We are getting to the point where we feel comfortable in all situations here in PNG; we are able to go around town, meet new people and converse with them. Transitioning from English to Tok Pisin, from a western Christian mindset to a roman catholicized animistic eastern worldview is getting to be quite seamless for us, and it is very encouraging. It is always nice to get the compliment “your Tok Pisin sounds good” from the nationals or veteran missionaries.

Our Work Crew

Seth has also had some interesting things happen to him. He got a flu that lasted for 4 days that had many similar symptoms to malaria (but wasn’t), he got his first infection (which spread into 3 open sores, sorry we wont share the pictures :)) and is finishing up a 10 day treatment of antibiotics. Nicole has a skin fungus and is on the rebound taking medicine. This all happened in the midst of several busy weeks, we had many hats like; demoing a house, then transitioning to other maintenance projects, and then the next week we had someone come from the main office to train us to learn how to use “pronto”, which is a computer system we use for the store and supply buying.

Medical Supplies For Tribes

We have focused on the store (supplies the base and tribal missionaries), solely for over 10 hours a day this past week, cleaning, logging things into the computer, counting inventory, organizing, and learning how to use the computer system effectively. The store has been doing really well the past two month since we started managing; it has been encouraging to help out with this specific ministry that blesses missionaries in the bush and in town. With the rodent problem, PNG weather, and other mishaps, it was hard to get the store to a clean and working order but now, we think it will run smoothly and be even more of a blessing to all those on the base and the tribal missionaries. Seth is always running to town trying to get all the supplies tribal missionaries ask for, we want the people in the bush to know we are here to support and encourage them as they are on the front lines.

Nicole Working on Inventory

We are getting opportunities to disciple people both in English and in Tok Pisin, both nationals and other expats as they transition. Please pray we are faithful to these relationships and sharing the Gospel when God gives us the opportunity, but this too is His will, or as we would say in Tok Pisin “sapos Bikpela i laik” (If the Lord’s wills). We also get many opportunities to exercise hospitality, with the many tribal missionaries coming and going, we make sure we keep their bellies full with good food and that they feel loved and encouraged, which can be a full-time job sometimes, but we love it.

We moved again…we had slept in over 100 beds on deputation. Now we have been to 3 of the 4 bases here in PNG, we have slept in 3 houses already here in Wewak, plus B.M. on our bush orientation. We moved this week and then we move again (hopefully for the last time till we build our tribal house, Lord willing) next week. Speaking of that, please pray for us; we are currently talking it over with a family whether or not it is of the Lord’s will that we would partner with them. The past two weeks we have spent a ton of time talking with this couple and discussing many aspects of tribal church planting and even asking the hard questions. We really like them and saw eye-to-eye on big and little issues, but it’s not a decision to make lightly, we are praying and fasting over this, please pray with us that God gives us wisdom and clear direction with this HUGE decision. If this really is what the Lord has for us, that would get us one step closer to the tribe.

We leave you with this picture and hopeful encouragement; here are 11 New Testament’s in languages in this region that HAVE NEVER had an opportunity to read God’s Word for themselves until recently, 9 of them have been completed since 2011. All of that was done by God’s will and faithfulness to His work, while using missionaries in the bush who are supported by co-workers in town, who are all supported by faithful supporters and churches like you! Thank you for doing your part of God’s Great Commission.

Recently Finished Tribal NT

Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes.

Independence Day

Happy October everyone,

This month really seemed to fly! So much has happened since we came back from bush orientation. We have learned a lot about what it takes to accomplish the big picture of reaching tribes here in PNG. Open our latest newsletter (link below) to read more. Thank you for “holding our rope”, we couldn’t be here with out YOU!

Newsletter: September, 2015.pdf

-Seth & Nicole Stokes, Your Feet to the Unreached in PNG

We are back from our Bush Orientation! Wow! These past 6.5 weeks have been so amazing. How can we possibly put it all into words. At least here we give a brief update in our newsletter, also, check out Stokes YouTube Channel for some videos from our time. Yes, some are just for fun and one is for kids. We will be writing more soon. Click the link below to view our latest newsletter. Thank you for joining us in this amazing journey!

Newsletter-July 2015

The time has come; we are off to B.M. Island! Please read our last 2 blogs for the details on our trip. We will not have internet service, nor be able to post regularly like we have been able to. We “might” be able to do quick, short emails but we are not sure, that is why we are saying “good-bye” now just incase we do not get to talk to you all until September. As of right now, we will be on B.M. until the first of September or Mid-September. It all depends on the boats and if we feel we have accomplished enough of our goals while there on B.M..

We are looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the missionaries there on B.M.. Seth will have a chance to preach in Tok Pisin from a passage in 1 Corinthians. Seth will also have opportunities to play a part in the systematic discipleship as well as learn the process of rising up teachers in another language and culture. Nicole will have opportunities to work in gardens with the ladies and learn what it is like to cook with limited electricity (everything runs off of solar panels), and limited LPG. This will be her first time experiencing living in a tribal location and using solar equipment. Nicole is excited to make relationships and jump into the every day life of the women as well, she hopes they make a special craft and so she can learn a new skill (Nicole has picked up several crafty-skills at each place we have been to thus far). Seth will learn how to fish with the guys (tribal style), and then learn to fish diving at night with a flashlight, it is kind of scary since sharks frequent the island, 100 plus pound tunas are there regularly, as well as an occasional crocodile and even the really large centipedes have been found on this island. This will be another way of life, and we are excited for this opportunity.

Thank you for following us on our journey! Do no forget about us for these next 2 months! We will repost our prayer request for you to look over and pray for these next 2 months.

Please pray for us:

1. Pray we will be healthy so we can give 100% while on B.M..
2. Pray that we finish Capable High and move onto the proficient level in our language learning process.
3. Pray that we learn more fully the culture of PNG so we can better engage people at a heart level.
4. Pray we will be a blessing to the missionaries.
5. Pray we can be an encouragement to the church.
6. Pray that we can show a difference in our lives and challenge the many unsaved still found on B.M. Island.
7. Pray for safety in traveling, especially when Seth spends time with the men as they fish in the ocean (they have killed many sharks there, including hammerheads!).
8. Pray that we are wise in our conduct so that we can grow spiritually during this time and glean as much as we can from the missionaries and the church.
9. Pray we use our time wisely.
10. Pray that this time will strengthen our marriage, and reflect Christ and the church to both the saved and unsaved.
11. Pray for Seth, he will be preaching for the first time in another language during a main service while we are on B.M.. The church is going through 1 Corinthians so once we get there he will figure out what passage he will be given. Pray for boldness and clarity as he unpacks God’s Word in another language.

Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth and Nicole Stokes

Scraping Coconuts to Make Coconut Oil

We are off to start our Bush Orientation here in a few days! We are all packed and ready to go. This will be such an amazing time. Please pray for us. Read our July newsletter (link below) and our last two blogs for more information. Thank you for joining us in this awesome and exciting journey to answer the Great Commission for our Lord! ~Seth & Nicole Stokes

July, 2015 Newsletter

(Read our previous blog “B.O. on an Island” for details)

We did our first supply buy for ourselves this week! It was fun to run around town and find things, ask the missionaries (on B.M.) what to bring, and then pack it all up! We had to weigh each box, and then wrap it in black plastic because we are going to be on a long boat ride…everything gets wet and you are usually cold when you arrive. We did our first load and ended up with about 100kgs worth of food (should last close to 8 weeks, rice and canned goods add up), 100 kgs of personal items; clothes, cleaning supplies, etc. and we are strategically bringing about 100kgs worth of food and snacks to share with the people on B.M.. Plus we did a supply run for the missionary family who is currently on the island, pack up some much needed solar panels, as well as help with the logistics of the boat ride and crew. It is so surreal to be in this phase knowing that it is GOING to happen! Yes, it is going to happen. Many of you replied to our prayer request the other day; that we needed rain on B.M. island so we can have water. Well in God’s graciousness and Sovereignty He provided rain last night and almost filled the 2,000-gallon tanks! Maybe God orchestrated this whole thing so that we could be dependent on YOUR prayers before we ever get our location. This is just practice for you guys as we, Lord willingly, head to the tribe God is leading us to go to in the not too distant future. Thank you for your prayers, we literally could not do our work without them.

Our First Supply Load

We have also been running around, spending time with our neighbors, meeting new people and making relationships. Nicole was able to spend an afternoon with some people making indigenous trinkets. Seth also met a new friend who seemed to be very interested in talking about several topics about our purpose of being in PNG, this all came about because he was looking for someone to play basketball with. Seth invited him to church and we hope to see him this Sunday morning.

Nicole working on her Bilum with some ladies

Seth’s & Preston after B-Ball

God has been faithful, His promises are true (2 Cor. 1:20), and He is building His church (Matt. 16:18). If you want to talk or write to us, now is the time! We leave our Tuesday, which is your Monday, and then after that…it is talk to you in 2 months! Thank you for your faithfulness, we covet your partnership in this journey.

Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes

What is Bush Orientation?

Bush Orientation (B.O.) is a period of time when you go into a tribal location (we will be going to an island called B.M.) and live with missionaries. You go to a place that typically has given the Gospel and has a young to maturing church. There are several goals (ideal and real) that we have during that phase; this phase also signals the end of E2 (the time you spend at the National Culture and Language level; NCLA). This is a time of isolation to dive 100% into language, culture, relationships, and tribal church planting. Several goals for this time (keep in mind these are goals which will always have room for growth and a more full understanding, not something any of us could ever fully attain):

1. Finish up language study; As we stress, there is always room to grow in the proficient level, but once capable high is attained you are, for all intensive purposes, finished and given the green light to teach.
2. Have a greater picture of cultural awareness; Culture is the ingrained blue print that makes up the grid for each individual to perceive reality, so this too is a level of understanding, not completion.
3. To glean valuable insight from the church planters to see how they did the process of church planting.
4. To learn from the tribal church; they all speak the tribal language as well as Tok Pisin so we will be able to get testimonials, ask for their insight in doing this work, and have fellowship.
5. Last but not least, this is not something we are too affected by but this time is also a time of evaluation and “practice”, we will take our supplies with us for 6 weeks and have no contact with the outside world (unless it is an emergency). We will try to go as minimal as we can so we can be with the people as much as possible. Truly this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Tid-Bits 

B.M. is an island approximately a square mile in size and has about 2,000 people and is 80 miles east of Wewak. Wewak is the base we are currently stationed at and will Lord willingly stay at during our time in PNG. Since it is an island, there are no airstrips and which makes it only accessible by boat. It takes approximately 3 hours in the big boat with two 90-horse power engines or with the small boat it takes about 6 hours. The weather determines whether you can go or come so you have to constantly stay in contact via radio with those on the island to see what day is a good day to come. B.M. currently has an active volcano on it, and is well known for being one of the few tribes that surf! They currently are recovering from a blight/famine/heavy storm that attacked their island, and though fresh seafood is in abundance, they still had people fainting due to lack of adequate food and nourishment. Another random tid-bit about the island is that there are several basketball courts (half courts) which will be a great way Seth can connect with the men and kids.

History 

           B.M. is an island that had and has had a Catholic history for almost 100 years. Much of the island is impacted by and follow the Catholic faith. Three New Tribes missionary families came to B.M. island in 2008 and began to learn their tribal language (previously, the catholics had done everything in the national language). In 2012, they taught through Creation to Christ (Firm Foundations Teaching developed by Trevor Mcllwain) and the B.M. church was born. Since then, the 3 men have suffered much hardship (one with his wife developing breast cancer; read our blog “giants are among us”) from various diseases, medical evacuations, persecution, and opposition from the Catholic church. All this has not deterred the missionaries who have taught the foundational teaching (Genesis-Mark) 2 times, while developing strong disciples and future elders in the church, and to top it all off they are approximately 50% completed with the New Testament translation! The church itself has had a major milestone this month, they are doing their first outreach and are finishing teaching the foundational bible lessons (FBT), Phase 1: Creation to Christ themselves! What an exciting time of replication! Pray for many souls making eternal decisions.

In Summation, While Looking Forward!

We hope this post helped you understand what we will be doing these next 6 weeks, starting July 28, 2015. We would love to hear from you this week and if you have any questions go ahead and ask away. We hope this was insightful and also helped you get a better grasp of what one of our final stages in E2 (national culture and language) looks like. This is also exciting because once we get back we can start helping out the mission and other missionaries full-time! We will be doing guest housing, driving, supply buying, liaison work, and even PGA’s (people group assessments); that will be Seth of course, he will hike with an other missionary and possibly a national pastor checking to see where would be the best place to send another missionary and plant a church. There are still 100’s of tribes asking for missionaries! We are planning to spend some valuable time with our future coworkers in Madang sometime in October, as well as experience other possibilities! As E2 comes to a close we come one step closer to E3, which is when we begin the process of tribal allocation! So many BIG things will happen these next 6 months!

Please pray for us:

1. Pray we will be healthy so we can give 100% while on B.M..
2. Pray that we finish Capable High and move onto the proficient level in our language learning process.
3. Pray that we learn more fully the culture of PNG so we can better engage people at a heart level.
4. Pray we will be a blessing to the Missionaries on B.M..
5. Pray we can be an encouragement to the church on B.M..
6. Pray that we can show a difference in our lives and challenge the many unsaved still found on B.M. Island.
7. Pray for safety in traveling, especially when Seth spends time with the men as they fish in the ocean (they have killed many sharks there, including hammerheads!).
8. Pray that we are wise in our conduct so that we can grow spiritually during this time and glean as much as we can from the missionaries and the church on B.M..
9. Pray we use our time wisely.
10. Pray that this time will strengthen our marriage, and reflect Christ and the church to both the saved and unsaved on B.M..
11. Pray for Seth, he will be preaching for the first time in another language during a main service while we are on B.M.. The church is going through 1 Corinthians so once we get there he will figure out what passage he will be given. Pray for boldness and clarity as he unpacks God’s Word in another language.
12. Please Pray that it rains! It has not rained in 1 month and the water supply is getting low, they are afraid that if the water gets too low we might have to postpone our orientation till a little later.

We love you all and covet your prayers,

Your feet to the unreached of PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes        ~Romans 15:20

Learning Language

Awesome People

It has felt like riding a bike these past two weeks; learning the process of how to ride again, to stand up on your own, and then get ready to hit the many bumps in the road, while trying to get the rust off the chain. That is how we felt about these past two weeks.

We are now on the last leg of language learning (we will always have room to grow in the proficient level)! Before we got back into full-time language learning we had a month of running around and helping out the mission in various capacities, which in turn allowed us to get great language exposure and meet some great people. Now we are back into a full swing of language learning so that we can finish this phase well…but as the problem with all journeys, nothing usually goes as planned.

This past week we had a couple of hiccups in language learning, but everything of course is God-ordained. For about a day and a half Seth spent his time with Interface Students; this is a 6-week program that gives high school age to young adults a crash course into tribal missions, classes all day on the process of missions, as well as a week spent in a tribe (hyperlink). Seth was asked to give a devotional for them, and he talked to them about living a life that “takes the responsibility of showing forth God’s glory to all nations” (2 Cor. 1-12,). Many of them walked away contemplating the message and felt heavy with the responsibility that God has put on each and every one of His children to bring the fame of His name to all people 2 Cor. 4:7.

This week we also had a virus hit us, Nicole was literally taken out for 3 days with various symptoms, and Seth had a lesser case of it with missing a day due to the virus. We both are still recovering and our energy is not what it normally is, but God has all things worked out for His glory, even our sickness.

We have about 10 days till we do our bush orientation (begins our July 28^th), once we arrive to our bush location, we will go dark (no internet) so if you want to say hello or good-bye, this week is the time. Our next blog will be more detailed on this topic. We wanted to propel you all to the next blog and give you a notice, but also apologize because we will post several blogs this next week so that we can communicate with you all while it is possible!

Thank you for your faithfulness in reading our posts, we cannot be here without you, we covet your prayers as we prepare to finish Tok Pisin, head out to Bush orientation, and recover from this nasty virus.

Your feet to the unreached in PNG, Seth & Nicole Stokes.

                                                                                                Romans 15:20

A big bug!

June began with Nicole’s birthday and July began with our 4th anniversary. This past month was full of language learning! Click the link below to read our latest newsletter. Thank you for joining us in reaching the unreached in Papua New Guinea! ~Seth & Nicole Stokes

June-2015: Newsletter

Cathy Teaching Nicole How to Fish PNG Style

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” –Francis of Assisi

“…And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” –Col. 3:17

The bible has a lot to say about “word and deed”, sometimes it refers to one as good and the other not as good or sometimes it couples them together to make an emphasis. There are some who believe you never need to speak the Gospel but just live it out, and people will come to Christ…that would be the pendulum swinging too far in one direction. These thoughts give the context to the story we are about to share. Last week Nicole received an exciting phone call, one of our dear friends (from Madang, PNG) got saved! Please rejoice with us! Her name is Cathy, and she has an immediate desire to train up her 5 kids “in nurture and admonition of the Lord”. She does not want to gossip or get angry anymore but rather live out her Christian life by following and obeying the Lord. Cathy was such a great help to us in Madang, not just someone who helped us learn language and culture, but a friend who we literally had an amazing last meal with in Madang (with two iPhone flashlights for light). Nicole spent a lot of time with her, I (Seth) would always provide times for them to get together and try to play with the kids so that they could get good time talking and sharing life with one another.

Cathy called us last week and told us how she got saved. She told us what she was thinking, “I must get saved now, I must follow God and obey Him”. Our Pastor in Madang (Japheth, a national) preached a message on how Christians should look different and remember who they were before Christ and how they are to live differently afterwards. Cathy heard this message and realized she couldn’t think of a clear line of demarcation of when her spiritual life began. Japheth’s mom, Anna (a godly woman, who Nicole and I talked and prayed with many times regarding Cathy’s salvation) sat her down and talked things through with her (in Tok Pisin-her heart language) to make sure of her decision. Shortly thereafter, we all gained a new sister in Christ! Cathy thanked us; she said that God used Japheth’s preaching, Anna’s counsel, and our testimony to bring her to Christ. She said that we would always talk about God and how great He is and how He changed our lives but couldn’t think of when God changed her life.

This is so encouraging to us! We never thought we would be able to help someone come to the Father until we “learned” the language fully, but God in His grace and mercy allowed this time to bless us and motivate us to press on. We share this story not to our account, but to God and yours! We want to say thank you to all of our supporters and to those who are behind us, this is fruit to your account!

Cathy is just one of the millions here in PNG who need Jesus. Many cults have come and even some “good evangelical missions” as well, but they did not take the time to sit down, learn the language, and then stay to be a testimony and a road to show them how to live in Christ. There is a great veneer of Christianity here in PNG, there have been a lot of good intentions from many missionary agencies, but salvation comes by God alone. You cannot add liturgy, works, a list of “do’s” or “don’ts”, or anything else! Jesus is enough; He is the only way to heaven. He has given us this great commission to not only preach His message, not to only live like He lived, but also to help others understand who they are without Christ and grow them into mature, replicating, God-worshippers.

“…let us not love with word…but in deed…” –1 John 3:18

“For I will not dare speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the gentiles obedient, by word and deed.” –Romans 15:18