We spent the day on Monday after the weekend events to specifically engage with our immediate core group of disciples (both the men and their wives). Seth sat down with the men all morning until well past the usual lunch time. Nicole spent the time fellowshipping and catching up with the ladies, singing some Tiale praise songs, and encouraging them to be intentional in the roles they hold as wives and to complement their husband’s ministries, all while they cooked a special lunch.
Seth and the men spent a lot of time catching up, evaluating how their churches are doing, seeing how the men are doing spiritually, asking how to better encourage them, having several times of prayer, along with specific teachings that he wanted to give them in order to challenge their walks with the Lord on a deeper level.
Not every conversation was filled with smiles, some of the men had gone through various trials, but their faith in God was not shaken. One of the men was with us when we had to medically evacuate Nicole, he said this;
“When you left, we didn’t sleep at all that night… we felt sick, and hurt… we look at you guys as part of our family. We are glad you are healthy now, and we know this “Covid-thing” stopped you from coming earlier to us, but we missed you.”
If you remember, when we left, we left not because of Covid, but because Nicole was medically evacuated. 3 men and their wives accompanied us on that trip out of the village, and when we said goodbye to them, they knew we would come back, but they couldn’t sleep that night knowing how they saw Nicole.
Throughout the meeting, we were able to ascertain some very important things. We were able to help give them a fresh perspective and renewed focus, as well as encourage them in many ways. There have been various groups going against them and there are, and were, many wiles of Satan that have been testing them in their faith. We set up a 2-year teaching plan and a discipleship program to hopefully strengthen the local churches that they are shepherding; this much needed direction really encouraged them!
We plan to be more intentional with these 3 men and their wives, as God allows, through living life on life with them, as well as having them in our house, intentionally discipling them. In our absence, God has raised several other men to be more bold in their faith (5 men in particular). We are excited to see God growing His church here among the Tiale people! We are eager to invest in these 5 men as well on a weekly basis, intentionally maturing them as the Lord allows. We continue to see and find many new opportunities to be invested in, between teaching, learning language, and discipling; there is not an end to this work. We are praising God that He allows us to be A PART of the process!
Pleases specifically for pray for these 11+ men that Seth will be engaged with on a regular basis, and the 10+ women Nicole with be discipling. We need lots of prayer for wisdom, discernment, and direction from God in this process! Please pray for the spiritual health of the 4 local churches we are closely connected with, each one being unique in their situations and are very much in need of your/our prayers. Thank you for holding our ropes in prayer! Checkout our Instagram for more pictures and videos: @stokingthefires.
Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes
Stoking The Fires 