Monthly Archives: March 2019

Wanted to share this video recap from Seth’s trip this past weekend. There is no Gospel preaching church in or near this village.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!

Your feet in Vanuatu,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

It was St. Francis of Assissi that once so poignantly said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words”. Let’s be honest, this might be one of the hardest things to do in the Christian life, to be faithful, to have a good witness at all times. In Colossians 3:17it tells us that ‘whatever’ we do, we ought to do in the name of our Lord Jesus. Whatever? In all things? Are you serious? Even when we are sick? Even when it’s hot? Even when its pouring down rain and now you have to hike 4 hours to go preach at a village (where they are glad you came, but aren’t Christians or very hospitable… they want to “hear” about Jesus, but at night ask you to leave so they can indulge in their type of drug known as Kava and get drunk… well, because they are still unsaved). We are always reminded we must model faithfulness to them in our day in and day out lives… whether or not we “feel” like taking certain days off, we can’t, we don’t have substitutes, we don’t have anyone learning this language for us, every week we have Bible studies, and no matter how we feel, they are coming to hear God’s Word so they can grow, so we must be faithful to the ministry God gives us. The men keep telling Seth, “we look forward to our Bible study, it’s a time where I get to eat for ourselves (implying they are the ones always feeding others).

Isn’t she the cutest umbrella holder?!

Over and over again we are always asked the question by these growing believers, “why are so many believers here so unfaithful to God?” It is a very good question, unlike most of us westerners we cannot make the excuse that we have never seen someone model faithfulness and a mature Christian walk, we have seen it countless times. The Tiale people have had people coming and going throughout their Christian lives, but have never had someone live and model with them day in and day out the Christ-life. They have never seen someone work in the community, love their wife, work in the garden, and still be faithful to the Christian life day in and day out for years… it’s the first time they are seeing it. And recently we have seen tremendous growth in the core men and in their wives…

Seth and the guys heading out for a weekend outreach

PLEASE, PLEASE understand this, it is not us that lives, but Christ that lives in us… quite personally we thinkwe are terrible models and feel like we fail all the time because we desire to do more for them and their walk with God… and from time to time, we will hear them tell us, “thank you for your faithfulness… it has encouraged me to take my walk with our Lord more serious”, which then will motivate and reminds us of this truth of being faithful, if all else fails, continue to be faithful; God is moving and working. Sometimes we feel like we are not doing enough, we haven’t learned the Tiale language yet, we can only meet with so many people per week to grow them in their spiritual life, but there is a truth in God’s Word, and a principle that He gives to… “be faithful”. This week the men and Seth sat down and studied Galatians 6:9 for almost two hours and just discussed that point, it’s not our job to focus on when the harvest will come… it’s our job to keep working and not get fatigued, God promises that the harvest will come in its due time… as Seth was teaching the men, we too were focused and encouraged on this verse. Continue being faithful, and God will bring forth a harvest in due time.

Ladies Bible Study!

Please continue to pray for us, we desire to be models of Christ for the Tiale people; as Christians, as a married couple, as friends, and as a family in the community. Though we honestly feel we are inadequate and feel like we fail from time to time, we are reminded that God has commanded us to be faithful, and He will bring forth fruit in the timing that best suits Him, and not us. A servant doesn’t serve his Master for a thank you, he simply does the work that his Master commands him to do (Luke 17:10).

Your feet to the Tiale People, Seth and Nicole Stokes

We come from the North East part of America, we are “use to”, flash flood warnings, blizzards, and various events that the weather throws at us which causes; the inability to drive to a place for a few hours… up to a day or two, the cancellation of an event, or even loss of power out for a couple of hours…. up to a week. But all of that is pretty uncommon, and we have a phone number to call in order to find the right people to correct the issue…

Click on the link below to read more…

Newsletter-January-February-2019

Your hands and feet to the Tiale people,

Seth & Nicole Stokes