Overwhelmed by God's amazing provision of housing & answered prayer in more ways than we could imagine!!

Thankful for God's kindness & caring to us displayed thru many of you who have been praying!! Especially thankful for those who have opened their homes to us & who shared generously many blessings with us so that we had all we needed to be where God wanted us to be on our trip (9/15-10/14) & since returning to New England, while waiting on God for a place to settle.

At the end of October, we had plans to stay for several days with friends in VT, but we first had to travel to western MA for a couple of important Drs. apptmnts, but suddenly our housing plans fell thru.  Oh, how we prayed and cried out to the Lord.

Jon & Joyce were so very weary of all the travel! But if  it wasn't for this dead end, we wouldn't have ended up where God brought us as the cloud moved.

Patience making the most of time waiting in the car

Folks that we met thru Joyce's PT lady the week before, offered to introduce us to a couple who own a small farm in Stockbridge, MA & after a time of getting to know us, Larry & Katherine took us in on the spot! They were definitely not "ready" to take anyone in and most people would have said so, but they felt strongly that the Lord had brought us there for His multifaceted purposes. So we made beds and dragged in all our stuff and slept in our new home on Nov 1.

We are in awe of the many blessings we can already see as we've gotten to know them & discover what a mutual blessing we can be one to another...

~The guys get to work on a farm (something Jon has missed so much & Rog loves working outdoors) in exchange for rent & Larry who manages the farm alone really needs some helping hands.  Also their future vision for the farm to bless many is very exciting indeed.

~Larry is self taught & has so many skills that as the guys work along side Him, there will be much to gain and learn!

~ Katherine is a bookaholic like myself and also majored in children's literature so Patience is read to from some of the best books and I look forward to Emma meeting and talking with Katherine as that is her love as well.

~They love & know so much about birds (another of Jon's loves that had been sorely neglected) and they have 4 bird feeders outside the large kitchen window with all sorts of birds flocking to feed all day long

~ We get to stay in lovely rooms that are offered as Airbnb rooms in the summer in this very old farmhouse! They even said they would forgo running the Airbnb in the summer if we remain in the house or we can help them clear out one of the remaining upstairs bedrooms &  help serve the guests.

~We share the kitchen & eat all together as one big family. Joyce & I help out by preparing the bulk of the meals, so Larry can tend to the farm & Kathetine can work without rushing home to face late night meal prep.

~They are very generous new friends who love the Lord and love to talk of Him. Oh, the conversations we've already had!

~ As we've been praying for Jon & Joyce to have their own place, we had explained to others that we were asking the Lord for a unique situation... housing that is  flexible (does not require a lease) so that they can return to Africa each year for months at a time, but return to the US for the majority of the year so as not to jeopardize her hoped for citizenship.  

    Well, wonder of wonders THEY HAVE AN APARTMENT!!! that needs renovation that we will help them with AND they have said that  Jon and Joyce can stay there spring through fall and work on the farm and then return to Africa November through March each year and then return to that apartment on the farm.

The blessings of God's divinely appointed stopping of the cloud over Solid Rock Farm in Stockbridge with the Newey's overwhelms & the blessings keep adding up!!

                         PO BOX 1611  Stockbridge, MA 01262                                                        16 W. Stockbridge Rd. Stockbridge, MA 01262

Please continue to PRAY for Jon & Joyce who would rather be in Africa than facing another winter here & their decisions about continued medical training,  but more importantly evangelism & discipleship training & prayer for Gospel breakthrough in So Sudan!

Prayers for Joyce's mom with chronic pain, her aunt who is dealing with paralysis & one of Jon's So. Sudanese brother's whose mom was poisoned. Oh, Father minister to these women's mind, heart, soul & body!!

Prayers for increased financial support as monthly support has been dropping off & circumstances have kept us from any support raising. Lord, our eyes are on You Who have been so FAITHFUL!!

I had written in my journal the morning we realized that we had no where to stay, the lyrics from a favorite Christmas song by Todd Agnew, "The Magnificat" 
I also wrote  
"We can sing this ahead of seeing Your plan 
                                           because You are FAITHFUL!!"

𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅯"Praise the almighty God, He's done great things for us
Holy is His name!
His mercy is free for those who fear His justice
May generation to generation loudly proclaim his fame!"

He has filled the hungry with good things
And the rich He sent empty away
He hath remembered His servant Israel
And we will remember Him always, always !𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

So rejoice with us and praise His Name!!!
Roger, Patty, Jon & Joyce & Patience says:

Come visit us in historic Stockbridge! 

Wait, Hope for & Expect the Lord

In this time of waiting on the Lord for where He wants us to settle, we are having our mail (personal & ministry) forwarded to my mother's house since I am there in eastern Mass 2-3 days a week caring for my mother.

Future mail can be sent to us at:   86 E BACON ST. PLAINVILLE MA 02762.

After packing up all we own into storage & traveling for a month, we returned to New England Oct 15. God's amazing provision every step of the way is evidence of His faithfulness affirming that He is with us in this wilderness/transition time. So we are continuing to look to Him to direct where we stay, in the meantime, seeing this as an opportunity to get some more quality time with friends/family that we get to stay with.

Thankful for God's kindness & generosity to us displayed through many of you who have been praying & through those who have opened their homes to us & others who shared generously blessings with us so that we had all we needed to be where God wanted us to be.  The EQUIP course & the fellowship & wisdom gained while gathering with others was like rich treasure!!

There is so much to pray about in terms of direction and advice that we, & especially Jon & Joyce, received as we met with people on the trip & since. 

We are seeking Him for not only housing & the means to live where He directs us, but also for direction & ministry focus for all of us, especially for Jon & Joyce regarding the priority, of the Gospel, as well as, the medical. Having seen the Lord so order our steps, we can trust him with all the `

unknowns in our future as we wait on Him, which is the best place to be!

Stay tuned for a detailed update from Jon!    www.fromjoninafrica.blogspot.com

Thank you for your prayers! We realize that this time of waiting has great purpose & we know that we will rejoice together one day in all that God accomplishes in this time of waiting on Him that we can see, but realizing there is so much our Great God is doing that we cannot see!  

Clinging to Him for all that He has for us, 

Roger & Patty Lueken, Jon & Joyce & Patience

Patty (774) 254-4336 Roger (774) 210-2800 

Jon (774) 203-8308

1.Operation Nehemiah Missions website www.operationsnehemiah.org
To Donate on the website, scroll to the bottom - Choose "option #2 " (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

2.PayPal onlighthouse@gmail.com with monthly donation option (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

3.Mail checks to:
 Operation Nehemiah  c/o 86 E BACON ST. PLAINVILLE MA 02762
 (we get 100% of your donations by check) 

Our blog: Glorious Things He Has Done! theluekens.blogspot.com
 Read all of Jon's *South Sudan Adventures:  fromjoninafrica.blogspot.com

God is meeting our needs day by day!! We call it "Manna mode!"

Our God provides for all our needs according to his riches in glory!

On Sun. Sept. 23, as we drove from VA to EQUIP international in NC, I had great hope & joy-filled expectation rise up in my heart as I thought of WHO GOD IS!!! We are crying out to Him & seeking to walk in HIS PLAN & to be WHERE HE WANTS US TO BE and DOING WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO, so we can be confident in His faithful provisions, guidance, & direction for the future. Not only that, but also very excited for all that God has ahead for Jon & Joyce as they cry out to him in this difficult season!

Students begin to gather at EQUIP International

We had set out on our trip on Sat. 9/15 with enough funds to make it to our first stop & a week later, having stayed with dear praying friends along the way, by God's faithful hand we arrived Sun. evening 9/23 at EQUIP International in Marion, NC, just in time for orientation.

Joyce getting her picture taken

We are overwhelmed by the beautiful accommodations they are allowing us to stay in... a little 4 room dorm/house (right next to the chapel, student lounge and dining hall) with a small kitchen that has a refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, toaster & dishes so Roger & I can have food for us & Patience while Jon & Joyce's tuition covers all their meals! (We figured we would have to get a hotel miles away)

Abi (Grandpa) & Patience hanging out in our rooms

Also they offered Jon and Joyce a scholarship discount off their tuition, which God has faithfully provided the balance due as well as the minimal charge for us staying on campus. 

I got to sit in on the morning devotions and filled up with tears 3 times, first, when they opened in prayer, second, when we sang these words to the first song we sang...

What love could remember, no wrongs we have done

Omniscient all-knowing, He counts not their sum

Thrown into a sea, without bottom or shore

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

What patience would wait, as we constantly roam

What Father so tender, is calling us home

He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

What riches of kindness, He lavished on us

His blood was the payment, His life was the cost

We stood 'neath a debt, we could never afford

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lorr-ord, His mercy is mor'-or'-ore

Stronger than darkness, new every morn

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lorr-ord, His mercy is mor'-or'-ore

Stronger than darkness, new every morn

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

 Third, after a wonderful presentation about God's hand in cross cultural missions, when they asked those who spoken another language to come forward to sing "God is so good" in their own language as we all sang in English, my heart just burst.. 

Singing in Russian, Spanish, Madi (Jon joined Joyce & I got a video but internet is slow so I can't even watch it)

This is so vital for Jon and Joyce who've had no missionary training like this whatsoever.  The hearts of these veteran missionaries from all over the world are offering to pour into these, who are new on the mission field, all the wisdom, lessons, counsel that they have gained as they have served the Lord.

Just a glimpse of much that God is doing that we can see & we rejoice in all He is doing that we cannot see... thus we are overwhelmed knowing just a fraction of His goodness, wisdom, power, grace, mercy & love!!!

"Needs are my best riches, for I have these supplied by Christ. I think the sense of our needs, when we have a restlessness & a sort of spiritual impatience under them, because we need Him whom our soul loves, is that which makes an open door for Christ; & when we think we are going backward, because we feel deadness, we are actually going forward; for the more sense of need we have, the more life there actually is, and when there is no sense of need, it argues that there is no life."
There is no sweeter fellowship with Christ than to bring our wounds and our sores to him."
- Samuel Rutherford

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS & SUPPORT!!!

Keep clinging,  Roger & Patty Lueken, Jon & Joyce & Patience

Patty (774) 254-4336 Roger (774) 210-2800 Jon (774) 203-8308 

1.To Donate on the website, www.operationsnehemiah.org  scroll to the bottom - Choose "option #2 "

 (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

2.PayPal onlighthouse@gmail.com with monthly donation option (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

3.Mail checks to our new address:
 Operation Nehemiah  c/o 23 Tyringham Rd. Lee MA 01238
 (we get 100% of your donations by check) 

Please join us in praying for MORE than we could ask or think Eph. 3:20!!

Asking you, our praying friends & family, to join us as we cry out to the Lord for just about everything.... 

There has been so much going on it's been impossible to keep updating you and way beyond fully explaining.

It's as if everything in our lives is in the Lords hands...

Our future housing, ministry support, upcoming ministry trip, people we love & are concerned about. So much is unknown in our future & God certainly has our attention! We have been waiting on Him earnestly & are seeing His hand at work in our hearts, so we have to believe he is at work in the hearts & lives of those we are earnestly praying for... Therefore, we have HOPE!!

With God's help we will finish packing up all our belongings & putting them all in the storage by the end of the week.

By faith we will be heading out on Sat. 9/15 on a ministry trip for which we need God's provision & guidance even to firm up the itinerary and take the first step. We are heading down to North Carolina so Jon & Joyce can attend a week long Community Health Evangelism course.

We also need His provision & guidance regarding our future housing once we come back from our trip in early to mid October.

We need His provision of so much... but already there is an offer of needed furniture so He must have a plan for a home for us. See our blogpost/update if you haven't read it already for details of how this all came about

https://theluekens.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-cloud-is-moving-so-are-luekens.html?m=1

Our hearts have been so heavy with concern for others as well, that these impossible circumstances have caused us to wait on the Lord and pray more than when the future seemed clear. 

Thank you for joining with us as we look to our great & mighty God for Whom nothing is too difficult & Who holds us in the palm of His hand & there we find rest (most of the time... we have our moments & that's when we fall back on our knees).

Clinging to Him,  Roger & Patty Lueken, Jon & Joyce 

Patty (774) 254-4336 Roger (774) 210-2800 Jon (774) 203-8308

1.Operation Nehemiah Missions website www.operationsnehemiah.org To Donate on the website, scroll to the bottom - Choose "option #2 " (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

2.PayPal onlighthouse@gmail.com with monthly donation option (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

3.Mail checks to our new address:
 Operation Nehemiah  c/o 23 Tyringham Rd. Lee MA 01238
 (we get 100% of your donations by check) 

Operation Nehemiah updates Facebook page www.facebook.com/groups/792420867442485/

Our blog: Glorious Things He Has Done! theluekens.blogspot.com
 Read all of Jon's *South Sudan Adventures:  fromjoninafrica.blogspot.com

The cloud is moving, so are the Lueken's

Patience wants you to know that the cloud is moving, so WE ARE MOVING AGAIN in 3 weeks. Let the packing begin! 

We recently found out that it would be helpful to our friends who need to sell their house if we would move out by Sept. 15th exactly the same day we moved in one year ago! What a blessing to have this year to get to know this dear couple, now our dear friends, whom many in this area know and consider their home a haven as they have a revolving door and hearts so big to welcome all who would enter. Bob & LuAnn have a ministry in Kenya to the poorest of the poor & it has been such a blessing to have their understanding & wisdom and to pray together. We are moving out just as we leave on a several week ministry trip so that they can paint and continue to ready the house to sell. Roger helped by painting their garage and barn this summer & Jon & he lay down new shingles on two large sections of the barn roof.
   
"The Lord orders our stops as well as our steps." George Mueller  

Thank you for your prayers for God to order the days ahead as we pack up our belongings, put them in our storage unit, & head out on or around Sept.15 for a 2-3 week or more ministry trip south so that Jon & Joyce can attend a Community Health Evangelism course at EQUIP International in Marion, NC 9/23-28. Roger & I will be going along to care for Patience so that Joyce can attend. 

Before & after the course we will be visiting friends & family in PA, VA, NC, SC, TN, so they can meet Joyce & Patience & learn how God is equipping Jon & Joyce, & all of us.  There is also opening up an opportunity to meet with those at Heart Cry Missionary Society in VA & we look forward to that connection. We were told by a pastor we met in March that this ministry, founded by Paul Washer, has pastors trained and ready to go overseas to disciple the  leaders of a ministry so that they are equipped to disciple others. This would be a great source of support and training for Jonathan in sharing the Gospel & discipleship training. God knows His reasons for the connection.

We trust that when we return from this trip that we will know where the cloud has settled us.

I was telling Joyce about a time when the boys were little that we were encouraged by the scriptures in Exodus when Israel moved when the cloud moved and settled when the cloud stopped. Then someone I never met but had prayed fro years ago sent me this message, Wow!!!

"Exodus 13:21 "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night."

1 Corinthians 10 reveals our unshakable foundation in Christ where it tells what happened in Exodus 13. "All of them ate the same spiritual food and drank from the spiritual Rock that traveled with them, and that rock was CHRIST!"
Please read 1 Corinthians 10 today in different translations to understand what God is doing in your life. As I send this I'm praying for you."

​

PLEASE PRAY for God's provision for this course, this trip & for God's provision of housing & the finances needed, as well as, furnishings (we have not needed beds & kitchen furniture anyplace we've lived since 2006, &  we have not needed living room furniture since early 2016) 
PRAYing also that his provision would include an answer to prayers long prayed that Jon & Joyce would get a small place to live alone as a family for the first time.

PRAY for Joyce, she is not use to or fond of traveling hours in the car, and Patience is not found of the car seat except when she's sleeping. In addition, Joyce is not accustom to moving quite so often and it causes some insecurity. They have moved several times since their marriage in 2016.

PRAY that the Lord provides for us in such a way that she and others see how very faithful He IS as He has been so many times in our past. 

"If the Cloud stayed above the Tabernacle two days, a month, or a year, that is how long the people of Israel stayed; but as soon as it moved, they moved. So it was that they camped or traveled at the command of the Lord..."   Numbers 9:22-23

​

 "FAITH IN A FAITHFUL GOD WILL STRETCH US TO THE LIMITS 

OF OUR PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, INTELLECTUAL, 
& SPIRITUAL BEINGS, 

BUT THE STRETCHING WILL SERVE ONLY TO EXPAND OUR CAPACITY 

TO KNOW GOD, & IN THE KNOWING TO DISCOVER 

THE VAST POTENTIAL OF A LIFE LIVED BY FAITH."

Expanding our capacity to know God as we cling to Him,

  Roger & Patty Lueken, Jon & Joyce & Patience

Patty (774) 254-4336 Roger (774) 210-2800 Jon (774) 203-8308 

1.Operation Nehemiah Missions website www.operationsnehemiah.org To Donate on the website, scroll to the bottom - Choose "option #2 " (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

2.PayPal onlighthouse@gmail.com with monthly donation option (we get 96.8% of your donation through PayPal)

3.Mail checks to:
 Operation Nehemiah  c/o 23 Tyringham Rd. Lee MA 01238
 (we get 100% of your donations by check) 

HEALTH UPDATE & ANSWERED PRAYER

Not only Joyce, but both Roger + I, Emma + Josh  have had our health struggles...  

Spring 2017, Rog & I wondered if we had Lyme + we were led to a doctor who offered  to do a extensive testing to eliminate other possibilities + treat us for Lyme if all came back negative. We found that I had a virus (as do alot of Baby Boomers) which is called “the silent killer” b/c it usually has no symptoms, but fortunately for me, I was among the 1/3 who have symptoms of difficulty concentrating, disorganized thinking, memory loss & brain fog, as I had an extremely high load of the Hepatitis C virus! I was treated last summer + I am beginning to be able to hold onto immediate thoughts, but I still struggle with ADD like symptoms, some memory loss & things I use to love to do, that overwhelm me. But God has used this to slow me down + I constantly pray for His help!

Roger, was discovered to have very low B12 (the normal range 200-900) but in other countries if you are below 500 they bring your levels up because you can have DEMENTIA-LIKE SYMPTOMS,  which explains a lot.  Low B12 effects sleep, mood + can cause “IRRESVERSIBLE” NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE. It takes several months of taking B12 supplements (1 mg of methylcobalamin-B12 losenges under the tongue) before seeing any improvement. By July, Roger was like a new person with more energy than I’ve ever known him to have + improved visual acuity (where mine has really deteriorated) … But it appears he has neurological damage resulting from low B12. When he sleeps his legs move or jump every 30 to 40 seconds ~Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, His sleep is constantly interrupted. so he still needs 10 hours sleep + a nap.  This new doctor has directed us to see a neurologist, though we have found that Magnesium (a relaxant) helps minimize his nighttime leg movements (and eliminates my Restless Legs Syndrome).

While Roger was in the later 300’s for B12, Emma was lower than him and Joyce was 252!! And their PCP’s said nothing!!!  After all they were in the “normal range”, but at the BOTTOM! Our infectious disease doctor says for optimal health we should be 800 – 1200.

NEXT TIME YOU SEE YOUR DR. ASK FOR
A HEP C SCREENING +

TO KNOW YOUR B12 LEVEL

Because we saw such a great improvement in Roger’s energy level, when Joyce’s B12 was at the bottom of normal, she started on B12 sublingual supplements as well as iron + her health + stamina have improved greatly. She is no longer sick all the time + she sings + jokes with us + is much more energetic + fun!!   She says, she has never felt more lighthearted and carefree!!  Praise God!

Josh is also facing some health issues, as he started having some minor seizures (sensory overload) that seem to occur in clusters but weeks apart. These seizures closely resemble Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, but tests have been inconclusive.  So he had to leave his job that required a lot of travel + he got a job right in Scituate, that he likes doing, not far from where his girlfriend, Mary, works, with hopes to start school in graphic design in the fall.

With all the busyness + concern for Joyce + Patience (who is healthy as can be + so much fun,) Jon put off connecting with a doctor till now + will see his new PCP soon. Meanwhile, he has been studying all he can get his hands on to lay a foundation in health, anatomy, vaccinations, nutrition, prevention + math (to get his GED soon). The Lord is guiding him step by step. Unusual training possibilities have opened up. This SOLO Wilderness/Survival EMT course is right down Jon’s ally + more transferable to Africa that has little infrastructure. This course is also a prerequisite for another intensive advanced EMT course in Tropical Medicine in August which will include hands on training in intravenous that Jon needs.

Emma has been taking iron since being severely anemic over a year ago & is now also taking B12 as she is lower than Roger. She is working part time in eastern MA + is getting a 2nd job at a bakery. She loves baking, + was our baker both times we ran a B&B. She is living in our old apartment in the other half of my mother’s house, which is a God send to our family as my mom needs someone there with her most of the time + Em does overnights.  I have traveled out to stay with my mother 2 days a week since August sharing daytime coverage with my siblings.  Interestingly enough my Hep C brain issues have given me a lot of compassion + understanding of the frustration + scariness of having declining memory, as well as, Roger’s life-long inability to juggle. We really need each other more, b/c together we have a whole brain… what I forget, he remembers. God surely uses all things together for good!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read all this + join us in the praise of our God, Who has been overwhelming faithful in  so many, many ways. By your prayers, you have been vital co-workers with us, so we can rejoice together in all He has done that we can see + even more for all that we cannot see that He is doing in answer to our prayers!!  We do walk by FAITH IN A GREAT & MIGHTY GOD, so we no longer seek a particular outcome, but seek to see His hand + His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. WE PRAY DAILY TOGETHER FOR THOSE IN SOUTH SUDAN + OTHERS… HOW CAN WE PRAY FOR YOU???

We now live ¼ of a mile from LEE EXIT 2 in western Mass. Easy on & off of the Mass Pike, 12 miles from the NY border. So if you’re ever passing thru COME VISIT! We also have 2 guest rooms for friends to stay!  Our address: 23 Tyringham Rd. Lee, MA 01238 (GPS: Big Y 10 Pleasant St. Lee, MA – we are across the street).

Clinging to our faithful God is life changing! 

                                                  

Keep clinging! Us, Lueken’s

1.Operation Nehemiah Missions website www.operationsnehemiah.org
To Donate on the website, scroll to the bottom - Choose "option #2 " with monthly donation option  (we get 96.8% of your donation)

2.PayPal onlighthouse@gmail.com with monthly donation option (we get 96.8% of donations)

3.Mail checks to Operation Nehemiah c/o 23 Tyringham Rd. Lee, MA 01238          (we get 100% of your donation)

Recent blog updates & pictures at www.fromjoninafrica.blogspot.com

William’s updates of  latest news of developments in South Sudan www.operationsnehemiah.org