Author Archives: Stokingthefires

The Prison

Well, Seth is in prison…again. Every Wednesday he goes with one other missionary and a national man to go teach foundationally through the Bible. They teach roughly two lessons each time, so they rotate lessons and share the load. This jail ministry is unlike any American ministry Seth been a part of before. When you get there, you walk in to what appears to be the “mess-hall”, a long building with low ceilings and hardly any wind, metal ceiling and roof. Seth says it is the hottest place in PNG 🙂 so far.

When you walk into this place, you will typically find 80+ men, no shirts, no shoes, everyone sitting on the ground and smiles everywhere. Each week the men come and are excited for the teaching. Seth and the guys treat it as a Bible school. Teaching chronologically pulling out the main meta-narrative themes of the Old Testament through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, using expository teaching throughout each passage. The men love it and they understand the main purpose of Jesus coming. Seth taught (lesson 63 of 68) through Mark 10, Luke 12, and 16 this week focusing on how money cannot get you to heaven, when you die it does not come with you, hell and heaven are real, God has marked a time for all men to die, so choose today while you are this earth, who will be your God? (Luke 16:13).

The cargo cult is a huge thing here in PNG, if you are not familiar with it read some excerpts from Google and you will see it permeates the thinking of all PNG, it goes down to their worldview-heart-core level. One group of missionaries learned the language of a tribal group, learned their culture, translated a good portion of the Bible and taught for months…when they came to the life of Jesus, they told everyone the BIG part of the message was about to come! They all sat down to hear the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, after the series of messages concluded, the people all said, (paraphrase) “this is the white people’s secret, this is the road to cargo”. People befriended the missionary, came to months of teaching, only to find out “a secret” to getting more stuff…that is not an isolated event, the cargo cult came to PNG at the turn of the 20^th century and was a strong belief system until the 1950’s or so, it came and it went, and in some areas it is taking a strong foothold again and making its resurgence.

We shared that brief story with you to show you what we and other missionaries here in PNG are dealing with. Some people are blinded by cargo and they have no interest in Jesus (it’s the same with American-materialism). This is just something we have to be attentive to when we are teaching and dealing with others and their eternity. Seth said that he asked a lot of questions in his message this week, and the men responded well, some knew the Christian lingo, and others clearly articulated the Gospel. That is so encouraging! Seth also wishes he could take his phone with him and record them singing, they have 1-2 guitars, both Seth and another missionary’s opinion is that they are the best guitar players and singers that that they have heard in PNG. The acoustics of a small concrete room and a metal ceiling makes every song echo and make a beautiful sound. One of his favorite jail-house original songs is, “God, He is here”.

Pray for Seth and the other men, Greg and Joshua, as they have 5 more lessons until they get to the resurrection of Jesus. After that, they will transition to the New Testament and the Holy Spirit’s work, and then possibly to some epistles. Seth is thinking through some ideas with another missionary as to see where else they can preach on a more consistent basis as well; pray God opens doors!

Thank you all for reading! We love and miss you all!

Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

Happy 2016 Everyone!

Wow, it is the new year already. 2015 felt like it flew! It is crazy to think we have been in PNG for 10 months now and have a busy month of January already. There is a lot to look forward to in this new year. What was the end of the year like for us? Click on the link below to read our December newsletter. Have an awesome year! We love and appreciate you all so very much.

December-2015-Newsletter

Your Feet to the Unreached in PNG,

-Seth & Nicole Stokes

  
Merry Christmas from PNG! We are so thankful for the many people back home who love, support, and encourage us. We love and miss you all! Remember why we celebrate Christmas-and the many who still haven’t heard the Good News around the world. -until all have heard
Your Feet To The Unreached,

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

Nicole & Baby Noelle

Seth with Jericho & Eden

Family!

Certain people have different traditions during the holidays; one typical tradition people have is sharing with friends and family what they are thankful for, and if you are a Christian, you thank God for every good and perfect gift He has given you.

One of the hardest things for missionaries is not the extreme climates, the language and culture barriers, the food and comfort differences, or even the insecurity of safety and everything and everyone being foreign to you…it’s being away from the ones you love the most and the ones who know you best; family and friends. One of the seasons that is the hardest of them all is the holiday season, Thanksgiving-New Year, Christmas is in-between, and for Seth his birthday. This was/is our first season being away from family during the holiday season, or was it?

God graciously allowed in His Sovereignty for certain things to take place so that we could see some family over the holiday season! Wow! He is too good to us! Many of you know both of Seth’s siblings and their families serve in West Papua Indonesia, the same island as PNG. With schedules in and out of the bush, going back and forth with babies, we were able to meet up with Seth’s brother and family in Indonesia!

Very few people have gone back and forth across the border, so not many could give a clear-cut “this is how you do it”, but surprisingly if you are patient it is a fairly simple process. Before we arrived in PNG we were under the impression that it would be nearly impossible to cross the border to see Seth’s siblings, but how happy we were when we found out that is not the case! God orchestrated a week that Seth had nothing pressing to do, so he did a bunch of work before and after to clear his schedule, and Seth’s brother needed help with supply buying for himself before he went back into the Dem tribe. So Seth helped his brother supply buy and we got to meet our precious new niece Noelle, just about 3 months old. We had a great time catching up and just enjoying one another, we were able to help pack up everything, organize a little, and then help get them into the plane and off the Dem-land! We even had our own family Thanksgiving meal and a Christmas celebration too. It was a whirlwind of a couple of days, but it was so worth it! God was too gracious to allow us to see family, when we said good-bye to them over 16-months ago, we never knew exactly when we would see them again, nor do we know the next time God will allow us to see them. But we are thankful God gave us this special time with them!

We are very blessed; both of Seth’s siblings and Nicole’s brother serve God in full-time missions. What more could we ask of God…except maybe that we were all in the same country? 🙂 But we are over joyed to know our siblings are saved and are serving Jesus. This is truly something God has blessed our family with, and yes it is hard because we rarely see them. Seth went over 10 years without having both siblings together for Christmas; this is part of the cost of foreign missions. But it is such a joy to know we are serving our Risen Lord and He sustains us and keeps us encouraged when we have heavy hearts and miss our family and friends.

Thank you all for serving our Lord! God uses your personal messages/emails/calls, prayers, and support to keep us encouraged during this season. Thank you for your faithfulness, we could not go through this without your encouragement.

Nicole’s Reading Class

Seth loading an order

Wow, is it just us on this side of the world or did November fly super fast?!?! And it’s already December and it has been really hot here lately, so it is not feeling much like winter. We have been busy and barely seemed to catch our breath this past month. It has been a wonderful month and we have seen the Lord use us in many ways. Read our Newsletter by clicking on the link below. Thank you for being a part of our team. Enjoy the cooler weather and a latte for us. 🙂

November-2015 Newsletter

~Your Feet to the Unreached in PNG,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

Shout Out To PGH! Found this guy walking around town.

Believers from another tribal work. In town to have a baby. 🙂

These thoughts came from our time as we shared with one of our supporting churches. Our intent is not to preach, but to share some thoughts that God has challenged us with and hopefully it will challenge and encourage you as well.

The context of these thoughts came from the big decision we have to make in the not too distant future as we look into different tribal locations to go into…How do you make the decision of which one to go to? Is one tribe more important than another? What does that decision look like? Is there just one place asking for missionaries? If so, go there! But what do you do if there is more than one place (tribe/people group) that is asking for missionaries… how would you pray? What do you pray? What is prayer in the midst of this thought? Everything! We look at the endless opportunities that is PNG, and even just in our region and realize one family is not enough, one family cannot reach all of these tribes (who are asking for missionaries!), but how many is enough? It seems impossible from some aspects, but we know God is wanting all to come to the knowledge of Him (Acts 17:30, 2 Pet 3:9, Matt 28:18-20, Rom 15:20, Matt. 24:14). We came to the conclusion that prayer is the way to reach all of them. True, transparent, on your knees, dependent upon the Sovereign prayers. So the next question we asked is, what is the model for those prayers? Where do we start… and this is where God led us at this time.

(Please pray for us in this decision process…we are not at the point to do surveys yet, but we are researching and asking questions, this is a 10-15 year commitment whenever we make this decision).

Our Challenge we shared with one of our churches…

In America, we have to fill out resumes, and many people worry about job security, but in missions, especially in PNG there is not that worry. We have a drawer of letters from various tribes wanting** missionaries. Some specifically saying we want New Tribes missionaries because we learn their language (some organizations don’t do that, and just do the work in the trade language), we teach them how to read and write their language, translate the Bible into their language, and then teach them the true meaning of the Bible. Imagine you received the job you have now, or another job by having someone come to you, asking, pleading, and even offering what little they had so that you would come and work there (at that job). Wouldn’t that be backwards in our dog-eat-dog world? Now apply that to Christianity, how many times have you tried to go and share the Gospel with a friend, a coworker, a family member, a spouse… and how many times have you been rejected? How many times did it feel awkward? How many times were they just not interested? In missions, especially in PNG, we have so many people groups ready and wanting a missionary to come and give them the Gospel, no resume needed to go into these tribes, there is no competitor per se wanting to take your job (the Devil is not wanting to give them up though), and yet there are not people lining up to come and take up this task.

I read a good book on prayer last week, and it used what we call “the Lords prayer” or as it would be better put the “disciples model prayer”. The author used this prayer as an outline and an examination of yourself. The Lords prayer/ the Disciples Model prayer is famous, kids from a young age memorize these verse. Unsaved people and cults memorize this passage, and Christians have put it to rout memory losing the beauty of this passage.

Please Read: Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4 and get lost in the beauty of God’s Word again with a familiar passage.

“I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual watertight compartment.

I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child.

I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.

I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness.

I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day.

I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His word.

I cannot say “on earth as it is in heaven if I will not serve Him here and now.

I cannot say “give us… our daily bread” if I am dishonest shopper.

I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path.

I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.

I cannot say “Thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject.

I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do.

I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself.

I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.”

We are to be focused on advancing His kingdom because it is His will, and there are places that are asking for His kingdom to come to, but yet we cannot get the foot soldiers to this ground. A king declared for us to fight for places, and when a place is freely offered we will not claim it (tribes asking for missionaries), because it is not convenient for us to get there…please pray for laborers.

Our king has offered a place to expand His kingdom… and yet there are far too many comfortable subjects who won’t go. When we were raising support we heard many excuses, “we couldn’t do what you are doing”, I Seth, do not like camping, and basically grew up in Pittsburgh city, I do not like bugs and I like many sweets and restaurants America offers, from the many excuses we heard in our travels, I had more, but I cannot deny the Scripture and the leading of the Spirit, and now I am here with joy and cannot see myself doing anything else with my life. Maybe someone praying the “disciples model prayer” is not really examining himself or herself well enough, because God wants His kingdom expanded, and He has the people, yet no one wants to go to these places. Maybe someone is being led to go, but just wont surrender to the Spirits leading.

Each one of us must examine ourselves by this model prayer…have you ever prayed this prayer? If so, have you ever examined your life in how God wants you to advance His Kingdom? Have you prayed that according to His will or yours? If God’s will is that all would hear His Gospel, and He wants His kingdom advanced, and there is ground He has given and He just needs someone to go and claim it…which one of His servants will go and claim it? Who has God called to stay in the U.S.A. and who is making the excuse of not going and advancing the Kingdom of our God in a foreign land? Are you praying to see if the Lord is leading you to go? Are you praying God will send your children? Truly there are hundreds of tribes still unreached here in PNG alone, and all over the world, our King is truly worthy to receive all glory and power, and there is no greater job than His kingdom.

Please pray with us for more laborers to go to these white and plenteous fields, please pray for the big decision we have to make in the near future. Truly our prayers alone are insufficient, we need your help in this BIG decision.

Your feet to the unreached of PNG, empowered by your prayer,

Seth and Nicole Stokes

Good Friends in Madang

Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors back home. Enjoy a fall coffee drink and think of us! Whats new with us? Read our newsletter below and find out. Thank you for continuing to “hold the ropes” for us, we couldn’t do this without YOU!

Newsletter-10-2015

~Your Feet To The Unreached in PNG,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

We are getting to the point where we feel comfortable in all situations here in PNG; we are able to go around town, meet new people and converse with them. Transitioning from English to Tok Pisin, from a western Christian mindset to a roman catholicized animistic eastern worldview is getting to be quite seamless for us, and it is very encouraging. It is always nice to get the compliment “your Tok Pisin sounds good” from the nationals or veteran missionaries.

Our Work Crew

Seth has also had some interesting things happen to him. He got a flu that lasted for 4 days that had many similar symptoms to malaria (but wasn’t), he got his first infection (which spread into 3 open sores, sorry we wont share the pictures :)) and is finishing up a 10 day treatment of antibiotics. Nicole has a skin fungus and is on the rebound taking medicine. This all happened in the midst of several busy weeks, we had many hats like; demoing a house, then transitioning to other maintenance projects, and then the next week we had someone come from the main office to train us to learn how to use “pronto”, which is a computer system we use for the store and supply buying.

Medical Supplies For Tribes

We have focused on the store (supplies the base and tribal missionaries), solely for over 10 hours a day this past week, cleaning, logging things into the computer, counting inventory, organizing, and learning how to use the computer system effectively. The store has been doing really well the past two month since we started managing; it has been encouraging to help out with this specific ministry that blesses missionaries in the bush and in town. With the rodent problem, PNG weather, and other mishaps, it was hard to get the store to a clean and working order but now, we think it will run smoothly and be even more of a blessing to all those on the base and the tribal missionaries. Seth is always running to town trying to get all the supplies tribal missionaries ask for, we want the people in the bush to know we are here to support and encourage them as they are on the front lines.

Nicole Working on Inventory

We are getting opportunities to disciple people both in English and in Tok Pisin, both nationals and other expats as they transition. Please pray we are faithful to these relationships and sharing the Gospel when God gives us the opportunity, but this too is His will, or as we would say in Tok Pisin “sapos Bikpela i laik” (If the Lord’s wills). We also get many opportunities to exercise hospitality, with the many tribal missionaries coming and going, we make sure we keep their bellies full with good food and that they feel loved and encouraged, which can be a full-time job sometimes, but we love it.

We moved again…we had slept in over 100 beds on deputation. Now we have been to 3 of the 4 bases here in PNG, we have slept in 3 houses already here in Wewak, plus B.M. on our bush orientation. We moved this week and then we move again (hopefully for the last time till we build our tribal house, Lord willing) next week. Speaking of that, please pray for us; we are currently talking it over with a family whether or not it is of the Lord’s will that we would partner with them. The past two weeks we have spent a ton of time talking with this couple and discussing many aspects of tribal church planting and even asking the hard questions. We really like them and saw eye-to-eye on big and little issues, but it’s not a decision to make lightly, we are praying and fasting over this, please pray with us that God gives us wisdom and clear direction with this HUGE decision. If this really is what the Lord has for us, that would get us one step closer to the tribe.

We leave you with this picture and hopeful encouragement; here are 11 New Testament’s in languages in this region that HAVE NEVER had an opportunity to read God’s Word for themselves until recently, 9 of them have been completed since 2011. All of that was done by God’s will and faithfulness to His work, while using missionaries in the bush who are supported by co-workers in town, who are all supported by faithful supporters and churches like you! Thank you for doing your part of God’s Great Commission.

Recently Finished Tribal NT

Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

Independence Day

Happy October everyone,

This month really seemed to fly! So much has happened since we came back from bush orientation. We have learned a lot about what it takes to accomplish the big picture of reaching tribes here in PNG. Open our latest newsletter (link below) to read more. Thank you for “holding our rope”, we couldn’t be here with out YOU!

Newsletter: September, 2015.pdf

-Seth & Nicole Stokes, Your Feet to the Unreached in PNG

We are back from our Bush Orientation! Wow! These past 6.5 weeks have been so amazing. How can we possibly put it all into words. At least here we give a brief update in our newsletter, also, check out Stokes YouTube Channel for some videos from our time. Yes, some are just for fun and one is for kids. We will be writing more soon. Click the link below to view our latest newsletter. Thank you for joining us in this amazing journey!

Newsletter-July 2015