Author Archives: Stokingthefires

Learning Language

Awesome People

It has felt like riding a bike these past two weeks; learning the process of how to ride again, to stand up on your own, and then get ready to hit the many bumps in the road, while trying to get the rust off the chain. That is how we felt about these past two weeks.

We are now on the last leg of language learning (we will always have room to grow in the proficient level)! Before we got back into full-time language learning we had a month of running around and helping out the mission in various capacities, which in turn allowed us to get great language exposure and meet some great people. Now we are back into a full swing of language learning so that we can finish this phase well…but as the problem with all journeys, nothing usually goes as planned.

This past week we had a couple of hiccups in language learning, but everything of course is God-ordained. For about a day and a half Seth spent his time with Interface Students; this is a 6-week program that gives high school age to young adults a crash course into tribal missions, classes all day on the process of missions, as well as a week spent in a tribe (hyperlink). Seth was asked to give a devotional for them, and he talked to them about living a life that “takes the responsibility of showing forth God’s glory to all nations” (2 Cor. 1-12,). Many of them walked away contemplating the message and felt heavy with the responsibility that God has put on each and every one of His children to bring the fame of His name to all people 2 Cor. 4:7.

This week we also had a virus hit us, Nicole was literally taken out for 3 days with various symptoms, and Seth had a lesser case of it with missing a day due to the virus. We both are still recovering and our energy is not what it normally is, but God has all things worked out for His glory, even our sickness.

We have about 10 days till we do our bush orientation (begins our July 28^th), once we arrive to our bush location, we will go dark (no internet) so if you want to say hello or good-bye, this week is the time. Our next blog will be more detailed on this topic. We wanted to propel you all to the next blog and give you a notice, but also apologize because we will post several blogs this next week so that we can communicate with you all while it is possible!

Thank you for your faithfulness in reading our posts, we cannot be here without you, we covet your prayers as we prepare to finish Tok Pisin, head out to Bush orientation, and recover from this nasty virus.

Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes.

                                                                                                Romans 15:20

A big bug!

June began with Nicole’s birthday and July began with our 4th anniversary. This past month was full of language learning! Click the link below to read our latest newsletter. Thank you for joining us in reaching the unreached in Papua New Guinea! ~Seth & Nicole Stokes

June-2015: Newsletter

Cathy Teaching Nicole How to Fish PNG Style

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” –Francis of Assisi

“…And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” –Col. 3:17

The bible has a lot to say about “word and deed”, sometimes it refers to one as good and the other not as good or sometimes it couples them together to make an emphasis. There are some who believe you never need to speak the Gospel but just live it out, and people will come to Christ…that would be the pendulum swinging too far in one direction. These thoughts give the context to the story we are about to share. Last week Nicole received an exciting phone call, one of our dear friends (from Madang, PNG) got saved! Please rejoice with us! Her name is Cathy, and she has an immediate desire to train up her 5 kids “in nurture and admonition of the Lord”. She does not want to gossip or get angry anymore but rather live out her Christian life by following and obeying the Lord. Cathy was such a great help to us in Madang, not just someone who helped us learn language and culture, but a friend who we literally had an amazing last meal with in Madang (with two iPhone flashlights for light). Nicole spent a lot of time with her, I (Seth) would always provide times for them to get together and try to play with the kids so that they could get good time talking and sharing life with one another.

Cathy called us last week and told us how she got saved. She told us what she was thinking, “I must get saved now, I must follow God and obey Him”. Our Pastor in Madang (Japheth, a national) preached a message on how Christians should look different and remember who they were before Christ and how they are to live differently afterwards. Cathy heard this message and realized she couldn’t think of a clear line of demarcation of when her spiritual life began. Japheth’s mom, Anna (a godly woman, who Nicole and I talked and prayed with many times regarding Cathy’s salvation) sat her down and talked things through with her (in Tok Pisin-her heart language) to make sure of her decision. Shortly thereafter, we all gained a new sister in Christ! Cathy thanked us; she said that God used Japheth’s preaching, Anna’s counsel, and our testimony to bring her to Christ. She said that we would always talk about God and how great He is and how He changed our lives but couldn’t think of when God changed her life.

This is so encouraging to us! We never thought we would be able to help someone come to the Father until we “learned” the language fully, but God in His grace and mercy allowed this time to bless us and motivate us to press on. We share this story not to our account, but to God and yours! We want to say thank you to all of our supporters and to those who are behind us, this is fruit to your account!

Cathy is just one of the millions here in PNG who need Jesus. Many cults have come and even some “good evangelical missions” as well, but they did not take the time to sit down, learn the language, and then stay to be a testimony and a road to show them how to live in Christ. There is a great veneer of Christianity here in PNG, there have been a lot of good intentions from many missionary agencies, but salvation comes by God alone. You cannot add liturgy, works, a list of “do’s” or “don’ts”, or anything else! Jesus is enough; He is the only way to heaven. He has given us this great commission to not only preach His message, not to only live like He lived, but also to help others understand who they are without Christ and grow them into mature, replicating, God-worshippers.

“…let us not love with word…but in deed…” –1 John 3:18

“For I will not dare speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the gentiles obedient, by word and deed.” –Romans 15:18

Wow! This past month has gone so fast. We have had a very good but busy few weeks with a big move in between. God is so good and we are already settling into our new home. The people here are such a blessing! Click the link below to read our latest newsletter. Thank you for being a part of our team! ~Seth & Nicole Stokes

Newsletter: May-2015

A Sharks Tale  

Yes, we have a shark’s tale…well two of them. On the lighter side, Seth has made really good relationships with many nationals and he has gone out fishing several times now with the men. One day Seth went fishing with the guys, they hooked a baitfish to a floater and let it go, after some time a large fish, so they thought, took the bait and sunk the floater. Eventually, the floater resurfaced and Seth started pulling the string up, all the guys were talking about how it had to be a big yellow fin tuna. Well, once it was close to the top and everyone saw what it was (a 10 ft. thrasher shark), the guys leaped in fear and one man grab his bush knife and almost surgically hit the shark across the brain in one quick and powerful swing. They were all excited! They also caught some mackerel and several other fish that day. They shared their catch amongst them all…and that is Seth’s story of catching a shark.

Another shark tale we will share will allow you to get into the “typical” mindset here in PNG. One day we were at our friend’s house, and we were making small talk, when we asked our friends what was going on with their dog’s tail. We knew the dog had gotten into a little fight and flies landed on top of his skin and it was infected. Our friends began to tell us that they let the dog eat sharks skin and now his “skin was turning into sharks skin”. This is how some perceive things as they have been impacted by their ancestral stories, but they are also occasionally hearing pieces of Biblical truth around town. They are constantly impacted by their former way of thinking. One person we know has several good friends who are pastors and one a shaman. He will tell you, you need to go to a church on Sunday morning but if you get sick you should see the powerful shaman; he can fly like a bird, turn into a dog, kill people and more. These people are educated people, and live close to town, and yet because they have not heard a true and pure Gospel they have not yet experienced the life changing effects of how our very minds are transformed.

That is just the tip of the iceberg, we have been here for 3 months and are just now getting to understand how they really think…this job cannot be done too quickly, or else you will add to their pantheon of gods and encourage syncretism. You can have the right words, but if you do not know how to deliver them through the grid of their worldview, you might as well use another language. We are called to teach others to “observe all things” (Matt. 28:20), and not leave them as babies, ignorant of what God expects from their life, we are called to help grow them into mature Christians.

Trasher Shark

Mackerel

Things to expect in PNG #2

When you go around PNG expect to see a grave in the front yard, it is their culture to keep their family close by and always think about them.

Expect to see everyone talking about malaria as if it’s normal, or to constantly ask “do I have a parasite in my bowel?” is just another normal part of life here.

Expect to see young kids with no clothes run around every where, expect to see 2 year old babies playing with a bush knife and a young 3 year old girl pretend/practice to do house work, cook and garden.

2yr old with a machete

Expect to always be a little confused, they have some words that are quite ambiguous, as well as learning “what brother means”… they have another kind of kinship (your dads brother is your little father).

Expect to see people standing in the middle of the road or see people sleep on the road. When school lets out it is a scary thing, you have hundreds of kids walking home (there are no buses) from school on the roads, and there are no sidewalks…

Expect to always be a little uncomfortable, have you tried sitting down on a 2×4 for hours at a time?…

Expect to see people looking at a tree and thinking how many things they can make out of it. For example, coconut/tree: mat, blinds (siding for a house), fan, bag, firewood, food, oil, parts to the house, tools and more).

We are enjoying the PNG diet plan. In a month or so, we have lost a combined 43 lbs. take away fast food, sitting down (you have to walk everywhere), skipping meals regularly when you are with people, “sweet foods” are hard to find and expensive, add the humidity into it, you have our PNG diet plan. If the Atkins diet, beach body, and P90X are not doing the job, come on over and spend some time with us J

“A tiny group of believers who have the Gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story. “ –K.P. Yohannan

“The drug of the American dream kills the brain cells of eternal thinking”- C. Hickman

Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes

Hope spring is in full swing and you are enjoying the sunshine again! We are so thankful to have YOU as part of our team. We would love to hear from YOU anytime. Feel free to write us and ask any questions. Thank you for taking the time to keep up with our journey! God is doing amazing things here in Papua New Guinea.

Below is the link for April’s newsletter.

Newsletter: April-2015

“All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God, because they reckoned on His being with them”. –J. Hudson Taylor

This blog will be a little different, we will keep the names anonymous in the stories we will share…but know this, giants (of our faith) walk among us. Unless you get close to them and hear their story, you will never know what God is doing in and through them, you will never know the journey of how much God has brought them through.

Time after time people have come to Papua New Guinea to serve as missionaries, many come, but many go. This field is not easy: it is hot, there are diseases everywhere, infections and stomach problems are common, and you hear of someone having malaria as often as you see the rain coming during rainy season. This field has an astronomical attrition rate, but there are many times God shows His glory to and amongst His fallible and fragile creations. Here are 3 short stories:

1. The wife of a close friend of ours has had many health issues, sick from time to time removing them from their tribe in which they are working. Eventually they got x-rays and found a massive tumor in her brain. Everyone’s heart dropped and prepared for the worst. They have kids, they are doing an awesome work, and it makes you wonder what God is doing. As they were walking onto the plane to fly to Australia and seek better direction medically, the husband turned around and told his friend who had dropped them off, “I will be back”. Wow! People, he is saying with or without his wife he was coming back! When we were going around raising our support we met people who said they couldn’t do missions because they were afraid of flying, they like modern conveniences, they don’t like bugs or the heat, and yet this man saw missions not as an option, but as a mandate, an obligation (Rom.1:14). To go and share the Good news of Jesus Christ, even if he lost his wife…God spared his wife for now, and they are back in PNG serving full-time.
2. Another man had his wife diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor as well. They, with their young kids, were already in Australia and the doctors gave her less than 6 months to live. However, she made it only a couple of weeks, and then passed. Within less than one month after his wife’s passing, this man was able to collect his things and purchased tickets to come back to PNG in the near future. He just lost his wife, his kids lost their mother, and yet he sees the message of the cross and the worthiness of our Savior that nothing will hinder him from serving our God full-time in missions.
3. The final story we will share for now, another man and his family had 3 medevacs in less than a year. First time, his young son went limp and had no body functions for a while; the Lord healed him and the doctors are still not sure what happened. Second time was a severe case of malaria. Third time, this man’s wife had severe body pain, she began to have open sores and pustules that oozed, not the nicest of things. Her bones ached and it was laborious for her to move. Eventually they took her to the doctors in Australia and they didn’t know what was going on with her either. She came back with little improvement; this was a crucial time in the ministry. This was the time they were presenting the Gospel for the first time. As she sat down in pain she shared with the team, “I got it! I know what God is teaching us, He is teaching us to trust Him! He is worthy of our trust”. Such a simple statement, and yet so profound, this was said and done in the midst of a trial.

We pray you have been blessed as we have been by these stories of faith building. Our God is worthy of our trust and there is no trial too BIG to remove us from His will and serving Him in missions. Because He is worthy of our trust!

Your feet in PNG to the unreached, Seth & Nicole Stokes

We know what you are thinking, you think we just watched Pinocchio, but we can assure you we have not watched that movie in almost a decade. We have been busy spending a lot of time in the nearby village with the people. Instead of comfortably taking one of the vehicles we have as a mission and going grocery shopping by ourselves (the American style), we went to the village, grabbed a friend and hopped on a PMV (Public Motorized Vehicle). We are trying to learn to do things the way the locals do. It was Nicole’s first time on a PMV, and it was fun! The driver goes as fast (no posted speed limits) as he wants and around whomever he likes. Some of the things we experienced while on the PMV: sitting with 24 people in a 15 passenger van, red betel-nut spit on the windows, no AC, typical PNG music playing, the smell of lots of sweaty bodies close to you, and people loving to “accidentally” bump into us to feel our white skin. This is a great way to travel, it is really inexpensive; to town cost’s about $.76 cents. We went to all of the stores our friend wanted to go to, he showed us all of the “local” stores, and we showed him some places we have found that we liked.

To show our gratitude to some of our friends/language helpers we bought some dough balls (which everyone loves, including us), and a carbonated beverage, he was very thankful. Food is a typical way to show you appreciate them and value their friendship. We walked all around the town taking in the many sights, and then got on another PMV to head home. Quite a fun trip, it was great to learn a more about their perspective of everyday life.

Whenever we have a mealtime free, we usually invite our language helpers here on the base, Joshua and Amelia (and baby Russell) over and introduce them to American food and cooking; they loved looking at Jell-O, it was funny to them. We even taught them how to play the games Battleship and left right center! That was fun as well. Other times we are free we go to the local market to buy some local greens and maybe some small fish, bring some rice, and then go to the house of one of our friends in the village to sit down, talk, and eat. Little by little we try to live like they live, cook like cook. Have you ever tried starting a fire with only wet wood and a close to dying lighter? Seth had to learn. Nicole got to carry a baby the traditional way (in a string bag on her forehead) then she carried the baby and a bag of groceries for close to 3 miles. This is what life is like for most people in PNG. Seth learned how to make a mat (used to sit down, sleep, or rest on) and a fan for the fire both made of coconut tree branches. Seth learned to climb trees and Nicole is learning to make string bags. Time and time again we learn a new skill, the people use a term and call us a “real boy or girl”, meaning: we are becoming like them. They love seeing that process and are genuinely happy to help.

We are making great relationships, and little by little as we learn their language and culture, we try to point them to God, help them with basic hygiene and medical, show a difference in our lives to make them want God, and overwhelm them with love. We will randomly bring things to them to bless them; their culture doesn’t really have the concept of a “gift”. When we give them something freely using words to show it is free and has no strings attached, that they don’t owe us, you can literally watch their face in shock because they have never seen something like that before. It is nothing major, we don’t know their language fluently yet, but each little thing we can do we pray “stokes the fire” inside of them toward our Loving Father.

 Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes

Making a Mat

Cooking a Traditional Meal

Making a String Bag-“Bilum”

A PMV in Town

Greetings friends & family!

We have officially been here in PNG for 2 months and 2 day! The time sure has flown by! We are very thankful to be learning “Tok Pisin”, the national trade language and to be making great relationships with the people. Read our newsletter below to hear more. We could not be doing this without YOU! Yes, YOU! Thank you for being a part of our team! 🙂

Your feet to the unreached in PNG,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

March-Newsletter-2015

At least we are progressing! When you begin to learn another language you will always learn “words” in isolation first, then you move to sentences, eventually to full paragraphs. From there, you move on up to discourse level with hopes of one day being proficient (meaning you sound exactly as a national, not just with words and intonations, but also with culturally relevant topics and how you present the information in which you desire to communicate). There are 4 levels in which you can gauge a person’s language ability: basic, progressing, capable, and proficient. Within each of those levels (except proficient) there is a range of: low, mid, and high. Giving you a total of 10 language levels. At the beginning of this week, we had our first language evaluation. We were able to get in 30 days of actual language study, and after those 30 days Seth was marked at “progressing low” and Nicole was marked at “progressing mid”. This is awesome and encouraging! Our consultants told us we are marked in a place where we function at ALL times, but are able to communicate at higher levels some of the time. So that means at some point throughout the testing we were reaching other levels of language learning. So at this pace we might become “capable high” in the next 4-6 weeks. Once we can achieve this level we can then start ministering at a more full capacity and then start proactively seeking direction of which people group (tribe) to move into.

Speaking of consultants, we had a wonderful time with all of our consultants. We hosted 2 of the 6 men in our house, one consultant went to bed close to midnight and the other woke up around 5am. Seth loved this time so much; he was up after they went to bed and woke up before/at the same time with them so that he could glean as much as he could from these Godly men. We want to give a special Thank You to Aaron L. and his family who organized the weekend and gave us invaluable tools to learn language and to be able to plant a church that worships our Lord. We want to also thank; Tim, Aaron W., Eric, Brian, Greg, Jason, and Bill for giving us some much needed insight, thank you for sharing and giving us some helpful tools, thank you for your fellowship.

We learned so much this past week and were also given a lot of information about possible works/tribes with which God might lead us to. We are compiling a bunch of data and survey information on many of these tribes. Once we feel like we have enough information and a better understanding of what God is doing and how He is leading us, we will then share that information with you all and then ask you to partner with us in prayer. YOUR insight is valuable to us; please feel free to contact us and ask us questions to help us think through the information we have been given. We will not make this decision without YOUR help in prayer, guidance, and communication. This is far too big of a decision for one person to ever make. We will strive to progress further and further until we learn the national language, and then we will need your specific partnership in making this BIG decision.

 Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes

Language Check & Consultants