We thought we would give a brief update of our time with the local church here in town. The next blog will be about the Phase Teaching done in Big Bay, then the blog after that will contain some details about our time in Big Bay.
We are currently serving alongside the Pinero family here in Vanuatu, Jeremy is the pastor of the church we attend here in town, and he has made it grow over his several years of service with them. Several other missionaries have aided this process over the years and to list all their names would take some time. There are ministries throughout Santo, almost every day. We will share just some of the ministries we are a part of here in Vanuatu.
Church
Wednesday night Bible Study; Seth has taught at a Wednesday night Bible study almost every week since we have been here. It has been fun, making lessons, and growing in our Bislama along the way. Because Tok Pisin is so similar we were able to comprehend a lot since day one. It’s fun to go the people’s house, sit with the adults and kids, and have a good time of fellowship and prayer. Seth usually has to use a headlamp to read the lessons because the lighting in their house is not the best, and that is why we do not have too many pictures from this Bible study.
Wednesday Bible Study
Kids clubs; we have helped out with this ministry, the ones leading it change from Emylee, Matt, Jon, to Jeremy. It all depends on schedules and who is in the country/area at the time. We usually hold the programs at a local school, play games, have a Bible lesson, sing, and invite the kids to come to church.
Kids Club
Campus projects and activities; we usually have a meal once a week with whomever is on campus, share a devotion, and have a time of just getting together. It’s fun to just grill-out and chat with everyone. Seth gave the devotion this week and it was his first time preaching in English in about 2-years. There are always work projects on base to maintain the property and vehicles always need attention. Seth got to learn how to use a sawmill recently. That sawmill was later used to cut wood that will be used to build a church in South Santo in October. Building relationships here with both the white and national families has been fun.
Lumber for a Church building
Ladies studies and projects at the church; Nicole and Liz Pinero started a women’s discipleship class. Many women have shown great interest in this, and one lady realized she was not saved and now has a relationship with Jesus! Nicole and Liz are writing lessons and developing the program weekly. The ladies also have regular craft days at the church and have a short devotional and testimony time. On two occasions, they have had sewing as the main craft. They brought several sewing machines to the church and over 20 ladies came for a “woman’s day” at the church, the ladies loved learning how to sew and grow their skills as mothers.
Sewing Class
Being involved in many other ways; we are involved in many other projects weekly, from random quick maintenance projects, writing lessons, helping cook, relationship building, outreaches, being a driver, and speaking. This upcoming Sunday morning Seth will be preaching at church. We see there is no end to ministry here, on a small side note; between devotions, preaching, and working the Phase 1 teaching, Seth has preached/taught over 60 times in just about 7 weeks. He has only used one message more than once and that was at the request of someone else so that their church could hear the message as well. We are super blessed to serve our Lord here in Vanuatu!
We will post again in a couple of days about Seth teaching Phase 1 in Big Bay. Stay tuned! Thank you for your faithfulness and following our blog. We so appreciate your prayers, support, and encouragement!
Your feet to the unreached,
Seth and Nicole Stokes
Stoking The Fires 