Monthly Archives: November 2016

We have been back in the States for about 2 weeks, and it has been a whirlwind already! Speaking at a church less than 3 days from getting off the plane, preached 3 other times, Nicole has done a ladies missions emphasis, had well over 5 meetings, and then as of Saturday, we started our 57-meeting tour until Christmas Eve. Along with having to do much paperwork, we enjoyed Thanksgiving, saw some family and friends, and enjoying amenities of being “home”, life is in the fast lane to say the least. We finished our NY tour and are in the upper parts of Michigan, planning on being in Indiana by Friday, and that will be our life for this next season. But that is not the MOST exciting news… the exciting news starts now!

We have been trying to hold back some details so that when we go around and visit people, we can share all the details face-to-face. But since it will take us days, weeks, and a little over a month to see some, we thought we would share the abridged version now. If you are social media savvy, click here: Vanuatu Ministry Update 2016 to watch our short 6-minute video that encapsulates everything. This is the video we are using to share at churches.

Our Co-workers

1. It took 10 years of waiting on God… but we have found the tribe we plan to live in and serve alongside! 🙂
2. We head back to Vanuatu on April 30^th to serve with Reach Vanuatu
3. We were given a letter of invitation to serve in the tribe; it says that they desire from us:
   1. A Bible in their language.
   2. To develop a Bible curriculum.
   3. To help build up and plant strong churches.
   4. To develop and train national leaders and pastors.
   5. To help with/host conferences.
   6. To disciple them.
      • Signed by:
        • the community
        • The local pastor and church
        • The group wanting a Bible in their language
        • And the Chief of Chiefs

4. Another super exciting thing is that we were officially adopted into two different family lines. This shows the people that we are serious and want to live there; it is also an amazing tool to share the Gospel. It was exciting for them because we were the first white people to be officially adopted into their culture, they were all so excited and encouraged, and they took it very seriously as well. We did some cultural ceremonies to represent this official acceptance by killing a giant pig, receiving a baby pig and a chicken, and had a feast.
5. We went to the capital and applied for our 4-year visa, the government said it will most lively be an easy process, but will just take time to go be finalized.
6. They gave us land and we plan to start building our house in July-August! If you have been waiting to help us build our house, now is the time to write us and start the process of communication to get you there and help us build our house.

Co-workers: Pastor Gabby & Jeremy

Needless to say, a lot happened those last 2-3 weeks while in Vanuatu. We were running back and forth up until the day before we left, had a few hours to pack up and clean up our house and head to the US of A. We are sorry to reduce amazing facts and experiences to mere bullet points, but we wanted to make sure we were clear and shared the information. It should be only a matter of time until we see you! Maybe tomorrow, next week, or maybe in a month… either way we want to share all the details and the stories behind the whole thing as soon as we can. If you are not scheduled in on our tour, please call (412)639-6047, and we will arrange a meeting on the second tour if God allows.

Friends for a Lifetime

We hope that was clear and concise, and we hope you are excited along with us! This is a special time for us. That is another reason why we are running around to tell everyone, because this is a special time for you as our supporters… you have invested your prayers and finances in us for this moment. May God be glorified! We praise Him for the journey He has had us on.

As always, we are humbled to be your feet to the unreached, Seth & Nicole

Ladies Discipleship Group

A Traditional Church Dedication

As October came to a close, we have lot of great news to report! God did some awesome things in October. Please ready our newsletter (link below) to read more. Thank you for following our journey!

Newsletter: October, 2016

-Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

At a Church Dedication

It is crazy to think we will be back in the States in about a week?! It has been almost 2 years since we have touched American soil. With the election, friends and family getting married and having babies, and the many other things that have changed since we left; coming back to America seems almost surreal. It seemed like yesterday we were telling everyone good-bye, but now we are ready to say hello. Time is too short.

We have been in 5 different parts of Vanuatu in the last 9 days, travelling, packing, getting ready for the next transition, while also saying “good-bye” here to all our friends. A lot of things have happened this past week, and we would love to share all the details… but that will have to come later this week. So please stay tuned.

Please pray for us and our transition, our time will be short and we will hit the ground running trying to see everyone before the New Year. Seth’s mom lovingly offered us her car while we are in the states, we will have to get the obligatory cell-phone so we can stay “connected”, and we start speaking and meeting with people starting about 3 days after we touch the ground. We will be posting several blogs with the intent to keep them more brief and focused over this month, especially this week. So please read them. Each one will cover different topics of what is going on in our lives.

We love and appreciate you all, your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

Great Friends!

It is crazy to think we have been in Vanuatu for almost 4 months, time flies; our time in Vanuatu is coming to an end. The last few days before leaving we tend to go to bed later, wake up earlier to get everything done. In Less than 2 weeks we will have lived in 4 different places/parts of Vanuatu. 1. A different island (other than Santo) 2. South Santo 3.Central Santo, and 4. Northern Santo. We slept on beds, yoga mats, couches, and inflatable mats. But as we look into the future, we do not see this pace of life slowing down anytime soon, once when we get back to America we start our tour of seeing people and that go-go lifestyle will continue, remember when we were on deputation? 50k miles traveled, stayed in over 100 beds, and traveled through many states. But to be honest our Lord has been gracious and kept us charged and focused in the midst of all the busyness and commotion.

Kids Enjoying the Slip and Slide

Remember how we said, “if you want to come over and do some projects, come on over!” Last week a team from our coworkers home church in America came to help build a church and run a kids camp for another missionary in a different area of Santo. We split up into 2 groups, 7 men, and 2 women went to the build-site, and then the other 16 went to another area to run a kids program in the morning, leadership conference in the afternoon, and then services at night. It was fun and busy, but we accomplished everything we wanted to accomplish during that time, and between the two sites and all the programs for kids and adults, we believe over 85 people made a profession of faith for Christ! Praise God! The days of preparation, the travel, waking up before the sun comes up, and going to bed way after midnight day in and day out led to God’s grace and people acknowledging their need for a Savior. That is what is all about! A group from Big Bay came down to join our team for the week. This was especially awesome because the Big Bay people can speak the heart language (especially key for explaining the Gospel clearly) of the people where we were. It was so encouraging and special to be on this outreach trip with our friends from Big Bay. There were many opportunities for discipleship, one opportunity was where Seth discipled a person who then led 6 people to the Lord, that was Seth’s highlight. Being able to encourage, provide an opportunity, and push someone else forward to lead others to Christ, that is what our hearts desire is all about, discipleship and missions. Empowering others to further the Gospel.

Kids Activities

The overall trip was a success! We are pretty sure everyone slept for a whole day when we returned. Planning the logistics of ministry, arranging helpers to come and assist the team with the language barrier, cooking for over 50 people for 3 meals a day, prepping things before and after the team arrived; it took a lot of work from our team but it was all well worth it. In the end, souls were saved, peopled were discipled, we made new friends from VFBT, and were so impressed with the quality of servants who we call our teammates; both ex-pats and Ni-vans. There are many things that happened during that time, several things that just happened in the past few days, and some VERY EXCITING things happening in the next 48 hours. Please stay tuned! Once we come back… yes, we head to the bush again in just a few short hours for 3 days, we will give you the exciting details!

Services under the Tent

Please pray for our trip, we will be sharing several times, and there will be some BIG things happening. So we ask you to pray for us, we need to have wisdom in how to communicate and how to conduct ourselves these next few days. This is an exciting time!

Dedication of the church building

 Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes