As we write this update to you all, we are currently underway in building the next facility at Big Bay Bible College. Thank you to all who gave! We received about 50% of the funds to complete the construction of the new dorms (facilities, beds, etc.). We know God is faithful and will take care of the mission He has given us, witnessing to the Tiale people here in Vanuatu, along with reaching into other language groups and even other islands!
Sundays=Hiking to nearby villages for church
Lord willing, by the end of this week the new dorm will be erected and remodelling will be underway with the other facilities. Of course language studies and discipleship have no end, whether it is helping with community projects, hosting teams, individuals, facing flooded rivers that have changed our plans several times, our ministry(s) are always progressing.
The new dorm building is underway!
Culture always comes at us, more and more each day we see ourselves understanding their worldview better and learning more as to why they do what they do, and also what is important to them. They always says things like, “we have tricked other people, but you have learned us well… other people don’t know how we think, but we can’t hide things from you”. It is always encouraging to be viewed as an “insider”. Living here day in and day out, we get to see who people really are. It is always a blessing to learn some new insights about the people here and to see them grow in little ways in their faith, we guess that is why God gave us a promise as laborers we will get to enjoy the fruit firsthand (2 Tim. 2:6).
Nicole’s “older brother”
The pastors in training are always growing, which is exciting! We just finished 1 Corinthians this past week and one of them said, “I want to tell God thank you for His word… I didn’t know what real love was until I read and studied 1 Corinthians 13”. Seth is always emphasizing spiritual maturity with the men as they study God’s Word. This is what one of the young men said regarding the Great Commission, “You have to have a father before you have a child, kid’s do not come first… too many people focus on having unwanted children, but not many try to make dads… that is the problem here in Vanuatu, too many children and no fathers”. God called us to make mature Christians not to just get them saved and leave them like an unwanted child. This is why we wanted to live among the people here and invest in the vision that God gave us.
Working in the garden
Seth still meets with the Pastors often, mainly trying to focus on life-on-life discipleship with them, building relationships, and speaking into their lives as God ordains. Continue to pray for them, God is growing and stretching each one according to their own struggles.
Working on a kitchen = life-on-life discipleship
Because of how the outreaches and preaching roster were constructed this year; we received feedback: “If it wasn’t for this calendar to keep us faithful, we would have lost one of our villages this year to a false religion… if it wasn’t for this calendar I would not have been faithful to any other place, I would not have encouraged those who needed it and would have neglected them just like I have for years… this calendar helps me pray for other villages… if it wasn’t for this calendar some of these villages would have pursued other religions… because of this calendar it kept me honest because I had accountability… now I choose when I go and do evangelism to villages that need it, before I only did it when other people told me to go, but now I mark the calendar and I choose for myself the villages to go to, before this calendar I always said I would go”… (As he smiled and said, “which was never”). Many things we do here impact deeper than we ever realize, this is an example of just one small thing the Lord led us to do to help keep things organized and hopefully expand our reach amongst the Tiale people.
Visiting a nearby village
Our home church is sending two members from our church to do a survey trip. One of which is our pastor and the other is a church member that Seth has known for almost 20 years. This will be an exciting (but very short) time! They will only be with us for less than 3 days, the other 3 days they will be in town with our co-workers’ ministry.
Mom and Dad Arrived!
Nicole’s parents got the full experience! They arrived here, got off the plane… and then we began the trek of the 3-hour drive to get to our village. It had rained that day so we had to wait for about an hour for the water to go down… Seth had to hike to a nearby village and ask a few men to assist by giving us weight in the back of the truck so we did not get swept away by the river. Just a normal day in the place we live… this is the sixth time we have had to stop at the river and wait for it to go down… and we know this will happen many more times. Nicole’s parents were impressed with what it takes to just get to “our home”. They have integrated well, they are getting over jet lag, and have worked every day already. Russ and Seth are doing odd jobs around the house to finish it off before cyclone season, and Nicole and her mom work around the house, getting things cleaned well before the humidity comes again and encrusts everything with mold.
Thank you for your faithfulness in following us in our ministry! We apologize for the delay in this update!
Your feet to the Tiale people. Seth and Nicole Stokes.
Stoking The Fires 