Cooling Off & Washing in The River
Our Motor Canoe Ride
It has officially been ONE YEAR since we have been in PNG! WOW, that was fast. Thank you everyone for joining us in this journey! We could not do it without YOU. Click on our newsletter link below to hear more about how things have been going lately. Looking forward to another year and all the wonderful things to come…Stay tuned for more…
Your feet to the unreached in PNG,
~Seth & Nicole Stokes
Well, what can we say about our trip other than it was quite an experience! We had an awesome time, learned a lot, and we feel like we had a very official Sepik river style “bush orientation”. We have gone to places in the bush before where a nice American-style house was already set up; but this was very different, rather unexpected, and a great story to tell. We apologize in advance for any run-on sentences, and the length, but we kind of want to tell the events as they happened 🙂 . We will also post more pictures than normal as to share the story more vividly.
First and foremost, we want to thank all of you for your prayers! The 3 main points we asked for prayer were achieved: 1. Teach a group of young believers the principles in Acts so that they know better how to conduct themselves as a body of believers. 2. Train two other men from another people group as teachers through these teachings. 3. Show/Teach two different people groups and two different churches that we ought to come together and worship our Lord, and that the stronger group of believers should go and help the younger until they are more mature in the Word. As far as goals go, these were accomplished! Thank you for playing your part in accomplishing this task! Regarding to the other 7 prayer requests, we can tell you we all got back safely, those who were faithful in the church came to the meetings, God got glory through the fellowship, we definitely had our eyes opened to many new experiences, for those to apply the teaching and us being healthy are still topics we will wait upon 🙂 .
So this is how the actual events occurred, we will try to be succinct. We left Thursday morning after 10:00am (we were supposed to start before 8am). We had 2 shuttles at about 2.5-3 hours each, the second shuttle on the floatplane arrived after 3:30pm. We immediately hopped on a dugout canoe, roughly 40ft long with a 40hp engine. The canoe ride to our destination was easily over 5hrs long and traveling after dark isn’t really a good option, so we knew we were going to have to stop somewhere for the night.
The Float Plane-Samaritan Aviation
Our Motor Canoe Ride
Around 5:30pm, we arrived at a village, we knew we needed to ask for a place to stay, yes we showed up unexpected and not knowing anyone. One of the men welcomed us into his home and invited us all to sleep there. Our group consisted of us, the other missionary and his 2 kids, a national elder from one language group with his wife and 2 kids, another national elder with his wife and kid, along with one other elder-both national families were from two separate language group. We all were welcomed, all 13 of us slept in a room with about 20 other people (babies through elderly), in a space about 18ftx30ft., with one section being the cooking section (that is a typical house for that area). Sorry for no pictures of inside this house, but it was late, dark, and we did not want to make a spectacle of ourselves. We brought ourselves 1 mosquito net (as a back up/just in case), and our 2 nice hammocks with built in mosquito nets. We were not planning on staying in a national house so we were not prepared for the trip. Many national houses do not use big beams in their construction, so to find 2 posts close together that can hold 180lbs is impossible 🙂 . We piled things under us and a layered it with a tarp, pillowed the 1 mosquito net around us and listened to the sounds of night…including babies crying, and people yelling at one another. After the restful sleep we took off by 8am the next day.
The First Village
Stayed here first night
Typical Inside-Mosquito Nets
Typical Inside-“kitchen”
We were heading up river for about 3 hours when a neighboring village stopped us and told us our canoe is too big to make the trip, but we can use their canoe and make 2 trips out of it. After heeding their warning, Peter (our skipper and a national elder/pastor) put all the people on the first canoe and sent us away with another skipper while he stayed at canoe 1 with our cargo. We went up river, moving logs for about 2 hours until the skipper said that if we want our cargo by tonight we will have to get out here and walk (it’s not too far from here… that’s what they always say). We did, and thus started a 2-hour, muddy, slippery, river-crossing (3 times) hike with women and kids. By the end of the trip we ran out of water (keep in mind we have been traveling for over 32 hours and only expecting to travel for 10), and we ended up having to drink straight from the not so clean river…our water filter wouldn’t come in until later that night with the rest of our things.
The Tropical River Adventure
Hiking-Crossing Rivers
Our Final Destination!
We arrived to our destination around 3pm…or did we? We originally told everyone we would be doing the teaching in one location (about an hour away), but to carry cargo and kids that far would be a waste of time. We were originally suppose to have the women, kids, and cargo dropped off on the neighboring airstrip, but the airstrip was not maintained well so we had to go with plan B with less than a day notice. One of our brothers in Christ offered a place for us 11 to stay, it was about 100sq ft. and it was above of the place where they cook, so smoke right up throughout the day and night, but they graciously gave us a play to stay and for that we were thankful.
Where Nicole Cooked Meals
Where We Stayed
Our Hammocks/Beds
We had a good time of fellowship with all the believers, sad to say though, many believers strayed from the faith and fell into the snares of two occults present in this area. These believers heard the Gospel but were never discipled to maturity, and when a new teaching came, it took them away. This is always a BIG topic in our minds, many people think that giving the Gospel and getting people saved is enough, but building others into maturity, seeing them complete in Christ, discipled to make disciples, that is the main thrust of the New Testament; God builds His Church, and we build up the church. The missionary and two other national pastors preached through the book of Acts, and within the first couple of chapters the principles shared overcame the perversion of these occults, and men nodded their head, agreed, and were encouraged by the teaching. Knowing that these words are the Truth, and that God’s Word is what they need, not some occult and promises of riches and special abilities, but just the pure Gospel that grows us into the image of Christ.
The Teaching House
Some of the Believers & Elders
The National Elders Co-Teaching
Another thing that occurred during the teaching was that the missionary found out that the two guest elders he brought to help co-teach, never really taught in Tok Pisin (the national language), they have taught in their heart language (tribal) innumerable times, but not much in the trade language. That was a great time of training for these elders to be cross-cultural ministers.
Getting Ready to Teach
National Elder’s Wife & Daughter
National Elders
Another task of this trip was to set up a radio near the airstrip where we originally would have stayed. I (Seth) prepared all the components before the trip, and now I had to go on a 2-hour hike with two other national guys through a swamp to bring a battery, solar panel, and radio to the believers, so that they can communicate with other churches and our Wewak base, be encouraged, ask questions, stay connected with missionaries, and so much more. It really was a blessing and a great tool to do that for them.
Off To Go Set Up The Radio
The Radio Up & Running!
The Solar Panel For the Radio
The teaching ended on Tuesday morning, we felt encouraged as we left, the missionary contracted dysentery while there, but he still managed to preach in between each of his sections by Gods grace. By the time we got into the boat he curled into a ball and slept the bulk of the trip, we watched and played with the kids so that the dad could rest. We went down the river for about 7 hours or so, arrived at our skipper, Peter’s, house (which is right next to where the float plane would come in the morning), unpacked and got ready for bed. Fun fact about this place: we literally have not seen so many mosquitoes (the malaria carrying type) in one place before! Wow! If we don’t walk away (incubation is up to 14 days) with any sicknesses, it is only by God’s grace. The floatplane was delayed and it did its first pick up around 12:30pm on Wednesday. The missionary and his kids, along with Nicole took the first trip, and Seth would take the second trip along with all the cargo. It was a hot day, but I (Seth) got to make many good connections while waiting in that area, I even got to share with a national doctor how the Gospel can change lives, and make you look completely different (I used a testimony of someone we both knew). He seemed amazed that the person changed, and changed so drastically. It really impacted him to know that the Gospel has that much power, not for wealth, but for transformation. I found out the floatplane was 10 minutes away from its cut-off window for not being able to pick me up that day, because it cannot fly past dark. I am glad that it worked out and I could come back to my wife. We went right back to work starting that night on through Friday night in order to catch up from our time away.
Cooling Off & Washing in The River
Our Little Buddies
Jason and the Kids
Thank you for your partnership! We learned so much on this trip, made some good relationships, and feel more equipped for life in the bush! We love and appreciate you all!
Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes
Ready to Go!
By the time most of you read this we will have begun our trek into the bush. We have to drive to the airport, hop on a floatplane (because there isn’t a land-able airstrip currently), land in the river, take a small canoe up river for about 5 hours, and then….we will arrive where we will be staying for the week.
We might stay right there and live in one persons house, or we might go for a 2 hour hike and stay at another persons house…we are not sure yet. We have to take two plane trips to bring us in and the other family we are going to help (you can’t bring much weight on a float plane). That means we will start our canoe trip after 1pm, and it gets dark around 6:30pm here on the equator. The reason we don’t know where we are staying is because we are not sure where the people want to do the teaching, we might teach on this side of the mountain or that side, we will find out when we get there. Typically a local and their family will leave their house and move in with a family member to let us use their house. Yes, we are staying in a national house. No water, no electricity, no bathroom, just four walls (hopefully), and a roof. Should be fun! You can see everything we are bringing; 4 bags and a box. Clothes for a week, back up medical supplies (just in case), our canopy-tent-hammocks, food, water purifier, cooking equipment, cleaning equipment, everything for the week. We even have some games and crafts for the missionary kids Nicole will be looking after.
One of the main reasons why we are going is to assist our missionary friend, Jason, is to help look after his two kids while he is teaching (his wife passed away this past year due to cancer, and yes, he is still here in PNG serving Jesus, so amazing!). Jason and two national men will be teaching through the book of Acts during our time in the bush. They hope to get through the teaching in about 5 days. Seth will be shadowing Jason to see how this job is done, he will also get opportunities to talk through the teachings with men (in Tok Pisin) after the main teaching. One of the days Seth and Jason will have to hike and set up a battery, solar panel, and a radio to another bush location about 2 hours away.
The audience is a fairly small people group, they live on the famous Sepik river, they have had missionaries come and go for years. Only 2 of the missionaries ever learned the language. Teaching wise, they got through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and some other teachings, but not too much though, and this was all done about 15 years ago. God had put it on Jason’s heart to go there with a 3-fold purpose: 1. Teach a group of young believers the principles in Acts so they know better how to conduct themselves as a body of believers. 2. Train two other men from another people group as teachers through this process. 3. Show these two different people groups and two different churches we ought to come together and worship our Lord, and that a stronger group of believers should go and help the younger until they are more mature in the word.
All in all, there are a lot of uncertainties about this trip, not knowing what to expect…but we are excited for the opportunity! This trip is much needed; it will give us a shot in the arm until we move into the tribal location God leads us to.
Pray:
Thank you! Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes
The Prison
Well, Seth is in prison…again. Every Wednesday he goes with one other missionary and a national man to go teach foundationally through the Bible. They teach roughly two lessons each time, so they rotate lessons and share the load. This jail ministry is unlike any American ministry Seth been a part of before. When you get there, you walk in to what appears to be the “mess-hall”, a long building with low ceilings and hardly any wind, metal ceiling and roof. Seth says it is the hottest place in PNG 🙂 so far.
When you walk into this place, you will typically find 80+ men, no shirts, no shoes, everyone sitting on the ground and smiles everywhere. Each week the men come and are excited for the teaching. Seth and the guys treat it as a Bible school. Teaching chronologically pulling out the main meta-narrative themes of the Old Testament through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, using expository teaching throughout each passage. The men love it and they understand the main purpose of Jesus coming. Seth taught (lesson 63 of 68) through Mark 10, Luke 12, and 16 this week focusing on how money cannot get you to heaven, when you die it does not come with you, hell and heaven are real, God has marked a time for all men to die, so choose today while you are this earth, who will be your God? (Luke 16:13).
The cargo cult is a huge thing here in PNG, if you are not familiar with it read some excerpts from Google and you will see it permeates the thinking of all PNG, it goes down to their worldview-heart-core level. One group of missionaries learned the language of a tribal group, learned their culture, translated a good portion of the Bible and taught for months…when they came to the life of Jesus, they told everyone the BIG part of the message was about to come! They all sat down to hear the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, after the series of messages concluded, the people all said, (paraphrase) “this is the white people’s secret, this is the road to cargo”. People befriended the missionary, came to months of teaching, only to find out “a secret” to getting more stuff…that is not an isolated event, the cargo cult came to PNG at the turn of the 20th century and was a strong belief system until the 1950’s or so, it came and it went, and in some areas it is taking a strong foothold again and making its resurgence.
We shared that brief story with you to show you what we and other missionaries here in PNG are dealing with. Some people are blinded by cargo and they have no interest in Jesus (it’s the same with American-materialism). This is just something we have to be attentive to when we are teaching and dealing with others and their eternity. Seth said that he asked a lot of questions in his message this week, and the men responded well, some knew the Christian lingo, and others clearly articulated the Gospel. That is so encouraging! Seth also wishes he could take his phone with him and record them singing, they have 1-2 guitars, both Seth and another missionary’s opinion is that they are the best guitar players and singers that that they have heard in PNG. The acoustics of a small concrete room and a metal ceiling makes every song echo and make a beautiful sound. One of his favorite jail-house original songs is, “God, He is here”.
Pray for Seth and the other men, Greg and Joshua, as they have 5 more lessons until they get to the resurrection of Jesus. After that, they will transition to the New Testament and the Holy Spirit’s work, and then possibly to some epistles. Seth is thinking through some ideas with another missionary as to see where else they can preach on a more consistent basis as well; pray God opens doors!
Thank you all for reading! We love and miss you all!
Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes.
Happy 2016 Everyone!
Wow, it is the new year already. 2015 felt like it flew! It is crazy to think we have been in PNG for 10 months now and have a busy month of January already. There is a lot to look forward to in this new year. What was the end of the year like for us? Click on the link below to read our December newsletter. Have an awesome year! We love and appreciate you all so very much.
Your Feet to the Unreached in PNG,
-Seth & Nicole Stokes
Merry Christmas from PNG! We are so thankful for the many people back home who love, support, and encourage us. We love and miss you all! Remember why we celebrate Christmas-and the many who still haven’t heard the Good News around the world. -until all have heard
Your Feet To The Unreached,
~Seth & Nicole Stokes
Nicole & Baby Noelle
Seth with Jericho & Eden
Family!
Certain people have different traditions during the holidays; one typical tradition people have is sharing with friends and family what they are thankful for, and if you are a Christian, you thank God for every good and perfect gift He has given you.
One of the hardest things for missionaries is not the extreme climates, the language and culture barriers, the food and comfort differences, or even the insecurity of safety and everything and everyone being foreign to you…it’s being away from the ones you love the most and the ones who know you best; family and friends. One of the seasons that is the hardest of them all is the holiday season, Thanksgiving-New Year, Christmas is in-between, and for Seth his birthday. This was/is our first season being away from family during the holiday season, or was it?
God graciously allowed in His Sovereignty for certain things to take place so that we could see some family over the holiday season! Wow! He is too good to us! Many of you know both of Seth’s siblings and their families serve in West Papua Indonesia, the same island as PNG. With schedules in and out of the bush, going back and forth with babies, we were able to meet up with Seth’s brother and family in Indonesia!
Very few people have gone back and forth across the border, so not many could give a clear-cut “this is how you do it”, but surprisingly if you are patient it is a fairly simple process. Before we arrived in PNG we were under the impression that it would be nearly impossible to cross the border to see Seth’s siblings, but how happy we were when we found out that is not the case! God orchestrated a week that Seth had nothing pressing to do, so he did a bunch of work before and after to clear his schedule, and Seth’s brother needed help with supply buying for himself before he went back into the Dem tribe. So Seth helped his brother supply buy and we got to meet our precious new niece Noelle, just about 3 months old. We had a great time catching up and just enjoying one another, we were able to help pack up everything, organize a little, and then help get them into the plane and off the Dem-land! We even had our own family Thanksgiving meal and a Christmas celebration too. It was a whirlwind of a couple of days, but it was so worth it! God was too gracious to allow us to see family, when we said good-bye to them over 16-months ago, we never knew exactly when we would see them again, nor do we know the next time God will allow us to see them. But we are thankful God gave us this special time with them!
We are very blessed; both of Seth’s siblings and Nicole’s brother serve God in full-time missions. What more could we ask of God…except maybe that we were all in the same country? 🙂 But we are over joyed to know our siblings are saved and are serving Jesus. This is truly something God has blessed our family with, and yes it is hard because we rarely see them. Seth went over 10 years without having both siblings together for Christmas; this is part of the cost of foreign missions. But it is such a joy to know we are serving our Risen Lord and He sustains us and keeps us encouraged when we have heavy hearts and miss our family and friends.
Thank you all for serving our Lord! God uses your personal messages/emails/calls, prayers, and support to keep us encouraged during this season. Thank you for your faithfulness, we could not go through this without your encouragement.
Nicole’s Reading Class
Seth loading an order
Wow, is it just us on this side of the world or did November fly super fast?!?! And it’s already December and it has been really hot here lately, so it is not feeling much like winter. We have been busy and barely seemed to catch our breath this past month. It has been a wonderful month and we have seen the Lord use us in many ways. Read our Newsletter by clicking on the link below. Thank you for being a part of our team. Enjoy the cooler weather and a latte for us. 🙂
~Your Feet to the Unreached in PNG,
Seth & Nicole Stokes
Shout Out To PGH! Found this guy walking around town.
Believers from another tribal work. In town to have a baby. 🙂
These thoughts came from our time as we shared with one of our supporting churches. Our intent is not to preach, but to share some thoughts that God has challenged us with and hopefully it will challenge and encourage you as well.
The context of these thoughts came from the big decision we have to make in the not too distant future as we look into different tribal locations to go into…How do you make the decision of which one to go to? Is one tribe more important than another? What does that decision look like? Is there just one place asking for missionaries? If so, go there! But what do you do if there is more than one place (tribe/people group) that is asking for missionaries… how would you pray? What do you pray? What is prayer in the midst of this thought? Everything! We look at the endless opportunities that is PNG, and even just in our region and realize one family is not enough, one family cannot reach all of these tribes (who are asking for missionaries!), but how many is enough? It seems impossible from some aspects, but we know God is wanting all to come to the knowledge of Him (Acts 17:30, 2 Pet 3:9, Matt 28:18-20, Rom 15:20, Matt. 24:14). We came to the conclusion that prayer is the way to reach all of them. True, transparent, on your knees, dependent upon the Sovereign prayers. So the next question we asked is, what is the model for those prayers? Where do we start… and this is where God led us at this time.
(Please pray for us in this decision process…we are not at the point to do surveys yet, but we are researching and asking questions, this is a 10-15 year commitment whenever we make this decision).
Our Challenge we shared with one of our churches…
In America, we have to fill out resumes, and many people worry about job security, but in missions, especially in PNG there is not that worry. We have a drawer of letters from various tribes wanting** missionaries. Some specifically saying we want New Tribes missionaries because we learn their language (some organizations don’t do that, and just do the work in the trade language), we teach them how to read and write their language, translate the Bible into their language, and then teach them the true meaning of the Bible. Imagine you received the job you have now, or another job by having someone come to you, asking, pleading, and even offering what little they had so that you would come and work there (at that job). Wouldn’t that be backwards in our dog-eat-dog world? Now apply that to Christianity, how many times have you tried to go and share the Gospel with a friend, a coworker, a family member, a spouse… and how many times have you been rejected? How many times did it feel awkward? How many times were they just not interested? In missions, especially in PNG, we have so many people groups ready and wanting a missionary to come and give them the Gospel, no resume needed to go into these tribes, there is no competitor per se wanting to take your job (the Devil is not wanting to give them up though), and yet there are not people lining up to come and take up this task.
I read a good book on prayer last week, and it used what we call “the Lords prayer” or as it would be better put the “disciples model prayer”. The author used this prayer as an outline and an examination of yourself. The Lords prayer/ the Disciples Model prayer is famous, kids from a young age memorize these verse. Unsaved people and cults memorize this passage, and Christians have put it to rout memory losing the beauty of this passage.
Please Read: Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4 and get lost in the beauty of God’s Word again with a familiar passage.
“I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual watertight compartment.
I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child.
I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.
I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness.
I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day.
I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His word.
I cannot say “on earth as it is in heaven if I will not serve Him here and now.
I cannot say “give us… our daily bread” if I am dishonest shopper.
I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone.
I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path.
I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.
I cannot say “Thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject.
I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do.
I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself.
I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.”
We are to be focused on advancing His kingdom because it is His will, and there are places that are asking for His kingdom to come to, but yet we cannot get the foot soldiers to this ground. A king declared for us to fight for places, and when a place is freely offered we will not claim it (tribes asking for missionaries), because it is not convenient for us to get there…please pray for laborers.
Our king has offered a place to expand His kingdom… and yet there are far too many comfortable subjects who won’t go. When we were raising support we heard many excuses, “we couldn’t do what you are doing”, I Seth, do not like camping, and basically grew up in Pittsburgh city, I do not like bugs and I like many sweets and restaurants America offers, from the many excuses we heard in our travels, I had more, but I cannot deny the Scripture and the leading of the Spirit, and now I am here with joy and cannot see myself doing anything else with my life. Maybe someone praying the “disciples model prayer” is not really examining himself or herself well enough, because God wants His kingdom expanded, and He has the people, yet no one wants to go to these places. Maybe someone is being led to go, but just wont surrender to the Spirits leading.
Each one of us must examine ourselves by this model prayer…have you ever prayed this prayer? If so, have you ever examined your life in how God wants you to advance His Kingdom? Have you prayed that according to His will or yours? If God’s will is that all would hear His Gospel, and He wants His kingdom advanced, and there is ground He has given and He just needs someone to go and claim it…which one of His servants will go and claim it? Who has God called to stay in the U.S.A. and who is making the excuse of not going and advancing the Kingdom of our God in a foreign land? Are you praying to see if the Lord is leading you to go? Are you praying God will send your children? Truly there are hundreds of tribes still unreached here in PNG alone, and all over the world, our King is truly worthy to receive all glory and power, and there is no greater job than His kingdom.
Please pray with us for more laborers to go to these white and plenteous fields, please pray for the big decision we have to make in the near future. Truly our prayers alone are insufficient, we need your help in this BIG decision.
Your feet to the unreached of PNG, empowered by your prayer,
Seth and Nicole Stokes
Good Friends in Madang
Hello Everyone,
Hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors back home. Enjoy a fall coffee drink and think of us! Whats new with us? Read our newsletter below and find out. Thank you for continuing to “hold the ropes” for us, we couldn’t do this without YOU!
~Your Feet To The Unreached in PNG,
Seth & Nicole Stokes
Verse of the Day
Stoking The Fires 