Monthly Archives: May 2015

A Sharks Tale  

Yes, we have a shark’s tale…well two of them. On the lighter side, Seth has made really good relationships with many nationals and he has gone out fishing several times now with the men. One day Seth went fishing with the guys, they hooked a baitfish to a floater and let it go, after some time a large fish, so they thought, took the bait and sunk the floater. Eventually, the floater resurfaced and Seth started pulling the string up, all the guys were talking about how it had to be a big yellow fin tuna. Well, once it was close to the top and everyone saw what it was (a 10 ft. thrasher shark), the guys leaped in fear and one man grab his bush knife and almost surgically hit the shark across the brain in one quick and powerful swing. They were all excited! They also caught some mackerel and several other fish that day. They shared their catch amongst them all…and that is Seth’s story of catching a shark.

Another shark tale we will share will allow you to get into the “typical” mindset here in PNG. One day we were at our friend’s house, and we were making small talk, when we asked our friends what was going on with their dog’s tail. We knew the dog had gotten into a little fight and flies landed on top of his skin and it was infected. Our friends began to tell us that they let the dog eat sharks skin and now his “skin was turning into sharks skin”. This is how some perceive things as they have been impacted by their ancestral stories, but they are also occasionally hearing pieces of Biblical truth around town. They are constantly impacted by their former way of thinking. One person we know has several good friends who are pastors and one a shaman. He will tell you, you need to go to a church on Sunday morning but if you get sick you should see the powerful shaman; he can fly like a bird, turn into a dog, kill people and more. These people are educated people, and live close to town, and yet because they have not heard a true and pure Gospel they have not yet experienced the life changing effects of how our very minds are transformed.

That is just the tip of the iceberg, we have been here for 3 months and are just now getting to understand how they really think…this job cannot be done too quickly, or else you will add to their pantheon of gods and encourage syncretism. You can have the right words, but if you do not know how to deliver them through the grid of their worldview, you might as well use another language. We are called to teach others to “observe all things” (Matt. 28:20), and not leave them as babies, ignorant of what God expects from their life, we are called to help grow them into mature Christians.

Trasher Shark

Mackerel

Things to expect in PNG #2

When you go around PNG expect to see a grave in the front yard, it is their culture to keep their family close by and always think about them.

Expect to see everyone talking about malaria as if it’s normal, or to constantly ask “do I have a parasite in my bowel?” is just another normal part of life here.

Expect to see young kids with no clothes run around every where, expect to see 2 year old babies playing with a bush knife and a young 3 year old girl pretend/practice to do house work, cook and garden.

2yr old with a machete

Expect to always be a little confused, they have some words that are quite ambiguous, as well as learning “what brother means”… they have another kind of kinship (your dads brother is your little father).

Expect to see people standing in the middle of the road or see people sleep on the road. When school lets out it is a scary thing, you have hundreds of kids walking home (there are no buses) from school on the roads, and there are no sidewalks…

Expect to always be a little uncomfortable, have you tried sitting down on a 2×4 for hours at a time?…

Expect to see people looking at a tree and thinking how many things they can make out of it. For example, coconut/tree: mat, blinds (siding for a house), fan, bag, firewood, food, oil, parts to the house, tools and more).

We are enjoying the PNG diet plan. In a month or so, we have lost a combined 43 lbs. take away fast food, sitting down (you have to walk everywhere), skipping meals regularly when you are with people, “sweet foods” are hard to find and expensive, add the humidity into it, you have our PNG diet plan. If the Atkins diet, beach body, and P90X are not doing the job, come on over and spend some time with us J

“A tiny group of believers who have the Gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story. “ –K.P. Yohannan

“The drug of the American dream kills the brain cells of eternal thinking”- C. Hickman

Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes

Hope spring is in full swing and you are enjoying the sunshine again! We are so thankful to have YOU as part of our team. We would love to hear from YOU anytime. Feel free to write us and ask any questions. Thank you for taking the time to keep up with our journey! God is doing amazing things here in Papua New Guinea.

Below is the link for April’s newsletter.

Newsletter: April-2015

“All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God, because they reckoned on His being with them”. –J. Hudson Taylor

This blog will be a little different, we will keep the names anonymous in the stories we will share…but know this, giants (of our faith) walk among us. Unless you get close to them and hear their story, you will never know what God is doing in and through them, you will never know the journey of how much God has brought them through.

Time after time people have come to Papua New Guinea to serve as missionaries, many come, but many go. This field is not easy: it is hot, there are diseases everywhere, infections and stomach problems are common, and you hear of someone having malaria as often as you see the rain coming during rainy season. This field has an astronomical attrition rate, but there are many times God shows His glory to and amongst His fallible and fragile creations. Here are 3 short stories:

1. The wife of a close friend of ours has had many health issues, sick from time to time removing them from their tribe in which they are working. Eventually they got x-rays and found a massive tumor in her brain. Everyone’s heart dropped and prepared for the worst. They have kids, they are doing an awesome work, and it makes you wonder what God is doing. As they were walking onto the plane to fly to Australia and seek better direction medically, the husband turned around and told his friend who had dropped them off, “I will be back”. Wow! People, he is saying with or without his wife he was coming back! When we were going around raising our support we met people who said they couldn’t do missions because they were afraid of flying, they like modern conveniences, they don’t like bugs or the heat, and yet this man saw missions not as an option, but as a mandate, an obligation (Rom.1:14). To go and share the Good news of Jesus Christ, even if he lost his wife…God spared his wife for now, and they are back in PNG serving full-time.
2. Another man had his wife diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor as well. They, with their young kids, were already in Australia and the doctors gave her less than 6 months to live. However, she made it only a couple of weeks, and then passed. Within less than one month after his wife’s passing, this man was able to collect his things and purchased tickets to come back to PNG in the near future. He just lost his wife, his kids lost their mother, and yet he sees the message of the cross and the worthiness of our Savior that nothing will hinder him from serving our God full-time in missions.
3. The final story we will share for now, another man and his family had 3 medevacs in less than a year. First time, his young son went limp and had no body functions for a while; the Lord healed him and the doctors are still not sure what happened. Second time was a severe case of malaria. Third time, this man’s wife had severe body pain, she began to have open sores and pustules that oozed, not the nicest of things. Her bones ached and it was laborious for her to move. Eventually they took her to the doctors in Australia and they didn’t know what was going on with her either. She came back with little improvement; this was a crucial time in the ministry. This was the time they were presenting the Gospel for the first time. As she sat down in pain she shared with the team, “I got it! I know what God is teaching us, He is teaching us to trust Him! He is worthy of our trust”. Such a simple statement, and yet so profound, this was said and done in the midst of a trial.

We pray you have been blessed as we have been by these stories of faith building. Our God is worthy of our trust and there is no trial too BIG to remove us from His will and serving Him in missions. Because He is worthy of our trust!

Your feet in PNG to the unreached, Seth & Nicole Stokes