We started our tour with driving down the Pennsylvania Parkway with snow beginning to fall; a speeding pickup truck swerved and passed us on the right. Shortly thereafter the truck’s tailgate came flying open and their brand new washer and dryer he must have just purchased from a Black-Friday sale came tumbling at us, just missing us by less than 10 feet! The first thing we said was, “we wish we got that on video!” We continued through the snowstorm but by the time we arrived in New York the snow changed to sunshine and crisp winter air. And that is how our trip began, bad weather, a flying washer, and dodging the typical deer from time to time. We are going on our 4th and final night of driving through the night tonight to get to our morning meeting. We are a little tired, but know we have another 12 days until we get to rest over the holidays. We had a birthday and a family hardship come up during this tour, but God has been gracious reminding us that HE is with us in every step of our journey.
Speaking at Our Home Church
We want to encourage YOU all, churches and individuals, that God has been gracious to us as we transitioned countries and organizations; in regards to our monthly support we have not seen anyone withdraw their partnership from our ministry yet, we have seen over half of our support team in person already and everyone has been super encouraging and said “we are partnering with you”. What a total blessing!!!! We have seen people lose support for lesser reasons, we are so thankful for our AMAZING support team! Thank YOU!
Enjoying the Cooler Weather
Speaking of support, this week or next we should be able to finalize the transition of our organization for all of you who are interested in “where to give”. We apologize for the delay, but we had some hiccups and understanding we have had many transitions. Once we know, we will make it known publicly.
Speaking of transitions and our start up costs/needs list, we have had many inquiries. We barely made it public and have seen about 20% of our needs come in already. With 4 churches already asking specifically about it and telling us they will help and partner with us, along with some individuals. God is too good and is blessing us tremendously. Yet another affirmation from our Lord that we are exactly where He wants us to be.
Great Friends! A Dear Pastor and His Wife
To be honest this tour has been quite tiring, but it has been such a blessing to us! We love seeing you all, our support team is amazing and we love getting to see all of your faces, giving you hugs, and then saying thank-you for YOUR faithfulness to our ministry and to us personally. It is crazy that it has been two years already, and Lord willing we will see all of you again in 3-4 years. God has greatly encouraged us on this trip, blessing us beyond measure and more quickly than imagined. We are so humbled to be called YOUR feet, we want to say thank you for your partnership to reaching the unreached in Vanuatu.
YOUR feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes
Stoking The Fires 