Seth and the Bible school students should be returning sometime tomorrow afternoon… It has been a special time of bonding with the girls and Pastor Gabby’s family for me, (Nicole), but I have really missed having my best friend here by my side. We have had a lot of fun but I will be happy to have Seth back. Please pray for the guys as they hike back home tomorrow, Monday, and for a restful day before they begin Bible school again on Wednesday.

Went Fishing

Shovelling Sand for Concrete

Our daily group meals while Seth has been away

In other news, we are about a month away from the arrival of Nicole’s parents! We are getting excited to spend a little over a month with them. Before they get here, we have some projects that need to come together before Russ, Nicole’s dad, has the supplies for the jobs he will be coming here to do. Please pray with us that these needs get met so that the Bible school property can undergo the renovations that it needs and Russ’ time here would be as productive as possible.

Click on the link below to read more…

Newsletter-August-2018

Seth with Patterson & Isaiah

Your Fee to the Unreached,

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

Nicole has slowly begun to not only integrate into culture and language, but also the ladies have begun to dive into each other’s lives. When Nicole had her incident last year the doctor told us to “ease” into things, especially the first two years or she could relapse. After listening to wise counsel, we adhered to their instructions.

Now Nicole has been to get to know the ladies not just in a linguistic or culturally sensitive ways, but in an intentional relational way that reflects the image of Christ. She has grown from limited interaction to now hosting a weekly Bible study (in Bislama) with 5 ladies, a weekly discipleship with another young girl, multiple meals hosted weekly, almost daily village life, and going on outreaches; near and far.

Ladies Bible Study

Bible Study with Younger Girls

Nicole has started a creation to Christ Bible study with the ladies where she engages them spiritually, challenging them to grow in their faith. She cooks with them, and even teaches them how to bake cookies! Of course crafts are a must, she even found a way to do beading with local supplies. She loves the constant interaction with them, and they love Nicole, always asking her to come around and they use the local word for “mom” or “aunt” towards her (when it applies).

Baking Cookies with Amber!

Teaching Susan & Sylvian how to make earrings

Local seeds used for beads found along the river

Our group enjoying sugar cane

Nicole has really knitted herself together with these 6-7 ladies in different ways, with each of them having a unique relationship. In Tiale land, regular women’s Bible studies and fellowship is a first for the women here and you can see these women really growing spiritually and growing together as a group. One of the mothers of the girls has even grown vicariously in her faith through her daughters, which truly shows the power of the Gospel and God’s endless grace.

Making dinner and being silly!

While Seth is away, the girls will play!

As many of you know, Seth left today to help build a church in one of our Tiale villages. So while he is gone (it has been raining like a monsoon for past three days), Nicole will be having several ladies over and investing into them. Please pray for Seth and the men, along with Nicole and the ladies. Incase you missed our earlier post, below is a link to view a brief video Seth made before heading out on the long 9+ hour hike in the rain.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

Hi everyone! Just wanted to post a quick video update to let you guys know that Seth and a bunch of guys are heading to a village about nine hours away and will be back on Tuesday. Please pray for them as they hike today and as they work on a new church building in the village. The old church building was destroyed by a previous cyclone. Thank you for praying for them and for me as I am back at home with some of the ladies from my Bible study.

Your Feet in Vanuatu,

~Seth and Nicole Stokes

Click on the link below:

https://youtu.be/UP8zAhgJhK8

If you have a kid or an animal you might understand this statement; wow, how they have grown! Why is it that people say that? It is because they have not seen that person or animal in some time, and in that period of time, to the outside person all they see is the growth, whereas you, the parent or owner do not notice the growth as much. Sure, you can tell and take note from time to time, but because you are with them day in and day out you do not reflect on the growth as much as you should. Over the past month or so, several local pastors here in our area have said, “wow, those young men are maturing”, referring to the four men Seth has been discipling. Seth is with them 4-7 days a week, teaching, working, eating, doing ministry, talking with and living with them. When we left them for a little over 10 days they said it “felt like a year or two since they saw us, they missed the fellowship”. If you were to see the four men Seth is training two years ago, you would be surprised; one had always succumbed to peer pressure, one was basically a mute and had no interest towards full time ministry, and the other two had so many rough edges it was hard to distinguish them from the other youth in the village.

Independence Celebration Preaching: Isaiah

Independence Celebration Preaching: Patterson

Independence Celebration Preaching: Kevin

Independence Celebration Preaching: Frankie

Through God’s grace alone, God’s Word, countless prayers (yours and ours), their willingness, and God’s timing, these young men are shaping into godly men. The one who fell under peer pressure is now standing up against witch doctors. The one who was almost a mute just preached in front of hundreds and wants to do no other work than ministry. The other two young men are now examples to the community in the village. Piece my piece, precept upon precept, and truth after truth, God is conforming them more into His image. He has promised to do the work; all we have to do is help them along in their journey. It is a privilege to see these young men discover truths and apply them to their lives; it makes us proud to see them go against the norm and serve God with their lives.

Class is in session!

Continue to pray for Kevin, Frankie, Isaiah and Patterson. Our Lord said we must go and make disciples, not of ourselves, but of Him. Pray they continue to conform to His image, for they are the ones who will make great change here in Vanuatu.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

There is something to say about the Christian life that those in the secular world cannot comprehend, when truth is being revealed for the first time it brings a joy to ones heart and they feel immediately different. Being here and experiencing it first hand, is rather amazing if we can be honest. There is never a day off, where Satan is not trying new ways to win people over and shoot a fiery dart long distance to try and cripple someone. But we have noticed that as we teach, encourage, and love on people they see that God’s Word is true freedom. They relate it to carrying a heavy backpack over many mountains, and once they confess and repent, they feel like they can skip as they cross the mountains because the backpack has been removed.

Seth has been training the men that sin has consequences, and that we as leaders need to be like doctors to help remove sin from peoples lives and make them whole again (restore them). As Seth and one of the local pastors were counseling a man and his wife, Seth was training the pastor that sin has layers, and touches more than one area of a person’s life. As the conversation progressed, after many questions, the man they were counseling said, “The chiefs dealt with my sin and I paid the price for my sin. I felt okay, but I felt like it was pitch-black and they were looking into my life like looking into a house, but they were just outside looking in through a window. But now you guys came, I feel refreshed, I feel fellowship, you used God’s Word, you pursued my heart, you came into my house and brought the strongest flashlight you had and checked every part of my life for sin. You did that not to judge me, but to show me where all the dirt was so I can clean it up and get right with God, thank you uncle”… (He calls Seth uncle). Please pray for this couple, Cho and Martha that they continue to grow in their relationship with God and with each other.

Bible School Student: Pattison

Bible School Student: Kevin

Bible School Student: Isaiah

Bible School Student: Francky

Time and time again we have seen the truths of God’s Word penetrate the hearts of the people, we even had a chief come to us and say, “How Christians talk and how those who are not Christians talk is totally different, it would just be better and easier if everyone was a Christian”. Here is another amazing story of how God’s Word penetrates hearts, Seth and the four Bible school students were going through Ephesians 5 and learning that there are no clauses or exceptions to how husbands ought to treat their wives. Whether she makes you happy or not you ought to love her just the same. Immediately after hearing these truths, the eldest of the four students stood up and said, “You two who are not married have a chance to go on the right path before you start, us two who are married started wrong, we have been on this road for years, going the wrong way, we now have to fix our path, we never heard these truths before, now we know them, now we have to follow them. You two… don’t be like us and start wrong, we didn’t know, now I have to go and fix my road”. God’s Word in itself is amazing and powerful, it is a light in the darkness, it leads us on the right path, and it will make us look different in a good way, if we let it. Praise God that He is all we need, He is enough, we are so thankful it does not depend on us.

Studying & Hard at Work

Your feet to the unreached, Seth & Nicole Stokes

We successfully made it back from our big outreach! It was a 5-day trip where we visited two main villages and 4 out of the 5 days we hiked 6-9 hours. We travelled over 50 miles crossing rivers so many times that we lost count, the one day was a total of over 17 miles. Praise God saints were encouraged and we had no injuries or ailments. Nicole was the first female ex-pat to ever make it to the farthest village, and it was the first time women were the emphasis of an outreach.

The Farthest Village: Pastor Jonas

Seth and Pastor Gabbie led the way, carrying the bulk of the supplies in their backpacks, and the girls: Nicole, Pastor Gabbie’s wife-Smiley, their oldest daughter Amber, their sister-in-law, along with 2 other young ladies Nicole is discipling, all followed in a line.

Nicole’s “4-wheel drive”-Sylvian

The Many River Crossings

So Refreshing!

Enjoying the River After a Steep Climb

Both Seth and Pastor Gabbie preached at each village, emphasizing the supremacy of God’s Word and also giving practical applications for the believers to live out their Christian lives. The ladies led the praise music, introducing the Tiale songbook to everyone. The people were so elated to hear songs in their own language for the first time for the entirety of a main service. Currently we are having the first books printed out at Light House Baptist Church in Australia, thank you Pastor Bakss and church family! Whenever that project is finished we will then delve them out to each of the churches.

Leading Worship in Tiale

Arriving in the Farthest Village

The men went around the villages trying to make connections with people, fellowship, and even win people to the Lord. While the ladies brought nail polish (the ladies love their nails painted), and a beaded bracelet project. Ladies are never too tired to not do crafts! All the ladies were so thrilled! It made it such a memorable moment for them all (and yes, Seth carried beads that far). He also agreed to letting the girls carry a bunch of flowers to take back home that they found along the trail!

Traveling with girls is so much different than just with men

Us two couples made it a point to train the women that went with us in some principles for not just womanhood, but also ministry and being godly women for Christ.

Making Bracelets and Making Memories

Hard at Work-Bracelets!

Getting the Nails Painted!

Side point: It was really cold at night in both of these villages! So this is how the girls dressed for church…

We went to the evening church service like this! So cold!

We were able to encourage one of the pastors to come to the Bible school next year and get some; refreshment, encouragement, along with theological and practical training, as he was struggling in his Christian life. He along with his family will be coming next year to be “built up” in the faith. We will be sending two of the young men that we are training as pastors to fill the pulpit, ministry, and even work in his literal garden J in his absence. Our goal is to fully-equip as many as we can, along with equip them the most we can, with the most materials in the time the Lord gives us with each individual. Please pray for this pastor and his family, he is isolated on a mountain battling against witch-doctors day in and day out; his name is Pastor Jean-Marc.

Pastor Jean Marc & Family

And now we are back home and have gotten some good rest after that long trip. Thank you for your prayers for us as we hiked and ministered to the Tiale people far and wide. Stay tuned for a video from our trip.

What a Trip! Thankful to be back home.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

Hi everyone! Just a quick prayer request: we (Seth and myself) are leaving for a 5 day hiking-outreach, visiting two villages. These are both some of the furthest villages of our language group, the one has never had an ex-pat woman come to it before. Pray for our safety as we travel. We will be traveling with a local pastor and his wife, along with some of the girls I have been discipling. Other than Seth and the Pastor, no one else in the group has ever been to these villages. Seth and the Pastor will both be preaching at each village, and Seth will be teaching a workshop as well. We will come back Monday night our time! Thank you for your prayers in advance!

Your feet in Vanuatu,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

Group from Conference

Students and Pastors

We have some exciting news and several opportunities for you to partner with us in the future of the Big Bay Bible School and its campus! Click the link below to read more…

Newsletter-May-October-Project

Your Feet to the Unreached in Vanuatu,

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

When you live in the jungle, things never go “as you plan”, but you always have to be ready to expect the unexpected and enjoy what God gives you. Even though two of the villages did not show up, we have heard from them that they were so excited about how the conference went and what transpired there that they are now even more desiring of the Gospel. So that is exciting!

Having Fun & Enjoying Doughnuts

Seth was able to train four men to use the Foundational Bible Teaching material effectively and two other men are at a competent level. The results were amazing as Seth, along with the six other men team-taught every day. Each day they went through seven lessons and you saw those who have heard the teaching before and those who have never heard it attentive and wanting more.

Teaching the Group

Teaching the Group

The event was Monday morning through Friday Night. We had lessons from 7am until noon (with small breaks in between), we ate together, and then played soccer and volleyball together, we would then head to the church for a nightly service whether it was a skit night, or sermon, singing worship songs in Tiale or even testimony night. Seth and the men organized a Godly focused week. Nicole and two of the Pastor wives cooked pretty much every part of every meal (breakfast, snack-time, lunch, and dinner) daily, and made sure the people were full and couldn’t eat any more.

Baking Bread

We all stayed together on the Bible School property. Thanks to the facilities we were able to host about 40 people and we all slept comfortably (we want to make more facilities, so we can host more next time! Look at our Newsletter for more information). People did not want to leave, it was like a retreat, all of us here at the school property, fellowshipping early morning until late at night, talking about God’s Word, eating well, and having fun. It was truly a time of rejuvenation for everyone. All the pastors in training, current pastors, attendees, and all their families were so grateful for the event… they cannot wait until the next one! Here are some of the things they said about the conference:

The Attendees

Afternoon Sports

One pastor who has heard the teaching before, “every time I hear this teaching, I get something new, it is so refreshing; I feel refreshed”.

Another pastor said, “I cannot wait till the next phase of this teaching, I need this”.

Another pastor said, “It is good for me to hear this, I need to be reminded of the simple Truths of the Bible and how it leads us to God Himself”.

One attendee said, “I never heard the story of Adam and Eve, I never understood where sin came from”.

Another attendee said, “I have never heard anything like this, next year I want to come back and get trained to know God’s Word better”.

Another attendee said, “This is good for me, I need this”.

Another attendee told me that this helped their marriage, “The Gospel helped us and our marriage”.

Upon Completion of the Course

Thank you for all of your prayers! It was a lot of work, but God heard your prayers and blessed the event. Even though the event may not have “looked” how we wanted; we know that a full-Gospel was spread, teachers were trained, the curriculum in Bislama was checked, believers were strengthened and encouraged, a couple of people understood the Gospel more completely and are now taking steps to follow God more wholeheartedly, and many fires were stoked because of this event.

            Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes