Rachel Hampton

I love exploring April 26, 2009

A week ago tomorrow (in the Taiwan timezone) I had a day off. A few friends from the book-ex and I decided we were going to spend all day away from the ship and explore the city. And boy, did we. We did a lot of walking. It’s ok though, I definitely need the exercise. First, we took the Subway to a place called Lotus Pond. And by pond they mean huge lake. There are lots of traditional Chinese buildings and “towers” surrounding the area and they were just breath-taking to capture in photographs. You can see the few I took on my flickr link on the right. There were also tons of temples. That part was sad. It’s overwhelming to see the lostness of people around the world. As I’ve mentioned before, there are very few Christians in this country. 

We spent hours walking around and taking in the sights and sounds. Afterwards, we were completely worn out! So what’s the perfect solution for that? A movie! Oh my…America, take notes. The theatre we found had recliners as chairs. You got blankets to cover up with (I know my mom…who is always cold…would appreciate that) and they bring you food also. It was heaven. I’m not sure there could’ve been a more perfect end to the evening.

I’ve had two edays this past week. One consisted of a small group of us traveling about an hour and a half by train to lead a couple programs at a high school. Our train arrived late so our hosts were waiting expectantly for us to get there. They hurriedly took us to the main auditorium where we encountered about 300 high school students staring at us as we walked in silence up on the stage. Talk about intimidating. The kids were so cute and, bless their hearts, they acted like we were movie stars. The cheered, took photos with us, and asked us to sign anything they had that was signable. In fact, a couple kids handed us some kind of boards. I don’t know if they use these on the bus or train to do homework on or what but I couldn’t help but laugh. It was like, “excuse me, would you sign my piece of wood?” I love being able to go out into the community and meet people instead of staying on board. There’s just something more special about it. And the people of Taiwan are so hospitable. When we left, some of the teachers handed us a big box of sweet potatoes (something that city is apparently famous for).

My second eday was spent doing car deck ministry. We stayed on the ship and did dramas, sang, talked about the ship, and just interacted with people. One girl in particular I got to speak with for awhile. Please pray for Belinda. She is very interested in Jesus Christ but has not yet made a decision to follow Him. She commented how everyone on board seemed so happy. Of course we are not always sunshine and rainbows but I know the joy I have comes from the Lord. I told her this and encouraged her to seek for that joy in her own life as well. I pray that she does.

We only have a few more days left in Kaohsiung. Last night was International Night. There is one in each port and basically many songs, dances, and dramas are put on from the crew. James (Ireland), Tae (USA), and I planned to go and watch. Well, we got sidetracked…by TGI Fridays. Whoops. We were in the taxi on the way when we passed it. We still had about 45 min before it started so took a detour to “eat real quick”. Real quick ended up not being so quick. I wish I could say it was worth it but…well…let’s just say they didn’t understand our order too well, haha. Afterwards, we were going to be late so we just wandered around the area. We got some ice cream and chatted. They are both very cool guys and it’s funny how even though there is a great age difference with people on board, you usually don’t even notice it. I may have been able to babysit them years ago but now, they are just my friends. Tae is also from Virginia so we have created a VA gang sign. Without all the violence that usually goes along with that.  Wednesday we will sail to Hualien, Taiwan and I’ve already heard it’s going to be a rough voyage. I’ll keep you updated. Please pray for our safety…and that no one throws up on me. That is very important!

Life in Taiwan… April 15, 2009

So I am still working on my Mandarin but it’s not that great…I’ve got “hello”, “thank you”, “you’re welcome”, and “sorry” down. The essentials. A tonal language is very difficult to speak for many people on board. Thankfully we have wonderful local translators. Speaking of, that is a big prayer request. Many of the locals that are working with us are not Christians. We have a great opportunity to speak to them about Christ. They are all curious and interested in hearing more about why we serve together. In fact, I got to speak to one girl named Nina who is not a believer. In fact, she says she’s not religious at all. She was telling me how she wanted to serve on Doulos but heard you had to be a Christian. I asked her if she understood what we believed and she said no so I started sharing the message of salvation with her. When I was telling her about Jesus and his years of ministry, she responded, “In America?”  She really had no idea at all. I was able to talk to her for a little bit and when she asked if I would marry someone who wasn’t a Christian, I explained to her why and told her “Even though I don’t know you well, I care about you and want you to have the assurance of where you’ll go when you die.” She was genuinely touched that I cared about her in that way. We were interrupted and didn’t get to finish but I know she’s open.  So please pray for Nina and the other volunteers that their hearts would be open to God while we are here and that some seeds would be planted. And even that some would turn their lives over to Christ before we leave.

Our Easter service was different than I’m used to. We had a sunrise service on the deck of the ship at 5:30am and then another service at 11am. Many of the songs we sang I did not know and I love worshiping through music so that was different for me. My home church, Thomas Road Baptist Church has amazing musicians and the music is so wonderful! But in the past few days I’ve felt God telling me, “Rachel, I want you to learn to worship me with all your heart whether the music is professional or amateur. Can you praise me even if there are mistakes in the notes or singing? That isn’t important, it’s the heart that is important.” And I know that worship is a lifestyle, it’s not music…but when you hear a beautiful song with blended voices and swelling music and know God designed it all…you can’t help but worship. But God doesn’t want me to only be able to worship through song when it’s perfect. And I am trying to adapt to that mindset.

We did have an amazing reflection/communion service on Friday night. There was worship, dramas, communion, and just a moving time of reflection. It was my favorite thing of the weekend. Then we had a showing of the Passion of the Christ. I hadn’t seen it in years and was definitely overwhelmed. It is impossible to watch that movie without ending at a loss for words. Jesus is one awesome Savior!

We have been able to travel around the area some and visit the city we are in. One of the big things the city is known for is their night markets. This city comes alive at night. In fact, I was working one night and a young boy came up to me and said his college started back that day and his class is at 11pm. They are night people. So every night they have different areas you can go and shop along streets packed with carts and tables. There are some markets solely for food and some that are mixed food and clothes. We went to the latter. I didn’t buy anything, but enjoyed walking around and sampling some of the foods others had bought. One thing I didn’t try…fried fish eyes. No thanks. On the way back to the ship we were running a little late for curfew. We took the MRT (their Subway) and had to switch trains at one point. Well, as we are coming up to the second one we see that it’s there and getting ready to leave. We didn’t have time to wait for the next one so we all took off running. I make it in the door and turn to see the doors closing and three from our group still outside. Then suddenly, like Incredible Hulk, Adam throws his upper body in the doors and pushes them back open. Everyone made it safely thanks to his selfless sacrifice. God rest His soul. Just kidding! He made it safely….though I don’t know if he was sore the next day.

We have some really interesting people come to the ship. Last week we had a guy who makes all kinds of animals out of drinking straws. It was amazing. He made me a butterfly that I will try to take a photo of and post soon. We also get drunk guys who cause a scene and try to sneak up the gangway. Yeah, that always makes for an interesting night too Well, that’s about all the update I have for now. I hope you all had an amazing Easter and were able to praise the mighty God we serve. I have uploaded a video to my flickr site of some of the waves we experienced on the way to Taiwan. You’ll want to check it out! I’ve also uploaded my latest newsletters for those who aren’t on my email list. Love and miss you all!

Holy waves, Batman! April 6, 2009

So, my first open sea voyage is behind me and I’m sure everyone wants to know…were you seasick? Hmm, should I tell you now or make you wait until later? Everyone enjoys a little bit of suspense so let me first just tell you how the voyage was. We sailed from Manila to Kaohshiung, Taiwan and it took a few days. The seas were angry about something, not sure what…but we sure felt it on board. If you’ve been on a cruise, it was nothing like this! Our ship is much smaller and you can much more deeply feel the movement of waves. In fact, we would go up steps and go from feeling really heavy to really light. You would feel like you couldn’t lift your leg and a few moments later be able to jump four steps in one lurch. It was the funniest feeling! And we would go outside and try to jump when the ship was going down off of a wave to catch extra air time. We may have gotten fussed at for the dangerousness of this, however. Walking in the dining room without holding onto something was nearly impossible. I’ve never been drunk but I’m thinking that’s what it would feel like. As much as you try, it is impossible to walk in a straight line. And you would often find yourself running when the ship was positioned a certain way. You just couldn’t help it. The main lounge (the most calm area of the ship) was like a morgue. Everyone was laid out in there moaning and sleeping. Though I guess you wouldn’t see much moaning in a morgue. At least I hope not.  Most everyone was sick on board.  Except me! Yay! No seasickness. I’m not sure if my love of roller coasters contributed to this blessing. The dining room was a virtual ghost town which was kind of nice. No fighting for a table or food. There were a few others who weren’t sick and hung out with me. Honestly, it was an enjoyable experience. I only hope my lack of seasickness will continue on future voyages. 

Now we are in Taiwan and my Mandarin is horrible! Today is my off day and we decided to go to Outback Steakhouse for lunch since we heard there was one nearby. We walked for an hour and a half until we found it! We had one Chinese-speaker with us which was a blessing but no one seemed to know where the restaurant was. And yes, I had cheesefries. Maybe I can have a goal of having some in each country we go to, haha. It’ll be “my thing” Anyway, we had a great time just exploring the city. Then we went to a street with all the electronics imaginable. I was on the search for an external hard drive and praise the Lord that I had Adam, self-professed tech geek, with me. He led me to one he felt was the best deal and I snatched it up. And he says I saved about $50-$80 US dollars. Works for me.  Tonight we plan on going to some night markets for some shopping and eating. That’s what I enjoy, really hanging out with the locals in the spots they frequent. The language here is tough. I’ve got “hello” and “thank you” down but the others are much more difficult. But I will work on it. It won’t slay me yet!

I plan on uploading a video of some waves we encountered but the internet was not working with me and we are about to go out again. I’ll try again later. But never fear, after an hour of non-tech geek efforts, I’ve figured out a way to put a link to my flickr site on the sidebar so check it out! Photos…FINALLY!!!