Where do we begin…we had a great Christmas, we were able to communicate with almost all of our family, see several of their faces, hug them, and we even got to say good-bye to some friends. Things are still surreal for us as we head to PNG in about a month, but alas we move on. We were able to attend our home church’ (in PA) Christmas Eve service. Always great to spend that time reflecting on the message that angels came to the to the lowly shepherds, the unimportant and then give them a GREAT message! A King is Born! and many signs that accompany his birth…and yet the angels did not have to tell them to go and see the baby, it was implied that they would go because this message is soooo great! As we head to PNG we look at the TRUTH of this great message and are reminded that even though we are commanded to go (Matt. 28:19-20), we would not need that command because this message is so great we MUST share this with all nations. ALL people must hear the truth of Christ’s first coming, now a days people argue about the details with Christ’s second coming, and yet over 1/3 of the world has yet to hear about the first coming (the birth of Christ)! True perspective.
God has provided several places for us to share and reconnect with over these past 2 weeks; 2 churches in New York, and 2 churches in PA. Seth Got to share several times, and preach from Acts 13:1-3, James 4:14-17, Eph. 6:17-19, and Nahum. Each sermon was to different demographics and was able to challenge and encourage many people. We were able to go through some of our stuff for packing (almost done, yay!), which is just another encouragement, and we have been lavished upon greatly by many churches like Rosedale, Journey, and Fellowship who thought intentionally about us to ask us what do we need financially in order to leave in a month. We are feeling loved and encouraged. We have many loose ends to tie up and it seems like a lot, but we know it will all work out in time.
Pray:
Our paperwork for our visas is being processed and should get to us within the next 2 weeks, this will be cutting things close since we will leave in about a month but we know this is all in our Fathers hand’s. Pray we can use our time wisely as we balance packing, paperwork, banking, purchasing, Seth prepping for his ordination, seeing friends and family, and saying good-bye these next handful of weeks. Please Pray for Seth’s grandma on his dad’s side, she had surgery on Christmas day, she had her large intestine removed and is now out of surgery and is now on her way to recovery. It will be a long process for her to recover so please pray. Thank you.
FYI:
We will keep everyone informed once we get our paperwork finalized and let everyone know what our status is in other realms for finalizing tickets, fees, and other loose ends as time gets closer. We are currently @ 87% of our support (Praise God!!!), we have room for more partners (we know many people are praying we get to 100%).
Reminder:
In 8 days (January 4th) we will have our first send-off service in New Jersey @ 10:15am. Address listed below.
2263 Allenwood Road, Allenwood, NJ 08720
In 18 days (January 14th) we have our commissioning service at our home church in PA @ 7:00pm. Address listed below:
224 Harvest Lane, Natrona Heights, PA 15065
We will keep reminding you all about this because we want you there! We would LOVE to see you there and have YOU be a part of our special day! Thank you for your partnership!
Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes
Stoking The Fires 