These past two months have been quite different, constantly changing and learning how to balance each and everyone of our ministries, along with experiencing our first cyclone, Hola…
Click on the link below to read more.
We love, miss, and appreciate all of YOU back home! Thank you for allowing us to be your feet here in Vanuatu.
~Seth & Nicole Stokes
Hi everyone!
Just wanted to share a video with you all from the outreach last weekend. This village we visited is about 12 hours hike away but is still part of our language group. Check out the link below to see what it is like to hike through the jungles of Vanuatu. Thank you all for the many prayers for us as we hiked and for Nicole as she held down the fort. We could not do this without YOU!
~your feet to the unreached in Vanuatu
Seth & Nicole Stokes
As we are underway living here in the bush full-time, we are seeing where and how we can assist the “established” churches, as well as our community. Our work is a little different seeing that there is so much potential in both the national (Bislama) language and our Tribal (Tiale) language. Learning how to balance all of this is truly wisdom from above, if we are being honest, we could devote 100% to either language at any time and both would be (in our understanding) equipotent for an eternity.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Nicole has been busy with various ministries along with helping out in the community; she has been visiting the ladies, bringing gifts to newborn babies, tries to be relational, helps in the garden, and even cooks meals for them; community-wise it really never ends. Ministry wise, she has been engaged in starting a women’s Bible and craft ministry; several ladies get together early in the morning, Nicole and another lady prepare a lesson beforehand and then teach it to the group. After that the ladies get together to make a craft, have a meal, and have some fellowship. Nicole is also teaching Bible lessons in the Kindergarten at the nearby school (in Bislama). Nicole is following the chronological approach, making simple lessons, which in turn will be a permanent lesson book for kids here in the country, which does not really exist.
The Kindergarten Class
Making Bracelets!
Women’s Group
Seth got back from his first of two back-to-back long weekends; it is basically a full day hike there and two-thirds of a day hike back (you come down the mountains). He visited a local church to encourage them; he preached specific messages about the purpose of the church, faith and how to live by it, and then also a final message about II Tim 3:1-9, which focuses on witchdoctors, and the remaining chapter of how a Christian lives in a world that is against them. Seeing that we live in a country controlled by fear, it would be a predominantly fear-base culture with a healthy dash of shame base (3 main-stream cultures in the world). All of the messages really impacted and encouraged the believers.
Seth, Kevin, Jeremy
Seth and the two young men, Kevin and Jeremy, he went with ended up going the long way on the way there, the rivers were flooded so that means an extra mountain to climb. Seth has been trying to get in shape but with being really sick last week that set him back. With less than two hours to go his one quad began to cramp, he prayed for a coconut and God was gracious, around the next corner was a coconut tree with their names all over it. They made it in a relatively good time, only to have Seth nearly lose his voice. Seth pushed his voice to preach those 4 messages and share a Bible study; God was gracious again. God provided just enough of his voice to get through each message. Now he does not have much of a voice, he came back with a fever, sore throat, three infections on his leg, and he leaves in less than three days to do it again to a location which is further away. But we are confident God will be gracious, providing… just enough.
Pastor J.M. and Family
The trip was a sweet time; the local Pastor said he was slowly losing “interest” in other churches. No one has visited him in almost 16 months; he said he was feeling “forgotten”. He was elated to receive a calendar of all the dates people are planning to visit him this year (about 6 in total). He said, this planning and calendar has lifted his spirits, and the teaching blessed him and the church. He shared several of his struggles; he has a strong witch doctor presence, he has no help in his ministry, and the fact that he is literally isolated on a mountain does impact the situation. Seth made sure he went to bed late and also woke up early, spending each and every moment trying to engage and encourage the Pastor. Seth used a lot of those points to disciple the young men he came with during their hike, he was really able to engage them and challenge them in their Christian walk.
Seth and the young men came back via the river since it had gone down with it being sunny for two days, but it was still strong. Some parts were up to Seth’s neck; the young men would bob up and down at the deep parts. Praying that it is sunny for the next 5 days, if so, that will make the trek to and from the next village visit much easier, not to mention faster. Seth was also able to get some language study in even while hiking, with so many things pressing on us each and every day, we have to use each moment the Lord provides.
The River
Jeremy about to cross the river
Please pray for the church and Pastor J.M. (to keep it simple), please pray for Seth as he has those multiple ailments and gets ready to leave again in 2.5 days. Please pray for the young men Kevin and Jeremy he is discipling as he goes out on these outreaches. Please Pray for Nicole as she is battling some type of bug as well. Please pray for the women’s group. Please pray for her ministry in the kindergarten, please pray for the several ladies she is engaging with; Judith and Jacquelyn to name a few. Please pray that it is sunny for the next five days, it will make the trip easier, if not, we know God will be gracious in how He provides… just enough.
Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes.
Hi there, just wanted to share a few prayer points, we will post a more full update and Newsletter within the upcoming week.
I (Seth) am leaving shortly to go to a village that is in need of encouragement. This will be the first time I leave Nicole (and for 2 nights) since her ailment back in June.
Prayer Points:
1. Please pray for the church in the middle of the jungle. I have printed out several teachings on various topics that I have translated which I hope builds and encourages the existing body of believers.
2. Please pray for the two young men going with me, it will be a sweet time of discipleship. One has shown interest in ministry and the other is already making steps in that direction.
3. Health and safety, the rivers have been flooding for many weeks now. Some have been impassible. Which means, we will have to take the long-er route (can you see the excitement in my writing?).
4. Pray for Nicole as she holds down the fort. She will be with the people in various other ministries while I am absent.
Thank you for your investment in our ministry and we appreciate your prayers.
Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole
This past month has been rather different, in many good ways. We have gone to preach at and visit a different village each week and we will be at another village this weekend. After that, Seth will go to three different villages in the next three weekends. Two of those villages are a full-day hike, so Seth will be doing those trips with some young men who he is discipling. It is hard to balance discipleship, making lessons and teaching them in Bislama, while starting full-time language learning in Tiale. We are praying that God gives us the wisdom and discernment to meet the people’s needs both here in the present day, and in the future.
Hiking to Visit Other Villages
The last three weeks have been filled with preaching/visiting different villages, a youth conference in town, which was hosted by the Pinero Family and Frazer (Reach Vanuatu). We loaded up six trucks and brought well over 70 kids from our different villages (more than 8 of them), most of which were not saved and from places infiltrated with false religions. We emphasized the conference a lot so that we could hopefully impact our people as a whole, we even made it free for them to come so they had no excuses.
The youth we brought
Youth Conference
We have also had several meetings with the local pastors, building them up in their faith and helping them to strategize “how to” reach the full Tiale language/people group with the Gospel, while also building up the young churches. We have been trying to focus on training them in various aspects of truth, helping them stand strong in their belief against the false religions and animism, which are very prominent here. God continues to provide moment after moment to teach these men Biblical Truths. We praise God that He allows us to live amongst them and see what are their true needs.
Planning Meetings
The next three Sundays we will be in areas with “established” churches, the thrust of our ministry is to build them up through fellowship and the Scriptures. Seth will be preaching purposeful messages and teaching them about areas we know they need to understand more fully.
“The Plan”; we have every Sunday mapped out with those of us who are apt to teach. We are focusing on the four established churches, but also emphasizing three churches that we list as “need encouraging”, and then four villages as mission-focus. This averages out to having 1/3 of the year focused on maturing young churches, and then 2/3 on completely un-churched areas. 3 out of the 4 mission focus villages specifically invited us there to teach them about the Bible, 2 of them have offered to send young men to our Bible School and train them so they can be the future pastors of those areas. So exciting!
Sunday Mornings
We have definitely hit rainy season, it has rained non-stop for the past two days with typhoon (hurricane) warnings. Praise God our solar system is strong so we are not in need of power, and the really bad weather missed us (for now). The only challenging thing now is to find enough sun to dry our clothes. 🙂
We have been getting involved more in the community; helping people map out their homes and how to build them, assisting in the building of a library and classroom in the nearby school, helping work on a church being constructed, playing sports with the young men on Friday and Saturday nights (helping them stay in the village, instead of leaving to go get drunk on Kava). Nicole has been helping the ladies in various ways; whether it is simply being there and talking with them, holding babies, delivering baby blankets (Thank you to HBC knitting ministry!), helping out with planning the new ladies ministries, and helping at the local kindergarten. Every day seems to be full and long, but the weeks seem to go by very quickly.
Baby Blankets & Hats
They love Nicole’s hair!
Continues to pray for us, pray we stay healthy, focused, and balanced in all of our ministries. With the rainy season comes the humid season and it is definitely in full swing, we sure have felt it. Also, Seth currently has a rash covering up most of his back, he says it itches so severely that he hasn’t slept hardly at all for the past two nights. We covet your prayers, we need wisdom, we need the Holy Spirit to empower us, we need God’s Word to know how to do this job, we need our health so we can be effective. We depend on your daily prayers to help us accomplish this task for our Heavenly King.
Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! We love and miss you all, thank you for your partnership in the Gospel in the ministry God is doing through us here in Vanuatu.
Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes
We are not sure who prayed, but the Lord answered your prayer and then doubled it! We (Frazer and ourselves) just received a four year-visa! Which means we will have no problems for the next four years (in this area) 🙂 Praise God and thank you all!
We head up to the bush today, and then hopefully install our satellite next week, so hopefully you will hear from.
Love, Seth and Nicole Stokes
Hi there, just a quick prayer request: please pray for our visas along with our co-workers Frazer. We are heading to the capital for 2 days to hopefully secure the next 1-2 year visa… hopefully it’s 2 🙂
Once we are back we will head right back to the bush and will be there indefinitely for our first stent. We would greatly appreciate your prayers in the process for it to go smoothly along with the right people actually “being” in their office… that is a miracle only prayer can answer here in Vanuatu: Gods providence and YOUR prayers.
Thank you for your faithfulness to us and the ministry our Lord gave us. Your feet, Seth and Nicole.
Hello everyone!
In less than 20 days, Christmas will be upon us! We are sure more than one of you has an exact countdown till Christmas, including the hours 😉 We hope that you all are enjoying the Christmas season and cooler weather. This time of year is the hottest time here in Vanuatu, so enjoy the cool weather for us. We are getting ready to spend a 3-4 month stent in the bush and will spend Christmas and the New Year with the Tiale people. Yes, that will be much different from last year where we were home in the USA. However, we are trying to focus on the Reason for the Season; Jesus, who came to earth to live and die for us, and it is because of what He did in His short life, that we are compelled to do what we are doing. This truth helps keep the perspective when we begin to miss our families during the “Christmas/holidays in America”. We hope and pray that this Christmas you and your family are able to pull away from the busyness of your respective culture and re-focus on why we celebrate this special time; and how that (He) impacts the rest of our year/ life. It is because of the birth of our Saviour that we have hope in this life! We greatly love, appreciate, and miss you all! Your part in our ministry is vital; we cannot do this massive task without YOU! Thank you for allowing us to be an extension of YOU here in Vanuatu. Click the link below to read our latest newsletter.
Thanksgiving meal with our ex-pat friends from Reach Vanuatu
Your Feet to the Tiale people in Vanuatu,
Seth & Nicole Stokes
How do we express all of the things that it took to get us to this point? Do we start with our families and influences that led to our late-teen years and making the decision to follow God into missions? Do we talk about our collegiate years and what God did to mold us through that time? Do we contemplate the unique circumstances of how we met and got married, pursuing missions as individuals and then as a married couple in training? Or how about how God miraculously provided the amazing support team to get us overseas? Reflecting upon the time our home church made the prayerful decision of us going from Indonesia, to PNG, to now Vanuatu? Or do we just focus on the supernatural way God showed us the people to work with, the Tiale people, within the first week of arriving in this country…?
That is a lot of questions… we did not even scratch the surface of the emotional roller coaster that this year has been, leaving our family, friends, and churches again… a doctor telling us Nicole might die, to then her being healthy again! Just to shortly transition into the house-building phase; hosting teams come for 5 weeks straight, and then for the past 2 months we finished up things inside the house while preaching weekly and doing discipleship with some of the pastors and pastors in training. We had an amazing ceremony that will be talked about amongst our people for decades; hundreds of people came from over eights villages, all excited for the chance of having a full-time missionary working with them in their need of a Bible and discipleship.
So many things to talk about… over a decade in the making, and now things begin. We are in town trying to finalize things with our one, or possibly two-year visa, please pray for that. And with being so remote, we purchased a satellite so we can stay in touch with the outside world, it should arrive on our island this coming Tuesday. Literally the local cell phone service has not worked for 2 weeks in the past month, and with safety being a priority, that is why we went this route. It was an unexpected expense but well worth it long-term.
And now it begins… no more training… no more schooling… no more transition phase or house-building phase… now we begin the arduous work of learning the Tiale Language. To be an effective Bible Translator, you have to know the language, you have to know the culture and worldview in which the people look through and interpret everything. All the major mission groups and training centers in the world put such an emphasis on this process. We cannot westernize the procedure and “McDonalds” it, go through the fast-lane and get an unhealthy meal. We have to go to the garden, till the ground, grow the food, wait for the process to come to maturity, harvest it and then cook the delicious meal of speaking and thinking in a pre-literate society (unreached people group). This is not an easy or quick process, but we have to learn their language and culture to do an effective translation. God spent over a millennia compiling and writing the Scriptures, we ought to do our due diligence and translate the Bible effectively. We say all of that because we know many people have and will ask, “how long will it take”? The answer is… we don’t know. We are not promised tomorrow and we have never learned an unwritten language before, we have learned two languages together as a couple, both with much help and both being on paper already, and that is why we need YOUR prayer. It is a daunting task, humbling yet terrifying, we are solely putting our trust in God and not our abilities to do this task. Its too big of a job for us to do, we need Him to do it for us. Some people learn a language in one year… others in much longer. Some people have done a New Testament in eight years… others in forty. This is a long-term commitment and it is our privilege to be YOUR feet and HIS witness here in the Tiale territory. So if you are curious our want to ask… “how long”, our answer will be 9-48 years :).
Overall we are doing well, we had some time to recover from the busy house-building phase, and we do miss our families during this Christmas and holiday season. But we are getting focused because once we move in this time we don’t plan on coming out to town for 3-4 months… we are hoping to make some good head-way into language learning by that time. We could really use your prayers and encouragement during this time.
We are truly grateful for your faithfulness to us and the ministry our Risen Lord has given to us. We hope that you had a Happy Thanksgiving and have a Merry Christmas. Please pray for us as we begin this new phase in our lives.
Your feet to the unreached,
Seth and Nicole Stokes
Verse of the Day
Stoking The Fires 