Author Archives: Stokingthefires

Time has been going so fast! We are half-way through our furlough. Click on the link below to read our latest update. Thank you for being a part of our team!

Newsletter-1-17

Your feet to the unreached in Vanuatu,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

The holiday season came and went. Now that we have enjoyed some fun and lots of yummy food it is time to get back to work. We have already had several meetings this first week of the new year. Our schedule is getting filled for the next few months stateside and we have a lot to do before going back to Vanuatu in April. Read our newsletter below to hear more about our time in the States. Please pray for us as we continue to plan for our ministry in Vanuatu and travel visiting supporters while here at home. Thank you for being a part of our journey! May you all have a blessed 2017!

Newsletter: November-December 2016

Your Feet to the Unreached in Vanuatu, ~Seth & Nicole Stokes

This post is so that we can be faithful to our supporters who are asking us “how do we give to you and your ministry”?

We want to post many things, but we will post this one and let it settle for a day or so in order for us to make sure we are communicating clearly. We have waited to get all the paperwork and processing done before we tell people it is a “go” and well, it is finally done! We are officially signed up with Central Missionary Clearinghouse CMC.

So now churches and individuals can click HERE to give to us online, you can also set up automatic withdrawals just like what we had with NTM.

This is the process to begin giving online:

1. Click the LINK or go to this web address and follow the steps, http://www.cmcmissions.org/donate
2. Click CLICK & GIVE in the middle of the screen
3. Sign up for an account on the page that opens.
4. Go to your email. Open the email that you are sent and follow the instructions in it.
5. Once you have entered the “Click & Give” site with your new login you can choose to make a donation.
6. Click on the second icon from the left (looks like a check with a pen on it).
7. Then select whether you wish to give using your credit card or through your bank account. (Please realize that if you use your credit card about 3% of the entire donation will be deducted each time you donate by your credit card company. However, if you set up the gift through your bank the transaction fee will be a flat $1 no matter the donation.)
8. You will need to fill in your information with either one you choose. You can set up recurring donations with bank account or credit card at this time.
9. If you have chosen the bank account route then you have 3 tabs that each need to be filled in. Remember that your routing number is on the far left and your account number is next to it on any check that you have.
10. In the second box labeled ”Giving Details” – select “Stokes, Seth” from the drop down box on the left (labeled select amount) If the memo field does not show, then click the pen/notepad icon.
11. Input the amount you would like to give.
12. If you would like to make this a recurring donation you will need to click on the box labeled “Setup Recurring Gift”.
13. Click Submit. Click terms and agreements and confirm one more time, then you are all done!
14. You will be taken to a page that gives you all the details of your gift. This is a printable page if you would like to print it to keep. This is not a “tax deductible” receipt. An email confirmation will also be sent to you automatically. You will receive a “tax deductible” receipt directly from CMC once the gift has been processed by them.

To give via mail follow this procedure, copy and paste the section that applies to you into a word document, print it out, and fill it out:

INDIVIDUAL DONOR:

CENTRAL MISSIONARY CLEARINGHOUSE

PO BOX 219228     HOUSTON TX 77218-9228

Please fill out this form with your first contribution only. You will receive a receipt along with a pre-addressed return envelope for any future gifts. Please tear off the bottom of that receipt and return with any future gift.

DONOR’S NAME______________________________________________________________

ADDRESS_________________________________________PHONE_(_____)_____________

CITY________________________________________ STATE________ZIP_______________

NAME OF MISSIONARY_____SETH STOKES_____________________________________

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: _____________________________________________________

PLEASE READ: Contributions to CMC are qualified for Federal income tax deduction as allowed by law. All deductible contributions, whether designated or not, are under the control of CMC. We are committed to honor all designations, and if any designation is unacceptable, the donation will be returned. You must make your check payable to Central Missionary Clearinghouse (or simply CMC) to qualify for a tax deduction. Please do not write the name of your missionary on your check. It is illegal to claim a tax deduction for a gift made payable to an individual.

CHURCH DONOR:

CENTRAL MISSIONARY CLEARINGHOUSE

PO BOX 219228       HOUSTON TX 77218-9228

Please fill out this form with your first contribution for your missionary. When you are receipted for this gift, you will receive a duplicate receipt and pre-addressed return envelope to use with any future contribution. Please make your check payable to Central Missionary Clearinghouse (or CMC). Thank You.

CHURCH NAME___________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS___________________________________________PHONE_(_____)________________

CITY__________________________________________STATE___________ZIP_______________

PASTOR’S NAME__________________________________________________________________

NAME OF MISSIONARY____ SETH STOKES________________________________________

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:__________________________________________________________

We hope that was clear, if you have any questions please email us, or call us at (412) 639-6047. We appreciate your partnership and want to make sure this is an easy process for you all. If you would like us to mail this process to you via mail we can do that for you, please just contact us and we will assist you.

Thank you for your partnership and help in this process, your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

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 4^th 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

Our Family Through Adoption

This update is especially for all of our financial supporters. There have been at least 3 reasons why we have put off this email: 1. We have been waiting on others for paperwork. 2. We knew you all would be receiving letters from NTM this week and 3. We don’t like talking about finances.

Where do I send my support to you?! We have been getting this email and question a lot the past couple days, and we are going to answer that again, right here and right now. As you all know by now, our partnership with NTM has officially ended as the last day of this month; that means they will no longer receive any finances for us, and you should have received a letter from them in the past week. We have been in the process of signing up with CMC but are waiting for the paperwork to be finished; it is not done yet so we are waiting on that. It will offer the same services as NTM, with electronic capabilities, online giving, and much more, along with integrity for our finances which we are glad to have. That being said, the best thing to do for this transition time is to send a check to our home church, the address is:

Harvest Baptist Church

224 Harvest Lane

Natrona Heights PA, 15221

Put the Harvest Baptist Church for the name of the check, and then put our name in the memo section, and then add a note specifying that this amount is for us as a “double protection.” We should be done soon with the CMC organization and paperwork, but just in case for December, this is how you can donate to our ministry.

Another thing people have been asking a lot is about our “needs.” We have served for two years on the field, and we have not shared a needs list nor have we made a project to give to, but with next year being the largest financial burden on us with all the start-up costs: 1. Vehicle 2. House 3. Solar system and 4. Shipping. We put together a needs list and compiled all the quotes from shopping around. If you are interested in participating in that part of our ministry and all of our start-up costs, please just email us: stokingthefires@gmail.com.

Part of our Adoption Ceremony

Okay! We got that out of the way. If you have any questions, please just ask away. We love and appreciate you all, thank you for bearing with us through this process.

**Make sure to read our previous blog (https://stokingthefires.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/exciting-news/)  and watch our ministry update video (https://youtu.be/-EE3W4hRXvI).

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

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

Just the usual… we are plugging away, trying to finish strong as our time here in Vanuatu is coming to a close. Our months are now counting down to weeks, and the speed of life has picked up. We are about to head to the bush, we will be helping host a church group here in Vanuatu, about 23 people came to support a missionary, build a church, and run many special programs for kids and adults. We are helping with the logistics, labor, translation, cultural awareness, and involvement in all activities… Nicole has been running around with Liz Pinero from before the sun comes up till after the sun comes down to help feed the group and our Ni-van coworkers. Needless to say we know this week will go by quickly.

Replicating the Teaching

One of the most exciting things about this short term trip with the church group is; that it will build relations with another people group and help us partner with them and see the Gospel spread throughout the region. It will be a blessing to the kids of the community, the Christians will get fed spiritually, the team will be encouraged in missions, a church building will be erected, and we know God will be glorified. What more could one want from a short term trip? Please pray for safety as the drive crosses 15 rivers and some structurally-unsound bridges; waters can rise at any times, health for the group seeing as they are not adapted to all the things they might get, and that the hearts of the people are encouraged in the Lord. Please contact us if you would like to send a group here as well.

Being amazed by God… we will just share briefly, but remember a few blogs ago where we shared about us teaching Course 1? Well, after we taught the course I encouraged the men to go back home and teach their families, as well as go and teach elders of their churches… teach them first, so as a group you can teach the church. Well, less than a few weeks after we heard of a man from our group, teaching his people (from a different language group) and fellow brothers in Christ, with the intent to teach the church after they finish. Amazing! It is so cool to see how God moves the heart of men, He asks us to follow His Word and His leading, but then remember HE is Sovereign and not dependent on us… He is building His church! His church is growing and maturing here on Santo! Praise God and rejoice in His faithfulness to His promise!

On a side note, if you are a financial partner please check your email… if you did NOT receive an email from us, please write us and let us know. We will get back to you after we come back from the bush Friday night, , if we do not hear from you, we will call you personally that Saturday, please respond before that seeing as international calls are not that cheap. But we are wanting to communicate clearly with everyone.

For a good read… When we left for the field 2 years ago, we had recommended a book called “serving as senders, today”, and as we head back we are also recommending “the reentry team” by Neal Pirolo. Like most books, you might not agree with everything, but we found it very insightful for us as we head back to America.

We love and appreciate you all very much! We will write another blog this weekend about our trip to the bush, please keep posted.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes.