Some Changes, from an Unchanging God.

Before you read we want to apologize, we have not had internet for almost 2 weeks, the satellite in the bush went down. And when we come out to town we heard the internet went down for the whole Island on the Papua side… a shark bit the power line or something… that has happened before! So we want to apologize in advance if you do not hear from us, we might not have internet capabilities for 2 more weeks and we are not sure if this will even post, we love you all.

Wow, we are not sure how many of you have ever had to make decisions quickly, feeling the weight of the decision before you ever make it, feeling overwhelmed even with the magnitude of what you might be doing… and that is how we feel, today, right now. But God is Sovereign, He is a faithful Creator, and His timing and planning is perfect for His Saints. Why then do we have so many questions, and not simply trust God with a child-like faith? One reason comes to mind, “we want to be like God and know everything before it happens”. But that is not how faith works, He asks us to walk without looking, and pursue Him over all things.

Our desire from day one has been to reach the unreached, and that is what God has pressed on us each day since, for over a decade now. We as feeble humans, with finite perspectives have been trying to figure out Gods “plan” for our lives. Some would say “good luck”, but that is what He asks of us, He gives us paths to follow and then one day like Paul, He will say “don’t go there! Go there!”.

We have served NTM-PNG Wewak for over a year; we have been in the country 3 months longer than that, totaling 16 months. And less than a few weeks ago our Pastor from our Home/Sending church proposed to us this ministry opportunity that sounds “to good to be true”; that is in line with the calling God has put in our lives, cultivated and walked through with hand-in-hand by our Shepherding Home-Pastor Kurt Skelly, while being done in unity and with the blessing of our NTM leadership, as well as confirmed by the peace of God that only HE can give in such a short time.

So what is this ministry? We will give in depth details in the following emails, but for brevity’s sake we will share our opportunity. We are being asked to go to the Island of Vanuatu (made famous by the missionary John G. Paton, he was almost eaten by the indigenous people several times), and serve as a Base Manager for 4 months. The purpose of the title and position is two-folded. 1. It is a vacancy that needs to be filled soon because another missionary is going on furlough. 2. It will allow us to get to know the missionaries on that field, get a feel for the organization, learn the national language, which is 70-80% similar to Tok Pisin, and see if this is OF GOD. We were asked by the director of the mission to come just for 4 months and see if God is confirming this decision IN us. Our Pastor is convinced God will confirm this ministry in our lives, but he too agrees that this is the best route.

What does the timing look like, and what does that mean for our supporters? Well, we have been on the field for over 16 months, so that means we have accrued some break time, and furlough time. You know how some of you have used your vacation/break time for work projects, or some have taken personal time to go do some ministry? This is very similar. We will head to Vanuatu some time in mid-end July and serve for 4 months (we can get a tourist visa pretty easily). By the timing of things it looks like we would come back to America mid-late November. After the four months, we will go home and pray over what God might be calling us to do. From there, if God confirms things through prayer and counsel, we would transfer organizations and do the due process of formalities and paperwork. One of the main reasons we would come home is to see all of YOU (if possible, we know some have moved quite a distance)! We would love to enjoy your fellowship and explain what God is doing face-to-face. We would be able to get a multi-year visa for Vanuatu so that means we might not see you for a good long time, if the Lord wills.

One of the most exciting and attractive things about Vanuatu is that it has OVER 80 unreached people groups (NO Gospel in their heart-language), other major organizations, like NTM, are not there so this has a lot more of a pioneer mission feel to it, which is our heart desire. If the 4 months go well there, and God confirms this ministry in us, we would be asked to possibly go to the island of Tanna and begin, that’s right, begin a Church Plant there. During our 4 months in Vanuatu we are planning to visit the Island of Tanna in August. There are several languages on the island, there is an active volcano, tsunami’s are always a chance, the famous John G. Paton did go and try to witness to them, but most exciting part is: we get to have this possible opportunity to minister and do church planting in 2017.

We know this may be coming as a shock to some of you, imagine how we feel having to make all these decisions in quick succession? We are thankful for our Pastor helping us each step of the way, our supportive family, and our loving friends. We appreciate you all and value any input or questions you may have. Please Pray for us as we have many details we have to think through as well BIG decisions to make.

                  Seth helping unload plane

            Nicole with the Dem

Your feet to the Unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes.