For the sake of brevity, we would appreciate all of your prayers! Please don’t write us too many questions seeing as the next 48-72 hours we will be rather busy.

But for those of you who love us and want to pray effectively and genuinely, Nicole is sick (similar to that of two and half years ago), and we are exploring some options to get long term help. Praise God it seems like it could be something easily rectified… but we will need to get several doctoral opinions before we proceed.

We love and appreciate you all, please pray for us. Thank you.

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

Many of you will be either having your Thanksgiving meal, or have already finished it by the time you receive this email…

Happy Thanksgiving! Our own Thanksgiving meal

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! We hope you all are taking full advantage of the blessing and opportunity you have to be with your family; whether it is a short drive, or a little hop on a plane or train, either way; if your work allows it, please enjoy your family! There are several people who cannot be with their family during this time… shift workers, people who have jobs that make it almost impossible to see their family because of the small allotted window or because of distance, and then there are those who are overseas; military and missionaries. As missionaries (all of our siblings are missionaries as well; on both sides) we understand that holidays are the hardest part of doing missions; being away from family, familiarity, and feelings of belonging. We say that because as missionaries we never feel like we “wholly” belong here in the jungle, always treated as “different”, and yes, we know we don’t belong in this world… but the joy of decorations, smiling faces of family, and nostalgia while you sit around the table makes your heart warm inside.

We have a lot of pineapples in our garden and we got to give them out to the people in the village! Just like the first Thanksgiving 🙂

For us, this is our third consecutive Thanksgiving being away from family, and in about a week or so the nearest ex-pats to us (about an hour away), will be phasing out and thus no one will be remotely near us (the closest ex-pats will be about 3 hours away), we thank God for the internet so that we can call and chat family; which lessens the separation. We say all of this to remind you to be thankful for what God has given you, even if your family is weird, you are uncomfortable with them, someone has a different political view, or someone brought the same dish as you did to the meal… it’s okay! Enjoy that time! Also, pray for the missionaries and military that you know who are away from family during this time… we are confident it is hard on them. As a family we focused on Revelations 7:12 as the key verse for our Thanksgiving, understanding that thanksgiving ought to be unto God for ever, with no reason or caveat attached, He is God and we must give thanksgiving unto Him without end. We love and appreciate you all!

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

Seth and Nicole Stokes

How many times does God provide us with the opportunity to make an eternal investment? We have just finished our first year at the Big Bay Bible School; though this school has been open for many years, there has never been a structured plan or a written curriculum developed. For us to share the countless stories and testimonies from the School and training would be endless, needless to say, God is working and He is doing great things in and amongst the students. We have had the privilege of living life-on-life with the students for the past 6 months, having them in our house, getting to know who they really are, and how they think; we have gotten to know their real needs and real struggles, one student said, “you didn’t just teach us in the classroom, but in our every day lives, as you worked with us. We learned through you and your wife’s example of being together, that ministry should be done as a married couple.”…

Please click on the link below to keep reading

Newsletter

Your feet in the Country of Vanuatu and the Tiale People,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

A Pastor’s testimony about the Bible school…

This is Pastor Jean Marc. He has been faithfully looking after a church in the middle of the island of Santo in the deep bush of our language group, the Tiale people for over 15 years. He was trained in a French speaking Bible college for 3 years, in which he told us he “learned nothing” because it was not done in a language he understood.

We asked him to come to Bible school, him and his whole family; wife and 4 kids, as we offer to train him in the national language, Bislama, along with some things being done in Tiale.

He has faithfully finished the first year, despite not being a strong reader, and he is eagerly waiting for the next two years of training we will offer him.

Please pray for the Bible School as we see God doing great things through it.

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

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

Thank you everyone for your prayers for Seth and the guys hiking! They made it back safely with no issues. We appreciate you all back home thinking about us and praying for us. Stay tuned for more about the trip and other exciting news here.

Your feet in Vanuatu,

-Seth and Nicole Stokes

Part of the road

View from the trail

The past few days have consisted of lots of lesson writing for the Bible College and now the next thing on the agenda for Seth is three day trip to a village about nine hours away. I (Nicole) will be staying back and having my young girls Bible study and holding down the fort.

Please pray for Seth, Daniel (Bible school student), and Patterson (pastor in training), as they have a long road to trek. Patterson will be taking his turn in this village to cover for their pastor as he has been studying here at the Bible College. Isaiah (Pastor in training) has been up there for the past few weeks and now it’s time to switch one last time before the school year ends. Please pray for Patterson during this time as he leads Bible studies, church services, youth events, and more during these next four weeks. Continue to pray for all of the students as the end of the school year can be a time where “senioritis” can set in; we want them to continue to be fully engaged in the lessons and glean as much as possible before they depart.

Your feet in Vanuatu to the Tiale people,

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

We wanted to share some highlights and testimonials from the marriage seminar, we are still hearing many positive testimonials from the 15 couples. Continue in prayer that all of the teaching and counseling will impact not just the families that were involved, but also other families and communities by proxy.

The group that helped cook

The Marriage Conference Group

One of the men in attendance said; “its like heaven came down to us”, he said that because now he better understands “how to love my wife…and how to train my children according to God’s Word”. He continued, “I have been saved for years, I have heard various teachings on this topic, but they always felt as if it was a hawk flying high above my head, I could see it, but it never came down to me. Now, it is as if the teaching came down and walked on the earth with me, now I can see it, touch it, and understand… now I know what the teaching is actually and how it applies to my life”.

Another man said; “the teaching made me have a feeling of refreshment, now my marriage has a chance to go on the proper path that God wants for my family and I”.

Another man stated, “now 15 families have the opportunity to reflect God’s purpose in marriage to all of those around them”.

While Seth was reflecting upon some of the teachings with one of the men, the man replied; “now I want to focus on training my son to be a godly man, I see now that it is my job to do so”. This is a very encouraging perspective and revelation, many of the people here, Christian or not, a church member or pastor; have a very mystical approach with God. They believe that God will move and do everything, and they themselves do not need to do anything in the process. One man once said, “I pray that God will teach my children”. Seth replied, “why don’t you teach them”? The shock on his face, the surprise, the realization that he was missing ‘his opportunity’ with his kids, because now all of his children are grown up and out of the house. This is a very real truth we continue to see here; their animism greatly impacts their Christian walk. This mystical approach to God hinders them, and they forget (or don’t know) how to apply their personal responsibilities that God has commanded them to do.

The following Sunday of the seminar at church, a man stood up during “open time” and said this to the congregation; “the marriage seminar encouraged me because I know now it is not too late to start anew in my marriage. God is like a source where water comes out, it has no end. He can make anything become fresh again. While I was in the study, it made me feel like a mango tree (a very seasonal tree, which is a special treat here) was nearby, and all of the fruit ripened at the same time. I looked at the tree and realized I would not be able to eat all of the fruit at once, but I enjoyed what I could eat, I left full and happy”.

Continue to pray that God changes people more into His image, one at a time, family by family, village by village. All for His glory.

Here are some photos from the past weeks…

A new addition to the Bible School Students… a new baby!

Ladies Bible Study

Digging new holes for toilets for the Bible School

Rainbows in the sky… reminds us of Gods promises!

Seth and Nicole Stokes, your feet to the Tiale People and to the country of Vanuatu

So what has been happening in Vanuatu? Well a lot… more than can be summed up in a few paragraphs. Let us start off with this…  “It is like heaven came down to us”. This is a testimony from one of those who attended the marriage seminar, they were reflecting upon how the teaching has changed how they view their responsibilities within their family… 

To continue reading please click on the link below.

Newsletter

We greatly appreciate you all reading our updates and continuing to lift us up in prayer. We love and miss you all! Thank you for your partnership in reaching the people of Vanuatu with the knowledge of Christ.

Your friends and feet in Vanuatu and to the Tiale people,

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

Thank you for your prayers! Marriage Conference was a success. 15 married couples and 3 young men in training all grew in their understanding of what a Godly-marriage ought to look like. Many of the couples have already shared that their marriage has changed for the better! The young men said, “now we have a chance to start our marriage the right way”. Praise God! We are excited to see how God continues to use this teaching in the lives of all who attended. Pray with us that the Lord continues to bring the teachings to mind on a regular basis as daily challenges arise and choices are made to walk in the new teachings and what Gods has revealed to them. Thank you for partnering with us!

It is that time again… time to do another first! We are hosting a marriage/family seminar here in the jungle! We have a total of 15 married couples coming to this event; some of whom are in leadership in various capacities, i.e. pastors and deacons, others are students of the Bible college here… all of which we are deeply invested in and are discipling.

Conference Time!

This seminar is birthed by a deep need and desire that we see amongst our people, many of whom know nothing of a Godly marriage, nor understand the purpose of marriage. Seth will be teaching and Nicole will be assisting in both hosting capacities along with helping to answer questions when we have open time.

If you would take a moment to please pray for us and everyone attending the conference Wednesday through Friday; it will be a busy time, but we pray that the Lord makes everything very clear and practical in the lives of the people.

May the Tiale people and the Bible college students look different from the rest of the people in Vanuatu, in that they reflect Christ in their marriages.

Thank you so much for your prayers! We greatly covet your partnership in the Gospel.

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