This is especially for those of you who do not have Facebook. So this morning, Seth was in a lot of pain and knew needed to go to the hospital. So we rushed out to take him. They were not letting anyone in to the hospital and we just had to drop him off.

They admitted him immediately and within the hour we received news from the doctor saying that it is a good thing that we got Seth to the hospital when we did because his appendix had ruptured about 12 hours prior and had a gangrenous end on it and was infected and the infection was starting to spread. So he will be in the hospital at least overnight if not possibly over the weekend. It all depends on how he does in recovery. He is doing well and is on the mend and will be on antibiotics and IV. They are not allowing anyone to visit or go into the hospital. So I will be waiting at home to hear when we can pick him up. Please keep him in prayer as he is in the hospital! Thank you so much for all your love and support through this.

We are praising God that we are home in America during this time and that we were able to rush to the hospital. Had we been in Vanuatu and in the bush at this time, things would look a lot different. We just keep thanking God for that! God is good has has perfect timing!

Will keep everyone posted as we hear more.

Thank you!

~Nicole, for Seth too

Hello everyone!

We hope you are all staying sane in quarantine and have been able to enjoy this time at home, to some extent. It has been a good time for us to spend extra time with family, get caught up on rest, and simply learn to be content with where God has us at this time. These are different days we are all living at the moment. We wish we could be in Vanuatu helping our friends rebuild their homes and communities after the destruction of category 5 tropical cyclone Harold, that recently devastated the country. In God’s timing we will do that. But for now we wait…

Stay tuned to our Instagram feed for more pictures… @stokingthefires

Please click on the link below to read our current newsletter:

Newsletter-April, 2020

Also, here is the link to watch the livestream interview with our home Pastor, Marc Likins (mentioned in newsletter): https://livestream.com/accounts/15180731/events/7603913/videos/204260325 

Livestream

Thank you all!

Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

Many of you have asked us how we are doing… so here are the abbreviated questions and answers you may have.

1. How is Nicole doing with all of her doctor visits and medications? We have had several doctors from various fields weigh-in on Nicole’s situation. Her doctors are still processing her diagnosis and trying to run more tests to better understanding how to proceed. Nicole is currently transitioning medications from one form to another, which will hopefully have no long-term side effects. Pray that her body agrees with the new medication.
2. Medical fees? We are grateful that we have good health insurance; so far, we have only had to pay out of pocket for very minimal things.
3. Tickets to America? Our home church graciously paid for our plane tickets out of Vanuatu and to the States
4. Unexpected costs? As of now, we are paying for food and transportation during our time in the States and as we did while in Australia, which we did not plan for… these months were originally budgeted for us to be back in our house in Vanuatu until April.
5. Any losses from this trip? We are hoping that the 4-6 months’ food supply we had purchased does not spoil in the tribe while we are gone… food in Vanuatu is considerably more expensive than in the USA, FYI.
6. Any needs while you are here this time? We currently are looking forward to purchasing a vehicle; with us being here, for 2-3 months this time around, and then coming back in August for a proper furlough, we are looking forward to purchasing a vehicle that will last this term. We are looking to purchase a vehicle for $2,500, that should cover the costs; vehicle, title transfer, and new tires that the vehicle will need… we are currently using Seth’s mom car, which she is graciously allowing us to use, but we do not want to rack up miles on her vehicle.
7. How is your house? Even though a cyclone passed not too long ago in Vanuatu, thankfully we boarded up the house right before we left and are ‘assuming’ no damages occurred. We were not able to “shut down” the solar batteries for our house before we left… because it was an unplanned exit, so we are hoping the batteries and the solar equipment have no issues when we go back.
8. How are the Tiale people? We have been able to get a few messages here and there from the men Seth has been training. Right before we left, Seth gave the men a 3-month study of practical steps to grow in their Christian faith. We got word that the men have been loving their study, which is awesome! Also, “coincidentally” in late November (2019), Seth had planned all the local churches in our area to start teaching a Foundational Bible Curriculum weekly. It is approximately an 18-month program, and the men started in January… so the churches are still being fed and the men are still going deeper in our absence, praise God!
9. When do you plan on going back? As long as Nicole remains healthy and gets better, we plan on leaving at the end of April to head back to Vanuatu.
10. What have you enjoyed doing since being back? We have genuinely enjoyed all of the fellowship with people. While in Vanuatu, we do not get to meet up with people regularly; to talk in English, and to have deep spiritual conversations, so this has been quite a blessing. We hope you all do not forsake the blessing God has given to you to be able to do this regularly. It has been a great change of pace for us since being back!

Please continue to pray for Nicole and her recovery. Pray for our doctors to have wisdom and for us as a couple to know how to navigate through this time.

Thank you for your prayers! Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! We have been blessed and are greatly encouraged by how Nicole has been received during this time of uncertainty. Everything is new to us, and yet, everyone has been very understanding, and has encouraged us to rest during this time.

Sorry for the delay in writing an update, but we ourselves were waiting for some “new” results and answers as we continue to visit various doctors, consult others, and wait for lab results. All of the doctors are encouraged with Nicole’s progress, and if we had to “personally evaluate” her health, we would say she is encroaching the 90% range… and if you were in communication with me in early January, there was some fear that that might never be the case. So we are praising God and are thankful for His grace!

We also received some other good news this past week, that there might be an alternative long-term medicine other than the one she is currently on, that would be significantly better for her health long-term, with less side-effects, and more importantly… won’t require monthly blood work. This new medicine would require us to get yearly lab results and not monthly! Which in our case, is quite a huge deal!

Continue to pray for wisdom as we seek to better understand Nicole’s diagnosis, and what she needs to recover, along with maintaining her health. We also received a lab result back this past week, and the doctor was quite concerned with a particular level, and is hoping it was a ‘lab error’, and not indicative of what’s going on inside of Nicole. We will be getting some new lab tests to either correct the error or confirm the possible problem… which would mean Nicole would have to go on another medication to remedy that ‘other’ issue. We are not against medicine, but we know that the less medicine the better, so let’s hope and pray there was an error in the lab.

We will be meeting with a specialist doctor who wants to try some “other” routes with Nicole, for the next month, along with continuing our monthly checkups and labs for Nicole until we head back to Vanuatu.

Thank you for your love and support! We greatly appreciate you all!

Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

Thank you so much for your constant prayer for Nicole during this time!

It is quite unbelievable to think that Nicole has been in the hospital for almost 30 days! She is officially being discharged today!

What does that mean?

We will be heading back to the “states” as of our tomorrow. We will head back to get Nicole 100%, or whatever that may look like. She will be on longterm medication, and will need to have regular checkups and bloodwork to make sure the medication is staying within the “therapeutic window”. So at minimum, we will be back until April for a “medical furlough”.

We will be spending the bulk of our time getting Nicole recuperated, having a good routine, and being encouraged by our home church. We might venture to see family, but that is dependent on Nicole’s recovery.

Any details?

Many of you have asked, and quite honestly we were being vague because the doctors themselves were unsure… very similar to last time back in June of 2017. Because she relapsed, this has made the doctors label her illness in the mental health category. But because of her age, onset, and overall good health, she is a-typical and does not fit the “textbook examples”. To make a long story short; she had a series of “manic episodes” in quick succession making her unable to sleep, thus becoming unwell. Living in the jungle, with no one nearby (3 hours from town), and no real medical facilities to help long term… we had to leave the country, and Nicole was even involuntarily checked into the hospital upon arrival because of how ill she was.

If you remember from her last bout with this illness, the doctors labeled it as an “infectious disease”, which is clearly not the case anymore.

Anything with the brain is a “guess-science”, there are no blood test or scans that clearly tell you what you have. But thankfully through the wisdom God has given mankind, we have medicine that can now help, and in Nicole’s case, supposedly “reduce the chances” of ever having another episode. There are some side-effects of the medication, and that is another part of the recovery process we will have to figure out.

We have a cornucopia of emotions from all of this… but one thing has not changed; we eagerly await to serve our God back in Vanuatu. One of the things that sustained us through this hardship was the affirmation of doing this work for our Lord. As Nicole was recovering, she constantly would be telling the nurses and doctors she cannot wait to go back and serve in Vanuatu. I (Seth) have never wavered in our goal and mission, although I am content with “the when” of returning, the Tiale people and Bible college have been on my mind every day.

We are not sure why God has allowed (many theological phrases one could could use here) this happen to Nicole, and we are at peace knowing, we don’t need to know. Job was never told “why”, or “saw” why God would do such a thing, and Job was far more righteous and suffered far more than us. But there is something in learning peace and patience that ties intrinsically to contentment that we cannot quite articulate to you all. We both have learned patience and peace more deeply through this event. We are content in whatever our Master has for us.

We love and appreciate you all! We look forward to seeing some of you at church this Sunday.

Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

We want to say thank you to everyone for their prayers. We appreciate your love for us.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Nicole has been recovering slowly, and she has been making strides in her recovery. She is still in the hospital, and will be there for at least a week longer, if not more…

Many of you hopefully enjoyed the opportunity to be with family, it was strange to not be able to celebrate Christmas together… visiting hours and other patients, etc. but tried to make the best of it, even if it was in a hospital. We read the Christmas story, shared the gospel with two other patients who were inquiring about God… I (Seth) even spent some time with the Pinero’s (late at night with them, after visiting hours).

Continue to pray as Nicole recovers, this will not be something done in a day, we now better understand what happened 2.5 years ago, so our goal is to come home for a period of time and get several opinions, and make sure we do what’s best for Nicole and her health long-term. Once we get that sorted out, we will then plan to head back to Vanuatu. But for longevity’s sake, Nicole’s health comes first.

Thank for your partnership in prayer through this time. We love and appreciate you all.

Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

I want to say ‘thank you’ to everyone praying for Nicole and I during this time of uncertainty.

Because of the onset of things, the severity, and the various symptoms the doctoral team was not quite sure “what was the problem”.

For the first three days they put Nicole on one track of medication, after seeing that it was not effective, they changed over (Tuesday night) to track two of medication. Between the medication and actually getting a full nights sleep (the first in almost 2 weeks!), Nicole made major improvements (our Wednesday). She still has several steps of improvement needed, but we are praising God for each step.

The new medication is suppose to take 4-5 days to be able to fully witness its efficacy. Which means that is the weekend. No one said a time frame to us (because of its moment by moment case), but earliest Nicole would be released is Monday (my speculation alone).

Continue to pray that Nicole sleeps well every night, because rest is what her body needs, and will drastically propel her recovery. Also, pray that this new medication is the proper medication for Nicole. If so, she will be on it long term.

Our plan, once Nicole is well enough to travel, would be to go back to America (PGH) and get some long term help. Once things get settled, and Nicole is full recovered, return to our Tiale friends. All of this, is dependent on the will of God alone. As we know, God moves through the prayers of His people. We greatly covet your prayers.

We cannot say it enough, THANK YOU.

Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

I cannot begin to tell you all the small miracles that God worked timing wise to get Nicole from the bush Vanuatu, to a first world country’s hospital in about 12 hours. God enabled Nicole (to the minute) to walk with assistance to and from the plane to show the flight attendants she was in “good enough” health to travel… I’ll be honest, she wasn’t. But by Gods grace a doctor (who was lovely) came with us from the clinic (Medical Santo) on our island, endured the two different plane trips.. got us through customs because she had the proper paperwork, and then put us on an ambulance (she even took care of our luggage). From leaving the bush by the assistance of some Tiale people, to the Medical Santo work team, to the staff at the Hospital here in Australia, everyone has been a huge help.

We literally purchased 3 of the last 5 tickets off of the island to fly commercially. If we missed that flight, we would have had to wait two days for the next flight. The insurance company flat out told me, that waiting for approval for a medevac could take up to a week… last time it took over 55 hours. So we were grateful that this route was available.

Nicole is currently being looked after by a full time staff. Since it is the weekend the specialist won’t be able to check her out appropriately until Monday. Once I get some news from them, I will give another update. There are some talks that if she gets stable, we might be able to be transferred to the States (PGH). But no definitive timing on that…

Pray communication between the hospital and insurance goes well, we have full coverage but everyone always has their issues. It’s the weekend so the offices aren’t communicating with each other. Nicole was just admitted and things will get “sorted out” later. There are a few things we’ve already had to pay out of pocket (some of you have already asked how you can help, thank you).

I am allowed to see Nicole from 10a-8p. Because of the ward she is in, no electronics are permitted for privacy purposes. I can bring meals, there’s a kitchen for me to cook for her (they provide meals as well), and there are several crafty things for us to at the hospital to do together while she recovers. So in short, I get to ‘date my wife’ while she recovers.

Continue to pray for her recovery, she did significantly better in just one day. Tuesday-Friday was the worst of it thus far, Saturday she showed much improvement.

For those of you who followed us from two and a half years ago, this is identical to what happened then. The doctors realize now, since it is a reoccurrence, that they misdiagnosed her last time, and seem significantly more confident of what is actually the problem now. They seem confident they can remedy her ailment.. she just needs some time to heal since her body went through such a taxing episode.

We desperately covet your prayers.

Before we left, I was able to close off the house before cyclone season hits. I was also able to give the men I’m discipling lessons to study for the next 3 months… so the ministry is still progressing and the churches are still being strengthened. Pray for the men since we were at some very crucial steps with them in their faith and understanding of Gods Word.

Your feet (that you are bathing in prayer) to the Tiale people and the country if Vanuatu, Seth and Nicole Stokes

We will share more in depth of how God worked to make it even possible for us to get from the deep bush of Vanuatu to a major hospital in Brisbane Australia in a little over 12 hours.

Truly it is only a testimony of your prayers. Thank you.

I (Seth) was able to sleep for the first time (about 4 hours) since Wednesday (4 days ago) while Nicole was administered to the hospital and being taken care of. We should be able to see a specialist within the hour (it’s not 8am yet here in Australia).

We will give more information when able.

Thank you so much for your prayers, continue to pray to our most Mightily and capable Father so He can show the doctors what to do for Nicole. We covet your prayers.

Love, Seth and Nicole Stokes

After several roller coaster days and finally being able get to town, we are hopeful we can jump on a commercial plane in 5 hours (if the doctors here can get her to a comfortable place) and arrive in Brisbane around midnight, so that, Nicole get diagnosed properly and receive whatever help she needs.

Talking with insurance companies now, waiting to see how Nicole reacts to the meds, and then… purchase the plane tickets. Needless to say many moving parts.

One medication arrived to help in the transition process just 30 minutes ago! God is listening to YOUR prayers. Keep it up!

Thank you very much! God bless! Seth and Nicole Stokes.