa on November 5, 2021. She was an amazing Grandmother who loved Jesus with all her heart!
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| Visiting Grandma in 2017 |
It has once
again been our opportunity to focus on the amazing gift of God's Son this
Christmas season! It is so easy for me to be distracted by the daily doings of
life and the busyness of this season in particular. However, God has used a
couple things that have helped me regain my focus on our Lord Jesus.
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| Patience while decorating the Christmas tree |
One
is watching The Chosen Christmas Special: The Messengers, which was such a
worshipful and also realistic look at the birth of Jesus. As being a husband
who has travelled on a long journey with a very pregnant wife back in 2017, I can really relate
to the Joseph depicted in the Chosen episode!
Secondly,
while listening to a Christmas album from my children’s favorite musical artist,
I heard a scripture song that really captured the meaning of Christmas for me. Galatians
4:4-7 is a scripture that Joyce and I memorized for our Sonship course and is
such a great summary of the Gospel and what Christmas is all about!
“For when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
This past year has been a time of God revealing to me my own sinfulness and weakness in a personal way. It has been hard and downright depressing at times. Until I get my focus back on Christ and what He has done for me, which is everything I need to be able to be received by God as His child through the work of Jesus.
You
can listen to the song,” When the Fullness of the Time Had Come” by Slugs and
Bugs here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAJoPVyKYnQ
Now for
some very exciting news regarding the construction of Joyce’s parent’s home in
Loa, South Sudan! Since June, we have been wanting to mobilize a construction
crew to begin building the walls of Joyce’s parent’s new home in their small community
of Ongorro in Loa village. Once the four bedroom house is inhabitable, this would enable
Joyce’s family to leave the refugee camps in Uganda and come back to resettle their
homeland in South Sudan! Joyce and I would love to be there during the construction and be reunited with Joyce's parents and the rest of the family, but we must wait for God's timing.
After sorting
out logistics and many delays, we were planning for the construction to begin
in November, but couldn’t get a work crew to commit before Christmas. Then out of
the blue, an engineer/contractor contacted Joyce, who was an old friend of her
family. He was looking for work and said he could begin the construction of the
foundation and walls the following week!
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| Digging the Foundation |
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| Reaching Window Level |
The Crew arrived on November 26th and commenced work at a rapid rate. Our Coordinating team of three men were at the work site every day to help with the work and sent us photos and updates. Joyce’s father, Albert, came to see the work the final week and he joined in carrying bricks and small buckets of cement for the masons, at age 76!
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| The water holding tank for construction. |
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| My father-in-law (in the white) hard at work |
The men faced some challenges with getting water and also with a very LARGE animal that has become a nuisance to South Sudanese rebuilding their homes and is quite dangerous!
After 2016,
when most of the people had fled to Uganda, many villages were uninhabited and
the homes were burnt by wildfires. In the last five years, large groups of elephants
have moved into the area and destroyed 5 large mango trees that were growing in
Joyce’s family's homestead. The elephants are known to attack humans and there
have been incidents in the last year as people have been resettling other parts
of Loa and neighboring towns. A couple weeks ago, an adult elephant and baby
fell into a deep well that people were using to renovate the Loa Health Center. One died and could not be extricated by the South Sudan Wildlife
department.
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| A borehole that had it's metal handle bent 90 degrees.... by an elephant! |
God protected the men as they worked, ate and slept in Loa, where they were the only people in that area. One of the final evenings that the crew was there, they observed a large heard of elephants within sight that were playing around there. They did not approach the men, the work site, or even drink out of the water tank!
The construction was started on November 26th and
1st phase of the work was completed on December 17th. As
I am writing, the walls are finished!
Joyce and I are so
thankful for Bosco and his crew’s hard work, our coordinating team’s continued
dedication to the project, and for our cook, who made sure the men had the energy
they needed for the work. Also, a big thanks to Joyce’s Uncle William and the ground
team of Operation Nehemiah for the use of their backhoe in preparing the site
for construction and digging up maram (soil for construction).
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| Walls complete and ready for a roof! |
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| The Construction Crew and most of our coordinating team, including Joyce's father on the far left. |
We are now looking at the 2nd phase of construction, which is roofing the house. God has already provided almost half
of the funds that we need to start and you can join us in prayer that God will supply the
rest in His timing! We are hoping to begin the 2nd phase in January
2022.
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| Winter in the Berkshires(Western MA) |
As Joyce
and I enter the winter season, we are hoping to really focus on our Sonship
course as we have 7 lessons left. I also will be beginning to homeschool
Patience this year and she is very excited about it. As a couple we will be
continuing to seek the Lord for His direction as we consider moving forward
with Serge and desire to return to South Sudan. At this point it looks like the
earliest we could return will be winter 2022/2023 or spring 2023, but God knows
and is in total control of our return.
Please Pray for:
~The Construction of Joyce’s parent’s home in Loa. For God’s
provision to begin the 2nd phase in January.
~Protection from the elephants! That the Lord will protect
the walls of the house from being knocked down, as no one is around there right
now. Also, protection for the men when they return to work.
~God’s wisdom and guidance as Joyce and I learn more about
the Gospel through Sonship and draw closer to God as we seek Him together as a
couple over the winter.
~Wisdom in homeschooling Patience so that she can gain a LOVE for learning!
~For Joyce’s family, that God would give them Grace for life in the refugee camps and bring them back home soon.
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| Patience and Benaiah wishing you a Happy New Year! |
Hope you had a blessed Christmas and discover Jesus in a new way this coming year!
Rubanga
Kolu Nyito (God be with you)
~Jonathan and
Joyce Lueken Phone #: 774-203-8308
PayPal jonlueken@gmail.com
Mail checks PAYABLE to Jonathan Lueken PO Box 1611
Stockbridge, MA, 01262
Temporary
GoFundMe link for those who don't have Paypal:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/jon-and-joyce-2021-trip-to-south-sudan?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
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