In Honor of Joyce's Birthday

October 26 is a special day for my family. On that day in 1992, my wife was born in a refugee settlement in Uganda. I have had the great blessing of coming to know the caring heart that God has given my wife. I look forward to spending the rest of my life learning more about that beautiful heart. 

Instead of thinking on what she might want for herself, Joyce's focus on her birthday is on the welfare of her family in the refugee camps. Therefore, in honor of Joyce's Birthday, I (Jonathan) have a story and a plea for you.

 

Lueken Family at Lydia's Baby Sprinkle

Go back with me to 2005 in South Sudan, Africa. A fragile ceasefire agreement had just been acknowledged between south and north Sudan, but violent rebel groups were still roaming the countryside in Eastern Equatoria. Albert and Rozana Kenyi lived in a Ugandan refugee camp with 12 of their married and unmarried children for fifteen years. They had fled their beloved home in Loa, South Sudan, in the early '90s. Now they had to decide: Should they stay in the relative safety of Uganda? Or go back and rebuild from nothing to prepare the way for their large family to return? Albert and his wife decided to go, even though they knew that at any moment, they could both lose their lives at the hands of the LRA rebels.

I, for one, am thankful they did, as three years later, Gune Joyce and the rest of her siblings rejoined her parents in Loa. Little did a young man in New England know, that there was a quiet, hardworking, and carring young lady half way across the world who would one day be his wife and best friend.

Sadly, the nation of South Sudan did not stay peaceful, as ambitions of political leaders within the newly formed country split the country in down the middle. The year 2013 began almost a decade of bloodshed between brothers and sisters whose only difference was they were born in different tribes. In 2016, Loa and the surrounding regions were seeing innocent civillians killed in the conflict. This caused a mass exodus where once again Joyce's family had to leave their homes. Joyce and I were married in the middle of this flight in an almost abandoned village. Robbers, fire, and elephants would destroy the homes that my in-laws worked so hard to build.

L to R: Agalla(brother), Albert (father), Grace (sister), Rozana (mother) and Lueken's in front of Joyce's Parents scorched and cracked hut in Loa

This brings us to the heart burden that Joyce (and I) carry.

In November 2021, God enabled us to begin building a large home for Joyce's family in their small village of Ongorro, located in a corner of Loa. We designed the house with enough room to fit Joyce's parents and other family members who want to return to rebuild. By March of this year, our ground team had completed the walls and the roof. Since then, we have run out of the needed funds to continue the work and had to stop. The next steps are:

-Installing Doors and Windows

-Plastering (the finished cement coating on the interior and exterior walls)

-Casting and tiling the floors

-Transportation (The cost of bringing the men and supplies to the work site).

The total cost amounts to $10,000 dollars.

The house during the rainy season.

We really want to make this house livable so Joyce's parents and family can leave the refugee camps. There are food shortages and many other hardships for the South Sudanese in exile in Uganda. On top of that, there is a new outbreak of Ebola that is beginning to spread in Uganda. We are earnestly praying for Joyce's immediate and extended family, as well as everyone in Uganda right now! We have an urgency to begin construction by January 2023 once the rains stop. 

Please join us in prayer for God to meet these needs and that very soon Joyce’s family can return to their home in South Sudan. If you think of Joyce on her 30th birthday, please pray! And if you want to get something for her, please consider contributing towards this cause. Thank you!

Rubanga Kolu Nyito (God be with you)

~Jonathan and Joyce Lueken    Phone #: 774-203-8308

Go Fund Me Link: https://gofund.me/fc015c03

PayPal jonlueken@gmail.com  

Mail checks PAYABLE to Jonathan Lueken   PO Box 1611 Stockbridge, MA, 01262